Dear parents, friends and students,

Welcome to new families of Woodcrest State College and welcome back to all of our existing families.  I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday and despite the delayed beginning to school year, 2022 has started well for you and your family. The staff would like to thank all of you for your patience and understanding with the very different start to the academic year. We appreciate that this may have caused extra pressure on families and it was with great joy for us and no doubt for you that we’ve welcomed students back onsite this week. Thank you also for complying with the ever changing COVID protocols that we operate under. The support and compliance of the Woodcrest College community with the stipulations of the government has meant that we are operating as safely as we can and as a community we will be able to navigate the next month in a way that ensures we can be confident that we are as safe as we can be in the current pandemic.

My name is Jeff Jones and I am the new principal of Woodcrest State College. Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous work that Pat Murphy and the team have done in setting up the school for continued success in 2022.  In conversations with the leadership team and with Pat prior to his departure it is very clear to me that the professionalism of the staff and the vision of the leadership team continues to place Woodcrest, in a very strong position to give your children the best opportunity to succeed.

In the very short time I have been here what has impressed me the most is the enthusiasm of the students and the welcoming attitude I have received from everyone. This is clearly a proud school with a positive tone and I am very pleased to be here.

A little bit about me.

I am a married to Jo, who is a primary school principal in the Logan area and we have five children and two grandchildren.  I did my primary, secondary and tertiary education in Brisbane before becoming a career educator. I have worked as a teacher at Crow’s Nest, Texas, Moranbah, Meringandan and Harlaxton. I worked as a deputy at principal at Middle Ridge and Gatton and as a principal at Helidon, Rockville, Wilsonton, Bwgcolman (Palm Island) The Willows, Labrador and Greenbank.

 I believe that schools are the focal point of a community. We should be the one place that, where possible, all decisions are child centred and that those decisions are made with the very best of intentions taking into consideration personal and familial circumstances along with professional experience and guidance. As educators and parents, we all want the very best for our children. It’s important that we work together to achieve this and do so by really listening and supporting each other, so that every Woodcrest students succeeds.

I can already see the very high levels of care and concern for the welfare and academic outcomes that the staff have for your children. With the range of support mechanisms in place that the college offers, along with the myriad of programs and the quality of the personnel, the positive reputation that Woodcrest State College enjoys as an excellent school is richly deserved.

Over the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to meeting more of the students and their families. As we continue to open up and navigate the impact of social distancing we aim to have many opportunities for you, as a community to be onsite and involved in the life of the college, especially given that as an education site in Springfield, we are in our 25^th year. 

Regards, 

Jeff Jones
Executive Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the return of the 2022 school year. In particular I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new students and families to the school. Woodcrest State College is a wonderful school and we hope you enjoy all that the school has to offer.

This week we were very excited to greet and meet our students back on campus. The school has worked hard to ensure the implementation of the required health measures, as per the Return to School Roadmap, to maximise learning and to support the health and wellbeing of our staff and students.

Our explicit improvement agenda for our school in 2022 continues to focus on Quality Teaching. Over the past fortnight our teachers have worked diligently on planning and preparing their lessons, and deepening their understanding of their learners in each of their classes. Additionally, they have delivered a week of online learning to Year 11s and 12s and engaged in a range of professional learning activities to maximise student engagement and the impact of their pedagogy.

We have commenced the school year by renewing our focus on high expectations for teaching and learning. As students move from a vacation period into a new school term, it is important we revisit our school values of Respect, Resilience and Responsibility, or what I have referred to our students as the Woodcrest Way. Students feel more connected and a sense of belonging to the school when they get involved and are fully engaged in school life. This means attending every day and every lesson when well, wearing the uniform with pride, following the classroom and playground expectations and getting involved in the opportunities that exist across the school within the arts, sports, tutoring, homework club and cultural activities.

