26 July 2019

Domain and email change

Please be aware that due to the upcoming domain name change our school website address is now:

This domain name will also affect email addresses so please ensure that the following email addresses are updated in your contact lists:

principal@gracevilless.eq.edu.au
admin@gracevilless.eq.edu.au
newsletter@gracevilless.eq.edu.au
pandc@gracevilless.eq.edu.au
bsm@gracevilless.eq.edu.au
prepyear@gracevilless.eq.edu.au

Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

I am back from my long service leave and ready and raring to go for this action packed term! I had a wonderful time visiting family and friends in Denmark and England.

On Friday we welcome twelve Taiwanese students and a teacher who will take part in a Study Tour to Australia. I would like to thank the host families and classes for offering to look after our guests while they are in Brisbane. The Study Tour finishes on Saturday 10 August.

I would like to thank Ms Hass and the Prep teachers for hosting the Prep Information night on Wednesday. All in catchment families are invited to enrol their children as soon as possible. Ms Hass is organising an enrolment interview timetable and you will be able to sign up for the Get Set for Prep sessions very soon.

As you are aware this term is our Fete! The Fete team will be communicating as much as possible in the lead up to the Fete. As usual, there will be a number of Free Dress days this term. The first Free Dress day is this Friday. You should have received a number of SMS messages to inform you about the day.

Over the next few weeks our school will be hosting a number of professional learning events for educators. The first event is next Monday – Wednesday. Graceville will be the host venue for an intensive writing workshop presented by Gail Loane, a New Zealand literacy expert, on Monday and Tuesday. Parking around the school may be impacted upon as 30 teachers from other schools attend a professional learning experience along with many of our own teachers. We have encouraged our guests to carpool to limit the number of cars parked around the school.

On Friday 9 and Saturday 10 August (end of week 4), the school will be hosting a major event called the Networks of Inquiry, Innovation and Indigenous Education Symposium. We will have two international key speakers, Dr Linda Kaser and Dr Judy Halbert from the University of British Columbia, interstate presenters sharing stories of success, as well as our own teachers and students opening their classrooms and/or running workshops to help participants learn more about inquiry. Our choir will open the day by singing two songs in Yuggera language, followed by a presentation from the group of students who took part in a voluntary inquiry into Acknowledgment of Country. Registrations for the Symposium were limited to 100 educators and all spaces have been taken so once again Friday 9 August may see limited parking around the school. The Symposium officially starts at 8am and finishes at 5pm to limit the movement of traffic around the school at peak times.

Don’t forget to keep me informed of any exciting events your children are part of, even if outside of school. It was lovely this week to hear about and see some photos from Sebastian and Elisa C’s amazing experience in Spain as they took part in an international soccer event through the Barcelona Academy. The boys not only got to play against children from other countries but also were able to watch a match between Barcelona and Manchester United. What a fantastic experience!

Have a great week,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Inbound Study Tour 2019 – Wenhua School

We definitely are on count down to arrival, which is Friday afternoon! Again thank you to our homestay families in providing a place for a Taiwanese student for 2 weeks. I’m sure we will learn so much from each other.

Our outbound Study Tour is creeping closer as well as we will head out on Wednesday September 18 to Taiwan and see our friends at Wenhua School again.

Cybersafety

Our Year 4 – 6 students participated in sessions on Thursday about Cyber-safety, an EQ representative presented these sessions.

The internet is having an increasing influence on the social development of children and how they interact with each other. Social media, smart phones and other technologies provide children with wonderful opportunities to learn, be creative and socialise. However, just as with face-to-face interactions, sometimes bullying and harassment can occur online. Being online is more often than not a positive and fulfilling experience for children. Content can be posted instantaneously, but the downfall is that children can potentially post messages without thinking about future ramifications. Once it’s online, it is there forever!

Importantly, just like in the real world, not everyone is a friend. While people can use apps, websites, chat rooms and other online tools to send positive messages and compliments, others can use the technology to send nasty and inappropriate messages to each other.

For further information please go to the following websites:

Cybersafety website:

Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner:

Cybersafety Help Button:

Prep 2010

Last night we welcomed many new families to the Graceville community at our prep information session. Exciting times ahead, please see important dates below about upcoming events to help provide a smooth transition to school for our future young students. If you haven’t done so, now is the time to book a meeting with me to discuss your child and complete the enrolment part of the process. The office staff have available times to choose from, please get in touch with them.

Date Claimers:

Get Set for Prep session 1: Tuesday October 22, 9 – 10:30am. Focus on Fine Motor Skills
Get Set for Prep session 2: Monday October 28, 9 – 10:30am. Introduction to Speech and Language Development by School Speech Language Pathologist
Get Set for Prep session 3: Tuesday November 12, 9 - 10:30am, Focus on Reading
Prep Orientation meetings: Thursday November 28
Prep uniform selling morning: Thursday November 28, 8:15 – 12:00

The waiting list for 2020 for out of catchment enrolments 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. In catchment families you may now contact the office to arrange an interview time for this term.

