6 September 2016

Newsletter Articles

Leadership Team Report

Hi Everyone,

SLOW DOWN! LOOK! OBEY THE ROAD RULES!

School zones are put in place to ensure the safety of children in and around schools. While school is in session, drivers are responsible for maintaining safety and awareness on the streets surrounding our school. All children should be able to walk or bike to and from school without fear of being hit by passing vehicles. As drivers, we must not be careless around school zones. We must understand the traffic laws for these locations and follow them at all times.

Taking an extra minute or five to park, driving slowly in the school zone will protect the lives of our children. A rushed minute without thought or care can leave us with a tragic event, with a lifetime of pain for all involved. Last Thursday morning we nearly lost a parent and her young child due to the inattention of a parent driver.

Please drive at the correct speed limit in the school zone, park in the designated areas and drive around the block when leaving rather than making dangerous U turns at a very busy time. The school has received a number of complaints about inattentive and dangerous driving. All information has been passed onto and is being investigated by the police.

If you see drivers being dangerous around our school you are welcome to let us or the police know. You may be saving a life.

SCHOOL STAFFING

Term 4 will see Jodie Loughland off on maternity leave and Chantelle Caulfield will take the year one class for the rest of 2016.  Our very best wishes for a healthy and happy baby!  We can't wait to meet the new addition

Attending Prep is now compulsory 

From 2017, it will be compulsory for all Queensland children to undertake the Prep Year, prior to commencing Year 1.

To minimise disruption to schools and families, the new requirement will not apply to children already enrolled in Year 1 for 2017.

Since Prep started in 2007, there have been noticeable improvements to learning outcomes for children who participate in Prep. The vast majority of Queensland parents already choose to enrol their child in Prep when they reach the eligible age.

Making Prep compulsory ensures all children develop the knowledge and skills provided by the Prep Year that form the foundation for future learning.

For more information refer to the Enrolling page on the Education website.

PREP 2017

Prep enrolment

Prep is the first year of school and provides the foundation for your child's education .  It also provides a smooth transition into Year 1.  Here at Jones Hill School we provide an extensive and varied prep program delivered in a fun-filled, interactive environment.  We welcome you or anyone you know with a prep child starting in 2017, to attend our pre-prep transition program which is designed to make your child feel safe and secure staring their first year of schooling. School tours are also available upon request. You can observe our current prep classrooms in action and find out more about our learning programs. During the tour you will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss your child's needs.

At present we have almost two full classes of prep students for next year. If you are looking to enrol your child in our prep classes for 2017, please contact the office to secure a place.

Prep Transition

Starting prep can be a challenging time for your child but you can make the transition easier by attending our pre-prep program activities.  All 2017 prep students in the Gympie area are welcome to join in our pre-prep transition program. 

Transition Activities

• Wednesday 19 October – 1:30 to 2:00 Music – 2:00 to 2:30 Physical Education – 2:30 to 3:00 Library Reading
• Wednesday 23 November – 1:30 to 2:00 Music – 2:00 to 2:30 Physical Education – 2:30 to 3:00 Library Reading
• We have an Information Evening on the 25th November in our Prep classrooms, starting at 6.00pm. Come and meet our Prep teachers and take a trip through our visual tour of the curriculum.
• Open Day - bring your children for a morning in Prep on the 25th November, starting at 9:30am and finishing at 11:00am.

To book in for any of our transition programs or to make a booking for an interview or tour of our school, please contact our school administration team on 5489 0555 or via email at admin@jonehillss.eq.edu.au

LEM Phonics

The children are busy learning the LEM Phonics, investigating words and improving their spelling, reading and writing skills.

In week 9 and 10 children will be learning the following spelling rules.

Week 9

Reading and Spelling Rule 11:

Use 'c' to denote the /k/ sound whenever you can especially if followed by 'a', 'o' or 'u'.

Use 'ck' if preceeded by a single vowel saying its first sound

Use 'k' if the /k/

(a) Sound is followed by 'e', 'l' or 'y'
(b) If it follows a long vowel sound
(c) If the /k/ sound follows a double vowel
(d) If preceded by a consonant.

Try this activity!

The syllable breaks in these words are incorrect. Have a go at correcting them. Do you know the rules for why they are incorrect?

Rep   ort - r   ecycle - hop   eful - miss   pell - mi   stook - usef   ul

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 10

Reading and Spelling Rule 10:

Silent Servant 'e'

Try this activity!

Which words need a Silent Servant 'e'? Do you know why?

hav - bath - outsid - road - call - missil - bak - stop

QPARENTS

Jones Hill State School will be providing parents with access to a new, convenient, online parent portal called QParents.

The QParents web and mobile application provides an easier way for you to interact with our school. Parents will have secure, online access to their child's student information, anytime, anywhere, through a smartphone, tablet or computer.

