26 November 2015

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Two weeks to go!

As the end of the year closes in, the school becomes a very busy place. Most classes are now finished assessment and the final touches are being applied to Report Cards. Ms Hass, Mrs McKeaten and I will now start the process of reading and signing report cards to ensure they are ready to be sent home in the last week of the school term.

It was only this week we were made aware of our final teaching staff for 2016. With this knowledge, the teachers and school leadership can now start to finalise class placements for 2016. This is a very complex process with many needs being taken into consideration. Thank you to the parents who returned a class placement form for their children. It is important to note this information is taken into consideration in the process however specific teacher requests were not invited or part of the process. The children also have a say in the process by submitting 5 friends. It is important to note we aim for children to be placed with at least one friend from their list. Classes will be released on Wednesday 9 December.

Our Year 6 students now turn their attention to their final weeks of primary school. Planning is in full swing for the Graduation evening and final assembly. All families are welcome to attend this assembly on Thursday 10 December from 9am. This is a special assembly where our Year 6 students hand over the student leadership of the school to the new school leaders for 2016. The assembly ends with an officially farewell to our current Year 6 students. This is a great chance to say Goodbye and Good luck!

The Sports House Captains were officially announced at assembly on Thursday. I would like to congratulate our new house Captains:

Cook	Abianne W and Alexander L
Kennedy	Sarah O and Sam S
Flinders	Chloe L and Jack A.

Finally a few quick notes:

• All teachers will be off class with their teaching teams for one full day next week to start the curriculum planning for the 2016 school year
• The final P&C meeting for the year is being held next Wednesday night from 7.30pm. All parents are welcome to attend

Have a great week.

Newsletter Articles

From the Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

2016 Prep Orientation visits

We had an enjoyable morning on Tuesday with new families having a taste of prep and meeting new teachers and students who will be in their classes next year.

We do have a few spots in our prep classes for next year and invite any families who would be interested in a prep place for 2016 to contact the school office.

Term 4 Junior Assembly Calendar

Below is the calendar for the remainder of term 4 assemblies. All parents are welcome to attend. These assemblies begin at 2.15pm

Week	Date	Class Item
9	December 1	Prep S
10	December 8	Prep T

2016 BOOK LISTS

Orders need to be placed no later than Wednesday 9th of December 2015.

Some important information for parents re. Booklists:

• Every year level and classroom operates a bit differently so from year to year there may be some changes when it comes to resource use
• All items purchased by parents ie. Booklist items, should be labelled prior to the start of the school year
• It is up to you, as a parent, whether you wish to cover your child’s books or not
• Items that are not used during the year are returned to students at the end of the year, however most items are used throughout the year.
• Certain brands of items listed in the Booklists are requested due to their effectiveness. It is better to have high quality consumables eg. gluesticks, pens, which last longer and work better, than having cheaper inferior products.
• Certain items from year to year are required the following year: eg. USBs, atlases, headphones, recorder
• All items on the booklist are required to start Day 1 of the new school year. The gradual bringing-in of items creates confusion in classrooms.
• When students don’t have all of their items on the first day it creates a high level of anxiety for some children.

From the Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Updating Medical and other student details

As it is nearing the end of the school year it is a good time to update any personal details at the office, if anything has changed. It is also very important to update medications and Action Plans (if relevant) for any students. If your child has a medical condition which requires an Action Plan or specific medication, we will be contacting you shortly to update.

Sun Safety & Staying well hydrated

Just a reminder about Sun safety & keeping well hydrated. Please ensure that your children have sunscreen on before they leave home in the morning and are wearing their hats if they are in the sun coming to school e.g. walking. Try to encourage your children to take a water bottle with them and have it at school. We are expecting a hot summer and these good habits are important for long term wellbeing.

Money Matters

Roberta Haryicki

Thank you to the families who have settled their accounts from the reminder statements sent home. To follow-up, staff will be calling families in regards to accounts not yet finalised. Please treat these overdue account with your immediate attention.

2016 Student Resource Schemes (SRS) for:

• Prep Requirements ($60)
• Instrumental Music Programs (Various)
• Mathletics On-Line Registrations ($10)
• Religious Education Resources ($10)

will be issued this term in readiness for 2016.

