23 November 2017

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

Two weeks to go!

We have one busy week to go before we can start to wrap up the 2017 school year. Teachers and students are finalising assessment in the lead up to Report Cards. Report Cards will be emailed out on Wednesday 6 December so please make sure your contact details are up to date with the office.

I would like to congratulate our music teachers and students on a wonderful concert last week. I am always amazed at how much the students improve as a musician over the course of the year. We are lucky to have music teachers who take the time to build relationships with students and select such interesting and enjoyable pieces for the students to play. Well done and thank you!

The teachers and I are busily working on the class allocation process for 2018. As you can imagine it is a difficult process as we try and take a complex range of needs into consideration when forming classes. We anticipate your understanding and support when classes are released on Wednesday 6 December.

Just a reminder, the final P&C meeting for the year is on next Wednesday night at 7.30pm. All parents are welcome to attend.

Finally, some important dates to remember:

• Swimming Carnival 4-6 (some age appropriate Year students also) Friday 1 December
• Swimming Carnival P-3 Monday 4 December
• Graduation Night for Year 6 students and parents Wednesday 6 December
• School Leader Badge Ceremony and Farewell to our Year 6 students 9-10am Thursday 7 December
• Last day of the school year Friday 8 December

I hope you have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

This Thursday we have our prep orientation sessions, stay tuned for photos next week!

We have now had our 2 Get Set for Prep sessions and Orientation meetings to assist in preparing our new students to join Graceville.

Special Prep Uniform selling times

28th November: 8.15-11am
16th January: 3-6pm (please note change of date from 17th to 16th)

Our uniform shop is open every Monday, Tuesday and Friday 8:15 – 9:00am.

Last junior assembly of Term 4:

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Sports & Music Photos

The proofs & envelopes are at the school office for you to have a look at, prior to ordering. You can order the photos chosen online, the same as you would have for the school photos. Orders need to be done by Monday 27th November in order to be back at school prior to the last day, 8th December.

End of Year RI Christmas service

On Friday 24th November our Religious Instruction volunteers will be holding our End of Year Christmas service in the hall. The service starts at 9.00am and finishes at approximately 9.30am. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

As we are nearing the end of the year, we would like to advise Parents’ that no payments of Student accounts will be accepted after Friday 1st December 2017. This includes Bpoint transactions.

Payment will re-open on Thursday 18th January 2018. Hours for payments for the 18th and 19th January will be 9am-12pm.

Various student resource scheme forms are being sent home with your students over the next couple of weeks. Can you please ensure they are all returned to the office asap.

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. This also may include excursions where transport has been arranged. These are also 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

This week sees the end of our concerts for the year. We had the Grandparents' Concert on Wednesday with the Junior Choir, Senior Choir and Senior Strings performing, followed by combined Christmas carols and a shared morning tea. It is a lovely way to end our year of singing, playing and performing. Thank you to the parents who assisted with the morning tea set up and serving. Your assistance was greatly appreciated by us as well as our guests. Thanks also to the many parents who baked or organised a plate for the shared morning tea which was enjoyed by all! I would also like to thank Ms Julie West for swapping her day from Eatons Hill SS to attend our concert. We are very fortunate to have such a fabulous teacher and choir conductor!

Please ensure your child's instrument has been returned to the music room if it was loaned from the school. All loaned instruments need to be returned urgently so we can assess them to see if they need any maintenance/repairs. Junior Band students also need to return their music book which they used during band rehearsals and all string and band students need to return the sheet music they used throughout the year during rehearsals.

This week all continuing instrumental music students should have received an orange student resource scheme note. This needs to be completed and returned but no payment needs to be made until next year, with payment due by the end of week 4 in term 1. We have combined the previous levy with the cost of the 2 day instrumental music workshop so it is now a non-refundable payment of $80.

Music staff email contacts:

Alex Grodecki - agrod3@eq.edu.au
James Kukulies - jkuku2@eq.edu.au
Steve Stiller - sstil2@eq.edu.au
Julie West - jwest269@eq.edu.au
Naomi Lindh - nclos1@eq.edu.au

Thank you to our Junior Choir, Senior Choir and Senior Strings for their performances at the Grandparents' Concert this week!

LIBRARY NEWS

Melanie Hutchinson

CONTACT CLUB

The last Contact Club for this year is on Wednesday the 29th of November, as usual in the library straight after drop-off. Tea and coffee supplied.

There are still loads of books to cover! If anyone has spare time, and would like to take some books home to cover, there are many sets of readers to cover at your leisure. Just ask Melanie or Christine and they would love to give you some readers.

Thank you so much to everyone for coming along to the Club this year and making it such a great group of people to catch up with while contributing to such a great cause and helping our students and school. It is really greatly appreciated. Thanks too to our home coverers, you have helped get the books on the shelves!

Volunteers like yourselves have enhanced the literacy and reading enjoyment of our students by getting the books out into our fantastic library catalogue.

If you would like to help, it’s never too late to join, the Contact Club will return next year. We always need helpers! Please come along on Wednesday 29th November or email contactclub.gss@gmail.com for more information.

