I can’t believe two weeks of term 3 have already passed! So much going on at the moment.

Firstly, can I draw your attention to an email you will have received inviting you to complete the 2025 School Opinion Survey. This is an important feedback tool for schools and we will be grateful for a large survey response!

You will, by now, be aware that our official opening of the hall takes place on Monday. We will be welcoming the Minister for Education, The Director General for Education and our Regional Director. This will be a great opportunity for our school community to come together to celebrate the completion of this excellent facility.

Thank you to all parents and carers for supporting our annual 100 Days of Prep celebration. I loved visiting the classrooms on that day and seeing all the creative activities that were taking place, and joining in as the young students counted to 100 in so many different ways. It was a delightful morning.

Congratulations to all our sports stars this week. A number of students competed in the annual City District Football Championships at Aspley SHS earlier in the week, and then another large group showed off their skills and talents at the District Athletics Carnival. I have already heard about some significant sporting achievements at this carnival. Well done, Wilston! Continuing the sporting theme, it was great that we were able to send 30 students to the '7 Years until 2032' Olympic event. These students had the opportunity to participate in a range of Olympic sports, including a blindfolded version of the paralympic sport, Goalball.

On Friday, Ms Wellway and I spent the day at a STEM inspiration event at UQ (St Lucia). We all had the opportunity to hear Australia’s Chief Scientist speak, as well as engage in a scavenger hunt, where we saw the world’s longest continually running science experiment – The Pitch Drop Experiment. A great day overall!

Our P&C and the Fete committee are doing such an awesome job to ensure the 2025 Fete will be a huge success. They are still seeking a range of donations including children’s books, chocolates, lego and toys. Pleased drop donations at the Office or Wilston Kids Care.

Lastly, there are a number of facilities projects occurring around the school. These include phase 1 of the prep playground renovation, and some painting between J and L blocks. We appreciate your patience as these progress.

I told you that there was lots going on! I think that’s all for now though.

Have a great fortnight, Wilston! Take care.

Michael Sawbridge
Principal

Prep Interviews Start Next Week - from 28 July 2025. Enrol Now to receive your booking link - https://wilstonss.eq.edu.au/enrolments/ 

On Tuesday our Prep classes celebrated 100 Days of Prep, which also meant 100 Days of Learning and 100 Days SMARTER for our prep cohort.

It was a day full of excitement and lots of learning and counting.

Our students were engaged in many activities, they also had photo opportunities and lots of arts and craft.

I loved reading about what the students thought they would look like and be doing when they were 100 years old.

Most agreed that they would have grey hair or be bald, but their energy levels would not diminish, so they will be a very active group of centenarians.

A big shout out to our wonderful staff for making 100 Days of Prep such a memorable event for our youngest students, and a big thanks to parents for helping make this a great celebration.

The Wilston Science Competition is being held in Term 3.  The aims of the competition include:

• stimulate an ongoing interest in science
• encourage students in the process of self-motivated project work
• recognise student effort and achievement
• improve student research, writing and presentation skills
• improve links between school, students and parents

The competition will be competitive but not compulsory to enter.  Students can enter in the following divisions:

Division 1: Prep and Years 1, 2

Division 2: Years 3, 4, 5

Division 3: Year 6

Students may enter individually, with a partner, or as a group of three, provided that when two or more students work together, all are eligible for entry in the same division.

Entries must be in one of the following categories:

1. Classified Collection
2. Scientific Investigation
3. Communicating Science
4. Mathematical Investigation
5. Models and Inventions
6. Environmental Action Project

Work at home will be necessary, and we ask that all parental assistance be acknowledged.  Entries close Thursday, 18 September 2025 (Term 3, Week 10).  A judging panel will judge the entries. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placegetters in each division.  Other entries may qualify for a Highly Commended certificate.  All students will receive a certificate of participation.  In addition, separate prizes will be awarded for a ‘Young Scientist of the Year’ (Divisions 2 and 3) and a ‘Junior Scientist of the Year’ (Division 1). Only Scientific Investigation entries are eligible for the Young/Junior Scientist of the Year prizes.

A competition handbook providing detailed information on all the entry categories, judging criteria entry/declaration forms is attached to the Wilston Weekly to download as a PDF. All queries should be directed to Mr Brendan Medlin (Science Teacher) (bmedl2@eq.edu.au).

Book Week 2025 is coming!

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected to compete at the City District Carnival on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 July. 

In Week 1 of Term 3, we celebrated NAIDOC Week — a meaningful occasion that honoured 50 years of Indigenous voices, culture, and resilience.

A small team of staff had  been working behind the scenes to help bring this event to life. We provided a resource for each year level and also planned  fun and engaging lunchtime activities for students to enjoy throughout the week. 

Wilston was one of 7 schools invited to take part in a special event this week.  Mr Bell and a small group of students headed into the RNA Showgrounds to help mark an Olympic milestone - 7 years until the 2032 Olympic Games start in Brisbane.  Students formed the number 7 on the main arena before heading off to participate in various Olympic and Paralympic activities including Athletics, Football, Hockey, Goal ball and Volleyball. They got plenty of tips (and autographs) from Olympic and Paralympic athletes and heard them speak about their own sporting journey.  It was a very special event, inspiring but also exciting as 7 years is not that far away!  Thank you to the Department of Education and the Department of Sport, Racing and Olympic and Paralympic Games for the opportunity to participate.  We are left to wonder if we saw any future Olympians amongst the students on the day?

Welcome back to Term 3 - this is an exciting term with a couple of very big events coming up. We heard great things about our vacation care program run by Raeleen and her excellent Educators on the recent holidays, thank you to our team!  (A little reminder to give our educators an extra big thank you next Wednesday, 30 July - its National OSHC Educators Day!) 

The P&C is looking forward to seeing stage 1 of the prep playground finished to bring a refreshed ball games area and some new grassed play space for our smallest students.  This has been delivered through the contributions of our community to P&C events and fundraising and we are so glad to have the opportunity to provide this important open space work for our school  Have you seen the works underway yet?  

Phase two will be brought to life with our school community's help - the profits from our upcoming fete on 30 August will be directly transferred to the 'phase two fund' replacing the play equipment and softfall closest to Thomas Street which is badly in need of updating. We warmly welcome all of our families, extended, future and past families and our amazing local community to share a fun day on our oval, raising funds to finish the playgound! 

To stay in the loop on fete event information, please keep an eye on the regular fete news (Monday every fortnight) or follow the P&C facebook or instagram pages where updates, comps, early bird deals and reminders will all appear.  Just 5 weeks to go! 

Finally, the second playdates for our P-2 families on our oval are coming up - mark your diaries and plan your picnics! They were so much fun last time, looking forward to seeing the adventurous afternoons ahead: 

Prep: Sunday 3 August, 3-4pm:

Grade 1 Playdate: Sunday 10 August, 3-4pm

Grade 2 Playdate: Sunday 17 August, 3-4pm

We have a busy calendar in August and September and we are looking forward to seeing our families enjoy some social events! 

Click here for the latest news from Wilston Kids Care.

Technicolour Multicultural Festival - Art Competition

Students are welcome to collect an entry from the office. Art work is due on August 16, 2025.