4 November 2016

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

We are now half way through the term! Over the next three weeks students will be involved in finalising assessment pieces prior to teachers writing Report Cards. It is a good idea to check in with your children, especially in the upper grades, to see what support they may need at this busy time.

I hope you were able to take the time to attend the Book Fair. Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Barker put on a great show. I would like to thank them for sharing their passion for books with us all.

On Thursday the School Captain nominees for 2017 shared their speeches on a special assembly. All of the potential student leaders did a wonderful job and should be very proud of their efforts. On Friday, Ms Hass and I had the pleasure of engaging in an interview with each of them to help us refine our thoughts for who will be the School and Vice Captains for 2017. The School Captain and Vice Captains will be announced at assembly next Thursday.

This week we were made aware Mrs Davey’s contact in Curriculum Branch has been extended until the middle of next year. We can now consider which teacher will take on the Senior Enhancement class.

Unfortunately, our school was broken into on the weekend. The break in occurred in Q Block where blue paint was splashed all over the outside of classrooms. A classroom was also broken into. The alarms seem to have scared the intruders away as we do not believe any items were stolen. The break in occurred at 3.45pm on Saturday afternoon. The police investigated but unfortunately they were unable to provide us with any further information. I hope the intruders were not students of our school. It would be sad to see our own students disrespecting the school. If you allow your children to play in the suburb unsupervised, after school or on weekends, please understand you also have responsibility to ensure their behaviour is of an acceptable standard.

Finally we would like to invite you to attend a Remembrance Day Service at the school on Friday 11 November. The school will hold a short service from 10.15-10.45am. You are all very welcome to attend.

Have a great week.

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Year 4-6 Swimming Carnival

Unfortunately the school will be unable to hold a swimming carnival for Year 1-3 classes as we do annually, this year we have major pool renovations to commence in the last week of school. Long term these renovations will be wonderful however the works will disturb the use of the pool in the last week of school and it is also such a busy time of the year with many school events.

We will however be holding the year 4-6 Carnival on Friday December 2. Mr Daunt will send out further details shortly.

Remembrance Day Commemoration – our school will be holding its annual service on Friday November 11, at 10.15 in our school hall. Poppies will shortly go on sale at our school entrances before school, so watch out for this. All families and community members are invited to attend our school assembly.

Date Claimer: Prep Orientation visit – Tuesday November 15th

Letters about prep placements for 2017 will be posted on Friday this week so watch the post for the information arriving in your mail box with details about classes and times for prep orientation.

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 for more information about 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 4 Junior assemblies – every second Tuesday commencing at 2.15pm.

Study Tour to Taiwan 2017

We will hold an information meeting on Wednesday November 9th at 6.30pm in the Waratah room. Information to share will be around cost of participation, intended dates, the school in Taichung we will be hosted by. I also have a short movie showing the last study tour we went on to Taiwan so you get a picture of some of the experiences your child would be participating in.

Last visit we had mostly year 7 students with some year 6’s participating, it would be up to families to decide on your own child’s readiness to participate in this very rewarding experience.

We are anticipating a return visit from Future Heir Bilingual Elementary School in August next year as we further develop our relationship with this school.

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Christmas service

Every year we have a Christmas service which is run by our Religious Instruction volunteers. This year it will be on Friday 25th November in the hall. The service will start at 9.00am and finish by 9.30am. Any students who have participated in Religious Instruction this year in Years 1-6 will be going to the service. Class teachers will accompany them on that day. Students in Yrs 1-6 who do not participate in RI will stay in classrooms, as per the usual arrangements.

There will be no RI on Friday 2nd December due to the Yr 4-6 swimming carnival.

SMS Messaging Service

As communicated previously, Graceville is in the process of introducing a SMS Messaging service as a further means of communication with you. As of January 2017, all state schools in Queensland are required to have such a service. This initiative has been introduced to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your children. The service will communicate all unexplained absences every day. It will be your responsibility to let us know if your child is away on any particular day so we can reduce the unexplained absences to zero and ensure that all students are safe either at home or at school.

