21 April 2016

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

Next Monday is the Public Holiday to commemorate ANZAC Day. We started a tradition last year where students and staff from Graceville State School attend the March and ceremony at Graceville Memorial Park on ANZAC Day. If you would like to join us, you can meet us on Appel Street, outside Graceville Train Station at 7 am. We will assemble the children and join the March to Graceville Memorial Park at 7.15am. We stand together as a school as we watch the ceremony from 7.30am. Parents can also take part as a spectator from 7.30am. Our school leaders represent the school by placing wreaths at the foot of the Memorial. Please make sure your children wear their school uniform, hat and sunscreen. I suggest a water bottle would be a good idea. If you can help us put up a shade structure at 7am, please let the office know. Mrs Hornstra needs a few volunteers to help her erect a shade structure prior to the arrival of the children on the March.

Graceville State School will also hold a school based ANZAC Ceremony at 10.15am on Friday 22 April. All families are welcome to attend the ceremony which is held in the hall and stay on for a chat and morning tea afterwards.

This week most of our teachers will be taking part in more rounds of Peer Observation and Feedback called Triads. The observation and feedback is focused around raising awareness and making improvements in two Theories of Action from the Curiosity and Powerful Learning project. We are working on making Learning Intentions and Success Criteria of lessons clear to students and connecting the feedback in lessons to the Learning Intention or Success Criteria. We are broadening how feedback can work in the classroom by trying to engage children as well as teachers in the feedback process. One of our Triad groups will be trialling the use by teachers, of a swivel camera to record themselves teach. We will see how the teachers feel about the process before making decisions about wider use of this method in the school. Our teachers are great, we already know that, but we also know we can all improve and be better than we currently are in certain areas that effect teaching, learning and student improvement. I am so proud of our teachers!

The teachers and I are very grateful for the improved support of the Voluntary Contribution Scheme this year. As you know, all money is going towards supporting resourcing of the Curiosity and Powerful Learning. There is still time to make a contribution if you have not done so already. Every dollar helps as we continue to learn more about this exciting project!

I had some time over the last week or so to get out and about at break times. I have been very impressed by the behaviour of our students and their ability to find interesting games to play. I am not sure if it is widely known but we have a range of activities available to all students at first break. Mrs Lambkin and Mrs Malcom run activities in a classroom above the office, they have art activities, chess boards, games etc. for children to play. Chappy also runs noodle hockey or a team related game in the hall at first break. All children can participate in these activities. The library is also open for children from different year levels at different break times. If your child is not sure what to do at break times, you could encourage them to try out some of these activities.

The next P&C meeting is being held on Wednesday 4 May at 7.30pm. We hold the meeting in the Waratah room (the room next to the office). It would be great to see you there.

Finally, don’t forget Monday 2 May is also a Public Holiday.

Have a great week.

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

School Sores (Impetigo)

Please see attached fact sheet regarding school sores and be on the lookout for any suspicious sores on your children. Thank you.

Cross Country Races

The sun shone on us on Tuesday this week as we had our school Cross Country for this year. Our preps enjoyed participating in this event and did themselves proud! Thank you to all the parents and supporters who came and cheered from the sidelines!

Here are some preppies lining up ready to race.

ANZAC Day Service: Friday April 22

Our school ANZAC Day ceremony will take place at 10.15 in our school hall and families and friends are welcome to attend this special occasion. ANZAC badges are available for sale before and after school at both the front and back gate thanks to students from 6O.

Prep S along with their buddies from 3/4BC participated in some Anzac biscuit making this week and also made some wreaths which they will carry at our ANZAC service on Friday.

Study Tour Proposal – From Future Heir School in Taiwan to Graceville State School

Our school has again been approached by Education Queensland International to host a Study Tour of approx. 20 students from Taiwan at the beginning of August. Graceville has hosted a study tour from the same school last year and before that from ChingShin School during 2010. Our school made a return visit to Chingshin, Taiwan in September 2012. We would be looking to organise a possible tour of our own again to Taiwan in 2017.

All experiences have been wonderful for our staff and students as two very different cultures met and while our students had greater exposure to native Mandarin speakers the students from Taiwan were immersed in the English language daily here in Australia. I can certainly say that the trip to Taiwan was unforgettable for our 17 students who went and some have formed lasting friendships with their host families in Taiwan.

In order for Graceville to be able to host these students, we need to provide homestay accommodation. You may have more than one student if desired with most students preferring to stay with another student.

A homestay family must provide:

• A bed – own bedroom is desirable but not necessary
• All meals – send lunch each day, if your child has tuckshop, then provide homestay student with tuckshop also
• Travel to and from school

Each Saturday, the students will go on an all-day excursion so must also be dropped at school at 9:00am and picked up at approximately 5pm (this is negotiable if your family was to go away for the weekend).

