16 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

Message from the Principal

Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Parent Teacher Interviews on Wednesday afternoon/evening. These catch-ups are a valuable tool to stop, check and reflect on how your child is settling into the school year. We recognise that the best outcomes in education occur when parents and the school work together so it was great to see such a large percentage of parents taking the opportunity to speak with teachers.

Bullying. No Way!

Today, Gumdale State School took part in the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. To show our support towards this importance cause, students made a gold coin donation in return for an orange ribbon to wear with pride. Many of our teachers also came to work dressed in splashes of orange. More about the prevention and awareness of bullying is discussed further below in this issue.

Every day counts

There are only 9 days of school until the end of this term! Please make every day count by ensuring your child is at school every day, ready to learn.

School Events

With just two week left until the end of term, our events Calendar is still full. Please make a note in your diary of the Gumnut Choirs’ first performance at Assembly on Monday, 19 March, the P&C Disco on 23 March, our Prep Fancy Hat Parade on 28 March and our School Cross Country on the last day of term, 29 March.

Road Safety

Parking in and around our school is an ongoing issue during busy times. There are a number of council parking restrictions in areas bordering the school grounds and it is important that we adhere to these. We have also been contacted recently by a member of our community expressing concern about parents and students who are not using the traffic lights to cross New Cleveland Road in the afternoons. The safety of children is paramount. Please use the pedestrian crossing and model this behaviour for all our students.

School Communication

A reminder to all parents/carers to please read e-mail communications sent from the school. As we move away from paper correspondence, families will receive digital copies of permission slips and more, so checking emails will ensure you don’t miss deadlines. If you do not have an email address and still wish to receive paper copies, please advise Marissa Bowen through the school office, 3902 8333.

Year 1 Social Lunch

Today our Year 1 parents are welcome to meet at the Gumdale Tavern for a social lunch starting at 12 noon. This is a great opportunity to have a chat with fellow year 1 parents.

Until next time, Always our Best!

Carmel Herbert
Acting Principal

Reminders from the School

Coles Schools for Sports

Gumdale State School is participating in the Coles Schools for Sports Program. For every $10 spent at Coles, you will receive one Sports for Schools voucher. Parents/students are asked to then bring vouchers to our school and place them in the collection bin, located in the Admin Building reception. Every voucher you donate to your school can be redeemed for leading brand sports equipment.

School Photos

There is still time to order your school photos online via the link below. Please refer to the link below for how to place an order online.

The school’s order ID is: 2q8zb

The Student ID refers to your child’s Education Queensland number. If you don’t know this, please leave it blank and proceed to place your order. If you have any questions regarding the process, the website or the packages, please contact Geoff directly at geoff@littleimages.com.au

Messages from the Deputies

Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you to the many parents who took part in parent/teacher interviews on Wednesday night. This event gave us the opportunity to once again establish positive partnerships between our parents and teachers.

Attending parent/teacher interviews sends a powerful message to your child that you are interested in his or her learning. Additionally parent/teacher interviews provide a great opportunity to:

• learn more about your child’s academic, emotional and social development
• meet and get to know your child’s teachers
• help your child’s teachers understand more about your child
• make plans with the teacher about how you can both support your child
• view your child’s classroom work
• hear about your child’s current learning goals.

If you have any concerns about your child’s social or academic development please don’t wait for a formal parent-teacher interview to talk about them. Our teachers are happy to arrange a meeting with you to discuss important issues. You can contact the school office to make an appointment or you can contact your child’s teacher through their school email account.

Learning Walks

Our teachers are currently participating in Learning Walks, which are structured visits to other classrooms to observe the practice of colleagues. These visits provide an opportunity for a group of 2 or 3 teachers, led by a Deputy Principal, to observe how another teacher sets up their routines and implements teaching and learning practices. This is important professional development and enables our teachers to reflect on their own practices and learn from each other. A big thanks to our teachers who are brave enough to open their doors to their colleagues!

Supervision before school

Just a reminder for parents that students who are on school grounds before 8:15am need to be enrolled in our YMCA Outside School Hours Care service. School staff provide supervision for students from 8:15am. Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of students dropped off at school and in the Hall annex area before 8am.

Important Dates

Bullying. No Way!

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

Today was the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. We asked students to make a gold coin donation for an orange ribbon to show their support and say ‘Bullying. No Way!’ The student council arranged the ribbons and all proceeds will go back to them.

