14 May 2025

Principal News

Dear Kimberley Park State School parents and carers, 

Being a parent can be full of joy, wonder and a fair dose of worry. From my experience as an educator and parent, I have found that what children are eating can affect their learning. Of course, it is impossible to do everything all the time as a parent. This is a guide for awareness raising and definitely not to add ‘worry’ or ‘guilt’. Food is one of the fuels that support a learning brain, along with sleep, emotional and physical security.

Food and the developing brain:

Food plays a critical role in children's brain development, especially during the early years when the brain is growing rapidly. Here are some key ways in which nutrition influences brain development, along with specific nutrients and foods that are particularly important:

1. Protein
2. • Role: Builds brain cells and neurotransmitters.
   • Sources: Eggs, dairy, lean meats, beans, lentils, nuts.
3. Omega-3 Fatty Acids (especially DHA)
   • Role: Essential for brain structure and function.
   • Sources: Fatty fish (salmon, sardines), flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts.
4. Iron
   • Role: Supports oxygen transport and brain energy metabolism.
   • Deficiency: Linked to impaired cognitive and motor development.
   • Sources: Red meat, fortified cereals, beans, spinach.
5. Zinc
   • Role: Aids in brain signalling and neurogenesis.
   • Sources: Meat, shellfish, dairy, legumes, nuts.
6. Iodine
   • Role: Crucial for thyroid hormones, which regulate brain development.
   • Sources: Iodized salt, seafood, dairy.
7. Choline
   • Role: Helps develop memory and brain cell communication.
   • Sources: Eggs, liver, soybeans, chicken.
8. Vitamin B Complex (especially B6, B12, and folate)
   • Role: Supports brain development and neurotransmitter synthesis.
   • Sources: Whole grains, leafy greens, meat, eggs.
9. Antioxidants (Vitamins C, E, A)
   • Role: Protect the brain from oxidative stress.
   • Sources: Berries, carrots, citrus, sweet potatoes.
10. Glucose (from complex carbs)
    • Role: Primary energy source for the brain.
    • Sources: Whole grains, fruits, vegetables.

A day of eating to support brain development:

• Regular meals: Stable blood sugar levels help concentration and mood.
• Balanced diet: A mix of all food groups ensures complete nutrition.
• Limit sugar and processed foods: These may impair memory and attention.
• Hydration: Water is essential for cognitive performance.

Breakfast: Brain-Boosting Start

• Scrambled eggs (choline + protein)
• Whole grain toast (complex carbs for energy)
• Sliced avocado (healthy fats)
• Fresh orange slices or berries (vitamin C + antioxidants)
• Milk or fortified plant-based milk (calcium + B vitamins)

Morning Snack: Smart Fuel

• Greek yogurt (protein + probiotics)
• Honey drizzle or fruit topping (natural energy)
• Walnuts or flaxseeds (sprinkled) (omega-3s)

Lunch: Balanced Brain Power

• Grilled chicken or lentil wrap with whole wheat tortilla (iron + protein)
• Hummus and carrot sticks (zinc + fiber)
• Apple slices (fiber + natural sugar)
• Water or infused water with cucumber/mint (hydration)

Afternoon Snack: Light & Nutritious

• Boiled egg (choline + protein)
• Whole grain crackers
• Small banana or raisins (potassium + antioxidants)

   Dinner: Omega-Rich Plate

• Baked salmon or mackerel (rich in DHA and protein)
• Quinoa or brown rice (iron + B vitamins)
• Steamed broccoli and sweet potatoes (folate, vitamin A, C)
• Glass of milk or fortified dairy alternative

Getting children to eat it:

Getting a child to eat well can be challenging, but consistency and a positive approach usually pay off. Here are some ideas:

Be a Role Model:

Eat a variety of healthy foods yourself. Kids are more likely to try foods they see you enjoying.

Offer, Don’t Force

Provide healthy options at every meal but avoid pressuring your child to eat. Let them choose how much to eat from what is offered.

