19 September 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 hope you all have a great two week Spring break!

I had the pleasure of watching parts of the P-3 Athletics Carnival on Wednesday. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the children enjoying the activities. I was also very proud of the older students who were running the activities, explaining how to do the activities and encouraging the younger students to have a go. Many parents took the opportunity to chat with me about the lovely feeling of the day and especially the way in which the older students interacted with the younger students. Well done to Mr Daunt and all of our students and teachers for a great and enjoyable day!

As you may be aware, I will be travelling to the University of Pennsylvania, to learn from and with Emeritus Professor Dr Susan Lytle, in relation to leading with ‘Inquiry as Stance’. As our school continues to shift more towards teaching and learning to meet the growing needs of the 21st Century, our school leadership team has been taking seriously the need for leaders to shift and change their leadership practices also. Dr Lytle, is the leading educational expert in the world in this area and I am very grateful for the opportunity that has been provided to me by the Queensland Association of State School Principals, along with the support from the Department of Education, to approve this international learning experience. As a lover of learning, I am happy to use part of my holidays to take part in such an exciting opportunity. I will return to Graceville on Monday 14 October after an exciting two weeks of learning. Ms Hass will be the Officer in Charge of the school in my absence.

Term 4 is a big and busy term! I have included a few important dates you might like to be aware of in the first half of the Term:

• First day back is Tuesday 8 October
• Year 4 camp Monday and Tuesday 14/15 October
• Year 5 camp Wednesday to Friday 16 – 18 October
• P&C meeting Wednesday 16 October
• Pupil Free Day Monday 21 October
• Get Set for Prep sessions – Tuesday 22 and Monday 28 October, Tuesday 12 November – 9-10.30am
• School Review Thursday and Friday 24/25 October
• World Teachers Day, Day for Daniel and Active Travel Mass walk to school Friday 25 October
• Book Fair – from 31 October to 6 November
• Short listed School Captain Speeches Thursday 7 November

On the first day back, make sure you come and look at our new ‘Wonder Garden’! Over the holidays the area outside the office, between the office and Year 1 building, will be transformed into a place of curiosity and wonder where classes can come and think and learn in a natural setting. I can’t wait to see the final outcome. I hope it will spark some interest from the community to ‘make over’ other areas of the school grounds which have the potential to be transformed in beautiful spaces to learn, think and be! We are thankful to the P&C for their generous financial contribution to the project as well as Everscapes, the company who helped us to design and will create the garden. Everscapes has worked tirelessly to help find sponsors for the garden and are making a generous donation themselves to ensure the garden is affordable for the school.

Finally, we would appreciate your help in keeping our school safe over the holidays. If you see anything suspicious on the school grounds, please call School Watch on 131788.

I hope you have a safe and relaxing break!

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

We enjoyed great weather and activities at our P-3 Sports Day on Wednesday. We also had lots of parents and supporters along to watch the action. Thank you Mr Daunt for running the program.

Happy and safe holidays everyone! We have an excited group of students for the study tour and I will post some of our activities in the newsletter after the holidays.

Prep 2020

Term 4 will commence our Get Set for Prep series, so make sure you know the days and times of those three sessions. You are welcome to attend if you are on our waiting list for prep in 2020 also. Next term is when we will start to get an idea if we will have any prep spots for out-of-catchment places.

If you are a current school family or have an in catchment enrolment for prep next year please come into the office to collect enrolment forms and arrange for a meeting asap. This will enable us to get a good idea of numbers for classes and assist in our planning.

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 and Wednesday January 22nd 2020 3-6pm

Below is the calendar for Junior Assemblies in Term 4. Everyone welcome, we are on from 2.15pm on these Tuesdays in the hall.

Bronze Certificates have been handed out and students congratulated at Junior Assembly this week:

Prep: Dana A, Benjamin M, Lachlan C, Millie C, Estelle H, Mila K, Lewis L, Spencer P, Elliott A
Year 1: Mridaya K, Margot P, Adelaide W
Year 2: Emmy H, Yenuli S, Bianca R, Annabelle M, Euan S, Mannix P

Extra special congratulations to Silver Certificate recipients:

Prep: Aria M and Arie C
Year 1: Sophia G, Flynn Sm Anna L, Max M, Lara H, Zalia R, Harry H
Year 2: Alexi P, Toby R, Amber R, Chloe W, Isla M, Maegan S, Victoria C, Alexander W, Himeno C

GOLD CERTIFICATE to Erin D, Josh M, Fletcher S and George W – Congratulations!

