School Link - 3 November 2023

Principal's Report

We are half way through our very busy final term at Allora P-10 State School and we are seeing positive and engaging learning experiences in all classrooms.  Please follow our school Facebook page to see all the work that is occurring in classrooms and around the school.  Your children are all working very hard on learning tasks and it is wonderful to visit classrooms and ask them what they are learning, how they are going and where they can go to for help.  Our classrooms are humming along!

WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY

We are so very fortunate at Allora P-10 State School to have a hardworking and dedicated teaching team and we celebrated them with a special morning tea (provided by the exceptional teacher aides, thank you all so much!) on Friday 27 October. I am sure you all join with me in thanking the teachers for being inspiring, motivating and guiding our students to success.

ATSIAP (ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ASPIRATION PROGRAM)

This year, our team, the Gnarralah Warriors, won the regional challenge and will now be competing in the State Challenge to be held in Brisbane on 21 -23 November. I am sure you all join with me in wishing them the best and thanking Mrs Sharman-Bowman for supporting this team.            

PREP CLASS OF 2024

Our Prep class of 2024 and their families have been transitioning into school life this term. It has been wonderful to meet our new students and their families and see how excited they all are about coming to school. If you know of anyone who has a child eligible for Prep in 2024, please encourage them to come and see all the great things that happen at Allora State School! Enrolments are due to the office as soon as possible to secure your place and interview time.  Interviews will be starting on Monday 13 November. All 2024 Prep students (and their friends) are invited to attend our Get Set for Prep program held on Friday 3 November and Friday 17 November.

END OF YEAR AWARDS AND CELEBRATIONS

Our 2024 Secondary Awards Night will be held on Tuesday 14 November and I look forward to celebrating the successes of our students with you all on this evening.

Our Primary Awards and end of year celebration will be held on Thursday 7 December, in the hall, from 9am.

SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY

Each year in Term 3, every school in Queensland participates in the School Opinion Survey.  This survey encourages feedback from staff, students and families about the past year. Data from this survey is used to plan for the following year. Below is a snapshot of Allora P-10 State School’s Highlights Report for the 2023 survey. If you have any questions or comments about this data, please feel free to contact the office.

WHERE WILL YOU BE IN 2024?

As we do come to the completion of the school year, we are currently assessing staffing, student numbers and classes for 2024.  If your family is not returning to Allora P-10 in 2024, please contact the school office. 

Kind regards,

Megan

Prep in 2024

Calendar of Events

Student of the Week

Students were awarded certificates on assembly for demonstrating our school motto, “Always our Best”. Congratulations students!

Tuckshop Roster - Helpers Wanted

HELP!! As you can see from the roster below, we are very, very short on volunteers. Please consider volunteering some time to help out at the tuckshop.

We sincerely thank those who already volunteer their time and remind you to contact Serena with an SMS or phone call before school if you are unable to work on your rostered day. Thank you.

Change of Date - Awards Night

Our 2023 Annual Awards Night for Years 7-10 students will now be held in our school hall on Tuesday 14 November, from 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start.

Each year, the school recognises students' outstanding achievements by the presentation of awards on this night. As in the past, the awards have been financed by parents, clubs, businesses and school suppliers. We have always appreciated this support.

Donations are GST free and receipts will be issued and acknowledged in the 2023 Awards Night program (if received by Friday 10 November). 

For EFT donations, the details are as follows -

• Account:  1003 4521
• BSB:  064 434
• Please use 'Awards' and your business name / name as reference

We would be particularly grateful should you be able to assist us in our appeal this year and we look forward to celebrating our students' achievements.

Assessment Calendar - Years 7-10

A Note from the Library

Many thanks must go to the Toowoomba Women’s Shed who have kindly donated spare library bags, dress up costumes and dolls clothes to our school.

REMINDER: bring your library bag along when you borrow. This not only helps us know where our books are, but also keeps them safe.  If you do not have a library bag, please see Mrs Weier.

All library books and text books are to be returned to the library by 30 November 2023.

Did you know that the most poisonous animal in the world is probably the two-toned poison arrow frog?  Only 28 grams of its poison could kill nearly 3 million people. 

Have a wonderful week.

Lea-Ann Weier

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aspiration Program (ATSIAP)

This program is an academic challenge for eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students in Queensland state schools. The program builds upon students’ creativity and critical thinking skills by providing opportunities to investigate solutions for real-world challenges. ATSIAP aims to raise students’ expectations of themselves as learners and enhance post-school aspirations to include tertiary pathways.  ATSIAP responds to the vision set forth in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (2019) where State Education Ministers agreed that education should promote excellence and equity.

This year, Will, Rhyanna, Rikaya and Fletcher formed the “Gnarralah Warrior” team and completed 3 challenges in the Regional Junior challenge. The challenge included a long-term problem-solving task, a persuasive speech and a poetry task. Students were required to work as a team on their challenge tasks while at school, including during lunch breaks and Friday Futures sessions.

The Gnarralah Warriors won the Poetry Challenge, the Long Term Problem Solving Challenge, came second in the Persuasive Speech and, won the overall 2023 DDSW Regional Junior ATSIAP Challenge. On Monday's assembly, the Gnarralah Warriors received their Regional winner medallions from Mrs Natalie Docherty, who is Project Officer for Education Services in First Nations Strategies and Partnerships for the Darling Downs South West Region.

We wish the  Gnarralah Warriors  all  the best  for  the State Challenge which will be held in Brisbane  from 21 -23 November.

Linda Sharman-Bowman

Year 8 Food and Fibre Excursion

Nicola Veal

Health and Physical Education and Sport Activities

This term, students throughout the school are compo a range of Health units with their class teachers and Mr Nott. The physical activities including swimming and lifesaving, ball and striking activities, soccer and scooters are being taught by Mr Nott, Ms Heritage and Mr Johnson.

Competitions for archery and tennis have occurred and a “fly” (jumping game) competition will occur over the next few weeks.

It is pleasing to see very high levels of participation in these activities.

Roy Nott

Classroom News

Chess Competition

Congratulations to our seven students who competed in the Southern Downs Chess Tournament in Warwick on 20 October, accompanied by Mr Johnson. James came away in top place for Allora, followed closely by Tiffany, Levi and Eleanore. The students are to be commended for their excellent behaviour and sportsmanship. Well done!

Brad Johnson

Canberra Excursion

At the end of the school holidays, some of our Year 10 students headed to Canberra with Killarney students on the annual Year 10 excursion, accompanied by Mr Moore and Mrs Sharman-Bowman. The students didn’t think too much of the long bus trip to get there.

Throughout the week they visited Mt Ainslie, the National Portrait Gallery, National Mint, the Carillion and the Australian War Memorial. A special honour for Allora and Killarney school captains was to lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial, in a moving and dignified Last Post Ceremony.

The next day, students saw a piece of the Berlin Wall at the Harmony German Club, headed to the Canberra Zoo and Aquarium and had a drive-by tour of the foreign embassies. On Day 5, students visited Government House, were able to walk around the Governor General’s residence and saw a special diplomatic event before heading to Parliament House in the afternoon for a tour of the House of Representatives and the Senate Chambers. Later in the day, they visited the National Museum and the Australian Institute of Sport, where Claire learned she can kick a soccer ball at 94km/hour. That evening, students enjoyed the performance “Rosieville”, by the Canberra Youth Theatre and on their final day, they visited Carey’s Limestone Caves at Yass, followed by dinner at Cowra, then the loooong bus trip home.

Year 9 students have already begun their fundraising efforts for their 2024 Canberra excursion.

Community News

Pool Lifeguard Course at YMCA, Warwick