23 February 2017

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

We are now officially half way through the term! Time is flying!

The P&C meeting was held on Wednesday morning at 9am. The P&C executive made the decision to trial a morning meeting to encourage more people to attend. There was a good attendance and so more morning meetings may be scheduled for this year. In my report, I shared the schools improvement agenda for 2017 and explained how the budget of the school is formulated. I think the discussion about the budget was an eye opener for many parents who attended. Parents were able to see the amazing difference their fundraising efforts and voluntary contribution makes to the student learning and school improvement. I was asked how much had been raised in voluntary contributions so far this year. We are currently sitting at $17,000. We had hoped to reach a minimum of $18,000 this year. There is still time to pay the Voluntary Contribution, you can make a contribution at any time during the school year. As you may be aware 75% of your contribution will go towards replacing IT devices in the school and the other 25% towards reading and or spelling. We are putting in our first order for IT devices using Voluntary Contribution funds this week so you should see the devices in classrooms very soon. Thank-you so much to the families who have supported the scheme so far!

As the term progresses it is important for us to remind students and families about the Time Out room at Graceville. The Time Out room operates every first break at the school. The Time Out room is manned by a staff member who works with students who have made unsatisfactory behaviour choices at breaks or transitions times to help them understand their actions and think of better choices they could make in the future. Parents are notified if their child attends the Time Out room. The school allows three Time Out visits in one term before the child is referred to the office where you will be contacted by a member of the school leadership team. At this stage consequences are heightened. It is important to note, any staff member can send a child to Time Out. In some instances, if the referring staff member is unable to take the time to fully investigate an incident, a leadership team member will assist the staff member to investigate the incident. Class teachers will usually make the parents of the children involved aware an incident has occurred and that a consequence has been applied. Most incidents that occur at Graceville fall under minor behaviour categories. Your first port of call is always the class teacher on these occasions. If behaviour is deemed to fall into a major behaviour category, the school leadership team member for your year level will become involved and contact you directly.

Next week our teachers will all be involved in watching each other work and providing feedback to each other around one of our schools improvement agenda items for 2017. The focus for this process is Framing Higher Order Questions. The leadership team of the school will backfill in classes and we are looking forward to working with students!

I hope you have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

School Technology Plan and Committee

Thank you to the parents who attended our meeting last Friday morning where 2017 plans were discussed. It was decided through the P&C at the end of last year that 75% of voluntary contributions will go towards renewing out of date devices within our school. Thanks to contributions so far we have just placed an order for 8 laptops and 10 desktop computers. I will give more details and some photos when these arrive. Know that 75% of your voluntary contributions this year go towards technological devices used within classrooms and our computer lab.

Term 2 Technology meeting will be held on Friday May 5 at 7.50am in our school library, all welcome to attend.

Mathletics for 2017

Mathletics Online has commenced for this year. The cost for Mathletics is $12 per student and invoices have been sent home. 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. Payment needs to be made by Friday March 10 if you haven’t done so by now.

Study Tour Proposal – From Minzu Elementary 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 beginning July 15 for 3 weeks. Graceville has hosted a few study tours now from Taiwan in past years. This year we will host Minzu School’s visit and do a return visit by Graceville to this same school in September this year. We have 22 students who will be participating in this outbound study tour.

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.

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. Families who host a student will be funded $250 to assist in covering the costs in providing for a visiting student.

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.

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

Let’s ‘stand together’ against bullying and violence!

Our school is proud to say ‘Bullying. No Way!’ On Friday 17 March we will stand united with schools across Australia for the 2017 National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence.

Taking a stand together will deliver a powerful message that bullying and violence is never okay.

We strongly encourage parents and carers to have open and honest conversations with their children about bullying in all forms.

To get the discussion started with helpful information and tips visit the Bullying. No Way! website

Buy Smart competition for students

Students and schools have a chance to win a share of over $15,000 in the Office of Fair Trading’s 2017 Buy Smart Competition. Students will need to research and present a creative consumer issue. It is an ideal classroom activity aligned to the Australian Curriculum. The competition closes 15 September.

Nominations now open for The Diana Award

Young people aged 9 to 18 are encouraged to nominate for The Diana Award. The award acknowledges that young people have the power to change the world through campaigning, fundraising and volunteering. Nominations close 17 March. Find out more at the awards website.