Make Meal Routine

Serve meals and snacks at consistent times. Structure helps prevent grazing and improves appetite at meals.

Involve Them

Let your child help with grocery shopping or meal prep. Kids are more likely to eat what they have helped make.

Serve New Foods with Favourites

Introduce new or disliked foods alongside things your child already enjoys increasing acceptance.

Keep It Fun and Positive

• Use fun shapes, colours or creative plating. Avoid using food as a reward or punishment.

Avoid the ‘Clean Plate’ rule

Encourage your child to listen to their hunger and fullness cues rather than finishing everything on the plate.

Libby Jordan
Principal

Year 3 - 6 Deputy News

Supporting families in the digital age.

This week is Cyber Safety week at Kimberley Park State School.  Cyber Safety week is a good opportunity for our students in Years 3-6 to learn how to make good choices online.  In our assembly today they watched a short skit by Year 5 students. 

The skit covered:

• What to do if someone you don’t know asks you to play an online game
• What to do if someone is unkind to you online
• What to do if someone asks for your personal details online

In Year 3 & 4 students will look at 'What makes a good password', 'What information is private/personal' and ‘What to do if you don’t feel safe online’.

In Year 5 & 6 students will be learning 'Don’t feed the fire', how to step away when interactions are not going well, and exploring the question ‘Do you really know who you are talking to?

These short lessons are intended to support students by reiterating the messages you give them at home.  More and more families have told me that they are successfully reducing the time their child spends online.  They have reported that their children go to sleep more easily and are less fixated on online games than they once were.  This is such great news for their mental and physical health. 

Over the past few weeks there have been many conversations between adults about the recent Netflix TV show ‘Adolescence’.  This has sparked conversations between parents, family and friends.  Whilst the show centres on a young person of high school age the reality is that habits for online behaviours are developing now in our younger children.  The show explores the themes of peer pressure, mental health, identify and decision making. Being a young person growing up with these current issues is hard and our young primary school age students are not yet equipped for these challenges. 

Our role as educators is to support families and educate our students on how to navigate being learners, being citizens in their community and how to develop strong interpersonal skills that will last them through life.  The old adage ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is an appropriate one.

We will continue to support children by ensuring that they learn what is, and what is not appropriate online.  We will explore some of the complexities of spending time online and explore alternatives to spending hours gaming/scrolling.

In the Term 1 newsletter I linked this with ‘play being the antidote’ to these issues.  When children have real life conversations they can read body language, hear the tone of voice in their conversations and can be clearer about the intent of the conversation.  Their childhood is so precious, they are little for a short time and online conversations can be so hard for them.  Our Cyber Safety week aims to help with reiterating the knowledge that the adults (families and teachers) who care for them, want them to be safe and happy.

Please have a conversation with your child and ask them what they chatted about in the lessons and activities and explore with them the idea of reducing their online conversations in favour of real-life games, fresh air, fun and exercise.  I do hope the rain stops and helps us with this. 

We are so grateful to our parent community that partners with us to help us equip our students with the knowledge to have a happy, healthy and fun childhood.

Parent Information

Have your say https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions/consultation

https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/media/publications/online-safety-amendment-social-media-minimum-age-bill-2024-fact-sheet

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/online-safety-basics

https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-06/EC-ESP-screen-time-tips-flyer_0.pdf?v=1747051788963

https://www.ccn.com/news/technology/roblox-meta-face-lawsuits-over-deeply-disturbing-child-safety-failures/

Sian Haywood
Deputy Principal, Year 3 - Year 6

Prep - Year 2 Deputy News

Building Resilience in Children

At Kimberley Park State School our staff continuously work with students to build resilience.  Not only for their social and emotional growth but also to help them reach their academic potential and to be successful members of our community. We build resilience in students through our explicit teaching of social skills and in our daily interactions and communication.  This is a collegial interaction and scaffolded by staff and students. 

Below is an article from “Raising Children”, an Australia parenting website that provides a simple summary on how you can also help your child to be resilient and be successful members in the community.  

