24 May 2018

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

The weather is getting cooler now with some crisp mornings. The lost property pile builds up during the day as children shed layers of clothing. It would be great if all clothing was labelled so our volunteers can try and get clothing items back to students.

We had the pleasure of hosting Dr Linda Kaser and Dr Judy Halbert at our school on Friday. It was a privilege to have world leading experts working with our Curiosity and Powerful Learning schools. Dr Kaser and Dr Halbert were very generous with their time, meeting and talking with some of our students. Students from Ms Ellis, Ms Cousins and Mrs Chudasko’s classes were asked three key questions the ladies believe all children should be able to answer while and or after engaging in learning – What are you learning and why is it important?, How is your learning going? Where to next in your learning? These are questions you could ask your children at home, remember though they must understand the context of the learning so first establish which learning area you are asking the child to respond to. Our Student Learning Ambassadors also greeted our guests and took time out to talk with them about our school. We were so proud of the students who showed great development particularly in the Communicator learning asset. Our students lived the dispositions of being confident, responsive and respectful!

On Saturday our school is presenting at the Networks of Inquiry and Innovation Symposium. Mrs Martin and a group of teachers and students will share our work in inquiry so far. It is a privilege for our school and I wish Mrs Martin, the teachers and students the best of luck! I will be there too cheering them on!

I met with School Plus, the Outside School Hours Care provider based at our school, this week. We discussed ensuring behaviour expectations were consistent with the school and agreed to work together to see how we can better align our practices. We also discussed the use of the toilets after school. The lease agreement between School Plus and the school identifies the toilets outside Prep begin for sole use of the service from 2.50pm. As you can imagine they must ensure safety for the children in their care. I would like to ask parents and students who are in the school grounds from 2.50pm to use the toilets under the library building please.

Under 8’s Day is Friday, it is usually a great morning of fun activities so I hope you can come along! We have a coffee van for parents too.

Finally, I will be taking a week long service leave from next Wednesday 30 May. My husband’s family are coming to visit from Denmark and we are looking forward to spending time with them. Ms Hass will be the Acting Principal in my absence and Mrs Freeman will be Acting Deputy Principal. I will return on Wednesday 6 June.

I hope you have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Fine Motor Program for prep students

I would like to thank our prep teachers and teacher aides who are delivering a fine motor program to support our prep students. This is running outside of class time and is offering additional support to students to build confidence and competencies in these essential skills for learning.

Study Tour 2018 – Minzu and Wenhua Schools are coming!

Our numbers of homestay families is slowly building, we still need more families to come forward and offer a place for a student from Taiwan for 2 weeks, July 27 to August 11. If you have any questions please contact me to ask for further information. mhass10@eq.edu.au

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

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.

Flu Season

1. Flu is dangerous for everyone, but particularly for children.

During 2017, there were over 56,000 cases of confirmed cases of influenza in Queensland, of which over 10,000 were in children under 10 years of age.

Having an annual flu vaccine will help keep you, your family and the community healthy this flu season.

In 2018, Queensland Health is also offering free influenza vaccine to children aged 6 months to less than five years.

2. Flu strains change each year

There is a new flu vaccine every year because flu viruses mutate easily and often.

3. Flu spreads easily between people, particularly children

You can get flu by either breathing in droplets that are infected with flu virus or from touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching your own mouth, nose or eyes.

Young children are more likely to spread flu because they tend to have greater contact with others, are infectious for longer than an average adult, and may not always cover their mouths when coughing and sneezing or wash their hands often enough. They are super-spreaders.

4. If you (or your child) are unwell, stay home until better

Flu causes adults and children to miss out on their regular activities, such as attending school, work, family outings, sporting events or just hanging out with friends. Anyone with the flu should stay home, rest and recover for about 7 – 10 days.

5. We can all make a difference

Remember it is not ‘just the flu’, it is a serious disease. Having an annual flu vaccine will help keep you, your family and the community healthy this flu season.

Medical issue - School sores

At the moment we have several cases of Impetigo (School sores), which are an infection of the skin. They are very itchy, caused by bacteria and are quite contagious. Please read the attached information and see your doctor if you suspect your child may have a one.

Wear Orange Wednesday (WOWDay) Supporting SES Volunteers

The purpose of the WOW Day campaign is to inspire people to wear orange on 23 May in recognition of the efforts of thousands of SES volunteers across Australia who give up their time to serve their communities in floods, storms and other emergencies.

WOWDay will be recognised nationally on 23 May this year with the simple call to action: wear orange. Orange is the official colour of the State Emergency Services across the country so wearing orange on WOW Day is a great way to show support for all SES Volunteers. We are lucky enough to celebrate with staff member Christie Goeldner who is a Year 4 Teacher at Graceville.