Over the last couple of weeks, classes have been having discussions about bullying, what it is (and is not), its impact and what to do if students experience or witness it. There were also activities for students to work on in the library during break times.

Below are some tips for parents from the Bullying. No Way! team:

Sometimes, it can be difficult for parents or carers to know what to do when their child talks to them about bullying.

You are an important part of our work to prevent bullying and to respond effectively if it happens. Stopping bullying involves everyone.

If your child talks to you about bullying:

Listen calmly and get the full story. Your calm response is important to allow your child to tell you all about the situation. After they’ve told you their story, ask questions to get more details if you need to: who, what, where, when. Although you may feel some strong emotions about your child’s experience, try to keep calm to avoid more distress to your child.

Reassure your child they are not to blame. Many children blame themselves and this may make them feel even worse. You could say things like, ‘That sounds really hard to deal with. No one should have to put up with that.’ or ‘I’m so glad you told me. You should be able to feel safe at school; that’s not fair at all’.

Ask your child what they want to do and what they want you to do. A critical part of your response is to avoid jumping in to solve the problem. While it is natural to want to protect your child, helping them to find their own solution is a better option. It helps them feel they have some power in the situation.

Visit the link below to find some strategies. The website has tips and ideas for different bullying situations. One idea is to practise strategies at home to help your child feel more confident.

Contact the school. Your child may be reluctant for you to do this, so discuss the idea and reassure them that the school would want to know and is able to help. Make an appointment to meet with your child’s teacher and, if you need to, ask to talk with the principal. Contact the school immediately if you have a concern about your child’s safety.

Check in regularly with your child. Keep the conversation going. It can take time to resolve issues, so check in regularly with your child about their experiences and their feelings. Your ongoing support is important.

If you are looking for support for yourself to deal with a bullying situation, you will find ideas on the Bullying. No Way! website for parents.

Thanks for your support to make our school a great school for everyone.

2019 Enrolment Information

Year 6 Families

Key Dates to Remember

News from the Payment Desk

Thank you to all families who are continuing to make payments promptly. Statements will be issue at the beginning of each term.

Office Procedure for Payment of Excursions

Three weeks after an excursion has taken place One School will produce a Credit Adjustment for those students who have not paid. This is a system generated document which will clear your students account for this excursion. If your student attended and payment has not been received, you will be emailed a new invoice for this particular excursion.

Please ensure you advise the office and teacher if your child will not be attending the excursion, this will save you receiving another invoice.

Prompt payment is of invoices will also ensure that additional invoices are not emailed to you, payment due dates are stated on the excursion letter which you receive the day before you are invoiced.

As a reminder, here is a list of upcoming events / payments that might be relevant to your family:

Paying your school invoices

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.

Please note that payments can be made one of three ways:

1. Online using the BPOINT Payment Gateway
   https://www.bpoint.com.au/payments/dete
2. Phone banking via BPOINT IVR (1300 631 073)
3. Online using the QParent App or
4. In person at our Administration Office during office hours (8.00am-3.30pm)

STEAM News

Year 1

Building on their study of sound, students have created their rain sticks.

Year 4

Students have been exploring sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks and applied their Geology skills to sort a collection of rocks.

Year 6

TBC

STEAM Club Years 3-6

The STEAM Club for 2018 has a Sustainability focus.

• Waste - recycling, compost and landfill bins in eating areas. Education campaign for students, teachers and families.
• Garden beds & Kitchen Garden – sponsored by IGA.
• Compost bin and worm farm design and construction
• NEW! Cicada Awards – interested students will be assisted with putting their entry together. More details below under Exciting events.

NEW days and times. We now meet Thursday and Friday 8.00 – 8.45am. Students are welcome to attend both days, however if they can only make 1 that is fine.

New members are always welcome!

STEAM Club Years 1-2

We meet every Thursday 11.15-11.40 in the STEAM room.

New members are always welcome!

Exciting events

Cicada Awards: Giving Youth a Chance to be Heard – A short film competition giving our youth a chance to be heard on how to protect our wildlife and their habitat for future generations. Entries close on World Environment day 22 June 2018.

Previous entries

World Science Festival Brisbane – 21-25 March 2018

Digital Technology News

Over the past few weeks, our Digital Technology Coach, Mrs Connell has been working with the Year 1s. In small groups, they collaborated with Mrs Connell to plan, design and create their own digital book based on instructing their audience how to complete a task. As a group, they discussed what the task was, broke it down into simple steps, decided on what photos needed to be taken and a sentence that matched the photo. Using the app Book Creator, the group designed their book and imported their pictures. The Year 1’s loved their time with Mrs Connell and look forward to working with her again soon!

