Debbie Spanner Principal principal@indooroopillyss.eq.edu.au

How lovely it was to see so many of you at the Movie Night last weekend. Thank you to the P&C, especially vice-president Bridgette Basnayt (Engagements and Communications) for coordinating the event. Harmony Day will be the next big community get together on the oval on Friday 21 March from 9:15am – 11am. I hope you can join us to celebrate our diverse community and honour First Nations people during the Welcome to Country.

Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in the last few weeks of term. This year each year level will hold 15 minute interviews in a central location, mainly over the course of two nights. The change in format is to accommodate some out of school hours requests and to make the process more efficient and effective. The purpose of these interviews is for you to gain insight into how well your child has settled into the new year level and establish possible learning goals for your child. A link to the booking website will be shared at the end of next week. Some families will be contacted earlier by a Learning Enhancement teacher to set up an interview with both the class teacher and the LET teacher. This will allow enough time to discuss some individual children’s needs.

Year 3 and 5 students will be participating in NAPLAN testing from 12 March. Please see NAPLAN testing schedule (below). The best preparation for NAPLAN on testing days is to make sure your child has a good sleep and good breakfast. Individual NAPLAN reports usually arrive towards the end of Term 2. We wish our Year 3 and 5 students well.

School Council approved the 2025 Annual Implementation Plan last week. The AIP is informed by the Strategic Plan agenda. The two major focus areas this year are the implementation of Version 9 Australian Curriculum English and whole school pedagogies, along with adoption of a co-teaching model to build our capacity to deliver strong universal instruction to meet the needs of all learners. We update progress on the AIP each term at the School Council meeting.

On Monday night the first P&C Meeting of the year was held. It was lovely to see so many interested parties there. The next meeting will be the Annual General Meeting, where the P&C Executive for the year ahead are selected or endorsed. The P&C help provide services such as Uniform shop, OSHC and Tuckshop. They also hold community events to allow for community connection, and raise funds or source grants for infrastructure upgrades, school playgrounds etc. The P&C meetings include a President and Principal update which can give you great insight into teaching and learning and operations of the school.

Friday Night Swim Club

Friday Night Swim Club is on every Friday night to the end of Term 1. Gates open at 5:45pm. Please click here for more information.

Congratulations to the 60+ children and parents who participated in the Indooroopilly Friday Night Swim Club fundraiser challenge last week. Swimmers managed to complete a whopping 2406 laps (60.15km) in total for the Starlight Children's Foundation Super Swim!

We have raised $635 so far - so close to our goal of $750!! It’s not too late to acknowledge the outstanding effort put in by the kids and contribute to the wonderful work of the Starlight Children’s Foundation! You can donate to our team page until 31st March:

Over the past few weeks, our dedicated Year 3 and Year 5 students have been engaging with a variety of NAPLAN practice tests. These practice sessions, along with regular classroom lessons and activities, have provided valuable opportunities for students to become familiar with the test structure, question formats, and online tools.

Indooroopilly State School’s NAPLAN 2025 testing schedule is outlined below. If your child is absent on testing days, there will be opportunities for them to catch up within the testing period (March 12 – March 24).

For general information about NAPLAN and access to the national demonstration tests, click on the links below.

https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/parent-carer-support/

Thank you for your continued support in setting our Year 3 and 5 students up for a successful NAPLAN 2025!

If you have questions about NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher or our NAPLAN co-ordinator Amie Neil aneil50@eq.edu.au.

Chappy Jaida

Term 1 is flying by, and I want to remind you that support is always available—whether you or your child need a listening ear, some encouragement, or just a quiet moment to reset.

Julie Bliss Deputy Principal, Years 3 & 6 jmbli0@eq.edu.au

Introducing the 2025 Student Leaders 

Year 6 Scientists

It has been all hands on deck the last couple of weeks as our Year 6 scientists discover the secrets of reversible and irreversible changes to materials. Through a series of experiments, we discovered that not all changes made when mixing, dissolving, and adding heat can be reversed. Thanks goodness; otherwise we couldn’t make cakes any more.

Narrative Writing in Year 6

This week in Year 6, students took a deep dive into the concept of “show, don’t tell” by focusing on a single colour and describing it through all five senses. Instead of simply labelling the colour, they painted a vivid scene around it—imagining how it might sound like a gentle rustle of leaves, what fragrances or tastes it could evoke, and even the texture it might suggest against their skin. By weaving in these sensory details, the students discovered how even a seemingly simple hue can spark readers’ imaginations and draw them deeper into a written piece. This immersive approach not only sharpened their observational skills but also reinforced the power of carefully chosen details in bringing writing to life.

3E Explores Place Value

Year 3 students have been working on re-naming 5-digit numbers. In 3E we have used concrete materials such as place value discs and number expanders to enhance our learning. Students enjoyed working in small groups to identify the numbers that were represented by the place value discs.

4A Fractions

Over the last few weeks students in 4A have been exploring activities related to fractions, decimal fractions and how they are equivalent. Below are a few action photos of this work.

5A Pizza Portions

I.S.S. recently welcomed 54 new employees to our very own pizza shop! Their first task? To create a fraction-perfect pizza order for our very hungry Grade 5 teaching team. Students received an order that included a mix of decimals and fractions and faced the tricky challenge of calculating exactly how many pizzas were needed to fulfil the request. While the pizzas existed only in drawing form, students were judged on their accuracy, working-out process, and final presentation.

