14 June 2018

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

It is a long term but we now only have two weeks until the holidays. The last day of term is Friday 29 June.

I was grateful to Ms Hass for taking on the Acting Principal role while I was on leave. I thoroughly enjoyed my time off. It was lovely to spend time with family. It was quite a lot of fun being tourists in our own city!

Next Wednesday, 20 June, is the LAPATHON. It is the only fundraiser we have to support Chaplaincy in the school year. All children can participate in the LAPATHON regardless of whether they have sponsors or not. Chappy has organised a coffee van to be available for adults until first break so please feel free to come along, have a cuppa and enjoy the day. As a special treat, children can also purchase warm popcorn at first break, for $2.

Next Thursday, you are welcome to join us for a special NAIDOC assembly at 9am in the hall. I always learn something new and enjoy being part of NAIDOC assemblies each year.

The next P&C meeting is next Wednesday, 7.30pm in the Oxley room. We have been getting a group of around 10-15 parents at night meetings this year. The school will be sharing a proposal for a parent evening hosted by Kath Murdoch and providing an update on the upcoming study tour from Taiwan (we still need families for homestay if you can help out) you are very welcome to join us.

As you know the Fete is in Term 3. The Fete committee are well underway with their planning. I would like to thank the Fete committee and the class parents who are organising the class stalls, for the generosity of spirit they have in volunteering their time. As the saying goes, many hands make light work, if you can help in anyway in the lead up to the Fete or on the day, we would be very grateful.

Finally reports go home in week 11. Reports will be emailed home so please make sure your details are up to date with the office.

Have a great week,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Study Tour 2018 – Minzu and Wenhua Schools are coming July 27 – August 11

Our numbers of homestay families is slowly building, we have 8 families so that leaves 10 more girls to place with Graceville families – can you help!!? If you have any questions please contact me to ask for further information. mhass10@eq.edu.au

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.

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 forms.

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.

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:

• 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.

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.

Is your school ready for the plastic bag ban?

To protect the environment and wildlife, the Queensland Government is introducing a ban on the supply of single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags from 1 July.

School operations such as uniform shops, tuckshops and fetes are included. For information and resources for your school visit the Queensland Government website.

Time Out – protect students from spreading infectious diseases

When your child is ill, look after them at home to help reduce the spread of germs and prevent other children becoming ill. Keep surfaces, toys and equipment clean and encourage your child to wash their hands often, even when they feel well. If your child is suffering from a virus, gastroenteritis or another illness, there are rules about when they can return to school. Learn more about symptoms and exclusion rules in Queensland and take your child to the doctor if you are concerned.

Help reduce the spread of infection by keeping your child at home when they are ill. Keep surfaces clean and encourage children to wash their hands often, even when they feel well. Learn more below

Help reduce the spread of infection, keep your child at home when they are ill and get them to wash their hands often. Learn more

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

On Monday 4th June, we received a Bpoint payment using voice recognition. If you have made this payment, can you please contact the office, so we can allocate your payment.

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.

Library News

Melanie Hutchinson

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE 2018

Literacy is at the heart of a student’s ability to learn and succeed – at school and for life. An enjoyment of books not only encourages an active imagination but allows the reader to learn about their world and develop literacy skills.

The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) aims to improve children's literacy, cultivate a passion for literature and encourage children to read widely for pleasure and learning.

That is why every student is encouraged to participate in this year’s 2018 Premier’s Reading Challenge. The Challenge is open to students in Prep to Year 6 and is running from 14 May until 24 August.

The Premier is challenging every child from Prep to Year 2 to read or experience 20 books, Years 3 and 4 to read 20 books and Years 5 and 6 to read 15 books.

Student Reading Record Sheets are being handed out during library time to all students. Children who take up the challenge and read the required number of books will receive a signed participation certificate from the Premier herself. Schools with 100 per cent participation will be in the running for numerous lucky draw prizes.

Please ensure your child keeps a record of every book they read or experience. Books may selected from the school library, the local library, home or reading resources at school.

I hope many students will join in on this wonderful journey of reading and learning!

UPCOMING READERS CUP COMPETITIONS

Next week two separate teams of Year Five and Six students will represent Graceville State School in two different Readers Cup Competitions.

On Tuesday 19th June, Tom, Indigo, Maria, Jasper and Giles will compete in the Regional Readers’ Cup organised by the Children’s Book Council of Australia to be held at St Augustine’s College, Augustine Heights.

