3 June 2022

Principal

Zoe Smith

Hello,

Winter is on the way! We needed our winter woollies to keep us warm this week with the winds blasting through the school!

We have some exciting news to share. Recently, Graceville State School Senior Enhancement students participated in an interschool Science and Engineering Challenge Day. Our students worked collaboratively in teams to tackle a range of hands on science and engineering challenges across the day. We are very excited to share that our students were the overall winners on the day! A Science and Engineering Trophy will now sit with pride of place in our Trophy cabinet. Congratulations to the class on being able to collaborate well in team challenges while applying their scientific and engineering thinking to the challenges. This is a great example of how developing the Learning Assets of Collaboration and Thinking are helping our students to thrive!

Thank you for supporting the Spell-a-thon. All money and forms need to be returned today!

The P&C are seeking volunteers to take on roles for the Spring Fair Committee. If we do not get volunteers to take on some of the committee roles, we will not be able to have a Fair and/or we can only offer a smaller event. The Spring Fair is a great day out for the family and we hope there are some kind volunteers who can help out the committee in planning the event. The Spring Fair is our biggest fundraiser for the year and we hope you can help make it a success. A Spring Fair meeting is being held in the Waratah Room next Thursday night from 6.30pm.

The Trivia Night is fast approaching and is a really fun community event. It is a night to get dressed up and let your hair down! Tickets go on sale on 13 July at 8pm! You will need to get in quick as last year tickets sold out in less than 20 minutes!

Keep your fingers crossed for fine weather next Thursday 9 June. Mr Daunt our PE teacher has organised our annual Upper School Athletics Carnival at the UQ Athletics fields. The Athletics Carnival is always a special day and we hope you can pop in to cheer on our young budding athletes!

The Lower School have some exciting opportunities coming their way before the end of the term as well. The Lower School Cross County will be on Thursday 16 June from 9-10.45 and in the last week of Term on Thursday 23 June, we will host a fun filled Under 8’s morning.

To cap off the Term, a group of Year 5 and 6 students will be travelling to Cairns and surrounding areas, including the Great Barrier Reef, in the last week. The camp is an extracurricular opportunity which includes a wide range of interesting, fun and culturally based learning experiences and activities.

Finally, please drive slowly and mindfully on Acacia Avenue at peak times of the day. Unfortunately, Crossing Supervisors are in short supply at the moment and the crossing may be unsupervised at times. If we are aware, we will send a staff member to the crossing to help community members cross.

I hope you have a great week,

Zoe Smith

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principal

Maree Hass

Under 8s Activities – now Thursday June 23

Hope you can join us, 9:00 – 10:30am on the oval. A coffee van will be in attendance.

SunSafety

Even though cooler days are upon us it is still important for us to be sun safe. Please remember to send your child to school with sunscreen applied. All classes will also provide an opportunity through each school day to reapply sunscreen.

P-2 Assemblies this term

Our fortnightly assemblies will be done over zoom in individual classrooms to start off the term.

We will be recommencing our fortnightly assemblies in the hall from the start of term 3. Parents of students who are doing a class item and parents of year 2 presenters are invited to attend these assemblies.

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

School Photos will take place in Term 3 on Tuesday 9th August and 25th October will be Sports/Music photos.

Music News

Naomi Lindh

Thank you to students and families for attending rehearsals consistently throughout the term with the cooler weather. We understand that there will be absences due to illness and other commitments at times. Thank you for letting conductors know if your child is going to be absent (via email).

A small number of our year 5 and 6 students auditioned for the Westcent camps which will be held early next term. These camps involve an intensive week of rehearsals and culminate with a performance. Instrumental teachers will be informing students and families the results of these auditions this week or next week. Congratulations to the students who have been invited to attend one of these camps!

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

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 7. Just a few short weeks and term 2 will be done and dusted!

LONG SLEEVE GOLD POLOS

Last summer we introduced the long sleeve Gold polo to our range as a sun safe option. Now that winter is here these shirts are also perfect for the cooler months and layering under our winter jackets on those extra chilly days. We are well stocked and the size ranges from 4 to 14.

2nd HAND WINTER STOCK

Now that winter is well and truly here I have noticed lots of children wearing jumpers and pants of all colours of the rainbow.

Why not look at our 2nd hand rack that is overflowing with Polar fleeces, Rugby shirts, Track pants and Leisure pants. Items start at just $5 and are always marked at 50% off or less! Pop by the store on a Tuesday or Thursday morning for a or send me an email with what you’re after so I can help.

OUT OF STOCK

We are out of stock in size 10 Sports/Track Jackets, size 6 Rugby Shirts, size 10, 12 and 14 Gold Polo shirts.

I have reordered 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

As we come to the end of term Tuckshop gets busier and busier. As you can see we have no volunteers for the next couple of weeks so we really are desperate for help!

With numbers continuously on the rise every week we are struggling to fill orders and have them in the classroom boxes in time for break.

Please, if you have any time sign up using the volunteer roster in QKR! We would love to see your faces even if its 20 minutes while you’re waiting for reading groups or ½ hour after many hands make light work.

