Newsletter 110 - 15th October 2025

Principal's News

Welcome to Week 2!

We are a sun safe school, and I would like to remind all parents and students that it is important to have a hat at school each day.

Thank you to all parents for supporting our main school focus area: - Reading.

It is important that children are encouraged to read at home.

This term staff and students have been focusing on reading and vocabulary. Children have been learning about word meanings, phonemes and syllables.

All staff are looking forward to an improvement in reading results at the end of the term.

Thank you to all students who wear their helmets to school. Please remind your child to ride slowly on the footpaths, wear their helmet and to travel home safely at the end of each school day.

New things Happening in the School and New Ideas: -

STEM – Year 5 11th November (This is a free event) Seagull Disrupter Challenge

STEM – Year 6 25th November (This is a free event) Reef Challenge

We are very lucky to have AusBike coming to the school. If your child does not have a bike, please note that AusBike have spare bikes. Please ensure that the permission form is handed in before Friday 17th.

AusBike is happening on the 17th of October for Year 4,5, and 6 students. This is a free event. The timetable is below:

Friday 17th October

9:00 am - 9:45am         Year 4 (26 students)

9:50 am – 10:35am      Year 4 from 3-4 (6 students)

Break 10:45 to 11:30 am

11:30am - 12:30pm       Year 5 (30 students)

Break 12:30-1:30pm

1:30pm - 2:20pm           Year 6 (22 students)

Celebrating our Successes: - Students have already received many tokens for their excellent behaviour and leaning. We are now introducing the Golden Token. This Token is for student who have over 125 tokens.

Our Sladey Superstars has been remarkably successful, and many students have received awards.

During parades, we are always celebrating the great behaviour displayed by our students. Students are presented with their 25 certificate, and then their 50,75 and 100 badges. 

Facilities and Maintenance: - Our toilets are currently being upgraded. This is extremely exciting for our school.

C Block will have some work completed during next term. This is around the ceiling being replaced. A date has not been given for the work to commence.

Our Prep-1 and Year 3 classes have moved to alternative classrooms, pending work commencing.

I am pleased to announce that All Modular Buildings have now been completed with boarding at the bottom.

Our PBL Expectations and reminders for weeks 1 and 2: -

We will continue to focus on: Be Safe

Looking at this term. It is going to be extremely exciting.

31st October - Disco Halloween 5-7:00 pm 4:50 pm gates open – Just Slade Point Community – Parents are to stay.

11th November Remembrance Parade Due to STEM supports on this day Year 5 will remain in class and acknowledge with 1 minute silence Hall 10:15 to 10:45 am

Angie Malone

Admin News

Calendar

Playgroup

M.O.B. Festival

Dear instrumental families,

 We now have our times for M.O.B. festival. It will take place on Saturday 18^th October at Powerhouse, located at the Mackay Christian College Junior Campus 17 Ambrose Way, Mackay North.

Times

Beginners: please arrive at 12:20 for a performance time of 1:05pm (adjudication at 1:45pm)

Ensemble: please arrive at 1:10, for a performance time of 1:55pm (adjudication at 3pm)

Beginners may sit with parents after performing if they wish to stay until the adjudication. If parents are dropping off and picking up, beginners must stay with Mrs Henderson as she moves to the warm up room for the ensemble students.

 Students are to wear school uniform and bring their instruments and music. Mrs Henderson will give everyone a Cultural Shirt on the Friday before at school.

 If families are unable to arrange transport, please speak to Mrs Henderson about a lift.

 Your child will receive a permission note tomorrow. Please let us know ASAP if your child is unable to attend.

 Kind regards,

 Hilary Henderson

The Arts

Slade Point State School

Instrumental News

Instrumental Program for 2026

Letters went out this week inviting students to be part of the instrumental program for 2026. If you child did not receive a letter but you would like them to be considered for the program, please contact Mrs Henderson hahen0@eq.edu.au to discuss this further. These discussions must take place before the end of this year, as students will not be admitted into the 2026 program after the start of next year.

About the program: At Slade Point the instrumental program consists of instruction in one of three string instruments: violin, viola and cello. Miss Lauren Menzies teaches instrumental programs at school across Mackay, and we are fortunate to have her with us teaching small group lessons and string ensemble on Wednesday afternoons. Lessons take place during school time, and instruments can be hired from the school. There are some fees associated with beginning in the string program, but the lessons themselves are free. Students are expected to practise their instrument regularly, and once a commitment has been made, it is expected that students see out the whole year. There are limited places in the program, so we want to make sure they go to students who are able and willing to be committed to the program.

Measles

There have recently been measles outbreaks in various parts of the state.  Notably, alerts are current for Cairns, Gold Coast, Townsville and Mackay  See link. https://www.health.qld.gov.au/newsroom/alerts  

As part of your infection control program, please communicate the following with your staff and school community.

 Queensland Health advises that:

 Measles is a highly infectious virus that is spread by coughing and sneezing or through direct contact with secretions from the nose or mouth. Symptoms usually start 7-10 days after contact with an infected person but can sometimes take as long as three weeks.

 Symptoms

The initial symptoms of measles can include fever, lethargy, runny nose, moist cough and sore red eyes. This is followed a few days later by a blotchy, red rash which often starts on the face and then becomes widespread over the body.

 What you should do

If you have any measles symptoms, you can arrange testing with your doctor or call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for advice. If you think you may have measles, it is very important that you avoid public spaces. Please contact your GP and pathology services before attending so they can take appropriate precautions to avoid spreading measles to others. When you call, state that you have been in contact with a measles case.

 Vaccination

Vaccination is an important step towards reducing the risk associated with vaccine preventable diseases and keeping people safe. People who have been vaccinated against or previously contracted measles are very unlikely to catch the disease even if they have been exposed. Those who are at highest risk of contracting measles include people who:

• have a weakened immune system or,
• were born during or after 1966 and have no documented evidence of having received 2 doses of a measles containing vaccine or
• have not been infected with measles before

 Measles-containing vaccine is recommended for children as part of the National Immunisation Program at 12 months of age as MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine, and at 18 months of age as MMRV (measles-mumps-rubella-varicella) vaccine. Queensland has an extended Immunisation Program for:

• Children aged 6 months to less than 12 months who are travelling to a country where measles is endemic, or where outbreaks are occurring, both overseas and in Australia.
• People born during or since 1966 to have two funded doses of measles containing vaccine

If you are unsure of your vaccine status, contact your doctor to discuss whether you may need a vaccine.

The MMR vaccine is free and available at GPs and participating community pharmacies.

 For more information:

• Measles fact sheet
• Call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84)
• Vaccination Matters

Reef Guardian School Eco Challenge Winners!

Reef Guardian School Eco Challenge Winners!

As part of our commitment to being a Reef Guardian School, in term 3 students from the Sladey Solvers participated in the Reef Guardian Schools 2025 Eco Challenge. This involved choosing from a variety of marine-themed challenges that inspire students to care for the Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs worldwide.

We selected challenge one, where students were asked to create a protected species themed artwork for a polo shirt, cap or hat. All students who participated will receive a certificate for their efforts. We are excited to announce that we had 5 of our students selected as winners for this section!

Congratulations to Kovi, Maggie and Leearni (year 4) Lily M (year 5) and Angella (year 6)! These students will receive a certificate, a Reef Guardian hat, and a Reef Authority Virtual Learning Experience for their class.

Check out the wonderful work of our talented students which will be displayed at school. Well done to all students who gave this a go!

Mrs Henderson, Mrs Dawson and Ms Armstrong.