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

Next week on Tuesday 29 May the Senior Concert Band and Senior Strings will be performing at the Education Qld Fanfare competition. This is an excellent performance opportunity for your child and you are welcome to come and listen to them perform on the day. Exact times are not provided as they can change depending on circumstances on the day. The session times for the Senior String performance have been amended since a change was sent to us, with it now finishing at 1pm rather than 2pm. Please find a note attached in a link below with further information about this exciting event. We need a permission slip returned for your child to attend, so please use the slip on the attached letter if we have not received this. Students will need to bring their instrument, music, drink and a snack/lunch on the day.

We are asking all students to travel to Sherwood SS together by bus, particularly for the Senior Concert Band students. Please note that the bus will need to leave Graceville at 7:30am sharp, so if your child is running late you will need to take them to the Sherwood SS hall after this time and meet one of the Graceville staff attending, letting them know your child is joining our group.

If your child was going to participate in the UNSW Science Competition scheduled for that morning, they should attend the performance and Mrs Lisa McKeaten is organising an alternative time for them to complete it.

In the unfortunate event that your child is unwell on the day, could you please send an email to me as well as Mrs Julie West (jwest269@eq.edu.au) so we are aware that they will not be attending.

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 still require volunteers for the Senior Band. If you are able to assist please contact Naomi Lindh (nclos1@eq.edu.au) as soon as possible.

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.

Size 10 skorts are back in stock.
Size 4 trackpants are back in stock.

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. Also please be aware that if you paid by credit card you will need that card for the refund.

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 1st of June 2018

Thank you to all our volunteers!

Thanks for your patience again this week when we had School24 problems on Friday. Some people experienced difficulty ordering due to another gremlin in the system which we hope will not occur again.

As we always say, don’t forget you can always send your child in with an order in the old fashioned brown paper bag and cash payment should you experience problems ordering.

Please do not telephone or email your order in; we are not Uber Eats! Our resources are limited and imagine if the whole school did this, we wouldn’t be able to get the lunches out to your children. Our best advice is to order the night before and that way if you have trouble, you will already be aware of your choices – to provide lunch from home or bring a paper bag order with cash payment.

If you need to contact us please send us an email at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com or come in and see us in the Tuckshop.

Fete News

"Calling all Class Reps and Fete Class Reps”

It’s time to get together and distribute Stall Holder Information Packs and discuss any questions about the stalls and all things fete related.

Wednesday, 30 May at 7.00pm in the Oxley Room.
We look forward to seeing you all there.

If you are unable to make it please let us know by emailing us at gracevillefetestalls@gmail.com and we will be able to email you your information pack. If you have any further questions *AFTER* reading your information pack feel free to send questions to the above email address.

Sharon, Annette, Emma, Barbara and Mel

Active School Travel

Our Active School Travel Day is changing to Friday.

Thank you to all the students and teachers who decorated their socks and shoes to celebrate National Walk Safely to School Day on Friday 18th May. This also happened to be our first Footloose Friday. The day for active travel has changed from Tuesday to Friday so leave the car at home, dust off your bikes and scooters, check out your maps, plan a short walk and enjoy the amazing weather.

Thanks also to Councillor Nicole Johnston who gave us all a challenging treasure hunt to complete to help celebrate National Walk Safely to School Day. The winner of the treasure hunt is……

Lewis W from 2M

Congratulations! You will receive your prize very soon!

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

With out the support of parents and caregivers this program will be unable to continue in the school.

School Plus

Week five of Before and After School Care included a number of fun and varied programmed activities. The children have been enjoying exploring their creative sides through our arts and craft activities. This week’s highlights included making Paddle Pop Planes, Clay Animals and Pipe Cleaner Tic Tac Toe. Our two sensory activities for the week were Cloud Dough and Blue Water Boats. The children thoroughly enjoy the different colours and textures of the sensory activities. Our new Memory game created by our Assistant Coordinators was also a highlight, these included Nemo, Disney, Animal and Dinosaur cards that were catered to different ages.

Friday morning became quite competitive when we set up two badminton nets and had a rally going! The children also loved this week’s menu extras that included Poached Eggs on Toast, Spaghetti, Yoghurt and Muesli and for afternoon tea Chocolate Slice, Mini Hot Dogs and Honey Joys. A sneak peak of next week’s program and menu includes Making Memory Cards, Comic Strips and Sand Pictures for craft as well as Finding Treasure for one of our sensory activities. The children will also be enjoying Fried Rice for afternoon tea!

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

Ipswich Women’s Shelter

Lee from the School Office is collecting winter items for the Ipswich Women’s Shelter.

Donations of new or good condition used women’s and children’s winter clothes and sleepwear would be gratefully accepted. New children's underwear and donations of new or second hand linen is also always very welcome at any time (for Single or Double beds) Thank you very much for any help you can give to support these women and children.