17 May 2018

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

I hope all our mums enjoyed being pampered on Mother’s Day last weekend! I went to the shops on Saturday and saw lots of dads with children shopping for the perfect Mother’s Day gift! I reflected how lovely it was to think of our families sharing quality time together!

Our Student Council will have some interesting news to share very soon. Many of the Subcommittees are currently refining proposals which they hope will be passed this term. There is a proposal for a disco later this year and a fundraising event for a charity. For a proposal to be passed it must meet all of the criteria required of the Student Council and the motion must receive a majority vote. We will keep you posted for the student council events that will be coming soon!

As the cooler weather comes upon us we see the pile of lost property stack up in the hall. Please make sure all clothing and personal items are named. The student council are working on a longer term solution for lost property but for now our Rotary students with the help of a few parents are doing their best to keep the pile manageable. Any help with lost property would be greatly appreciated.

Don’t forget our school is hosting a special Curiosity and Powerful Learning event on Friday. We will welcome Dr Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert from British Columbia who will talk with our leaders and teachers about how to engage in Spirals of Inquiry learning that will benefit both teaching and student learning outcomes. We will have 50 guests in our school from 8.15 to 3pm so parking may be more difficult on Friday. I apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause at drop off and pick up times. It is a great day to actively travel to school!

Finally, next Friday morning, our school is celebrating Under 8’s day. We welcome parents and friends to come along and have some fun as we explore learning through play. A coffee van has been organised for parents who would like a refreshment while enjoying the festivities.

Have a great week,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Study Tour 2018 – Minzu and Wenhua Schools are coming!

I hope all families received a letter with information about the upcoming Study Tour this year. Please consider about offering 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 hold an information session after school on Wednesday May 23 at 3pm in the Waratah room and again at 6.30pm to give information about homestay requirements and study tour outline. 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.

Under 8’s is here again!

Come and join in the fun of Under 8’s on Friday May 25 on our school oval, 8.45 – 10.45. All families welcome to join in and support our young students celebrating being under 8!

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. We now also have pamphlets in the office with other dates for 2018 such as the Get Set for Prep and Prep Orientation sessions.

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 Prinicpal

Naplan completed!

Naplan testing for Years 3 & 5 is finished for this year. Big thank you to the teachers for their hard work! Our students did a great job and tried their best. It was wonderful to see the Learning Assets in Action!

Indooroopilly High School Maths Challenge

Next week (25th May) we will have 10 of our Year 5 & 6 students participating in the Metro West Teams Maths Challenge. This is an annual event hosted by ISHS. We look forward to this great opportunity to be challenged to develop our thinking skills.

2018 UNSW (University Of New South Wales) competitions:

• 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 appropriate day.

Our second comp for this year is the Science (Yrs 2-6) – Tuesday 29th May.

Year 3-6 Students need to come to the school hall by 7.30am. We then check off their names and present them with their test paper, ready to commence at 7.55am. Students are given 45-55 minutes to complete this competition (varies for different grades). 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 away on the day they will need to see me about a make-up test ASAP after the testing day.

Year 2 students will participate in the competition at 11.30am. 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.

For the Digital Technologies competition, we had a large number of students not attend before school. Please make an effort to get your child here before school (Years 3-6). With the tests that take a longer time to complete, I can’t guarantee that they will have adequate time during the lunch break to complete them. We don’t want to interfere with class time to complete these tests, except for the Year 2 students, who are new to this experience.

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.

Supporting respectful relationships

Parents and carers play a significant role in helping their children have respectful and safe relationships. Starting the conversation early about what behaviours are ok in a relationship and what behaviours cross the line, enables young people to make good choices.

The Line provides information on how to talk with young people about respectful relationships. The Conversation guide offers practical ideas for parents and families.

Parent engagement conference – for schools and parents

Learn more about the benefits of parent engagement in student learning at the P&Cs Qld’s State Conference on 7–8 September. Hear from Steve Francis, Chris Sarra, Matt Saunders, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner and state school principals. Register by 29 June for early bird rates.

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

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 the parent volunteers who have offered to assist with supervision for the Fanfare excursion. We now have enough helpers for the Senior Strings but at the time of writing the article we have not had any volunteers for the Senior Band. If you are able to assist please contact Naomi Lindh (nclos1@eq.edu.au) as soon as possible. Notes for the excursion have been given out to students and included in the Newsletter for the last couple of weeks, but if you have not received it pleased find it in the link below. The Fanfare performance and excursion is scheduled for Tuesday 29 May. Please see the link/note for further information on the sessions. Families are very welcome to come and watch their children perform.

The Junior Choir will be singing at the NAIDOC assembly, currently scheduled for 9:00am on Thursday 21 June. Parents and members of the school community are warmly invited to attend this assembly and performance. The Junior Choir will be singing a song which has been written by Elders and leaders as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous students from schools in the local area. The four students from our school who attended the song writing sessions will also be involved in the presentation and singing of the song. I have been fortunate to be part of this exciting experience, attending the song writing sessions for this project as well which was part of the Reconciliation in Qld Schools project and 2018 Commonwealth Games. This is one of a number of reconciliation activities which has taken place, with the song developed for use by students and teachers in schools.

On 22 June we have a choir incursion organised, with composer and experienced conductor Stuart Gillard attending. On this day the Junior Choir and Senior Choir will have the opportunity to learn songs he has composed (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.

