Rathdowney State Primary School
143-155 Mount Lindesay Highway, Rathdowney 4287
Phone: (07) 5540 4333 Fax: (07) 5540 4300
Principal: Tina van Bennekom www.rathdownss.eq.edu.au
A Letter to the
Community
“Thought for the Week”
SCHOOL NEWS
No.30 14 October 2016
Year 3-6
Below you can read some of the
students’ holiday recounts.
On the holidays I went to my
dad’s house. I played on the
scooters with Ava and Mia. It
was a lot of fun.
Then we went to Nan’s house
and played with the dogs. The
dogs’ names are Rosie and Chilly. Rosie, Ava and I spent a bit
of time playing on the swings.
After that Ava, Mia and I went
home and had an early night
because we were going to the
movies with Tanya the next
day.
We watched the movie,
“Storks”. It was really funny
and had us all in stitches laughing. Even better, there were
rides to go on after the movies.
I went on the panda and Ava
went on the dinosaur. We had
a totally awesome time!
Dakota (Yr 3)
I can’t wait until the next school
holidays!
This is because, on the 22 September in the last holidays,
Jayme, Rieley, Hailie and I went
to the movies with the teachers
and we watched “Pete’s Dragon”. It was amazing! After that
we were off to lunch at Sizzler’s.
I ate 4 big bowls of ice-cream.
Not surprisingly, I felt very, very
sick after that. Walking around
the shops afterwards helped a
lot. We passed a lolly shop and
I bought a big bag of lollies. I
can’t help it. I’m just like most
kids. I love sweets!!
It was the most fun I’ve ever
had in one day. And to think
that next holidays I get to do it
all again! It gets me all excited.
Jocelyn (Yr 5)
Hey everybody, guess what we
did in the last holidays? We
went to the movies at Browns
Plains and watched
the movie “Pete’s Dragon”. It
was so cool and I thought the
movie had a nice message to it
as well. It was also sad at the
same time. I guess that what
made it such a good movie.
But that wasn’t the best part of
my holidays! The camping was!
My whole family went to Minnie Waters National Park in
northern New South Wales. It
was a place right on the beach!
We were allowed to go swimming at the beach every day!
The water was soooo cold!!
On the third day, we all went
for a long, long walk from one
end of the beach to the other.
It was soooo far and my legs
hurt a lot! Along the way, my
cousins and I collected lots of
pretty shells.
I had the most fun on this
camping holiday because there
were three other girls my age to
play with. There were my two
cousins and another girl who
was a friend of one of my cousins. We were all 11 years old. It
was the best camping trip I
have ever had and it will live in
my memory forever.
Taleesha (Yr 6)
Guess who we saw in the school
holidays? We had gone to the
movies and on the way there
from the carpark we ran into
Miss Lane and Miss Lane’s
mum. We talked to them both
for a little bit and then we went
to the movies to see “The Secret
Life of Pets”. The movie was
awesome! At the end of the
movie, Lizzy started dancing
and going crazy. It was clear
that she had eaten way too
many lollies!!
Belynda (Yr 6)
YAY!!! I squealed when I woke
up. I quickly realised that Miss
Lane and baby Austin were
coming over to visit and to play.
Jocelyn and I scrambled to get
dressed in our stylish gear as
rapidly as we could. Soon we
were ready and we raced down
the long and very hot driveway
to meet Miss Lane at the gate.
Mia (Yr 4)
Jenny and Tina
Student Council News
At the last Student Council
meeting, members discussed
fundraising. Now that the
weather is warmer the Student
Council will again be selling ice
blocks on Fridays instead of the
healthy lunches we had in
terms 2 and 3. Ice blocks are
priced at $1, $1.50 and $2 each.
We sincerely thank Mrs Goggins
for generously donating ice
blocks to the Council for sale.
The Council voted to donate
$300 to the Queensland Cancer
Fund as we do every year. As
the school has a school
chaplain, the Student Council
voted to donate $300 to the
school’s chaplaincy program for
this year also.
The Council hopes to have
another Christmas hamper to
be raffled at the Rathdowney
Hotel for the end of the year.
Swimming Training
As mentioned in newsletters at
the end of last term, the P&C’s
swim club is now closed.
However, a new incorporated
swim club is being started and
the school is in the process of
developing a hire agreement
with the new club. As this will
take a bit longer and the new
fees may be higher as a result,
the school has sought to look
after all our students who were
formerly in the club.
We have been successful in
getting a federal government
grant so that we can hire a
qualified swim coach to train
our students. The days have
had to be changed to
Wednesdays and Fridays for
swim training after school.
Ellen Masen has agreed to
coach any students who can
swim 25 metres. She will work
with them on stroke correction,
diving, racing techniques and
improving their swimming skills
generally. Lessons start at 3pm
and finish at 4pm. There is no
cost to the students except for
$2 entry fee for each lesson.
Hopefully by offering these
lessons, it will give new
students a chance to work out
whether they would be
interested or have the talent
for taking their swimming
involvement further.
Notes are attached to this
newsletter for any parents who
would like their children to
participate in these lessons.