What is resilience?

Resilience is the ability to ‘bounce back’ after challenges and tough times. It’s also the ability to adapt to challenges and tough times that you can’t change and keep on thriving. In fact, when you’re resilient, you can often learn from these situations.

Children’s resilience can go up and down at different times. And children might be better at bouncing back from some challenges than others.

Children build resilience when they have:

• strong, supportive relationships with you, other family members and their community
• emotional and practical skills that help them respond well to challenges
• helpful thinking habits and attitudes.

Why is building resilience important for children?

• Resilient children can recover from setbacks and get back to living their lives more quickly. When children overcome setbacks and problems, it builds their confidence and helps them feel more capable the next time a problem comes up.
• And when things don’t go well and children feel anxious, sad, disappointed, afraid or frustrated, resilience helps them understand that these uncomfortable emotions usually don’t last forever. Resilient children can experience these emotions and know they’ll be OK before too long.
• Resilient children are less likely to avoid problems or deal with them in unhealthy ways, like getting defensive or aggressive.

How to build resilience: skills for children

Your child can develop emotional and practical skills that help them respond well to challenges. This lays an important foundation for resilience.

Here are skills for resilience and ways to help your child develop them.

• Understanding and managing emotions – for example, your child might be worried about a family member who’s sick. You could say, ‘I can see you’re really worried about Grandpa. It’s OK to be worried. But remember we’re doing everything we can to help him get better’.
• Being persistent – for example, encourage your child to have another go when things don’t work out the first time they try something. Praise your child for trying, no matter the result. You could say, ‘I’m proud of you for finishing the race’ or ‘Well done for giving it another go’.
• Solving problems – for example, if a child at school says or does something unkind to your child, brainstorm how your child might respond next time. Helping your child to develop problem-solving skills is better than trying to solve every minor problem for them.

How to build resilience: helpful thinking habits and attitudes for children

Resilience is about facing challenges or disappointments, finding the positives and moving forward. There are thinking habits and attitudes that can help your child with this.

Here are ideas:

• Be a role model for resilience. When your child sees you try again, handle your emotions or think positively in difficult situations, they learn that they can do the same.
• Find positive role models for your child. These people can show your child that it’s possible to handle challenges and be OK. For example, if you and your child’s other parent have separated, it might help your child to have an older friend who shares this experience.
• Avoid predicting and preventing every problem for your child. When your child experiences small disappointments and learns to do things differently, it will help them with bigger challenges. For example, it’s OK to let your child hand in homework that you know is wrong.
• Build your child’s self-compassion. Self-compassion helps your child deal with disappointment, failures or mistakes by being kind to themselves. In turn, this helps them to move on from difficult experiences.
• Help your child recognise and acknowledge when things are going well, rather than focusing only on the difficulties. For example, you could make it a habit during family meals for everyone to share one positive thing from the day.
• Encourage your child to see themselves as resilient. You can do this by reminding them of a time they were resilient. For example, ‘I remember you were nervous about joining the team at first. And look at you now!’

Children develop resilience over time, so try to be patient and supportive while your child works out how to respond to challenges. You might want to make everything all right for your child, but sometimes your child has to go through uncomfortable feelings so they can work out things for themselves.  “raisingchildren.net.au”

Janelle Ireland
Deputy Principal, Prep - Year 2

Inclusion News

“Who will be supporting my child?"

As parents, we all want what is best for our children. We are also the primary people who will advocate for our children when needed, including when they may require additional support at school. Whether your child has recently received a diagnosis of a medical condition or disability, or is experiencing ongoing challenges at school you may be wondering, “Who will be supporting my child?”

Every school in Queensland (State, Independent and Catholic) receives funding to support students with disabilities who have been identified as requiring adjustments above and beyond what is already provided within differentiated classrooms. Staff need to identify the level of support each student with disability requires to assist them to reach their ‘academic’ and ‘social participation’ potentials – Good at Learning, Good at Life.

