9 February 2017

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

As part of our Whole School Assembly last week, we introduced the students to the first of 5 Learning Assets that we will be implementing across the school this year. You may have noticed the school message board stating “we are learning how to be collaborators”. The Learning Assets describe a broad set of transdisciplinary skills that are commonly required of the inquirer – thinking, collaborating, self-managing, researching and communicating. Each of these broad assets also include multiple specific skills. Our school focus for two weeks is to introduce what it is to be a Collaborator to our students. In Kath Murdoch’s book, The Power of Inquiry, collaborators are described as follows: “We are collaborators when we work with others on shared goals, questions and challenges. We know how to be constructively part of a team, to use different roles for different tasks and to actively listen to and respect other people’s views. We also understand how our behaviour affects others. Once we have the skills of a collaborator we will have the disposition to be empathetic, compassionate and reliable to others”. You are welcome to use the same language at home and encourage your children to collaborate! At each whole school assembly this term we will introduce one of the Learning Assets. The next asset we will introduce is Self - Manager.

As stated in last week’s newsletter, we will hold Parent Information Sessions late this term and early next term to explain some of the school focus areas for 2017. After some discussion we have decided to first repeat the overview session on Curiosity and Powerful Learning. This will be a repeat of the session we presented last year and is aimed at parents who could not make it last year or who are new to the school. It is likely this session will take place in week 7, Term 1. The date and times will be confirmed in next week’s newsletter. Early in Term 2, we will follow on with sessions on An Inquiry Approach to Learning and Framing Higher Order Questions.

By early next week you should receive a letter explaining the Voluntary Contribution for 2017. The Voluntary Contribution has been increased, with approval of the P&C, to the value of $100 per child. Seventy Five percent of the funds will go immediately towards replacing the current bank of computers, iPads, Laptops and Interactive Whiteboards we have in the school. The final twenty five percent of the funds will go directly towards supporting the school’s areas of improvement for Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. We kindly encourage you to support the Voluntary Contribution Scheme in any way that you can. Please read the information provided in the Voluntary Contribution letter as I hope it will help you to understand the need of the school for support in the area of Technology.

Finally, at next week’s whole school assembly we will hand out the badges for Year Level and Class Reps. I am sure the students would love for their parents or carers to attend!

Have a great week,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Mathletics for 2017

We will shortly commence the Mathletics program for this year. It is an online Mathematics program that is individually based and one that students can access at home as well as at school for all students in year 1 to year 6. The cost for Mathletics is $12 per student for the year and invoices will be sent home this week. Once paid your child will received their log on and password from their class teacher. Your class teacher can inform you more fully about Mathletics and how your class will be using the program this year. Each student will then receive their own personal log on and password to access the program for both at school and at home.

School Technology Plan and Committee

During term 4 last year we developed a technology plan for the next 5 years which covers the distribution of devices in the school and planning for the renewal of devices as required. This year we plan to meet once a term to discuss how things ‘technologically’ are going in the school. I would like to invite any parents who might like to get involved in this committee to come to our first meeting for the year on Friday February 17 at 7.45am in the Waratah room.

Junior Assemblies

Parents and care givers are all invited to join us for Junior Assemblies which will be held every second Tuesday afternoon from 2.15 in the hall. These assemblies will be for all Prep to Year 2 classes. Year 2 students have the opportunity to develop their skills of public speaking by taking turns in leading these assemblies and classes also take part presenting items for us all. We also like to recognise Birthdays and present awards to students from across all classes.

Below is the calendar for term 1 assemblies.

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Religious Instruction

RI classes will commence this week – Friday 10th February. Semester 1 will be for Years 1, 2 & 6. Semester 2 will be for Years 3, 4 & 5.

In Years 1, 2 & 6 students will be in a classroom for the lesson. In Year 1 & 2 there will be 3 classes of the Co-operative program and 1 class of the student’s non-attending RI. In Year 6 there will be 2 classes of co-operative and 1 class of none-attending. Students in years 1 & 2 (no students in Yr 6) who are attending Bahai will go at the same time as the Co-operative program.

2017 International competitions

All students in Years 2 - 6 will be invited to participate in the International competitions run by the University of New South Wales.

Any students in Years 2 or 4 whose parents are intending to apply for the Enhancement classes are required to enter their child in the English, Maths & Science competitions.