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 Junior Assemblies in Term 3. Everyone welcome, we are on from 2.15pm on these Tuesdays in the hall.

Remember we are now on Instagram, please join us at graceville_state_school to keep informed on what are the latest happenings in and around the school.

Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

University of New South Wales ICAS assessments for Maths and Science

Students whose parents have entered them in the Maths and Science assessments last term will be involved – Thursday 5th September (Science) & Tuesday 17th September (Maths). There will be no more applications taken as we have already enrolled for the assessments for a specific number and we will not be putting in any late entries.

This year the testing is online so they will only be given one opportunity on those days to complete the assessments. In the coming weeks I will develop a planning schedule for the groups involved. Some year levels may need to be before school as there is a limit to the number of devices we have to use for these assessments.

Life Education – this term

This term all classes will participate in Life Education sessions. These sessions are different for each year level and they cover certain aspects of the Australian Curriculum, specifically Health. The Life Education Van will arrive later in the term and classes will be scheduled to attend lessons during the last couple of weeks of this term (3/9/19-20/9/19). A permission slip and invoice will be sent home in the coming weeks.

Business Manager

Anne Nixon

Student Resource Schemes (SRS) for 2019 are:

• Prep Requirements ($70)
• Reading Eggs for Prep ($25)
• 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 2, 3 and 4) ($6)
• Year 4/5 maths levy ($17.50)
• ESmart Digital Licence Yr 5 ($10)

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. Please note that there are a few Term 3 excursions that need to be paid before the end of Term 2.

We will be sending statements home next week. If you have a credit on your account and would like to apply it to any outstanding invoices please contact the office. We cannot automatically apply any credits to invoices without parent authorisation.

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

Naomi Lindh

The Senior Choir will be singing at the welcome assembly for our visiting students on Monday 29 July at 2:15pm. Families of Senior Choir students are invite to attend this performance.

The West Cent IM music camps are being held 29 July - 2 August. Please note that during this week there will be no instrumental music lessons or rehearsals. Choir rehearsals will still be on during this week as normal. Thank you for your understanding with this change.

As advertised last term, on 9 August our school is hosting a symposium which includes a focus on Indigenous Education which up to 100 educators will be attending. I am organising a performance of two songs at the symposium, after the Welcome to Country and the sharing of the Inquiry to develop a school acknowledgement. This performance will take place before school on Friday 9 August and students will be requested to meet me at 7:45am on that day (in the Student Services room near the hall). Students in the Junior Choir, Senior Choir and the students who have been involved in the Inquiry are invited to sing at this event. Please note that due to numbers these are the only students this performance opportunity will be open to. Interested students were requested to join our Junior Choir rehearsals on Wednesday mornings at 8:00am, starting on the first Wednesday of this term and continuing until the week of the performance, which will give us 4 rehearsals in total. The songs we are planning to perform are the Ngaree-ba Kaba Lullaby which the Junior Choir sang at the NAIDOC assembly and the song created last year, Yuggera Djarra-na. Both of these songs include Yuggera language. I am encouraging Junior Choir students to attend the performance on 9 August as they will be at our practices for this performance.

The fete performances are currently being organised. At this stage for this year we have the Senior Band, Junior Choir and Senior Choir scheduled to perform. All of our instrumental ensembles will be performing at the workshop concert, at 2pm on 29 July. This is an instrumental performance only (there will be no choirs singing at this concert).

Please contact your child's instrumental or choral conductor if they are not able to attend a rehearsal (email contacts are listed below) or if they are experiencing any issues with their lessons.

2019 Rehearsals

Venue - Music Room

Monday 7:45am - 8:30am Senior Choir (year 4,5 and 6 students) Ms West
Tuesday 7:30 - 8:30am - Junior Band - Mr Kukulies
Wednesday 7:45am - 8:30am - Junior Choir (year 2 and 3 students) Mrs Lindh
Wednesday 10:45am - 11:25am - Beginner/Junior Strings (starting in term 2 with junior string students only on 1 May, then beginner strings will join these rehearsals later in the term) - Mrs Prout
Wednesday 2:50pm - 4:00pm - Senior Band - Mr Stiller
Thursday 7:45am - 8:30am Senior Strings - Mrs Prout

Music teacher contact details...

Alex Grodecki - agrod3@eq.edu.au (at Graceville Thursdays)
Ruth Prout - rprou5@eq.edu.au (at Graceville Wednesdays and Thursdays)
James Kukulies - jkuku2@eq.edu.au (at Graceville Tuesdays)
Steve Stiller - sstil2@eq.edu.au (at Graceville Wednesdays)
Julie West - jwest269@eq.edu.au (at Graceville Monday/Tuesday)
Naomi Lindh - nclos1@eq.edu.au (at Graceville Wednesday/Thursday/Friday)

Important dates to note...

