QUEEN OF APOSTLES SCHOOL

108 Tribute Street East, RIVERTON WA 6148

Telephone Number: 9457-4913 Email address: admin@qoa.wa.edu.au Facsimile Number: 9354-3911 Website: www.qoa.wa.edu.au

Dear Parents and Carers,

Annual Community Meeting I would like to sincerely thank the 27 parents who attended the ACM on Wednesday evening. Your attendance at this important school community meeting is greatly appreciated by myself and all our staff, as it demonstrates, in a very real and practical way, your support for our school and what we are striving to achieve. I must also confess to being somewhat perplexed by the perennially low attendance rate of parents at this annual event. The fact that only around 5-7% of our parents attend this meeting each year does make me question why the turnout is so low? Is it just that the meeting is of no importance to you? Do we assume that the low turnout is an indication that you are all very happy with how our school is progressing and therefore you don’t feel the need to be here? I’m not sure what the reasons are, but it is something that we need to investigate further in order to address the poor turnout. For the overwhelming majority who could not be there on Wednesday evening, here are some selected excerpts of what you missed, so that you will be aware of what is happening next year. THIS YEAR As always the religious education and faith development of our children remains first and foremost in our minds. If we are to be a successful Catholic school then we need to ensure that we are supporting our parents and carers in their God-given task of educating and raising their children as Christians. Part of this important task is accomplished through the rigorous implementation of the Religious Education Units of Work, mandated by the Bishops of WA. One measure of how well we implement and teach these guidelines or units is through our participation in the annual Bishop’s Religious Literacy Assessments. This year, as in previous years, our Year 5 students have performed very well. Our school mean score was 525.5 which compares very favourably against all WA Catholic schools mean of 478.5. 33% of our Year 5 students placed in the top 20% of all students. While this is only one indicator of the work and achievement of our students across all year levels, it does provide a point of reference in terms of comparing our achievements against that of other schools across the state.

Academically, it has been another very successful year for our students. The UNSW ICAS competitions once again saw many of our children being awarded Distinction and Credit certificates, for placing in the top 10% and 20% of students competing, across Australasia.

Mr Wylie once again organised our Spelling Bee Competition and also played a role in organising the Interschool Competition, where again our students performed well, with Aaron Monteiro backing up his wins in Years 4 and 5 over the past two years by winning the Year 6 section this year. We also had competitors who finished second and third in their year group competitions and almost all of our team finished in the top 5 - a terrific feat with 8 schools and 16 competitors in each round! I would like to thank Russell very much for the extra hours he puts into organising such great opportunities for our children to compete and showcase their talents. Our NAPLAN results this year were, once again, quite

DATES TO REMEMBER

Fri 27 Nov 6.00pm P&F Sundowner & Disco

Mon 30 Nov K1 2016 Orientation 9.30am-10.30am PP/Yr 1 Transition 9.30am – 10.30am

Tues 1 Dec K2 2016 Orientation 9.30am-10.30am 6.00pm PP 2016 Parent Information Night - Library

Wed 2 Dec 8.50 Year 6 Assembly 6.00pm K2016 Parent Information Night – Library

Fri 4 Dec 2.00pm Yr 6 Dancing

Mon 7 Dec 7.00pm P&F Meeting

Wed 9 Dec 6.00pm Praise & Thanksgiving Mass Reports & Work Folders released

Thurs 10 Dec 8.45am P&F Coffee Hour – Library 1.30pm Graduation Yr 6 Graduation River Cruise

Fri 11 Dec LAST DAY OF YEAR FOR STUDENTS 9.30am -12.00 PP – Yr 5 Kent Street Weir 12.30pm PP – Yr 5 Movie @ Southlands Yr 6 Lazerblaze

Sun 13 Dec 9.00am Family Mass

Mon 1 Feb FIRST DAY OF TERM 1 2016 FOR STUDENTS

27th November 2015

strong. Our students’ mean score averages were above the Australian averages in 9 out of 10 categories! Some were significantly above the Australian averages. In 3 of the 10 categories we had 100% of our students perform at or above the minimum national standard and in the other categories our percentage above the minimum standard range between 92% and 98%.