ALLERGIES – everyone’s issue!

We have quite a large number of students in our school who have food allergies. A large proportion of these allergies are to nuts. Increasingly, we have a number of students who also have allergies to eggs. In some cases, particularly with nut allergies, this is a life threatening situation for these children. We need everyone’s help to avoid any contact with nuts, nut products and eggs to ensure the safety of students with these severe allergies. What all members in school community need to do:

1. Not send any nuts, nut products or eggs to school including:
2. baked goods using any nuts, health/museli bars, nutella, peanut paste, etc. Baked goods which include eggs are acceptable.
3. Encourage your children to follow ‘no sharing of food or drinks’ policy
4. Name all drink and lunch containers clearly
5. Promote hand washing before and after eating

Be considerate of all members of our community & their needs. If there are particular allergies that students have, especially in your child’s class, please consider their needs.

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.

More information is available on the NAP website.

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

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

Thank you for your payments for excursions and resources to date. By now you should have received your Statements. If you have not received one, please contact the office for a copy.

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.

This week Swimming Invoices have been sent home for Year 1-3 can you please pay by Friday 24th February. Please remember to hand the permission slip to your child’s class teacher.

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 Prep - 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

Our choirs are already busily rehearsing for upcoming performances. The Senior Choir (Year 4-6 students) will be singing at the Voices from the Trenches Concert on Saturday 18 March at St Laurence's College, with the concert starting at 6pm. Please note audience members will need to purchase tickets to attend. Further information is available from Ms West (see email details below) and choir students have been given an information note and permission slip regarding the concert. The Senior Choir will also be performing at the school’s ANZAC Day ceremony on 24 April at 10:15am. The Junior Choir (Year 2 and 3 students) will be singing at the Harmony Day assembly on Thursday 16 March. We are looking forward to our upcoming performances. Please note: if any students have not attended a choir rehearsal and would like to join, they can come to the next rehearsal. The Senior Choir is for students in years 4-6 on Tuesday mornings at 7:45am with Ms West and the Junior Choir is for students in years 2 and 3 held on Friday mornings at 7:55am with Mrs Lindh.

The Senior Band and Senior String rehearsals are underway and it is important for all members to attend regularly. If students are unable to attend we ask that parents contact their child's conductor via email (details below).

Next term the Junior Band will rehearse before school on Wednesdays at 7:45am and Beginner/Junior Strings will rehearse on Wednesdays at first break. So far our rotating instrumental music timetables have been working well for most students and we thank families and staff for their assistance with reminding their child about lesson times where possible on their lesson day.

It is important for you to contact your child's teacher or conductor if your child is experiencing any issues or difficulties with their lessons/practice/rehearsals so we can work together to support them and their continued involvement in the program.

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

Thank you to families and staff for your assistance with the first few weeks of lessons and rehearsals this term.

Naomi Lindh
Music Teacher and IM Coordinator

P&C NEWS

SPELLATHON 2017

A huge thank you to our volunteers for getting the Spellathon packs ready for your children! There will be another opportunity to volunteer in a few weeks when it is time to wrap prizes... watch this space!

Please email gracevillespellathon@gmail.com if you can help.

P&C WELCOME BBQ

Friday 24 February straight after school the P&C will be holding our welcome BBQ under Q Block. Children and parents are very welcome to come and have a sausage on their way home after school. Anyone who would like to help hand the sausages would be very welcome.

P&C MEETING HELD THIS WEEK

The first meeting of the P&C this year was held on Wednesday 22 February in 1B’s classroom. This meeting was held at 9.00am and allowed many new and existing members to attend. Given the success of the attendance at the meeting, it is expected that we will have another day meeting later in the year. Traditionally the first meeting of the year is a little longer as the Principal outlines the plans for the school for the year and to present the budget to deliver that plan. Thanks to Zoe for the time and effort she put into this presentation.

There was a presentation on QParent, a new system/app linked to the schools administration system will be rolled out shortly. Eventually permission slips and payments (along with other functions) will be streamlined and accessible at home or on your mobile phone.