We cannot undertake this study tour without the support of our school families. Students from Taiwan will be 10-12 years of age. School families with younger children can be a homestay family as all students will be assigned a school buddy as well. Could you please indicate on the form attached if you would be interested in hosting a student for this upcoming study tour. Please return the form to the admin office ASAP or email me at mhass10@eq.edu.au I will arrange an information session for all families who indicate interest to go through in detail what would be involved.

There are many benefits in participating in a study tour including:

• Our students get to experience other cultures
• Friendships are formed which last for many years
• Learning is enriched for all students
• Students enjoy sharing their daily lives with students from another country
• The school benefits financially.

If there are any questions that you may have about being a homestay family please email me or call the office to speak with me.

I look forward to hearing from interested families.

Waiting List for Prep for 2017 is now open

The waiting list for 2017 is now open. Please let any interested people know that forms and information can be obtained from our school office. Families from within our catchment area we also invite you to obtain enrolment forms to begin the process when convenient after the start of term 2. For in catchment families a birth certificate and proof of residency in our catchment is required along with the completed enrolment form.

Date Claimer: Prep Information Evening - Wednesday July 27 at 7pm.

Graceville State School recognises as its prime obligation the provision of access to an appropriate educational service for students resident within this community as defined by its local catchment area.

Please visit the following link which details our school enrolment management plan and also provides a link to the catchment area for Graceville State School:

This site also outlines the process for placing your child’s name on our waiting list if you reside outside of our catchment area.

Below is the calendar for term 2 assemblies.

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Wellbeing

During this term we will have a variety of events which are part of our Wellbeing focus. These include Anzac day, Arbour Day, Active School Travel events, Mother’s Day etc.

To commemorate Anzac Day, we will again have our school ceremony this Friday 22nd April. We look forward to seeing many of our parents and community members on that day.

It would also be great to see as many students and parents at the ANZAC day march from Graceville station. People will need to be lining up at 7am next Monday 25th April.

Next week we will have details about our planned activities for Mother’s day.

Later in the term we will have events to commemorate Reconciliation & NAIDOC week.

Supporting Staff Wellbeing in our school

This year we have been working on updating our Staffroom to make it a more positive environment for staff. With recent changes, it has had a really positive effect on staff. With our limited funds, it means that we can’t do everything that we would like.

The fridges in the staffroom are very old. They do still work but they are starting to get a bit wobbly and are not frost-free. Aesthetically, they are not the best. If any parents are upgrading their appliances and have an ‘old’ fridge that they would love to donate to our staffroom, we would really appreciate it. I am sure that most second-hand fridges would be an improvement on what we currently have.

If you can assist or if you are looking at upgrading this year please contact me. lmcke46@eq.edu.au

NAPLAN – this term!

On Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 May, students in Years 3 and 5 will take part in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, or NAPLAN, as it is commonly known. Friday 13 May is the catch-up day, for any students who may have missed one of the tests during the week.

Skills that will be tested include: reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy.

These tests are done here at school and are considered just another part of the curriculum.

It is important for you and your child to know that NAPLAN is not a pass/fail test. It simply looks at what level students are achieving in literacy and numeracy against National Standards and compared with student peers throughout Australia.

NAPLAN cannot be studied for and students are not expected to do so. The best way you can help your child prepare for NAPLAN is to let them know that it is just a routine part of their school program, and to urge them to do the best they can on the day.

All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to participate in NAPLAN testing. Please ensure that if you have a child in Years 3 or 5 that they are in attendance during that week in May. Please avoid booking holidays or appointments during those days. Holidays should not be scheduled during school terms. If you can’t avoid those days e.g. specialist appointment, please try to make it in the afternoon. All testing will be completed by 12.45 on those days.

Later in the year we will send you an individual student NAPLAN report that you can use to view and monitor how your child is progressing.

More information is available on the NAP website (http://www.nap.edu.au/).

If you have any concerns, please contact the class teacher or myself.

Money Matters

Roberta Harycki

Your family statement will be distributed tomorrow. Sorry for the delay as staff are finalising excursions and events for this term and with a view to next term.

Please note: Year 5 camp for Term 3 has been added to allow families to budget for this event; UNSW competitions have been added as per student entry. These competitions have been ordered and prepaid. No sit, no refund, applies here.

Your attention to your child’s permission form and payment returns will ensure your child’s attendance.

Voluntary Parent Contributions:

Still collecting your valuable contribution to this school’s learning journey.