We have been collecting updated information from parents & guardians in respect to mobile numbers, so we can start the process of “Going live” with the SMS service. Once all this information is updated in Oneschool we will be ready to export all of the updated data into the messaging program ready to commence.

I will send out a Newsflash early next week outlining the process and how it all works. I suggest you make sure that you are calling the absences line (3716 2760) early in the morning if your child will be away. If you know in advance about an absence please let the class teacher know so they can record that information. Teachers will be marking their rolls by 9.15am in the mornings. All late students arriving after 9.00am need to be brought to the office, by their parent.

Once we commence the messaging process a generic SMS message will be sent to parents advising of your child’s absence and requesting an explanation. Our goal is for no unexplained absences. Just remember that it is for your children’s safety that this program is being introduced state wide.

Money Matters

Roberta Harycki

Thank you for your payments to date. Pink reminder statements will be sent home on Monday, 28th November 2016. Your attention to accounts in arrears would be much appreciated.

Please note: The Year 4 Xmas Show has been cancelled by the Theatre. Students who have paid their $19 will now have a credit in their account. This amount can be used as payment for other excursions, rolled over to use in 2017 family account or “Request for Refund” form can be completed.

Student Resource Schemes (SRS)

Early next week the SRS programs for 2017 will be distributed to students in Prep-Year 5. The expected date of return will be printed on the form. Your support here will avert the office chaos at the commencement of 2017 with student invoicing. Please return the completed form – do not send payment until 2017.

Credit in Account: (e.g. -$10) – This means your account has a credit of $10. Do not pay this amount but please let office staff know how you wish to use your credit by nominating which excursions are to be paid.

Sorry, our financial system does not automatically match to outstanding invoices.

Helpful hints for payment - BPoint instructions are attached; Also note, Permissions and Payments by the “Last day of Payment” is a must for your child’s inclusion.

Request for Refund form for an excursion paid and not attended is available from the front office. Prepaid ticketing excursions, curriculum programs and prepaid competition entries are non-refundable.

End of year scenario – If your family account is in credit and your child is not continuing at Graceville in 2017 with no other siblings to roll the credit over to next year, then please complete a Request for Refund or donation to school funds if you wish.

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.

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Thank you to families for ensuring your children are attending rehearsals and lessons throughout this busy term while our choirs and ensembles are preparing for performances. Please note our concert schedule below. All families and members of the school community are invited to the concerts. Notes and invitations for the Grandparents Concert have been handed out to students this week. We warmly welcome our choir and Senior Strings students' Grandparents to this concert.

Wednesday 16th November – evening concert 6pm - all choir and instrumental students will be performing

Tuesday 22nd November (please note date change) - Oxley Senior Citizens' Concert - Senior Choir and Senior Strings (during school day, bus to be paid for by instrumental/choral program); concert at Oxley Senior Citizens' Hall 10:30am

Wednesday 23rd November – Grandparent’s Concert 10am - all choir students and the Senior Strings

We look forward to performing for you at our upcoming concerts.

Library News

Melanie Hutchinson

A big THANK YOU to our wonderful school community for your fantastic support of our annual LIBRARY BOOK FAIR! This year’s event was great fun and a terrific success!

The students and their families enjoyed the opportunity to buy books for themselves, their families and the school.

We earned a huge amount of commission to help purchase wonderful NEW books and many essential educational resources for the library collection as well as other classroom resources. It was a tremendous effort from everyone!

A special thanks to our amazing teacher aides as well as the parent and student volunteers - whose assistance at this great school event was most appreciated.

Congratulations also to our competition winners – Oliver B, Emily R, Tom T, Hunter, Eva and Drew.

Active School Travel

TACO TUESDAY!

(Travel Actively Coming-to-school on)

Great work Graceville!!!!

On Thursday 27th of October the Lord Mayor hosted the annual Active School Travel awards at City Hall. Graceville was the runner up in the “Walk of Fame” award, which is a fantastic achievement. Everyone who actively travels to school should be very proud of this achievement as it acknowledges all the work of the school community and the AST committee.

Congratulations to Buranda State School who were the recipients of the award having achieved an amazing 100% active travel rate at some of their key events.