Well done to these students for being consistently safe, respectful and responsible!

Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Naplan Online School Readiness Test

In Week 1 of next term (Wednesday 9th & Thursday 10th Sept) the Year 2,3 & 5 students will be participating in the Naplan School Readiness Test. This online test is for our school to ‘test the readiness’ of our school network capacity to sit the Naplan online test in the future. It is not a process to provide data about student performance. It will however, be a good way for teachers to see how their students go at the online process of Naplan testing. It is also a great way for us as a school to ‘practice’ the administration of an online test. We have recently participated in the University of New South Wales assessments (Science and Maths) and our student managed very well with the online process.

Class teachers will be ‘Test Administrators’ for their own classes with Miss Hass and myself as Co-ordinators.

Don’t miss out – international travel opportunity available

Applications for the 2020 Premier’s Anzac Prize close on 20 September 2019.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for secondary students to travel to significant sites overseas and learn more about our Anzac history. Destinations include London, Belgium and France, with most travel costs covered.

This program is proudly delivered by the Department of Education in partnership with RSL Queensland. Applications are open to Year 8–11 students, even if they are not studying History subjects.

For more information and to apply, visit the Education website.

FairPlay vouchers, empowering students to move

FairPlay vouchers assist eligible students with membership fees to join a sport or physical activity. Those eligible can apply for a voucher valued up to $150. Applications are now open.

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Students in the Junior and Senior Choir have recently been invited to sing at the Riverside Church Community Carols evening on Saturday 30 November at 5:30pm. All students in the choir are welcome to attend and sing in a combined Junior/Senior Choir. This is a voluntary performance opportunity for our students. The evening starts at 5pm, with singing beginning at 5:30pm. Further information will be given to students about the event next term but we are letting you know so you can schedule this in your calendars for families who would like to attend.

Thank you to all of our music students and families who have had a busy term with lessons and rehearsals and performances including the symposium, fete and IM workshop. We look forward to lessons and rehearsals resuming in week 1 next term as normal, from the first day back when Senior Choir rehearsals will start for term 4. Please note that next term Mrs Ruth Prout will be on leave as she is having surgery on her knee. We will thinking of her and wish her well for her recovery.

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...

30 November - 5:30 - Christian Riverside Church Community Carols - all students from the Junior and Senior Choir students are invited to sing (performance scheduled for 5:30pm)

13 November - Annual Music Concert at 6pm - all choral and instrumental music students will be performing at his concert

27 November - Grandparents' Concert at 10am - students in the Junior Choir, Senior Choir and Senior Strings will perform at this concert for their grandparents/special guests

Thank you for supporting our music program!

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

P&C Update

WANTED: TUCKSHOP (AND UNIFORM SHOP) CO-CONVENOR

Some hard working parents who have committed their time to running or working in the tuckshop/uniform shop over many years have indicated they will no longer be available to do so next year.

The P&C is now calling for applications for tuckshop (and uniform shop) co-convenor.

This is a paid, casual position which will work with the existing and incoming convenors, ideally in both services. The P&C is also interested in appointing an additional casual person to fill in at short notice in either the tuckshop or uniform shop, if someone is interested in such a role.

A position description for the co-convenor role is attached.

Ideally, co-convenor candidates will be available throughout Term 4 to participate in a handover process with existing and other incoming convenors.

If you would like more information or to express your interest, please contact the P&C at: pcgracevilless@gmail.com

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the P&C is in Week 2 of Term 4 on Wednesday 16 October at 7:30pm.

Tuckshop

Tuckshop Roster for week ending 11h of October 2019

Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers.

Below, are the order numbers from week 9. Still busy.

We are currently putting together our term 4 roster. There are many gaps and we are needing your help. We just can’t do this without you. We need more volunteers to share the load with our current volunteers. They are needing backup.

Could you help, even once per term? All training is provided. Please give it some thought and put your hand up to help in term 4.

We will advertise all the gaps we have yet to fill via School24 and the school newsletter after the school holidays. Keep an eye out for them.

