25 November 2016

Newsletter Articles

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Phone 3826 0333 or Email office@edenslandingss.eq.edu.au

Important Dates to Remember

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Principal’s Report

Almost There!

As we approach the end of year the school just seems to get busier and busier! It’s a great exciting time of year and often one that children can find difficult as they are tired and worn out. Please continue to work with your child/ children during this busy time so we can get the best end of year possible for all!

2017 Staffing

We have been working busily to establish our staffing for 2017 and also to create class groupings. I am happy to report that we have been able to secure 5 additional permanent staff for 2017 which will assist in stabilising the school workforce avoiding the constant changes we have seen this year. We are also staffing to include an additional teacher to reduce our issues when staff are on sick leave or long service leave. Again I hope this will allow us in most instances to have a person to work in our school that is familiar with the school and the children. I recognise this is often an important part of making those transition times productive for our students.

In terms of class allocations we do not allow “teacher shopping” we do however accept recommendations for placements that are done respectfully regarding requests for separation of students groups and so on. Classroom Teachers make these classes up for the most part considering a range of academic, social and emotional issues and the blend of students across the class or year level. Significant time is spent by staff in making these placements. In the last week of school students will be able to meet the teacher for 2017. No class movements will be done until after day 8 of the first term as this is when we know what is required across the school should student numbers be more or less than expected.

School Arrival and Exit Procedures

The school procedure for morning arrivals is that ALL children are to go directly to the old hall area near the tuckshop. Children are to be seated and engaging in quiet activities. Children are not to leave the school grounds after entering them. Children are not to be in the area across the road from the school with the tennis courts/ basketball courts unless accompanied by an adult.

The school procedure for afternoon exits is that children awaiting pick up should use the 2 drop down areas or wait at the gate with the staff member on duty. The school does not supervise students in the tennis courts/ basketball courts in the afternoon. It is recommended that these students wait inside the gated area of the school where they can be assured of their safety and avoid any potential issues. Parents wishing not to follow this recommendation do so at their own risk. School finishes at 2:50pm and students should be picked up by 3:05pm.

Thank you for your assistance in keeping our Edens Landing Family safe!

Mr Andrew Cummings
Principal

Deputy Principal’s News

Graduation for Year 6 Students 2016

We have had a great response to the graduation packs again this year, please get in early to ensure you get the tickets you need. This year we have again had parents ask to bring younger siblings to the ceremony, unfortunately, we have to say no. The venue has limited seating, and there simply isn’t enough space to accommodate everyone’s younger siblings. Limited extra tickets are available for families who have two households and want tickets for step parents. The seating is restricted with very little additional seating available. Each student is allocated two seats within their graduation pack. Families who require additional seats for step parents are encouraged to purchase these early, as additional seats are allocated on a first-in-first-served basis. Once the additional seating is sold, there will be strictly two seats per student only.

Once again, Queensland School Photography will be taking photos at the senior graduation evening. Photos will only be taken between 5pm and 6pm at the Beenleigh Events Centre prior to the night commencing. These photos can be individuals, family or friends photos. Photos are printed straight away in a 6 x 8” size and are available for purchase only on the night.

Year 6 Big Day Out

As year 6 parents would be aware, we are unable to go ahead with the Dreamworld excursion this year, due to the uncertainty around Dreamworld re-opening. The teachers have spoken to the 58 students who had paid for Dreamworld, and asked them to vote for an alternative day out. Of the 58 students, two voted for Movie World while the remainder very excitedly voted for a day out to Southbank. As we won’t require buses, we are opening the excursion to all Year 6 students, even those who had not paid by the Dreamworld due date.

The day out at Southbank will include a train trip to Southbank, Entry to see the movie “Trolls”, snacks while at the movies and a picnic lunch in the parklands. Games and activities have been planned for students to enjoy while they are there.

Due to the very short notice, we must have payment by Monday 28th November.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have paid for the Dreamworld excursion, you have the option of transferring the payment to cover the cost of this excursion, with any remaining monies reimbursed to your nominated account. To do this you must complete the attached form and return it to the office.

If you do not want your child to participate in this excursion and have paid for Dreamworld, please complete the refund form so your money can be reimbursed to your nominated account.

We thank our amazing Year 6 students who have handled this last minute change with enthusiasm and positivity. They certainly are a delightful, mature group of young men and ladies.

