5 November 2020

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

Four and a half weeks to go!

Oh what a night! – Thank you to all of those families who took the time on the night or afterwards to provide such wonderful feedback on the arts night. It sounds like the night exceeded the expectations of most who attended. I would like to thank the parents who volunteered as part of our creative organising committee Kitty, Bethany and Riley and our staff members, Georgina and Belinda. We were very lucky to also have a number of parents who helped us set up the auction, raffle and manage the budget for the event so many thanks to Paul, Karen, Anne and Nicola. Many hands make light work as they say and it was fantastic to have so many parents help as part of the set up across the course of last week. Thank you to all those parents who helped out. I need to put a big shout out to my own mum and dad who gave up their own time to help set up the school so we could make our inaugural arts night a success. This was not meant to be a major fundraiser but we did raise funds from the night. We will share the exact amount once the raffle, auction and art sales close this week. Your child would love you to buy their art work and there is still time to do so! All art, including links to the Year 5 dance are for sale. Any art not sold will remain at school.

The teachers have asked me to say a HUGE thank you to all parents who contributed to the World Teachers’ Day gift. The staff love the coffee machine and loved the nice touch of a personal gift of goodies to go with the coffee machine. The teachers feel very valued and appreciated! Thank you!

Remembrance Day is next Wednesday. As a school we will gather via zoom for a special assembly and ensure we observe one minute’s silence to show our respect for our fallen service people and animals.

As a school we have decided to maintain all of our COVID safe practices until the end of the year. We will keep manning the stop, drop and go zones and ask parents to only enter the school grounds for a specific purpose. We are very grateful to all our families for respecting the school and staff this year as we have managed the ever changing situation.

Don’t forget, as the next three Wednesdays are State of Origin, students can wear the colours of their team to school on Wednesdays. This is just for a bit of fun and not a fundraiser.

Have a great week,
Zoe

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Preparing for Prep 2021

Due to COVID restrictions we have had to modify the times for our Get Set for Prep sessions, they will run from 9:00 – 10:00 meeting in our school hall and not finish at 10:30am.

Term 4

Get Set for Prep Session 3: Tuesday Nov 10 OR Friday Nov 13, 9 – 10:00am Focus on Reading

Prep Orientation meetings: Thursday November 26

Please watch out for mail in the coming couple of weeks around times for orientation and class placements.

Meet the class session: Thursday December 3, 9 – 10am

Uniforms for Preps

The uniform shop will only be open by appointment until the end of the year so please use the link below to book a time. There is also a display of uniforms at our Get Set for Prep sessions to check our sizing and options.

To book an appointment click on the following link below:-

Money Matters

Anne Nixon

The office will not be accepting any payments for excursions or fees after 27th November 2020.

If your child currently has a credit on their account, please do not pay. Contact the office either via email to admin@gracevilless.eq.edu.au or phone 3716 2777 to allocate the credit to future invoices. You will need to do this when you receive the next invoice.

If you are a year 6 parent or a parent of a student leaving, please contact the office in regards to filling in paperwork to receive a refund, if you are still yet to send it in. All refund paperwork must be received at the office by Friday 27th November 2020.

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.

Credit in Account: Credits from 2020 will be rolled over to next year and can be applied to future 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

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Thank you to all the students, parents and staff who attended or contributed to such an amazing evening at the Arts Illuminated event last week. It was so fabulous to see many of our students as well as some parents performing in small ensembles or individually. They performed a number of times during their allocated time (of approximately an hour), giving many students the opportunity to refine their performance skills and play for different people and audience sizes. Thank you for having the courage to share your music! Our instrumental and choral ensemble recordings were also playing in the hall, which was the first time we have been able to share our music with the school community this year. It was such a special occasion, to have a complete focus on the arts, with every student in the school able to share their artistic creativity in so many different ways. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the students, parents and staff who worked hard to make the evening such a success. It felt like an absolutely magical night!

Next week we will be making our last choir recordings for the year during the normal rehearsal times, before school with Senior Choir on Tuesday morning and Junior Choir on Wednesday morning. Please ensure that your child arrives at the hall promptly and ready to start at 7:45am. Students are invited to bring something to wear with a Christmas theme, such as a Christmas hat/headband for the recording. Choir rehearsals will continue until and including week 7 for both choirs, with our last rehearsals on 17/18 November.

Instrumental Music Recruitment for 2021

IM teachers have now had the opportunity to meet with the students who submitted an expression of interest for a place in the program in 2021. Once we have received our IM teaching allocation for next year, we will send out notes to families regarding IM offers.

If you have any questions for teachers/conductors, please note their email details below. If your child is sick and unable to attend a rehearsal, please send an email to their conductor.

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

Music rehearsals

Tuesday 7:45am - Senior Choir (Year 4 - 6 students)
Wednesday 7:45am - Junior Choir (Year 2 - 3 students)
Wednesday second break - Junior/Beg Strings
Thursday 7:45am - Senior Strings
Thursday 2:50 - 4pm - Senior Band
Friday 7:45am - Junior Band

Naomi Lindh
Music Teacher and Choral Conductor

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

Our end of year Graduation plans are taking place with a visit this week to the venue to discuss plans for the evening. The Riverlife Auditorium is a most impressive complex and the Riverlife Events team will provide a wonderful evening to remember for our Year 6 Community. It will be a little different to the normal Graduation evening, ticking all the Covid-safe boxes, while still celebrating the achievements of our amazing Year 6 cohort. More information will go home soon regarding this event and the booking process so keep an eye out for that.

Years 5 and 6 are underway in their Inter House Sports competition with teams competing in Water Polo, Cricket, Touch Football, Dodgeball and Trio over several weeks. It will be a fiercely fun competition and I am sure a close contest will result. Thank you to our student House Captains for their efforts in setting up fields and organising their teams.

I have heard so many positive comments about last Thursday evening’s Art Show and the many dedicated volunteers will feel their efforts were all worthwhile, in providing an incredible showcase for our students’ artistic creativity. Well done to everyone involved.

Have a tremendous week!

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

P&C News

Tuckshop Online ordering – Change from week 3

A reminder that tuckshop ordering has moved over to Qkr. Please do not try and order through School24 as it won’t work. You will need to either get online or download the app ( Apple or Android ) and do a little bit of set up. Once you are all set up we think you’ll find it a lot easier to use than the previous system.

The tuckshop is also in great need of help. If you are able to volunteer a couple of hours of your time, please sign up here.

Thank you to all the families who donated their left over School24 balance to the P&C. This money will be put to good use to purchase more resources for the school.

Voluntary Contribution

Thank you to those families who have made a Voluntary Contribution this year. A further $2,500 has recently been transferred to the school to support the purchase and maintenance of computers. Every donation is appreciated and while we are asking for $100 per student, we encourage families to make whatever contribution they are comfortable with if this is too much.

Payments can be made by electronic transfer to the P&C (see below for details) or via the Online Uniform Shop or through Qkr.

Account name: Graceville State School P&C Association
BSB: 064-111
Account number: 00900130
Ref: VC “Child’s name”

Containers for change

Did you know that the Graceville State School P&C are registered with Containers for Change? You can drop off your bottles at any Containers for Change depot and quote our ID, and your funds will automatically be credited to the P&C. The closest Containers for Change depot is located at 78 Andrew Street, Rocklea and our ID is C10055214.

P&C Meeting

Join us for the last P&C meeting for the year on Wednesday 25 November at 7:30pm in the Waratah Room. Please note the change of date from Wednesday 2 December.

If you would like to join the meeting via Zoom, please email secretary@gracevillepandc.org.au for the link.

The Arts Illuminated

We hope everyone enjoyed the inaugural arts night, The Arts Illuminated: Our 2020 Creative Journey last week.

Congratulations to the leadership team, teachers, parents and students who all put so much effort into making this happen. It was obvious that everyone who attended was truly impressed with the result.

The night would also not have been possible without the generous support from our sponsors. We’ll report on the donations we received in the next newsletter as part of a financial report.

Remember you can still bid on the online auction, purchase raffle tickets online and purchase your child’s artwork via Qkr until 8 November.

Online auction:

Raffle tickets:

See instructions on the school website Tuckshop tab to access Qkr if you don’t have it already to purchase your child’s artwork.

Uniform Shop

Michelle Fanning

Hi all, welcome to week 5...and half way through the term! Yippee!

OPENING DAYS AND TIMES FOR TERM 4

We will remain appointment only as well as having the online store for easy ordering. The appointment days this term are Tuesday and Thursday each week from 8:15am – 9:45am.

There is now an option when booking online for 2021 Prep parents or new families joining us to make a 20 minute appointment to allow time for trying on uniforms etc. The usual 10 minute appointments will apply for current families.

For any reason you cannot make your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible via the uniform store email or call the school office to leave a message.

When visiting the store, enter and exit the school grounds through the Oxley Road gate near the tennis courts. The uniform store is located just to the left of the courts.

To book an appointment click on the following link below:

ONLINE STORE

The uniform shop has an online store, so if you already know the sizes you're after you can order and pay online with ease. The order will be delivered to your child’s classroom via their teacher.

2021 Prep orders will be sent to the school office and customers will be emailed once their order is ready to be collected.