Literacy

World Solving Strategies

Some of our Prep parents may have seen this handy printout to help with reading at home. These are great to use as book marks as they can remind parents of tips and tricks they can use when their child has difficulty recognising words.

News from the Sports Desk

Term 2 Sailing

In Term 2, Year 4 and 6 students will have the opportunity to participate in sailing lessons at The Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Manly. An email was sent to Year 4 and Year 6 parents at the start of this week with full details and online permission forms to complete.

Students in 4C, 4R, 4D, 4S, and 4M have the opportunity to participate in a ‘Tackers 1’ learn to sail program and a ‘Discover Marine Sports’ program while Year 6 students in 6S, 6R and 6S have the opportunity to participate in a ‘Tackers 3’ learn to sail program, a Windsurf Level 1 and a ‘Start Crewing’ program led by qualified instructors at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS). Students in 5/6E will have the opportunity to participate in a sailing program in Term 3. Information regarding this activity has been sent home this week. Please find below the timetable for term 2:

Please contact James Doherty jpdoh0@eq.edu.au bif you require any further information regarding the Gumdale State School sailing program.

2018 Camps

This year there will be a change to our Year 4-6 Camp structure. This will allow three different settings and experiences for students in our Senior School. More information regarding camps will be made available as the camps draw closer. The camps will be as follows:

Year 4 – Sunshine Coast Recreation Centre, Currimundi (5-7 December 2018)
Year 5 – Emu Gully Leadership Camp, Helidon (21-23 November 2018)
Year 6 – Sydney and Canberra (22-26 July 2018)

Any questions - James Doherty jpdoh0@eq.edu.au

Sporting Representatives

The following students have been selected in Bayside District teams to compete at Metropolitan East trials:

• Lucy Jolly-Perrett – Basketball
• Will Bloxham – Rugby League
• Matty Doherty – Rugby League
• Ava McLennan – Netball

Best of luck to these students as they trial for teams which will attend the State Championships.

Congratulations to Maya Brodie who has been awarded the U/11 Age Champion for 1m Springboard at the State Diving Championships at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre. Maya will now compete at the Nationals in Melbourne from 26-29 April.

Maya has also recently competed at the Metropolitan East Swimming trials. Maya finished 9th in the 50m Butterfly and set a new personal best. Well done Maya!!!

Pippa Letnic has recently competed at the State Surf Lifesaving Carnival for the beach sprint. Pippa represented the South Coast. Great work Pippa!

Cross Country

The Gumdale State School Cross Country will be held on Thursday 29 March, involving students from Prep right through to Year 6. Please refer to the Program Rundown below for event times and details.

8.45am: Roll Call in classroom
9am: Year 3-6 Students to assemble into house tents
9.05 am: Introduction/Welcome

11am (When events are completed) – Year 3-6 students head to classroom to be dismissed for lunch
11.45am – Year 2 classes move to lower oval and assemble in class groups

Interschool Sport

Interschool Sport training continues for Year 5 and 6 students. We will field teams in football (soccer), netball, rugby league and volleyball. Gumdale State School will compete against other Bayside schools at various venues across the district in Term 2.

Oztag

Thank you to the Year 5 and 6 parents who have expressed interest in attending the All Schools Oztag Carnival at Sunshine Coast Stadium in July. Gumdale State School have entered a Year 5 Boys, Year 6 Boys and a Year 6 Girls team in the carnival. More details to follow shortly.

Keep Moving!

Music Notes

Well done to our Senior Concert Band and their conductor Mrs Thomas for their exceptional performance on assembly this week! Keep up the great work in your rehearsals, lessons and home practise and we look forward to hearing you perform again soon.

Upcoming Music Events

• Please note full formal school uniform with white socks and black shoes is required for ALL performances.

Gumnuts have their first performance on assembly next week. These delightful young singers have been working very hard in rehearsals and are eager to perform their songs for you. A reminder that full formal school uniform with white socks is required for the performance. Hope to see you there!

Special Choir Rehearsals

To prepare for our ANZAC Day performance, the Year 3-6 students in the Gumleaves and Gumtrees Choirs will combine for two special rehearsals with Miss Slater. Normal choir rehearsal for the Gumleaves will still go ahead on the Fridays with Mrs Lane. ALL choir rehearsals are held in the STEAM Music Room.

