Grantham State School
I S S U E
1 3
T H U R S D A Y
3 0 T H
J U L Y
2 0 1 5
Diligence, Integrity, Creativity and Empathy
TERM 3
JULY
31/07/15
Playgroup
AUGUST
04/08/15
Dance
06/08/15
Dear Parents and Carers,
This week our behaviour focus is on having a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude helps with motivation and helps us to be more optimistic about ourselves and
what we can do. As parents, our question at the end of the day can often be “How
was your day?” and the response is often not very detailed. Why not try asking your
child “What did you enjoy about today?” or “What did you learn today?” Sometimes
we need to assist our children in focussing on the good things about their day to help
them build for themselves a positive and optimistic mindset.
07/08/15
School Opinion Survey
The School Opinion Survey is an opportunity for you to give us feedback about our
school. Last week we sent home a blue form with information regarding the survey.
The survey closes tomorrow and takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Your opinion of our school is valuable and we would very much appreciate you taking time to
complete this survey.
Playgroup
Tipp-Kick
Free dress day–
gold coin donation/ingredients
Pre-Prep morning
10/08/15
Ekka Show Holiday
16 teams from across 11 schools took place in this year’s Lockyer Valley Tipp-Kick championship. The
battle to be the winning team was hotly contested and many of the games were very close. Teams
first competed in a round robin competition against 3 other teams in their group. The winning team
from each group moved into the semi-finals. The winners of the semis played for 1st and 2nd places and
the losers for 3rd and 4th. The final results were:
11/08/15
1st
Helidon B – Jude and Aaron
Caffey Athletics
9/12 year olds only
2nd
Helidon A – Alex and Jacob
3rd
Grantham A – Phoebe and Chelsea
4th
Gatton A – Noah and Jayden
13/08/15
Caffey Athletics
Whole School
Grantham fielded two teams. Congratulations to Phoebe and Chelsea on finishing third. Despite not
getting through to the next round Sara and Karissa played exceptionally well.
As always, all our students displayed great sportsmanship and excellent behaviour, which made for an
extremely enjoyable afternoon.
A big thank you to our eight referees, including Debra and Clair, who helped the day run very smoothly. Thank you also to Mrs Brocherie and Mrs Dorge for acting as time keepers.
Once again, our sponsors for the competition, Wippells Autos, provided the prizes. Thank you for your
continued support.
And last, but by no means least, a huge thank you to the parents and grandparents, who took time out
of their busy schedules to transport the competitors to Gatton.
Caffey Sports 11th & 13th August
All students in Years 4-6 plus those 9 year olds from year 3 will attend both
Caffey Sports Days on the Tuesday and Thursday. Children in years Prep –3
will only attend on Thursday. The bus will leave Grantham school at 9:30
am on Tuesday and am on 8:00 Thursday. Please return permission slips
ASAP.
Dance Classes
Dance Classes have commenced for the term. Children are attending
these on Tuesdays for 5 weeks. Permission slips have been sent home.
Please make sure they are returned ASAP if you haven't already.
Dental Van
The Dental Van has now finished at the school for this year. They are just
finalising follow up appointments at this stage. No new visits by students.
Thank you to everyone who returned their dental forms.
Our Tipp-Kickers in action
WEEKLY AWARDS
GOTCHA
AWARDS
27/07/15
JACKSON
CLAIRE
LAURA
MANUEL
ANNA
STUDENT OF THE WEEK —
20/07/15
P-1 CLASS
MEMPHIS - For actively listening and following teachers
instructions.
1/2 CLASS
MADISON – For always doing
her best and being a super
learner.
TYLER - For always applying
himself diligently to his learning
and being a responsible student
overall.
YEAR 3 CLASS
ELIZABETH – For being an active participant in literacy rotations.
4/5 CLASS
CHLOE - For an improvement in
effort in class.
5/6 CLASS
BRITTNEY – For her great participation in class.
ALLEIRAH – For helping
younger students in the playground.
WEEKLY AWARDS
STUDENT OF THE WEEK —
27/07/15
P-1 CLASS
ERIC – For a great start to the
term.
JACKSON - For being a great role
model for his classmates.
1/2 CLASS
JOSHUA – For consistently applying himself to his school work.
YEAR 3 CLASS
RILEY – For working hard on improving his handwriting and consistently making good choices.
4/5 CLASS
BADEN - For completing work on
time.
5/6 CLASS
JOSEPHINE – For having a positive attitude for learning.
SHANNON – For following school
routines.
OTCHA
AWARDS
Behaviour News
09/03/15
HOPE
ASHERGrantham State School is on the journey to becoming a Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)
LOUISE
school. Our PBL Team is: Mrs Frizzell, Mrs Cavanagh, Mrs Smit, Mrs Tetzlaff and Mrs Ostrofski.
ZARA
JESSE
This week we are focusing on having a positive attitude. This is
what some of our fantastic Grantham State School students have
to say about it.
