2 June 2017

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

As you may know, I am currently attending professional development with some members of the school leadership team. We are enjoying learning more about what motivates people to learn and how we can help connect people to be intrinsically motivated to learn. Mrs McKeaten is holding the fort until we return.

My newsletter piece is short and sweet this week, with just a few reminders and sharing of information.

The Student Council Free Dress to raise funds for the RSPCA is on this Friday. Children can come to school dressed in animal costumes, onesies are ok to wear on Friday. If coming in free dress, please send along the minimum of a gold coin donation.

The Trivia Night is on Saturday night! It will be a great night. My husband Martin, some teachers and I will man the bar so parents can let their hair down and have some fun. The theme is Disney and I am sure the costumes will be fantastic!

This week we hosted a visit from the Principal of the Taiwanese school we will be attending as part of the Study Tour. It was a very good opportunity to meet and share information about our schools. The Study Tour is now booked and we are excited to be taking 22 students from Graceville to Taiwan in September.

Finally, as you know, teachers are busily finalising information for report cards. We appreciate your understanding at this time as our teachers work long hours outside of school to write report cards.

Have a great week,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Visit from Minzu Elementary School Principal

On Tuesday this week Principal Hans Huang visited our school to discuss our upcoming trip to Taiwan with Graceville students in September. Mr Huang got to visit classrooms and discuss the program for our visit to his school. Our school leaders presented Principal Huang with a momento of his visit and I know that we will be well cared for in our Study Tour this year.

Under Eights 2017

Huge thank you to organiser Mrs Sophie Jackson and all staff in Prep to year 2 who set up and ran our Under 8s fun day last Friday. The sun shone and we all had an excellent time. I would also like to thank the Sherwood Police, our adopt-a-cop Detective Cam and Rocklea Fire team who also came and joined in the day’s activities.

URGENTLY REQUIRED!!

Inbound Study Tour – From Minzu Elementary School in Taiwan to Graceville State School

Dates for tour: July 18 – August 6, 2017

We have confirmation that 22 students from Taiwan will be attending our school on the above dates, 14 boys and 8 girls.

We urgently require host families to offer a homestay place for our study tour. Please email me or come into the office if you are able to help the incoming study tour or would like to know more about homestay.

I currently only have homestay to cater for 12 students.

Date Claimer:

Prep 2018 information evening – Wednesday July 26 at 7:00pm.

All welcome to attend.

Waiting List for Prep for 2018 is now open.

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

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.

Junior Assemblies

Below is the calendar for the remainder of term 2 assemblies.

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

2017 International competitions

In 2017 we will be participating in the following competitions in the school hall:

• Writing 13 June (Yr 3-6) Yr 3-6 – 7.45 start
• Spelling 14 June (Yr 2-6) Yr 3-6 – 7.40 start/Yr 2 – school time 11.30
• English 1 August (Yr 2-6) Yr 3-6 – 7.30 start/ Yr 2 school time 11.30
• Mathematics 15 August $8.00 (Yr 2-6) – 7.30 start/ Yr 2 school time 11.30

Let’s get reading!

The 2017 Premier’s Reading Challenge for Prep to Year 9 students runs from 15 May–25 August.

Fuelling imagination and helping develop early language are just two of the benefits of experiencing, sharing and reading books.

By registering to take part in this year’s challenge schools can help to foster a lifelong passion for reading and learning for their students. Parents can also take part by encouraging reading at home.

Help us reach our target of 2.5 million books to be read across Queensland by August 2017.

Visit the Premier’s Reading Challenge website to download suggested booklists and find out more.

Buy Smart competition

The Buy Smart competition is a creative, fun way for young people to learn about money management and the consequences of consumer decisions. Creating clever ways to communicate the challenges, opportunities and pitfalls of purchasing could net $15,000 in cash prizes. The competition closes 15 September.

BrisMakerFest

The Department of State Development, in partnership with State Library of Queensland, is holding the BrisMakerFest at The Edge, State Library of Queensland on Saturday 3 June. The festival will promote STEM skills and their importance to advanced manufacturing. Visit the BrisMakerFest registration page to register and find out more.

