30 January 2020

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season! It has been lovely to hear children sharing the stories of their summer break! It sounds like some interesting trips both near and far. I enjoyed some quite time at home with family and friends.

We start this year with 785 children, the largest enrolment of the school since Year 7 went to high school. Once again we sit on the border of gaining another class and need to wait until Day 8 for confirmation. I will keep you informed as the weeks progress.

I hope you can make it to the Brisbane City Council movie night being hosted on our oval Saturday night 8 February. It should be a great community night and a fantastic way to catch up with friends at the start of the school year.

As you may have noticed, the P&C have been very busy over the holiday period. We now have air – conditioning and ventilation in the hall! The inside of the hall looks fresh with a new coat of paint, new carpet and a solid back wall rather than the old curtain. The children love the look of the hall, enjoying the space on Tuesday at our first assembly for the year. The P&C have also installed more solar panels in the school on the roof of Q Block. All of these projects have been in the pipeline for a while and finally with the help of volunteers, have come to fruition. I would especially like to thank two of our dads, Mr Chris Hansen and Mr Tim Symonds who have been working tirelessly, as volunteers, to take this plan into a reality for the school. The P&C have more plans in 2020 to upgrade and improve facilities, so we hope you can show your continued support where you can.

On Tuesday you would have received an email with details about how we can best protect the school from the spread of the Novel Coronavirus. We sent the message through Infoways, the company we use for our bulk messaging and absence notification. Please take the time to read the information and let us know if you have any concerns.

This year the school is trialling an extracurricular school trip to Sydney and Canberra. The trip is open to Year 5 and 6 students and is capped at 85 students. All interested students and families were provided with a letter including invoice details to pay the deposit as soon as possible. It is important to get in quick if you are interested in your child attending.

Don’t forget you are welcome to attend assemblies this year. In odd weeks each term (1,3,5,7,9) the school hosts Whole School Assemblies from 2.10pm on Thursday afternoon. In even weeks each term (2,4,6,8,10) the school hosts P-2 Assemblies on a Tuesday afternoon and 3-6 Assemblies on a Thursday afternoon.

Over the next few weeks, your teacher (Year 1—6) will invite you to attend a Parent Information Session as a way to introduce themselves and how they will run their class in 2020. I encourage you to attend the sessions if you can.

The teachers and I greatly appreciate how prepared the children were to start the school year. We are off to a smooth start and looking forward to a good year!

Have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Welcome everyone to another school year. There are many excited young faces in the playground and classrooms eager for all the new experiences they are engaging in. Some children’s energy is waning come afternoon, so early nights and good nutrition is required, especially at this time of the year.

Our new Prep students have met their buddies and the buddies have been an invaluable help in orientating our new students to where everything is and feeling safe and confident in this new environment. Thank you and well done buddies.

Parents and care givers are all invited to join us for Junior Assemblies which will be held every second Tuesday afternoon from 2.15 in the hall. These assemblies will be for all Prep to Year 2 classes. Year 2 students have the opportunity to develop their skills of public speaking by taking turns in leading these assemblies and classes also take part presenting items for us all. We also like to recognise Birthdays and present awards to students from across all classes.

Below is the calendar for term 1 assemblies.

Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Swimming Term 1

Our Year 3-6 students will be commencing swimming next week with Mr Daunt. Please ensure that your child has sunscreen, a rashi shirt, goggles, swimming cap & togs and towel.

Our Year 1-3 students will be participating in an intensive swimming program with Peter Geraghty, who does the outside school hours swimming lessons. Parents are required to hand in the permission slip to class teachers. Payments will need to be made by next Friday 7th February. Notes will be handed to students today and invoices will be emailed today for payment. All class teachers also attend the swimming lessons to supervise the students.

Religious Instruction for 2020

Religion lessons will commence on Friday 14th February. This will involve Years 1, 2 & 6 in Semester 1. Semester 2 will be for Years 3, 4 & 5. The multi-age classes will have lessons in Semester 2 as well.