We have also seen some very solid and impressive improvements in the performance of some of our children who struggle with their literacy skills, through our Reading Recovery Program and also the introduction this year of the Multi-Lit Program. My thanks goes out to Anne Imms and Deborah Hogg for their passion and zeal in driving these two important support initiatives this year. Our focus on early identification and intervention for children with literacy issues over many years is also being reflected in our NAPLAN results, where over the years our bottom 20% of students have been gradually improving their scores relative to national averages. In Year 3 only 15% of our students placed in the bottom 20% and in Year 5 only 9% of students placed in the bottom 20%. It has also been pleasing to note the improvement trend over time that shows the gains made between Years 3 and 5. This is also a strong indicator of the value and success of our intervention and support programmes operating throughout the school.

On the sporting front it was a year full of highlights in many areas. These included winning the APPS Shield at the Interschool Swimming Carnival, winning the Interschool Lightning Carnival in AFL Football for the second year in a row, winning the Eagles Cup in AFL Football for the second year in a row and our A Division girls winning the Interschool Cricket Carnival! On an individual level there were countless fine performances throughout the year, as those who are fans of Mr. Bridgeman’s QOAPE webpage would no doubt know. For those unfamiliar with Mr. B’s PE page, simply click on the link on our school website to remain fully informed about all things sporting. A big thank you to Ross for keeping us all so well informed and up to date!

In Performing Arts we once again had many great performances as part of the Catholic Schools PAF. There were numerous Honourable Mention and Merit Certificates issued to groups, ensembles and individual performances. This is testament to the wide range of talents and abilities our children possess and our fundamental belief in supporting our students to discover and develop their talents and abilities. I would like to acknowledge and thank Mrs. Perry for all the work she does to coordinate our entries in the PAF and also for her tireless work with our Junior and Senior Choirs and also for coordinating our Instrumental Music Program … all on top of being a fantastic Music Teacher to 15 classes each week!

The Social Justice Committee has again had a very productive and successful year. They have provided terrific energy, drive and enthusiasm and have played a major role in supporting staff in our efforts to educate our students and raise their awareness about the plight of others in the world and here at home who are so much less fortunate than ourselves. In First Term their efforts helped us to achieve a total of $1,853 raised for CARITAS to help with food and farming programs across Asia. In Second Term they helped to raise $1,061 for the Archbishop’s LifeLink Charity Fundraising Program, all of which supports the poor and homeless in our Perth diocese, as well as raising another $507 for the Caritas Nepal Earthquake Appeal. In Third Term the Social Justice Committee really excelled in their “kids for kids” efforts to support the Children’s Peace Village in Vietnam. The success of their Pyjama Day, Rice Day, Cake Stall and Market Stall Day saw them raise a total $2,839, all of which will go directly to the Peace Village Orphanage and make a tremendous difference to the lives of so many children. I am so immensely proud of the way in which our children have given their time, donated or spent their pocket money and made sacrifices to help other children in a very real and practical way. They have exhibited tremendous Christian values of love, care, generosity and sacrifice to give hope to others who are like themselves … just children.

Our Student Representative Council has again been very busy running our assemblies, representing our student body at various functions and events, assisting with various fundraising events and organising fun events such as the Queenies Talent Quest. I would like to thank Mrs Boronovskis and Mrs Colley for being their staff liaison and for guiding their development as young leaders in our school.

This year we reviewed 2 Quality Catholic Schooling components - Wider Community Partnerships and Differentiated Teaching and Learning. We will be reviewing these two components and the level of achievement of the Improvement Plans during our annual review sessions in the final week of this year.