QParents allows parents to connect instantly with our school to access and manage their child's student information, including:

• Attendance and absence details, as well as the ability to notify the school of an absence
• Behaviour information
• Academic report cards
• Viewing unpaid invoice details, payment history, and making payments online
• Viewing and updating personal student details, including medical conditions and address
• Enrolment details

QParents will assist both staff and parents in sharing and responding to information in an efficient and effective way.

It won't replace the traditional ways you communicate with our school, but it will provide another way to communicate with us!

The benefits of QParents

Convenience and time savings for parents

• Parents can view or update their child's details without having to contact the school.
• Secure 24/7 online access.
• Available anytime, anywhere — access QParents on your smart phone, tablet or computer.

Greater transparency of information

• Improves accountability between parents and schools by providing parents with timely access to their child's information online.
• Allows parents to engage more deeply in their child's schooling.

Improved administration efficiencies for schools

• Allows schools to streamline their administrative processes and cut down on printing.

What do you need to do to get started?

On Wednesday 23 August we sent out letters inviting one parent or guardian for each student to become a QParents Account Owner (QPAO). The QPAO will be able to register for QParents to access and manage the student's information online. A student's QPAO will be able to view the student's information and submit requests to update some of the student's details.

The QPAO will also be able to invite other people (such as another parent or family member), to view the student's information.  Please return this form as soon as possible.

Once invited, these people can register for QParents as "delegated viewers". A delegated viewer can see the student's details, but cannot make updates.

Invitations will be sent Wednesday 7 September.  When you receive your invitation email or letter, simply follow the instructions to register your QParents account. The process should take less than 10 minutes to complete. Invitations sent by email will only ever come from no.reply@qparents.qld.edu.au . You will not be invited to register from any other email address or organisation.

If you do no not want to register you can just ignore the invitation and your child's student information will not be available to anyone through QParents.

Please click the link below to watch an introductory video for QParents.

FATHER'S DAY

I hope that all Fathers enjoyed their Father's Day last Sunday and were delighted by gifts that were purchased from the P&C Father's Day Stall.  Thank you to the P&C fundraising committee for providing the stall to students to purchase gifts for their Dads.

BOOK WEEK

Stories came to life at Jones Hill State School on Thursday when the students and staff celebrated Book Week. This year's theme was 'Australia! Story Country' and characters from many famous stories were spotted during the morning parade on the school oval. Authors such as Mem Fox, Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl were popular when it came to making costumes choices.

Curtis Dray and Jane Gunn from the Gympie Regional Library visited the school to read and promote the short listed titles from the Children's book of the year awards. Students enjoyed interacting with props whilst listening to the stories. All students were given a boomerang to colour and these will be displayed at the Gympie Library and one lucky person will win a Tablet. Children who were not currently members of the Gympie Regional Library were given membership cards so they could further explore and extend their love of reading.

TALENT QUEST

Over the last two weeks a number of our students have amazed us with their wonderful talents. Performances in this year's 'Jones Hill has Talent Quest' included singing, dancing and acrobatics. The finals were a very close competition with only a few points between all competitors. First place went to Madelyn D and Tayla B with a very entertaining version of the Cup Song. Second place went to dancers Shelby D and Kayleigh H and drummers Eva Z, Chloe B and Katie B in third place. Congratulations to all students who took part. It was easy to tell a lot of time and effort went into your performances.

RED KITE PHOTO

This year on school photo day the staff at Jones Hill decided to choose a theme and make the day more meaningful. Our staff wore red for the photo and collected donations for the children's charity 'Red Kite'. Red Kite is an Australian cancer charity providing essential support to children and young people (0 to 24 years) with cancer, and the family and support network who care for them.

PUPIL FREE DAY CARE

Pupil Free Day Childcare – 14 October

We are pleased to let parents know that there will be child care (for school age children) available through our Camp Australia before and after school care provider on Monday 14 October.  Please go to the Camp Australia website to book in now or call in and see Vesna, our before and after school care co-ordinator.  It is very important that you book in now so that there is adequate supervision provided for students.

P&C FETE

In most schools it's the tireless volunteers of the P&C who spend endless hours raising the extra money used for necessary resources to improve the learning outcomes and school life of our students. The P&C members of our school are the most dedicated and hardworking committee we've had the pleasure to work with.  Please help support our fete by volunteering your time, donating goods where required or selling raffle tickets.

