27 July 2017

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

The Study Tour students are settling in well and they are grateful for the warm welcome from the Graceville community. The Taiwanese students and teachers have provided very positive feedback about our school. It is always interesting to hear the perspectives of visitors to our school.

Next Monday, our Inquiry expert, Kath Murdoch, will be spending a day working with teachers in the school. The day will start early with a one hour professional development session before school which will be followed by teachers observing Kath in action in classrooms. The teachers will be involved in reflective discussions with Kath following the observations of her lessons. This is a wonderful learning opportunity!

The P&C meeting was held in school hours last Wednesday morning. The P&C committed to holding a few day time P&C meetings this year to try and open up meetings to a wider range of parents. It was great to see parents attending and actively taking part in discussion at the meeting. As part of my report, I communicated I would be sending a few letters out to parents this term. One letter will be providing information on the Time Out process at Graceville and the other letter will be to collect information about the number of students returning to Graceville in 2018. Our current predictions would indicate we are likely to grow by at least one more class. I need the most accurate information to engage in discussion with HR to secure another teacher for 2018. I would greatly appreciate you returning the form and indicating your commitment to remain at Graceville for the 2018 school year.

The Prep information session was held on Wednesday night. Many parents attended, all keen for a smooth transition for their child into Prep. I would like to thank Ms Hass and the Prep teachers for holding the Prep Information night.

Finally, as part of the Year 4 Inquiry into how to promote sustainability, the Year 4’s have come up with a great idea to promote some important messages about sustainability to our community. A Coffee Cart has been organised to come to the school on Thursday 3 and 8 August and each Friday from the 9th of August. The Year 4s encourage you to bring along a coffee cup or travel mug and purchase a warm drink. No disposable cups will be provided! While you are there, the Year 4 students will take the opportunity to share a few messages of how we can be more sustainable and reduce our impact on the environment in our daily lives. The students are excited about the idea and we want to encourage their desire to connect to the community and promote sustainability. We need adults for the children to talk to, so please come along, buy a warm drink and have a chat! Remember you do need to bring your own cup or mug though! There will also be some seats for those who would prefer to sit down and chat.

I hope you have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

We had an excellent Prep Information evening on Wednesday, thank you to our prep teachers who spoke about our programs and how preps are introduced to life at Graceville. I will now begin contacting in catchment families to arrange a meeting together to complete the enrolment process.

Date Claimer: our prep orientation meetings will be held on Thursday November 23 when new families will be invited to come to a session at prep, meeting staff and learning more about starting prep at our school.

Wenhua Study Tour: July 18 – August 6

Thank you to the host families who are doing such an excellent job in caring for our visiting group. A big thank you also to our year 5 and 6 teachers who give integration and include the students in their classes during the study tour. I think we are all learning a lot about different ways of life and schooling.

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.

Calendar for Junior Assemblies for Term 3

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

2017 International competitions

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

• 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

HRE for years 5 & 6 this term

All Year 5 & 6 students have received information in regards to the Human Relationships Education Program which students will participate in this term. Parents were also invited to an information session. If you are intending to go please return the RSVP slip to the office. The Parent information session will be held in the Waratah room on Monday 7th August from 7-8pm. Parents are also reminded to give their permission and pay the invoice for their child to attend prior to the 11th August. HRE lessons will be on Fridays (18th, 25th August and 1 September). Both year levels will have an hour long lesson on those days in the first session of the day, due to interschool sport starting on 25th August.

Interschool Sport for Years 5 & 6

Mr Daunt has already sent home the letters about interschool sport and students have chosen their sports for the upcoming season commencing on 25th August. Next week, permission letters and invoices (where necessary for some sports) will be sent home. Last day for half of the invoice for interschool sport will be Friday 18th August. The second half of the invoice will be due by Wednesday 13th September, prior to the holidays.

Life Education

All year levels will again be participating in the Life Education later in the term (1-15 September). Last day for payment is 25th August.

QParent Information

QParent is starting shortly at our school. We will be sending home student information for families very soon which will include your child’s EQ ID number, which you will need when registering. Once these labels are completed in the next couple of days, we will be sending home the invitation email for you to register your details. Be on the look out for your email in the next couple of weeks offering the program to you.

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

Term 3 accounts were sent home at the end of last term. 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.

We would just like to advise parents that from Term 4 we will not be able to process payments over the phone. You will either need to pay via BPoint, or in the school office.