$60 single student family and $115 for 2 or more in family. Please refer to the Principal’s letter and information sheet.

Credit in Account: All credits (eg -$10) in family accounts may be used with current invoices at the parent’s request. BPoint payments over the invoiced amount will be added as a credit balance.
Request for Refund form for an excursion paid and not attended is available from the front office. Prepaid ticketing excursions and prepaid competition entries are non-refundable.

Payment of account days:

8am-3.15pm - Monday to Wednesday
8am-12pm - Thursday and Friday

BPoint is the preferred method of payment.

Eftpos, Debit Cards: Visa/Mastercard, cheque or cash payments are accepted.

BPOINT User Information

For payment of multiple items on your statement/invoice, you will need to do a separate entry for each item, entering the invoice number and the corresponding payment amount for that item only e.g.

Separate Entries for each line must be done to ensure the payment is allocated to the correct Excursion/Resource Fee.

BPOINT payments must be processed in time to clear (usually 2-3 business days) before the Due Date for payment.

Reading News

Dear Parents

Welcome back to an electrifying term of reading!!

Last term bookmarks were sent home with your child to reinforce active comprehension strategies that were taught within the classroom. We would greatly appreciate your child returning the laminated bookmarks by Tuesday 26th April, so that we can update these for the term ahead.

We would also like to hear feedback in regards to the bookmarks. Have the bookmarks been helpful for your child when reading at home? Please provide an example of how the bookmarks have benefited your child’s understanding of the active comprehension strategy.

Parents of P-2 email apayn23@eq.edu.au  - Parents of 3-6 email tfree19@eq.edu.au

Thanking you in advance for the prompt return of these bookmarks.

Tracy Freeman
Master Teacher

Alissa Payne
P-2 Reading Coach

Spellathon

Thanks to everyone for getting the Spellathon forms and money to the office. Even if you missed the prizes deadline we would still like you to return your form and money. Every little bit will help contribute to our school.

Don’t forget to come along to the Spellathon Presentation Assembly on Thursday 28 April at 2.15pm to see all the prizes awarded. It will be a really exciting day! There will be a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th prize awarded for each year level based on sponsorship collected. Also, all students who got all their words correct or completed all their skills correctly will be put in the draw for an exciting prize (two prizes for each year level). As well as these individual prizes, there will be whole class prizes. Every child in the class that raises the most money in each year level will receive a small prize.

Thanks again to everyone for contributing towards the success of the 2016 Spellathon.

If you have any queries about the Spellathon please get in touch by emailing:

gracevillespellathon@gmail.com

Our sponsors for 2016 are Peter May and Brad Robson from Place Real Estate, Oxley Rd Discount Drug Store and Graceville Bike Company.

If you need help buying or selling your home, Peter & Brad from Place are the ones to help you. Please contact Peter on 0409543546 or Brad on 0414773437.

For all your pharmacy needs go to Oxley Road Discount Drug Store where you get more than just low prices. They are located right next to the Post Office.

To find Brisbane’s friendliest bike shop with expertise in road, racing, touring, commuter, mountain and kids’ bikes go to Graceville Bike Company on Honour Ave. Tele: 3379 7464.

We thank our sponsors for their support of our school and ask that you support them with your business.

If you have any queries please get in touch by emailing: gracevillespellathon@gmail.com

The Spellathon Committee

Proudly sponsored by:

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Thank you to Ms Julie West and our Senior Choir for singing at the school ANZAC Day service this week. We appreciate your contribution to this important event and families for supporting the choir.

We have a busy term coming up with Fanfare on 31 May for Senior Strings and the Senior Band. The combined year 2/3 Choir will also be singing at an assembly on Thursday 5 May. We appreciate the efforts of students and families to attend lessons and rehearsals regularly to prepare for these performances.

Please contact your child's conductor if they are unable to attend a rehearsal or having any issues with their instrument.

Music Rehearsals Term 2

Tuesday 7:45am Senior Choir
Wednesday 7:45am Senior Strings
Wednesday 3-4pm Senior Band
Thursday 7:30am Junior Band - beginning in term 2, week 1 - with Mr Alex Grodecki (agrod3@eq.edu.au)
Thursday 7:45am Year 3 Choir - Warratah Room
Thursday 12:45pm Beginner/Junior Strings - beginning in term 2, week 1 - with Mrs Ruth Prout (rprou5@eq.edu.au)
Friday 8:00am Year 2 Choir - Mrs Naomi Lindh - music room

Thank you for supporting the music program.

