14 July 2016

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday break! I enjoyed a relaxing two weeks sharing time with family and friends and doing a few house renovations.

We are now 6 months into our Curiosity and Powerful Learning Journey. It was a big semester with lots of new learning for the school leadership and teaching staff. The greatest success so far is our work in Inquiry learning. As you know we asked the teachers to be curious and ‘play’ with Inquiry learning in Semester 1. The outcomes of this have been exciting with levels of student and teacher engagement in the science and humanities subjects sky rocketing! In Semester 2 we will move beyond ‘playing’, into a developmental space. We will select a representative group of the teaching body and design and develop a Whole School Approach to Inquiry Teaching and Learning at Graceville. We are also in the process of negotiating a learning partnership with Kath Murdoch from Melbourne University. After our professional development session with her last term, the collective view of the staff is that we should have Kath for professional support as we move forward in our Inquiry learning journey. Exciting times ahead! We will also use information gained from the consultation with parents and students, from last year’s review, to inform our Whole School Approach.

As you know, Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in week 3, 25-29 July. All parents would have received a letter from their class teacher identifying the times they are available. In Term 3, the interviews are not compulsory for parents to attend. The focus of this round of interviews is to allow time for parents who are seeking further clarification on information contained in the report card or portfolio to have allocated time for discussion with the class teacher. The interview times have been increased to 15 minutes to allow for a longer conversation time. If requesting an interview with the class teacher, please indicate in writing, prior to the interview, the focus questions for your conversation so the teacher can be prepared for the discussion and the most can be made of the 15 minute time slot. We also ask parents to bring the report card and portfolio with them to the interview. Remember, teachers at Graceville make themselves available to parents via email and face to face as needs arise for students and families. If you do not require an interview to discuss the report card or portfolio, you are always welcome to contact the teacher and have a discussion more on a needs basis as required.

I would like to wish the Creative Generation Team the best of luck as they perform this weekend. I have tickets to watch the Friday night show and am looking forward to seeing our students in action! I would also like to thank the staff and parents who have supported the children to participate in Creative Generation.

If you are interested in a reminder in understanding some of the practical ways the schools behaviour management policy are enacted in the school, please refer to Mrs McKeaten’s section of the newsletter this week. Last term, we had a few parents enquire as to how the ‘white slips’ work and the resulting consequences after receiving three ‘white slips’. A few parents also enquired about what ‘Time Out’ is, what occurs if a child goes to the ‘Time out’ room and the consequences after three times at the Time Out room.

Finally a few quick reminders for next week:

• School Photos are next Tuesday. All students need to come to school in school uniform.
• Athletics Carnival for Year 4 -6 will be held at UQ athletics fields next Wednesday.
• A Free Dress Day will be held on Friday to fundraise for the Fete – a gold coin donation is required if children come in free dress.

Have a great week.

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

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

All parents are welcome to attend whether in catchment or just wanting to find out more information about Prep here at Graceville and the enrolment process in preparation for next year.

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 3 Junior assemblies.

QSchools App for Graceville – have you downloaded the app yet and marked Graceville SS as a favourite?

The QSchools app is a convenient way to receive up-to-the minute information from Queensland state schools. We have decided to trial the use of this app for parents and families to get up to the minute information about many facets of school life at Graceville. The App is free to download and you can then identify Graceville as your favourite school where you will find located contact details, news feed, calendar events, links to school newsletters, fete newsletters, information about the tuckshop and uniform shop etc. We will also use the app as a means of sending out important school messages, notifications of upcoming events and emergency alerts and important updates. To receive school notifications you must permit ‘push notifications’ to come through on the settings on your phone.

How do I download the QSchools app?

To download the app visit the application store for your device:

• iPhone/iPad
• Android
• Windows phone
• Windows PC

If you have any feedback around the use of the QSchool app or questions, please send me an email at mhass10@eq.edu.au

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

School Photos next Tuesday 19 July

All classes will be involved in School Photos next Tuesday. Please ensure that your child is presentable on that day, ready for a lovely photo. Please don’t allow your child to wear any other shirt apart from the yellow school shirt.

