10 May 2022

From the Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

It looks like a wet week ahead!

Firstly, we ask all parents/carers who pick up children in the Drop and Go Zones on Park Road or Acacia Avenue to use patience this week in the wet. You can help the staff member on duty to keep the line flowing, by having the surname of the child/children visible in the front windscreen. On wet afternoons we will move the children being picked up at Acacia Avenue into a Year 1 classroom. The person at the gate will message the surname of the child to the teacher supervising in the Year 1 classroom. The children will then be released to the car. Remember you can leave your run to pick up the children a bit later. The staff member is on duty until 3.10pm. The children are supervised until this time. Please be mindful that if you arrive early and your child is not ready to be picked up, we may have to ask you to do a lap of the school and re-join the end of the cue. We need to start and keep the pick-up lines flowing. The zones have a limit of 2 minutes when you are at the top of the line and then we can ask the driver to move on. We appreciate your support.

COVID and close contact arrangements - we sent home an email on Monday to remind all families of the current COVID and close contact guidelines. Please read the email and follow the directions in all instances. We can keep our children safe and healthy by all doing our bit despite some inconvenience to our home and work lives at times.

The Year 6 camp was a great success last week. I would like to thank the Year 6 teachers, Mrs Lambkin, Mrs McKeaten and Chappy for attending. We can only take children on camps with the volunteering spirit and support of staff. No staff member is paid extra or provided time in lieu to attend a camp, we do so out of the goodness of our hearts!

Don’t forget the Spell-a-thon is fast approaching. Please find friends and family to sponsor the children! The actual Spell-a-thon date is Tuesday 24 May.

A date for the lower school Cross Country has now also been set for Wednesday 25 May.

I hope you have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

Out of Catchment Enrolments

Applications to be considered for an Out of Catchment Enrolment at one of our great state schools in the Oxley Road Cluster (Corinda SS, Graceville SS, Oxley SS and Sherwood SS) are now open.

Please go to the school websites to check if you are an ‘out of catchment applicant’ for the school of your choice.

Please understand that putting your name onto a waiting list, does not mean that you are guaranteed a placement.

Graceville State School works closely with the schools and principals from each of the schools in the Oxley Road Cluster in order to best support our education community.

Thank you for your support of state school education.

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Pokemon at school

Pokemon cards should stay at home and not come to school, your assistance parents in this is appreciated. They seem to be popular at the moment and problems always arise when trading and playing with them at school.

Under 8s Week

We will be celebrating Under 8s Week this year on Thursday May 19 with fun and activities on the oval for our prep to year 2 students, 9 – 10:30am and being outdoors hopefully in the sunshine, all parents are welcome to attend and join in the fun! A coffee van will be in attendance.

P-2 Assemblies this term

Our fortnightly assemblies will be done over zoom in individual classrooms to start off the term. When we can change back to meeting in the hall I will let everyone know.

Preparing for Prep 2023

Our Prep waiting list for out of catchment has opened. The waiting list must be completed in person, no forms can be sent out or received by email.

Please visit the following links which details our school enrolment management plan and also provides a link to the catchment area for Graceville State School:

In catchment families may now obtain enrolment forms from the office and commence this process. Remember that when returning these forms that 2 sets of ‘proof of residency’ documents will be required as well.

Prep Information evening for 2023 will be on Wednesday July 20 at 7pm in our school hall.

Prep interviews will then follow for the rest of term 3. Bookings will be online via a link to be given out through the Information session. These meetings will be face to face at school for 30 minutes, please bring your child to this meeting. Completed enrolment forms and Prep Profile will be required at the interview.

Term 4

Get Set for Prep proposed sessions

At this stage we will plan to proceed with face to face sessions although we will have to wait and see health and safety directives to come. Families must RSVP for these sessions using our online booking system also which will be live from July 20.