Rule of the Week

The rules for week 9 of Term 4 are outlined below. Teachers will be discussing this with their students over the next week, and it would be wonderful if parents spoke with their children about the importance of the rule.

Week 9 - Respect the Privacy of Others

Respect the privacy of others (including personal space)

Respecting personal space and establishing personal boundaries are social skills that need to be learned early on. Parents can teach their child how to identify and understand personal space by modelling appropriate behaviours, planning learning activities and incorporating valuable lessons into daily life. Not only does this teach children how to respect others, it can also help avoid unsafe, inappropriate or uncomfortable scenarios.

• Teach your child to close the bathroom door when she needs to use the bathroom or get dressed. Demonstrate how to knock and wait for a reply before going into a room with a closed door. If your child forgets to knock or close the door, be consistent and offer verbal reminders. You can model appropriate behaviours, such as saying “I need to change my clothes, so I’m going into my room for privacy.”
• Offer a visual lesson by teaching your children about their “personal bubble.” Grab a hula hoop and have your children hold it at waist level. Tie two strips of ribbon or string to the hula hoop to create two shoulder straps to hold the hula hoop in place. As your child walks around, explain that the space around them is their own bubble and they are in charge of it. They should be aware of other people’s bubbles and they should not invade their space. Explain that family members and friends can give hugs and kisses inside each other’s' bubbles, but strangers shouldn’t get inside their bubble.

Week 10 - Be a Role Model for Others

A role model is a person who others look up to and admire. A role model provides inspiration and motivation to seek out accomplishments. Role models send messages about their beliefs by what they do and say. Here are some traits of positive role models

• Self-Esteem - A role model is self-assured and happy with who they are. If a role model displays that they have self-esteem, those who look up to them will, too. A role model displays a streak of independence showing they do not need to follow current trends. Role models trust in being themselves. They are proud of who they are, but not cocky.
• Handle Stress Positively- Being human means having to constantly deal with stress and overcome obstacles. A role model sets a good example on how to handle pressure. Athlete role models can handle stress and can come through when the pressure is on. While they may not win every game, when they fail they attempt to learn from their mistakes.
• Role Models Are Trustworthy - Trustworthiness is another quality of a good role model. A role model is honest and doesn't lie. A role model possesses integrity and does the right thing even if no one is looking or they do not receive acknowledgment for their act.
• Perseverance - A good role model also does what they say. A good role model delivers on promises and can always be counted on even when they are overwhelmed and want to quit. Perseverance is a key trait. Role models demonstrate that if they work hard to attain something, then others can, too. They give you dreams and goals to aspire to.
• Respect for Others - How you treat others speaks volumes about who you are. A good role model listens to others and also considers opposing points of view. They treat others how they would want to be treated and is considerate of others. When making mistakes, a role model does not place the blame on others; they own up to their own shortcomings.

As this is the last newsletter for the year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and peaceful holiday break. I look forward to seeing you all again in 2017.

Regards

Mrs Cheryl Gibson

Deputy Principal’s News

Reading for Excellence at Edens Landing

Last week we met the new prep students and parents for 2017. While the children were meeting each other in groups, the parents also had a chance to meet staff and each other in our information sessions.

Our Speech Therapist Olivia MacGinley, presented us with some great advice about reading with our young children, which I’m sure she won’t mind sharing with everyone.

• Read lots of books! Read with rather than to your child
• Read books more than once
• Talk about the story by asking questions and making comments.
  - Use the ‘Double E Double P’ strategy to guide your conversation
  - Experiences, Explain, Predict, Problem solve
• Talk about new words from the book, what they mean and how that relates to something in their life (e.g. “He is exhausted. Exhausted means that you are very tired. You are exhausted after you go to the park.”)
• Point out print from the book. e.g.
• the front and back of a book and which direction we read
• the author and title
• letters throughout the book
• the sounds some letters make
• uppercase vs lowercase letters
• punctuation marks (e.g. an exclamation mark could mean that someone is very excited or angry)

After School Safety

Safety of our children is absolutely paramount. I am concerned that many young children are going to the park or basketball courts across from the school. These are PUBLIC areas. We are unable to safe guard your precious children from possible dangers such as high school children, or strangers.

I have also had reports of young children crossing Castile Crescent at the brow of the hill, rather than using the tunnel at the bottom of the hill. I shudder to think of the possible outcomes of this unsafe practice.

We supervise children leaving from the front and top gates each afternoon, it is not possible for staff to supervise children OUTSIDE of the school.