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

Uniform Shop

Fiona Fryer

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

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 next week.
Size 4 trackpants are out of stock, expected back in next week.

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

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. 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.

Tuckshop News

Tuckshop Roster for week ending 25th of May 2018

Thank you to all our volunteers!

Do you fancy a chat and catch up on what’s going on in the school? For a couple of hours just once a month, it’s amazing the people you might talk to and have a laugh in the Tuckshop, all while you are making the lunches for our delightful students. You also get to speak to our students at counter sales time, they are an adorable bunch of students and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by their lovely manners. The time just flies by and you’re doing something so worthwhile!

Interested? Drop us an email at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com or come in and see us in the Tuckshop.

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

It has been a busy time this term, with year 6 camp, interschool sport, Cross-Country and ANZAC Day commemorations adding to the normal school activities. With NAPLAN assessments this week for years three and five, the school community will have to wait a little longer to catch their breath. Of course, NAPLAN is just one of the assessment methods so students in other year levels can be relieved that they don’t miss out completely.

Plans are “all systems go” for this year’s Trivia Night, so I encourage parents to grab this great opportunity for a fun night out. This P&C event is a highlight on the Graceville State School calendar and those who embrace it, will experience a night to remember. With this year’s theme being “The 50’s and 60’s”, the mind boggles with possibilities.

Well done to our District Cross Country representatives, who competed last week at Richlands. All our runners put in strong efforts and we had several successful in moving on to the Regional event. I wish to congratulate all our representatives for the effort and spirit with which they participated. I would also like to wish those heading to Limestone Park for the Regional event, the very best of luck.

In the Federal budget delivered last Tuesday evening, it was announced that funding for the National Schools Chaplaincy Program would continue. The full details of the process involved in applying for this continued funding are not yet released, but it has been announced that an increased focus on bullying will be part of this program moving forward. The effects of bullying can be very damaging, so an increased focus on supporting school communities will be most welcome. As more is unpacked regarding chaplaincy funding or the anti-bullying focus, I will endeavour to relay that information to the school community.

Parents wishing to benefit from attending a series of Triple P, Positive Parenting seminars can do so in the local area this June. Riverside Christian Church are facilitating these free seminars.

Tuesday June 5th
Raising Responsible Teenagers

Tuesday June 12th
Raising Competent Teenagers

Tuesday June 19th
Getting Teenagers Connected

The seminars commence at 7:00 pm and will provide proven tips and strategies to make family life easier and help families navigate the challenging teenage years.

For more information please contact Riverside Church or check out their website.

Have a wonderful week,

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Active School Travel

Our Active School Travel Day is changing to Friday.

We will have our first official data collection and stamp day next Friday the 18th as part of our National Walk Safely to School Day celebrations.

However we are encouraging you to bring your AST Passports this Friday for a bonus stamp and to get you into the swing of actively travelling to school on Footloose Fridays.

You are considered to be actively travelling to school as long as you don’t park immediately around the school or get dropped off at the drop off zone. So if you are parked in a side street, at the park across the road, or near the netball courts….and walk to school from there you are actively travelling. You don’t have to walk all of the way! Really every single Prep student is actively travelling as parents walk them into school.

Last week copies of the AST maps were sent home via class kit folders as a reference. These give you a guide of where to park and stride within a 6-8 minute walk to school. As the weather cools down this is a perfect time to take a brisk walk to school and get in some exercise before the day begins.

Councillor Nicole Johnston will be holding a treasure hunt using the maps. Students will receive maps and the clue sheets this Friday. Students will receive maps and the clue sheets this Friday. Once complete they can be dropped back to the office by 9am Friday May 18th. Winners will announced and awarded prizes on the next assembly. Walking, riding or scooting to school is also good for the environment. There are fewer car trips and it can promote a stronger sense of belonging and community.

We need you!!!!!

We are very lucky to have the year 5 students involved in Active Travel this year and Mrs Hornstra who does an amazing job each week with organising the students to ensure that passports are stamped and the AST messages are delivered on assembly (and many other tasks too numerous to list). With out their support this program would not be the success that it is.

Did you know that unlike other committees in the school we have two parents who support this great program ! Yes that’s right 2! Unless we can get more parental support then we may not be able continue AST at our school. We meet once a month (for about 30 minutes) and desperately need someone who can write the weekly newsletter and someone to liaise with our Brisbane City Council Contact. At our events we may need a little of your time to serve breakfast or help hand out prizes. If you think you can help please email Jo at sajrichards@iinet.net.au

Without the support of parents and caregivers this program will be unable to continue in the school.

School Plus

This week at Before and After School Care we had four fun days filled with activities, after we all enjoyed the long weekend. Some of our weeks highlights included a new sensory activity “Noodle Play”, that the children loved! They have really been enjoying the different sensory programmed activities. In arts and crafts Making Kites was an absolute hit! The children spent the rest of the afternoon flying them out on the oval and couldn’t wait to show everyone at home time. They also made Bead Jewellery, different Origami Animals and Mother’s Day Cards. Breakfast and Afternoon Tea included extra items such as pancakes, baked beans and party pies as well as chocolate mousse and yummy wraps just to name a few. A sneak peek into next week’s program includes two new sensory activities “Cloud Dough” and “Blue Water Boats” as well as Clay Animals and Paddle Pop Paper Planes.

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