Swimming Pool
Entries.
The price of entry to the
Rathdowney State School
Swimming Pool for the coming
2016/2017 swimming season
are as follows:
Adults $3.00
Children (under18) $ 2.00
Family Day Pass (parents and
their children only) $10.00
Season Passes:
Adult $100.00
Child $90.00
Family $200.00
The pool opening hours will be
2-5pm weekends, public
holidays and every day during
the school holidays except
Christmas Day.
Please note that anyone
wishing to purchase season
passes are required to have
them paid for by Friday
October 28 2016.
Season Pass payments can be
made to the school Office
during school hours Tuesday,
Wednesday and Fridays.
School Photo Day –
Wednesday 26 October
Our school photo day for this
year will be on Wednesday, 26
October. Forms were sent
home last week about this.
Envelopes for your orders need
to be returned to the school by
photo day if you are intending
to buy photos.
To make sure that we have the
correct information about
media release wishes from each
of our families, a media release
form was also sent home. As
the school photos have the
students’ names attached and
once sent home may be shared
by families more widely, it is
important that we are clear
about your wishes regarding
having photos taken of your
children.
Please take the time to fill in
the form and return it to the
school ASAP as we can’t allow
the children to have their
photos taken on the day
without your permission.
To date, only 21 forms have
been returned to the school.
Pre-Prep Program
As we do every year, our school
is again offering parents of
students who will be attending
Prep next year the opportunity
for those children to be
involved in our Pre-Prep
program. This 6-week program
starts next week on
Wednesdays from 10am to
11am.
to bring their children in for a
fun time.
The program allows our
pre-preps to mix with the other
students who will be in their
class next year and, in this way,
smooth their transition into
school. It also gives our
teachers an opportunity to
learn more about the students
who will be in the Prep class for
2017 and to discuss any special
needs with parents so that the
school can be best able to
prepare and plan for their
entrance into school. Mrs
Grahl has lots of fun activities
for the youngsters to do
together with the Rathdowney
students while they are here.
The pre-preps always have a
great time and usually can’t
wait to come back again the
next week!
Parents can either stay for the
whole session by having a
coffee and chat in the school
staffroom or just drop the
children off and pick them up
afterwards.
If any parents know of other
local children who will be
entering Prep next year, please
tell them about our Pre-Prep
program and encourage them
Junior News
This week we have started our
new C2C unit for English. The
students will be learning about
the structure of narratives and
what they need to include for it
to be a good story. At the end
of the unit they will be required
to write their own narrative
using the correct structure.
In Maths this term our class
have started a number facts
rapid recall program. We set
aside 2 minutes every day to
test our number fact skills. The
students are really enjoying the
challenge. This week the Year
2’s have been working on their
problem solving skills as well as
addition using hundreds. The
Year 1’s have been exploring 2D
and 3D shapes. They have also
been working with position and
direction. The Preps have been
working on difference
(subtraction) and rainbow facts.
In Geography this week, we
looked at familiar places around
the school and determined
what each place was best used
for.
For the end of year concert, our
class will be doing a play called
'Chicken Licken'. We will be
sending home scripts for your
child to practice their lines
before we start our practices at
school. We have just started
listening to the songs that will
be in play. The students are
really excited about doing the
play and showing it to their
parents.
More from us next week,
Kasey, Cathy, Kay and Ellen.
Rathy S.S. Breakfast
Club Rides Again!
That’s right kids and parents,
after much anticipation we’ve
decided to commence the
YMCA Breakfast Club once
again.
Commencing next Thursday
(Oct.13) our weekly Breakfast
Club will run each Thursday
from 8:15 to 8:45am. This is an
opportunity for every child to
socialise and gain some much
needed sustenance for their
growing brains and bodies.
Children will be able to choose
from a selection of cereals,
toast and spreads which the
YMCA has kindly donated as
part of their breakfast program.
For any enquiries contact
Chappy Rob
([email protected]) or Ms
van Bennekom on 5540 4333.
Tuckshop
A reminder to tuckshop
helpers to please let the school
know, no later than 2pm on a
Tuesday if you cannot do your
rostered Tuckshop duty. As
there aren’t any replacement
helpers, Tuckshop will be
cancelled that week. Notes can
then be sent home advising of
the Cancelled Tuckshop,
allowing each child to bring
lunch with them that
Wednesday. Thank you for
your help in this matter.
Book Club.
A reminder to anyone who is
wishing to purchase from the
recent Scholastic Book Club
catalogues, that order forms
and money are due back at
school by Thursday October 20
2016.
Dates To Remember- October/November
Monday
2016
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
W
17
K 3 Pupil
Free
Day
18
P&C
Meeting
19 Pre Prep
20
21
W
24
K4
25
26 Pre Prep
27
28
(h)Amanda
Peall
©Amanda
Lahrs
(h)Janine
Reilly
©Sara
Murphy
School
Photos
W
31
K5
1
2 Pre Prep
3
4
W
k6
8
9
10
11
7
(h)Amanda
Peall
©Toni
Smith
(h) Janine
Reilly
©Cathy
Wieland