25 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

LEADERSHIP TEAM REPORT

Hi Everyone,

SCHOOL SPIRIT

The strong community spirit of Jones Hill School and other Gympie schools has been evidenced by the generous donations made on our free dress day last Friday. Students raised an amazing total of $455 to donate to One Mile School to aid them in replacing the lost classroom resources destroyed recently in a fire. We are exceptionally proud of our school spirit and highly commend the students for their support of their peers.

DANCE FEVER

Please note that if your student has not paid their invoice for Dance Fever, or entered into a payment plan, by this Wednesday then they will not be able to participate. If you have any questions, please contact the school office on 54890555.

STUDENT RESOURCE SCHEME

Last year Jones Hill School ran a Student Resource Scheme that included a full stationery book list. The scheme was overwhelmingly supported by parents/caregivers and was very successful. As with all things, we are looking to improve this scheme and have already received some very good feedback from staff, parents and even students. The operation of the Student Resource Scheme is discussed annually at a meeting of the Parents and Citizens’ Association. Parents are extended an invitation to attend this meeting and provided with an opportunity to express their opinions. A vote is taken at this meeting on supporting the operation of the scheme. The date for this P&C meeting is Tuesday 12 September. Shortly after this meeting we will ask the parents for written feedback in the newsletter. This will allow everyone to have input into this excellent scheme.

Participation in the scheme is voluntary and no obligation is placed on a parent/guardian to participate. However, if you chose not to participate, you will be required to provide all textbooks and resources that would have been otherwise provided by participation in the scheme and pay a non-participation fee which will cover the cost of such items such as Classroom learning activities, resources, Textbooks (including photocopied textbooks used in lieu of traditional textbooks) and all licences for Computer Programs (this includes Apps for iPads). Full details of the Jones Hill Student Resource Scheme will be published in future newsletters to allow parents the opportunity to make informed decisions.

CANBERRA TRIP

The first payment of $350 for the 2018 Canberra Trip is due on or before Tuesday 22 August. For your child to attend this trip, you must have paid this amount or have entered into a regular payment plan before this date. This trip is limited to 68 students. If your child no longer wishes to attend please let staff in the school office know so the invoice will be removed from your child’s account. If your child is attending, please return your payment or contact the office to arrange a payment plan.

There is a fundraising meeting every second Wednesday of the month at 5:30pm in the school library. The date for the next meeting is Wednesday 9 August.

STUDENT ABSENCES

Each parent of a child who is of compulsory school age must ensure that the child is enrolled (http://ppr.det.qld.gov.au/education/management/Pages/Enrolment-in-State-Primary,-Secondary-and-Special-Schools.aspx) and attends school on every school day for the educational program in which the child is enrolled unless the parent has a reasonable excuse. As Prep is recognised as the first year of schooling in Queensland, parents whose children are enrolled in Prep should ensure they attend Prep on a full-time basis.

Parent responsibilities:

• Ensure that their child is enrolled at school and regularly attends the educational program provided at Jones Hill State School
• Ensure that their child arrives at school on time each day
• Contact the school prior to any planned absence
• Leave a message on the Student Absence Line – 5489 0566
• Provide an explanation if not beforehand then within 2 days of the child’s return to school, each time their child is absent from school. This may take the form of a medical certificate, written explanation or a verbal explanation to the school through either a phone call or visit to the school. Parents may also respond to the absence texts or enter absences through the QParent App.

Daily absence texts will be sent out for those students who are marked absent. If there is no response to the text message a phone call will be made home for absences of 3 days or more, followed with an unexplained absence letter.

PAYMENT BY BPOINT

BPOINT is now the preferred payment method for student invoices in Queensland State Schools. BPay will soon be no longer available and will be phased out over the next few months and this new system called BPOINT will be introduced.

What is BPOINT?

BPOINT is a secure card payment collection portal provided by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

With BPOINT, you have a choice of convenient payment options; via telephone or online. With BPoint you can pay via MasterCard or VISA debit card, credit card or electronic funds transfer using the online portal. BPOINT can be accessed via ANY Computer or Smart Phone.

You will also now be able to set up recurring payments with BPOINT.

On the bottom of each invoice that you now receive, the BPOINT payment method symbol will be displayed with a website link for you to visit and process your online payment (very similar to internet banking that many of you currently utilise). If you receive your invoice via email, you will be able to click directly on the link at the bottom of your invoice. You can use a credit or bank debit card to make a payment. You do not need to register for BPOINT, simply visit the link at the bottom of your student’s invoice or click on the link detailed below and enter the CRN (customer reference number), invoice number, student name and exact amount of individual invoice. If you do not know your CRN please contact the school office for this information but the CRN will appear on all school invoices.