Then on Thursday 21st June, Tessa, Stephanie, Josie, Sean and Sam will compete in the annual Readers Cup Competition organised by the Corinda Teacher Librarian Network. It will be held at Brookfield State School.

Students in both teams have read (and re-read!) the allocated five books in preparation for the competition and will be required to answer a number of challenging questions about each book. They have all studied very hard and we wish them all the very best! Good luck to each and every one of these students!

Melanie Hutchinson
Premier’s Reading Challenge Coordinator
Teacher Librarian

Music News

Naomi Lindh

We have now been advised that the Senior Band was awarded a Silver for their performance at the Fanfare competition. Congratulations to the Senior Band and Mr Stiller for your efforts!

I would like to schedule a quick Junior Choir rehearsal for those who are able to come early on Thursday 21 June at 8:15am in the hall prior to the NAIDOC assembly. 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

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

Chappy’s Chat

This Saturday evening the hall will come alive with colour and costumes for the Trivia Night’s 50’s and 60’s theme. It promises to be a very entertaining evening regardless of how the trivia component of the night goes. Always tons of fun, this P&C event is a fantastic social outing and a great place to connect with other members of the school community. I hope to see you there!

Over the weekend, on the clay of Roland Garros, a couple of outstanding achievements were written into the tennis history books. Firstly, World number 1, Simona Halep was successful in clinching her first major championship. Having reached three finals previously without lifting the championship trophy, this result appeared to be a weight lifted from her shoulders. I hope those watching her victory appreciated the self-belief and never-give-up attitude she displayed, especially after losing the first set. I imagine, despite being the world number one, Simona had to overcome her own doubts to lift her game when she needed to most. Sometimes our past experiences can make us question our present and our future. Hopefully, we and our children, like the current French Open Champion, can learn lessons from the past but continue to dream big and believe in ourselves to pursue those dreams. Secondly, Rafael Nadal continued to add to his record-breaking success on the French clay courts by winning his 11th French Open crown. Nadal’s domination on the red clay courts will be a record that will take some beating. Coming back to the top of men’s tennis after a lengthy injury lay-off, reveals the mental toughness of Nadal. It must be easy, after so much success, to lose the hunger needed to be the very best. Rafael Nadal’s drive and passion perhaps can inspire us to push ourselves harder when it would be easier not to.

Don’t forget the Active School Travel’s Footloose Fridays and their message to actively travel to school. Keeping fit and making the streets around our school safer is the goal. It is encouraging to see so many class targets displayed on classroom doors. Good luck to all classes in reaching your target!

Next Wednesday, our school oval transforms into the Lapathon circuit, where students can run or walk around as many laps as they can in the 20 minute time period. Letters and envelopes have gone home and posters are appearing around the school. This activity is to raise valuable funds for the chaplaincy service and provide students with a fun and healthy activity. Supporting the chaplaincy fundraiser is purely voluntary but all students will participate in the fun on the day. The Chaplaincy Committee and I personally, greatly appreciate the incredible support of the Graceville State School community and the privilege it is to partner with families through the primary school years. Parents and care-givers are welcome to attend to join in the fun on the day. A coffee van will be on-site for the morning session for those looking for a warm beverage or a coffee fix.

Have a brilliant week!
John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Lap-a-thon

LAP-A-THONon

6 more sleeps to go!!

It’s LAP-A-THON time on Wednesday 20th June! Lap-a-thon is the main fundraising event for Chaplaincy and designed to be a fun activity for our children. Last week the LAP-A-THON 2018 sponsorship forms and information note were sent home. If your family has not received a Lap-a-thon envelope or information notes, please see attached or ask at the office for spares. Students are encouraged to embrace this fun activity. Parents are welcome to come along on the day and watch the students run, jog, skip and walk their way around the course. Music will be playing to create a fun atmosphere with the focus being on students enjoying participating in the activity with their class. Popcorn will be sold for $2 on the oval at first break. A coffee van will be on site for the morning. Don’t forget to send in your child’s envelope on Wednesday so that your child’s class teacher can write down the number of laps your child has run.

Lap-a-thon schedule for Wednesday June 20

Morning Session
9:00-Year 2; 9:30-Year 5; 10:00-Year 4;

Middle Session
11:30-Year 6; 12:00-Year 1; 12:30-Prep;

Last session
2:20-Year 3

Thank you for your support of Chaplaincy.

Evonne Beruldsen on behalf of the Chaplaincy
Committee.

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.

As of July 1st, we will no longer be providing plastic bags when purchases are made.

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 15th of June 2018

A BIG THANK YOU to all our volunteers!

