28 George StreetGordonvale QLD 4865Subscribe:Subscribe: https://gordonvaless.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

Email:Email: the.principal@gordonvass.eq.edu.auPhone:Phone: 07 4043 3666

Fax:Fax: 07 4043 3600

Mr Lloyd Perkins,Mr Lloyd Perkins,PrincipalPrincipal

21 November 201721 November 2017

From the PrincipalThe end of the school year is fastapproaching, so too, the numerousactivities, celebrations and transitions thatgo hand in hand with this time of year. Thechildren are looking forward to theforthcoming Fancy Dress Ball and arerehearsing regularly to put on a greatshow for you.

The Fancy Dress Ball (Friday 1/12/17) isnot a Disco. It’s more like a concert with

year levels performing a group dance to entertain you, then anopportunity for some parent and child participation. Bring yourdancing shoes and dress up if you’d like. The P&C are cateringto look after our appetite and thirst. We hope to see everyonethere for a fun night.

Teachers are preparing student report cards that provide anassessment of performance over the semester. Each child’sreport card will be mailed home to arrive in the first week ofthe holidays. The envelope will also have a letter addressed toyour son or daughter from their 2018 class teacher welcomingthem, along with a booklist and other useful information. If youraddress has changed, please let us know so that we can getthese important documents to you.

Literacy and Numeracy skills are central to our ability tocommunicate with the world. The Department of Educationhas recently updated information for parents on its websiteliteracy and numeracy pages. The webpages have ideas andfactsheets to help you and they are translated in multiplelanguages.

The Presentation Parade will be held on Thursday 7thDecember in our school Hall, commencing at 9:15am. Allparents are invited to attend this annual event. At this paradewe’ll present annual awards to children who’ve worked hardthroughout the year academically, culturally and on the sportingfield demonstrating excellence. Our incoming school captainswill be introduced and begin the process to take over in theirnew role. Parents and visitors are invited to stay for morning teaafterwards.

Congratulations to our newly elected School Captains andHouse Captains. Students nominated for positions in October,demonstrating they met the minimum behaviour criteria –excellent on their last report and for school captains, AA or AAAbehaviour certificate. We are looking forward to working withthe new School Captain team. Congratulations,

Mrs Leoni Robinson –Mrs Leoni Robinson –Acting Deputy PrincipalActing Deputy Principal

Liam 4/5, Lila 5CLiam 4/5, Lila 5C

Max 5C and Lachlan 5AMax 5C and Lachlan 5A

Parenting Insights

Our article from Michael Grose this week looks at the idea ofbuilding independence in your child as their key to resilience. Ihope you find it interesting.

Regards,Mr Perkins

Acting Deputy’s DeskWith teachers busily writing reportcards, and children busilycompleting assessment tasks andend of year preparations, it’s a goodtime to remind people of ourbehaviour expectations. Ourstudents are getting tired butexcited about the holidays and thefrequency of behaviour incidentsoften rises at the end of term due tothis.

Gordonvale State School Code of Behaviour

Be a SAFE RESPECTFUL LEARNER

Be a SAFE RESPECTFUL LEARNER

Here is some information to help you understand the wayteacher’s grade behaviour on reports cards.

Behaviour Grades

Our behaviour policy states that an ‘A’ for behaviour (termedExcellent on years 4-6 report cards) is given when a studentis consistently demonstrating all of the above aspects of beingsafe, respectful and a learner. For a ‘B’ grade, the child isfrequently following all of the above and is termed “very good”on the report card. The expectation is that all children areusually showing all of the behaviours and this is the ‘C’ standardwhich is called satisfactory on reports. Students who receivea “needs improvement” grading on their report card could beconsidered to be a ‘D’ which means they are only sometimesable to manage their behaviour to the expectation.Unfortunately, there may be some children who are rarely ableto demonstrate the behaviour standards and those children willreceive an “unacceptable” grade.

