31 August 2017

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

The Fete was a fantastic day with so much fun and excitement! It was wonderful to see the children and families enjoying themselves. I would like to thank Mrs Anne Canelese, our volunteer Fete co-ordinator and her Fete team for organising a great day! They say many hands make light work and once again the Graceville community showed their amazing volunteering spirit as everyone chipped in and helped out as much as possible. All money raised goes directly back into the school in some way so the teachers and I thank you for your support. I heard the class performances were very good this year (I was at the dunking machine all day and so did not get a chance to see many) and I thank the teachers for the time and effort they put into preparing them.

As you are aware, our Inquiry mentor and expert, Kath Murdoch, has been working at Graceville this year. As part of her last visit, she worked with one of our Year 4 classes on their current Inquiry. Kath was so impressed with the Year 4 Inquiry, especially the engagement and self-generated questions of the students, she contacted us a few weeks ago asking if she could use her experience with the class as part of her international professional speaking engagements. Although, Kath only visited one year 4 class, the Year 4 teachers plan learning experiences together and I know all classes are doing amazing things in the Inquiry space. Our current Year 4 Inquiry has put Graceville on the educational world stage! Well done Year 4 teachers and students!

Next Thursday I will be sending home Nomination Forms for the Junior and Senior Enhancement Classes for 2018. The forms will only be sent home to families who completed an Expression of Interest earlier this year. The forms are due back on 6 October.

Next Thursday I will also be sending home a letter to all Year 5 students explaining the Student Leadership process for 2018. This letter is to give students early notification of the Student Leadership process and get them thinking about which leadership positions they are interested in applying for. The actual nomination forms will available on the first day back next term and due in on 20 October.

Thank you to the families who returned their Intent to Remain at Graceville form. We will ring those families who did not return their form over the next week or so. We need accurate information to staff the school for 2018. We are on the verge of a 32nd teacher for 2018 and need to know if we can safely appoint a teacher prior to Day 8 next year.

Please make sure you have enrolled your Prep child if you have not done so already. We need to finalise numbers as soon as possible so we know if we can offer out of catchment places in 2018. I have 40 plus families waiting with baited breath to see if a place is available for them!

Finally, our Study Tour to Taiwan is only a week and a half away! Ms Hass, Mr Guthrie and I will be travelling with 22 Graceville Students to experience school life in Taiwan. I have never been to Taiwan and am excited to take part in such an amazing cultural experience!

Have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Getting Set for Prep at Graceville State School

If you are an in-catchment family and have a preppie for next year and haven’t lodged the enrolment forms please do so as soon as possible so that we can gather firm numbers for classes for next year.

Please see flyer attached for new events we are holding during term 4 this year to assist in preparing enrolled students and parents to commence at prep in 2018. These will be opportunities for pre-prep students to spend some time at school with their parents familiarising with our school and some practical information for parents on ways to assist their children have the most positive start at school. RSVP for each event is essential!

All families who put their name down for a meeting at our Information session have been contacted and meeting times set. If you haven’t arranged this meeting and would like to discuss your child commencing in prep in 2018 please come into the office and make a time.

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.

Special Prep Uniform selling times:

14th November: 3-6pm
23rd November: 8.15-11am (Orientation morning)
28th November: 8.15-11am
17th January: 3-6pm (tbc)

If you think your child will need a very small sized uniform then please come in sooner rather than later as these special orders take 4 – 6 weeks to come in. Our uniform shop is open every Monday, Tuesday and Friday 8:15 – 9:00am.

Minzu Study Tour – September 13 – 24

We had a meeting together yesterday and the students told me we had 13 days until take off, the excitement is mounting!

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 remainder of Junior Assemblies for Term 3

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Happy Father’s Day for this Sunday to all our Dads! This year again our Student Council will be giving away chocolates to any Dads who are at school prior to the start of the day.

“Our World” – Art Show (Milpera SHS Artwork)

The Art Show at the Graceville Uniting Church is on this weekend. We have been invited to attend the Opening Ceremony on Friday morning. I will be attending this great community event along with our School and Vice-Captains Henry, Alice, Lucy and Leo.

