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Dear Parents and Carers,
Firstly, sincere thanks to parents who attended our recent round of Parent-Teacher interviews. These are an important part of our reporting process and I know parents value the opportunity to hear teachers’ perspectives on student progress. Also, thank you for your admirable patience as our schedule went somewhat awry, especially in the year 5/6 zone!
Staff News
Miss Beth Cooper, (Head of Department – Curriculum) has been invited to act as Principal at Hendra State School for 4 weeks, commencing on Tuesday 6th May. We wish her all the very best in this new position and look forward to her return later this term. In other staff news, Mrs Miranda Charters will be seconded to the Queensland Virtual Academy for the remainder of 2025. Mrs Charters has done an exceptional job with classroom music and with the choirs at Wilston, so she will be sorely missed. Miranda will be replaced by Ms Liesl Murray from the start of week 5. Ms Murray has rich experience with teaching music to primary aged students and with conducting choirs.
ANZAC Day
Our annual ANZAC ceremony was, once again, perfectly pitched for our students. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend, and a shout out to Miss Cooper for her organisation and both Mrs Charters and Mrs Butler for the preparation of our beautiful choir.
Cross Country
We recently hosted our annual cross country carnival at Downey Park and even though the weather did its best to derail the event, we managed to run races across all year levels. Everyone had soggy shoes, including parents and staff but there were lots of smiles and some great achievements by the children. A shout out to all our age champions and we look forward to hearing about further success at the District carnival. Well done Mr Bell on your organisation of the 2025 carnival.
Hall progress
The completion of the hall is getting very close now and we look forward to taking ownership in the coming weeks. I am personally looking forward to hosting our first whole school assembly in there this term. I will endeavour to keep everyone updated on dates and schedules. We are really pleased that a local Brisbane manufacturer has been able to supply the chairs required for the hall.
Mothers’ Day
Sunday 11th May marks Mothers’ Day, so we wish all our families and mums a happy and special day on the 11th.
Finally, you may notice my absence next week (week 3) as I am assisting with Berrinba East State School’s 2025 review. Ms Jennifer Dietz will take the reins at Wilston. I look forward to returning on Monday 12th May.
I think that’s all for now. Take care Wilston,
Warm regards,
Michael Sawbridge
Principal
Dear Parents and Carers,
Wilston State School will be hosting a ThinkUKnow presentation and all parents and carers are invited to attend. This presentation is for adults only.
When: Thursday 8 May 2025
Time: 5:00PM
Where: D Block
RSVP: Book tickets here
ThinkUKnow Australia is an evidence-based education program delivered nationally to prevent online child sexual exploitation.
ThinkUKnow Australia is a partnership between the Australian Federal Police, Microsoft Australia, Datacom and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The program is delivered in collaboration with policing partners New South Wales Police Force, Northern Territory Police, Queensland Police, South Australia Police, Tasmania Police, Western Australia Police, as well as Neighbourhood Watch Australasia.
The presentation will be delivered by a local law enforcement member and an industry volunteer. The presentation is pro-technology and addresses topics including self-generated child abuse material, online grooming, sexual extortion, and importantly encourages help seeking behaviour.
This is a fantastic opportunity for you to learn more about young people and the online environment, and how you can help them to be safe and responsible users of technology.
For more information, you can visit www.thinkuknow.org.au.
Thank you for your continued support of our Parents as Partners sessions.
Mark your calendars — the Wilston State School Fete is officially set for Saturday, 30 August 2025!
This much-loved community event is back and bigger than ever. Expect fun, food, rides, and fantastic entertainment for the whole family.
Add the date to your diaries now — you won’t want to miss it!
More details to come soon, keep your eyes peeled for updates
~ Wilston P&C Committee
Winter Gala Day for Years 5 and 6 will be on the following dates:
| Day 1 | 23 May |
| Day 2 | 30 May |
| Day 3 | 06 June |
| Day 4 | 13 June (wet weather back up day) |
The Gala Day training timetable for the upcoming gala day sports is here. The mouthguard permission form (hockey players only) is here. Training will begin next week and continue for the duration of the gala days. Please ensure that you child has all the required equipment for their training sessions. If there is any issues with your child not being able to attend their training session can you please get them to speak to their specific sports coaches.
Specific equipment required for your sports:
| Hockey | Mouthguard / shin pads (mouthguard notes need to be handed to coaches before first training session) |
| Football (Soccer) | Shin pads |
| All other sports don’t require any specific protective gear |
Gala day permissions and invoice will be sent out shortly.
This year's Cross Country interhouse carnival was held under challenging conditions at Downey Park. Thank you to all participants, spectators and parents who helped make the day successful and enjoyable.