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Decorations are going up everywhere. Christmas ads are all over the TV and Christmas carols and concerts fill the calendar. Commercialism and marketing cries long and loud for our focus at this time of year. In the midst of all that noise, I hope you find time to celebrate what really makes this time of year so special. Spending times with those you love, enjoying the beauty and freedom of this great country and perhaps even stealing a moment or two to partake in something you love to do.

There is still much to take place at Graceville before the school year ends. The Year One Christmas concert, Swimming Carnivals, Year 6 Graduation and their Farewell Assembly will be exciting events, and more than a little emotional for some. I look forward to seeing many of you supporting and encouraging, reflecting and celebrating these special moments of the students’ primary school years.

This Friday, our House Captain candidates have the opportunity to impress their peers and gain their votes for this prestigious position. The media is providing plenty of coverage leading up to this Saturday’s State Election, but the real important election has slipped under their radar. This Friday, students go to the polls to elect their House Captains for 2018. Good luck to all candidates and well done on your posters.

Have a fantastic week!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Tuckshop News

Volunteers for the week commencing Monday, 27th of November 2017 are -

Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers! We couldn’t have a Tuckshop without you!

Next week is the last week of Tuckshop for 2017! The last day to order is Friday 1st of December.

Please remember it is extremely busy at the end of the year and we are experiencing a high number of orders. If you are ordering, it is best to do so well before the cut-off time as high order volumes can make the School24 system slower.

Also, please be aware that some food items may not be available as we run food stocks down toward the end of the year. Let your children know they may be required to substitute a food item if the first choice is unavailable.

URGENTLY IN NEED OF HELP?!

We are losing quite a few of our long standing regular Tuckshop volunteers and we need your help to fill the roster to keep our Tuckshop open for service five days a week. If you can help, please email us at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com to let us know when you are available.

It is only for once a month and from 8.30am -11.30am. Three hours of your time will keep prices reasonable and our shutters open! And you will be rewarded with the many smiling faces and good manners of our appreciative students!

If you need to cancel an order, you can easily do so on School24 right up until the 8.30am cut-off time the day of your order. Once you have logged in to School24, just look at the left hand of your screen for options available and cancel an order is right there! You can also view your order history to check orders you have placed.

Tuckshop is operated as an online ordering system. To open a Tuckshop account please visit the link below 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.

Prep selling days are:

23rd November 8.15-11am
28th November 8.15-11am
16th January 3-6pm

Families that are already at Graceville State School are encouraged to come during normal uniform store hours as the prep selling days are much busier than usual.

Donations of 2nd hand uniforms are always appreciated, if you have some smaller sizes that you no longer need we would love to have them.

Size 8 gold polo shirts are back in stock.

We have some swimming gear available including long sleeve rashies, lycra and silicone swim caps, swim bags and quick dry towels in the house colours.

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

New volunteers would be greatly appreciated and will be needed as some of the current volunteers will be leaving the school at the end of the year. It only requires you to be there from 8.15-9.00am on Mondays, Tuesdays or Fridays, if you think you could help out please send an email to the above address or just come to the store and have a chat.

I have 4 plain navy blue backpacks for $55 each in stock that are perfect for high school, if you are needing something like this come and see me in store or send an email to the above address.

Swimming

Holiday Swim Clinics

A great way to finish 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 first clinic will be held from Monday 11th of December to Friday 15th. The second clinic will be held the last week of the school holidays from Monday 15th of January til Friday the 19th. 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. My swim school is always looking for good teachers so if you know anyone who is qualified or interested in becoming a certified swim teacher please put them in touch with me. Please direct all inquiries to Pete Geraghty by phone [0432407442].

School Program Make Up

In last week’s newsletter I incorrectly stated the makeup dates for the school swim program.

The makeup lessons will be held on Tuesday November 28th for the preps and Wednesday November 29th for the year 1's.

Community Notices

Rainbow for Mums Fundraiser

What a great day on Friday 17 November when we had so many children coming to school with their nails painted all the colours of the rainbow. We raised $3400 for the two mums which exceeded our target. So many generous donations from the Graceville State School community, we thank you for all your support.

Terriann, Kathy & Gehann

Discover some top birds this Sunday, 26 November!

A bird walk with some top birds and an expert guide is certainly an experience not to be missed.

Professor Hugh Possingham, Chief Scientist with The Nature Conservancy, will introduce you to Sherwood Arboretum’s stunning birdlife at 6.30 am on Sunday 26 November, starting at the Jolimont Street entry.

Over the past 15 years, some 170 species of birds have been recorded in Sherwood Arboretum thanks to its well-protected wetlands, a stunning collection of more than 1000 Australian native trees and the ‘wildlife corridor’ of the Brisbane River at the front door.

Sunday’s walk will finish with a relaxing morning tea by the river. The cost of just $5.00 for adults for morning tea (students are FREE) helps support the voluntary work of the Friends of Sherwood Arboretum Association.

Please remember to RSVP as soon as possible by emailing info@sherwoodarboretum.com.au or by calling (07) 3278 6525.

½ size Arco Cello for Sale
Excellent condition
$400 includes hard and soft case
Call Renee 0413 041 968