I would like to take a moment to focus on some of the extra-curricula activities that children here at Queenies have the opportunity to participate in during the course of the year. Extra-curricula activities are those activities that are not part of the formal or legislated curriculum that schools are required to cover, yet they occur because they are part of the “hidden curriculum” that enriches the whole educational experience for our children. Typically these sorts of events, activities and programs allow children to experience a broader range of learning opportunities or perhaps in greater depth and detail. They allow our children to develop other skills, discover new talents or abilities, experience new things for the first time, develop their artistic skills, develop their social skills and make new friends, compete against others to see how they go, develop leadership skills and so on. Data analysis from previous School Climate Surveys would seem to indicate that students and parents don’t think we engage in many extra-curricula activities here at Queenies. I tend to believe that this is more a matter of children and parents seeing much of what we do as being just normal schooling and therefore not viewed as being extra-curricula. Here is a short list of just some of the extra-curricula activities that our children have engaged in this year: Student Representative Council Young Leaders Forum Social Justice Committee Peer Support Leaders Training Peer Support Groups Interschool swimming, athletics, cross country Eagles Cup soccer, AFL, netball, volleyball Junior and Senior School Choir Lightning Carnivals - cricket, basketball, league tag Music Rocks Australia Performing Arts Festival – numerous groups, classes Academic Enrichment Groups and individual performances Camp and excursions Instrumental Music Program Talent Quest After school sports programs Before school fitness Chess Club Academic Extension Program at Corpus Christi College

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but as I’m sure you’ll agree, these activities and programs certainly enrich our school and provide valuable opportunities for our children to learn, discover and grow as individuals.

In the second half of this year we established a focus group comprising two Board Members, two P&F Committee Members, two staff members and the members of the Leadership Team. Over the course of several meetings and much work in between the meetings, this Focus Group developed a Draft Strategic Plan for our school for the next 5 years. The draft is currently being reviewed by the School Board and we will be emailing it out to all families to read. We will also be inviting parents to provide feedback or comments on the draft Strategic Plan via an online survey. Friday 4 December will be the deadline for comments and feedback which will then be weighed up and if numbers warrant, we will make the changes and adjustments and present the final revised draft to the School Board for approval on 16 December. Following final approval by the Board the Strategic Plan will be published via our school website and emailed to all families.

Our Leadership Team has also been working on developing our draft ASIP (Annual School Improvement Plan) for 2016. The ASIP flows from the Strategic Plan and basically breaks the big picture items in the 5 year plan down into smaller, more specific 1 year plan items and objectives. Therefore it cannot be finalized until the Strategic Plan is finalized. Again, the final version of this document will be completed before the end of this year and published via our website.

As our Board Chair, Chris Willesee, has already mentioned in his report, we are incredibly excited to have received the final funding approval from the Federal Government for Stage 6 of our CDP (Capital Development Plan). Planning is well under way and our architect, Dani Martin for EIW Architects, is currently working through issues to do with our Development Application with the City of Canning. We are working to an extremely tight timeline in the hope that we can have the project finished in time for the start of the 2017 school year. If there are no serious problems or delays in the planning, permission, tendering and costing processes, we should be looking to start construction at the beginning of second term next year. This project, once completed will give our Kindy and Pre-Primary children a state-of-the-art 21st Century learning facility, as well as providing the opportunity to provide parents with full-time Kindy and 3 year-old Kindy options, should there be sufficient demand to make it viable. I strongly believe that this new Early Learning Centre will help to stabilize and gradually increase our Kindy intake numbers to ensure the future long-term viability of Queenies as a double-stream school.

