Carbrook State School eNewsletter

Carbrook State School Uniform

With the winter getting colder now lots of children are wearing jumpers to school. Could you please ensure your child is wearing a bottle green Carbrook State School Jumper.

Please ensure that all school uniform items are labelled with your child's name so it can be returned to the classroom if left here at school.

Carbrook_State_School_Uniform_Policy_June_2023.pdf

Deputy Principal Kerry-Ann Reese

As you are aware, Carbrook State School uses an organisational/Multi-Tiered System of Support framework called PBL (Positive Behaviour for Learning) which draws on the principles of implementation science and Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) to select culturally appropriate evidence-based practices to support all students and to help schools achieve their school improvement goals.

PBL uses a prevention logic to anticipate potential problems and put proactive supports in place to increase the likelihood of student success. Preventative measures include:

PBL takes an instructional approach to behaviour meaning there is an importance on explicitly teaching students how to meet the behavioural expectations. Behaviour is taught in exactly the same way as academics, using direct instruction, modelling and guided practice. When students fail to meet expectations, we treat this as a behavioural error and provide additional prompts and re-teaching.

This year, as outlined in our School’s Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) we have prioritised regenerating our Tier 1 supports or in other words universal supports.

Aim of Tier 1 supports are:

* to provide support to all students to reduce the need for targeted and intensive intervention (Tier 2 and 3).

* to prevent the majority of foreseeable problems from arising in the first place.

* to provide support to all students and be consistent across the school with our expectations.

Consistency plays a paramount role in managing student behaviour effectively. By upholding consistent expectations, consequences, and responses to behaviour, the Carbrook community can establish a predictable and fair environment for students to thrive. Consistency reinforces the message that positive behaviour is valued and rewarded, while negative behaviour has clear consequences. When behavioural expectations and routines are consistently applied, students develop a sense of security and trust in the learning environment, enabling them to better understand and internalise expected behaviours. Consistency fosters a shared understanding among teachers, staff, and students, promoting a unified approach to managing behaviour and reinforcing the positive values upheld by the school community. By emphasising consistency in dealing with student behaviour, we can create a stable foundation for academic and personal growth, nurturing students' social-emotional development and lifelong skills.

Carbrook State School strives to work with our community to nurture safe, respectful, responsible learners who are curious, caring, collaborative and courageous, ensuring success for everyone in an inclusive environment. We lead our children on an engaging journey through the Australian Curriculum. Every day counts.

In order to nurture safe, respectful, responsible learners we need to establish expectations for the classrooms and explicitly teach routines to create safe, positive learning environments. Routines are sequences of recurring tasks or actions, for example, entering the classroom, designed and taught by the teacher and practised by students to become automatic. They should be taught explicitly to students, in the same way as curriculum content and skills.

This term, we have introduced a number of whole-school routines designed to promote positive behaviours and ensure consistency of expectations across all settings.

These routines include clear procedures for transitions between lessons, designated eating areas, lining up and entering classrooms, and behaviour expectations in shared spaces such as the playground and walkways. By setting consistent expectations and modelling them daily, we are supporting students to make positive choices and thrive in their learning environment. When students do not demonstrate the expected behaviours, students engage in a short practice session where the expected behaviours are retaught and reinforced at the beginning of play time each day for approximately 5 minutes.

BEFORE SCHOOL ROUTINE

ENTERING A CLASSROOM ROUTINE

TRANSITIONING ROUTINE

EATING ROUTINE

As a community, we thank you for your continued support in reinforcing these routines at home and partnering with us to promote respectful and responsible behaviour.

Life Education Timetable

Life Education Prep - Year 6

When: Monday 23 June to Friday 27 June

Cost: $13

Deputy Principal Judd Mackie

Now that the Years 4, 5 & 6 have attended their camps for this year, we wish to survey the school community’s interest in camps for 2026. Please scan the QR Code and complete the survey to have your say. Thank you.

Head of Curriculum Jess Carson

Understanding the New Semester 1 Report Card – A Positive Change for Student Learning

As part of our school’s transition to the Version 9 (v9) Australian Curriculum, you will notice some exciting and important changes to how your child’s learning is reported on their Semester 1 report card. These changes are part of a national shift in curriculum and assessment practices, designed to better reflect how children learn, make reporting clearer, and—most importantly—support student engagement, progress, and achievement over time.

