15 August 2025

Principal

Abi Hurdley

Dear Graceville Families and Friends,

We’re already well into Term 3, and it has been wonderful to see our students settled into their learning and embracing the many opportunities on offer. A highlight of the term so far has been our fantastic School Fair, which brought our school community together for a fun-filled day. A huge thank you to our P&C, volunteers, and families for their incredible efforts and support in making the fair such a success. With plenty more still to come this term, both in and out of the classroom. We look forward to continuing this positive momentum over the coming weeks.

GRACEVILLE STATE SCHOOL STRATEGIC PLAN (2024 -2027)

Graceville State School’s Strategic priority focus areas are:

1. Innovative Teaching and Learning
2. Empowering and Nurturing Environment
3. Connected Community

This year we will have two priorities in our Annual Improvement Plan that will guide our work for each of these focus areas:

• Enhance and extend a whole school, inclusive approach to support student learning beginning in the classroom so that resources are most effectively used to lift student learning.
• Deepening personal empowerment and embedding a nurturing environment to maximise curiosity, positive engagement and success for all.

At Graceville State School, our commitment to high-quality teaching and learning is grounded in a clear strategic priority: to enhance and extend a whole school, inclusive approach to support student learning beginning in the classroom so that resources are most effectively used to lift student learning.

A key focus this year has been developing a deep understanding of the Australian Curriculum (Version 9) and using this knowledge to embed a conceptual curriculum supported by an inquiry approach to teaching and learning. This ensures that learning is not only aligned with curriculum intent but also engages students in meaningful, purposeful exploration. Last week, we were fortunate to be joined by renowned education consultant Kath Murdoch, who worked alongside our teaching staff and students. Kath spent the day engaging in collaborative planning with teams and then joined our classrooms, modelling how inquiry-based strategies can come to life in real time with students. Kath's visit provided our staff with valuable professional learning and affirmed our collective direction as we continue to refine practices that position students as capable, curious learners. We are excited to continue building on this work as we further embed a school-wide inquiry mindset and make every learning experience count.

CROSS COUNTRY/FUN RUN

Last week, we held our annual Cross Country Fun Run, and it was a fantastic event filled with energy, determination, and school spirit. Students gave their all cheering each other on and celebrating every effort and achievement. A big thank you to all the families and friends who came along to support our runners. Your encouragement made the day even more special. We’d also like to acknowledge the incredible efforts of our staff, whose organisation, supervision, and enthusiasm ensured the event ran smoothly and safely. It was wonderful to see our school community come together for a day of fun, fitness, and teamwork. Well done to everyone involved!

SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF RECOGNITION WEEK

Last week we have celebrated School Support Staff Week, recognising the incredible work of the dedicated team who help keep our school running smoothly every day. From the friendly faces in the front office, Marian, Ally, Alana and Belinda to our Business Manager, Lynelle who supports staff and students across the school, and Tari our Technical Officer, who ensures our technology runs seamlessly. Each of these team members plays a vital role in our school community. We thank them for their hard work, care, and commitment to supporting our students, staff, and families.

GRACEVILLE STATE SCHOOL P&C – GRACEVILLE STATE SCHOOL FAIR

Last Saturday, our school community came together for the much-anticipated Graceville State School Fair, and what a fantastic day it was! The fair was a huge success, filled with fun, laughter, and community spirit. A sincere thank you to our amazing P&C for their hard work and dedication in organising such a memorable event, as well as to the many volunteers who gave their time to make the day run so smoothly. We are also incredibly grateful to all the families and community members who attended and supported the fair, and to our staff for their ongoing support. Events like this truly showcase the strength of our Graceville community, and we are so thankful for everyone who helped make it such a special day.

COFFEE AND CONNECT SESSIONS: CONVERSATION WITH THE GSS LEADERSHIP TEAM

Our next Coffee and Connect session will be held on Friday 12 September from 8:45am, and we warmly invite all parents and carers to join us for this informal conversation with the school leadership team. Coffee will be available for purchase from 8:00am, so feel free to come a little early, grab a cuppa, and enjoy a relaxed start to your day. During this term’s session, we’ll be sharing updates on two important pieces of work currently underway at Graceville – our review of the Student Code of Conduct and the Student Leadership process. We look forward to sharing with you and hope to see you there!

Abi Hurdley
Principal

Upcoming Events

Planned events are listed – we may have to postpone or cancel based on advice closer to the time.

Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Term 3 Discos – Date claimer

Just a date claimer about the Discos that are coming up on 10^th September. Prep & Year 1 will be 1.50-2.50, Year 2 & 3 will be 4.30-5.30 and Years 4-6 will be 6.00-7.00.

ICAS assessments Years 2-6

The Maths and Science competitions are coming up soon – (in the school library)

Science – 18-22 August (before school)

Maths – 25-29 August (before school)

Schedule will come home very soon!

Deputy Principal

Liam Bray

What an incredible day we had at the Graceville State School Fair! The fair was a true celebration of our school spirit and local community. It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces, children having fun, and families connecting throughout the day.

