31 May 2018

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

It is hard to believe there is only one month until the winter break! The next two weeks in particular will be very busy as teachers and students work together to finalise Semester 1 assessments. As teachers use their own time to write Report Cards, please make an appointment if you would like to see a teacher. Our teachers can then plan conversations around their Report Card writing commitments. As you would be aware, Report Cards go home at the end of Semester 1. Report Cards are emailed to parents so please make sure your email contact details are up to date.

On the weekend, a group of our teachers and students presented at the Networks of Inquiry and Innovation Symposium. Graceville wowed the participants with a very hands on session which involved groups of our teachers and students working at tables with participants. The theme of our talk was, ‘Inquiry through its many lenses’. Our teachers and students shared the many ways our school is working in the inquiry space – curriculum planning which now uses student voice in the areas of Science and HASS, the use of the Learning Assets and our Learning Ambassador program, the creation of Learning Agreements in all classrooms, the development of visual thinking, the use of iTime in some classes and even how our school is using a cycle of inquiry to develop our whole school writing approach. It was a great reflection for us to see how far we have come in such little time. The feedback we received was excellent and it was noted our school is using the majority of the Seven Principals of Learning for the 21st Century, as identified by the OECD committee for Innovative Learning Environments. As a school we should be proud of our teachers and students who are at the leading edge of gradually transforming our school into an innovative learning environment which is preparing our students for the 21st Century! As you know, change is hard and takes time. As a staff we are continually learning, adapting and responding to the needs of our students for the future!

Thank you to the families who came along to share in the fun of Under 8’s day! I was at the Inquiry Symposium and so missed out on the joy of the day. I have heard great reports from parents, teachers and students so thank you for making it a great day!

Don’t forget we have three big events between now and the end of the term. The LAPATHON on June 20, our NAIDOC assembly on 21 June and the Year 4-6 Athletics Carnival on 26 June. You are welcome to come along and join with us in celebrating these events.

Congratulations and well done to our instrumental music teachers and students who have competed in the Fanfare competitions this week. Our Senior Strings received a Gold award!

Finally, a reminder I will be on long service leave from Wednesday 30 May to Tuesday 5 June. I am looking forward to spending time with our family from Denmark. We will be doing a lot of touristy things in and around Brisbane which I am really looking forward to! I will return on Wednesday 6 June. Ms Hass will be the Acting Principal in my absence.

Ms Hass will write the newsletter on my behalf next week.

Have a great week,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Under 8’s has come and gone.

Thank you to Mrs Tink and all staff in Prep to year 2 for making Under 8s on the oval such fun and so successful. I would also like to thank the upper school students who helped in the set up, running of activities and putting away, another great opportunity for our students in upper and lower school to connect and support each other. Thank you to the amazing number of parents present who supported the activities too.

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

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.

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Maths Challenge last Friday

Well done to our 10 students who attended the Indooroopilly High School Maths Challenge last Friday. The students were certainly challenged and enjoyed the experience. The students mixed with other primary and secondary children. Thanks to Mrs Hutchinson for taking the children for me. Also thanks to Wayne Lee See for volunteering to attend as a supervisor for us.

2018 UNSW (University Of New South Wales) competitions:

• Spelling 13 June $12.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Writing 14 June $18.00 (Yr 3-6)
• English 31 July $9.00 (Yr 2-6)
• Mathematics 14 August $9.00 (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.

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.

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.

Visit:

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.

Visit:

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

This week the Senior Strings and Senior Concert Band performed at the Fanfare competition. I would like to thank our instrumental teachers and conductors, Mrs Ruth Prout and Mr Steve Stiller for their work preparing students for the performance and Ms Julie West for attending the excursion and assisting with the organisation of this event. We were very fortunate to have 4 parent helpers who attended to support our teachers and students and we thank them for their assistance and time on the day. Due to the student/supervisor ratio such events cannot happen without support and we greatly appreciate their assistance as well as offers from other parents to attend. At the time of writing this article we did not have results from the competition but are grateful of the opportunity provided for students to perform and listen to other ensembles play. Special thanks to the students for attending rehearsals regularly to prepare for the performance and families for supporting their involvement! Congratulations on your efforts!

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.

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 8th of June 2018

A BIG THANK YOU to all our volunteers! You are absolute stars and we couldn’t get the lunches made without you!

School24 behaved well this week and the gremlins didn’t cause any issues ordering. If you have one of those mornings with gremlins preventing you ordering in time, as we always say, you can send your child in with an order in the old fashioned brown paper bag with cash payment. Please try not to make it a regular thing and only do so in emergencies.

We cannot take telephone or email orders unless it is absolutely necessary as our resources are limited. Our best advice is to think of the lunches the night before and that way you will already be aware of your choices – to provide lunch from home or order tuckshop in good time without the stress of ordering in the morning before cut-off while checking if you have enough funds in your School24 account.

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.

Active School Travel

Our Active School Travel Day is Friday.

Parking

Schools are busy areas, where there are often lots of children—who do not always understand the danger of roads and vehicles. Make sure to take extra care when parking on school grounds and on the roads and streets around the school and follow the signed parking rules at all times.

A no stopping on school days sign

Parking signs and markings

You should always check parking signs carefully near schools as they are often stricter than normal parking rules. The type of parking restriction, and the times that it applies, will be on the sign.

Signs and markings that you are likely to find near schools are:

• parking signs (for example, some streets near schools have 15 minute parking limits during school zone hours)
• no stopping signs
• yellow edge lines (stopping and parking is prohibited)
• no parking signs
• loading zone signs (used in pick-up or drop-off areas).

Parking safety tips

Some schools offer the safety of parking on school grounds. However, these parks can fill up quickly. If you choose to park on the roads or streets around your children’s school:

• say goodbye to your children on the school side of the road—never get them to cross the road to their school’s entrance alone
• walk across the road and meet your children after school (never call out to them from the other side)
• try to leave home early to avoid arriving at the busiest times
• follow the directions of all signs
• park a safe distance from all crossings
• always single park (double parking causes accidents and traffic jams)
• try parking a few streets away from the school and walking with your children
• organise a car pool with other parents—to reduce the number of cars trying to park around your children’s school.

Source https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/schools viewed 28th May 2018

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

Going into Week 6 of the school term, the children began to work on a 500-piece space puzzle at Before School Care. It became so popular that different children worked as a team each day at both Before and After School Care to complete the puzzle. The children were filled with excitement as they completed more of the puzzle each time.

Some of our week arts and crafts highlights included Sand Pictures, Glitter Cards and Cotton Ball Rainbows. The children also enjoyed this week challenging sensory activity Finding Treasure, as they used chop sticks to pick out diamonds buried in rice.

Next week we will celebrate and incorporate National Reconciliation Week, with a number of daily activities that will educate and remind children of the significance of the special week. The children will be creating a large Indigenous dot art hand painting that will be displayed within the service, along with colour in sheets, dot face painting and cultural music.

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!!