3 May 2018

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

It was an exciting week for the school as we hosted Kath Murdoch, our Inquiry expert from Melbourne University. Kath is an amazing support for our school and is helping us to gradually develop our approach and enhance our skills as inquiry teachers and leaders. Kath used her first day to model her teaching practice as an inquiry teacher. In these sessions Kath modelled a lesson with a class to show us how we can ‘turn up the dial’ in a lesson, and help us to become more inquiry minded in our approach to teaching. I would like to thank Mrs Miller (Year 2), Mr Guthrie and Mrs Hornstra (Year 5) and Ms Elliot (Senior Enhancement) for offering their classes for Kath to engage with. On the second day, Kath worked with year level teams to help them collaboratively plan for HASS and/or Science. The teachers greatly appreciate being able to have close access to Kath and observe and reflect on her teaching practices. We always come away reflecting on how capable our students can be when we give them opportunities to be engaged in inquiry based learning. I have been talking with the P&C about possibly facilitating a night for parents to meet and get to know Kath on her next visit.

As you may know, our Whole School Assemblies always have a specific focus. Last week, Jordan Debono, a Venomologist, PHD student from University of Queensland and young female scientist of the year, spoke to our students about what is like to be a researcher. Jordan wowed the children with her stories and photos while helping them to understand the links to how being a researcher has provided so many exciting opportunities and enhanced her life. Jordan showed them a new perspective on what is can be as a researcher. Jordan also made very strong links to the importance of the dispositions that are aligned to the learning assets. She emphasised the importance of persistence, resilience, having the courage to have a go, share your thinking and connecting and communicating with others. In week 4, our Whole School Assembly focus will be devoted to celebrating the outcomes of the Spell-a-thon.

The Fete is fast approaching and we are stilling looking for volunteers! One main volunteer position that is needed is the role of Non – Food Convenor. We are also seeking parents who might be willing to take on some of the main roles in 2019 and would be willing to learn alongside the current convenor this year, ready to take over the reins in 2019. If we cannot find volunteers to take on these roles for 2019, this year may be our last Fete. Maybe you could talk a friend into doing it together and having some fun with it! If you can help please contact the fete committee.

Don’t forget Monday is a Public Holiday. Children do not come to school on Monday.

Finally, next week I will be out of the school for three days. I will be attending a specialised learning opportunity designed specifically for Experienced Principals. I am grateful to the region for putting me forward to take part in the course. I will check in with the school each day however Ms Hass will be point of contact on the ground for any issues that cannot be postponed until I return on Friday.

Have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Study Tour 2018

We will be hosting a Study Tour from Taiwan, from Minzu and Wenhau Elementary schools this year. The dates will be July 27 until August 11 for two weeks. Please as a family start to think about if you are able to offer a place to host one of these students. It is a rewarding opportunity. We have been notified that a group of 22 students with 2 tour escorts will be coming. If you are interested and maybe able to host a student please return the expression of interest or email me a response at mhass10@eq.edu.au I will shortly hold an information session after school and an evening time to give information so that families can make a decision. We need to shortly commence ‘blue card’ applications if parents don’t have one to be a host family. This is free and sent off at school. Please email me any questions that you may have about the study tour and hosting.

Waiting List for Prep for 2019 – opened at the beginning of this term.

The waiting list for 2019 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. 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.

Date Claimer: Prep 2019 Information evening will be held in our school hall on Wednesday July 18 at 7pm.

Below is the calendar for term 2 Junior assemblies. Everyone welcome, we are on from 2.15pm on these Tuesdays in the hall.

Lisa McKeaten

Deputy Principal

Managing contagious conditions at your school

Parents are reminded to take their child to the doctors if they are quite unwell. We don’t want contagious conditions at school otherwise other students, staff and parents may also get sick. Please let us know immediately if the diagnosis is an infectious condition where we would need to contact public health and the school community. Your GP will know the full extent of conditions eg. Chicken pox, Gastro, Measles, Whooping cough, Hepatitis A, Rubella are the common ones. Please be mindful that we have people in our school community who may be adversely affected by some of these contagious conditions eg. People with low immunity or pregnant women.

NAPLAN testing – 15, 16 & 17 May

On Tuesday 15, Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 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. Any missed tests will be made-up on Friday 18 May only.

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.

2018 International competitions

In 2018 we will be participating in the following competitions:

• Digital Technologies 8 May $8.00 (Yr 3-6)
• Science 29 May $8.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Spelling 13 June $11.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Writing 14 June $17.00 (Yr 3-6)
• English 31 July $8.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Mathematics 14 August $8.00 (Yr 2-6)

Students who have been entered in any of these competitions need to make sure that they are present on the day.

Our first comp is the Digital Technologies (Yrs 3-6) – Tuesday 8 May. Students need to come to the school hall by 7.45am. We then check off their names and present them with their test paper, ready to commence at 7.55am. Students are given 35 minutes to complete this competition. Any students who don’t come before school will need to come to the Waratah room at 10.45 (first break) to complete the test. If your child is absent on the day they will be able to make-up the test during a break time on Wednesday 9 May. I will be mailing the test papers back on Thursday 10 May. They will need to come and see me about this arrangement.