The attendance goal of our College four-year plan is that all students maintain a yearly attendance rate of 93% and above. The research tells us that students who attend school regularly experience better life outcomes, particularly in terms of health and employment. Students who attend school all day, every day: learn better, make friends, are happier and have a brighter future. We appreciate during this pandemic student will fall ill and we ask that you follow the health advice to ensure students stay home when sick. However, unless sick, it is more important than ever that students stay connected and attend school every day to maintain their learning and engagement with school.

In term 1 we have a number of new staff to the College. We welcome our new Executive Principal Mr Jeff Jones. Mr Jones brings a wealth of leadership experience to our College and the staff and student body look forward to working with Mr Jones in 2022.

We also welcome the following staff to the Secondary Campus:

• Ms Katrina Davies (coming across from Primary campus) – English / Humanities
• Ms Emily Deas – English/Humanities
• Ms Tiffany Brown – English / Humanities / HPE
• Ms Kay Buru – Home Economics
• Ms Maddison Peterson-Northey - Drama/Dance
• Ms Kaitlin Pollock - HPE
• Mr Jeremy Schultz – Digital Technologies, ICT, Science
• Ms Jason Zadkovich - Music / Media
• Ms Shay Anderson – HPE
• Ms Kuldeep Kaur – Maths/Science
• Ms Tracey Waitere-Colter – Inclusion/Visual Arts
• Ms Joslyn Christians - Inclusion
• Mr Mark Johnson – Maths / Science
• Ms Robyn Allom – Visual Art/Drama

We welcome our new Youth Support Coordinator, Ms Kylie Arnold from ICYS, who joins us two days a week, working Monday and Tuesday. Kylie joins our Student Services team with a specific focus on student support.

Our teaching and student support team is ready for a wonderful year with our Woodcrest students and we look forward to the exciting things our students will achieve in 2022.

Take care and stay well.

Kelsey Oakes
Principal - Secondary

Welcome to the start of the 2022 school year from the Deputy Principals!

It was wonderful to see all of our students back on Monday.  During our Roll Class lessons we set the scene for the year ahead. During these sessions, students were explicitly taught our school’s expectations regarding behaviour, school uniform and assessment. Students were issued their new student diary, which contains links to the documentation around this and provides important resources for our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons.

A special welcome to all new students, in particular our Year 7 students. We have been very impressed with the way you have started high school and look forward to getting to know each and everyone of you over the coming weeks and months. As a school, we highly value communication between home and school. Your student’s Roll Class teacher will be your first port of call for most issues. For other issues or concerns, please feel free to contact Year Coordinator, Ms Jessica Maxwell, Junior Secondary HOD, Mr Steve Lennon, or the Year 7 Deputy Principal, Mr Greg Hanrahan.

School Photos

Students will take home today information from photography company MSP regarding our upcoming school photo day planned for Monday 21^st February. Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 must wear their formal uniform for their photo. All students must dress to the standard outlined in the Student Dress Code including with respect to jewellery. Photo order forms must be returned on the day directly to MSP staff or orders made via their website.

School Travel

Students are reminded that they are accountable for their behaviour while travelling to and from school. While they are wearing the school uniform they are representatives of our school community and as such, appropriate conduct is expected of all students. Whether walking, riding or catching public transport to school, students are expected to display manners and courtesy to all members of the public. Additionally, students need to ensure that they have their bus/train cards and or pay for their fares upon embarking on public transport.

A reminder also that students are not permitted to leave the school grounds between 8:50am and 2:50pm. Parents/Carers are asked to phone the school and organise collection of their students from the attendance office if there is a need to leave school during the day. Additionally, students are not permitted to leave the school grounds during break times to access local shops or private houses.

Leadership Investiture & High Achievers of 2021 Ceremony

The Secondary Student Leadership Investiture Ceremony will take place on Monday 21^st February. Due to the current health restrictions this event has been scaled down compared with previous years and therefore only invited guests are permitted to attend. Our Year 12 students along with our Junior and Senior School Captains will receive their badges. We look forward to celebrating and acknowledging both our School Captains and our Year 12 students as they embark on their final year of school.