Graceville, are you up for this challenge in 2017?

Melbourne Cup

Thank you to all the students and parents who turned out in their fine hats for the Melbourne Cup breakfast. Thank you to Cr Nicole Johnston for providing breakfast, and to all the staff and parents who helped out on the day. A big thanks also to Chappy for cooking all the sausages on what was a rather humid morning. Cr Johnston had the task of judging the best hats and handing out prizes on the day……the winners of the tuckshop vouchers are…..

• Sam S - 6H
• Alexia B - 5P
• Chelsea P - 3/4BC
• Oliver G - 3B
• Phoebe S - 2E
• Molly G - 1L
• Josh S - Prep TF

Thanks to all the students for making it a great morning!

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.

P&C News

TECHNOLOGY

Further planning work has been continuing this week. The school leadership team and teachers have been working together on surveying needs/wants for technology in the classroom and school generally. A wider meeting with staff and parents has been organised for Friday morning 4 November to develop the technology plan. The plan will be delivered to the next P&C meeting to discuss how we may go about funding and delivering. It is likely that a levy in the form of a voluntary contribution will be needed to stem the flow of the aging technology in our school and deliver on the technology plan. Please feel free to join the discussion. We are working on the premise that we want our children to have ready access to appropriate technology for their learning.

PARENTS DISCO

The last P&C event of the year is set to be a cracker! An Old School disco break up party. This is just a few weeks before the end of school it will be a great break up party for you! Tickets are available via the Tuckshop ordering system School24, under Tickets. (See "new" attached flyer)

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

The next meeting is this Wednesday 30 November at 7.30pm in the Waratah Room (which is beside the staff room in the main reception block). Everyone is very welcome.

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

Parent’s Disco News

The last P&C event of the year is set to be a cracker! An Old School disco break up party. Dust off your 80s gear from the trivia night and come along for a great night. Saturday 19th of November from 6.30pm.

Tickets are $20 and available for purchase on the Tuckshop ordering system under 'Tickets'.

Uniform & Stationery

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

Prep selling days:

Tuesday 8th November 3pm to 6pm
Tuesday 15th November 8.15am to 10.45am during Orientation sessions

Families already at Graceville State School are encouraged to come during normal uniform store hours for their Prep needs due to these selling days usually being busy days.

If you have a small child wanting a dress for next year smaller than the size 2 available, you need to come in and specially order them asap.

NEW SKORTS ARE COMING BY MID NOVEMBER.

Pants built in under a skirt embroidered with GSS in gold on skirt.

Most of your swimming gear is available from the uniform store, including swim caps, bags and quick dry towels in your house colours and others.

Friday sport shirts and football socks are in stock.

All sizes in House Shirts (Cook, Kennedy and Flinders) are in stock.

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

Anne, Amanda and Ally

Another week....

Order numbers since the term began - you wanted to see them and we'd love to tell you.

There were also a few additional manual orders too but you can see it is really getting busy in the tuckshop now. 180 orders is a new record and we were all shattered afterwards, volunteers and convenors alike!

Volunteers for the coming week are:

If you see them, make sure you thank them. Remember, it's your children they are working so hard to feed!

If you have any questions please come see us or drop us an email at: tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

TUCKSHOP THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS DAY – Friday 4th November

TUCKSHOP WALL OF FAME

We would like to thank all of our fantastic volunteers for 2016 who have come in this year to ensure that the students of Graceville SS have been fed. Thank you for your outstanding service to our school. You have kindly given up your free time to make lunches for the students.

Thank you for being part of our monthly roster and/or for being an emergency contact, filling in on extra shifts, in times of need and emergency. The Tuckshop could not be a five-day service without you!

TO YOU ALL WE SAY A HUGE THANK YOU!!