If any students don’t wish to participate in the competitions and you have entered them, please let me know. These competitions have already been paid for so there are no refunds. Please finalise all payments for these events, if you haven’t done so already.

Mother’s Day flowers

In the morning on Friday, May 11th the Graceville Events Committee will be saying thank you to all the hard-working, wonderful mothers in our community. Groups of Year Six students will positioned across the school giving away small tokens of appreciation to mums, step-mums and grandmas as they drop off their children. The Events Committee hope to see you there.

Camp Quality will be visiting us on Friday 8 June!

The Camp Quality Puppet Show will be visiting us:

• 8.45 – Prep & Yr 1 classes
• 9.45 – Yr 2 & 3 classes
• 11.30 – Yrs 4-6

I would recommend you discussing this with your child, especially if children have siblings, family members or friends dealing with cancer. Also inform your child’s class teacher if you are concerned about how they may react to the puppet show.

Parents are most welcome to attend any of the performances in the hall.

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

Just a reminder please don’t pay Spellathon money into the school bank account.

Thank you for your payments for excursions and resources to date.

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 2018 are:

• Prep Requirements ($70)
• Instrumental Music Programs – Instrument Hire ($100), Percussion Maintenance ($50), Music Participation ($80) & Choir ($30)
• Religious Education Program ($10)
• Mathletics On-line registration (Years 1 - 6) ($12)
• Origo Maths (years 3, 4 and 5) ($6)
• Year 4/5 maths levy ($17.50)
• ESmart Digital Licence Yr 5 ($10)

All students involved in these programs must return a completed SRS form.

VOLUNTARY PARENT CONTRIBUTIONS

Your valuable contribution to this school’s Learning Targets is most welcome.

$100 single student.

You can either pay the Voluntary Contribution in the office, or by direct deposit into the school bank account referencing the payment “VC” with your child’s name. Our bank account details are:

BSB: 064-111
Account Number: 00090051
Account Name: Graceville State School

Credit in Account: Credits from 2017 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

Thank you to Junior Choir students and families for their understanding with the cancellation of Junior Choir this week due to the staff PD with Kath Murdoch. Please note that next week we will be back to rehearsals as usual on Tuesday morning 8 May.

The Senior Strings and Senior Band will be performing at the Education Queensland Fanfare competition on 29 May. Further information has been given to students via a letter and we will need permission slips returned for student attendance. As it is a Band/Orchestra performance we need all members to attend the excursion and perform with their ensemble. A link to the letter is also included below. This is an exciting event and families/members of the school community are able to attend the performance at Sherwood SS on the day.

The Junior String start from this week on Wednesdays at first break in the music room. Please note that Beginner Strings will join them later in the year, with the date TBA. The Junior Band will start rehearsals on 9 May at 7:30am in the music room.

On 22 June we have a choir incursion organised, with composer and experienced conductor and music teacher, Stuart Gillard attending. Our Junior Choir and Senior Choir will have the opportunity to learn songs he has composed throughout the day (with him working with each choir separately) and the day will culminate with a concert at 2:15pm. Families and members of the school community are warmly invited to this choir concert on Friday 22 June at 2:15pm. Choirs will perform songs with their school conductor as well as our guest conductor and composer, Stuart Gillard, at the performance. Please ensure your child has paid their choir levies to enable them to attend the incursion. We have spare student resource forms in the music room which your child can collect at our next rehearsal if they did not receive one earlier this year ($30 for annual membership).

2018 Rehearsal schedule

Monday 7:45am Senior Choir (year 4/5/6 students) - Ms Julie West
Tuesday 7:45am Junior Choir (year 2/3 students) - Mrs Naomi Lindh
Wednesday 7:30am Junior Band (year 4 band students) - Mr James Kukulies (please note this will not begin until 9 May at 7:30am in the music room)
Wednesday first break - Junior/Beginner Strings - Mrs Ruth Prout (rehearsals begin in week 3, 2 May in the music room for Junior Strings and the Beginner Strings will join them later in the year)
Wednesday 3:00-4:00pm Senior Band (year 5/6 band students) - Mr Steve Stiller
Thursday 7:45am Senior Strings

Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions or concerns about your child's involvement in the music program or if they are unable to attend a rehearsal.

Thanks again to the Senior Choir for their lovely singing at the ANZAC Day service.

Alex Grodecki - agrod3@eq.edu.au
Ruth Prout - rprou5@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

Naomi Lindh
Music Teacher and IM Coordinator

Library News

Melanie Hutchinson

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

Scholastic Book Club is up and running again for the term.

This term’s flyer (Issue 3) has been handed out to the classes – to order, just look over the flyer with your child, select the books you want and mark them on the order form on the back of the flyer.