Please ensure your child leaves the school safely.

Regards

Ms Anthea Grant

Deputy Principal’s News

Pokemon Cards

Pokemon cards have been very popular amongst our students in recent months. The students have enjoyed showing their cards to their friends. Unfortunately, they are becoming a problem and causing conflicts, including theft and fighting. Due to this, Pokemon cards are no longer to be brought to school. Pokemon cards are occasionally used by teachers as rewards and will continue to be given to students at the end of the day and taken home. We thank you for your support in this matter, reinforcing our school expectations to be safe, responsible and respectful.

End of Year Class Parties

Hard to believe there is only 2 weeks left of school! Thursday 8 November is our end of year party day where classes celebrate their wonderful year together. You may get a letter home in the near future explaining what your child’s class has planned. No money will be requested to contribute towards the party but the classroom teacher may ask for some food to be brought in to share. Please check with your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

High Expectations for Behaviour

This term we have been continuing our focus on explicitly teaching the children what it looks like, sounds like and feels like to be safe, responsible and respectful. We model to our students what is expected of them and reward them for demonstrating those behaviours. This is key to being a Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL) school. At times, students need support to be able to learn strategies in how deal with problems following our school’s expectations. The support of you, the parents and carers of our students, is greatly appreciated. We know you share our vision for a positive and supportive school.

Regards

Mrs Tamra Murray

Curriculum News

Year 3

This week in Year 3, we have been developing our singing skills by practising Christmas songs for the Carols night this Friday! We have also been working hard on the school-wide YMCA Poetry and Drawing competition, creating fruit and vegetable super heroes that promote health and nutrition.

Year 6

Our seniors have been busy learning the steps of their graduation dances. We have some "twinkle toes" in our group. The laughs and smiles we are seeing on the kids faces has been so rewarding. It won't be long before they are performing at our Graduation ceremony.

Year 4

This term, we have been looking at rubbish, waste and sustainability in Geography, with a particular focus on rubbish in our school. We began our investigations by attending Browns Plains Landfill. We got to see where rubbish is recycled and where garbage trucks drop rubbish from our community. We were amazed at how much rubbish there was and how many birds were flying around! From this, we looked into sustainability and collected data on how much rubbish was around the school. There were over 100 pieces of rubbish! We decided this was a big problem and set about to come up with some ideas on how to reduce rubbish in our school community, including a new bin design, Waste Warriors and talking at assembly to increase awareness, which we will hopefully be able to put into place next year.

In science, we investigated forces, including pushing and pulling, magnetism and gravity. We have enjoyed doing different experiments to show each of the forces, including a push/pull audit of the classroom, keeping a balloon up using a straw and gravity painting.

Year 5

This is a very busy time of year. We are currently organising reward day, class party day, year 6 shirts, and year 6 leaders for next year.

We understand that there are many expenses for parents at this stage of the year, and we are trying to keep costs to a minimum.

As a reminder, here is a check list of things to check / organise:

1. Year 6 school shirts should have been ordered and paid for by now. If you have not done so, see your child's teacher urgently.
2. A note and payment of $3 is due on November 30 towards the waterslide for reward day.
3. Teachers are no longer allowed to collect money for class parties. A note will be coming home regarding our plans shortly.
4. Report cards are being finalised, and will be coming home in Week 10.
5. School leaders will be elected before the end of this year.

Have a wonderful week,

Mrs Rachel Pope

Physical Education

Swimming Program

The grade 1-2 swimming program has begun and the students are having a blast!

Thank you to all of the parent helpers who have given up their time to help supervise our students to and from the pool. There is one more week left and it would be great to see more parents coming to help and seeing the improvement students are making.

Queensland School Beach Safety Program

Last Friday, Helen and Sarah from Queensland Surf Life Saving came to our school to talk about beach safety. During this session, Helen and Sarah spoke about the role of a lifesaver, different types of flags and signs that can be seen at the beach and the importance of swimming between the flags. A couple of our students were even lucky enough to be dressed up as a lifesaver.

A Dab for Hope’s Success

Earlier in the year, Hope was selected in the South Coast Golf Team. South Coast School Sport is a representative team and is one of the highest levels of sporting achievement a student can accomplish in school sport before States and National selection. Hope was one of two girls selected in this team as well as four boys. The six students represented South Coast at the State Golf Championships and won the State Title.