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

Credits were raised this week for the 3 cancelled weeks of sport they will appear on your file. Please advise the office if you would like to use these credits to pay for future excursions.

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 Prep - 6) ($12)
• Origo Maths (years 3, 4 and 5) ($6)
• Reading Eggs (Prep only) $22.50
• Year 5 Digital Licence $11.00

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 welcomed.

$100 per student.

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

Please ensure when paying via BPoint, that you log onto to the following website. You must put the entire website address as this has the biller code.

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. If this is not done, your child might not be able to attend the activity.

Music News

Naomi Lindh

If your child has been offered a place for the Intermediate or Honours WestCent camp forms and payment need to be returned to the school by Friday 2 July. Thank you to those who have paid and returned the forms.

We appreciate parents who have been assisting their children to attend lessons and rehearsals regularly and contacting instrumental music teachers about any concerns they may have. This is the best way to support your child's involvement in the program and for us to be able to support them at school.

Our upcoming choir performances include the St Peters Sing Together Day for the Senior Choir on Wednesday 14 June. There will be an evening concert on Wednesday 14 June at 6:30pm at St Peters. Julie West and I will both be attending on the day which we are all looking forward to. Permission slips need to be returned and payment of $10 for music needs to be paid as soon as possible. The cost of the bus and TRS for our attendance will be covered by the choir budget. On the days of the international competitions, the Senior Choir students involved are requested to come to a choir rehearsal at first break. Students who are not involved in the competition are requested to attend the normal rehearsal at 7:45am on those Tuesdays. Students involved in the spelling competition on 14 June will have time to complete it then join the Senior Choir to travel to the bus to St Peters. Those students will need to ensure they arrive to complete the test by 7:30am.

The Junior Choir will be performing at the NAIDOC Day assembly on the last day of this term, Friday 23 June at 9am. Families and members of the school community are welcome to attend.

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
Naomi Lindh - nclos1@eq.edu.au

Thank you for supporting our music program.

Naomi Lindh
Music Teacher and IM Coordinator

Library News

Melanie Hutchinson

REGIONAL READERS CUP COMPETITIONS

In the next couple of weeks, two separate teams of Year Six students will represent Graceville State School in two different Readers Cup Competitions.

On Wednesday 7th June, Sophie, Isaac, Sachiko, Sophia and Arabella will compete in the annual Readers Cup Competition organised by the Corinda Teacher Librarian Network. It will be held at Brookfield State School.

Then on Monday 12th June, Tara, Isla, Josh, Eunsu and Vienna will compete in the annual regional Readers’ Cup organised by the Children’s Book Council of Australia to be held at St John’s Anglican College, Forest Lake.

Students in both teams have read (and re-read!) the allocated five books in preparation for the competition and will be required to answer a number of questions about each book. They have all studied very hard and we wish them all the best! Good luck to each and every one of these students!

GRACEVILLE SS READERS CUP COMPETITION 2017

DON’T FORGET…

Our school Readers Cup Competition for Years 5 & 6 is rescheduled for the last week of this term – THURSDAY 22 JUNE from 9am.

Fete News

Heading your way this Friday will be our First Fete Newsletter of the year!

You will find the yellow copy heading home with the youngest in the family.

Active School Travel

Active Travel BBQ

With the cooler mornings it is a perfect time of year to put on your walking shoes and actively travel to school any day of the week! Remember on Tuesdays you can get a stamp in your passport.

On Friday 16th June we will be having a BBQ in the quadrangle and we will be doing bonus stamps in your passports. So get active…..walk, ride or roll to school and enjoy a sausage at the BBQ.

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. We meet once a term and plan one key event a term. Parents run our committee with three staff members so we are in much need of additional support. The next meeting will be on 20th July @ 10:45am in the Waratah Room. Can you help? Please contact Jo Richards at sajrichards@iinet.net.au for more information.

Tuckshop News

Another good week in Tuckshop last week with an increase in the amount hot food being ordered! It must be the chilly mornings?! Order numbers looked like this:

Volunteers for the week commencing Monday, 29th of May 2017 are -

Thank you to all our volunteers!

