29 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

Message from the Principal

New Principal

We have had a busy but productive start to the year. Looking at our preps at Assembly this week I could not be anything but proud of how well they have settled into Gumdale State School. It has been a pleasure to lead the school over the last six weeks and work with the amazing staff here at Gumdale. After the holidays we welcome Ms Susan Cowley to Gumdale to step into the Acting Principal role for Term 2. Susan is looking forward to being part of the Gumdale community and brings with her a wealth of experience in leadership.

Cross Country

Our School Cross Country was cancelled today due to poor course condition. We are sorry to dissapoint on the final day of term as we know many people were looking forward to today. Year 3 - 6 students will be rescheduled to complete the Cross Country on 18 April from 9am - 11am.  P - 2 Cross Country will be later in Term 2.  Please note that Year 4 Sailing on 18 April will be moved to a different day due to the revised Cross Country dates. 

School Watch

During the holidays, it always helps to have families and neighbours keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour. If you notice anything unusual as you drive or walk past the school grounds, please help by reporting it to School Watch on 13 17 88. If the matter is urgent, please call 000.

Happy Easter

On behalf of everyone at Gumdale State School – I wish you all a safe and relaxing Easter Break. We look forward to seeing you all for the start of Term 2 on Tuesday, 17 April 2018.

Always our Best,

Important Dates

Reminders from the School

School Banking – Parent Volunteer Needed

Call for help. Are there any parents who would like to volunteer and assist with coordinating our School Banking alongside our current parent volunteer? If so, please email: Kelly at byrnes.kell@gmail.com to express your support.

Reminder that Lauren, our local representative from the Commonwealth Bank will be here on Thursday 3 May from 11.15am in the foyer of Hollis Hall to talk with current banking students about the token process. Please make a note in your diary.

Road Works Notice – Formosa Road

We have been advised that upcoming improvement and safety works will take place on Formosa Road (in the vicinity of the Gumdale State School) during the April 2018 school holiday period.

The work will include installation of kerb and channel and a 1.2m wide concrete footpath. This work will provide a safer and more pedestrian-friendly environment for students and local residents.

ANZAC Day Ceremony

Parents and carers are welcome to attend our school ANZAC Ceremony on Monday 23 April 2018 in Term 2. Starting at 9am in the Hollis Hall, this is an opportunity to witness an occasion of respect and appreciation to all ANZACs – both past and present.

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.

Messages from the Deputies

Term One

The term one highlight for the deputies has definitely been talking with students about their reading and writing. We are looking forward to spending more time in classrooms next term to see how our students are building on the great learning they have started this year. Thank you to our teachers for the excellent work you do to ensure our students are doing their best each day.

Cross Country

We look forward to the Cross Country races in Term 2 when we return after the holidays. 

Easter Hat Parade

The Prep students paraded their Easter Hats on Wednesday morning. Thank you to all our parents and carers who attended to support our youngest students in their first big school event. They all looked fantastic!

Update your details

If you have made any changes to your personal details, in particular emergency contacts or email address, please remember to contact the office staff to let them know in person or via email: admin@gumdaless.eq.edu.au.

Crossing the Road

Thank you to our Teachers Aides who stand at our busy local crossings to help our students cross the roads safely after school. You can appreciate that this is not an easy job, given the high volume of traffic at this time of day.

Please work with our staff:

• Wait patiently behind the yellow line.
• Walk.
• Stop when the signal is given.
• Accept their direction cheerfully.
• Dismount and walk if you are a cyclist or riding a scooter.
• Be a role model to the children around you.

Due to the number of people waiting to cross at peak times it will sometimes take two changes of lights to get everyone across.

Parking at peak times.

Please do not park in the carparks belonging to local businesses solely for the purpose of picking up your child. If you are picking up your child from the New Cleveland Road side of the school, consider the safest way for your child to get into the car without going onto the traffic lanes.

Bullying. No Way!

Thank you to our generous community who supported our participation in the National Day Of Action Against Bullying. Together we raised $710. This money will go towards the purchase of our orange ribbons. The remainder will go towards the purchase of library books about friendship and getting on with others.

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 2

Students have been busy designing and building parachutes to investigate whether a larger or smaller canopy is best for slowing down the descent.

