20 May 2022

Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

It is amazing to think we are now half way through the Term!

The Spell-a-thon is next Tuesday! We are hoping for great support from the community! The money raised goes directly back into the school to help support learning and development in Literacy. In past years we have been able to use the money raised through the Spell-a-thon to buy new home and class readers for the lower school and purchase new and more interesting novels for children to read to support the English curriculum in the middle and upper school. We are hoping the funds from this year can help purchase some specific readers for our lower school for our developing readers and if we raise enough money, maybe boost the library collection. Many of our children are avid readers and we are keen to make sure our readers and library collections meet their needs and interests. All contributions will make a difference and so we hope you can help in any way you can by sponsoring or seeking sponsors for your child/children in the Spell-a-thon. Post Spell-a-thon, once we can order the readers/books, we always need a hand with covering the new books. Please keep an eye out for how you could volunteer later next term by covering some of our new resources.

We would like to thank the parents/carers who use the drop and go zones for having their child’s surname visible in the front windscreen of the car. This practice makes it much easier for the staff on duty to see the car coming and call for the child. This helps to keep the zone running as quickly and smoothly as possible. Don’t forget you can leave your run a little later as the staff on duty supervise children at the gate until 3.10pm.

As you are aware, Report Cards go home at the end of each Semester. Due to the later start to the year and disruption to schooling due to the floods, we have decided to send home Report Cards in week 3 Term 3. This extension will give our teachers the extra time they need to help children achieve the best outcomes they can in the Key Learning Areas.

We understand many families are taking the opportunity to travel this year to visit family and friends interstate or overseas. Please remember if your child will be away for than 10 school days, you will need to complete an Exemption from Schooling form. We understand the need for families to reconnect after years of separation and so please understand we are approving these Exemption from School applications. We do require you to go through the process and thank you in advance for your understanding.

Finally, a few important dates:

• Spell-a-thon 24 May.
• Lower School Cross Country 25 May.
• Year 4 Flexible Classroom furniture delivered 3 June. (This is a collaborative project between the P&C and school).
• Upper School Athletics Carnival and UQ 9 June. (Practice for this event has started during school time on Friday afternoons)
• Under 8s Activities on June 23
• Year 5 and 6 extracurricular camp to Cairns 20-24 June.

Don’t forget the P&C meeting is next Wednesday night 1 June, 7.30pm in the Waratah Room. A zoom link will also be sent out by the P&C for those unable to make it face to face. Please make sure you fill in your membership form as only registered members of the P&C can vote.

Kind Regards,
Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Under 8s Week – postponed!

Unfortunately the rain hasn’t been kind to us and the oval is too wet for use this week. Consequently our Under 8s morning has now been postponed until Thursday June 23, 9 – 10:30am. Hope you can join us then. 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

Deputy Principal

Lisa McKeaten

Online Safety for students and parents

Being informed about how to be safe online is very important for our children and ourselves. From time to time we have unsafe online incidents occur which we become aware of and effect the good order and management of our school. There are many very good resources for schools, students and families which give you simple and clear messages. I have attached several information sheets from the www.esafety.gov.au site which I encourage parents to look into.

Some specific advice that I would like to share with you as parents:

• Be present and involved with what your children are accessing – use of parental controls is very important
• Supervise them, especially when they start using devices to message others (out in the open, not in bedrooms with closed doors)
• Be informed eg. TikTok, Facebook, Fortnight – theses type of apps are only allowed if over 13. There are lots of safe apps/games for them when they are younger

If you have concerns consult the safety website for advice.

For years 5 & 6 we will have Cybersafety talks next term. (17 August)

We have also a parent session at 6pm organised for 17 August (save the date)

Cross Country P-3

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Congratulations to Mr Chin and our students in the Junior and Senior Strings for their performances at Fanfare this week! After the significant disruptions we have had during the last couple of years, it was great to have this opportunity to perform. Our students were awarded Silver Certificates and some feedback from the adjudicator, which will be passed on to students at their next rehearsal. Thank you to Mr Chin, our Junior and Senior Strings students and any family members who were able to attend as a member of the audience today.

We hope to have some opportunities next term to schedule performances at our school. In the meantime, we appreciate the commitment of our families to support children to continue practicing their instruments at home and attending rehearsals regularly.

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 5. We have reached the half way mark of the term already!

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

YEAR 6 COMMEMORATIVE SHIRTS

Thank you so much to all that have ordered. The shirts will be sent to the printers this week. The turn around time is usually a few weeks but rest assured, as soon as they arrive I will personally deliver them all the classrooms. It’s one of my favourite times of the year seeing all the Seniors faces so excited about receiving their special shirts.

OUT OF STOCK

We are out of stock in size 10 Sports/Track Jackets, size 6 Rugby Shirts, size 10 and size 14 Gold Polo 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 now only have small quantities of sizes 1, 6, 8 and 12 left in stock.

I will not be ordering more 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 via your pc or laptop, please add your child’s FULL NAME and CLASS in the notes section. If ordering via your mobile device, please add your child’s details beside yours. 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

Hopefully everyone is loving the sun finally peeking through the clouds! Can you believe it’s week 5? We are halfway through term and it really is busy, busy, busy in Tuckshop.

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

New to our Frozen Treats Menu - we have introduced Chocolate Ice Cream Cups! At $2.00 a cup we know they will be super popular. We have also introduced for a limited time Raspberry frozen yogurt @ $3.00 a cup. Please note that this item is not Gluten Free.
Ice Monys have proven to be very popular! Get in while they last!
Don’t forget we have split our burger days into two.
CHICKEN BURGERS ARE AVAILABLE ON A TUESDAY
BEEF BURGERS ARE AVAILABLE ON A THURSDAY

Reminders

Please be mindful that

• Cutoff time for ordering is 8am every morning
• NO SUSHI ORDERS NEXT WEEK
• 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

Spellathon

P&C News

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. Important dates have been highlighted in the information sheets that was sent home 2 weeks ago. We encourage all students to participate. Funds raised from this year’s Spellathon will be used towards reading and writing resources.

• Spring Fair
  We have found a fair co-convenor!!! The convenors have commenced planning activities and are looking forward to building a fabulous committee that can make the fair a huge success. 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:

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

June 2022 P&C meeting date

The June P&C meeting has been scheduled for 01st June 2022 at 7:30pm in the Waratah Room. You can also attend virtually via Zoom. Details below:

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 639 2708 4746
Passcode: 551433

Interschool Tennis Cup

Indooroopilly SHS Open Day

Community Notices