Sport Shirts

School sport shirts have arrived and can be purchased from the uniform shop. This shirt can be worn any day of the week except for school photo days and excursions. The cost of the shirt is $33. A limited supply has been ordered.

Free Coaching

Wolfpack Basketball Club
Girls and boys 9, 10, 11yrs
Training Saturday mornings 8:00-9:00am
Mt Warren Sports Centre, 2 Milne St
Come and try for free
For more info, contact Geoff MacLeod 0402246293

Holiday Clinics

What’s On at Edens Landing State School

P&C News

School Banking

School Banking day is Wednesday.

Remember, Wednesday is School Banking day and students should bring in their weekly deposit.

For every deposit made at school, students will receive a silver Dollarmites token. Once students have individually collected 10 tokens they can redeem them for an exclusive School Banking reward item in recognition of their regular savings habits.

School Banking is also a great fundraiser for our school, raising 5% on every deposit made through the school (to a maximum of $10 per individual deposit).

If your child has lost their book, they can bring their money to school in a sealed envelope with a note on the next School Banking day. We will issue them with a replacement.

Thank you for supporting the School Banking program at Edens Landing State School. We would also like to thank the wonderful parents who volunteer as our School Banking Co-ordinators and process our banking every week.

New School Banking rewards now available!

Exciting new Term 4 rewards with an Outback Savers theme are now available, while stocks last!

For every deposit made at school students will receive a silver Dollarmites token. Once students have individually collected 10 tokens they can redeem them for exclusive School Banking reward items in recognition of their regular savings habits. There are two new items released each term so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

Please note: Skipping ropes and fans no longer available.

Thank you for supporting the School Banking program and remember School Banking day is every Wednesday.

2016 Christmas Carols

Uniform Shop News

Uniform Shop Open Day

These Christmas school holidays the uniform shop will be open from 9am to 1pm on Friday 20th January 2017.

Tuckshop News

Lucky Banker Award Winners

• Chloe – PSB
• Georgia – 3W
• Harlem – 1E
• Kailie – 3W

Tuckshop Roster

Term 4 is nearly over which means stock in the tuckshop will be run down. Anything unavailable will be taken off FlexiSchools and I will update our P&C Facebook page and also put up notes at the tuckshop if certain things are not available. Every effort will be made to fulfil the orders and I will contact children if their order cannot be completed to arrange something else, but please be aware that this may happen.

FlexiSchools

Our school has online ordering system for the Tuckshop called FlexiSchools. This system allows parents and staff to place orders from home, work or school at any time. The payment is also done online, so less paper bags, cash and envelopes are sent via your student to school. As well as being convenient for parents, the online orders are much faster and easier for the tuckshop to process - so it makes everyone’s life a little easier.

Getting online is easy and only takes a few minutes to register. Simply go to the link below and click “Register Now”. You will be sent an email with further instructions on how to complete the registration. Once registered, you can start placing orders immediately. If you have any questions, FlexiSchools provide a great help desk on 1300 361 769, or you can contact them via their website.

There are a variety of payment options supported, including Visa, Mastercard (credit and debit) and Bank Transfer. The system operates via a pre-paid account.

Our FlexiSchools cut off time is 8am the morning of service, please make sure your orders are in and confirmed by 8am or they will not be processed on the FlexiSchools website.

If you have ordered FlexiSchools for your child/children and for some reason they do not attend school on that day or go home sick before first break, a quick phone call and message to let me know they will not be requiring their order will save you money. If you contact me that your child will be away and not needing their order I will reverse their order and you will not be charged but if I fulfil the order and the food is not consumed, then you will still be charged for the lunch. The same happens with other bag orders as well.

FlexiSchools for 2017

In January FlexiSchools will remove all class lists from their system and when you log in the first time in the New Year you will be asked to choose your child’s class for 2017. When I receive the 2017 class list in January I will send it to FlexiSchools. I will update information on our P&C Facebook page when I have confirmation that the new classes are on the FlexiSchools site.

I would like to take this time to thank all my wonderful volunteers that came during the year to help. Your continued effort and time does not go unnoticed and I and the children appreciate everything you all do. Without volunteers the tuckshop would not be able to operate.

Wishing you all a happy and safe break and see you all in 2017.

Annette Honnery
Tuckshop Convenor
Ph: 3508 7999
tuckshop@elsspc.org.au

Student of the week

11th November 2016 (Week 6, Term 4)

18th November 2016 (Week 7, Term 4)