Both 5A and 5B showed impressive skills in crafting their Hawaiian, Meat Lovers, and Cheese pizzas—earning 5-Star “tasting” reviews for their mathematical precision and creativity! Well done to our budding pizza chefs!

Wendy Fender Deputy Principal, Years 1 & 2 wfend1@eq.edu.au

1B Data Experts

This week we explored the collection of data. We discussed how to formulate questions to collect the data required and how to use tally marks to record the outcomes. Next, we used the data to compile our own graphs and shared them with our partners. Our favourite part was acting as Researchers while asking all our classmates what their favourite animals were.

2B Sensational Scientists!

In Year 2, we’ve been inquiring into how materials can be changed. A keen bunch of scientists in 2B had lots of fun exploring different materials by twisting, stretching, bending, and squashing! So far, we have discovered that paper can be made stronger by folding it multiple times. We’re wondering if this will be the case for the other materials we’ll be investigating in the coming weeks...I guess we’ll have to keep investigating!

Lorenzo Guglielmino

Cecylia Garcia

Allie Masuch

Please see the table below with some changes ONLY on Tuesdays for our swimming lessons:

Celebrating success in sport

Congratulations to the following students who were selected to compete this week at the Met West regional swimming trials at the Sleeman Aquatic Centre:
Nina B (4G), Jasper H (5F), Riha I (5B), Isla D (5C), Mia W (6A), Datian L (6F) and Asher Y (6H).

ISS Cross Country (Years 3 – 6)

The Years 3 - 6 Cross Country event will take place on Wednesday 2nd April from 9am to 11am at Moore Park Oval. Parents are welcome to spectate.
Students can choose either the Division 1 race or the “Fun Run”. The Division 1 races are for students interested in trialling for the district competition or aiming for age champion. Students competing in Division 1 events should have experience in running these distances - they need to be able to run the whole way. Everyone (apart from Division 1 runners) is encouraged to do the “Fun Run” and get points for their house.

2.5km course (Division 1) – Boys and Girls Born 2012/2013-2014

2km course (Division 1) – Boys and Girls Born 2015

1km course (Division 1) – Boys and Girls Born 2016-2017 + (Fun Run) – Years 3 to 6 (except for Division 1 runners)

Students will be provided with an opportunity to do a walk-through prior to the event. This will be arranged between the PE team and the classroom teachers. It will be optional and not necessary to participate in any of the races during our carnival.

Interschool sport – Term 2

Interschool sport will start on Friday 2nd May for our Year 5 and 6 students. They will participate in the season with other local schools for a duration of 4 weeks – Weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5 in Term 2.

Students will start to submit their preferences for interschool sport and their sport allocations will be confirmed by the end of this term.

Sports for this season are:
• Boys Touch Football
• Girls Basketball
• Cricket
• Girls & Boys Football (Soccer)
• Tennis Competitive
• Tennis Non-Competitive
• Table Tennis
• School Based Sports

Please note that some of these sports incur a cost and have limited spaces available; however, we aim to place each child in one of their sports of preference.

Parents/Coaches – We are looking for some help!

If you are interested in running some training sessions for our students in Year 5 and 6 prior to the interschool sport season, we would love to hear from you.

We are hoping that we could have some parent volunteers to assist and provide training for the students for the following sports: Boys Touch Football, Girls Basketball, Cricket, and Girls & Boys Football (Soccer) - days and times are yet to be decided and can be negotiated.

Please contact the PE team if you have some experience in any of the sports mentioned above, and if you can help our students to get some training sessions for their sports in Term 2.

District Sport

Please see below an updated 2025 District Trials calendar.

If your child is interested in attending any district trials throughout the year, please email us as soon as possible. We will record their name and send out more information when we receive this from the district. Please note, we can only send a limited number of students from Indooroopilly State School to each trial. If we have many students interested, we will have to hold a trial within the school first. If your child is selected to attend the district trials, we will send paperwork home which will need to be filled out and signed and then sent back to us before the trials. If we do not receive this paperwork on time, we will not be able to nominate your child for the trials. This is a new process from the district going forward this year.

Personalised Embroidered School Hats - Pre-Order Now!

Make you child's school hat easy to identify with custom name embriodery. Order now and ensure your child's hat is easy to find and uniquely theirs.

Orders are only available through Flexischools- https://flexischools.com.au.

Order deadline: 4pm, Friday, 07/03/2025

Delivery Estimate: Early Term 2

Format of name embroidery: Full Surname with First Name Initial

Example: John Smith would be " SMITH J."

Please ensure your child's name is spelled correctly- double check for correct spelling before placing your order.

No Refund or Exchange for order of incorrect size.

Promoting Positive Body Image

Embrace Kids is an amazing documentary created by 2023 Australian of the Year and body image advocate Taryn Brumfit (see preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhQr2FjEeSM). It presents powerful and sometimes hilarious stories of Aussie kids and celebrities concerning the global problem of obsession with appearance. The film teaches kids how to say 'no' to bullying, body shaming, and stereotypes in the media; and how to be respectful and kind to all bodies.

Here are links to access more information about the film and to book tickets to the screening:

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1341054817236790

Ticket page: https://embracekidsfilmscreening.eventbrite.com.au