Ally O’Keefe, Elise Allison, Julie Woolfield, Kelly Steen, Michael Willimott, Rachel Rillie, Trish Atkinson, Alana Teixeira, Evie Askew, Alex Morgan, Elise Wilson, Jennifer Loh, Juanita Holland, Jewls Valasquez-Holmes, Rebecca Sinfield, Sara Williams, Sasha Griggs, Sharon Fozard, Fiona Fryer, Karin Veraa, Kathy McPhie, Leanne Gordon, Liz Sbeghen, Fabri Kramer, Kim Begus, Anthea Buirski, Michelle Kimber-Fanning, Deb Walker, Nell McKay, Alison Hibbert, Anna Cottell, Annie Madders, Bess Sellars, Donna Jones, Gehann Molachino, Karyn Krysica, LiLi, Liz Fourie, Lyn Griffiths, Marie Gjorgiosci, Monica Kim, Rowanne Wright, Shonna Luke, Simone Braithwaite, Terriann MacDonnell, Yasmin McNally, Anna Roberts, Shelley & Ric Masterson, Shane Ibster, Heidi Marshall, Kylie Jackson, Sharon Pearce, Jenny Kruger, Grace Kennedy, Gabrielle Nott, Babita Banga, Irena Webb, Sally Watson, Melinda Carlisle, Itzia Pascoe, Mareena Matthews, Carla Lloyd, Maggie Robbins and Chris Hansen.

As a small appreciation, we have brought in some chocolates to share with you, so drop in and grab yours. It’s the least we can do!

Contact Club

Due to the Book Fair in the library, the next Contact Club has been rescheduled for next Wednesday, 9th of November.

See you in the library straight after drop-off or after reading groups for some covering and a great catch-up! Lots of books to cover so come in and check out the new items being added to the library's collection. It’s super interesting!

For more information, come along next Wednesday or email Amanda: thecarps.home@gmail.com

Swimming News

Group lessons are on offer before and after school on weekdays. To enter group lessons students must be in Year One or older and able to swim 25 meters freestyle non-stop.

All other students may book a private one on one lesson after school on Fridays or Saturday mornings. Students in after school care may also join the program as staff can take the children to the pool and pick them up after their lesson.

Please direct all inquiries to Pete Geraghty via email: petegeraghty@hotmail.com or phone 0432407442

School Plus

KeyboardKidz

KeyboardKidz Students are at it again!

Keyboardkidz Piano School have the results of our term 3 piano exams! We had a whopping 41 of our students participate in this round of exams with outstanding results all round!

We would like to congratulate from Graceville State School Vienna T (97 high distinction), Cian D (95 distinction) and Jeremy N (80 B+).

Keyboardkidz operates from within Graceville State School after school hours! Go to the link below to inquire about 2 free trial lessons for your child today!

Community Notices

Staverton Kindergarten

Staverton Kindergarten has places available for age appropriate children for 2017 (children born 1/7/12 to 30/6/13). Please call 3379 1511 or visit our website for further information.

Sherwood Community Festival

The Sherwood Community Festival is a free family event, sponsored by Brisbane City Council, which each year keeps getting bigger and better. This year it will be held on Friday, 11th November, from 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm. There will be a section dedicated to a huge variety of food stalls, plus other market stalls, rides and live entertainment!

Attractions include:

• Free rides for the children
• Petting farm
• Market and Food stalls
• Live entertainment including bands, choirs, dance troupes
• Nativity play – complete with live camels
• Raffle with some amazing prizes. Tickets are on sale outside Sherwood Woolworths on Saturday 22/10, Saturday 29/10 and Saturday 5/11, plus they can be purchased on the night from the information desk.

For more information, please log on to the event website:

Benarrawa Celebration Day

Sunday 20th November from 4pm.

There will be pizza making so bring ingredients with you or a plate to share, Songlines choir group will perform, members of the gardening group and various other groups attached to Benarrawa will be there as well. It will be a great chance to reflect and share with locals.

79 Waratah Avenue Graceville

Sherwood District Meals on Wheels

Do you know someone who is having difficulty shopping for food or cooking?

Sherwood District Meals on Wheels is able to help. Our volunteers deliver meals to the suburbs of Chelmer, Graceville, Sherwood, Corinda and Oxley. Our $10.00 meal pack ($9 if eligible for government subsidy) includes soup, a main meal, juice and dessert. The meals are nutritionally prepared for us by our supplier Nutrifresh and are delivered daily by our friendly volunteers between 9 and 10 am. The meals can be delivered fresh or frozen allowing more flexibility for the clients. Special dietary needs can also be catered for.