An information letter has been emailed to all parents in Years 1-6. Once classes are finalised next week all families whose student is participating in RI will be emailed an invoice to cover the resources required for this program. Students can attend the Co-operative program which is a Christian based program. We should be going ahead with Bahai as well, but this is yet to be confirmed. Any students who are not attending Religion Instruction will be receiving instruction by some of our class teachers.

The Easter Service will be on Friday 27th March for all Year 1-6 students who attend RI. RI classes will still go ahead on Friday 3rd March for Years 1 & 2. Year 6 students will be involved in the Reader’s Cup day, which is the last day of the term.

SMS Messaging Service – Absences

Our school uses an SMS messaging service to communicate to parents when children are not in attendance at school and no explanation has been provided by parents. We do use this service for important SMS messages as well, from time to time. It is an excellent way to get a message to the whole school or year levels etc quickly.

Process to follow:

• If your child is absent on any particular day, please call the absences line (3716 2760) early (night before or prior to 8am if possible)
• Absences line will be monitored up until 9.00am
• If you know in advance that your child will be away please let the office know (3716 2777) so we can “Explain the future absence”. Out of courtesy also let the class teacher.
• Teachers will mark rolls by 9.00am
• Late students after 8.45am parents to escort student to the office for a late slip
• After 9.00am we will send out the messages to parents who have a child absent (Unexplained)

Message will be from Graceville State School, “(Student’s Name) is absent from school today. Please contact the school on 3716 2777 or email sms@gracevilss@eq.edu.au".

Obviously there are sometimes technical issues which affect this process.

Absences line

Just a reminder that we have an absences line for your convenience if your child is away from school due to illness or any other reason (3716 2760). Please ensure that if your child is sick or absent for any other reason you must inform the school and/or class teacher as soon as possible. If absences are not explained by parents then it will appear on your child’s report card as “Unexplained”.

If your family are planning an extended period away from school (more than 2 weeks) you must complete an application for “Exemption from schooling” which entitles you to return to school after the absent period. This application must be approved by the Principal in writing.

Urgent Medical information – Needs to be updated!

If your child has a Medical condition, which requires an Action Plan ie. Anaphylaxis, Allergy or Asthma, you are required to update this annually with your child’s doctor. Any students who have Anaphylaxis or another Allergic condition must have their details reviewed annually. Epipens must be up-to-date and cannot be administered if out of date.

If your child has any newly diagnosed medical condition please see the Admin staff in the office to update your child’s details. Please discuss any medical conditions with your child’s teacher as well so that they are well informed.

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Welcome to the new school year! This year Mrs Ruth Prout will be teaching strings on Wednesdays and Thursdays and Mr James Kukulies will be teaching band students on Thursdays and Fridays. They will be finalising timetables this week and will either email them or hand them out to students ASAP. If you would like to check lesson times or contact one of the IM teachers their email details are below. Rehearsals for Senior Strings and Senior Band will begin in week 3. The Senior Strings will rehearse on Thursdays before school at 7:45am and the Senior Band rehearsals will be held on Thursday afternoons until 4pm.

I am returning to the position of classroom music teacher and choir conductor full time this year. I am very pleased to let you know that Ms Julie West has been appointed to Middle Park SS as a music teacher 4 days a week and is continuing at Eatons Hill SS for one day a week in a permanent capacity.

This year Senior Choir rehearsals will be held on Tuesday mornings at 7:45am in the music room and Junior Choir rehearsals will be held on Wednesday mornings at 7:45am in the music room. These rehearsals will start in week 3 and all students interested in joining the choir are welcome to attend. The Junior Choir is open to students in years 2 and 3 and the Senior Choir is open to students in years 4 - 6. The letter attached has further information and a return slip for students to hand in or bring to their first rehearsal.

Music Teacher Contact Details...