NEXT YEAR: 1. QCS will continue with the review of two more components and subsequent improvement plans. 2. We will continue to review our current operations against the NQS in our K – Year 2 classes and develop a QIP (Quality Improvement Plan) for each of the 7 key Strands 3. We will continue to work on implementing the WA Curriculum as published by SCASA. 4. We will implement our School Strategic Plan for 2016 – 2020. 5. We will implement our Annual School Improvement Plan for 2016. 6. We will once again be doing the Catholic Schools Survey. This provides an opportunity for Staff, selected classes of students and 60 randomly selected families to also complete a survey form about all aspects of our school. The data we receive back will be a valuable tool in providing feedback about how we are tracking and possible areas we can look to improve in. 7. We will continue working with our architects to try and ensure that our new Early Learning Centre for Kindy and Pre-Primary is completed in time for the start of the 2017 school year. 8. We will be introducing a 1:1 iPad Program with our Year 4 students next year. This week we have achieved an 85% vote of support from our Year 3 parents for the proposed program. We will now be updating and finalising pricing offers from 4 major suppliers that offer purchasing, 12 months interest free and 2 year flexi-rent options, as well as further options for parents with regards to insurance coverage. This information will be emailed out to parents over the course of the next week. For those who are looking to purchase outright, it may be prudent to wait for the post-Christmas sales, as there can sometimes be special offers and discounts that apply for a short period but are quite generous. 9. With the support of our wonderful P&F we will continue to refurbish our classrooms to create more dynamic, flexible, creative and contemporary learning spaces for our children. While we all have every right to be excited about the developments occurring over the next year or so that will improve and enhance the quality of education and care that we provide to your children, there are also some potential grey clouds on the horizon that we need to be mindful of and plan for. Firstly, next year is the first year of a totally new funding model which is based on per capita funding. For next year at least there has been adjustments made that guaranteed no school would be worse off for 2016. There is no certainty with regards to future years and given that we are far from capacity, we are at future risk of receiving less funding than now simply because we don’t have the numbers. Secondly, as a result of our commitment to modernising our facilities through our CDP, we will from 2017 onwards be debt-servicing a loan for the new Early Learning Centre. This debt-servicing of the loan will mean that I effectively have about $136,000 less in my budget to play with in 2017. This figure will increase slightly over the ensuing years of the loan. Of course we are hopeful that our new facilities will help us to attract additional enrolments, which means more government funding and eases that financial pressure. While we will be able to cope with our commitments, it will mean that we have less scope to fund smaller projects. This in turn will mean that we will rely more on the P&F to provide the additional funding for small projects such as playground equipment, new reading books, new screens to replace our ageing IWB’s etc. There is no need to panic, these are merely challenges and opportunities for us to be more innovative in how we attract new families and how we increase our fundraising in the future.

1:1 iPad Program Proposal Update As I mentioned in my report at the ACM, we will be proceeding with the implementation of our 1:1 iPad Program, with our Year 4 classes next year. The final vote resulted in 85% of parents being in favour of the proposal. We are currently in the process of contacting the 4 major suppliers that we sought prices from, to have their offers updated, as prices can vary frequently depending on such matters as availability, Australian dollar exchange rates and possible new models being released, so that what we first showed parents may no longer be valid. We will be in touch with all our Year 3 parents by email early next week with the details of the best offer for outright purchase, 12 months interest-free payments and 2 year flexi-rent options, as well as some insurances options for parents to consider. We will also be sending home an updated 1:1 iPad Program Parent Handbook,

which will contain all the updated details and information that parents need to know, whether they are purchasing a new iPad or bringing an existing one from home.

Volunteers’ Afternoon Tea Unfortunately a family medical situation prevented me from being here yesterday and therefore I was unable to attend the Volunteers Afternoon Tea. I know that Mr. Wylie did attend and thanked all our truly wonderful parent volunteers who have contributed to our school over the course of this year. I would like to take this opportunity to echo his sentiments. I will never tire of thanking and praising the efforts of all our volunteers who contribute to the overall success of our school. Without your contributions, we simply could not do or achieve what we do over the course of the year. So, to all our fantastic volunteers, “THANK YOU!”

P&F Sundowner & Disco I hope the camp chairs, picnic rugs, eskies and hampers are packed and ready for what promises to be a fantastic family night tonight? A disco for the children to enjoy and a warm summer evening perfect for a sundowner on the lawn under a pink sunset and darkening carpet of stars. What a lovely way for our children and parents to enjoy each other’s company as we rapidly approach the end of another great school year. The fun starts at 6.00pm so don’t be late! Please do not forget the insect repellent … just in case.