Congratulations to Gordon House who took out the trophy this year.
Overall Points
Overall Results
| Age | Boys Age Champion | Girls Age Champion |
| 6 Years | Steven N | Marli E |
| 7 Years | Joseph M-L | Rosie R |
| 8 Years | Hayden T | Isla W |
| 9 Years | Sam H | Grace L |
| 10 Years | Rabi J | Camilla R |
| 11 Years | George M | Lucia M-L |
| 12 Years | Angus C | Millie H |
Met North Qualifiers
Congratulations to the following students who have gained selection into Met North teams:
| AFL | Matilda C |
| Basketball | Neva T |
| Hockey | Matilda C & Angus C |
Tangalooma Adventure Day
Yesterday, our Ambassadors set sail for Tangalooma at Moreton Island with around 20 other schools, enjoying what can only be described as an almost perfect-weather kind of day — just enough breeze to keep things interesting…especially on the boat! Once on the island, it was full steam ahead into learning and discovery.
We explored all kinds of fascinating environmental topics: coral bleaching (not as pretty as it sounds), how our water is cleaned so it's safe to drink (spoiler: it's not magic), and the incredible marine life of Moreton Bay. There were experiments, hands-on activities, and the unforgettable moment of meeting the majestic bottlenose dolphins up close — they definitely stole the show. We also can’t forget to mention, the wonderful and original EcoWarrior, Ranger Stacey, was also there in support of the EcoMarines!
Our students returned bursting with ideas and enthusiasm, ready to dive into our EcoMarine program and make some waves of change back at school!
EcoMarine Warrior Meetings
Starting in Week 4, our EcoMarine Warrior meetings will kick off for keen students in Years 3–6. These meetings will happen during big lunch every second (even) week.
The goal? To share the message about protecting our environment and brainstorm ways to be more eco-friendly and sustainable. Our young warriors will take the lead in creating fun, meaningful missions to help our school and community think green, act green, and live green.
We can’t wait to see what our passionate young environmental leaders come up with. Watch this space for our first exciting competition of the year — it’s going to be rubbish (in a good, recycling kind of way)!
Choir News
Congratulations to our Junior Choir and the Wilston Wonders for their performance at the Anzac Assembly last week. Thanks to Mrs Butler and Mr Fay for pulling the performance together so soon after the holidays!
Choral Fanfare
Senior Choir students will be participating in the Choral Fanfare Competition at Kedron SHS on Thursday May 29th. This performance will be during school time. Permission and transport details will be sent home in the coming weeks.
Wilston Book Club
Book Club Issue 3 brochures have been sent home. Please use the LOOP system as we are a cashless Book Club. Friday 10 May will be the last day to place your orders.
Enjoy Family Reading in May!
Each May, many organizations and thousands of people celebrate National Families Week. https://nfw.org.au/
This annual event (held 12-18 May in 2025) highlights and promotes the important role that families have in Australian society, particularly in nurturing and educating our children.
This year in our Wilston school community, let’s celebrate by focussing on the positive benefits and joyful experiences of reading together! It is widely accepted that parents reading to and with their children (even after they learn to read themselves) is a wonderful way to bond and share the love of language and literature.
Research shows that there are a multitude of other benefits of reading to children including:
- Building knowledge about phonics and language
- Expanding general and topic-specific knowledge
- Growing listening skills and attention span
- Increasing exposure to new vocabulary used in context
- Developing empathy, values and life lessons
Join in the fun of family reading in May and enter our library competition:
Take a creative photo of some family members reading together and email it to Mrs Burgess smbur1@eq.edu.au by 18 May with a short caption (eg “Our favourite bedtime story is…” or “the Jones family loved reading….)
All submissions will go on display in the library and be entered in a lucky prize draw. You could win a family book voucher to get some lovely new books in our Book Club Issue 4!
Scholastic also promotes a 31-Day Challenge in May to inspire families to make reading together for at least 10 minutes every day a focus and to create long-lasting reading habits! If you want to take the 31-Day Challenge register here: https://scholastic.com.au/nfrm
In May, let’s build in more family time to read together!