Unfortunately, due to the current restrictions we have postponed the celebration of our High Achieving Students of 2021, including the announcement of our 2021 Senior Dux.  We look forward to organising this event once the restrictions are eased. In the meantime, we celebrate the following achievements of our 2021 students:

• 99.3% QCE attainment
• Students with a Certificate II qualification: 100%
• Students with a Cert III or above qualification: 37%
• 73.53% of students with ATARS 60 and above
• Average pass rate of 91% across all Year 12 subjects

Regards, 

Amy McAleer - Deputy Principal - Years 11 & 12
Michelle Hampson - Deputy Principal – Years 9 & 10
Greg Hanrahan - Deputy Principal – Years 7 & 8
Jessica Brown - Deputy Principal - Inclusion

• If your child/ren are sick, keep them at home. If they display COVID-19 symptoms get tested and  follow Queensland Health advice for positive cases or close contacts
• If  student develops COVID -19 symptoms while at the college they will be removed from other students and parents contacted. The parent will be issued with a RAT to take home and administer. Under no circumstances will RATs be administered on the college grounds or by college staff.
• All secondary students are required to wear a mask while standing or moving about indoors, but may remove their mask when seated or if able to maintain a 1.5 metre distance from others whilst interacting with others or outdoors. 
• Students in Years 3-6 are strongly encouraged to wear a mask when physical distancing is not possible.
• The college has masks available as needed for students.

We have moved! The following support staff have relocated from M5 to the old iHUB building:

• Jess Maxwell (7 and 8 Level Coordinator)
• Sarah Kinninment (9 and 10 Level Coordinator)
• Judith Fuata (11 and 12 Coordinator)
• James Somerville (Head of Student Engagement and Wellbeing)
• Amanda Moran (Student Support Officer)
• Sarah Malkinson and Sam Chard (Inclusion Coordinators)
• Chappy Steve
• Belinda Duroux (Community Education Councillor)
• Trent Manukuo (Pacifica Teacher Aide)
• Rendy Mam (Beyond Broncos Student Support Officer)

The purpose of this move is to increase student access to support available in the areas of both wellbeing and curriculum. We have created a multi-disciplinary team that is leading wellbeing and engagement within our school and establish a safe, supportive and inclusive environment in which all students belong, are proud of their identity and Thrive.

Students who are seeking assistance for uniforms, lunch time activities, playground incidents or are just looking for a quiet place to reset are encouraged to visit iThrive. iThrive activities are subject to change based on government advice and a schedule of activities within the school will be circulated with students shortly.

Information has been sent to the parents of year seven students regarding our upcoming week 9 camp. We strongly encourage all year seven students to participate in this activity as it helps set them up for a successful high school experience. Participation in extra-curricular activities such as camps helps students to develop a stronger connection with school, assists them to make new friends and provides an opportunity for them to get to know year seven teaching staff.

https://www.campsomerset.org.au/school-programs

Steven Lennon – Head of Junior Secondary

At Woodcrest, our teaching philosophy is based on the gradual release of responsibility.   We teach our students to develop skills to become independent and lifelong learners. 

From Prep through to Year 12, our students and teachers use the RESPECT framework to guide their studies. 

This week, teachers and students have been busy in the “ready to learn” phase understanding the importance of being prepared for learning. 

In each class, students have a learning intention which guides what they need to know and understand for the learning activity.  They also have success criteria to clearly know how to achieve their learning goal. 

In classrooms as part of our seamless education here at Woodcrest, we display our learning intentions and success criteria to allow students to take ownership and pride with their learning. 

Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander primary students are invited to attend a yarning circle at first break every Monday starting week 6 on the 1^st March 2022. Indigenous staff will run the yarning circle at the bush tucker garden in the primary campus. For more information contact Mr Pullen dxpul1@eq.ed.au or Ms Fitzgerald mahsa9@eq.edu.au