Please check your School24 order before you hit confirm as we are seeing quite a few orders with multiple numbers of drinks or jelly or hot food. It is not easy for us to spot and check with the student when we are so busy.

Can you also please let your children know that they are not allowed to buy tuckshop for their friends. We are seeing a high number of students trying to purchase items over the counter for their friends. It is against the school policy so please let them know the rules that we have to follow.

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. There is an information page and login guide on the Graceville State School website, under P&C and the Tuckshop, if you need any help.

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

Uniform Shop

Fiona Fryer

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

We are currently out of stock of size 6 polar fleeces, new stock will be arriving next week.

All House Shirts (Cook, Kennedy and Flinders) are available in size 4 and up.

Band folders are available for $15.

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.

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

The chill in the air heralds the start of winter, so mornings can be a greater battle getting everyone moving, although not for everyone. For those parents with “early birds”, not even the darkness and warm bed stifle their energy and enthusiasm to greet the new day. Other parents search for creative ways to attempt to stir their sleeping beauties from their deep slumber. Sometimes these two extremes can be found under the same roof. Such is the wonder of parenting. Whichever winter morning scenario rings true for you, I trust you can find positive ways to achieve all you need to in readiness for your day, perhaps even finding fun in your morning routine.

Our Prep – Year 2 students compete in their postponed Cross Country event this week, so I look forward to watching our junior students showcase their running skills. It will be an exciting time for competitors and spectators alike.

This Saturday night, the Graceville State School community will come together for the annual P & C Trivia Night, with costumes and table accessories a plenty. Disney is the theme this year and I am certain the costumes will be a feature. I would to thank the many sponsors for their generous support of this event, which assists in making the Trivia Night not only a fantastic evening but also a successful fundraiser for the school. I wonder how many Disney princesses will be in attendance.

With only a couple of weeks to go until the Chaplaincy Lapathon is here, school families will receive the sponsorship forms. These forms can be used to source sponsors for students on an amount per lap basis, or a total amount. There is an online donation link on the sponsorship form which, if used, will direct a tax receipt directly to you. The link for online donations is also found below and donations for chaplaincy can be made at any time.

The sponsorship aspect is not a prerequisite for student participation in the event. The Lapathon activity is inclusive for all students, however they choose to participate. Students can run, jog or walk and chat with friends. Should families wish to financially support the chaplaincy via the sponsorship forms or other means, they are most welcome to do so.

A coffee van will be onsite the morning of the Lapathon for the enjoyment of staff and parents and popcorn will be selling at first break for $2 a cup.

P&C News

*** IMPORTANT *** VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION

The school and the P&C have worked closely to identify and create a strategy to turn around the aging technology in our school. Rather than go down the very expensive route of a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy as many schools are forced to do, the P&C strongly supports a voluntary contribution of $100 per child which started this year. This voluntary contribution route only works if everyone contributes! Contributions are still below 50% of the children in the school. Contributions are voluntary and of course can be part payments. All funds are used for the technology budget of the school. Contributions can be made to the office at any time.

2017 MEETING DATES

At the P&C meeting on 3 May, updated meeting dates for the remainder of 2017 were agreed. For your diaries:

Wednesday 7 June
Wednesday 26 July (morning meeting)
Wednesday 23 August (if required – fete week)
Wednesday 11 October
Wednesday 29 November

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!

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 regular meeting of the P&C is to be held in the Waratah Room on Wednesday 7 June at 7:30pm.

CONTACT: pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

Community News

Sports Holiday Program
Mon 3rd – Wed 5th July

Sports Holiday Fun

Game On Australia is running another 3-day multi-sport program in the upcoming holidays. Exciting sports, games and activities on offer.

Years: Prep - Year 6. All abilities welcome.
Where: Christ the King Primary School, Graceville.
Times: Activities from 9:00am-3:00pm
Operators: Game On is organised and run by qualified HPE teachers and coaches

Early Bird Special finishes shortly.

For full details and to register online, visit the link below.