Congratulations to the following students who received a Well Done Award in Week 2:
| Class | Student | Student | Student | Student |
| 3A | Lachlan P-D | Harlow H | James L | Ruby C |
| 3B | Alexis U | Ava H | Theo P | Zakk D |
| 3C | Cameron S | Anna C | Noah G | Sienna D |
| 3D | Annabelle B | Harrison R | Bella I | Simon M |
| 3E | Hudson E | Eve P | Jameson M | Clodagh R |
| 4A | Maleia L | Eamon C | Sabine M | |
| 4B | Gertie H | William C | Ava H-S | |
| 4C | Evie N | Amialee D | Angus P | |
| 4D | Essie O | Hugh O | Cian R | Fred T |
| 4E | Lucas H | Eva I | Ethan M | |
| 5A | Alexandra C | Freya H | Oliver C | Imogen K |
| 5B | Tom B | Elliott D | Isla H | |
| 5C | Fiadh K | Jake T | Emerich S | |
| 5D | Luca P | Josie A | ||
| 5E | Alice W | Santi D | Edith B | |
| 6A | Samanvita K | Aoibhinn K | Yona G | Ivy V |
| 6B | Lily H | Orlando G | Ivy S | Maggie V |
| 6C | Sophia B | Maia B | Kaito K | |
| 6D | Kenz H | Daniel Y | Aryana P | |
| 6E | Oscar N | Georgia W |
Welcome to Term 2 and the first day of May! The P&C has a calendar that is brimming with events and opportunities for families to get involved with this term.
To begin this update, we bring you some of the biggest news of last quarter’s meetings! Members raised and endorsed the following amazing projects for our school:
- Contribution toward the demolition and rebuilding of the prep playground to deliver a refreshed play area (hopefully in time for Prep 2026!). Thank you to Bek Dixon and Mike Sawbridge for bringing this proposal to the P&C;
- Purchasing uniforms for our music and choir students for use at external performances. Members supported the request for up to $6,000. Thank you to Miranda Charters for raising this proposal;
- The purchase of new XL shade tents in house colours for use on sports days and annual events, up to $6,000. Thanks to Rod Bell for this proposal. The tents looked great at our recent cross country – did you see them in action?
- Finally, a request from one of our Year 6 students to consider the installation of cold water fountains for refilling water bottles during our (mostly) warm school year! This was happily endorsed by members. Students and staff will shortly find well-worn pathways to chilled water care of your P&C and the thoughtful suggestion by Isla.
Upcoming events
Wine and cheese
Come and sit in on our quarterly P&C Wine and Cheese Night, D Block on Thursday 15 May. You do not need to be a member to attend. Bring a friend to share some nibbles and a drink and listen in to the goings-on at our school and decisions that impact the grounds and student wellbeing. Please RSVP to assist us with catering. Can’t wait to meet you there!
Trivia night
The much-anticipated WSS trivia night is fast approaching for another year! We are looking forward to another exceptional night of fun and frivolity on 17 May… Thanks go to Shell Willington for coordinating this event for all our excited parents!!
Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 Playdates
Families of Prep to Year 2 of Wilston State School, this notification is for you!
Your P&C, in partnership with our school, is hosting playdates for the families of junior school students in 2025. It’s our pleasure to invite you to the oval for these catch ups and to kick a ball about with your friends.
The playdates are opportunities for you to meet and connect with other families in your year level as well as for your youngster to introduce you to their circle of friends and classmates. They are not ‘drop-and-go’ events – parents and carers are requested to stay for the fun!
As a child-focused event, we request these events are alcohol-free and for the safety of all that you avoid bringing glass or products containing nuts.
- Sunday 4 May - Prep see you this weekend!
- Sunday 18 May - Grade 1 – information and dates for your playdates are here
- Sunday 25 May - Grade 2 – information and dates for your playdates are here
For any questions about these events please get in touch with the P&C or school via email (secretary@wilstonpandc.org.au or office@wilstonss.eq.edu.au).
We look forward to welcoming you to the oval very soon!
Mother's Day Stall
The annual Wilston Mother’s Day Stall is on Wednesday 07 May.
All children will have the opportunity to visit the stall with their class during the school day.
Pre pay for your gifts through Munch Monitor with the option to buy up to 3 gifts so you will have Mum and Grandma covered! Cash on the day will still be accepted.
All gifts are just $10, with proceeds going to the P&C.
There will be a selection of over 25 different gifts to choose from including decorative items,
Indoor plants, pamper packs, chocolates and much more!
If you could spare an hour to assist setting up or help children to choose a gift (dads.. we’re looking at you!),
it would be greatly appreciated. Signup below:
Thank you, volunteers!
Finally, we wish to make a very l-o-u-d shout out to our amazing event coordinators and volunteer teams who support our annual events! National Volunteers Week is fast approaching - 19-25 May this year. In advance, we’d love to thank our tireless and energetic school community who chip in to make the P&C social and fundraising calendar so successful and memorable for our school families! When you see a volunteer, thank them for us!
Have a wonderful week and long weekend; hope it’s a fantastic term 2 all ‘round.
NOTICEBOARD