Any spare time you have would be greatly appreciated.

Menu News

Chocolate Ice Cream Cups are proving to be very popular! They are only $2.00 if your kids haven’t tried them then give them a go. Don’t forget for a limited time we also have Raspberry frozen yogurt @ $3.00 a cup AND we have Mango frozen yogurt! Please note that these items are not Gluten Free.

We are really trying to expand our Gluten and Dairy free options on the menu so we are introducing a new menu item!

This week you can find VEGAN GLUTEN FREE mini sausage rolls under HOT FOOD in the menu. They are Gluten, Dairy, Nut, Soy and Egg free and are $2.40 each.

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

Trivia Night

ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO!!! The GSS Trivia Night is back for 2002, and planning is now in full swing. A massive thank you to Carrie Grassick, Prue Duff and Jade Matheson who have stepped up to take on the task of organising the event for this year. The date for this year’s Trivia Night is set for Saturday 16th July and we will be returning once again to the Sherwood Magpies Football Club. Please keep an eye out on the “Graceville State School Parents” Facebook page for more information coming shortly.

Tickets for the Trivia Night will go on sale Monday 13th June at 8pm (via Qkr!)

SAVE THE DATE & get ready for warmer weather with GSS’s Spring Fair – 27 August 2022

In further exciting news, we are so pleased to announce that once again the fabulous Faith Studd has kindly stepped forward and agreed to take the lead on organizing this year’s Spring Fair! As in previous years, this will be our major family, fun, fundraising event for 2022, and this year’s fair will again take on a similar format as the 2021 successful and re-vamped fair. As always, organising this hugely popular event is no small undertaking, so we are actively recruiting a team to pull together to support Faith.

Our next Fair Meeting will be held on Thursday 9th June at 6:30pm in the Waratah Room. It is vital to get all remaining conveyor positions (including Food/Comms/Sponsorship/Rides) filled by the end of next week so that there is enough time to pull this event together. If you are interest or able to help out, please come along to the meeting or contact Faith Studd fete.convenor@gracevillepandc.org.au , Anita Armstrong vp@gracevillepandc.org.au or Michelle Murphy president@gracevillepandc.org.au .

P&C Communications

We are looking for someone to support P&C communications. This might include supporting communications for P&C events and includes administration of the P&C Facebook page. If this is a contribution you can make to support the school (or you with a friend), please get in touch with president@gracevillepandc.org.au.

July 2022 P&C meeting date

Please be advised that the next P&C meeting has been scheduled for 13th July 2022 at 7:30pm in the Waratah Room. You can also attend virtually via Zoom – details will be sent out closer to the time.

School Plus

It’s hard to believe, but Term 2 is already halfway through and we’re already looking forward to all the fun we have planned for Vacation Care.

Vacation Care is shaping up to be a big one with loads of fun activities from a 7D cinema to OSHC-favourite Hunger Ball and an excursion to The Workshop Rail Museum. We’ll also have an animal petting zoo coming to visit which is sure to be popular with the children. With so much fun planned, bookings will fill quick – especially on excursion and incursion days, so keep an eye out for emails. Bookings will open soon!

This fortnight at OSHC we’ve been celebrating a lot of fun days like Outdoor Classroom Day, Africa Day and of course Turtle Day.

Outdoor Classroom Day was a big hit – the children loved replanting our garden and giving it a fresh new look for the season. The gardening is an activity that many children love, especially when it comes to watering the plants. The children have loved watching the lavender grow and the wonderful scent that comes with it. The children have also bought the outside inside, with their hanging plant display, having fun potting the hanging plants and watering them. The children also decorated the hanging pots using recycled bottles, so it was a great way to learn all about sustainability, environments, and life cycles. We have also recently replanted the garden, with the children adding vegetables to our front garden. We’re hoping to be able to one day create a sustainable garden where we can use our vegetables in our cooking experiences!

Turtle Day is always a very popular day because of the long-time OSHC resident pet, Squirtle the Turtle. We celebrated all things turtle by making some fantastic turtle crafts, which the children really enjoyed. We also learnt about turtles, spent time with Squirtle and learnt about the ways that we can keep our oceans cleaner and safer for turtles and all sea life!

Another special occasion this week was Africa Day. Our country themed days are popular as the children love celebrating culture and learning about cultures from all around the world. We celebrated all things Africa with some traditional African food and in craft by making Kente Cloth art. Kente cloths are to commemorate special occasions and are very special to African communities. We learnt about how different colours and patterns have special meaning. This is a wonderful way to encourage conversations with children that embrace and celebrate culture and learning.

In Term 3, we will be looking to restart our very popular 6-Week Incursion. Previous programs have included Martial Arts and the very popular Cooking Club. We are very interested to hear from parents and the children for some fresh, new ideas for our next 6 Week program so please let us know if you have any suggestions!

We hope to see you at OSHC soon!

Karina, Tiff, Oliver and the School Plus Graceville Team

Community Notices