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 below. 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

The West Cent Music Camps were held this week and will culminate with a concert on Friday night at Sherwood SS. We thank our students and teachers for their involvement and commitment this week and wish them well for the concert. Next week instrumental lessons and rehearsals will resume as usual. Please note choir rehearsals are still on this week including the Junior Choir rehearsal on Friday 28 July.

Upcoming performances

Fete - 26 August
12:00 Senior Band
12:25pm Junior Choir
12:35pm Senior Choir
31 August 2pm - Instrumental Music Concert - all students involved in the instrumental music program will perform at this concert (IMP only, no choir performances)

All families and members of the school community are invited to attend our upcoming performances.

The instrumental music workshop will be held on Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 August. All students in the instrumental program will attend the workshop which involves our students alternating between working in small groups with guest tutors and full ensemble rehearsals. The workshop will culminate with a concert on Thursday 31 August at 2pm in the hall. The cost of the workshop is $40. Please note participation in the workshop and concert is a mandatory part of the instrumental music program. Our students thrive on the opportunity to work on their musicianship, rehearsal and performance skills with the tutors and the focused time playing over the 2 days. All members of the school community are warmly invited to the concert on Thursday 31 August at 2pm in the hall.

On Saturday night I attended a Percussimo concert, which is a percussion ensemble our percussion teacher and Senior Band conductor performs in. It was a privilege to hear their fabulous arrangements performed in such an entertaining way with an exceptionally high performance standard. Congratulations to Mr Stiller for this performance and his with Percussimo!

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

CONTACT CLUB

The next Contact Club meets Wednesday 2nd of August, straight after drop-off or reading groups. There are plenty of books to cover, and of course great chat, and tea and coffee supplied. If anyone would like to cover some books before then, perhaps you have a spare half hour to fill in between your busy day routines, you are always welcome in the library to cover a few books. Or take some home if you like, just ask our friendly librarians!

Remaining meeting dates for the year are:

• Wednesday 6th September 2017
• Wednesday 4th October 2017
• Wednesday 1st November 2017
• Wednesday 29th November 2017

If you would like more information please contact Amanda at contactclub.gss@gmail.com or just come along and join us, we are a friendly bunch! See you there.

Fete News

Newsletter 3 to hit your youngest backpacks on Friday. Keep an eye out because all our wonderful sponsors are listed on this one. Naming Sponsors, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. If you can, please support them and thank them for their incredible generosity.

Big news is that Ride Bands and Art Show are now on sale on School24.

Remember, only buy Art Show pieces for your Preppies to Year 2's.

All fete items can be purchased through the FETE button. You can't miss it and it's the only place you can buy these very important items.

Raffle tickets coming home Monday so get ready to go say, "Hello" to your neighbours. It is a community event after all. Keep looking in those backpacks.

Oh, don't forget to like us on Facebook.....

Thanks.

Anne
Fete Convenor

Tuckshop News

Volunteers for the week commencing Monday, 31st of July 2017 are -

Thank you to all our volunteers!

Last Friday the School24 website went down! Uggh! We were unable to access the system ourselves and shared your pain. We can only apologise on School24’s behalf and thank you for your understanding when things like this happen. We opened our Tuckshop window to take manual paper bag orders and when the School24 site was available again, it was business as usual. If this should happen again, please try a few times to be sure it is not working, and then please call the tuckshop to place your order, or come to the Tuckshop to place your order manually.

The Fete is on School24! Purchase your Ride Bands and Art Show (Prep to Year 2) tickets on School24. It’s super easy. Just make sure your children are allocated to a class, or if they are a sibling not at the school, add them as an ‘Event guest’.

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.

Size 4 track pants are back in stock.

Size 4 and 6 polar fleece jackets are out of stock but should be back in 2 weeks.

Size 10 track pants are out of stock but are on order and should be back in 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 and can be emailed to the uniform shop at the below address, the items will be sent to the classroom.

Email address for school uniform store is: uniformstore@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

Donations of 2nd hand uniforms are always appreciated. Good stocks are available for sale now.

New volunteers would be greatly appreciated, it only requires you to be there from 8.15-9.00. If you think you could help out please send an email to the above address, if you have any questions please ask.

Active School Travel

Fete Competition

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

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

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

In weeks 3-7 of Term 3 (25th July – 22nd August) you will have the opportunity to collect one entry each week when you have your active travel passport stamped at the designated stamping stations. All you need to do is fill out your entry form and put it into the entry box (either at the stamping station or the office). Entries must be received by 23rd August @ 3pm to go in the draw.

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

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

Reminder of pick up procedures on Acacia Avenue

In July last year some changes were made to the pickup procedures at the drop off / pick up zone on Acacia Avenue. These changes were implemented due to safety concerns, and from suggestions from parents within the school community.