The completion and return of these forms this year, will allow office staff to invoice at the commencement of 2016.

Credit in Account: These will 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 ticketing excursions are non-refundable.

Payment of account days:

8am-3.15pm - 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.

Library News

Melanie Hutchinson

The end of the year has come around fast, please be aware that ALL STUDENT LIBRARY BORROWING BOOKS NEED TO BE RETURNED so our annual stocktake can begin. This includes any class readers and/or textbooks students may have brought home to complete homework and/or reading groups.

Even though borrowing has finished, the library will continue to be open for students before and after school and during lunch time, so please feel free to visit.

Please note also our last book covering session for the year will take place on Wednesday 2nd December. If you are interested in volunteering some of your time, the Contact Club is meeting between 8.30 am until 12 noon and they welcome any new members who wish to help out. Morning tea will be provided, as will any guidance or lessons on how to professionally cover library books/class readers.

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

It appears we can expect more sweltering days as the school year draws to a close. In this hot weather headaches are common and often it’s because students don’t drink enough water. They get caught up having fun running around and only re-hydrate when the bell goes. Encouraging students to drink plenty of water on hot days and especially before undertaking physical activity may help lessen ailments such as headaches. ‘If you wait until you feel thirsty to have a drink, you are already dehydrated’ was advice given to me long ago. While many things have changed regarding what’s healthy and what isn’t, I think this saying remains true. Hopefully, we can all find ways to beat the heat over the next few months and still keep ourselves hydrated and well.

The Clowning for Chaplaincy event is well underway and I have already witnessed some classes celebrating their rewards in fun ways. The swimming pool has been quite popular at second break on these warm days for the year levels on their respective days. For safety reasons, only years 3 – 6 are able to use the pool at second break during the Clowning for Chaplaincy. I would like to thank Mr Daunt, our PE teacher, for suggesting this option and making himself available to supervise the pool at these times.

The senior choir and some select strings students performed last week at the Oxley Senior Citizen’s. It was well received and greatly appreciated by the group from Oxley. Our music teachers do a marvellous job and it’s a pleasure to attend performances like this and support staff and students. As always, our students were fantastic ambassadors for our school. Well done everyone!

Last week our year four and five students heard speeches from their respective house captain candidates. I am sure it would have been a difficult decision who to vote for given the high quality of candidates. Next year these students will have many important duties to perform, as well as being positive role models for their peers and other students. All students who put their hat in the ring should feel very proud of themselves and I congratulate all candidates on their participation in the student leadership process.

Have an awesome week!

Music Notes

Naomi LINDH

This week we have had our last formal concert for the year, the Grandparents' Concert. Thank you to the students who performed on Wednesday, Mrs Prout and Ms West, as well as our fabulous accompanist, Ms Jo Schravemade. Ms Schravemade has given a significant amount of time accompanying our Senior Choir over the last two years, attending rehearsals and concerts and we have really appreciated her assistance with the choir. I would also like to thank the parent volunteers who assisted with the morning tea for the Grandparents' Concert for setting up our platters and serving morning tea. It was a lovely concert, with performances and Christmas carols, followed by morning tea which was enjoyed by all our performers and guests.

If you have received an offer for the instrumental music program, please return it this week so students on the waiting list can be considered for any available positions. Please note that current students will remain in the instrumental program until the end of primary school.

Students in the choirs should have received a note about possible involvement in the Community Carols evening via a letter with a return slip, as this year the event is scheduled for 13 December which is at the beginning of the school holidays. Please return the slip this week or send me an email if you have not received the note. Once we know the number students who are able to commit to attend, we will meet with the Principal and make a decision about whether we can perform.

It has been a very busy term for our music teachers, students and families. We would like to thank all of our musicians for their efforts this year and families for supporting your child's involvement in the music program.

Active School Travel

TACO TUESDAY!

(Travel Actively Coming-to-school On)

Can you help???

We are looking for parents / caregivers to join our committee next year. If you can spare a few hours a month to help with event organisation, fundraising, newsletter writing, or research this would be fantastic! We are also looking for people with bike knowledge or with a fitness interest to help us keep the students engaged in the program, and help the school community to keep up its fantastic level of activity. If you would like further information please contact Jo Richards at sajrichards@iinet.net.au. Our next meeting will be Thurs 4th Feb 2016.