📘 What You Can Expect in Semester 1 Reports (Years 1–6)

Your child’s Semester 1 report card will include:

✅ Achievement level for English and Mathematics

✅ Effort marks for English and Mathematics

✅ Behaviour mark and comment

✅ Overall comment summarising strengths, progress and future learning goals

🚫 No achievement grades for Science, HASS, The Arts, Technologies or HPE this semester

These subjects are still being taught and monitored—but your child’s achievement will now be assessed at the end of the year using a portfolio of work gathered across all four terms and will be reported on in the Semester 2 reports. This approach offers a clearer, more accurate picture of their learning against the year level curriculum achievement standards, which are designed to be met ‘by the end of the year’.

For example, ‘By the end of Year 5 students explain how the form and behaviour of living things enables survival.’

🌏 What About Japanese?

📚 Years 1–4: Effort mark only
📚 Years 5–6: Achievement level and effort mark

📚 Included in the Semester 2 reports

🧸 What will be in the Prep Reports?

For our youngest learners, Semester 1 and 2 reports will include:

✅ Achievement levels for English, Mathematics and HPE

🎨 All other subjects will be ‘experienced’, meaning students explore them through play-based and guided learning but are not formally assessed and reported on

This reflects an age-appropriate, student-centred approach where the focus in Prep is on building strong foundations in language, numeracy, and wellbeing while fostering curiosity and positive attitudes toward learning. Teachers still monitor and respond to each child’s development in all areas, but formal grading is reserved for the key focus areas of early learning.

✨ Why the Change?

The updated curriculum encourages a more holistic approach to student learning and assessment. Rather than being based on a single task or test, your child’s achievement will now be assessed across a range of learning experiences throughout the year. This gives your child a full school year to demonstrate their learning and understanding, whist still providing an update on literacy and numeracy progress mid-way through the year.

Benefits:

Allows more time for rich, engaging teaching and deeper, more meaningful learning
Reduces stress and pressure around mid-year assessments
Places greater focus on assessment as learning, where teachers use assessment to guide next steps and support individual needs – relevant assessment to supporting learning, not just measure it
Allows teachers to assess a collection (portfolio) of learning, rather than isolated tasks
Ensures that reporting is based on consistent and sustained learning, not just a moment in time, providing a more accurate and well-rounded reflection of your child’s understanding and growth
Fosters greater student confidence and motivation as they work towards their goals

💬 Working Together to Support Success

We are confident that these changes represent a positive shift that supports how children actually learn—over time, through a variety of experiences, and in ways that build confidence and engagement. Thank you for your continued partnership in your child’s education. If you have any questions about the new report format please contact Jess, Head of Curriculum at Carbrook. Parent Partnership meetings will still be offered in Terms 1 and 3 as usual, however if would like to discuss your child’s progress, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher at any stage.

Contact details: Jess Carson - Head of Curriculum – email: jjste0@eq.edu.au

Positive Behaviour Learning PBL

Student Council Free Dress Day

Carbrook State School's Student Council would like to say thank you to everyone who bought cup cakes and donated a gold coin during the last State of Origin. The Student Council were able to raise $485:05.

ARTS & Technologies

Celebrating the Spirit of Skill-Sharing at Carbrook

At Carbrook State School, collaboration and caring are more than just values on a poster — they are alive in the everyday actions of our remarkable students. This term, we’ve seen some wonderful examples of how these values flourish when students take the lead in sharing their knowledge and supporting one another.

In Year 3, we watched with pride as one student patiently taught a classmate how to make a loom band bracelet. What made this moment even more special was that the same student later became a learner herself, guided by a peer who showed her how to sew with a needle and thread — an essential skill for completing her costume. This beautiful exchange of skills and kindness perfectly captured the heart of peer-to-peer learning.

Our Year 5 students also demonstrated extraordinary teamwork and initiative. After camp saw a number of absences, some students found themselves needing to catch up on dance choreography. Without any prompting from their teacher, their classmates stepped up, quickly teaching them a range of choreographic devices and ensuring everyone was included and on track. The use of different canon types and movement patterns showed not only technical understanding but a deep commitment to helping each other succeed.

Meanwhile, down in the junior school, a very clever Year 2 student devised what has now been affectionately dubbed “the Tobias Method” — a creative and efficient way to cut down production time when making hanging jellyfish artworks. His inventive approach has since been adopted by students across the younger grades, proving that great ideas can come from anyone, at any age.

These stories are more than just charming moments — they are powerful reminders that learning is a shared journey. Whether it’s through sewing, dancing, or designing, our students are showing every day that when we work together and care for one another, we all go further.

Well done, Carbrook students — your generosity, creativity, and collaboration continue to inspire us all.

Library News

Author Visit: Gregg Dreise Ignites Imaginations!

Last week, we had the incredible privilege of hosting Gregg Dreise, a talented First Nations storyteller, right here at Carbrook State School! Gregg is on a journey to share his vibrant stories across Australia, and we were so lucky he included us on his travels.