A very special thank you goes out to our dedicated volunteers – parents, carers, staff, and students – who gave their time and energy in the lead-up to the fair and on the day itself. Whether you cooked, set up stalls, sold tickets, ran games, or cleaned up afterward, your efforts did not go unnoticed. Events like this would not be possible without your generosity and teamwork.

We’d also like to acknowledge the local businesses and sponsors who supported the fair through donations and partnerships. Your contributions played a big role in the fair's success, and we are truly grateful.

Parent teacher meetings

A sincere thank you to all the parents and carers who recently attended our parent-teacher meetings. These conversations play a vital role in supporting our students’ learning journeys.

I’d also like to extend a big thank you to our teaching and support staff for their preparation, professionalism, and dedication. These meetings take time and thoughtful planning, and we appreciate the care you put into creating a welcoming space for open and productive conversations.

At Graceville State School, we believe that student success is a shared responsibility. We’re proud to see our school community coming together to support our learners and strengthen the important connection between school and home.

Prep 2026 Enrolment information

Please visit the school website https://gracevilless.eq.edu.au/enrolments/prep for all the information about Prep 2026 including dates for Get Set for Prep sessions.

If you have any questions about 2026 enrolment, please contact the office.

Term 3 Junior Assembly

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Thank you to all our young musicians and their families for their performances at the Spring Fair! All our instrumental and choral ensembles performed, and we had large, welcoming audiences who attended these to listen to and support our students. There were many smiling faces as they performed and when they finished to head out to the rides! Thank you to our families for ensuring your child/ren attended rehearsals regularly to prepare for this.

It has been a busy time for our instrumental teachers, who have also recently been involved in some combined schools IM workshops with selected students from several local schools. These workshops gave them an opportunity to further develop their music skills and culminated with a performance. 

In weeks 5 and 6, I will be absent on long service leave. Mrs Mary Budden will be replacing me. She will be taking the choir rehearsals for the Junior Choir and Senior Choir, but these will start at 8:00am (instead of 7:45am) for these two weeks, from 11 August - 22 August, due to the travel required. Thank you for your understanding with this change for these two weeks. Choir rehearsals will return to starting at 7:45am from week 7, 25 August. 

There is a Junior Band workshop organised for Friday 29 August at Sherwood State School which will involve students from a number of schools. This is the workshop for our Junior Band students from this year, so we request parents to check details on the app to give consent to attend. An email has also been sent out to families about it. Please contact Mr Stewart if you have any questions regarding this workshop. 

It is certainly a busy and exciting term for our music students and teachers!

Thank you for supporting your child's involvement in our music program. 

Music Teacher Contact Details

Mr Alex Chin - Instrumental Music Teacher - Strings - Email: achin4@eq.edu.au
Mrs Naomi Lindh - Classroom Music Teacher/Choir Conductor - Email: nclos1@eq.edu.au
Mr Tom Stewart - Instrumental Music Teacher - Band Email: tstew97@eq.edu.au

Guidance Officer

Louissa Chalk

Library News

Melanie Hutchinson

SAVE THE DATE : BOOK WEEK IS COMING!! AND SO IS BOOK WEEK DRESS-UP DAY!

On WEDNESDAY 20^TH AUGUST (Week 6) students are invited to come to school dressed as their FAVOURITE (or any) BOOK CHARACTER!

This is a great time to celebrate books and reading. Please take the opportunity to talk to your children about their love of books and reading for enjoyment. Inspire and/or suggest what characters they may like to come dressed as. This year’s theme is ‘Book an Adventure!’ which allows for so many possibilities. Persuade them to come up with something creative/imaginative, as there is no need to hire or buy a costume. 

We will share this literary event and the wonderful costumes with a parade on Wednesday morning. Reminders will be sent out in the coming weeks, so everyone knows this dress up day is fast approaching!

UPCOMING SPECIAL GUEST TO CELEBRATE BOOK WEEK
BEN WOOD [ILLUSTRATOR]
is coming to Graceville State School
THURSDAY 21^st AUGUST

We have the wonderful opportunity for Ben Wood to visit our school during Book Week. Ben Wood is the illustrator of best-selling crime-fighting series Real Pigeons with Andrew McDonald, which is currently being adapted by Nickelodeon for the screen.  He has illustrated over fifty books for kids, including the popular graphic novel series Hello Twigs and Squishy Taylor.  His books have been shortlisted for many awards, including the Australian Book Industry Awards, Children’s Book Council of Australia, and the Readings Children’s Book Prize.

Students in Year 2, 3, 4 and 5 will have to chance to participate in a fun and interactive workshop with Ben where he will share the process of drawing a story visually, provide tips and tricks for producing illustrations.  He will also share how he created ‘Real Pigeons Fight Crime’ alongside the author.

There is a small cost of $3.80 per student to be involved in his hour-long workshop.  Invoices will be sent out in Week Four.

We look forward to hosting Ben Wood here at Graceville SS on Thursday 21^st August!

