22 March 2016

Newsletter Articles

Leadership Team Report

Hi Everyone,

It is hard to believe that Term 1 is drawing to an end! We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe, happy and well-deserved break. It has been a wonderful start to the year as well as being very busy. We have welcomed many new faces and it is delightful to see all of our students both returning and new, still so excited about being at school. It is especially encouraging having so many families positively involved in school life.

ATTENDANCE

As we work through the last week of term one I would like to congratulate our students and parents on our term one attendance rates.

As you know our school target is 95% or higher, which gives students the best opportunity to succeed in their learning.

Our school average in term one was 95.5%. A great effort! For the same period last year we were on 93.8%.

A breakdown of attendance follows:

Prep - 95.8%
Year 1 - 93.6%
Year 2 - 95.8%
Year 3 - 96.4%
Year 4 - 94.6%
Year 5 - 95.6%
Year 6 - 97.0%

Well done to our year 6 students who are leading the way!

Congratulations to the students who have met the school benchmarks of 95% attendance and Green Behaviour. I hope you enjoy your afternoon of activities.

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Parent/teacher interviews are this week and this is your chance to have an update on your child's progress. We would especially like to thank our dedicated staff for all the hard work and support they give to our students.

PARADE

A reminder that there will be no parade this week.

STUDENT WRITING

Last week teachers met to moderate our term one student writing. What a great team we have. The depth of discussion and teacher knowledge around the elements of writing is of a very high standard. During week 6 students in years 2 -6 were asked to write a persuasive item on oceans. Their job was to take a point of view on whether oceans and reefs need to be cared for and then convince the reader of their point of view.

Teachers, via the moderation process use these samples to plan what elements of the writing process we need to focus on to improve student results.

TEACHER AND CLASS CHANGES

This week we farewell Miss Kyte who will take up a position at Maleny State School. Apart from being a student at Jones Hill, she also did her prac teaching here and then went on to be a staff member for the last 9 years. Miss Kyte has been a big part of the Jones Hill school community and we wish her well on her new adventure as a year 4 teacher at Maleny.

Over the past 3 weeks we have welcomed 12 new students, with more families to join us at the start of next term. This has allowed us the opportunity to create a new year one class that will be in the room beside Mrs Blake. Last Friday I met with the students who will be part of the new class. They are very excited about their new room and teacher. Mrs Jodie Loughland will join our team next term as the new year one teacher. She is an experienced teacher coming from Blackwater North State School.

YEAR 6 LEADERS

Tuesday last week the Year 6 Leaders attended a Leadership Day at Cooloola Christian College. The students enjoyed the opportunity to participate in activities such as the rock wall climb and the goldmine game. Students were also lucky to hear from Megan Maffafey as a keynote speaker. The aim of this day was for students to develop their own character and be able to believe in themselves as leaders. This was summed up beautifully by the speaker when she asked the students to shine their own light. It was a great day and Mrs Grogan and Miss Kyte would like to thank the students for their exemplary behaviour. The students found the day very motivating and really enjoyed the experience.

WIDE BAY SPORTS

Congratulations to the following students who were successful at the Gympie District Sports Trials.

U12 Rugby League - Connor S, Corben B, Declan J, Levi B and Liam B.
U11 Rugby League - Mitchell K
10-12 Years Boys/Girls Softball - Mitchell K
Boys/Girls Basketball - Kobe L and Ashlyn S.

We would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Easter.

Kind Regards,
James Watt and Helen Grogan

Events Calendar

Year 1 & 2 Easter Parade

9am Thursday 24th March in the Hall. Families are invited to attend the Easter Hat Parade! You will be treated to some Easter singing and the students will show their hat creations. See you there!

Ms Falk, Classroom Music Teacher.

Strings Lessons

A reminder to students from year 4 to 6 that you have a strings lesson tomorrow (Wednesday) after second break.

Canberra

Students from our school will soon be undertaking, an educational tour of the national capital. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia's history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $60 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Please click on the link below to access our itinerary for the Canberra Trip.  It is hoped to have an update letter sent home to parents by Thursday this week

Bob-A-Job

Thank you to everyone who has offered to assist in the Bob-A-Job fundraiser for our Canberra Trip. Below is the roster for Thursday March 24.

Playgroup

Our final playgroup for this term will be held Thursday morning 9am to 11am in the hall.Activities this week will include watching the year 1 and 2 Easter Hat parade and some Easter Fun for us so please come along and join us.

Please bring fruit to share, a water bottle and hat.Coffee and tea provided for parents. A gold coin donation is collected to help with resources.

Hockey

Our Jones Hill State School hockey team has competed its preseason Primary school Hockey competition, narrowly missing out on 2nd place in the play offs. Our team comprised of Georgia and Cody F, Chris P, William M, Dylan F, Jordan B, Caitlyn A, Brayden L and Cooper R. Basic skills and team cohesion improved greatly from week to week and the students readily gained possession and were able to build attack and score.

Thank you to Ms Catherine Spedding, Mr Adrian Lindsay and Mr Errol Dean for supervising and coaching during games.