Swimming for Preps, Year 1 & 2 – term 4

Swimming will start for Prep, Year 1 & 2 will commence in Week 1 of Term 4. Permission letters and invoices will be sent to families in the next couple of days. Swimming will run from Week 1-8 and the cost will be $68 for the whole term’s program. Last day for payment will be the 8th September. Permission forms also need to be sent back to the teachers by the end of this term.

Life Education

All year levels will again be participating in the Life Education starting this Friday. All payments and permission forms should have been finalised by last Friday.

QParent Information

QParent has started! If you haven’t registered as yet please do so ASAP.

Maths tournament 2017

Every year we host a Maths tournament at GSS for a number of schools in Brisbane. This Competition is also run at 2 other schools across Brisbane simultaneously – Brighton SS, Fig Tree Pocket SS and Albany Hills SS. We have 25 teams participating at Graceville next Monday. Of these teams, 4 are made up of our students from Years 5 & 6. It is always a great day with the hall filled with kids who really love Maths problem solving. It is great to supervise.

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

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. 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

Thank you to all of the Graceville musicians who shared their music with our school community at the fete. We had performances from the Junior Band, Senior Band, Junior Choir and Senior Choir. Our students were very excited during rehearsals leading up to the fete and this shone through in their performances. They were very well attended and we are fortunate to have many keen students and supportive families committed to being part of our instrumental and choral program. We thank our students and families for their commitment and fabulous performances at the fete. I would also like to acknowledge the work of our conductors and teachers - Mr Kukulies, Mr Stiller, Ms West and Mr Grodecki.

This week we are holding our annual 2 day music workshop on Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 August. Students will be alternating between rehearsing in small groups with specialist tutors and full ensemble rehearsals with their conductors. On Thursday afternoon all of the instrumental music students will perform for the whole school at 2pm. We welcome families and members of the school community to this concert. Thank you to the parents who have been able to assist us with serving BBQ lunches to students and Chappy for cooking our BBQ!

This will conclude with a performance on Thursday 31 August at 2pm. The workshop days are very busy for our conductors - Mrs Prout, Mr Stiller, Mr Kukulies and I'd like to thank them for their efforts with our students to further develop their musicianship and performance skills. While there will be no instrumental rehearsals before or after school this week due to the workshop, the Senior Choir and Junior Choir rehearsals will be on.

Mrs Prout will be on leave from 7 September. She will be replaced by Lisa Kirk next term, but please note she will not be replaced for the last 2 weeks of this term. There are a number of performances in term 4 so we request that our string students and families to maintain their commitment to the program and their ensemble once lessons and rehearsals resume at the beginning of term 4.

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 and attending our performances this week at the fete and the workshop!

Library News

Melanie Hutchinson

THE COUNT DOWN IS ON TO THE READERS CUP STATE FINALS!!

Next week on Wednesday 6 September, the 2017 State Finals of the Queensland Readers’ Cup organised by the Children’s Book Council of Australia will be held in Ipswich.

The following Year Six students have formed a team and are representing Graceville State School: Eunsu, Isla, Joshua, Tara and Vienna.

This year there are 18 teams from all over the state competing in the contest. These students were required to read FIVE novels (the titles include: A Most Magical Girl, Karen Foxlee; Wombat Warriors, Samantha Wheeler; White Crane (Samurai Kids), Sandy Fussell; Escape to Moon Islands (Quest of the Sunfish), Mardi McConnochie; The Outcasts (Brotherband), John Flanagan) in preparation for the competition, and on the evening will have to answer many detailed questions about each book. The books are quite challenging and no doubt the questions will be very tricky, but our teams are more than prepared and very excited to compete. They have all studied extremely hard and we wish them all the best! Good Luck!

Melanie Hutchinson
Readers Cup Co-ordinator

Contact Club

The Contact Club meets this Wednesday 6th September in the library straight after drop-off or reading groups. There are plenty of books to cover, great chat, and tea and coffee supplied. Hope to see you there; this is the last one before the end of the term!

Just come along on Wednesday or send me an email at contactclub.gss@gmail.com for further information.

Fete

Thank you! What an utterly fabulous fete.

That's it for another year and the feedback has been incredible.

One more thank you, and it's a biggie.

Our sponsors - wow! Their incredible generosity is amazing. Please support them as they have supported us. Frequent their businesses where you can and if you see one of our appreciation certificates hanging on their wall, thank them in person!

As our committee keep saying, this is such a team effort and it really is wonderful to be part of such a great team.