29 July - Senior Choir performance at welcome assembly - 2:15pm
29 July - 2 August - West Cent IM Camps - there will be no IM lessons or rehearsals this week
9 August - Symposium performance for students in the Junior Choir, Senior Choir or Inquiry to create a school Acknowledgement who have been attending choir rehearsals on Wednesday mornings this term (students to meet in the student services room at 7:45am - performance at 8:15am in the hall)
24 August - Fete performances - Senior Band, Junior Choir and Senior Choir
28/29 August - Instrumental Music Workshop
29 August - Instrumental music concert at 2pm involving all IM students (no choir performances at this concert but all students who learn an instrument at school will perform at this concert with their ensemble)
13 November - Annual Music Concert 6pm - all choral and instrumental music students will be performing at his concert
27 November - Grandparents' Concert - students in the Junior Choir, Senior Choir and Senior Strings will perform at this concert for their grandparents'/special guests

We look forward to performing for you at our upcoming music events!

Naomi Lindh
Music Teacher and IM Coordinator (Wednesday - Friday)

Chappy’s Chat

It is great to be back after an extra week off. While the time off was most enjoyable, it’s always good to return and get back into school life. I trust your holidays were filled with positive experiences and wonderful memories.

The annual SU QLD Chaplaincy Conference took place in the 2nd week of the holidays and was very beneficial, with lots of networking opportunities and over 30 training electives to choose from. This was my 13th conference and certainly one of the stand outs. It is also fantastic that this conference no longer requires me to be away from school for 4 days as it has in previous years.

The final tally of last term’s Lapathon fundraiser isn’t far away and will be announced in the next week or so. It has been another successful event and I would like to thank the school community for the incredible support the chaplaincy service receives, not just at this event but all throughout the year. I would also like to thank the teaching staff for their assistance on the day and also for the reminders they pass on to students during this process. A special thanks to Mr Daunt for his help in making the day run smoothly and Mr Dowling for assisting with the setup and pulldown aspects of the day. A huge thank you to the chaplaincy committee for their planning, preparation and popcorn and finally, a special thanks to Mrs Beruldsen for her willingness to collect and bank the donations.

There is already a buzz around the school as excitement builds for this term’s school fete. This can be a tremendous time for making strong and lasting connections with others in the school community and I would encourage any parents wanting to strengthen ties with others in the school community to grasp this opportunity. It is an awesome day but even better, it can be an amazing experience leading up to fete day and beyond, if you let it be.

Have a fabulous week!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Lap-a-thon

Thank you for your wonderful support of the Lap-a-thon just before the holidays. A big thank you to all sponsors and families who have made donations. Although all monies were due last Friday, donations for Chaplaincy are welcome anytime. All donations are tax deductible.

Evonne Beruldsen on behalf of the Chaplaincy Committee

Tuckshop News

Tuckshop Roster for week ending 2nd of August 2019

Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers.

We are still looking for a few more volunteers. Can you help? Dates still needing help are as follows:

Monday, 5/8
Thursday, 22/8 (Fete Week)
Thursday, 29/8
Monday, 2/9
Thursday, 5/9
Monday, 9/9,and
Thursday, 19/9

Please email us at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com if you could spare 3 hours of your morning to come in and help.

Thanks.

Uniform Shop

Fiona Fryer

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

Uniform Store Roster

Prep Selling Days

Thursday November 28th 2019 8.15-11.30am
Wednesday January 22nd 2020 3-6pm

Stock Update

We have new girls long pants in royal blue in stock for $30 and a new lightweight microfibre jacket in royal blue and gold for $33.

Size 8 dresses are out of stock until the end of the year.
Size 8 Kennedy house shirts are back in stock.
All sizes of the polar fleece jackets are back in stock.

School colour hair accessories are available, there are headbands, hair ties, bows and clips.

As of 1st July 2018, stores stopped providing free single use bags therefore the uniform store will no longer provide plastic bags so please make sure you bring your own if required.

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

School Plus

Welcome to Term 3 our wonderful families and friends! We hope that everyone enjoyed their break from school and we’re sure that everyone had a fabulous time at vacation care. On the first day back to school, the children were very excited to share their holiday stories.

We thought that we would welcome Term 3 with some creative and sensory based activities such as a slime called Oobleck (a recipe from our Slime Day over Vacation Care), homemade playdough, making our own kinetic sand and super cool Lego creations!

The children have also enjoyed some fantastic outside fun such as the Rainbow Parachute, French Cricket, Hula Hooping and relaxing outside with a good book of their choosing. And of course, feeding our awesome worm farm! We’re looking forward to all the fun that Term 3 will bring in the coming weeks.

Community Notices

Brigidine College August Welcome Tours