The sibling photos, which have been offered this year, will be taken in the hall from 8am. Please ensure that you are here with your children prior to 8am. Parents are required to supervise their children during this time. All Staff are required for our photo before school starts.

All school photos can be ordered online (including the sibling ones) up until midnight on the day prior to photos.

University of New South Wales competitions

Wild Onsie Friday – 24th June

Thank you to everyone who supported the Onsie Friday on the last day of Term 2. We raised $533.15 for the ongoing support of endangered species in the world. Well done!

Behaviour Management

Below is some information in regards to our Behaviour Management in our school. This information has been sent home previously, so it is the same information, no changes have been made.

Our school values 3 broad rules:

1. Be Safe
2. Be Respectful
3. Be Responsible

Within these rules sits our ‘Pathways to peace’ program which everyone should be familiar with:

• Care for myself & others
• Do the right thing
• Speak kindly
• Find help
• Turn things around
• Be brave
• Be a peacemaker

This language of ‘Pathways to peace’ should be very well known and used by all our students. I would suggest if you don’t use this terminology at home as yet, please start. It is a very effective way to reinforce positive behaviour and also to deal with inappropriate incidents at home.

We have been operating a ‘white slip’ system. This is a way of formally giving a warning to students about inappropriate minor behaviour e.g. not wearing a hat while playing, running on the concrete, being in out of bounds areas etc. We monitor these white slips and if a student gets 3 of these then they are given a ‘time-out’ at first break.

We operate a ‘time-out’ room at first break. This is a very effective process for students. If students have broken one of our school rules outside the classroom (any of the above), they can be referred to ‘time-out’ by staff for 1 break time. If they are referred to myself, Ms Hass or Mrs Smith for more serious incidents, we are able to send students to time-out for more than 1 break time. Any behaviour incidents that have been referred to Admin will be followed up by one of us contacting parents.

Referrals to time-out for 1 break means that a school letter will be sent home to inform parents. If your child receives 3 time-outs a different letter will be forwarded home, asking you to contact myself (Years 5 & 6), Ms Hass (Prep-Year 2) or Mrs Smith (Years 3 & 4) for a meeting. During this meeting we would discuss your child’s behaviour and work together to develop an improvement plan for them.

On the lower school assemblies there has been a long standing tradition of giving a prize for students who have received an award in the playground for a variety of reasons. We will be giving out small recognition cards to students from all year levels from next week. These cards will be go into a box in the office and on the 2 assemblies cards will be drawn out for prizes. This will help us gain more consistency in positively reinforcing appropriate behaviour in the school.

Building Resilience

From a resilience perspective, parents need to coach kids through some of their more challenging moments and review what they may have learned for next time. Avoid solving all their problems for them.

You can promote a lasting sense of resilience in your kids by:

1. Having a positive attitude yourself. Your attitude as a parent impacts on their ability to bounce back from some of the difficulties they face. Make sure you model a ‘you can do it’ attitude for your child when he/she meets some of life’s curve balls.
2. Look for teachable moments. Many kids’ learning opportunities are disguised as problems. Make the most of these opportunities so that kids can grow and learn from some of the challenges they face.
3. Make kids active participants in the family. Active participation in a family develops the self-help, problem-solving and independence skills of kids that are necessary for resilience.
4. Build kids coping skills. There are plenty of strategies you can pass on to kids to help them cope when life doesn’t go their way, including acceptance, getting away for a while, and normalisation.

Promoting resilience in kids is not a single event but a continuous process that requires adults to be supportive and empathetic when things don’t go their way. It also requires you as a parent to have an understanding of resilience, so you have faith in yourself, and your child’s ability to cope.

From “Parenting ideas” by Michael Grose (website)

Money Matters

Roberta Harycki

Thank you for your patience with our school accounting system. Many families have been attempting to pay for excursions with a frustrating result. Please refer to newsflash re upcoming events and accept our apologies for any inconvenience.