Order volumes have increased in this cooler weather, we were incredibly busy on Friday. Our beautiful fresh food takes time to prepare. Thank you to all our volunteers and particularly to Sasha on Friday for saving the day, coming at late notice when we were a volunteer down. Your goodwill and willingness to help meant we were able to get the lunches out.

Some people had difficultly ordering tuckshop late Friday morning before the cut-off using the pay with credit card facility on School24. Fridays are extremely busy and as we always say it is advisable to order the night before. We cannot guarantee ordering this late, 10 minutes before cut-off, will work.

Our best advice is to order the night before. We cannot take your orders by phone. Remember if you experience problems, send your child in with a paper bag and your order with cash payment. Check your cupboards/fridge for lunch the night before and know if you need to order tuckshop, do not leave it until the last minute on Friday. We are already experiencing volunteer shortages and cannot stop to take orders by phone.

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.

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). Without their support this program would not be the success that it is.

The Active School Travel committee is very “Active’ in our community. We have great support from Councillor Nicole Johnston and Leesa Munro, who is the Project Manager for AST in the BCC. Mrs Hornstra and Mrs McKeaten from the school and Paul Rueberry (Prep parent who has come on board this year) as well as myself. We would like to adopt the P&C model of having someone “Learning the role” from me this year. This person would attend our once or twice a term meetings and do the newsletter article each week as well as attend any school events, if possible. You would be very well supported in the committee if you were interested. We are always after fresh ideas. If you are interested in talking to me about this please email Jo at sajrichards@iinet.net.au

State Origin Walk

Stay tuned for our next exciting completion! You will not want to miss this one!

A big thank you to Ali Brigginshaw from the Jillaroos for joining us on our State of Origin Walk. There was a sea of maroon as the students, parents and teachers strolled to school while carrying the maroons flag. Ali even took the opportunity to get her AST passport stamped by the dedicated year 5’s who each week set up and run the stamping stations on Footloose Fridays.

Remember that each week you can get a stamp in your passport – stamping stations can be found at the following locations:

• Main entrance on Acacia Avenue
• Back gate on Park Road
• Tennis court gate on Oxley Road

Winner, winner !

Congratulations to Prep K for having 100% of the students actively travelling to school last week!! Awesome effort! 2C were close behind with 74% and in the upper school 5O with 73% of the class actively travelling. 5G came a close second last week with 72%.

Thank you to the teachers for having their data ready for collection by the year 5’s each Friday!

School Plus

The weeks have been flying by, with only a few more until the end of term two and Vacation Care! Our weekly program included World Environmental Day and World Oceans Day, where the children enjoyed before and after school care activities based around the two themes. Some of our craft highlights included, Paddle Pop Minions, Recycled Creations and Marble Paintings. The children enjoyed the Nature Scavenger Hunt on the oval where they were sent on a mission to find various items within our environment. Our two weekly sensory activities were Spaghetti Worms, where the children dug for worms in dirt and Sea Foam, which was soft and fluffy! Along with all these fun

jam-packed activities, the children also enjoyed our morning and afternoon snacks including, poached eggs and sausages, cinnamon cake, corn on the cob and many more! A sneak peek into next week’s program includes Global Wind Day, where the children will be making Pinwheels!

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!!

Graceville State School Tennis Coaching – Term 3

Before School, Lunch Time and After School Coaching will commence from Tuesday 24th July 2018.

Enrolments close by Thursday 19 July 2018. Spare enrolment forms are available from the School Office; they can also be downloaded from the School Newsletter. To ensure a place in class, forms must be returned by this date to the School Office. Do not return forms to the School Office after this date contact Jim Joyce directly on 0417 771022.

A tennis meeting will be held at lunchtime (1st Break) on Monday 23 July on the School Tennis Court to advise of your lesson time – Please ensure your child attends.

Special Offer – All new students in Grade 1, 2 and 3 will receive a free tennis racquet when joining for the first time.

For further enquiries please contact Jim Joyce on 0417 771022

Holiday Tennis Clinic

We will be running a Tennis clinic at West Brisbane Tennis Centre from Monday 2nd to Wednesday 4th July 2018. Time: 8.30am -12 noon each day Cost: $135

Enquiries & Bookings jim@westbrisbanetennis.com.au Phone 0417 771022

Thanks Jim

Community Notices

Thank you

Thank you for all the wonderful donations for the Ipswich Women’s Shelter. They were most appreciative of your goodwill and generosity. Thank you very much.

Kind Regards,
Lee Mackenzie
GSS Office