So back to our question: “Who will be supporting my child?” First and foremost, your child’s Classroom Teacher is their primary educator. Classroom Teachers know each and every one of their students, with students’ needs reflected in their planning, teaching and ongoing assessments. Each classroom has a General Teacher Aide for part of each day. The General (including Prep) Teacher Aides are also there to work with all children within the class. At KP, each year level has an Inclusion Teacher and Inclusion Teacher Aide attached to the year level. Inclusion Staff do focus more intensely on identified students with disabilities, however, do not replace the Class Teacher or General Teacher Aide. Inclusion Staff work hard to collaborate with and work alongside classroom staff to supplement their teaching and ongoing planning, to ensure negotiated supports and adjustments are in place for identified students. Inclusion Staff work with many students within the classroom which, in turn, ensures the Class Teacher has time to also work with students with disabilities.

Finally, at KP we also have a range of other staff members who work with students, including those with disabilities - our magical Mentors (Reading, Writing, Maths and Prep), our departmental Speech Language Pathologist (1 day/week), Guidance Officer (1 day/week), Social Worker (5 days/fortnight) and Youth Worker (2 days/week). Of course, our Specialist Teachers also teach all students across the school and our wonderful Deputy Principals and Principal also provide vital support to students across the school, including those with disabilities. Our amazing office staff also support students across the school with roles including dispensing of medication, manning the health room and so forth.

Working together will always result in the best supports for students with disabilities. To answer our question, “Who will be supporting my child?” … the answer of course includes many staff members across our wonderful school community. This is indeed one aspect which makes KP shine!

Anne Purdy
Head of Inclusive Learning

Curriculum News

Live Theatre – A Unique Blend of Entertainment and Education!

At Kimberley Park State School we offer a wide range of opportunities for students to experience all aspects of education in ‘The Arts’.

The Australian Curriculum key learning area of The Arts comprises of five subjects: Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music, and Visual Arts. These subjects are woven throughout our classroom learning in all year levels.

This term our arts program was further enhanced across Prep to Year 6 as we hosted three live drama performances: Storytime Journey, George’s Marvellous Medicine, and The Story Keeper. While highly entertaining for students, the benefits of viewing live performances reaches far beyond just the entertainment value.

Live theatre provides children with a unique blend of entertainment and education, offering opportunities for imaginative play and social interaction, while also fostering a love of storytelling and the arts. Through drama experiences students are transported to another time and place and immersed in stories to engage, excite, entertain, and educate!

Viewing live performances can deepen students’ literacy learning as they experience plot, character, and themes. It also strengthens oral language as performers demonstrate fluency, expression and use a variety of sentence structures to deliver their message. Students are also exposed to a range of rich language which helps to expand their own personal vocabulary. Live performances create dynamic learning environments that encourage active participation and engagement. Students build active listening skills as they carefully follow storylines and react by smiling, laughing, and demonstrating audience behaviours.

Further benefits include students being able to identify and explore the emotions of characters leading to the development of empathy for characters facing challenges. Students are also able to see the possibilities for their own storytelling from costuming and voice effects to using their bodies to portray different characters in their own richly created tales.

We appreciate our families for supporting these important school experiences. The blending of entertainment and education is always a winning combination for our students!

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 10

Next

Please enjoy some comments from our students following these shows:

"I definitely enjoyed the show! Why did the Granny have to be so grouchy?" Mikee Year 3

"It was so funny and creative!" Lainie Year 4

"It was funny that the chicken called Nugget had really long legs!" Jupiter Year 4

"The storyline was really awesome!" Alex Year 4

"I love the show because the old lady and man chased the gingerbread man around the audience. Some kids from the audience got to do some acting." Haylen Year 2

"It was really funny and cheeky!" Theo Year 1

"I loved the show because I learnt never to be friends with bears." Mya Year 1

"My favourite part was when the big billy goat poked the trolls bottom." Maya Year 1

Cathy Day
Head of Curriculum

From the Mentors

On Thursday 24^th April, we held our ANZAC Commemorative Service, where we remembered the men and women who have served in the Australian and New Zealand Defence Forces. Thank you to our special guests and families who attended the service. We are so proud of the amazing students of Kimberley Park for their contribution to the beautiful artwork on display, talented singers, dancers and musicians.