When I’m running
Playing sport
What
16/03/15
SKYLA
CONNOR
ELIZABETH
ZANE
BRITTNEY
I think that I am good
at gymnastics on bars.
it makes me feel
excited and happy.
- Libby, Year 3
makes you
happy?
makes me happy.
- Phoebe, Year 6
- Helena, Year 5
I like the tennis
courts. It makes me
very happy.
What are you good at?
- Zac, Year 3
I’m good at jumping.
-Cody, Year 1
I’m good
at running.
‘Have a
positive
attitude’
- Bryce,
Prep
What does a
positive
attitude mean
to you?
Being diligent.
- Brittney, Year 4
What does a person with a positive
attitude look like or do?
If it’s too hard
they’ll give it a
try and then
practise it.
- Zane, Year 4
Happy.
Proud.
Excited.
- Ryan,
Year 2
It makes your
life happier.
- Rhianna, Year 6
They say I can’t do this
work yet, instead of I
can’t do it.
- Liam, Year 5
Next week, we will be focusing on ‘Attend School Every Day’.
The 5/6 class is currently exploring new articles in newspapers. During this term, they will be
reporting school events in news article form to keep you up to date on GSS happenings and
give them practice writing articles. Below is their first article written together in class.
CREATIVE GENERATION: A big hit for GSS
All performers
on stage for the
final of CGEN
2015
5/6 Class
GRANTHAM STATE SCHOOL students were
rewarded with a trip to see state schools on stage
at Creative Generation in Brisbane.
28 students in grades 1-6 on co-operative behaviour
level or above and 2 teachers excitedly departed
Grantham for their day out. After lunch at South
bank and some exploring, the GSS group headed to
the Lyric theatre for the Creative Generation perfor-
stage over the 3 hour performance to bring alive stories and songs from across the eras.
“The performance took my breath away,” said year 6
Grantham State School student, Sara. A fellow year
6 student, Clair, said, “It was a performance that I
will never forget”.
The CGEN crew was made up of state school students from prep to grade 12. The youngest performer, a prep student, performed a solo rendition of ‘Do
you want to build a snowman?’ from ‘Frozen’, stealing hearts in the process. ‘She’s adorable’ declared
Jesse while viewing her solo.
Supporting in the background was, of course, many
teachers and performing arts specialists including
well known jazz musician, James Morrison, and ballet dancer and author of ’Mao’s Last Dancer’, Li
Cunxin, who performed at the Saturday night show.
Grantham State School students enjoy lunch on the
beach at Southbank.
mance.
The CGEN performance commenced at 1pm on Friday the 17th of July and was the first performance in
front of an audience. This performance was only
available to a restricted audience, including school
groups.
With 1500 performers in total, Creative Generation
was a display of students’ aptitude in the performing
arts. Singers, dancers and instrumentalists took to the
“It was a truly incredible show and a brilliant day out
to reward some of our GSS students. I thoroughly
enjoyed seeing the awe and amazement on our students’ faces as we walked around Brisbane and
watched the CGEN performance. I would recommend CGEN to anyone and was even tempted to
watch it again on the Saturday, if only it wasn’t
sold out! Being an annual performance, we are
already thinking about
planning a trip for 2016.”
Teacher, Mrs Frizzell,
said.
Creative Generation will
be televised on Network
Ten on Saturday 12 December at 2.30 pm.
Playgroup News
We have had a lot of fun these last few weeks at Playgroup. This
week our theme was Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. We made star
wands and star cookies. We also had some help to paint some stars
on the glass in our playgroup room. It looks amazing. Thank you to
the year 6 girls who helped us. This week we are doing activities associated with the letter P. There is lots and lots of fun planned. We
look forward to seeing you all there.
Transition to Prep News
What a wonderful start for our pre-preps! They had so much fun on
their first day of our pre-prep program. The children learnt where
the different buildings are around the school and were also shown
where the toilets are and where they need to go to get a drink. They
had lots of fun meeting their peers, and interacting with them in a
classroom setting. The children enjoyed exploring their inner artist
with some painting and colouring in and enjoyed threading and
playing with playdough. The next pre-prep day is Friday 6th August
from 9-10.30am. Please find attached a flyer for our pre-prep
mornings.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could contact the school to inform them if your child will be attending the pre-prep morning as it
allows us to ensure that we are catering for the correct numbers.
We all look forward to our next pre-prep morning.
P&C NEWS
Cake Stall
The date has been set for our Cake Stall. It will be held on the 20th August. We
require helpers for the day, as well as baking /jams/plants etc. We also require
glass jars and lids for pickles and preserves. We also require donations of new
hand towels for a craft project. Please hand any of these items into the school
office.
Bunnings Fundraising BBQ
Bunnings fundraising BBQ will be held on Sunday 8th November 9:00am4:00pm. We will require helpers for the day. Please advise at the school office
if you are able to help.