Keep reading the newsletters for more information on the program and for special stamping days.

P & C NEWS

Upcoming Events

• Final meeting for 2015 - Wednesday 2nd of December 7.30pm;

If you’re able to attend can you please register your interest by emailing the P&C email pandc@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

As with previous years light snacks and refreshments will be served at the end of the meeting for those able to attend.

Another Year Nearly Over

It’s hard to believe we’re almost finished another school year already. I know from the P&C perspective it always speeds up immediately after Fete and before you know it, we’re counting down the weeks until Xmas Holidays.

As with previous years we’ve been able to achieve quite a bit throughout the year. Some of the notable achievements have been the provision of new literacy and numeracy reading materials ($40k) to support our new improved reading programs and new play equipment in the adventure playground ($120k) to reduce the risk of old equipment failure and debris impacting on our play space.

As with all of these programs it takes time, money and volunteers to raise these funds. On behalf of the P&C I’d like to thank all those parents and supporters who have helped contribute towards these projects. Whether it be helping out on Tuckshop, the Uniform store, Fete, Spellathon, it all goes a long way towards improving the learning environment our kids are exposed to.

TUCKSHOP

• Register your interest in becoming a volunteer for 2016 now! We have spaces left just for you. Pal up with a friend and do a shift together. Remember it is only one shift per month. You can have a cuppa and chat while you do great work helping to prepare first break lunches. Roster times are 8.40am-11.30am; just three hours. Your children will love to see you in the tuckshop and you will feel good having done something so important and rewarding. We need your help to keep our five day a week tuckshop open. Please email us on tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

• Chocolate cake is out of stock from our supplier and will be unavailable until the end of this year. Why not order banana cake, lamingtons, mini chic-chip cookies or chocolate cookies instead! As we are in the last two weeks of tuckshop for the year, we may run out of certain stock. We will try to substitute with a similar product.

• Tuckshop will not be open in the last week of school. The last day we are open for 2015 is Friday the 4th of December.

Volunteers for Week Commencing Monday, 30th November 2015

Monday, 30/11 Volunteers welcome
Tuesday 1/12 Trish Hind
Wednesday, 2/12 Elise Allison and Sasha Griggs
Thursday, 3/12 Karin Verae and Leanne Gordon
Friday, 4/12 Andi Wensley and Gehann Molachino and Terriann MacDonnell and Alison Hibbert

• Please note that the School24 Online Tuckshop ordering deadline is 8 am Monday to Friday. If you have missed this deadline and are in need of an emergency lunch, please order over the counter by 8.45am or call the school and ask to be forwarded to the Tuckshop.
• If you need to cancel an order, please ring the school as soon as possible and ask to be put through to Tuckshop or come and see us. We may be able to cancel your order if you call early enough.
• In 2016 the Tuckshop will streamline to online ordering only for first break lunches. Students will still be able to cash purchase ice blocks and packaged foods over the counter at 11am. Why not be prepared and get yourself registered and online now! If you need help transitioning to online ordering, click the following link to learn how to register for School24.

We will always help students who have forgotten lunches or missed the deadline for ordering, so please work with us while we try to get your orders out on time. Graceville Tuckshop is one of the few five day a week tuckshops open in primary schools and online ordering is the only way we can keep this commitment.

As always, if you need any help or have any queries, please come and see us, or email at the address below. If you should need to ring the Tuckshop, please ring via the school phone number and they will put you through to the Tuckshop. See you in the Tuckshop,

Amanda and Anne
tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

To start using School24 to order your children's tuckshop go to https://www.school24.com.au/ps_parent.asp to create an account.

Graceville's school ID is 25314963. Then follow the instructions. If you have any problems, please check out the school website for more information or email us at the tuckshop on the above email address.

UNIFORM AND STATIONERY STORE

Sue-Ellen Lockwood

The uniform store will be closed the last Friday of the year.

Back to school 2016 selling will be:

• Monday 25th January 3pm to 6pm
• Tuesday 26th January 9am to 11am

Families already at Graceville School are encouraged to come during normal uniform store hours for their prep needs due to these selling days usually being busy days.

