11 March 2022

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

It is so nice to see the children officially back at school this week! I am sure you will be happy to know; the children have settled into the school routine very well considering the experiences of the past week.

The Department has advised that schools will now operate as ‘COVID normal’. In the COVID normal phase, we understand that although COVID may still exist in our community, we can return most functions of schooling to normal. This mirrors what is happening in the wider community.

We will maintain the following precautions until the end of the Term:

• The excellent ventilation strategies each class has in place.
• No whole school assemblies.
• Children remaining at home if displaying signs of illness and/or sent home (with a RAT) if signs of illness are identified at school.
• Communicating news of a positive COVID case to individual classes.

We will introduce the following precautions until the end of the Term:

• Invitation only attendance at P-2 and 3-6 assemblies. This will allow those children receiving awards or performing to have a parent in attendance.
• Ensuring an appropriate number of people (to maintain ventilation excellence) in a classroom at all times. Due to this, some classroom volunteers may be asked to take their group outside into the fresh air to learn.

Don’t forget, you are all welcome back on the school site too! Please feel free to come onto the school site at drop off and pick up times. If you are coming to volunteer in the school in any capacity, you are required to sign in at the office first and show evidence of double vaccination. This is required each time you volunteer.

Finally, please be advised of the new dates for some school events.

• Cross Country for the upper school – Thursday 17th March, 9.00-10.45am.
• School Leader Badge ceremony – this is an invitation only event – Wednesday 23 March.

From this week, we will return to the newsletter being our main form of communication. The next newsletter will go home in the second last week of the term.

It is hard to believe there are only three weeks until the Easter holidays!

Finally, I would like to wish Grace D the best of luck as she competes at the Queensland State Championship this weekend in the 400m and 800 m races. We might not be able to be there in person but will be with Grace in spirit! Good luck, Grace!

Have a great week,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Naplan Year 3 & 5

Year 3 & 5 students will participate in Naplan testing online (except for the Year 3 Writing which will be on paper, handwritten).

All classes will participate in practice tests in the last couple of weeks of Term 1.

The actual Naplan tests will run over a 2-week period – 11-21 May.

For more information please have a look at the website:

Teachers can speak with you about Naplan during your Parent/Teacher interview if you have any concerns or questions.

If you are intending to withdraw your child from one of more of the Naplan tests

or your child requires adjustments made for them, due to a disability, please ask the class teacher for appropriate forms.

Religious Instruction Program

Our Religious Instruction program will commence next week on Friday 18th March. Students have been organised into separate classes all supervised by class teachers (Co-operative & Non attending). Classes for Years 2, 4 & 6 are this semester with the other classes, including Enhancement, in Semester 2.

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

School Sun Safety Policy

We have a new policy mandated by The Department of Education around sun safety for all on the school site. Year-round sun protection is important for all young people in Queensland as research demonstrates that high ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure in childhood and adolescence significantly increases the risk of developing skin cancer.

Our school aims to educate our students about being sun safe in order to develop important, life-long, healthy habits, and acknowledges the important role adults play during and outside school hours to reinforce sun safety with children.

In implementing this policy, our school and community recognise that:

+ the policy applies to all school and school-related activities and events;
+ the strategies are to be implemented during the whole school day and year-round; and
+ a combination of sun safe strategies is more effective than a single approach.

Parents are asked to apply sunscreen before school and all teachers will provide an opportunity for students to reapply sunscreen while at school using school provided sunscreen which is Ultra Protect Vitamin E 50+ brand.

If you do not wish for your child to use the school provided sunscreen please complete the ‘Non-consent’ form which is Appendix A of the attached policy.

Please take the time to read this policy and ask any questions at all about its contents.

Our upper school cross country will be taking place on March 17 in the morning with cross country for our lower school timetabled for later in the year when the weather is cooler and we can get a suitable time. This is part of our endeavour to ensure school events are conducted in a sun safe manner.

Prep Vision Screening March 22 - 25

The Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program is coming to our school. It is a Queensland Government service that offers Free Vision Screening to all children enrolled in Prep.