Uniforms
Uniforms are once again fully stocked. If you require uniforms, please see the
School Office.
Bright Star Labels
We have set up a fundraising account with Bright Star Labels. If you require
any name labels please have a look at their website brightstarkids.com.au
To raise funds for our school, when you are in the payment section, please
nominate Grantham State School P & C as the fundraiser. The school will
receive 20% of any sales made.
The Next P & C Meeting will be held on 24th August at 7 pm. We welcome all
parents and carers to the meeting.
National Tree Day
On Monday Mr O’Brien and members of the National Tree Day
Lockyer branch came to Grantham to share information about
the value of trees. The year 1/2 class and some of our senior
leaders helped them to plant 6 bottle trees.
Ma Ma Creek Exhibition
On Saturday 25th July, Grantham school had a school display at the
Ma Ma Creek exhibition. Several of our students had their work
entered in different areas for judging. We are very proud of the following students, who were awarded prizes for their work:
Asher, Phoebe, Jeremy and Jazmine.
Our school photos will be taken on the 27th August 2015.
For the convenience of our school community advancedlife have now introduced Online Ordering. School photos can now be ordered and paid for using a secure online Web Portal. Please note: Photos can still be purchased using an envelope.
The preference of our school is that Orders and Payments be made through the Web Portal as this reduces the
administration and associated order issues related to the return of cash & envelopes on photo day.
To place your order visit www.advancedlife.com.au and enter the code- PPG 1HL 216. A full set of instructions on how to order can be found on the back of the order flyer. The order code can also be found printed on
the envelopes supplied by advancedlife. Please be aware thatSibling/Family Photos may be ordered online or via envelope. To ensure a smoothly run photography
day, Online Orders for Sibling/Family Photos will be cut off 48hrs before our photography day to allow
a list of students that require Sibling/Family photographs taken to be compiled. Sibling Photos can still
be ordered after the Online cut off date by collecting an envelope from the office in the usual way and
returning the envelope on photo day with payment enclosed.
All Online Orders should be placed on or before our day of photography. Please Note: Once orders are
closed a LATE FEE will apply.
The Online code above Web Portal may also be used to order previous years’ sports and other group
other group photos at any time.
All Online Orders placed through the Web Portal will be returned to school for collection.
photos at any time.
Parenting Ideas
GREAT WAYS TO MANAGE SIBLING SQUABBLES
Resolving conflict between siblings, between you and your children, or you and your partner requires skill,
subtlety and self-control.
It means that you need to have a range of responses at your fingertips rather than just rely on one or two
strategies.
Here are 5 emotionally-intelligent r esponses that you can call on to de-escalate family and sibling conflict:
Stay calm
When emotions are charged in a group, the leader will be the person who stays calm. Families are no different. Emotions can be charged. This is the time for parents to stay calm. Use a low, ‘Green’ tone of
voice when you talk with kids. Your calmness is essential to de-escalate anger.
Use open-ended questions
Ask open-ended questions to encourage others to share their feelings about a situation. Say, “How can I
help?” instead of “You seem angry”. Children and young people are calmer when they are teaching or
explaining rather than being patronised.
Hear the feeling rather than see the behaviour
Empathise with children’s feelings without accepting their behaviour. There is nothing better than being
understood so when they are upset try statements like “You have every right to be angry about that.”
Avoid addressing the behaviour at this point. Choose a time when everyone is calm and ready to listen
to talk about better ways of behaving.
Use selective listening
In the heat of the moment children and young people, like parents, will often say things they don’t mean.
It’s easy to respond to the heated “I hate you” or other insults while ignoring the original problem
when a child yells “You never listen….” Try clarifying by saying, “It seems that the last time we spoke
wasn’t great for you.” Show interest, take the wind from their sails by agreeing, and don’t try to respond to everything someone says in anger.
Focus on facts, not emotions
Many people (adults and children) don’t respond well when they are second-guessed. “Why are you so
angry?” invites the response “NO, I’m NOT!” Instead say, “What happened that caused you to be
upset?” Be sure to compliment children when they resolve relationship problems calmly and control
their own emotions, demonstrating the impact that their positive behaviour has had on you. Conversely, compliments such as - “Thanks guys for resolving this problem quickly and calmly. I appreciate
it”- remind kids about the emotional impact their negative behaviour also has.
Michael Grose
http://www.parentingideas.com.au
Diligence, Integrity, Creativity and Empathy
Staff Carpark
Grantham State School
Primary Business Address
15 Victor Street
GRANTHAM
Qld 4347
[email protected]
Phone: 07 54661259
Please note that the staff carpark (including the
carpark at the southern end of the school) is for
staff cars only. Parents should not park on school
grounds to drop off or collect their children unless special circumstances apply and permission
has been given by the principal.
Fax: 07 54661576
Absence Note
Every Day Counts
My child ___________________was away on _____________________
Reason : ______________________________________________________
Parent Signature__________________
Date______________________