Once the Oneschool system is back on track, your child’s Permission Proforma will be out this week along with family statements.

Don’t forget to return permissions and payments by the Last day of Payment.

Voluntary Parent Contributions

Programs in developing Curiosity and Powerful Learning are underway. Any voluntary contributions at this point would be much appreciated to meet the school’s targeted funds.

$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-3pm - 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.

Creative Generation

Creative Generation - State Schools On-Stage 2016

The time has come and we have reached the most anticipated week of the year for our students involved - "Show Week".

CGEN is the thrilling culmination of five months of auditions, workshops and rehearsals for hundreds of cast and crew drawn from more than 120 state schools from all over Queensland. It is a wonderful opportunity for Queensland State School students to showcase their creativity and talent.

This year we have 9 students participating in the amazing event to showcase the talent of many students throughout Queensland. During the journey students have gained many skills.

There have been many weekend and holiday rehearsals not to mention the numerous school lunch time rehearsals and practising at home.

This event has been an invaluable opportunity for our students to work and interact with professional artists, providing a real-life experience of the performing arts industry. This year we have also seen many past Graceville State School students participating.

Library News

A great big THANK YOU goes out to those parents who supported our Contact Club Book Covering Blitz in the library this week.

Thanks to these fantastic volunteers, the library once again has several new books ready for student borrowing. They include popular fiction, graphic novels, non-fiction and picture books. These books will be on display in the library, and students will be provided with the opportunity to borrow them during library lessons. There is also a great selection of books to read for those students involved in the Premier’s Reading Challenge.

I encourage families to remind their children of the importance of reading, and talk to them about the different types of books they could possibly read. It is important that children enjoy what they are reading, whether it be a book, magazine, graphic novel or comic, informative text or poetry, so they continue to appreciate the pleasure reading can give.

The library is also open before and after school, and at lunch time for borrowing. Students are reminded to bring their library bags to borrow.

CBCA REGIONAL READERS CUP

At the end of last term, five students from Year 5 competed in the annual regional Readers’ Cup organised by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. It was held at St John’s Anglican College, Forest Lake.

These students were required to read five books in preparation for the competition and on the day answered six rounds of challenging questions about each of these books. Students worked brilliantly as a team and had just 30 seconds to answer each question.

The team studied continuously for over eight weeks always working extremely well together. The books were challenging, the questions very tricky and the competition from the other schools fierce but the brilliant news is that our Graceville team, after a very tense tie-breaker, were the WINNERS of the region!

The team is to be congratulated not only on their hard work but also on their teamwork and sportsmanship. In September, Graceville will now compete in the State finals!

This fantastic team was made up of five fabulous girls: Sophie, Tara, Vienna, Eunsu and Isla.

Congratulations team – we are very proud of you and thank you for representing our school in this excellent competition!

Scholastic Book Club

All children should have now received the latest Scholastic Book Club catalogues. If children have not received a catalogue, there are extras in the library. Orders will close on Friday 22 July and the books will be distributed approximately two weeks later.

Thank you for using our preferred payment option – LOOP – Linked Online Ordering and Payment available on the link below or download the LOOP Apple or Android app.

No need to send paper orders to school. No Cash Orders Please – Graceville is running a Cashless Book Club. There is a box in the library for paper orders with a cheque made to Scholastic Australia.

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Welcome to term 3! Our lessons and rehearsals have resumed this week in preparation for upcoming performances. This semester we have our annual 2 day workshop for all instrumental students on 7/8 September, culminating with a concert at 2pm on Thursday 8 September. All instrumental students will be performing at the concert and families are invited to attend. It is an exciting 2 days for our instrumental students with sessions alternating between small tutorials with specialist instructors and full ensemble rehearsals and a fabulous learning experience for them.

Our Senior Band and choir will be performing at the school fete from 12 noon in the hall. We look forward to performing for you then. More detailed performance times will be provided closer to the date.

We hope our music students have a great first week back and enjoy returning to lessons and rehearsals.

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

Welcome back!