The other major part of the meeting was a presentation by John Erichsen the School Chappy and a lengthy question/answer/opinion sharing session followed. The P&C voted to again support the Federal Government part-funded Chaplaincy program for our school for the 11th year and to continue our annual contribution ($20,000). Unfortunately given cost pressures it looks very likely that Chappy will be moving to 3 days a week this year. The P&C supports this program full-time to the end of Semester 1 and anticipates supporting the program 3 days a week starting Semester 2 this year. The Chaplaincy Committee meets regularly and everyone is encouraged to participate.

The P&C also supported the Active School Travel program in its work and is also to start planning work for a shade structure for the playground on the oval.

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.

LOST PROPERTY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Labelled lost property finds its way back to your children thanks to the work of wonderful volunteers. Are you able to help out for a couple of hours every few weeks? Our lost property team is ready to handover! Please email the P&C if you can help.

And PLEASE label all of your children's belongings with first AND last names!

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 next meeting of the year will be the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 22 March 2017, 7:30pm in the Waratah Room. Membership forms for 2017 will be available at the meeting and is also attached.

CONTACT: pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

Chappy’s Chat

It is difficult to grasp that Term one is half over at the end of this week. How quickly this year appears to be travelling! On Tuesday, I was off campus attending a Scripture Union Queensland In-service Day. These are held once a term for SU QLD chaplains and provide professional development through a choice of electives as well as great networking opportunities with other chaplains in this region.

Chaplaincy hours were discussed at Wednesday’s P and C meeting and the outcome of that discussion will mean some possible changes to how chaplaincy operates at Graceville State School. With chaplaincy operating costs increasing significantly this year, as a result of some decisions made by chaplaincy provider SU QLD, all schools will be impacted to some degree. Schools with fulltime chaplains are impacted the most. What this means for chaplaincy at Graceville will be communicated to the school community as soon as all the details are finalised. My hope is to maintain as consistent a service at Graceville as available finances allow, without placing a burden on this incredibly supportive school community.

Finally, our students are able to enjoy our new pool, with lessons commencing on Monday. The water looks so clear and inviting, ensuring student enthusiasm when enjoying PE on these warm summer days.

The recent chaplaincy snapshot –

Assisting with reading groups in Prep and year 1, hall games at first break, parent initiated meetings to provide support for student, refereeing year 2 soccer at 2nd break, set up hall for assemblies, train and supervise student sound crew, before school supervision, front gate duty after school, respond to admin requests for support of struggling students, positive role modelling, working with students to resolve peer conflicts, assist at district swim trials, Prep interaction at break times when possible and assist Mr Dowling as required.

Have a fantastic week!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Met West Swimming

Congratulations to the following students who will be attending the Met West Regional Swimming Trials at Chandler. We wish them all the best as they attempt to qualify for the Qld Swimming Championships.

The swimmers attending are – Giles B, Sophie B, Darcey C, Raphael D, Abbie J, Harvi M, Lara M, Josh R, Elliot R, Henry W.

Library

Melanie Hutchinson

Contact Club

The Contact Club meets next Wednesday 1st of March straight after drop-off or reading groups. Come on up to the library to help cover some really great books so our children can have the chance to read them. The contact used is super easy to use and friendly chat, tea and coffee are supplied free!

You get a sneak peek at the new books and your volunteering directly helps your children. Guaranteed to make you feel great! If you can’t make it and would like to help, you can always take some books home to cover in your own time, or pop into the library to cover at in-between-times you have free. It’s amazing how every little bit helps. Please contact our wonderful Librarians so they can organise a take home pack, or email Amanda at thecarps.home@gmail.com

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 1 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, 27 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.

Please note we no longer have eggs on our menu; we have taken them off to support the school allergy policy. For a look at our delicious menu, see the link on the front of the school newsletter, or on the school website, or click below.

If you have any questions or concerns, please see us at the Tuckshop or drop us an email at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

Anne, Amanda and Ally

SWIMMING

Bookings are now being taken for the swim program as the last of the school pool renovations are completed and the schedule gets finalised for the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning one on one private lesson program. Those students who are in year one or older and able to swim 25 meters freestyle nonstop and would like to participate in the group program may also book a space in the Monday to Thursday after school program. Please direct all inquiries to Pete Geraghty by phoning 0432407442.

COMMUNITY NEWS