Prep to Year 3 report cards have different terms for behaviourgrading but our school behaviour expectations remain thesame. An ‘A’ is called Very High and a ‘B’ grade is High. The‘C’ standard is termed Satisfactory, with Developing as the‘D’ grade. Support Required is the wording for an ‘E’ gradebehaviour in Prep to Year 3.

Parent support is the most influential factor on achievement inschool, please help your children by reminding them to keeptrying their very best in all aspects of school life right up untilthe very last day. Keep asking your children how their day wasand listen to their stories, good and bad. Keep in touch withteachers about your children and let us know if there is anythingwe need to know. Try to keep your children coming to schoolevery day unless they are too sick. I am delighted to report thatwe have some students who have attended every day this yearso far!

I am looking forward to seeing many of you for the end ofyear presentation parade in school on Thursday of week 10. Allparents of children receiving awards will be invited by letter andall are encouraged to share our student achievements for 2017.

Kind regards,Mrs Robinson

• I workand playin a safeway

• I wearmy fulluniformincludinghat andshoes

• I resolveconflicts

• I follow staffdirections

• I allow othersto learn

• I look after myown, othersand schoolproperty

• I accept thedifferences ofothers

• I am readyto learn

• I do mybest

• I amfocusedand stayon task

• Iparticipatein allactivities

• I reportunsafesituations

• I movesafelyaroundtheschool

• I stay intheschoolgrounds

• I speak politelyand listenattentively toothers

• I takeresponsibilityfor my choicesand accepttheconsequences

• I look aftermyself

• Ico-operateand workwell withothers

• I ask forhelp whenI need it

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Class News!

Year 6

End of Year Activities

A farewell celebration will be held for year 6 students andtheir families on Wednesday 6th December. Light refreshmentswill be served at 6.15pm before the program commences at6.35pm. The evening is scheduled to conclude atapproximately 8.00pm. Students are required to be dressed infull school uniform.

Families are also invited to attend the Presentation Parade foryears 4 to 6 on Thursday 7th December at 9:15am in themulti-purpose hall.

Following the Presentation Parade on Thursday 7th December,all eligible year 6 students will attend an excursion to theEsplanade Lagoon in Cairns. Students will travel by bus atapproximately 10:30am and return to school at 2:30pm. Asausage sizzle, fruit and drinks will be provided.

For full details of the events mentioned above, please see notessent home with students last week.

Kindest Regards,Year 6 Cohort Teachers

Class News!

Year 1

End of Year Activities

The last week of school brings with it a variation to schoolroutine. Please see below for details.

Tuesday 5th December: Year 1 students and their familiesare invited to attend ‘The Light and Sound Extravaganza’ at9.15am in the multi-purpose hall. Followed by a power pointpresentation in the classroom.

Wednesday 6th December: Year 1 students are invited totravel by bus to Muddy’s Playground on the Cairns Esplanadefor morning tea. We will depart school at approximately 9.30amand return to school by 12.30pm. Please ensure your child iswearing their swimmers underneath their full school uniform,has a hat and appropriate shoes. Your child will also need tobring a packed morning tea, cold water, a towel and sunscreen.

Thursday 7th December: All students attend the whole schoolparade at 9.15am. Following this at 11.20am, year 1 studentsto participate in a ‘wet activity’ involving the cleaning out of tidyboxes, chairs and desks. Please ensure your child has a set ofold clothes, thongs, sunblock, hat and towel. We will then enjoya shared lunch downstairs. It is desirable that you provide fingerfood, either hot or cold. This afternoon you child will bring hometheir used school equipment so please send a strong shoppingbag for these items.

Kindest Regards,Year 1 Cohort Teachers

Class News!

Year 2

End of Year Activities

The year 2 students are invited to attend a break-up excursionat the Woree Pool on Wednesday 6th December. We will leaveschool at 11.30am sharp and return at approximately 2.30pm.Your child will need to carry their bag which should include:a water bottle, lunch, hat, sun safe swimming gear includingtogs. Tuckshop will not be available on this day nor are studentspermitted to bring money for the pool canteen. The cost is $2per student payable to the office by Friday 1st December.