In 2017 we will be participating in the following competitions:

• Digital Technologies 23 May $8.00 (Yr 3-6)
• Science 30 May $8.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Spelling 14 June $11.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Writing 13 June $17.00 (Yr 3-6)
• English 1 August $8.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Mathematics 15 August $8.00 (Yr 2-6)

All participating students will need to indicate if they are entering by later in the term. Payment for these competitions will be included in your Term 2 account. All competitions will be non-refundable as they are pre-paid.

These competitions are valued by us and parents but they do take a considerable amount of time out of class, for often the same groups of children, so this year we will be conducting the competitions before school, as much as possible. Running these comps at another time, eg. lunchtime, is not in the best interests of the students. This may mean that for that week your child may have to miss eg. Senior choir or an Instrumental practice, but it would only be very infrequently. We do have to run the tests on the day indicated above, unless children are sick or absent. If this occurs we try to make-up the tests in the day or 2 after, if possible. We will confirm the times as the comps get closer. We would probably expect students at school ready to start at 7.45am.

NAPLAN testing – Term 2

On Tuesday 9, Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 May, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will take part in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, or NAPLAN, as it is commonly known.

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. If you can’t avoid those days eg. 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.

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

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

Thank you for your payments of excursions to date. Statements should be sent home this week.

All excursions and events require payment and a permission form to be returned by the due date or your child will not be permitted to attend.

Student Resource Schemes (SRS) for 2017 are:

• Prep Requirements ($60)
• Instrumental Music Programs – Instrument Hire ($100), Percussion Maintenance ($50), Music Participation ($30) & Choir ($30)
• Religious Education Program ($10)
• Mathletics On-line registration (Years 1 - 6) ($12)
• Origo Maths (years 3, 4 and 5) ($6)

All students involved in these programs must return a completed SRS form.

VOLUNTARY PARENT CONTRIBUTIONS

Your valuable contribution to this school’s learning targets are most welcome.

$100 single student.

Credit in Account: Credits from 2016 rolled over to this year can be applied to current invoices at the parent’s request.

Request for Refund form for an excursion paid and not attended is available from the front office. Prepaid ticketed excursions are non-refundable.

Payment of account days:

8am-3.00pm - 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

We have had a busy week in the music department with our choir and Senior Band and String rehearsals starting. Next term the Junior Band will rehearse before school on Wednesdays and Beginner/Junior Strings will rehearse on Wednesdays at first break. Please continue to assist your child with remembering their lesson time as well as any rehearsals they need to attend. We appreciate your assistance with this while trialling our rotating timetables this year.

Please contact your child's teacher or conductor if you have any concerns or issues with their progress.

Music staff email contacts

Alex Grodecki - agrod3@eq.edu.au
James Kukulies - jkuku2@eq.edu.au
Ruth Prout - rprou5@eq.edu.au
Steve Stiller - sstil2@eq.edu.au
Julie West - jwest269@eq.edu.au

Choir

All students from years 2-6 are welcome to join one of the school choirs. Rehearsals began this week with Senior Choir on Tuesday morning at 7:45am (year 4-6 students) and Junior Choir on Friday mornings at 7:55am (year 2/3 students). At rehearsals a resource form will be given out and we ask you to complete these and return them to the office.

Thank you for supporting our music program.

Naomi Lindh
Music Teacher and IM Coordinator

ICT

Safer Internet Day 2017 – Tuesday 7th February

Safer Internet Day took place on Tuesday, 7 February 2017 with the theme 'Be the change: Unite for a better internet'. We are called upon to join together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, and especially children and young people. For more information visit-

The Australian Government’s Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner have excellent resources available at the iParent website. Parents can learn about the digital environment and keep updated on their children’s technology use. You can find guidance for using safety settings on your family’s web-connected devices, tips for choosing movies and games and strategies for keeping young people safe online.

Graceville State School’s ICT ‘eSmart’ Acceptable Use Agreement forms were sent home with students this week. This is a great opportunity to discuss safe and responsible use of digital technologies with your child. Please read and discuss this form with your child and return the signed form to your class teacher.

Prep and Year 1 classes have had a visit from their ICT Mentor this fortnight to learn about safe use of the iPads at Graceville State School. All students demonstrated appropriate care for the device, were highly engaged in literacy and numeracy tasks on the iPad and are looking forward to using this tool as part of their classroom learning.

Chappy’s Chat

Last Thursday saw our first full school assembly for 2017 and our new school captains and vice-captains performed well in their new roles. Our new Prep students also did a wonderful job and were most attentive. Congratulations to our award winners for starting the year so admirably. I am sure other students will be encouraged and motivated by your endeavours.