The online store can be found on the link below -

POLO SHIRTS

Apologies to all that are waiting on the Gold polo shirts and the House polos and Long Sleeved polos. I promise they are on their way! As for many things this year, Covid has held them up but they will be in soon and I will of course keep you updated and get in touch with all that have pre ordered.

BACKPACKS and SWIMMING BAGS

Backpacks are fully stocked again for those needing them. They are excellent quality and will last the entire 7 years of primary school.

Remember we also sell swimming bags. You can find them in the online store or pop in to see the range on Tuesday or Thursday mornings.

NEW ITEM

If you missed the announcement last fortnight, a long sleeve gold polo shirt will soon be available. It will look exactly like the usual short sleeve gold polo s...GSS printed on the collar, buttons at the neck, school emblem on the chest and will have a cuff at the bottom of the long sleeve. They will be an excellent addition to the current uniform as they can be worn all year round...sun smart in summer and extra warmth in the cooler months. The long sleeve polo will retail for $35. If you would like to pre order, please send me an email as I know they will be very popular!

DONATIONS

We are always grateful for donations of 2nd hand uniforms that are in clean freshly washed, saleable condition. We also ask that any donations are SCHOOL BRANDED ITEMS ONLY, so no items from any outside stores.

We are getting low on 2nd hand items so if you were thinking of going through the wardrobes, please do! When donating, please either drop them in on a Tuesday or Thursday morning. Any other day they can be handed in to the ladies in the office. Please DO NOT leave bags at the uniform store if it is closed.

Thank you for your generosity and understanding.

• Please be advised that refunds will only be given if you have the original receipt. Items should not have been washed, worn and any tags must still be attached.
• We encourage customers to use their EFTPOS or credit cards when purchasing.

The email address for school uniform store is:

gracevillessuniform@gmail.com

Thank you all for your ongoing support.
Michelle

Tuckshop News

How is everyone going with Qkr!? If you haven’t already downloaded the app to your phone then do it asap! We find it a very easy system to navigate and hopefully you do too! We are still trying to work out a few bugs and issues with the system so your continued patience with us is greatly appreciated.

As you can see from the table above we are desperate for volunteers! We are getting busier each week and every day gets busier as the weeks progress– with Wednesdays and Fridays our busiest days to prepare orders. We are making up to 180 orders just on Friday alone!! It really is not possible to do those numbers without help or without raising the costs to cover the extra wages.

Please sign up if you can spare an hour or two. We only need you from 8.30-11.30 but anytime you can spare would be fantastic. Signing up is easy. Use this link to sign up now!

A few reminders:

Cut off for orders is 8am. If you know your child is not going to be at school on a day you have ordered tuckshop YOU need to do the following…

Unfortunately, we cannot cancel your order from our end in the new system so please keep this handy for future reference.

Also a reminder that sushi orders need to be in by midday Monday. You need to place your order using the SUSHI MENU under Qkr!

And lastly, when ordering make sure you use the 1st BREAK MENU to order for day. There is another menu option you can see there but that is only to be used in emergencies and not for daily ordering.

As always if you have any questions about menu, Qkr or volunteering please email us at tuckshop@gracevillepandc.org.au and we will get back to you!

See you at Tuckshop!

Alex and Emma
Tuckshop Convenors 2020
E: tuckshop@gracevillepandc.org.au

School Plus Graceville

Over the last two weeks here at School Plus Graceville the children have been very busy creating lots of different art works, eating lots of yummy food and so much more. In the last two weeks of Cooking Club the children have learnt to make the fluffiest pancakes and meatballs with tzatziki sauce. The children have been loving this experience and it has been great to see the children’s skills develop as they get more and more into the club. We can’t wait to see what else they will create over the next few weeks. In Week 3 it was healthy food week, one of the art activities that has been done in our healthy food week was make your own fruit skewers. Another craft the children got to do was dip different fruits in the paint and place them on paper to see what different textures it would create.

Senior Club has been running over the last two weeks with the seniors enjoying trampolines, waffle blocks, board games and dance parties.

At Before School Care the children have been loving their hot breakfasts, which have included eggs your way, pancakes, scrambled eggs and crumpets.

Again, this year we will be supporting the Salvation Army for their Christmas Appeal. We are collecting food and toy donations from this week onwards. We have divided the food and toy suggestions over grades to assist in ensuring we have a variety of donations but please feel free to bring what best suits, and all donations are greatly appreciated!! We cannot wait to help out our community in such a tough year.

We are nearly halfway through the term already and the December/ January Vacation Care Program is in the final stages of completion and will be sent out to families soon! If you would like to enrol your child/ren into School Plus it is not too late to secure your spot!! Pop us an email or give us a call.

Karina, Tiff, Georgette and the School Plus Graceville Team

Community Notices