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

As our focus turns to the Anzac Day long weekend and Fridays’ Anzac Commemoration, it is timely to reflect on how fortunate we are to live in a country where freedom and peace is the rule rather than the exception. The lifestyle we now enjoy came at a tremendous cost for many who served our nation in times of war and conflict. Our Anzac Day and Remembrance Day Services are important times in our school calendar, when we come together to pay our respects to those who have served our country. Brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect the way of life and values our society holds dear. It is a powerful experience for our students to participate in the services, with ex-service men and women in attendance. It is an equally powerful experience for those special guests to watch our students reflect on what Anzac Day represents.

Please join us, this Friday, in the hall for a 10.15am start, to honour those who have given their lives, those who valiantly served their country and those who are currently serving in peace-keeping roles today. Lest we forget!

Active School Travel

TACO TUESDAY!

(Travel Actively Coming-to-school On)

May the fourth be with you!!!!!

Our next event will be on Wednesday 4th May. Get dressed up as your favourite Star Wars character and walk to school. Those who took part in last years “may the fourth” walk will remember what fun it was and all the great costumes that the students (parents and teachers) wore on the day. We will have some designated meeting spots that morning so that you can walk in a group. More information regarding the time and locations will follow in the newsletter. There will be prizes for the best costumes on the day.

Here are just a few of last year’s fantastic costumes!

How parents can get involved in Active School Travel

Parents and caregivers play a critical role in influencing the development of a child's positive road behaviour.

Lessons learned at an early age and reinforced throughout a child's schooling will have a major effect on their attitudes and behaviours for the rest of their lives. Families are encouraged to participate in Active School Travel events and initiatives and promote active and safe road behaviour.

Ideas for active travel include:

• parking a distance away from the school and walking the rest of the way (e.g. 500m/10 minute walk)
• going for a ride with your children to develop their confidence and exposure to traffic situations, as well as explaining traffic signs and signals
• travelling on public transport with your children to demonstrate correct behaviours
• nominating a day to walk, ride or scooter to school
• as a family, plan your journey to school, challenging yourself to travel a different way each time
• car-pooling with another family and sharing trips.
• Parents and caregivers are also encouraged to join their school's Active School Travel Committee (ASTC). The ASTC is established to help lead and promote the program within the school.

Additional Stamping Station

There is an additional stamping station located at the gate between after school care and the music block, so that those active travellers who enter from Park Road can get their passports stamped without having to come up to the quadrangle. Thank you to our students who do all the stamping on Tuesdays!

Did you know that the Graceville Bike Company proudly supports the GSS Active Travel Program? They are offering the following to the families of Graceville State School:

• 15% off all kids’ accessories (not including bikes)
• 5% off all kids’ bikes

If you have a few spare hours a month to help us run this fantastic program we are looking for volunteers to join our Active Travel Committee. Please contact Jo Richards at sajrichards@iinet.net.au for more information. Our next meeting will be on the 21st April 2016, at 10:45am in the Waratah Room.

Brisbane City Council – pedestrian and child safety around Schools

As you are aware child safety and illegal parking around school zones remains a concern for parents, children, local residents and schools alike, particularly during peak pick-up and drop-off times. Parking spaces during pick up and set down times are at a premium and subsequently, competition for these spaces can lead to poor driver behaviour and potentially dangerous parking practices.

Council is committed to providing education and awareness as well as a presence at schools to conduct enforcement of parking laws with a view to promoting safe parking and deterring dangerous parking practices.

You can visit the Council’s website below to learn more about parking legally in Brisbane.

While it is certainly not Council’s intention to make parking near school an overly onerous task, regulating parking activities is necessary to promote safe driving practices during pick up and drop off times. Over the next school term, Council officers will be attending school zones to ensure safe parking practices. Parking fines may be issued in cases where illegal parking practices are observed.

Arbor Day 29th April

Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska, America in 1872. The inaugural ‘Australian’ Arbor Day was held in Adelaide’s south parklands on 20 June 1889.

Arbor Day is now celebrated all around the world, as a day in which individuals and community groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees.

As part of Graceville State School’s Arbor Day activities, the Student Council will be providing every class with their very own tree (well shrub) to care for and nurture. The Student Council has obtained free trees through the Brisbane City Council Free Trees for Schools Program. They selected species from the range suitable for keeping in pots. Classes will be encouraged to document the growth of their shrub, taking photos, perhaps repotting if needed, and enjoying watching the shrub grow and hopefully blossom. The Student Council hopes this will provide a motivating and fun way for students to learn about caring for plants, and that it might also beautify the school surroundings, and possibly attract birds and butterflies. If you have some plant knowledge and would like to help your class, please let your child’s teacher know. I am sure many of our staff are very capable gardeners, but some of us may be very appreciative of a little help.