Kindest Regards,Year 6 Cohort Teachers

Class News!

Year 5

End of Year Activity

On Thursday 7th December, all year 5 students and MissMeurer’s year 4 students are invited to attend the end of yearactivity at the Gordonvale pool. Students will leave school at11am and return at 2.30pm. Students will need to bring theirswimmers, sun shirt, towel, sunscreen, hat and shoes. There isno cost to students however, they will need to bring their ownlunch including water bottle and snacks for morning tea.

Kindest Regards,Year 5 Cohort Teachers

Class News!

Year 4

End of Year Activity

The year 4 students will be celebrating their spectacular yearwith 'Wonderful Wet Play' on Thursday 7th December.Students will enjoy pizzas and fruit platters as a cohort on theday. Students will need their swimmers, sun safe shirt, towel,hat and water bottle. It would also be a good idea to send alongtheir swimmers on the last day of school, Friday 8th Decemberwhen we will be cleaning out our tidy trays.

Kindest Regards,Year 4 Cohort Teachers

Five CitizensOur school vision is centred on creating active and informedcitizens for the 21st century. Our vision identifies five key areasfor building the citizenship skill of our students. This week wedemonstrate:

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Creative

Creative and Caring

In class, we make notes to complement each other and everynow and then we read them out. Often there are notes fromchildren addressed to the whole class as displayed below:

To the class,

We are like a family. We care a lot about each other and whenI think of my class I think that we should just be friends. Fromyour fellow Amigo

We also drew Light Houses, for a drawing assignmentconnected to English around Storm Boy.

Kindest Regards,Ms LightClass 5C Teacher

Eco

Sustainable Cubby

I am in a program called Excelsior at Gordonvale State School.Students get the opportunity to save the environment and learnnew skills.

The aim of my project was to build an eco- friendly cubby houseto inspire families to think more about how their actions canaffect the environment.

After talking to my dad and mum about possibilities, I sketcheda plan on a piece of paper. I then transferred the sketch on tothe computer.

I constructed a model first to get an idea of what the cubbywould be like. It was built out of wood, plastic food containers,alfoil from croissant packets and plastic tubing. From makingthe model, I learnt that things do not go always as planned andsome materials don’t go together well.

With my dad, we are going to build a real cubby at our home onthe Little Mulgrave River. We will use mostly recycled materialsincluding spare corrugated iron, milk crates and old timber.

I enjoyed this project because I like trying new things anddesigning things because I like using my imagination.

By,Hunter – Year 4/5

Eco

Do you want to eradicate the cane toad race?

Well, come and look at my trap to help lower the giant numbersof cane toads and save our native animals.

Cane toads have a drastic effect on our beautiful environment.The poison from their glands harms our native animals andpets. Cane toads were originally introduced from SouthAmerica and then to Hawaii then finally to Australia in June1935. They were released at the Bureau of Sugar ExperimentalStation in Gordonvale to reduce the amount of cane beetlesbecause cane beetle larvae, laid underground, hatch and eatthe roots of cane. Toads didn’t eat the beetles instead theyfound additional food sources and overwhelmed theenvironment by reproducing too fast for humans to react.

My design traps toads. Toads are attracted to my trap by theinsects around the lights in my trap. The toads walk onto andactivate a pressure plate that triggers a door to enclose theirexit. Once captured in the trap they have nowhere else to goexcept into a bucket. The bucket is filled with a brine solutionwhich kills the toads.

If a native frog accidentally falls into my trap they will not diebecause there is a piece of coolite floating in the trap that theycan use to escape from the brine. Toads will not be able to dothis because they are too heavy.

I got my idea of doing this trap design from Dr George Turnerwho allowed us to visit him and take a look at his trap.

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My Trap Design

By,Samuel – Year 4B

Chappy Corner

Mrs Van Hassel – SchoolChaplain

It’s week 7 already and it’s hard to believethat Christmas is just a few weeks away.