Session 1: Tuesday Oct 18 OR Thursday Oct 20, 9 – 10:00am Focus on Fine Motor Skills
Session 2: Tuesday Nov 1, 9 – 10:00 Speech and Language Development
Session 3: Monday Nov 14 OR Wednesday Nov 16, 9 – 10:00am Focus on Reading

Prep Orientation meetings: Thursday November 24

Meet the class session: Thursday December 1, 9 – 10am

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Our Junior and Senior String students will be performing at Fanfare on Tuesday 17 May. This event will be held at Corinda State High School. We are very excited to have Fanfare return this year for our students. If parents/guests are able to attend and watch we will let you know, but at this stage we have not been provided with this option. Parents of these students should have received a letter via email from Mr Alex Chin. If you have not received it please contact him (email addresses are listed below). This year our Senior Band will not be participating, as they have not had enough rehearsals with the number of public holidays we have had recently on Mondays, and the disruptions to rehearsals during term 1. We will schedule some performances for our instrumental and choral students once assemblies return and we are able to accommodate this.

Please note that due to the Fanfare event which I am attending on Tuesday 17 May, there will be no Senior Choir rehearsal on that day. Next Tuesday the Senior Choir Rehearsal will be on as usual. Thank you for your understanding with this change, it is the following Tuesday which will be cancelled.

As the weather becomes cooler and we will continue to have some windows/doors open for ventilation during our early morning rehearsals, we strongly encourage students to bring a jacket or jumper with them so they are comfortable during their rehearsals.

Our rehearsal schedule and teacher contact details are listed below. If your child is not able to attend a rehearsal, please contact their conductor.

Thank you for supporting your child's involvement in the music program!

The music rehearsal schedule for 2022

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

Uniform Shop

Michelle Fanning

Hi all!

Welcome to week 3!

CALL OUT

With the incredible amount of donations I have received, I'm now completely out of coat-hangers. If you have any spares you're looking to offload please send them my way!

Also, if you have any paper shopping bags (I usually use my old Woolies ones) I'll gladly take those off your hands too. Thank you in advance!

WINTER STOCK

We are 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 in case of further delays.

YEAR 6 COMMEMORATIVE SHIRTS

After a long wait for Gold Polos to arrive, I can now go ahead and organise the Seniors and House Captains shirts.

Year 6 students are given the opportunity to purchase a Commemorative Shirt to celebrate their final year of Primary School. Gold Polos, long sleeve Gold Polos or Rugby Shirts are screen printed with artwork and the class lists on the back. House shirts (for House Captains only) are able to have their House shirts printed with “House Captain".

Gold Polos can be purchased for $30, l/s Gold Polos $35 Rugby Shirts $33 and House Shirts $35. Existing polos and Rugby shirts that are in excellent condition with no holes, pulls or stains can also be used for printing.

Printing costs:

$10 per item on Gold Polos, l/s Gold Polos and Rugby Shirts

$15 for “House Captain” printed on House Shirt

The best way to order is via our online store. Please remember to add your child’s name and class. When ordering via your phone, please add your child’s details next to your name.

You're also welcome to make an appointment on a Tuesday or Thursday and pay in person.

ALL ORDERS MUST BE MADE BY FRIDAY THE 13th OF MAY

Should you have any queries please email me at the below address.

uniformshop@gracevillepandc.org.au

LOW STOCK / OUT OF STOCK

We are running low on size 6 shorts, size 10 sports jackets 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

Could donations please 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. 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

We hope this week’s newsletter finds everyone happily settled back into the school routine. We have certainly hit the ground running here and order numbers have been HUGE!

If you can manage a few hours, please jump onto Qkr! and add yourself to the volunteer roster or just pop in and see if we need a hand. Please sign up and help. Use the Volunteer Menu in the Qkr! App – we would love to see some new faces!

Any spare time you have would be greatly appreciated.

Menu News

Ice Monys are back! For a limited time only we have LEMON ICE Ice monys back on the menu. Get in while they last!

We have also had a change in our frozen yogurt flavours. As of next week, we will have Bulla Raspberry frozen yogurt in place of strawberry and vanilla frozen yogurt.