IT Support

Messenger, Facebook and iMessage

We request that between the hours of 8:30am and 3:00pm you restrict the following applications: Messenger, Facebook and iMessage. We do this for the safety and good management of the school and students because we are unable to monitor what comes in or goes out through messages. Any communication between home, school and/or the community should be via our office: 3902 8333. Use of iPads may be restricted if your child infringes this policy.

Some parents may choose to enable restrictions on their child’s iPad. To enable students to utilise their iPads at school we ask that restriction codes are provided to the school IT technician to enable the following:

• Wi-Fi profile installation
• Internet access
• Apps and camera access to the internet
• Access to File Saving
• Airdrop

Restriction Codes

Restriction codes will be held securely in the ICT department of the school by our IT Support person and will not be shared with your child or other staff members. This will enable our IT Support to address any iPad access issues for your child at school. If a restriction is removed, your child’s teacher will be notified and you will be emailed regarding the changes. Please email Kyla Evison (IT Support) kevis2@eq.edu.au with the following information:

1. Your Child’s Name and class
2. Restriction Code
3. Your email address

Please note: You do not have to provide this information.

How to lock imessages from time to time

1. Go to your Home screen.
2. Open up the Settings app.
3. Press the Do Not Disturb button (with the moon icon).
4. Enable 'Scheduled' and enter the times. 8:30am – 3:00pm
5. The Do Not Disturb mode will not automatically be enabled between the selected times.

P&C News

P&C April General Meeting

The next P&C General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 17 April at 7:00pm in the Resource Centre, everyone is welcome.

P&C Funds

During the recent P&C March General Meeting, School Administration asked the P&C for funding of $10K to support the increase expenditure in utilities, specifically the increase the school will experience in power expenditure due to the air-conditioned classrooms. The members voted and approved this P&C expenditure.

The P&C would also like to say a huge THANK YOU to Todd Gerhardt Realty for the generous donation of $2k made last week towards the fundraising efforts to air-condition the last remaining classrooms at the school. We are very fortunate to be continually supported by Todd's business.

Don’t forget our fundraising efforts are concentrating on air-conditioning the remaining classrooms. Each classroom costs approximately $8k-$10k to air-conditioned to meet Education Queensland regulations. Supporting the fundraising events such as Easter raffle, P&C school disco and Gumdale Fashion Parade will certainly help the P&C reach its goal to have all classrooms air-conditioned this year.

P&C Volunteer of the Month

Congratulations to Shannon Neudecker who is the February recipient for the P&C Volunteer of the Month award. Shannon volunteers in the Uniform Shop and so this is a great recognition of the personal time Shannon has given to assisting the P&C run the shop. Thanks Shannon and enjoy the $40 voucher you have received to spend in the bistro at the Wynnum Manly Workers Sports Club.

Easter Raffle

Thank you to all the families who supported this years’ Easter Raffle. We can’t wait to put all the tickets in the draw and pull out the lucky winning names and wrap all the prize baskets up.

Prizes for the students who sold the most tickets and the class who sold the most ticket books will be announced at school assembly on Monday 26 March.

We would also like to thank Kylie Brayshaw for all her efforts in helping the P&C run this activity. Kylie has been tirelessly receipting all the returned ticket books and keeping all the financials up to date. We couldn’t have done this without all your help!

Online Ordering

The Tuckshop and Uniform Shop offer an online ordering service called Flexischools. Online ordering is convenient, provides you with 24/7 payment and ordering system that can be accessed from home, work or on a mobile device. You won't be fumbling around for coins in the morning or looking for a brown paper bag. You can also purchase uniform items when the shop's not open and our volunteers will deliver the items to your child's classroom. Flexischools registration is free and only takes a few minutes so get online via the link below.

Tuckshop News

We would like to take this opportunity to advise the school community that Flexischools is the only option available for ordering lunches from the Tuckshop. The bag system is no longer available due to a change in P&C policy and procedure.

Over the counter purchases for years' 1 - 6 students during breaks will still be available. Fruit, drinks and snacks can also be purchased over the counter before school.

Did you know you can set up a recurring order through Flexischools? When you place an order simple check the box at the end of the order to keep your order going every week.

Sushi

Friday's sushi orders need to be in by 11:00am on Thursday through Flexischools. Sushi orders cannot be cancelled once they are place as they are ordered specifically.