Regards Phil McEnery

Scientists and Engineers of the future

On the 14th of March most of the Year Sixes competed in the nationwide Science and Engineering Challenge run by the University of Newcastle. Students were outstanding in their thinking and problem solving ability. They had time limits to complete challenges, such as, make a hand that can pick up objects or make a buggy that can travel across the terrain of Mars. The students performed well under pressure and should be proud of their efforts. A special thank you goes to the University of the Sunshine Coast for assisting in running the day as well as paying the entry fee for all the schools involved.

If you are interested in the state of affairs as far as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) goes in our country and what this means for the future of your students, there was an excellent panel on the ABCs Q and A program this week. You can watch it or read the transcript at

Regards, Rob Callaghan

Gympie State High School Information Session

Kelly Swan, Gympie State High School's Junior Deputy Head will be visiting on 23 March at 2pm to talk to year 6 students and their parents. The talk will go for approximately 15 minutes.

In Appreciation

Many thanks to Jodie Johnson from Fourmile Sandstone at Gunalda for generously donating a sandstone/quartz rock to mount a plaque for Jenny Chapman, who was a cleaner at the Jones Hill School for many years. This rock is proudly situated in a flower garden at the front of the school that has been lovingly planted by Jones Hill staff in memory of Jenny. Thank you also to Phil Sparks from Golden City Brick & Landscape who donated and delivered the soil for our garden. A small dedication ceremony for Jenny's family and school staff was held last Friday afternoon.

P&C News

Wow Term 1 has certainly gone quickly. Our fundraising for 2016 has definitely started off with a bang. Thank you to everyone for your efforts. Wishing you all a Happy Easter and a safe and fun filled holidays.

BULB FUNDRAISING

This fundraiser has now closed. A huge thank you to all those who purchased bulbs. The bulbs should be handed out to students the first week back in Term 2.

BUNNINGS BBQ Saturday 12th March

Our first Bunnings BBQ stall was held on Saturday 12th March. It was a great success. We would like to thank the following people who helped on the day. Darryl D, Bruce W, Nick W, Carmel W, Kirstene F, Gary Y, Helen G, James W, Tammy P, Jason Z, Judy W, Terri W, Louise Y, Janessa K.

EASTER RAFFLE

Our Easter Raffle was drawn at parade last Friday. Congratulations to all those who won baskets.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the raffle and huge thank you to Paula Jonauskis for putting all the baskets together. They all looked wonderful.

ELECTION DAY SAUSAGE SIZZLE

We would like to thank Natalie Hanson, Kylie Jarling-Seed, Catherine Spedding, Evelyn Mason, Sasha Baxter and Carmel Window for donating home baking for the election stall. With thanks also to Darryl Davis, Carol Flickweert, Julie Baker, Bonita Lahtinen, Zoe Head, Scott, Sasha Baxter and Bruce, Nick & Mitch Window for helping on the stall. As always your help was greatly appreciated. The P&C are happy to announce that they made approximately $436!

Picture Products

We are making Picture Products with funds raised helping cover bus costs for the students going to Canberra. Join the fun and turn your child's drawings, handprints and photos into beautiful, useful keepsakes that last a lifetime. We have a display of the Picture Plates in the library for you to view. Order forms and templates are available from the school office. Templates must be collected from here due to inability to crease, roll or fold the template. If your class is involved in a "whole of class" plate, then simply enclose correct payment, with students name and contact phone number in an envelope by due date. Delivery time will be approximately 7 weeks, arriving mid-June. No late orders taken as costs will increase. Last orders taken on Friday 15 April 2016.

Products prices

• Picture Clocks - small $28 or large $32
• Water Bottle - small $22 or large $28
• Plastic Mug - $28
• Ceramic Mug - $22
• Picture Plates - $28
• Whole of Class Picture Plate - $28
• Calendar - $18

Tennis News

Tennis Gympie Primary School Challenge Years 1 to 6

Tennis Gympie will be holding the 2nd Primary School Challenge of 2016 at The Reg English Memorial Tennis Centre on Cartwright Road on Monday 21st March from 3.30pm to 5.30pm The cost is $10 per player, $15 for 2 players from the same family or $20 for 3 or more players from the same family including a free sausage sizzle. The challenges will be based on our Hot Shots Tennis in Schools programs and Holiday Fun Tournament events and all players will be placed into groups of appropriate skill levels (eg Red, Orange and Green Ball Levels). Heaps of fun and prizes and a chance to represent your school. Note: Players from the winning school must play a minimum of 4 challenges to be eligible for a medallion.

Easter School Holiday Junior Tennis Hotshots Fun Tournaments

Gympie Junior Tennis will be conducting 2 Hotshots Fun Tournaments for any junior players from beginner to advanced level on Wednesday 30th March and Friday 1st April at The Reg English Memorial Tennis Centre on Cartwright Rd. All children that attend school coaching and hot shots programs are suited to these events. Great prizes and a lucky player prize drawn at each tournament. Members and non members welcome. The tournaments will run from 8.30am until 12.30pm and cost will be $25.00 / player for 1 event $45/ player 2 events $60/player for 3 events in the same week including morning tea and lunch. Family Discounts and multiple tournament entry discounts apply. Entries close 10.00am on the day prior to the event with Brett Cottrill 0417 746795 or Matt Watkins 0417 070129.

Cross Country