Kind Regards,
James Watt and Helen Grogan

Events Calendar

Parade Awards

The following students will receive awards on Parade Friday 9 September at 9:00am in the Hall

Thumbs Up Certificates

20 TOKENS: (4/5W) – Koby J

40 TOKENS: (1B) – Naite G; (2L) – James W, Lara B, Ella H & Audrey M; (3S) – Hayden L; (4H) – Miriam J

60 TOKENS: (1B) – Ruby D & Lucas W; (2L) – Dakota F, Kate F & Stephen B; (3S) – Abbie W, Lincoln S & Savannah A; (4H) – Katie B, Narayan H & Brady W; (5/6L) – Caleb H, Josh T, Logan D & Ethan H

80 TOKENS: (1B) – Chloe O; (2L) – Amelia B & Dana A; (3S) - Travis N, Savanna C & Angel B & (4H) – Tobias M & Aidan R

100 TOKENS: (4H) – Mackenzie W & Eva Z

Behaviour Awards

LEARNING: (PC) - Luca S; (1B) – Lucas W; (1BZ) – Indi A; (1L) – Ahnika K; (2L) – Ella H; (2/3N) – Drajon D & (5/6C) – Riley L

RELATIONSHIPS: (PJ) - Benjamin D & (5/6L) - Logan D

RESPECT: (3S) – Taya J

ALL VALUES: (3/4C) – Hayden W; (4H) – Maverick Ernst & (4/5W) – Annalise S

Strings Workshop

All students should now have String Workshop Information sheets. Please return the tear off slip ASAP to the office. It will be a fun event with the children playing and performing alongside students from other Gympie schools.

The workshop will be held at Gympie South School. Timetable below:

Tuesday 11th October BEGINNERS
Wednesday 12th October: INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED
Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th October: CHAMBER GROUP

Important Dates for Year 6 Students

James Nash State High School Transition Dates.

• Thursday 8 September – 3:30 to 5:00 - Year 6 Parent Information Afternoon in I Block
• Opportunity to find out about what James Nash has to offer, ask questions and assistance with the enrolment process
• Friday 16 September 4pm – Enrolment forms are due to the Administration Office
• Tuesday 18 October 3:30pm – Interviews for programs of excellence, including extension plus, extension, extension STEM as well as the Academy of Creative Arts auditions. Learning Support interviews will also take place.
• Year 6 students who are enrolled to attend James Nash in 2017 are invited to attend an Orientation Day.
• Monday 28 November 9:30am to 2:30pm
• For more information please call James Nash High School on 5480 6333.

P&C News

FATHER'S DAY

Thank you everyone who supported our Father's Day stall and raffle. We are sure the Dads were very happy to receive the handpicked items on Sunday morning. Congratulations to our lucky raffle winners.

A big thank you to the Zerner and Hanson families who donated prizes for our raffle. Congratulations to our lucky raffle winners.

SCHOOL FETE

We are still in need of a number of volunteers for our upcoming Fete. Please contact Carmel on 0418 810 850 or email mpandcjonehillss.eq.edu.au.

FETE RAFFLE TICKETS

Raffle tickets to be drawn at the Fete are on sale now from the office.

You may take tickets home to sell to family, friends, neighbours, work colleague.

The family that sells the most tickets wins a $100 Lowes Gift Card.

We have four separate raffles.

1. Multi Draw Raffle - Gift hampers, vouchers, fruit tray, something for everyone, too many to mention
2. Pizza Oven and Mini Bar Fridge
3. Jetts Gym membership for 12 months
4. Gympie Pilates - 1 Initial Consultation and sessions valued at $375
   • Pilates 6 week beginners course valued at $300
   • 3 week muscle release mobility course valued at $150

For full details on our Fete rides and to print the order form for tickets please click on the links above.

To read our latest Fete Newsletter please select the link above.

Relay for Life

Jonesy's 5 Cent Challenge

Congratulations and thank you to anyone who contributed to this year's Jonesy 5 cent challenge. We have raised an amazing $682.95 for the Queensland Cancer Council. Our winning classes were; First - 1BZ with $100.75 and Second – 4H with $88.80. Well done everyone.

September School Holiday Junior Tennis Hotshots Fun Tournaments

Gympie Junior Tennis will be conducting 4 Hotshots Fun Tournaments for any junior players from beginner to advanced level on Mon 19th Sept and Wed 21st Sept (1st week) and Mon 26th Sept and Wed 28th Sept (2nd week) 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 and $70/player for all 4 events 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.

NOTE: Primary School Challenge number 6 will be held on Monday 12th September from 3.30pm until 5.30pm. Cost $10/ player.

GYMPIE GOLD FINS SWIMMING CLUB

Come and join the Gympie Gold Fins Swimming Club. Our sign on days will be held on Tuesday, 6th September and Tuesday 4th October 2016 from 4pm – 5.30 pm in the Clubhouse at the Gympie Memorial Pool.

We have a range of swimmers from recreational to competitive. We offer a family friendly environment so come and discover your inner swimmer and stay fit and healthy. The club offers two come and try nights for any swimmer interested in joining.

For further information please phone Marni on 0400 790 409 or visit our website.

Following is a list of the wonderful local businesses who have kindly offered their support for our School Fete being held on October 14. Please support these businesses in return for their generous support of our school.

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsors

Brown Macaulay & Warren Chartered Accountants
Jones Hill Store
Southside Little Smiles
Barbeques Galore Gympie
Tony Stephens Refrigeration

Support Sponsors