Good vision is important for a child’s educational, physical and social development. Vision screening checks for common eye conditions that may impact your child’s ability to see and therefore impact their learning and development.

A Registered Nurse will be visiting our school between March 22 and March 25 to conduct vision screening for children in their prep year.

If your child’s vision is screened, you will be advised of the results in writing. If a vision concern is found, you will receive a phone call from the nurse to discuss referral to an eye health professional for further assessment. If a vision concern is identified and your child requires glasses, eligible health care card holders may be assisted with free basic glasses through the Spectacle Supply Scheme.

Participation in vision screening is not compulsory.

Online return of the consent form has finished, however if you would like your child’s vision to be checked I do still have some paper copies of the consent form that when completed can be given to the Nurse when she arrives. Please return the consent form to me at the office if still outstanding. Thank you.

P-2 Assemblies this term

We will be commencing our P-2 assemblies in the hall from next week. I would ask that only parents from the performing class come as we try to restrict numbers in the hall still at this time. It is great that we can get back face to face with each other again for these assemblies.

Prep Easter Hat parade may have to be outdoors as we usually have large numbers of parents joining us for this event, stay tuned for location of this event.

Business Manager

Anne Nixon

Student Resource Schemes (SRS) for 2022 are:

• Prep Requirements ($100)
• Reading Eggs (Prep & year 1) ($26)
• Instrumental Music Programs – Instrument Hire ($100), Percussion Maintenance ($50), Music Participation ($90) & Choir ($45)
• Mathletics On-line registration (Years 2, 3, 4 & 6) ($14)
• Mathseeds (Prep & year 1) $14
• Origo Maths (years Prep to 4) ($8)
• Year 5 maths levy ($10)
• ESmart Digital Licence Yr 5 ($11)
• Yr 1 to 6 requirements ($25)

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 2021 rolled over to this year can 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 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

It has been lovely having the children back at school this week and starting our choral and ensemble rehearsals! We hope that our students have been enjoying singing and playing with their peers! Mr Kukulies, Mr Chin and I all understand that some of our students and families have experienced very significant challenges recently. We encourage families to reach out and discuss any difficulties they are experiencing with their child's teacher/conductor so we can find ways to support them.

This week we have started choir rehearsals. Due to recent events, we were a little later sending out confirmation about this, so if you did not receive the letter in time and your child is in year 2 - 6, they are very welcome to join our rehearsals from next week. I encourage regular attendance at choir rehearsals, but if your child is not able to attend rehearsals yet or regularly due to family circumstances, they are welcome to join or attend as is possible.

Please click on the link below for the choir letter.

Instrumental Music

This year our IM teachers will be at Graceville on the following days:

• Mr James Kukulies - band - Monday (all day) and Friday (morning/half day)
• Mr Alex Chin - strings - Wednesday (all Day) and Thursday (morning/half day)

This year all IM lessons will be in the Oxley Room this year. Our IM teachers have sent timetables to families via email. If you have not received this information from your child's instrumental teacher, please contact them. Contact details are listed below for all of our music teachers.

The music rehearsal schedule for 2022 (we will advise when these rehearsals will begin)

Monday 7:45am – Senior Band (in the school hall)
Tuesday 7:45am - Senior Choir (interested students in years 4 - 6 - in the music room)
Wednesday 7:45am - Junior Strings (in the school hall)
Thursday 7:45am – Senior Strings (in the school hall)
Friday 7:45am - Junior Choir (interested students in years 2 - 3 - in the music room)
Friday 7:45am – Junior Band (starting in term 2 in May - in the school hall)

Music Teacher Contact Details

Alex Chin - Instrumental Music Teacher - Strings - Email: achin4@eq.edu.au
James Kukulies - Instrumental Music Teacher - Band - Email: jkuku2@eq.edu.au
Naomi Lindh - Classroom Music Teacher/Choir Conductor - Email: nclos1@eq.edu.au