Mrs Ruth Prout - string teacher and conductor - Wednesdays and Thursdays - rprou5@eq.edu.au
Mr James Kukulies - band teacher and conductor - Thursdays and Fridays - jkuku2@eq.edu.au
Mrs Naomi Lindh - classroom music teacher and choir conductor - Mon - Fri - nclos1@eq.edu.au

Naomi Lindh

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

Welcome to 2020 at Graceville State School. The journey that awaits us this year will be filled with incredible opportunities to learn and grow. In partnership with parents, school staff embrace this journey, supporting and encouraging students to integrate our learning assets into their daily world. I look forward to being a part of this exciting time in our students' school experience. For new families, I am on site Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. My role is one of pastoral care and support of students, staff and families. There is information about the Chaplaincy Service on the school website and I am happy to provide more information to anyone curious about chaplaincy at Graceville. There is a Local Chaplaincy Committee at Graceville State School, consisting of the Principal, teaching staff, parents and myself. This committee meets monthly, under the guidance of the Principal, directing and supporting the work of the chaplain. Any interested parents are welcome to attend these meetings or contact me via the school office. Chaplaincy at Graceville State School is here to serve the school community, working with our professional school staff to provide a safe, supportive, inclusive learning environment.

Have a wonderful start to the year!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Uniform Shop

Michelle Fanning

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

Happy New Year and welcome back to a new school year!!

As the new Uniform Shop Convenor, I want to give a massive THANK YOU to all the volunteers who helped with the Prep selling day last week and for back to school this week. It has been extremely busy in the store so their help is much appreciated and needed!!

Without volunteers, the uniform shop is not able to be open 3 mornings a week, so if you think you can spare 45 minutes one morning a week PLEASE come and see me for a chat, or feel free to email uniformstore@gracevilss.eq.edq.au

I also would like to thank and congratulate Fiona Fryer for being an amazing Convenor for the last 3 years. With her children are now both at high school so it was time to move on. We will miss her dedication to the school and most of all, always making work fun! We wish you all the very best Fiona, you will be missed.

Year 6 Commemorative Shirts

All year 6 students are being given the opportunity to have a commemorative shirt. Gold polo shirts are screen printed with class lists on the back and house shirts can be printed for the house captains. You can purchase new gold shirts for $30 and house shirts for $35 from the uniform store or you can use your existing shirts but they have to be in good condition, no holes or pulls.

Printing costs are: $10 per gold polo and $15 per house captain shirt.

Special order forms and information sheets will be sent home this week. If you don’t receive one, the order form and information sheet are attached below. The shirts will be ready by the end of March and will be handed out in the classroom, I will confirm the exact date later.

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 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.

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

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Michelle

New volunteers would be greatly appreciated, it only requires you to be there from 8.15-9.00am on Mondays, Tuesdays or Fridays, if you think you could help out please send an email to the above address or just come to the store and have a chat.

Tuckshop News

*****NEWSFLASH*****

• Tuckshop is open from this Friday 31st, get your orders in ASAP!

Welcome Back!! Its 2020 and we are ready to serve up all the favourites at Tuckshop. We thought it might be a good reminder for everyone about a few tuckshop basics.

Graceville State School P&C provides a 5 day a week Tuckshop service open Monday to Friday at first break providing kids and staff with various healthy choices for lunch.

To place an order with Tuckshop you need to create an account on School24 the online ordering system we use. Simply head over to the link below and create/ update your account. Creating an account is super easy but please come see us if you have any problems – we’re more than happy to help!

Children in Grades 1 to 6 are also able to purchase ice blocks, drinks and snacks over the counter from 11am using cash (Prep orders for ice blocks, drinks etc need to be placed through the School24 system as preps are not able to pop up to the tuckshop at break).

We can’t run without volunteers and rely on parent or carer volunteers to help provide this service and keep it running as smoothly and inexpensively as we can. To do this WE NEED YOU!!!