Summary of changes:

• Main entrance on Acacia Ave will be used for children waiting to be picked up (the gate closest to the admin block)
• Students will be seated in this area and listen to the supervisor on duty
• Students will exit from this gate to the first three waiting cars in the zone
• Smaller pedestrian gate will be used by parents and students not involved in the pickup zone (i.e. foot traffic only)
• Please try to avoid main gate access at peak time of 2:50pm. Often those parents who pick up at 3pm find the flow of traffic much better
• Signage will be displayed to indicate the “three car zone”. Cars are not to be parked in this area during pick up times.
• Order forms are available to order name tags for the car sun visors so that the supervisor can identify the children who are to be picked up

Remember that we encourage ACTIVE TRAVEL so why not take the ACTIVE CHALLENGE and try for a week (or a few days) to park your car in one of the designated “park-and-stride” areas, and walk to collect your children from school. You may be surprised to know that it doesn’t take too much longer out of your day - you get to spend time in the fresh air, catch up with other parents and help to reduce congestion around the school

• Speed - are you doing the correct speed? 40km p/h around schools during 7-9am and 2-4pm on school days.
• Parking – have you parked on a yellow line? Do you know this obstructs the view of other motorists and pedestrians? It is disappointing that EVERY day there are cars parked over yellow lines around our school at pick up times. When you next park at the school (especially on Park Road) take the time to check that you’re not parked over a yellow line…..you might be surprised! Set a good example and follow the rules – it doesn’t matter how busy you are….you are endangering the lives of others by doing the wrong thing.
• Mobile Phones – we all are guilty of being distracted by our mobile devices. While driving make sure you are not texting or looking at the screen. Use hands-free where possible. Better still, if you can turn off your phone or put it onto silent while doing the school pick up – drop off. This will save you any unnecessary distractions and help you to focus on the traffic and pedestrians around the school. Better still turn it off and talk to your passengers
• School Zones - Anyone using the school pick up and drop off zones needs to be aware of the times it can be used and how long you can be parked there. The two minute zone is just that…..you are not supposed to be parked there for more than two minutes! If your passenger is not there you should be moving on and going around the block. Alternatively, park your car in the “park and stride” zones and walk. The weather is so beautiful at this time of the year and it gives you an opportunity to have a conversation with your child about their day.
• Crossings - don’t park over the crossing as this makes it difficult for our crossing supervisors to see oncoming traffic.
• Signage - check the signage where you have parked or are sitting in your car. Are you parked appropriately?

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

P&C MORNING MEETING

This week we held our second morning meeting for 2017. We trialled the idea of a meeting straight after drop off to allow for parents who find it difficult to get away from home at night. Of course this does not suit everyone but is just an idea to open up the meetings to more people who may be interested in contributing to the school community. We had a special guest speaker join us. A parent of the school, former Fete Convenor and recently appointed Life Member of the P&C, Kathy Whitefield. Kathy spoke to us about volunteering, why we do it, the benefits and how we engage others. Kathy shared her many years of experience volunteering and seeking volunteers to make our fete the celebrated event that it is. Thanks Kathy, awesome meeting.

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.

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.

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.

REMAINING 2017 MEETING DATES

For your diaries:

Wednesday 23 August (if required – fete week)
Wednesday 11 October
Wednesday 29 November

CONTACT: pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

School Plus

Rebecca Turner

Welcome back to Term 3!

After a very busy Vacation Care, the staff and I are happy to return to term time and see all the lovely smiling faces of the children as they prepare for another 10 weeks of school. It has been great to see the children grow and mature over the past six months and we can’t believe how far some of them have come. To celebrate the leaps and bounds the children are making in their development, the theme of this term is very much going to be focusing on self-help skills and independence. We will be introducing more activities into the program, such as cooking experiences, which help the children to learn valuable skills which will serve them both in current life and into the future.

We look forward to seeing all our OSHC families in Term 3.

Anita & the SP Graceville Team.

Community News

Graceville Piano Student Achieves High Distinction!

Keyboardkidz, one of Brisbane’s premier piano schools, is pleased to announce that Theo L of Graceville State School completed his Level 1 Performance Piano Exam at the Australian Guild of Music Education at the end of Term 2. He received a high distinction, a result to be proud of. Congratulations to Theo!

If your child is interested in learning piano, Keyboardkidz runs lessons out of Graceville State School. Visit Keyboardkidz.com.au to book your two free trial lessons.