Stand by for the fund raising tally. Our treasurer is super busy just now putting the numbers together. Stay tuned....

Anne
Fete Convenor

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

What a fantastic fete weekend! Thank you to everyone who worked so hard and contributed so much to make the fete such a great event. The class performances were delightful and it was wonderful to see so many smiling faces. Great job everyone!

This week sees our attention turn to our instrumental music workshop which culminates with a concert on Thursday afternoon. I will be firing up the BBQ for lunches Wednesday and Thursday to feed our hungry musicians.

Interschool sport continues this Friday and next Monday Graceville State School plays hosts to many schools for a Maths competition. As you can see, it’s a very busy time of year as we prepare ourselves for the start of summer.

Have a wonderful week!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Tuckshop News

Volunteers for the week commencing Monday, 4th of September 2017 are -

Thank you to all our volunteers. We really appreciate your help! Thank you also to those who answered our “help” call during the week. Many hands make the lunches happen and we cannot open five days a week without volunteer help. If you can help in Tuckshop, and it is super easy and very social, please email us at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com to let us know your availabilities. We will work around the times you are available.

Tuckshop is operated as an online ordering system. 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.

If you are wanting long sleeve gold shirts or smaller sizes of the dress please could you let me know no later than the end of next week.

Size 6 skorts are out of stock but will be available again beginning of term 4.

Get ready for term 4 with most of your swimming gear available from the uniform store. Attached is a form to order long sleeve rashies, swim caps, bags and quick dry towels in your house colours. There will be limited stock kept in the uniform store of these items.

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

Thanks to all the students who entered the Fete Competition. The luck ride band winners were:

Jessica: Prep S
Luke: 1B
Aya: 2CM
Jessica: 3NH
Alex: 4G
Anabelle: 5/6E
Erini: 6E

We hope you all had a fantastic time on the rides!

It was a close competition between 6E and 6O for the free toss at the lob-o-choc. With all the entries counted and double-checked 6E won by just one entry! Congratulations to you all for being active travellers.

Thanks to all the students who man the stamping station each week and gave out all the entries over the last five weeks for the Fete Competition. Of course we cannot forget to say an ENOURMOUS THANKS to the Fete Committee for generously supporting Active School Travel again this year with all the prizes.

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. The next meeting will be held on 12th October @ 10:45am in the Waratah Room. Please contact Jo Richards at sajrichards@iinet.net.au for more information.

P&C News

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 11 October
Wednesday 29 November

CONTACT: pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

Graceville State School Tennis Coaching – Term 4

Before School, Lunch Time and After School Coaching will commence from Tuesday 3 October 2017 (first week back after the holidays).

Enrolments close on Monday 11 September 2017. Spare enrolment forms are available from the School Office, they can also be downloaded from the School Newsletter. To ensure a place in class, forms must be returned by this date to the School Office. Do not return forms to the School Office after this date contact Jim Joyce directly on 0417 771022.

Special Offer – All new students in Grade 1, 2 and 3 will receive a free tennis racquet when joining for the first time.

For further enquiries please contact Jim Joyce on 0417 771022

Holiday Tennis Clinic

We will be running a Tennis clinic at West Brisbane Tennis Centre from Monday 18th to Wednesday 20th September 2017. Time: 8.30am -12 noon each day Cost: $135

Enquiries & Bookings jim@westbrisbanetennis.com.au Phone 0417 771022

Thanks Jim

September Holiday Swim Clinics

A great way to get your children ready for the 4th term swim program is to join the holiday swim clinics being held at the school pool. All ability levels are catered for with learn to swim, stroke correction and squad classes on offer. The fist clinic will be held from Monday 18th of September to Friday 22nd and the second clinic from Monday 25th of September to Friday 29th. You do not need to attend every day of the clinic as long as you mention your availability when enrolling. If you are joining for the first time please call Pete to discuss your child's ability and needs. Children in holiday school care may also join the program as staff are able to bring students to the pool and pick them up after their lesson. If you have inquired about the clinics already and have not received a confirmation email from Pete Geraghty please send another email to make sure you are included in the schedule. Please direct all inquiries to Pete Geraghty via email (petegeraghty@hotmail.com) or phone 0432407442.

SchoolsPlus

Community Notices

Sports Holiday Program

Mon 25th – Wed 27th September

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: