21 February 2017

Newsletter Articles

LEADERSHIP TEAM REPORT

Hi Everyone,

We have had a few big weeks to start the year with student elections, P&C AGM and introducing our new Adopt-a-Cops.

SCHOOL LEADERS

On Friday the 3rd of February elections were held in the hall where students followed the democratic process by listening to candidates presenting their pitches in election speeches before placing their votes. Congratulations to our new 2017 Student Leaders and their families. The new school leaders will be inducted on Friday at a special leadership parade. Well done everybody! We look forward to a great year with you in your new leadership roles.

There will be no student awards this week on parade due to leadership ceremony.

ADOPT-A-COPS

Welcome to Senior Constables Reegan Cunningham and Michelle De Pellegrin, our new adopt-a-cops, who were inducted to the school last Friday on parade. Adopt-a-Cops are police officers and police liaison officers that are individually chosen and adopted by their local school. Adopt-a-Cops work with their local school community to assist with delivering community and personal safety information. Some Benefits of the program include:

(i) The enhanced safety and wellbeing of children through education
(ii) Positive attitudes of children towards police and the community
(iii) The encouragement of law abiding behaviour

P&C AGM

Congratulations to the new office bearers and members of the Jones Hill P&C for 2017.

President – Col Morley
Vice President – Jason Zerner
Secretary – Jaime Young
Treasurer – Louise Younger
Assistant Treasurer – Claire Doak
Tuckshop Convenor – Jo McEwen
Fundraising Co-ordinator – Kelda Krafft
Book Club Co-ordinators – Bonita Lahtinen and Julie Baker
Yearbook Liaisons – Jaime Young and Carol Flikweert
Grants Officer – Bree Galbraith

It was nice to see such a large roll up and all the new faces at this meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank the Jones Hill P&C for their contributions to Jones Hill School. The P&C and volunteers have tirelessly given up their time to support the school and raised much need funds that went directly to our classrooms and facilities. This support in our school has been invaluable.

RESPECT OUR STAFF

Last year the QLD Government launched the “Respect of schools, respect our staff campaign.”

While we are very lucky to have a supportive school community this is an important message as our staff always look to have respectful interactions with our community. Below is an extract from the campaign:

Violent or abusive behaviour will not be tolerated in our schools. It's not just a courtesy. It's the law.

The Respect our staff, respect our school campaign aims to create safer and more respectful communities in Queensland state schools.

The campaign is part of the Queensland Government's commitment to tackle the issue of violence and continue to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all students and school staff.

We all have different beliefs, expectations and experiences, so there are inevitably going to be times where conflicts or disagreements occur in schools.

How we handle those conflicts can make a significant difference to the learning and development of our students and the positive environments we aim to foster.

The safety of our students and staff is the number one priority and everyone in the community plays a part in ensuring learning environments are safe.

All members of the community are encouraged to work together to prevent abuse and violence directed towards school staff.

Please click on the link below for more information.

YEARBOOK

This year we are hoping to publish a School Yearbook. Soon a publication consent form will be sent home specifically to ask permission to enable us to use your child’s photograph in the yearbook. You may consent to having your child’s image produced in the yearbook even if you currently have limitations of your child’s image being used in other medias that the school utilises. We will still honour individual agreements.

A primary school yearbook will preserve personal memories of friends and classmates and showcase accomplishments and events during these important first years. We hope you will all enjoy seeing our yearbook at the end of this school year.

BANGERS AND MATHS NIGHT

Bangers & Math Night will be held on Wednesday the 8th of March. This combined school event is a great opportunity for families to hear a positive message about mathematics education and to learn some great strategies and games to use at home with their children. Last year’s event set the record with 280 people attending This year it is hoped that over 300 will attend. Each family will receive a book of new games and a pack of dice and counters to take home with them

Venue: The Civic Centre (Fossicker's Hall)
Host: Rob Proffitt-White
Time: 5.15 - 6.00 for the parent session
6.00 - 6.45 for the sausage sizzle and jumping castles

Jones Hill School will cover the cost of tickets for Jones Hill School families. Tickets are available from Jones Hill School Office.

SWIMMING SUPPORT

Thank you to the volunteer parents who have been supporting the swimming this term. Your support makes the swimming process run very smoothly. Your time is very much appreciated.

TRASH FREE TUESDAY

Congratulations to Dylan Flikweert. Dylan has again been successful in gaining support from Australia Zoo for “Trash Free Tuesday.”

Well done Dylan!

Trash Free Tuesday is a day we are looking for students to pack a lunch that does not contribute to landfill, supporting the environment.

Students who bring a trash free lunch box will receive a token. The tokens accumulate over the term and are drawn in the last week. The winner will receive a free ticket to Australia Zoo.

Kind Regards,
James Watt and Helen Grogan

EVENTS CALENDAR

LEM PHONICS NEWS

The LEM committee would like to say a huge thank you to the parents and carers who came along to our LEM Phonics evening session on Tuesday the 14th. You are all LEM Legends!

This week we are learning rule No. 4. Usually use ‘k’ for the /k/ sound if followed by: ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘y’ This rule helps students make correct spelling choices in words like - kite, keep, king, ken.nel, mar.ket, blan.ket, ket·tle, kit.ten, Ky·lie.

Next week our rule will be No.5. Vowels usually make their first sound when followed by a consonant in the same syllable. E.g. cat, his, has, sad, six, get, did. Remember, the first vowel sound is the short sound.

The students are also learning that all words have syllables – one or more. Every syllable must contain a vowel or a vowel sound, and this sound shows itself by the drop of the jaw when we speak. This can be extremely helpful in working out syllables, because a clearly spoken word will have one drop of the jaw for each syllable.

Try to split a word like ba.by. Ask your child to show you how they can put their hand under their jaw to feel how many times their jaw drops. Good spellers can hear syllable breaks.

SWPBS

Over the past two weeks our focus has been on how we use the toilet areas and also how we move around the school.

1Z have practised following the Hush, Rush, Flush, Wash steps and have discussed the importance of everyone sharing our toilet areas safely and thoughtfully. We have also tried to use before and after school times and fruit/morning/afternoon breaks to go to the toilet in order to maximise classroom learning time.

In 1Z we say “transitions are quick and quiet, transitions are safe and sensible”. Our discussions and modeling for learning to be safe and respectful when moving from place to place have included:

• Walk safely between play areas and buildings
• Stay together as a class group when moving around school
• Know correct procedures for transition times e.g. bells, lining up
• Be organised and on time
• Respect bell times and lining up routines
• Move quietly and show respect to other classes
• Respect adults and follow instructions
• Show consideration for others when lining up or moving around school

JAKE GARRETT FOUNDATION DAY

Staff and students are reminded to dress in blue this Friday, February 24 to support the Jake Garrett Foundation. Gold coin donations will be collected to help this very worthy cause.

BOOK FAIR

Book Fair will be on display and operating for one week (Monday 6th March – Friday 10th March) in the Library. EFTPOS is available.

Trading hours will be:

Monday to Thursday

8.30am – 9.00am
11.15am – 11.40am (First Break)
1.20pm – 1.35pm (Second Break)
3.00pm – 4.00pm

Friday

8.30am – 9.00am
11.15am - 11.40am (First Break only)

Your support of Book Fair is always appreciated and helps to resource our school for our students. It is also a wonderful opportunity to build your children’s home libraries by visiting the Fair! Together let’s continue to motivate and inspire the students at Jones Hill State School to develop a love of reading.

Ann Walters
Librarian

HEALTHY CRUNCH LUNCH

The menu for next Monday’s Healthy Crunch Lunch is:

A Chicken and Avocado Sushi Roll and fresh Yoghurt cup for only $6.
Please place orders at the tuckshop or online by 9am Monday.

P&C NEWS

On Monday 13 February the P and C held the Annual General Meeting. Thank you to all our staff and parents able to attend the meeting. Sadly, we said goodbye to some dedicated workers who will not be continuing in their roles this year; Carmel Window, our President for 2016 and Sasha Baxter, our joint Fundraising Co-ordinator for the previous three years. Ladies, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your many years of hard work and although you will not be assisting in the capacity of an executive member this coming year we hope to see you regularly. You have both worked tirelessly over the years and it is due to this that so many wonderful improvements have been made to our Children’s learning facilities. Thanks must also go to the other Committee members and the incredible school community, including staff. If we did not operate as a team, so much would not have been achieved.

The executives of the committee were elected for the coming year; Col Morley parent of a Grade 1 student has kindly accepted the position of President. Louise Younger; parent of a Grade 4 student is continuing in the role of Treasurer. You will often find Louise counting lots of numbers and collating endless reports so to help her do this Claire Doak, parent of a Grade 3 and Grade 1 student has been elected as Assistant Treasurer. Jaime Young; parent of two Grade 3 students and a Grade 1 student, has accepted the role of Secretary. Kelda Krafft; parent of a Grade 6 student, a Grade 3 and a Grade 1 student, is continuing in the role of Uniform Convenor and has also bravely accepted the position of Fundraising Co-ordinator. Kelda has an army of workers with Janessa Keogh (Grade 3 student), Lisa McAulay (Prep student), Melanie Ashcroft (Grade 1 student), Trina Morley (Grade 1 student) and Jaime Young offering to assist. This will never be enough, we welcome all families to please join us on our journey to assist the school with costs associated with educating our children. Jo McEwan is continuing as our Tuckshop Convenor. Bree Galbraith (Grade 4 and 6 students) is continuing with the Grants Officer position. Bonita Lahtinen (Grade 2 and Grade 4 students) and Julie Baker (Grade 4 student) are continuing as our Bookclub Convenors.

Our P and C General Meetings will be held in the library on the second Tuesday of each month at approximately 7pm. The time will always be confirmed prior, please check and attend if you are able to. Everyone is welcome! Please note this has changed to Tuesday evening, in the past it was held on Monday evenings.

Currently we are organising an Easter Raffle, a whole school disco for Friday 17th of March, and many other activities for the year ahead. We will be calling for any willing volunteers when the details are finalised but please keep these first two events in mind.

In previous years we have held a Mother’s Day stall and will be doing so again this year. Thank you to all the families who donate items for this stall, it helps to make the day a huge success that the children enjoy immensely. Once again, we will be looking for donations this year. Some of the wonderful donations we have received in past years have been candles and holders, photo frames, plants, purses, chocolates, keychains, handmade gift cards and bookmarks. Anything you can contribute will be greatly appreciated. We will also be looking for helpers to serve at the stall and will advise the date as soon as it is arranged.

Our school is almost completely air-conditioned; THANK YOU to each and every one of you. The effort from everyone has enabled this to be done so quickly. The incredible profit of almost $15,000 from our fete has been spent! Tammy Pengelly, our school’s Business Services Manager and Bree, our Grants Officer successfully completed and received a grant which has also contributed to completing the air-conditioning. Along with the home readers, classroom supplies, computers, and other items, our fundraising events this year will fund playground equipment.

Although, the air-conditioning is almost complete our School Building Fund will remain open as it provides an avenue where you (and your family, neighbours, etc) can make a tax deductible contribution to assist the P and C to continue with improvements and maintenance of our school buildings. Any donation over $2 is tax deductible and every cent is put back into the school. If you would like to make a contribution please collect a form from the office for details, download it from our school newsletter or speak to Louise or Jaime for help.

With thanks,
The Jones Hill State School P and C

Easter Raffle

The P&C are once again holding their Easter raffle. We would very much appreciate any donations of Easter items. Donations of Chocolate eggs, baskets, ribbons or Easter craft items are all welcome. Please leave all donations at our school office. If you have any questions please contact Kelda on 0429867129.

School Disco

Please click on the link below to download our Building Fund Form

SCHOOL BANKING

Student banking is run from the tuckshop office every Thursday morning 8:20am to 9:00am.

LOST AND FOUND

Found – A purple watch - please see office staff for details.

Lost – Pink & green purse from the 5M port racks. Please return to the school office.

Lost – Max (6 year old, male, 8kg grey & white de-sexed and micro chipped cat) went missing around 7am on Sunday February 12 from his home at 98 Groundwater Road. Distinguishing features: Max has a brain injury with an impacted skull on the top of his head. This has caused weak areas on the head and it can make him confused, so please handle with care.

If you think you may have seen him, please contact Angela on 0402 635 723. Please share as the more awareness, the better in helping him find his way home.