Chappy’s Chat

John Erichsen

Our community, like so many others, has faced some huge challenges in recent years. The flood of last week, a massive event, on the back of some crazy Covid times, has pulled energies and emotions as far as they can stretch. With so many people impacted, so much damage to be processed and so much work to be done, moving forward. It is so easy to feel isolated and alone, despite the reality of many others experiencing the same trauma. This is natural because, despite the many things we have in common with others around us, we are all different and unique and so are our journeys. How we travel this part of life’s journey is ours and ours alone. Our thoughts, our feelings, our hopes our fears, our strength, our weakness. They are all ours, alone. That’s why it can be beneficial, helpful even, to allow others to join you in part of this journey. Whether it’s a short conversation or accepting the hospitality of one of many trying to assist flood impacted communities, allowing others into our world at this time is powerful. Sometimes, just a few steps walked alongside someone else can help us recalibrate. It can help us find something within, when we thought we were empty. Too often, our need to be strong and independent tries to stop us from letting others in. As a school community, we are genuine and passionate about providing a caring, supportive environment for our school students and families. This environment doesn’t stop at the gate. Nor does it stop at 2:50. It certainly doesn’t stop with rising waters. There will be parts of this process where you will need to journey alone or as a family and that’s understandable. In fact, it’s healthy. However, in these early stages of acceptance and recovery, please let us walk alongside when we can. You and your family are important to us.

I remember reading some wise words…

If I stand, let me stand on the strength that has always been within
And if I can’t, let me fall upon the support of loving friends and kin

John Erichsen
(Chappy)

Uniform Shop

Michelle Fanning

Hi all!
Welcome to week 7

GOLD POLO SHIRTS

They’re back!! All sizes are now in stock and available in store or online.

Anyone who had pre ordered and paid for shirts should have been contacted by now and your orders have been sent to the classroom.

WINTER STOCK

We are quite well stocked with winter uniform at the moment so please feel free to make an appointment or order online. Fabric shortages are still an issue in Australia so please don’t hesitate to buy early in case of future delays.

LOW STOCK / OUT OF STOCK

We are running low on size 6 shorts and we’re out of stock of quite a few sizes in the House shirts.

I have re ordered all of the above so if there was an item you would like to pre order, please email me at the address below so I can pop your name in my order book.

DONATIONS

I have been so grateful to receive so many donations over the past weeks. It’s been really helpful considering some of our wonderful families are not to able to access their belongings from the floods, so thank you to those who have so generously given.

PLEASE NOTE... all 2nd hand uniforms are free of charge for flood affected families.

As a side note, could donations be given during opening hours only or handed in at the office if absolutely necessary. Please do not leave bags outside the uniform shop. Thank you.

DRESSES

Please note that due to fabric issues we now have limited stock in our dresses. We have now sold out of size 2’s and 4’s.

I will not be ordering any more in the near future so if you know you would like a dress, please don’t delay.

OPENING DAYS AND TIMES

We will remain appointment only as well as having the online store for easy ordering. The appointment days are Tuesday and Thursday of each week from 8:15am – 10:15am

For any reason you cannot make your appointment time, please cancel online asap so others don’t miss out. When visiting the store, it’s important to enter and exit the school grounds via the Oxley Road gate near the tennis courts. The uniform store is located just to the left of the courts.

ONLINE STORE

The uniform shop has an online store, so if you already know what your child needs you can order and pay online and it will be passed on to their teacher.

PLEASE NOTE – When buying online please add your child’s FULL NAME and CLASS on the FIRST page. Thank you.

The online store and appointment bookings can be made via the following link -

DONATIONS

We are always grateful for donations of 2nd hand uniforms that are in freshly washed, saleable condition with no tears or holes We also ask that donations are our SCHOOL BRANDED ITEMS ONLY, so no items from any outside stores. Thank you for your generosity and understanding.

PAYMENT

We encourage you to use Eftpos or credit cards when purchasing.

REFUNDS

Please be advised that refunds will only be given if you have the original receipt and items should not have been washed, worn and any tags should still be attached.

Email address for school uniform store is:

uniformshop@gracevillepandc.org.au

Thanks everyone!
Michelle

Tuckshop News

Tuckshop News 2022

Its so lovely to see everyone back at school this week. We are thinking of everyone in our community right now that has been affected by the recent events of the last couple weeks and hope that everyone is on the road to recovery.

If you are a family still needing help with providing lunch for your child while at school, please contact us directly and we can help you out, simply email us at tuckshop.gss@gmail.com

Apologies for not being open last week. As you can imagine we had a few issues with suppliers and ordering making it a little difficult to be able to provide even a reduced menu to the school. We also didn’t want to place any extra burden on our wonderful volunteers who were already busy helping in so many other areas.

But we are back now! If a few of your favorite items disappear over the next week or so – don’t be alarmed! Stock availability may be an ongoing issue for a little while so please be patient!

Lastly, don’t forget to jump on and Volunteer using the Volunteer Menu in the Qkr! App when ordering.

Any spare time you have would be greatly appreciated.

Menu News

We have specials three days of the week this term so why not try something new?

Monday – Fried rice with a choice of soy sauce or sweet chili

Wednesday – Sushi and Rice Paper Rolls which need to be ordered by Midday Tuesday for
Wednesday delivery
Thursday – Chicken Burgers and Beef Burgers

Have a birthday to celebrate? Don’t forget we do Birthday Iceblocks for the class. You can choose from

• Jelly Joys $10 for the class
• Quelch Iceblocks $20 for the class
• Water Iceblocks $25 for the class
• Vanilla Ice cream Cups $30 for the class

Don’t forget to add a balloon to your order for an extra $5!

We also have a few more Gluten Free and Dairy Free options on the menu

• Rice crackers with Cheese ($1.50), Hommus ($1.80) or Tzatziki ($1.80)
  o these are in addition to the wheat crackers (Jatz) and are Gluten Free
• Mini muffins! Blueberry ($2.50) which are GF and Dairy Free and for a limited time, Banana/Vanilla mini muffins which are Vegan and GF
• Coco Not Dairy Ice Cream Vegan Coconut Milk Ice cream $2.00

Reminders

Please be mindful that

• Cutoff time for ordering is 8am every morning
• Sushi orders must be in by 12pm Tuesday for Wednesday delivery (remember to order through the Sushi menu)
• If your child is sick please cancel the order before 8am on your app, if it is after that time please call us and we can help
• The Oops I forgot menu is not to be used for placing orders if you don’t make 8am cut off. We don’t always get the chance to check the menu in time before first break so your child might miss out. The menu is only to be used when life happens, and lunch gets left at home or unforeseen circumstances at school.
• We still aren’t taking cash at the Tuckshop so please order all food, snacks, drinks and ice blocks through the app.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns and you’d like to speak with us please email tuckshop@gracevillepandc.org.au or pop in for a quick chat we’d love to hear from you.

See you at Tuckshop!

Alex and Emma
Tuckshop Convenors 2022

P&C News

Thank you

Thank you very much to the school staff and volunteers who helped last week by making the hall available and baking, cooking and delivering food and drinks to school families and the greater community during the local clean up efforts. There was a tremendous turn out to help which was very much appreciated by both the P&C and the community members who received this assistance.

Free second hand school uniforms for flood affected families

Just a reminder that the P&C have decided to make all second hand uniforms available at no cost to families who have lost, or have limited access to, uniforms. You can contact the uniform shop directly or call the school office and a message will be passed onto the uniform shop.

P&C AGM

The P&C Annual General Meeting will take place on 30 March 2022. Each year the P&C re-elects members and executive at the AGM. In 2022, some P&C executive members will be taking a well-earned rest, so we are looking for some people to step up and make a slightly more formal contribution in the roles of President and Secretary. Please email Karen McNab at president@gracevillepandc.org.au or Vanessa Neilsen at secretary@gracevillepandc.org.au if you are interested in either of these roles. Also attached is a nomination form for executive positions which can be returned to Vanessa before the meeting.

All current members will need to rejoin the P&C again for 2022. We would also love to welcome any new members who are interested in helping to make their children's years at Graceville State School the best years of their lives and work with a great group of parents and carers to make this happen. The application form is attached and can be returned to secretary@gracevillepandc.org.au .