I hope the Winter break was a refreshing change and a chance for you to regroup after Term 2, in readiness for all the wonder that Term 3 will provide. I think it is safe to say the cooler weather has arrived and with it the need for extra layers of clothing. This time of year sees the lost property bin bursting at the seams with discarded jumpers. The volunteer mums do an amazing job of finding the right homes for our lost property. Ensuring that all clothing items are labelled with name and current class refines that task greatly.

Our Lapthon envelopes continue to be returned with sponsorship monies and many families are taking the opportunity to donate electronically, allowing a tax receipt to be sent directly to them. There is still time to return forms and be eligible for the Lapathon prizes as the deadline for prizes is end of school this Friday. Of course, financial support for chaplaincy can be made at any time, either via the school office or by using the electronic link. I believe that link will be found in the Chaplaincy Committee section of this newsletter. Thank you again to all the families who support chaplaincy at Graceville State School. Your support enables us to partner together in providing another avenue of care and support to our students.

In closing, I would like to thank the P & C for planning their Fete later in the term. It might be a tad chilly in the dunking machine, if the fete were held this weekend.

Have a fantastic week and stay warm!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Lap-A-Thon

Thank you to all of those families who have returned their sponsorship envelopes already from the Lap-a-thon. A huge thank you also to all the sponsors who supported last term’s Lap-a-thon. All donations are tax deductible and online donations will result in a tax invoice being sent directly to you. Donations can be made by cash, cheque or credit card electronic link.

To be eligible for prizes, the sponsorship forms and all money raised are due back to the School office by 3pm on this Friday 15th July. Don’t forget there are great prizes! There is a prize for the most laps by an individual boy and girl in each year level. There are also class prizes for the class which completes the highest number of laps per participant. There is also a fundraising prize for both Junior and Senior age groups. The Lap-a-thon fundraising prize goes to the student who finds the highest number of sponsors. Thank you once again to the fabulous Graceville State School community for the support Chaplaincy receives throughout the year.

Evonne Beruldsen on behalf of the Graceville Chaplaincy Committee.

Active School Travel

Welcome back!

We hope you had a great break and took the opportunity to get outdoors to enjoy the great winter weather.

Get Ready!

Fete Competition

The school fete committee has generously donated some prizes to Active Travel, which is great news for all those students out there who are active on TACO Tuesday! Active travel can be any of the following:

• Walking to school
• Park and stride – parking the car in the designate “park and stride” zones and walking a short distance to school
• Riding your bike or scooter to school
• Carpooling – arriving at school by car with some of your friends
• Public transport

Being dropped off at the front gate does NOT qualify as “active travel”.

In weeks 1-6 of Term 3 (12th July – 16th August) you will have the opportunity to collect an entry each week when you have your active travel passport stamped at the designated stamping stations. All you need to do is fill out your entry form and put it into the entry box (either at the stamping station or the office). Entries must be received by 19th August @ 3pm to go in the draw.

So if you travel every week you have the opportunity to have six entries in the running for the prizes. This week you should have received your first entry, so please make sure you complete it and hand it in. So get active!!!!

There will be one (1) ride band per year level to be given away. If you’re lucky enough to win and have already purchased your ride band, don’t worry we will organise a refund for you.

To win the free toss at the lob-o-choc get together with your class and get as many of your class mates to enter as possible. It’s simple, the class with the most entries will win!

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. Our next meeting will be on 28th July @ 10:45am in the Waratah Room. Please contact Jo Richards at sajrichards@iinet.net.au for more information.

P & C

FETE THIS TERM!

The fete is only 6 weeks away. Please help your class reps and the fete committee to make this day a great success for the school again. Saturday 27 August.

POOL ANNIVERSARY

Our school pool turns 50 this year and we are hoping to celebrate this with the Swimming Club in term 4. We are looking for any volunteers who would be interested in working on the celebration preparations. Please email pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

ROAD SAFETY – 2 minute zones

There will be some visual differences at the front gate to educate and inforce the correct use of the 2 minute pickup zone in the coming weeks. With correct use, the zone will work very efficiently and safely for all. Please stay tuned for further information and keep an eye on the Active School Travel section of the newsletter.