Mrs Hornstra and the Student Council Community Committee

P and C News

GRANTS TEAM – CALL FOR HELP

A big thank you to Deb Mazoudier who has volunteered to take on the role of Grants Coordinator. We are looking for a group of people who can help Deb with preparing the applications. The idea being that you will only need to prepare one or two grant applications a year as the work will be shared out. Please contact Deb at pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au if you are able to help.

FETE

The fete committee is looking for new members, also a new Fete Convenor. After 11 years working with the fete this is Kathy Whitefield’s last year. Please consider how you would like to assist as many hands do make light work. Please email us if you can help. The first fete committee meeting will be held in May and they are full steam ahead to the big day on 27 August.

SCHOOL BANKING

Thanks to Julie for taking on the role as banking coordinator and for the kind volunteers who helped Julie out. Banking day is now MONDAY. If you have an hour or two to spare on a Monday morning, Julie would appreciate help in the hall.

NEXT MEETING

All members of our school community are welcome to our next meeting Wednesday 4 May at 7.30pm in the Waratah Room (which is beside the staff room in the main reception block).

Please feel free to contact the P&C executive via email: pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

School Banking

School Banking is every Monday

• Place your money into your yellow Banking Wallet, complete your deposit slip (leave student no. blank the 1st time) and place the wallet into the Grey Banking Satchel in the classroom on Monday morning.
• We will keep a record of your Deposits.
• Once 10 tokens have been recorded we will issue a reward coupon to redeem a reward. Reward cards will be issued at school in 2016.

• Branches do not have access to tokens or rewards.
• The School Banking program rewards individual saving. Minimum 5cent Deposit
• School Banking is processed by parent volunteer School Banking Coordinators. Please take the time to thank them for their efforts as this is a great fundraiser for our School.
• Happy Saving!

Trivia Night

2016 TRIVIA NIGHT IS COMING –

AND THE THEME IS……

The Annual Graceville State School Trivia Night is coming up on June 4. This is a great night of Adults Only Fun, in which there is a bar (see below) and Pizzas available (as well as some questions being asked). Booking sheets will be made available in the next couple of weeks so start thinking about getting your table of 10 together and what “Theme” your table will take…….

This year, the committee is looking for helpers – especially someone/ a couple of people to take charge of the Bar. So if you are someone who doesn’t necessarily like Trivia (or feels they would not be able to contribute any useful knowledge on the night) but might still like to be involved and have a great night – then contact Juanita Bennett (Trivia Night Chairperson) on 0488 649 090 or aajbennett1@bigpond.com for further information.

Tuckshop News

Volunteers for the week commencing 25th April 2016

Thanks to our generous Tuckshop volunteers for all they do. If you see them, make sure you tell them how much you appreciate their kindness.

If your child is going on an excursion, please remember to cancel your child’s tuckshop order. It takes a lot of time and extra work to check if your child has lunch for the day. If you don’t cancel your order and we are not notified of the excursion, you will be charged for the order and your child possibly has no lunch for the day.

All orders are online only unless it is a genuine emergency.

To get online and register with School24, click on the link below, Graceville’s School ID is: 25314963

It’s super easy but if you need help, these instruction guides may be of assistance.

Of course if you have any difficulties, questions, or feedback please give either of us a shout or come and see us at the Tuckshop. Many thanks,

Anne and Amanda
tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

Uniforms & Stationery

Opening Hours: Monday, Tuesday and Friday 8.15am to 9.00am.

Your teacher should have advised you if you had not ordered your child's Stars Plus Textbook online through Brodies (all years except Prep and Year 1). You are now required to purchase it through the uniform store as soon as possible as this item was on your child's booklist. The books have been delivered directly to the school for all students and will be sent to the classroom when paid. An order form is attached.

Size 6 in House Shirts (Cook, Kennedy and Flinders) have arrived.
Band folders are available $15
The last remaining school cookbooks are in stock $10 each.

Donations of 2nd hand uniforms are always appreciated. Good stocks are available for sale now, including lots of jumpers.

Order forms are available on the School website. If you email the order, the items will be sent to the classroom.

Email address for school uniform store is:

uniformstore@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

Community Notices

Go -Sports

RideWest – is a boutique charity bike ride that aims to raise funds and help raise the awareness for men’s mental health in Australia.

Whether you are a corporate organisation looking to give back to the community in an effective and tangible way, a small business with a charitable focus, or one of the many people across Australia touched by the work of the RFDS, there are a number of ways you can get involved.

Cam Hawkins is a Graceville local participating in 2016 aiming to raise at least $5000 and he would be grateful for your support.

Please click on 2016 Riders and donate at the tab next to his name.

Graceville Uniting Church