OSH Club on the Pupil-Free Days A reminder to all our parents and carers that OSH Club will be open and operating over the 5 days at the end of the year from Monday 14 through to Friday 18 December, from 7.00am till 6.00pm. Of course this will depend on there being sufficient numbers to make the service viable each day. OSH Club needs at least 15 children booked in for each day to make the program viable. Please make sure you have made your bookings by next Monday the 30th November, so that the program can be confirmed. Peace and best wishes, Shaun O’Neill Principal.

End of Year Praise and Thanksgiving Mass We will once again come together as a whole school community to celebrate the end of the year and thank Christ for the blessings that have been part of our year. Our final Praise and Thanksgiving Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday 9th December starting at 6:00pm. The Mass will be held on our school oval. All families are asked to attend this final Mass. Students are asked to dress in their school uniforms and will sit with their class. Parents are asked to BYO a camp chair. At the conclusion of the Mass we will acknowledge those Year 6 families who will be leaving our school community.

Sacramental Programs in 2016 Children who are baptised and are entering Years 3, 4 or 6 in 2016 will be able to receive a Sacrament. If you wish your child to receive a Sacrament at the Queen of Apostles parish, you will need to register them by either seeing Fr Paul after school in the Parish Office or downloading the forms and dropping them off. The forms are currently available on the parish website: http://www.queenofapostleschurch.org.au/. Registration can take place anytime from now. There will also be an enrolment opportunity on Saturday 6th February at 9:30am in the Presbytery.

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The Commitment Mass for those students receiving a Sacrament in 2016 will be at the following Masses: Sacrament of Confirmation - Saturday 13th Feb at 6:00pm, Sunday 14th at 9:00am or 7:00pm Sacrament of Reconciliation - Saturday 20th February at 6:00pm, Sunday 21st at 9:00am or 7:00pm Sacrament of First Holy Communion - Saturday 27th March at 6:00pm, Sunday 28th at 9:00am or 7:00pm.

Religious Education

Currently Out of Stock Size 4 and 6

Tracksuit tops

Celebration of Sacraments: Confirmation - Sunday 22nd May at 10:30am or Sunday 29th May at 10:30am

Reconciliation - Tuesday 18th October at 6:30pm

Holy Communion - Sunday 23rd October at 10:30am or - Sunday 30th October at 10:30am

2016 Booklists The booklists for 2016 have been distributed this week. If you have not seen one, please check your child’s school bag. Please read the order instructions carefully. For the Pre-ordered Shop Pickup method, your completed list must be returned to school by 4th December 2015. For Home or Business Delivery, you need to order online by 6th December 2015. Late orders will be processed for home delivery and will incur a late postage and handling fee. Delivery of late orders before the start of the school year CANNOT be guaranteed. Please ensure your orders are in by the due date as the school cannot accept orders after the cut-off dates.

Library There will be no further borrowing for the remainder of the year. The library will be closed throughout weeks 8 & 9 for annual stocktake and library maintenance.

Uniform Shop News

The Uniform Shop is open 8.30am to 9.30am and 2.30pm to 3.30pm every Wednesday. There is a ‘mail order’ system available - the forms are on the school website if you cannot make it to the shop.

Traditionally Term 4 is the busiest term for the Uniform Shop, so if you sort out your uniform requirements early, you are not likely to encounter a long queue. If you leave your purchases until later in the term there is likely to be long queues and long waiting times. Pre-primary students should have their Year 1 uniform by the end of this term.

The Uniform Shop will be open in the holidays for new families only. Families who already attend the school are expected to have their uniform needs sorted by the end of this term so please don’t leave it until the holidays.