My lunch breaks continue to be busy withstudents coming in to colour-in and playwith the puzzles. The Kinetic Sand is also

very popular - if you have any spare toys like this that you don’twant lying around the house, I would be happy to receive themfor these activities.

I have been to a number of classes to assist students andteachers in the past few weeks. It is great to see so manystudents trying hard and asking for help when they need it.Students need to remember that it is important not to give upand to keep on trying, failure is only failure if you stop.

Breakfast Club on Tuesday mornings continues to providebreakfast for many students. I am thankful to the manyvolunteers who come each week to assist, we even havestudents from year 3 come to lend a helping hand. To thankthe many supporters both for their service and their financialsupport, the Chaplaincy Committee recently held a thank yousupporters dinner. This was a great time of fellowship andencouragement particularly for me as a Chaplain. If you areinterested in supporting Chaplaincy please consider attendingour meetings, held once a term at the school. Please contactme for more information.

Quote for the Week : “Success is not final, failure is not fatal:it is the courage to continue that counts…”

Kindest regards,Mrs Van Hassel

News from the Library:Another week, another book!

See you soon in the library,Miss Reichardt and Mrs Curcuruto

P&C NewsShort and sweet this week from the P&C!

Thank you to all those people that helped make the TriviaNight held on Saturday 4 November a fun and successful night.There are lots of people who volunteered their time to helpdecorate and prepare to make the night and lots of businesswho supported the event through donations. The response wasvery positive and the event raised over $2,000.

The next fun family activity to look forward to is the FancyDress Ball on Friday 1 December. We hope to see you theresupporting your children and the school.

The next P&C meeting is Wednesday 22 November at 3pm.Hope to see you there!

Kindest regards,Toni Farquhar, P&C President

School Banking Day Reminder!We would like to thank all of our studentswho have participated in the CommBankSchool Banking program this year.

Our final School Banking day for 2017 will beWednesday 6th December 2017. If your child is eligible to ordera reward item please ensure that the reward coupon iscompleted and returned prior to this Friday 24th November2017. Any tokens that have not been redeemed this year canbe used in 2018.

Warm regards,Sue O’Reilly, School Banking Co-ordinator

Student awards go too…

Week 5 Term 4

William 4B AA

Riley 4B AA

Azalia 2A Silver

Kelsie 2A Silver

Ella 2A Silver

• Library books are due back Friday17th November.

• Home Readers are due back Friday24th November.

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Week 5 Term 4

Adam 2A Silver

Jackson 2A Silver

Michael 2A Silver

Cooper 2A Silver

Emily 2A Silver

Jayden 1/2 Bronze

Clay 1/2 Bronze

Trae 1/2 Bronze

Ryeland 1/2 Bronze

Sebastian 1/2 Bronze

Kelilah 1/2 Bronze

Week 6 Term 4

George 1 2 Learning

Sebastian 1 2 Learning

Lakkana 1A Self-Responsibility

Meg 1A Learning

Alivia 1B Learning

Giselle 1B Learning

Ne’vaeh 1B Learning

Semelia 1C Learning

Daniel 2B Learning

Keillyn 2B Learning

Bridie 3A Respect

Lyberti 3A Learning

Darnell 3B Learning

Tristan 3B Learning

Jayden 3C Learning

Olivia 3C Learning

Anthony 4B Learning

Charlotte 4B Learning

Damon 4C Learning

Week 6 Term 4

Tinashe 4C Learning

Conner 5A Learning

Linese 5C Learning

Harrison 5C Learning

Lachlan 6A Learning

Haddassah Prep C Respect

Tahi Prep C Learning

Maddi Prep A Respect

Chanel Prep A Respect

Kamasie Prep A Respect

Austin Prep B Learning

Cassius Prep B Learning

Attendance Award

Week 5 – Term 4

Lower School Grade 3A – 93.6%!

Upper School Grade 5C – 96.9%!

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Week 6 – Term 4

Lower School Grade 3C – 95.4%!

Upper School Grade 5C – 97.7%!

Admin News

Exemptions from Compulsory Schooling

An exemption from compulsory schooling is available when astudent cannot attend school or it would be unreasonable inall the circumstances for them to attend school for a period of

more than 10 consecutive school days. The exemption excusesparents from their legal obligation to ensure that their child ofcompulsory school age is enrolled at or attends a school.

Should your child require an exemption from compulsoryschooling an application form seeking the exemption will bemade available from the school office. The form must becompleted and approved by the Principal before the exemptionis required.

Change to Electronic Payments

When paying invoices online please DO NOT use BPAY. Thisfunction is no longer available on invoices as a payment option.Please use only the BPOINT function. This function is muchmore efficient and will streamline your payment to ensure thecorrect invoice is paid. You will no longer have the optionto select BPAY with future invoices. Thank you for yourco-operation.

Contact Details

As the end of year draws near and report cards will soon beon the way. It is a timely reminder to update your details. Thiswill ensure you receive your child’s report card without delay.Did you know that you can also access your child’s report cardsecurely online through the QParents app? If you misplace areport card or you would like to receive it quicker than the paperversion, simply visit the link below to register.

https://qparents.qld.edu.au/

Lost Property

Please remember to check the lost property box before the endof the year. It is located outside the front of the Administrationbuilding, underneath the notice board trolley. All unclaimeditems will be donated to charity in the holidays.

School Phone Calls

When returning missed calls from the school, please rememberto check your messages first so as we know the correct placeto direct your call. Thank you for your co-operation.

Dates to Remember

November 2017

School Banking Wednesday 22nd

P&C Meeting - 3pm Wednesday 22nd

GSHS Year 6 Transition Day Friday 24th

Prep Excursion Gordonvale Post Office Tuesday 28th

School Banking Wednesday 29th

GSHS Year 6 Transition Parent Info Session – 6pm Wednesday 29th

Christmas Stall Thursday 30th

December 2017

Christmas Stall Friday 1st

Fancy Dress Ball Friday 1st

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December 2017

Whole School Parade Friday 1st

Year 1 Light and Sound Extravaganza Tuesday 5th

Year 1 Excursion Muddy’s Playground Wednesday 6th

Year 2 Excursion Woree Pool Wednesday 6th

Year 4 – 6 Swimming Carnival Wednesday 6th

School Banking Wednesday 6th

Year 6 Farewell Celebration Wednesday 6th

Year 5 Excursion Gordonvale Pool Thursday 7th

Year 4 End of Year Activity 'Wonderful Wet Play' Thursday 7th

Year 1 Wet Activity Thursday 7th

Presentation Parade Years 4-6 Thursday 7th

January 2018

School Office Open 8am – 3pm Monday 15th

School Office Open 8am – 3pm Tuesday 16th

School Office Open 8am – 3pm Wednesday 17th

School Office Open 12noon – 3pm Thursday 18th

Student Free Day Thursday 18th

School Office Open 8am – 3pm Friday 19th

Student Free Day Friday 19th

School Resumes All Classes Monday 22nd

Australia Day Public Holiday Friday 26th

Community Notices

What When Where

TYCs Surreal SummerHoliday Drama Program

Saturday, 4th December –Friday, 19th January

The Young Company,Cairns

Phone: 40414066

Click here to view theYoung Company website

Gordonvale Carols in thePark

Friday 8th December

4.30pm – 9pm

Norman Park, Gordonvale

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We want to hear from youYour input as parents and carers of Gordonvale State Schoolstudents is greatly valued. If you have any feedback or ideason how we can communicate better with the Gordonvale StateSchool community, or have a good news story to share,please contact Jo by email at jcuda4@eq.edu.au

Advertising in the SCHOMEIf you would like to advertise your business in the SCHOME,please contact Jude Dawson, Schoolzine Advertising AccountsManager.

Jude DawsonPh: 5414 2363Mob: 0432 538 927Email: jude.dawson@schoolzine.com.au

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