Who is Eligible?

• People who are 65 or older
• People who are having difficulty preparing meals for themselves or shopping
• People who have a disability and their carers
• People recovering from hospitalisation or illness

Volunteers

Volunteering for Meals on Wheels is a satisfying experience as we enable people to maintain their independence by continuing to live in their own homes. We provide a friendly daily contact for people, many of whom may be isolated or frail. We welcome new volunteers to either do a delivery run to people in their homes one morning a month (starting around 8.45 am and usually finishing shortly after 10 am) or to help in our kitchen by packing the meals for delivery.

If you know someone who needs help with meals or you would like to volunteer, please contact Donna at Meals on Wheels on 33797715 or email: sherwoodmow@gmail.com. For more information visit our website at:

Graceville Railway Station Upgrade

New information regarding the current Graceville Station Upgrade for November which impacts the surrounding areas on the train line at night and on the weekends. Please read attached notification from Queensland Rail.

Corinda State High School – Art in Print Workshop

Corinda State High School is hosting a one day Art Workshop ‘Art in Print’ on Thursday, 1st of December. Open to Years 4-6 students; please refer to the information and registration form attached.

Sherwood Arboretum – Bird Walk

This is a great opportunity to enjoy Sherwood Arboretum’s wonderful birdlife with a bird walk at 6.30 am on Sunday 6 November.

One of Australia’s leading ecologists, Professor Hugh Possingham of The University of Queensland will be your guide for this bird walk, starting at the Jolimont Street car park.

The walk finishes with a relaxing morning tea by the river. The cost of just $5.00 for adults for morning tea helps support the voluntary work of the Friends of Sherwood Arboretum Association (FOSA). Please RSVP by calling (07) 3278 6525 or emailing info@sherwoodarboretum.com.au.

Sherwood Arboretum has a well-deserved reputation as an excellent site for bird watching, thanks to its wetlands, including two lakes and three protected islands, a riverfront bushland corridor and an impressive collection of over 1000 Australian native trees. Over the past 15 years, 170 species of birds have been recorded in this 91-year-old Arboretum, one of Brisbane’s botanical treasures.

Musical Instruments For Sale

*Trumpet

Silver YAMAHA Trumpet – Purchased new two years ago. Excellent condition.

Recently checked by Brass Specialist.

Hard Case and Standard of Excellence Books 1 and 2 included.

Asking $500.

Contact Nadia Mob 0417753134

*Alton Saxophone

Jupiter JAS 769 Alton Saxophone with excellent custom fit “wheelie” case. $800 ono.

*Clarinet

Yamaha 250 Student Clarinet, including standard hard case. Professionally cleaned & serviced.

$300 ono.

Please contact Justin on 0448 989 441 or Averil on 0419 868 831

Cerebral Palsy Swim Club

Please see attached flyer regarding the Cerebral Palsy Swim Club being run by The University of Queensland.

If you know anybody that may be interesting in taking part please get in contact with Iain Dutia from the University as per the below contact details.

Iain Dutia, Physiotherapist and PhD Candidate at the University of Queensland

Email: i.dutia@uq.edu.au or Phone:0497 333 020

School Holiday Cricket Clinics

Boys and girls, aged 6 to 17, are welcome to attend Holiday Cricket Clinics conducted by Henschell Cricket Academy Pty Ltd.

These Clinics concentrate on skills and activities for the beginner to the representative player whilst having fun.

Where: Fig Tree Pocket State School, Cubberla Street, Fig Tree Pocket
When: Week 1 – Monday 12 December 2016 to Thursday 15 December 2016 inclusive (4 days) or
Week 2 – Tuesday 3 January 2017 to Thursday 6 January 2017 inclusive (4 days)
Times: 8:30am to 12:00pm daily
Cost: $199.00 (Incl. GST) per Clinic (family rates available)

Contact: email – henschellcricket@bigpond.com or phone – Brett Henschell 0458 026 224