Should you have any questions pertaining to anything Tuckshop related, please don’t hesitate to contact us at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

Have a great break. See you all in term 4.

Thanks.

Uniform Shop

Fiona Fryer

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

Uniform Roster

Term 4

Prep Selling Days

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

Stock Update

We have girls long pants in royal blue in stock for $30 and a lightweight microfibre jacket in royal blue and gold for $33. Size 6 microfibre jackets are now out of stock.

Size 8 Flinders shirts are out of stock until the beginning of term 4.
Size 8 dresses are out of stock until the end of the year.
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

September Holiday Swim Clinics

A great way to get your children ready for the 4th term swim program is to join the holiday swim clinics being held at the school pool. All ability levels are catered for with learn to swim, stroke correction and squad classes on offer. The first clinic will be held from Monday 23rd of September to Friday 27th and the second clinic from Monday 30th of September to Friday 4th of October. You do not need to attend everyday of the clinic as long as you mention your availability when enrolling. If you are joining for the first time please call Pete to discuss your child's ability and needs. Children in holiday school care may also join the program as staff are able to bring students to the pool and pick them up after their lesson. If you have inquired about the clinics already and have not received a confirmation email from Pete Geraghty please send another email to make sure you are included in the schedule. My swim school is always looking for good teachers so if you know anyone interested in working at Graceville pool who is qualified or interested in becoming a certified swim teacher please put them in touch with me. Please direct all inquiries to Pete Geraghty via email [petegeraghty@hotmail.com] or phone 0432407442.

Term 4 Swim Program

Bookings are now being taken for the 4th term swim program. This will begin the first week after the holidays from Friday October 11th. All students will begin the term in the SAME ABILITY LEVEL as term 1 as a starting point. During the course of the term the coach may move students to different levels where appropriate.

To join the entry group class of Beginner Stroke Development (BSD), children must be in Year 1 or older and be able to swim 25m freestyle non stop. Any children not of this age or ability may enrol in private lessons on offer Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.

Spaces are limited, so to avoid disappointment, respond to this email asap with your preferred days and available times. Feel free to contact me via return email or phone if you have any questions (ph: 0432407442).

Beginner Stroke development will run Mon to Thurs from 3 pm until 3:30 pm. Advanced stroke development will run from 3:30 pm until 4 pm on the same days and this will be followed by Junior squad and squad from 4 pm. If you are new to my swim school YOU WILL NEED to call me directly to discuss your child's ability and needs.

A terms and conditions agreement will be given to all the new students at their first lesson. This needs to be signed and returned no later than the 2nd lesson. Those who have enrolled previously do not need to complete a new agreement as the terms and conditions are unchanged and it is an ongoing agreement whilst participating in my Graceville swim school. Please advise if you would like another copy of the T's and C'c. Parents will be invoiced for the term once the program is settled.

Please send me ALL YOUR AVAILABLE DAYS and times and also days and times you are DEFINITELY NOT AVAILABLE. You will receive an email regarding your booking which will need to be confirmed by you before the commencement of the program.

See you at the pool.

Pete Geraghty

School Plus

Can you believe it? We have finished week 9 and term 3 has nearly come to an end! We have loved watching the children continue to grow and excel during their time at School Plus. The week was filled with many exciting activities. A group of children and staff member Jaimee commenced a native bee project from the bees on the oval! With some research and many fun facts, the children were on the oval observing and taking photos for the poster. The weeks most popular activities were definitely the game of Boules outside and the Marble Game inside, which kept the children engaged for the whole session!

The children also enjoyed berry smoothies at BSC as well as Make your own Nachos, Banana Bread and Sushi at ASC, just to name a few!

We do also have another exciting announcement! We have reached over 500 lids for our Lids4Kids charity! The children were over the moon when they took on the big count! We are still collecting lids and would love families to pop in to our OSHC room with plastic lids.

With one more week of school and Vacation Care right around the corner, don’t forgot to book in for our Vacation Care program! We have planned many exciting days, mainly suggested by the children including a Jurassic Park Day, Lone Pine excursion, Build Your Own Rocket Incursion and the Giant Nuclear Obstacle Course on the oval! It is going to be a jam-packed fun 2 weeks!