Then ORDER ONLINE WITH THE CORRECT PAYMENT, by the closing date FRIDAY 11th May.

Preferred method of payment:

CREDIT CARD payments online, or through the LOOP APP [LOOP: Linked Online Ordering and Payment available on the link below or download the LOOP Apple or Android app]. The order forms do not need to be returned to school.

If paying by credit card on the phone or with a cheque made to Scholastic Australia, return the order form to the school library by Friday 11th May.

NO CASH ORDERS PLEASE – GRACEVILLE STATE SCHOOL IS RUNNING A CASHLESS BOOK CLUB.

Uniform Shop

Fiona Fryer

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

WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS, PLEASE!!!!

The uniform store lost some valuable volunteers at the end of last year and will be losing more at the end of this year so we really need more people to help out, without volunteers the store cannot be open as much as it is. At the moment it would require you to be there from 8.15-9.00am on Monday, Tuesday or Friday each week, if there are more people willing to lend a hand then it wouldn't have to be every week. So, if you think you could spare some time and help out that would be great, just send an email to the address below or come to the store and have a chat, thank you.

You can purchase the representative shirts for interschool sports from the uniform store for $35.

Size 10 skorts are out of stock, they will be back in 3-4 weeks

Polar fleece jackets and rugby shirts are available now in store.

Donations of 2nd hand uniforms are always appreciated, so please keep them coming but can you please make sure that all items are in a good, clean and saleable condition.

Please be advised that refunds will ONLY be given if you have the original receipt and items should not have been washed or worn.

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 via the teachers pigeon hole in the main office.

Email address for school uniform store is:

uniformstore@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

Tuckshop News

Tuckshop Roster for week ending 11th of May 2018

Thank you to all our volunteers!

Last week we experienced downtime in School24 so that no-one could place a Tuckshop order. It was a School24 systems problem and while we notified them of the problem, there was nothing more we could do.

As we always say, if you have tried to order on School24 and experience technological problems with the system, you can go back to the old-fashion system of using the brown paper bag with cash payment in it to pay for your order.

We are happy for you to ring to check if there is a problem with the system, but please do not ring the school to place an order by phone. As you can imagine, with a school our size with approximately 800 students, we are unable to answer the phone for everyone in a situation such as this and take telephone orders and make manual adjustments to your School24 account. Hopefully there won’t be too many occasions when this happens, but please follow this procedure should it occur again.

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

School Plus

Week 2 has come to another fast end, with the ANZAC Day public holiday in the middle, and what another great week we have had at Before and After School Care! We started off our week with a morning “Moon Rock” throwing competition and a friendly game of bowling. The children enjoyed this week’s variety of craft, indoor and outdoor activities, especially new activities such as “spaghetti worms” in the Quadrangle (which got a little messy). Another highlight was making playdough inside, which the children played with outside in the quadrangle the following day. Pipe cleaner creations and easel paintings brought the creative and artistic sides out of the children. Who could forget the huge game of Tug of War played out on the oval. With all these exiting activities on we ensured the children had enough energy with our delicious menu this week that included extra breakfast items such as, scrambled eggs, spaghetti on toast and banana smoothies! In the afternoon the children snacked on pasta, wraps and corn on the cob. Every week we aim to provide something new and challenging for the children and next week’s program and menu is nearly ready to be released!

Trivia Night

Ever wondered what it was like to ‘Rock around the Clock’ and hang out with Ritchie and the Fonz in ‘Happy Days’ or ride along with Clint in ‘Rawhide’? Do you ever wish that you lived in the era of ‘Call the Midwife’, Elvis Presley or the Beatles, or had a house that looked like June Cleaver’s?

Come dressed in your favourite theme of the era and decorate your table of 10 to match!

6:30pm
Saturday 16th June
Graceville State School Hall
Tickets: $20 per person or $200 per Table of 10
Includes:

• A bottle of wine/beers per table
• Additional drinks available at the bar
• Pizzas available for purchase on site

Prizes on the night for Best Dressed Male/Female/Table
Heaps of Raffle Prizes also to be won!

There will be ‘games’ on the night so start saving your gold coins!

The Trivia Night Committee are always looking for sponsors and prizes, if you or your company would like to be involved, please contact Juanita Bennett for details (aajbennett1@bigpond.com).

Trivia Night – like the Fete – is looking for someone to take over. Unless someone comes forward to learn the ways of Trivia Night – 2018 will be the last one! We are also looking for someone to take over the ‘brains’ of the night in Question Writer. If you are interested or want to know what goes on behind the scenes, please contact Juanita ASAP so that wisdom can be transferred!!

Community Notices

Calling all budding Rugby League stars! Souths Graceville Rugby League are looking for any 7, 8 and 9 year olds who are keen to get amongst the fun this year. No previous experience required, just come along and be part of our club!

Please contact Shaun Leat on 0403 415 216 or shaun@allaussieconcreting.com.au if you are interested