BPOINT will issue you with a payment confirmation that you can email to yourself after making the payment or you can print or take a screen shot, for your records. If you would like an official OneSchool receipt you will need to visit the school and request it to be printed. The school will no longer manually receipt through their One School system for this payment method (BPOINT automatically talks to the school’s accounting system).

Payments will process overnight and will appear in the school’s bank account within 24 hours of making a payment. The school will receive a daily report detailing those who have made a payment.

You may still pay by cheque, cash or EFTPOS at the school office but schools must now transfer calls from parents/customers wanting to pay via a credit/debit card, to a secure BPOINT line which will collect the payment; 1300 631 073.

If you choose to pay via the traditional payment methods, the school will issue you with a One School receipt from the office, but either way we can see from our end who has outstanding invoices and who does not.

Please read through the attached flyers that will talk you through using BPOINT. If you wish to use BPOINT to set up a payment plan, please contact the Business Manager to discuss. You may do this by phoning the office on 5489 0555 or emailing accounts@jonehillss.eq.edu.au.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any questions.

This link will take you to the BPOINT Payment Page

Kind Regards,
James Watt and Helen Grogan

EVENTS CALENDAR

PARADE AWARDS

The following students will receive awards on Parade Friday July 28 at 9:00am in the Hall

Thumbs Up Certificates

20 TOKENS: (1B) Maiya B, Laylalee W

40 TOKENS: (PR) Xavier B, Corey G; (2A) Lucas W; (2S) Ruby D; (2/3L) Amelya S, James W; (4/5W) Taneyaha J

60 TOKENS: (PR) Tate C, Inca S; (1Z) Rieland D, Ronan B, Alli L, Tylor T; (2S) Cooper W, Riley T, Brock S; (2/3L) Aiden Y, Tyler R, Mahli L; (4Z) Rochelle B, Josephine Y; (4/5W) Annabell A, Keira H, Alex M

80 TOKENS: (2S) Ebony W; (2/3L) Indi A; (4/5W) Angel B, Taya J

Behaviour Awards

LEARNING: (PC) Savannah Baxter; (PR) Corey G; (2A) Seth Z; (2S) Flynn B; (4Z) Tiana K; (4/5W) Hayden W
ALL VALUES: (1B) Sienna-Grace E; (5M) Keeley K
RESPECT: (2/3L) James W
RELATIONSHIPS: (PM) Lawson B; (3/4C) Xander R
RESPECT & LEARNING: (1Z) Caleb S

SWPBS

As we settled back into term 3, students have spent their first week revising safety in the classroom environment. This included a focus on caring for our equipment, keeping our areas clean and organised and moving appropriately around the room. In 5M, this inspired us to do a rearrange of our classroom and to make a conscious effort to ensure our classroom is neat, tidy and organised.

In week 2, we have been focusing on knowing our playground rules. This has included knowing where we should be at all times, playing respectfully with each other and following adult instructions. In 5M, we used maps of the school to identify the areas we have access to during play time and listed the known rules for shared and common areas around our school. We identified that different areas have different rules to suit the setting. For example, when playing in the library at lunch there are different rules to playing on the oval.

NATIONAL DATA COLLECTION

National Collection of Data on School Students with Disability

Collecting data on school students with disability helps teachers, principals and education authorities support the participation of students with disability in schooling on the same basis as students without disability.

The school will identify students under the broad category of disability – cognitive, physical, social/emotional and sensory. Collecting data on students who fall into one or more of these categories helps teachers, principals and education authorities support the participation of students with disability in schooling on the same basis as students without a disability.

All Australian schools participate in this annual data collection.

Please be reassured that the Department will not provide to another organisation any data that can identify an individual student. The only data being collected at the school level to be reported nationally is the:

• number of students in the school who are provided with an adjustment to address a disability;
• level of adjustments we provide for those students; and
• broad category of disability.

While only data that cannot identify your child will be submitted outside of the Department, if you do not wish for your child’s details to be included, please let me know.

Information and fact sheets are available to help you make a decision from the:

If you have any questions about the data collection please contact the school.

BOOK WEEK

Book week is August 21 to 25.

Our Book week dress up day will be held on Thursday August 24. All students are invited to dress up as their favourite book character. This year’s theme is ESCAPE TO EVERYWHERE.

So have fun exploring the magic of books, escape into a story and ask: where will your reading take you?

EISTEDDFOD

The Marimba and Djembe groups are competing Tuesday August 1 & the Choir is competing Thursday August 3 at the Gympie Civic Centre. Thanks to families who have already returned permission slips. Students can collect these from Ms Falk or the office should you not have received one yet or require further information about this event.

We will be performing on parade as follows:

• Friday July 28: Marimbas

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Ms Falk, Classroom Music Teacher

PREP 2018

Do you or someone you know have a child who will be attending Prep in 2018? Please contact our administration staff regarding registration. For information about our Prep Transition program please click on the link below.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

• The Premier’s Reading Challenge has started and finishes the 25th August.
• Please record the books your child reads on the sheet – it must be signed by the parent.
• The Prep teachers will complete the reading record sheet at school.
• If you lose the Reading Record sheet or did not receive one, just ask at the office.
• The children who complete the challenge receive a certificate – this is a great way to reward our readers!

Happy Reading, Stacey Seed

P&C NEWS

TUCKSHOP CHANGES

Over the next few months our Tuckshop will be undergoing a review in anticipation of bringing to our School community a vibrant and modern facility at the commencement of the 2018 school year. Our goal is to provide our children with great healthy good and also conform to the directions of the Queensland Governments ‘Healthy Choices’ program. To do this we will be trialling a few initiatives. The first initiative will be reducing the number of trading days during the last six weeks of this term; the Tuckshop will not open on Mondays as of August 7. At the end of the six weeks, we will reassess whether or not this impacted greatly on the School Community, before making a decision on trading days prior to the commencement of the new term.

TERM 3 TUCKSHOP MENU

Our tuckshop menu has had a few changes. To access our new term 3 menu please click on the link below. Copies are also available from the tuckshop or school office.

GYMPIE MUSTER

We have been fortunate to secure a role at this year’s Gympie Muster. It involves scanning wrist bands at the main gate leading into the entertainment area. There is no money handling involved. To fulfil this role, we require at least Eight (8) people over the age of 18, per shift. The shifts are Thursday through to Saturday; 7am-1pm, 12noon – 6pm, 5pm -10pm. Sunday has only the morning and afternoon shifts. All volunteers who complete a shift will be provided with a wristband to enter the Muster Entertainment area on the day that they work. Unfortunately this is non transferable as each volunteer has to be accredited and the pass is electronically issued in their name. The volunteer wristband does require a $5 donation to the designated Muster charity prior to being issued – but this is a once-off payment, regardless of how many times you receive a wristband. We desperately require volunteers for the evening shifts. May I ask that you complete the form below and return it to the school office before Friday the 28 of July (this Friday) as we are required to submit our volunteer list to the Muster Administration by the end of July. This fundraising activity is worth $3500 to our School, and that is a lot of raffles we don’t have to run.

Your help is needed.

RELAY FOR LIFE

Time is running out for the early bird $20 registration fee. Join a team before August 1.

JONESY’S 5 CENT CHALLENGE

Each year Jonesy our school Relay for Life Mascot runs a class competition to raise funds for the school’s year 6 Relay Team, “JHSS Dream Team”. The class which raises the most money will be presented with the annual trophy at parade, September 1.

So start collecting your small change ready for the August challenge. Any denomination accepted.

RONELLE’S PLIGHT

BASEBALL

TENNIS

HOT SHOTS TENNIS EXCELLENCE PROGRAM

Gympie and District Tennis Association Coaches Brett Cottrill and Matt Watkins will commence Hot Shots Tennis program from Tuesday 25th July at Jones Hill State School. Groups will be held on Tuesday (yr 5, 6), Wednesday (yr 3, 4), Thursday (yr 2) or Friday (Prep, yr 1) lunchtimes from 11.00am to 11.40am for a MINIMUM BLOCK OF 7 WEEKS. Costs will be $75.00/pupil, $140.00 for 2 children or $190.00 for 3 children in the same family.

To register for the program please contact Brett Cottrill on 0417746795 or return the completed form back to the office by Tuesday 25th July.

We accept the Get Started Sporting Vouchers.

Please make cash payment or cheques payable to Brett Cottrill.

Direct Deposit: B A COTTRILL. BSB 014585 ACCT 583359786 including students name as reference.

Join our Excellence Program and our weekly Hot Shots Competition for 1 child $140, 2 children $200 or 3 children $250 per term. Our Hot Shots Competitions start Thursday afternoons at The Reg English Tennis Centre on Cartwright Rd from 3.30pm. Every player that registers receives FREE Gympie Junior Tennis Membership and Tennis Australia Membership

SAGE MUSIC ACADEMY