Booklists are up on the Brodie’s Bookstore website now and also attached to this newsletter.

The uniform shop will be open Wednesday to Friday of the 1st week of school 2016 from 8.15am to 9.00am.

The 2nd hand sale continues, with all 2nd hand gold shirts $5 each and all 2nd hand jumpers, culottes and long pants $8 each.

Tis the season to buy cookbooks. Cookbooks are in stock $10 each, once they are gone they will not be reprinted. A free packet of Christmas cards with each cookbook sold.

Christmas cards with students' adorable artwork also for sale $2 for 10 cards and $3 for 20 cards.

We sell swimming caps, goggles, towels, swim bags and limited rashies and boy briefs.

House shirts for years 3 to 6 are available for the swimming carnival in early December.

Order forms are available on the School website. New prices started from 1 November so download the new form. If you have trouble making it in to school, complete the order form and email it. The completed order will go to your child's classroom.

Email address for school uniform store is: uniformstore@gracevilss.eq.edu.au

School Banking – Wednesday

Calling for School Banking Co-ordinator and volunteers

I will not be available to do the School banking next year and the program requires a volunteer School Banking Co-ordinator to facilitate the banking and distribution of School Banking rewards. This only takes a small amount of your time one day a week and the Commonwealth Bank will provide support in how to run the program. Your help with the program will greatly benefit students as they develop vital saving skills and also helps our school with fundraising.

There will be no School Banking in the last week of School.

Next week volunteers are:

Monika
Linda
Sonia
Anita
An
Rachel

8am onwards in the Hall Canteen.

Sam Kennedy
Graceville School Banking Co-ordinator
Parent/Volunteer
gracevillessbanking@gmail.com
0431 447 372

SchoolPlus

My Family Lounge

Click the image for an easy lesson on using the My Family Lounge App.

My Family Lounge is a system which makes booking changes easy.

You will receive:

• Instant confirmation for casual bookings including Vacation Care and Student Free Days;
• Request permanent booking changes
• Advise of absences and cancellations
• Update your contact details at any time.

The My Family Lounge is available as an App (Click here iTunes and Google Play Store) and as a Website page.

Community Notices

GUITAR FOR SALE

"Well cared for 3/4 size Suzuki acoustic guitar with case. $50
Contact: Ricky c/o Susan Graham
Tel: 0408 466 125
Email: susan_k_graham@hotmail.com "

AUSSIE OPEN - TENNIS COACHING CLINIC

DATE – MON 18TH – WED 20TH JANUARY 2016

8:30AM – 12:00PM EACH DAY

COST $135.00

BEGINNERS TO ADVANCED (AGES 6 & UP)

THESE CLINICS ARE OFTEN BOOKED OUT, SO PLEASE BOOK EARLY TO ENSURE A PLACE

CLINIC IS HELD AT WEST BRIS TENNIS CENTRE

227 Archerfield Rd, Richlands

COACHING AND COMPETITIONS

TOURNAMENTS AND TROPHIES

ENQUIRIES CONTACT
SARAH - 0412 725 994

To enter clinic please phone the above number or email jim@westbrisbanetennis.com.au

School Tennis Coaching

I'd personally like to thank all the children and their parents for their support during the year. It's been another great year of tennis coaching with record numbers of kids playing in a couple of terms this year. It was especially satisfying to see so many Grade 1 & 2's starting for the first time in the very successful lunchtime lessons. Also, I'd like to thank the staff in the office & the other coaches this year Lauren, Max, Ash & Raine.

1ST TERM School Tennis Coaching 2016

Due to the short first week back after the holidays & first term only being a 9 week term, in order to fit our 8 lessons into Term 1, we may have to overlap into Term 2 which is an 11 week term.

Enrolment forms will go out during the first week of Term 1, they will also be available for downloading from the School Newsletter.

Holiday Tennis Clinic

We will be running a Tennis clinic at West Brisbane Tennis Centre from Monday 18th January to Wednesday 20th January 2016.

Time: 8.30am -12 noon each day
Cost: $135

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

Wishing everyone a very merry festive season & a great new year.

Thanks Jim