Tuckshop Volunteers

We need your help! The Tuckshop is looking for some extra volunteer help every day of the week! You don’t need to come the whole day…if you have time to drop by to wash the dishes or serve at the counter during the lunch break, this would really help us out and make the running of the Tuckshop much easier. Drop us an email or complete the form below if your able to help, we’d really love to see some new faces.

Contact

If you need to contact the tuckshop for any reason, please do via one of our contact methods: (please note – our emails are not checked in the mornings)

Phone: 3902 8304
Email: tuckshop@gumdalesspc.org.au
Stop by and see us anytime

Rachelle & Amanda
Tuckshop Convenors

Uniform Shop News

Mondays: 8:15am – 9:15am
Thursdays:- 8:15am – 9:15am

Some students have been preparing for the cooler weather and we currently don’t have stock in Size 4 and Size 8 fleece hooded jumpers. We have ordered replacement stock and this is expected to arrive in the shop in 4-6 weeks time, just in time for Term 2.

Single use plastic bags will no longer be supplied in the Uniform Shop for over the counter purchases in line with Queensland’s total ban.

Donations of second hand uniform items which are in good condition are most welcome. A donations box has been placed outside the door of the Uniform Shop.

There is a small supply of second hand uniform items now available for purchase, prices as marked. Included in the items are some Prep hats if you’re looking to purchase a ‘spare’ hat for your child.

Don’t forget we are located on Level 1 of Block A so drop by and see our friendly volunteers when the shop is open.

Contact

Phone: 3902 8335

Email: uniform@gumdalesspc.org.au

Orders: Online through Flexischools

Payment: cash and EFTPOS facilities

Shaunesy Pegg
P&C President
pandc@gumdaless.eq.edu.au

P&C Fundraising News

Update from the Fundraising Team!

Planning is well underway for the 2018 Fashion Parade, the major fundraising event for the P&C. The theme is Havana Nights – think vibrant and colourful! It promises to be a fun evening so please save the date – 19 May 2018.

The Gumdale Fashion Parade working party is actively seeking sponsors to ensure the success of this event. If your business would like to get involved, please email fundraising@gumdalesspc.org.au and the team will share the sponsorship packages.

Volunteering in 2018

Thank you to all who have joined the volunteer pool. Volunteering is a great way to get involved in our school and meet other parents within the community.

If you would like to volunteer, please email fundraising@gumdalesspc.org.au and you will be notified via SignUp Genius when volunteering opportunities arise throughout the year.

The Disco

The P&C CRAZY HAIR school disco is a week away! The disco will be run as follow:

• Prep Celebration: 2.00pm – 3.00pm
• Junior (Years 1-3): 5:30pm - 7:00pm
• Senior (Years 4 -6): 7:30pm – 9:00pm

Tickets for Years 1 – 6 can now be pre-purchased via the link below. Entry is $3.50 or Entry + Food (sausage or kebab) + a drink for $8.50.

Tickets will be available on the night at $5.00 and $10.00 for the options detailed above. Cash only.

A gold coin donation is requested for the Prep Celebration.

Fundraising Calendar

Please take note of the dates in the calendar below. The fundraising team are still looking for donations of Easter eggs, chocolates and gift bags for the Easter Raffle prizes. Donation boxes can be found in the school admin offices.

Fundraising Programs

A reminder that if you make a purchase from any of the following organisations they give back to our school.

Stay Social

To stay up to date with all the Fundraising Events, follow us on social media:

Please note the Fundraising Facebook page has now joined the P&C page. Make sure to follow the pages below to stay up to date.

• Facebook at Gumdale State School Parents & Citizens
• Instagram at gumdale_ss_pandc
• Twitter at gumdaless_pandc
• Or contact us on fundraising@gumdalesspc.org.au

Message from Ross Vasta MP

Do you have questions or concerns about crime and safety in your neighbourhood?

Join me at a special mobile office I’ll be hosting with State Member for Chatsworth Steve Minnikin and invited crime prevention specialists.

Date: Saturday, 24 March 2018
Time: 8-9.30am
Where: Wakerley Park (78 Dianthus St, Wakerley)

Choose how to add this event to your calendar:

Apple Calendar iPhone, iPad, Mac - Download .ics file

Outlook Desktop Outlook - Download .ics file

Android Calendar Android devices - Download .ics file

Other Calendar Google Calendar, Yahoo, etc. - Download .ics file

Download Event