Also due to the overwhelming popularity of our chicken and beef burgers we have had to separate their days so we can manage numbers in the tuckshop.

CHICKEN BURGERS ARE AVAILABLE ON A TUESDAY

BEEF BURGERS ARE AVAILABLE ON A THURSDAY

As such our weekly specials will now be:

MONDAY – Fried Rice
TUESDAY – CHICKEN BURGERS
WEDNESDAY – Sushi and Rice Paper Rolls (to be ordered by Midday Tuesday)
THURSDAY – BEEF BURGERS

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.

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

What does the P&C do?

The P&C makes a significant contribution to Graceville State School each year by providing services such as the tuckshop and uniform shop, by raising funds and encouraging in-kind support and volunteering of parents, carers, and community members. This contributes greatly to a wonderful, cohesive, and supportive school community.

The P&C’s services and financial contributions to the school are so important to ensure ongoing improvements to the school facilities and resources for the students above and beyond what is provided by the Department of Education. Recent P&C projects have included funding of new classroom furniture, the hall revamp and air conditioning, installation of solar panels, purchase of laptops and iPads for classrooms and the funding of the adventure playground.

New Executive Committee

A new P&C executive committee was formed following the Annual General Meeting held on 30th March 2022.

President – Michelle Murphy
Vice-President – Anita Armstrong
Secretary – Veena Sudarshan
Treasurer – Paul Ruberry
Events Treasurer – John Adams

We would like to thank the outgoing president, Karen McNab and secretary, Vanessa Neilsen for their hard work, effort, and contribution to the P&C committee in the last few years.

IT Officer Role

We are looking for a volunteer to take on the role of an IT Officer. Responsibilities would include:

• Basic Microsoft 365 admin (password resets, account creation, user support, etc.)
• Occasional technical support (1 laptop with printer, 1 iPad)
• Advice and assistance with cloud apps (e.g.: Raffle software)

If you are interested in volunteering for this role, please contact the P&C Secretary at secretary@gracevillepandc.org.au

Upcoming Events:

• Spellathon
  Spellathon is an important fundraising event for the P&C committee every year. Information sheets would have been sent home this week. Important dates have been highlighted in the information sheets. We encourage all students to participate. Funds raised from this year’s Spellathon will be used towards reading and writing resources.

• Trivia Night
  The much-awaited Trivia night is coming soon. Our Trivia team is working towards finalising the venue and sponsors. More information will be shared in the coming weeks.

• Spring Fair
  Planning for the Spring Fair (27/8/2022) will commence soon. We are looking for some key committee members. Please get in touch with the fair convenor at fete.convenor@gracevillepandc.org.au if you can assist.

Roles:

• Fair co-convenor
• Food stalls convenor
• Non-food stalls convenor
• Communications/ marketing officer
• Sponsorship coordinator

Change to June P&C meeting date

The June P&C meeting was originally scheduled for 08th June 2022; however, we have changed the date to 01st June 2022. A reminder will be sent to members closer to the time, however if you were planning on attending this meeting, please update your calendars now.

Free second-hand school uniforms for flood affected families

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.

Voluntary contribution

The P&C are again supporting the voluntary contribution scheme in 2022. Voluntary contributions are payments made by families and collected by the P&C on behalf of the school, with all funds transferred directly to the school. This year the amount is set at $100 per student, but we understand this may not be affordable for all families, so we encourage you to make whatever contribution you are comfortable with. 75% of funds raised will be dedicated to improving and maintaining IT resources and the remainder will be spent on other learning resources.

Payments can be made by electronic transfer to the P&C (see below for details) or via the Online Uniform Shop at the following link

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

New Members

Join us and grow our community

We welcome all families to join the P&C to share your perspective on topics that affect your children while they are at Graceville State School. New membership forms are attached below. If you have any questions, feel free to write to us.

Contacts

pandc@gracevilless.eq.edu.au
pandcPresident@gracevilless.eq.edu.au
pandcSecretary@gracevilless.eq.edu.au

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