Year 6 WSFB Excursion

Last week our Year 6 cohort had an exciting day at the World Science Fair Brisbane (WSFB) seeing the ‘Cool Jobs’ event and a teacher guided visit of the museum. Four very interesting presentations and inspiration for future career fields. Presenters included:

Dr Chris Ferrie a Quantum Physicist and children’s author – Chris demonstrated a simple light investigation that students can recreate for you at home.

Professor Veena Sahajwalla a Materials Scientist Engineer shared her work in progress producing a generation of green materials, products and resources made primarily, or entirely, from waste.

Professor Justin Marshall is an expert in understanding the visual system of marine animals including the amazing mantis shrimp. Professor Marshall has worked alongside Sir David Attenborough on several series including one of the recent Great Barrier Reef as chief scientist consultant.

Dr Jennifer Wiseman (all the way from NASA in America) is a senior astrophysicist and the senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Year 6 Green Hearts School Future BNE STEM Challenge

Last Friday our Year 6 students (and 5E) took up the challenge to help secure Brisbane’s future water security! The event was live streamed from WSFB with guest speaker Dr Karl answering a question from a Gumdale student! (1:06:00 at the link below)

Full video can be found at:

A selection of Gumdale student solutions:

STEAM Club Years 3-6

Students are well underway planning their educational video and compost bins.

• To build our compost bins we require about 10 pallets. If you have access to old pallets and would like to donate them please drop them to the STEAM Centre early next term!
• The school holidays is a great time to start your entry for the Cicada Awards – details below. Visit one of the STEAM teachers if you would like assistance with your entry.

We meet Thursday and Friday 8.00 – 8.45am. Students are welcome to attend both days, however if they can only make one 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 for coding fun!

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

Thank you

Thank you to all Year 6 students for behaving so responsibly on our recent excursion. Great GROW behaviours!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

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. Please remember your sailing togs, sun shirt, hat, enclosed shoes, sunscreen, towel, water bottle and snack. 4C, 4R and 6M students, you will need to remember these on Day 1 of Term 2.

Please contact James Doherty jpdoh0@eq.edu.au if 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:

• Sam MacInnis - AFL
• Joshua Walker – AFL
• Jake Walters – Soccer
• Kami Regenet – Hockey
• Sienna Smith - Hockey

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

Congratulations also to all the BMTA Touch Football representatives who will be participating in the State Cup in July.

Cross Country

Apologies that today's Cross Country had to be cancelled.  More information will be sent home to parents at the start of Term 2 reminding them of key dates and so on. 

Interschool Sport

The Interschool Sport competition begins on the first Friday back of Term 2. 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

Music Photo for All Music Students

On Tuesday 17 April (first day back) we will be taking a promotional photo of ALL our students in the music program this year. This includes instrumental students, students in Band, the Gumnuts Choir, Gumleaves Choir and Gumtrees Choir. Please meet outside the music room with your instruments if you are an instrumental student, choir members come as you are. Full formal school uniform is required to be in the photo.

We will be celebrating the end of semester by bringing entertainment throughout our Gumdale grounds for the first ever ‘Busking Bonanza Week’ next term.

We are calling for singers and instrumentalists to combine in duets, trios, small ensembles or even as soloists to prepare items for this special week of music. The lovely music staff are here to assist you and you are welcome to book a lunch time to rehearse in the Music Room, so come and see us after the holidays.

More information coming soon…

Choir

A big congratulations to the Gumnuts Choir and their conductor Miss Slater for their wonderful performance on assembly last week! A special thanks to all the parents who came along to support their child’s first performance for the year, what a turn out! We look forward to hearing more fun songs and beautiful singing from you again soon.

Upcoming Music Events

Combined Choir Rehearsal

To prepare for our ANZAC Day performance, the Year 3-6 students in the Gumleaves and Gumtrees Choirs will combine for another special rehearsal after the holidays with Miss Slater. Normal choir rehearsal for the Gumleaves will still go ahead on the Friday Term 2, Week 1 with Mrs Lane.

Instrumental

As you will miss your normal Monday rehearsal in Week 1 next term, we will be having a special rehearsal on the Tuesday instead. Even though this is the first day back at school, please aim to be on time.