Gregg captivated our students with his dynamic performance, weaving together storytelling, live illustrations, and the enchanting sounds of the didgeridoo. His high-energy presentation kept everyone thoroughly engaged, sparking creativity and filling the room with laughter.

Our teachers were on the lookout for students who showed exceptional engagement during Gregg's visit, and we're thrilled that some lucky students received a special copy of one of his books. A few of these books were even personally signed by Gregg himself!

A huge shout out to all our students for their respectful and enthusiastic behaviour throughout Gregg's visit. And a big congratulations to those students who took home a signed book – what a fantastic memento of a truly memorable day!

To truly capture the impact of Gregg’s visit, hear directly from some of our students about their favourite moments.

Here are some comments from -

PA:

“I like when he did the songs.”

“I can’t believe how he did magic tricks.”

“I loved when he pretended there was a snake in the bag to scare Mrs McDonald.”

Year 4:

“He taught us how to draw and not worry if we make a mistake. Don’t throw the picture out, if a line is wrong, that’s ok. Just rub the line out.”

“He was so funny and we were never bored.”

Year 6:

It was an extraordinary opportunity to have the renowned First Nations author/illustrator, Gregg
Dreise, come to our school and share his stories. When he shared with the year 6’s, he demonstrated some drawings and explained some techniques that you wouldn’t think about when looking at drawings. He also told us about some traditions and some things that First Nations Australians used to tell what time of year it was. It was just magical learning some phrases in an Aboriginal language and hearing about Gregg’s struggles and accomplishments. Overall, I think it was an amazing experience having Gregg Dreise come to Carbrook.

Reading at Home, Ideas and Strategies

With the Premier’s Reading Challenge in full swing around the state it seems a great time to talk about how we can support our children with reading. Reading is an essential life skill that children cannot learn through exposure only. This means that it takes explicit teaching through a Systematic Synthetic Phonics program and practise to master the skills to be able to read. At Carbrook State School we teach using the latest evidence-based reading strategies and have a strong reading support program. Whilst reading at school is taught in the most effective way research shows there is also a lot that can be done at home to support children learning to read and to assist struggling or reluctant readers.

What is Systematic Synthetic Phonics?

Systematic Synthetic Phonics teaches children to recognise the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words and how to blend them together to read. It’s “systematic” because it follows a clear sequence from simple to more complex sounds, and “synthetic” because children are taught to synthesise, or blend, sounds to read whole words.

How Can Parents Help at Home?

Practise Sounds Daily: Spend a few minutes each day revising the sounds your child is learning in class. Focus on one sound at a time and practise reading the sound then move on to reading and writing simple words using that sound.

Blend Sounds Together: Encourage your child to sound out words and blend them together (e.g., c-a-t becomes “cat”). This is the key skill in early reading.

Use Decodable Readers: These books are written to match the sounds your child is learning. They allow children to read successfully and build confidence. There are plenty of decodable readers at the local library and online using our school reading program Decodable Readers Australia (DRA) and your child’s log in.

How to Create a Reading Culture at Home

Access to plenty of books: Having access to plenty of books doesn’t need to be expensive. Trips to the local library can help children to become more excited for reading as they can choose their own stories and topics that interest them.

Modelling Reading: Most children love being read to! (Even reluctant readers). Reading to your child helps them to see and hear what reading looks and sounds like, helps build their own reading fluency and most importantly it demonstrates to children that reading is enjoyable. When reading to your child it can be helpful to follow the words you are reading with your finger. This helps reinforce many reading concepts and offers further opportunities for your child to see word/ sound patterns.

Tips to Help Reluctant or Struggling Readers: Learning to read isn’t easy for all children and often children who find reading difficult become very reluctant to read and avoid reading. Here are a few tips to help engage reluctant readers

Practise reading in the morning when they are less tired and their minds are fresher.
Break up the reading time 2 x 15 minute
Create a cosy, comfortable area to cuddle up with your child and maybe a little treat
Reading comics or graphic novels appropriate to your child’s age level can engage reluctant readers
Taking turns with your child to read, where they read a page and then you read a page
Have your child read to their younger siblings and pets
Siblings could take turns reading to each other
Magazines on your child’s areas of interest such as bikes, cars, animals or science can engage
Research topics of interest with your child to help them engage in reading
Writing small notes for your child’s lunch box or in their bedroom/ play areas
Write high frequency words (sight words) on paper and play hide and seek to find the words
Adding E-books to computers and iPad’s that are read to children can help engage children who prefer digital technology. Our school program Decodable Readers Australia (DRA) has a great section of books.

Keeping up reading practise, especially when children find reading challenging, is not always easy. Hopefully some of these tips can help your child develop their reading skills