• No experience required
• Just one shift a month or appx 2 per 10-week term
• Only 3 hours out of your day from 8:30-11:30. Please note that we are still happy to have your help even if you might be late from reading groups, kindy drop off etc OR if you need to leave a bit early.

So please don't be shy, it's a great way to meet other parents at the school and get to see your children while you do. Grab a friend if you would like to do a shift together, your children will absolutely love seeing you in the tuckshop and you get to help the school and P&C.

If you think you can manage even one shift a term please log in to your school24 account and just head to the volunteer roster section, here you can easily sign up for the exact days/dates that you would like to do. It’s that easy!!

Finally, just a heads up that Watermelon Ice Monys are no longer in production and no longer stocked at Tuckshop sorry for any issues this may cause!

Looking forward to catching up with all our regular volunteers and meeting some new ones over the coming weeks!

Alex and Emma
Tuckshop Convenors 2020
E: tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

Term 1 Swim Program

Swim lessons will start at Graceville State School first week of Term 1 from Friday January 31st. Group lessons will begin the 2nd week of term from Monday February 3rd. All students who have participated in the swim program will begin the term in the SAME ABILITY LEVEL as term 4 unless told otherwise when re-joining the program this term. 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 bi-lateral breathing [Breathing both sides]. Any children not of this age or ability may enrol in private lessons on offer Friday and Monday afternoons. If I have teachers and space in the pool available there is a chance you may be able to book a private lesson on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after school as well. To help me make this schedule I need an hour’s time frame to work with. This program is from 3 until 5:20 pm on Fridays and 3 until 5 pm on the other week days , so if you want a private 20 minute time slot you would let me know day/s you are available and a 1 hour time frame of availability ...[for example between 3 pm and 4 pm on Tuesday and Friday]. It is impossible for me to give everyone a lesson straight after school so if you live nearby , maybe it is best to go home after school and return for the 4 pm until 5:20 pm timeframe. The best response I can receive is that you are available ANYTIME.

Spaces are limited, so to avoid disappointment, respond to this message asap with your preferred days and available times. I am unable to respond to email queries over the next week but am able to answer any question by phone (ph: 0432407442). Talk to me...DO NOT TEXT ME. Call me to discuss all if you have any questions.

An attachment with the first draft of the schedule has been included in this message (you may need to scroll to the bottom). Information regarding the 3 levels of group/squad classes is contained in the attachment. The three group levels are Beginner Stroke development [BSD], followed by Advanced Stroke Development [ASD] and then Squad.

The scheduled program may change due to over demand or lack of demand for any particular class.

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 you join the program. Please forward this email to any friends or family who would be interested in joining the program. High school students and adults may join the program. You do not have to attend Graceville State School to participate. Everyone is welcome.

I am always looking for swim teachers. If you know any qualified teachers or know anyone who would be interested in becoming a swim teacher, please put them in touch with me.

See you at the pool.

Pete Geraghty
0432407442

Tennis

TENNIS HOT SHOTS – PLACES STILL AVAILABLE FOR TERM 1 2020!

Positions are still available for term 1 2020 tennis coaching. PREP’s INCLUDED!!!

New lessons have been added to the timetable for 2020 including Saturday mornings.

ENROL ONLINE via the link below.

PRIVATE AND SEMI-PRIVATE LESSONS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

Should you have any questions please contact Tennis for Kids on info@tennisforkids.com.au or 0408 187 741.

ALL NEW CHILDREN ENROLLING IN TERM 1 WILL RECEIVE A FREE JUNIOR TENNIS RACQUET!

Community Notices

GO SPORTS Coaching Term 1 :

FUN!FUN!FUN! Learn a new game or improve skills.

CRICKET : Grades 1-3 commencing Wednesday 12th February 7.45-8.30am
NETBALL : Grades 1-4 commencing Wednesday 12th February 7.45-8.30am
SOCCER : Grades 1-3 commencing Thursday 13th February 7.45-8.30am

To Register go to the link below and click on Register Now.