Hello from the School Social Worker November 25th is White Ribbon Day. White Ribbon Day was created by a handful of Canadian men in 1991. In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly declared this day as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the white ribbon became the symbol for the day. The White Ribbon campaign is the only national violence prevention campaign, and it is unique in that it aims to raise awareness among Australian men and boys about the roles they can play to prevent violence against women. The campaign calls for men to speak out, wear a white ribbon or wristband and take an oath. The White Ribbon Campaign in Australia is led by more than 1000 White Ribbon Ambassadors. Ambassadors are men who are leaders in their careers, sporting code or communities who actively support the White Ribbon Campaign, and encourage other men and boys to become aware and engaged in the campaign. Women also support and expand this campaign through their networks, workplaces and community organisations. For further information you can visit the White Ribbon Day website www.whiteribbon.org.au. Regards, Tracy Small.

School News

Final Date for School Banking for 2015 Wow what a fantastic year it has been for our enthusiastic school bankers. Please note that with the school year coming to a close our last banking day will be Friday, 6 December 2015. However, please note that orders for school rewards will close this Friday, 27 November to coincide with the Commonwealth Bank School ordering system. Any reward orders after this date will arrive in Term 1 for 2016.

Remaining Rewards For 2015 As the year is dwindling to a close the following rewards are now all that the Commonwealth Bank have left in stock: 2015 Reward Items

ET DVD

Galaxy Glider – Frisbee (NEW)

Intergalactic Rocket

Outer Space Savers Money Box

However if there is nothing there that you like, please note that you can roll your tokens over to next year’s reward items if you wish.

Want to Get Your Child Involved in the School Banking Program? If you are interested in signing up your child in the Commonwealth School Banking program being offered at Queen of Apostles you can either send an email to the School Banking Coordinator, Nikki Harrison via harrisonfamily4@iinet.net.au to obtain the appropriate forms; visit your local Commonwealth Bank branch; contact the bank by phone on 13 2221; or via NetBank if you are an existing customer with NetBank access. Remember to take in identification for you and your child (driver’s licence and birth certificate). You will receive a Dollarmites wallet and deposit book that your child will use to participate in the program. Our school receives $5 when a student makes their first ever School Banking deposit and 5% on every deposit made through the school (to a maximum of $10 per individual deposit). We will also be running a school banking drive in Term 1 2016, when you can sign up on the day at the school. Please keep a look out for future information in regards to the 2016 school banking drive.

For information about the Queen of Apostles Parish check out the parish newsletter by clicking on the link below: http://www.queenofapostleschurch.org.au/News%20Letter.pdf

Congratulations Mr Iannello and Chloe Kheng for being chosen as this week’s Queenies Heroes.

Our readers would love to know the following : Mr Iannello How long have you been coming to Queenies? 11 months Who is your own hero or inspiration? Chris Judd

Mother What is your favourite food? Licorice What do you hope to be when you grow up? Footy player This must be a proud moment for you, is there anyone you’d like to thank? The class of 5.1

Chloe Kheng How long have you been coming to Queenies? 8 years Who is your own hero or inspiration? Parents What is your favourite food? Chocolate What do you hope to be when you grow up? Psychologist This must be a proud moment for you, is there anyone you’d like to thank? Teachers

Sushi Lunch Sushi option for children's lunch Friday 4th December, flyer to follow in next newsletter. Sundowner and Disco Family Disco and Sundowner on Friday 27th November on the front oval. Come along, bring a picnic, chairs etc., enjoy the music and have a chat with friends. Starts at 6pm, hope to see you all there.

On the Couch with this week’s Queenies Heroes

P&F

Queen of Apostles Parish

Mt Lawley School Holiday Cricket Camp Give the kids 4 days of cricket from the 12th to the 15th of January this school holidays at the Breckler Park Cricket ground, Cornwall St in Dianella. Starting at 9am and finishing at 1am senior players and Level 2 coaches will be coaching plus there will be special visits from Western Warrior players. To take advantage of a 20% early bird discount offer register now at http://www.cycd.com.au/services/summer-holidays-cricket-camp/ or contact David Virgo atinfo@cycd.com.au or phone 0439091418

Community News