Practise, Practise, Practise

Can we encourage you all to keep singing and practising these holidays. Practise makes progress, so hold onto your regular short practise sessions until they become habit and you’ll notice improvements. Sing through your songs from class and choir, play through your band pieces and book exercises and work on the tricky parts until they become easy. Your family makes a great audience and your home is the best venue so why not treat them to a performance these holidays.

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.

YMCA Gumdale

Outside of School Hours Care (OSHC)

The team at YMCA Gumdale’s Outside of School Hours Care are preparing for the busy season as students join their vacation care program over the Easter Holidays. There is still time to book a spot. Plenty of incursions are taking place over the holidays so click on the attached vacation schedule below and contact OSHC to book a place for your child. The OSHC Centre has also upgraded their Kiosk to an online sign in, sign out program. Convenient way to log in and out without using pen & paper.

Cyber Safety Parent Information Session

The Department of Education's Cybersafety and Reputation Management team (CSRM) advises, investigates and supports schools to manage online behaviours and digital reputation issues. Within this scope, the team draws on their diverse experience, including police investigation, policy, social media marketing, and recruitment, to deliver up-to-date informative sessions about positive social media use.

The CSRM team visited Gumdale State School on 9 February to speak with students in Years 2-6, and is conducting a parent session at Wynnum SHS on Thursday 19 April from 5:30pm. The parent session is an overview of cybersafety, trending platforms, online dos and don’ts, and useful settings to be aware of. This session goes for about 45 minutes, and will allow parents to ask questions throughout.

http://ems.gs/3wfq0ctbWiIl

You can read more about the department’s cybersafety program and resources on their Facebook page:

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.

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 at 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.

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

Uniform shop.png

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

The Uniform Shop is now fully stocked with microfiber jackets and fleece hoodies in all sizes.

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 hard 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!
The Disco

The P&C CRAZY HAIR school disco was a great success! There really were some crazy hairstyles! It was great to see the Gumdale kids having so much fun. Thank you to all who volunteered on the evening and ensured the event ran smoothly. It was wonderful to see so many new volunteers getting involved.

A big thank you to The Butcher Shoppe in Cannon Hill for their generous donation of 300 sausages for the event. When you are next in Cannon Hill, please drop in and give them a try. They are definitely worth a visit!

Easter Raffle

Thank you to all the students (and parents/ carers) who worked hard to sell their tickets. Thank you to the school community for donations and to our volunteers who put together beautiful Easter baskets as prizes!

Congratulations to the top selling class of 2S and to our two top ticket sellers Ava Millar (3M) and Manny Callinicos (PJ).The winners of the 5 major baskets were: Rachel Masterman (sold by 1W); C Harrison (5H); Sorohan Family (PCO); Peter Taylor (3P) and Frank Regenet (4D). Enjoy your delicious prizes!

The raffle raised $6,548.85 with an additional donation of $2,000 from Todd Gerhardt. A big thank you again Todd for your support of Gumdale State School.

Mother’s Day Stall

The Mother’s Day Stall will be held on the Thursday 10 and Friday 11 May. Once again we are looking for donations of wrapped individual chocolates such as Cadbury’s Favourites or Roses. If you are able to provide a donation, please drop off to the P&C box in the admin office by Friday 4 May.

Gifts will be available from $2 up to $10, with cards available from $1. Children will be advised which day they will be visiting the stall in Term 2.

Fashion Parade - Havana Nights

The 2018 Fashion Parade will be held on Saturday, 19 May 2018. Tickets go on sale early in Term 2. Tables will seat eight (8) and if a full table is sold in one booking that table receives two complimentary bottles of sparkling wine.

If your business would like to get involved, the Fashion Parade working party is still actively looking for sponsors. This is a very popular evening, so it is a great opportunity to promote your business. To discuss how your business can get involved please email fundraising@gumdalesspc.org.au and one of the team will be in touch.

Volunteering in 2018

A little reminder that if you would like to get involved in our school community, volunteering is a great way to do that. There are no time requirements, just the option to help out here and there when you are able to. 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.

Fundraising Calendar

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

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