BUILDING FUND

The P&C, like most other P&Cs, offers parents an opportunity to take part in a Tax Deductible Voluntary Contribution Scheme. If you wish to contribute to the P&C building work projects for the school, please contact the P&C Executive at the email below and we will send you the details. The building fund is going towards climate controlling the school, continuing to air condition the class rooms and the major project of fixing the ventilation of the hall.

NEXT MEETING

All members of our school community are welcome to our next meeting Wednesday 20 July 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

Fete Update

Fete newsletter number 3 will be sent out Friday, 15 July, via the school e-mail system.

The big news is that the Fete 2015 Slideshow will be shown in the first full school assembly on Thursday, 21 July.

Not only that, our first free dress day for Lob-O-Choc will be the next day, Friday, 22 July. Don't forget, gold coin donation to purchase the chocolates for you to win on Fete Day!!!

Other important information is included in the newsletter so please keep an eye out for it and read it carefully.

Only 6 weeks and to go.

Kathy

Uniform and Stationery

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

Welcome back to term 3.

All sizes in House Shirts (Cook, Kennedy and Flinders) are in stock. The Athletics Carnival is next week.

All sizes in Polar Fleece jumpers are in stock, as are tracksuit pants and bootleg leggings.

Band folders are available $15.

The last remaining school cookbooks are in stock $10 each. Only a handful are remaining.

Donations of 2nd hand uniforms are always appreciated. Good stocks are available for sale now, including lots of dresses, jumpers and good shorts. Come in and grab a bargain.

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

Tuckshop News

Welcome back!

Who are our wonderful volunteers making your children's lunches next week? Here they all are, make sure to thank them if you see them.

Volunteers for week commencing Monday, 18/7/16:

Mon 18/7. Jennifer Loh
Tues, 19/7. Michael Willimott and Elise Allison
Wed, 20/7. Alison O'Keefe and Jewl Velasquez-Holmes
Thurs, 21/7. Karin Verae and Leanne Gordon
Fri, 22/7. Yasmin McNally and Liz Fourie and Shona Luke and LiLi

Have a great week.
Anne, Amanda and Ally

School Plus

School Plus Graceville Fun

Over the last 2 weeks we have been really busy here at Graceville.

We have had Winter Wonderland, Onesie Parties, Harry Potter days plus many more fantastic themed days.

One day we even got to go on an adventure to the Ipswich Railway Museum which was so much fun, we all had a great time.

These June/July Holidays have been lots of fun but we are also getting really excited for our Term Incursion for Term 3. Multi-Sport classes being run by PhysiKids.

Community Sport Notices

Graceville State School Tennis Coaching – Term 3

Before School, Lunch Time and After School Coaching will commence on Tuesday 19th July 2016 (during the second week back after the holidays).

Enrolments close on Friday 15th July 2016. Spare enrolment forms are available from the School Office, they can also be downloaded from the School Newsletter. To ensure a place in class, forms must be returned by this date to the School Office. Do not return forms to the School Office after this date contact Jim Joyce directly on 0417 771022.

Special Offer – All new students in Grade 1 and 2 will receive a free tennis racquet when joining for the first time.

For further enquiries please contact Jim Joyce on 0417 771022

Community Notices

Christ the King Community Fun Run

Sherwood Community Kindergarten Open Day

Our next meeting is a coffee night. No speaker, just ourselves. Bring your questions. Bring your friends. All welcome.

Please see the details below for our next West Brisbane Asperger Support Group meeting:

Date: Thursday July 21
Time: 7pm - 9pm ( Please arrive ready to start the meeting at 7pm)
Venue: St Matthew’s Church Hall (cnr. Sherwood & Oxley Rds. Sherwood)
Topic: Coffee Night
Cost: Gold coin appreciated

We look forward to seeing you.

Kind regards
Jane and Ruth

Jane Leonforte
ASA Group Coordinator
0448 909 863