This week some of our students will represent Graceville State School at the West Taylor Bridge Swim Trials held at St Peters swim complex. Qualifying times are extremely tough in our district so any swimmers making it to this meet have performed to a high level. Well done to all our swimmers on qualifying for this meet and good luck in your efforts to make the Met West team.

It is a very exciting week for our younger students especially, as reading groups have commenced in some year levels. When available, I endeavour to assist with reading groups in Prep and it’s fantastic to see so many parents volunteering their time to be part of this program. This is a very practical way for parents to partner with teachers to provide a strong foundation for a child’s reading. Collaboration between school and home sets students up for increased success in both academic and social development. Thank you to those parents who are able to free up some time for reading groups and other school activities. It provides an invaluable resource for our students and often these activities could not run successfully without you.

Week 2 – Chaplaincy snapshot

Assisting in Prep classrooms in the mornings, Hall games at first break with year five and six students (Noodle hockey and dodgeball are the favourites), assist Mr Dowling as required, Set up hall for assembly and check audio visual system, interact with Prep students at 2nd breaks, after school front gate duty, maintain visible presence at senior school second breaks, Classroom visitations, rescuing balls from trees and responding to other requests for assistance.

It has been very warm this past week so please remind your children to drink plenty of water during the day. In the afternoons, at the front gate, a spray bottle of chilled water is a big hit with many of the students waiting for pick up.

Have an awesome week!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

ACTIVE SCHOOL TRAVEL:

TACO TUESDAY!

(Travel Actively Coming-to-school On)

Last week’s heat, which is set to continue, has seen the traffic around the school increase as many students have been picked up from school to avoid the heat. The congestion and heat can test everyone’s patience so we all need to work together to get the traffic flowing. There were a number of instances last week where cars were parked over yellow lines or in the pick up zones, which stopped the flow of traffic and further impacted on the congestion around the school.

Yellow Lines!!!!

Remember that if there is a yellow line painted on the road this means NO PARKING AT ANY TIME! It is disappointing that many cars are being observed parking on the yellow lines at drop off and pick up times. This reduces visibility and increases potential danger for those actively travelling and also for other traffic around the school. Do the right thing!

Using the school “ Pick up / drop off zones”

We understand that there are times where it is not always possible to “actively travel” to school. There are pick up / drop off zones on both Acacia Avenue and Park Road for those times that you need to drive. If you are using these zones we urge you to pay attention to the signage and park / load-unload accordingly. Council does regular patrols of the areas, so if you are parking your vehicle on a yellow line, or stay parked for more than the designated time, you may be fined. By following the line markings on the roads and observing “no standing zones” you will help to improve the safety and visibility for pedestrians and traffic around the school. If we all do the “right thing” we will set a good example to others and to our children.

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. Parent volunteers are essential to keep this project going at our school. Our next meeting will be 23rd Feb at 10:45am in the Waratah Room. Please contact Jo Richards at sajrichards@iinet.net.au for more information.

P&C News

THE IMPORTANCE OF CLASS REPS

“Lock the doors! You’re not going till we get a class rep”. Most of us would have heard that at our recent parent information sessions. A big thank you to the teachers who truly do value the work of the class rep and understand the importance of the job. The funny thing is, once you do class rep once, you learn the job isn’t as onerous as first sold to you. The prime role of the class rep is around communication. The P&C use the class rep network as a quick and guaranteed way to get our news out to the whole school community. Establishing a class group email list and forwarding information to the class is the key role. The class rep also has a very important job to do around the School Fete. Each class is given a stall to run and the class rep coordinates this. Unfortunately it seems the hardest part of this is getting each family to sign up to half an hour of working on the stall during fete day or contribute in some way to making the stall work. The beauty of our school fete is that everyone chips in – that is why it is successful and that is why we fund raise a considerable amount. Thanks for the people that have volunteered this year. Thanks to the teachers for their support. Those classes who haven’t found their class rep yet, please do volunteer. Help is always here throughout the year and especially during fete time, the fete committee are very willing and able to assist you.

CHAPLAINCY AT GRACEVILLE

At the first meeting of the P&C this year on 22 February (9am in Waratah Room) we will be discussing Chaplaincy at Graceville State School. We have been very lucky to have Chappy in this position for 10 years and Graceville has been quite unique in being able to provide John’s service for so long. The P&C sees great value in the role that Chappy plays and it is important that the school community and especially new families understand what John does. Funding and costs have changed considerably this year and we will be discussing that and the impacts that will have on our Chaplaincy service going forward.

UNIFORM SHOP

We are looking for more volunteers in the uniform shop and also in the tuckshop. Any assistance would be very welcome. These businesses do rely on volunteer labour.