Chappy News

John Erichsen

Year 5 students participated in the Kokoda Challenge excursion, which including hiking up part of Mt Cootha and some team-building activities before cooking hamburgers for lunch on the park barbeques. So many displayed fantastic leadership qualities and have made a strong start to achieve their school leadership aspirations.

Interschool sport starts today so we wish our students the best in whichever sport they have chosen. May the season be filled with positive experiences, no matter the score/result. I hope our students have a great time and learn lots from the competitive sport environment.

Thank you to the school leadership and P&C Exec for all their work to facilitate the meeting last night around the P&C funding of chaplaincy for 2025. I appreciate all the work that has gone into this process and look forward to continuing to support both the school leadership team and P&C team, moving forward. The CST will continue to plan and provide fundraising opportunities for those families who would like to support school chaplaincy at Graceville State School. I personally would like to express my thanks to the school community for the support I have received for almost 19 years and continue to receive. It is a privilege to be part of this community. Thank you.

Have a brilliant week!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Tuckshop

Congratulations to everyone involved on a fantastic school fair, and a huge thank you to everyone who lent their time and effort toward making it a great day.

We have a few fair-related limited specials at the tuckshop following the big event: Lick sorbets in various flavours, and beef and bean burritos on the hot food menu: get in quick while stock lasts!

On request, we have also added class boxes of frozen pineapple to the birthday menu; a very popular frozen snack with the kids.

If there are any chicken-owners at the school who are interested in food scraps to take home as chicken feed, please get in touch; we have a bucket or two a week available to collect from the tuckshop.

If you’re interested in helping out in the tuckshop, please join the volunteers WhatsApp group for all the news and to find out when we need extra help:

Tuckshop Ordering

Ordering for Tuckshop is all done through the online platform Qkr!, either using the web portal, or the Qkr! App on your mobile device. If you haven’t used it before, you need to create a new account and add the details for each of your children before you can make purchases. Please have a look at the how-to guides below for details. 

• Orders must be placed by 8am. Classes collect the tuckshop at 10:45am and take it to the class eating areas.
• To collect frozen treats, the students need to bring their tuckshop bag showing their order to the tuckshop counter during the play period of break after 11am, except for the Prep students who will receive frozen treats in their tuckshop bags.
• Year 1-6 students and staff can also purchase a range of snacks and drinks from the tuckshop counter with cash or card during the play period, 11:00 - 11:20am. 
• The Emergency Menu is available until 11:30am daily for cases of lost or forgotten lunches or other unforeseen circumstances.
• If your child is absent you can cancel your order before 8am using the Qkr! app. After that time, please call us as soon as possible and we may still be able to cancel or postpone the order (we won’t necessarily have a chance to check emails during the morning).

Please feel free to get in touch and let us know of any dietary allergies or sensitivities that your child might have so we can do our best to accommodate them.

Have a great week!
Team Tuckshop
tuckshop@gracevillepandc.org.au
Ph. 37162777 (main school office and ask for the tuckshop)

Uniform Shop

Michelle Fanning

Hi Everyone!

Here we are in Week 5 and already at the halfway point of the term! 

While this term is usually a quiet one for me, it gives me time for spring cleaning and re stocking. I treat it as the calm before the storm of Term 4 when I'm booked solid with lovely little ones being fitted with their first ever school uniforms, to begin Prep the following year... also known as my favourite time of the year. 

If you, or anyone you know have little ones starting Prep in 2026, I encourage you to plan and book ahead to secure an appointment to view and try on our range. 

DRESSES 

As the weather warms up this term, it's the perfect time to look at dresses. They were a very popular item over summer being a lightweight cotton mix fabric. Feel free to make an appointment to try them on. We also have an extensive range of sizes in the older style dress on the 2nd hand rack, at great prices.

HOUSE SHIRTS

All teams in all sizes are again readily available in store and online. Sizes start at a child's size 2, all the way up to an adult's size 14. 

REP SHIRTS 

A reminder to all who have children in year 5 and 6 who do Friday sport, that they can wear our Rep Polo Shirts. They look like our gold polos but have a royal blue collar and a royal blue panel, down each side of the shirt. 

2nd HAND STOCK

Why not look at our 2nd hand rack. Items start at just $5 and are always marked at 50% off or less! Pop by the store on a Tuesday or Thursday morning for a look or send me an email with what you’re after so I can help.

RETURNS/REFUNDS

Please be advised that refunds will only be given if you have your receipt which will be sent to you via email or text message. Items should be in perfect condition, so should not have been worn or washed and any original tags should still be attached. You have 60 days for returns and refunds.

DONATIONS

We are always grateful for donations of 2nd hand uniforms that are freshly washed, in saleable condition with no tears or holes. We also ask that donations are our SCHOOL BRANDED ITEMS ONLY, so no items from any outside stores. Please do not leave donations at the uniform shop when it is closed. Thank you for your generosity and understanding.

Email address for school uniform store is
uniformshop@gracevillepandc.org.au

Thanks everyone!
Michelle