A special thanks must go to:

Mr Blythe and the Harmony Choir were exquisite! Thank you for all of your hard work, especially teaching 40+ students, new to choir this year, a performance ready song in less than 10 weeks!

Mrs Gent and the Velocity Dancers – such a moving performance!  They were emotional and elegant, and we are so proud of them.

Mrs Way and the visual art students who created ‘the field of poppies’ art installation, it was truly breathtaking!

Mrs Wilkinson for working with some of our First Nations students to create Acknowledgement of Country video – so special!

Junior Discovery I, Middle Adventure I and Middle Curiosity II for creating doves and ANZAC art in class. They looked amazing on display!

Our school captains – Evelyn, Zen, Noah, Piper, Taylah, Jasmine – stellar speeches, plus singing and dancing performances, and relishing the opportunity to chat and serve morning tea to the special guests. 

The production captains – Ethan, Tallin, Aria and Ainsley – sound, lighting and side stage management. They were all over every task they were given. Future assemblies and events are in good hands!

Lucas C – such a humble, talented young man! Thank you to Mrs Smith for working with Lucas to ensure a successful performance.

Thank you to every single teacher – the wreaths you created with your class were so varied and beautiful and it was evident that all classes were prepared for the event.

Lastly but definitely not least, the amazing students of KP! A school full of talented singers, dancers, artists and musicians. We are so proud of the respect and seriousness that all our students displayed throughout the service. The future honouring and remembering ANZAC Day and our service men and women is surely in safe hands with our students!

Lest we Forget

The Mentors

Prep and Playgroup News

Kris Whitman
Transition Coordinator

Dates to Remember

Term 2

Administration News

QParents

Just a reminder that ALL Excursion/Incursion/Camp permission forms are only available via the QParents App.

If you need any help signing up, Bec in the office is more than happy to assist you – she is available during office hours, Monday through Friday in person, via phone or email.  DON’T DELAY, SIGN UP NOW!

Payment Reminders:

STEM News

Round One applications for the STEM Pathway of Excellence Program 2026 are now open!

Round one

• Open: Monday 28 April 2025
• Close: Friday 30 May 2025
• Testing date: Term 2 2025 Weeks 7 and 8

What is the STEM Pathway of Excellence Program?

Kimberley Park State School is the STEM Primary school in the Southeast Region offering a specialised STEM Pathway of Excellence in STEM. This is a select entry program that is open to all students in Year 4, 5 and 6. 

Students in the program will be offered accelerated learning opportunities in STEM including Robotics, Coding, Science, Engineering and Mathematics through integrated learning pathways.

Students in the program are immersed in inquiry-based learning experience that encourage critical thinking and creativity, promoting student capacity to solve genuine and complex real-world problems. The program is specifically designed to develop and maximise potential in an environment that promotes a strong culture of academic excellence, preparing students for future pathways.

Students engage in learning programs with educational and industry partners including The University of Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland's Trust for Nature and the Queensland Museum.

Who should apply?

• Current or prospective students in years 3, 4 and 5 who are achieving academically and are highly motivated in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
• Students who thrive in a collaborative learning environment that is challenging and engaging.
• Students who enjoy investigative processes to explore and create possible ideas and solutions to global issues.

How do students apply?

The application process for the STEM Pathway of Excellence is completed online.  The application process are as follows. There are two rounds of opportunity throughout the school year.

The application forms can be found on our school website at the following link.

https://kimberleyparkss.eq.edu.au/curriculum/teaching-and-learning/03-stem-program-of-excellence

Arts News

Tuckshop News

Community News

Alichia's Dance Academy

Australian Defensive Tactics