AIR CONDITIONING

A matter for the P&C this year will be the classroom air conditioners and their aging condition. Many people do not realise and are amazed by the fact that the Education Department do not provide air conditioners to class rooms in our area. Last year the P&C achieved an amazing milestone paying off a $250,000 loan undertaken approximately 7 years ago to make sure all the classrooms are air conditioned. Fabulous, but now we find ourselves with an aging fleet of machines and we have had two failures this year where the cost of repair is more than replacement. The P&C Executive have authorised that these machines be replaced immediately. It is proposed that the P&C establish a ‘sinking fund’ of sorts to allow for situations like this, but also prepare for the replacement of the old stock and the maintenance of the new machines.

PREPARING FOR THE AGM

The Annual General Meeting will be held next month and we are looking for new people who wish to contribute to the school community. Our Treasurer is looking for a replacement and we are hoping that someone with some accounting or bookkeeping experience would like to be Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer this year. Then they will have a full year of training in the post. All positions are up for election and I’d encourage everyone to get more involved.

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 first meeting of the year will be a regular meeting on 22 February 2017. It is proposed that this meeting is a day meeting straight after drop-off at 9.00am in the Waratah Room. The AGM will be held 7.30pm on 22 March.

CONTACT: pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

Uniform & Stationery

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

Year 6 Commemorative Shirts and "House Captain" forms will come home this week. Copy of forms attached.

We sell swim bags, silicon and fabric caps, quick dry towels and a limited selection of goggles and short sleeve rashies (size 16 blue). New colours of swim bags and caps have arrived.

I have in stock 2 size 10 long sleeve gold shirts and 1 size 8. $35 each. These are specially ordered so be quick as no more will be ordered until later in the year.

Donations of 2nd hand uniforms are always appreciated. Good stocks are available for sale now, including shirts, culottes, bags and 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

YEAR 6 COMMEMORATIVE SHIRTS 2017

All Year 6 students are being given the opportunity to have a commemorative shirt. Gold polo shirts are screen printed with class lists on the back. New gold shirts can be purchased at the Uniform Shop for $30.00 (both child and adult sizes). New house shirts for house captains can be purchased for $35.00 (both child and adult sizes).

School rugby shirts can also be screen printed, as above. New rugby shirts can be purchased for $30.00 (both child and adult sizes). Existing school and rugby shirts that are in REASONABLE condition can also be printed.

PRINTING COST: $10.00 per item
$15.00 ‘House Captain’ printing on house shirt

Each child will confirm the spelling of their name on a class list that is provided to each class teacher. This is the name that will be printed on the shirt. This form and the shirts MUST BE RETURNED TO THE UNIFORM SHOP BY FRIDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2017. It would save us time if you could please write the child’s name on the tag of the shirt or label it, to enable easy identification.

If you have any queries please contact the Uniform Shop which is open Monday, Tuesday and Friday 8.15 – 9.00am or email:

gracevillessuniform@gmail.com

If you wish to order, please complete the attached FORM and return it to the Uniform Shop with SHIRT/S & RUGBY/S (if using already owned items) and PAYMENT (cash or cheque made payable to GRACEVILLE SS P & C). Credit card details can also be provided on the form and either delivered to the Uniform Store or emailed to the above email address.

ORDERS MUST BE PLACED BY FRIDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2017.

Tuckshop News

Volunteers for week commencing Monday, 13 February 2017 -

Tuckshop is operated as an online ordering system. If you need to open a Tuckshop account, please visit school24.net.au and use Graceville’s School Registration ID: 25314963 and follow the prompts.

We are still in need for more volunteers. If you are able to help with a rostered shift or emergency help, we would love to hear from you. Please see us at the Tuckshop or drop us an email at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com.

Anne, Amanda and Ally

COMMUNITY NEWS

Details for our meeting this month are:

Date: Thursday February 23rd
Time: 7pm - 9pm (Please arrive ready to start the meeting at 7pm)
Venue: St Matthew’s Church Hall ( cnr. Oxley and Sherwood Rds. Sherwood)
Speaker: Ms Angela Stevenson - Advisory Visiting Teacher
Topic: “Navigating the School System”
Cost: $5 per person / couple

Angela established and ran our support group for 12 years and has a wealth of experience with regards to children on the ASD spectrum.

As an AVT, Angela has insight into getting the best out of our primary schools and transition into high school.

We look forward to hearing the latest developments with regards to helping our children within the school system.

We look forward to seeing you.

Jane Leonforte
ASA Group Coordinator
0448 909 863