11 August 2015

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Report

Academic Awards

Congratulations to all the students who received either a Gold or Silver Academic Award on parade last Friday. Gold Academic Awards were given to students who achieved 50% A's and no D's in semester one and Silver Academic Awards were given to students who achieved 50% B's in semester one. Nineteen students received Gold Academic Awards and ninety four students received Silver Academic Awards. After the parade students and parents enjoyed a morning tea as part of the celebration of their achievement. Thank you to all our staff who prepared the morning tea and ensured the morning was a great success.

Farewell to Mr Impey

During last Friday's parade we said our final farewell to Mr David Impey who has been teaching here at Jones Hill for the past 8 years. Mr Impey thanked the school community for their support and wonderful memories and then sang a beautiful farewell song, "You Raise Me Up", which had many parents, students and staff members in tears. He will certainly be missed and wish him well in all his future endeavours.

Eisteddfod Results

Mrs Grogan and I had the pleasure of attending the eisteddfod performance of the marimbas and the djembe drums on Monday and the string ensemble on Tuesday last week. We were extremely proud of our students who played with great enthusiasm and passion. All the hard work and practice certainly paid off with the following results:

Marimbas – First
Djembe Drums – Second
String Ensemble – Second

Congratulations to all who participated. Well done!

Supervised Crossing

For several years now the school community, including the P&C, have been lobbying for a safe road crossing for our students outside the schools main entrance on McIntosh Creek Road. At present it appears as if there is inadequate signage to signify that students and pedestrians are crossing. Many near misses have been recorded. However, I am pleased to announce that we have formal approval to commence a volunteer school crossing guard at our school. If you or anyone you know feels that they possess the qualities to be a volunteer crossing guard, and would like further information, please read further down in our newsletter for more information.

Welcome to our new music teacher

I would like to extend a warm welcome Mrs Alana Falk as the new music teacher who commenced her duties today. Mrs Falk will be at Jones Hill on Tuesday afternoons, Wednesdays and Fridays and Kandanga School on Tuesday morning. Please make her feel welcome as she begins her time with us and carries on Mr Impey's legacy.

NAPLAN

Last week we received the preliminary data for our students in year 3&5. Congratulations to the students who took part in the assessments. Our results were excellent. A great reflection on the effort of the students, staff and your support at home. Students should have bought their individual reports home last week. A couple of highlights from our data were the number of students achieving highly in Writing and Grammar & Punctuation. I will provide a more comprehensive analysis of the data next fortnight.

Scholarship Winners

Darrin Edwards, principal of James Nash State High School, joined us on parade last Friday to present three of our students with scholarships for next year.

The successful Scholarship students are;

Luke V – English Scholarship
Makayla F – Academy of Creative Arts
Elisabeth Y – Academy of Creative Arts

Mr Edwards explained to the parade that only 12 scholarships are offered by James Nash SHS each year and that Jones Hill School has always had students that were successful in gaining scholarships.

Congratulations to Luke, Makayla and Elisabeth on your hard work in attaining your scholarships. We are very proud of your achievements and we wish you luck next year.

Regards,

James Watt
Principal

Deputy Principal's Report

Goodstart Early Learning pre-prep visit

As a part of the prep transition program, pre-prep students from the Goodstart Early Learning Centre visited the school last Wednesday in the middle session for a skipping lesson with Mr McEnery, our HPE teacher. The children enjoyed the skipping very much and participated with great enthusiasm. The pre-prep children from the centre will visit the school again a few more times throughout the year to become more familiar with the school and our routines. This will enable a smoother transition to the school at the beginning of next year.

Prep transition

We would like to extend an invitation to all pre prep students in the Gympie area to attend our prep transition program.

Please see the attached schedule for visit times.

NAPLAN results

Last Wednesday the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) released the annual national assessment results for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. These tests provide an important measure of how all students are performing against national standards.

Jones Hill School was top in 7 areas out of 10 areas when compared with the Gympie District schools.

For more information regarding NAPLAN, please visit the sites below;

Parent NAPLAN information Brochure

Department of Education and Training website

National Assessment Program website

Spring Festival

Spring is coming! and to celebrate Jones Hill School is going to be holding a Spring Festival celebration on Friday October 8. The Spring Festival is designed to educate our students about sustainability of the environment, recognise and understand our local agricultural links and develop an appreciation for the creative arts. It is the perfect day out for your family and friends.

There will be activity stalls (including a baby animal petting enclosure) where students and children will participate hands on in a variety of craft activities. Food, plants and novelties will be available for purchase on the day. We will also have a number of static displays including hot rods and tractors and stalls showcasing our sponsors companies. Keith Gall will be attending and creating a chainsaw sculptor. Spring Festival day is shaping up to be loads of fun and entertainment. Please check out the attached information brochure to see the full details.

Kind Regards,

Helen Grogan
Deputy Principal

Events Calendar

TERM 3 DATE CLAIMERS
11 August	Zone Trials at Albert Park
12 August	PCM & PJM Art Gallery visit
17 August	P&C Meeting 7pm Resource Centre
1 September	P&C Father's Day Stall
5 September	P&C Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser
6 September	Family Photo Relay Fundraiser
18 September	Last day of Term 3 – Term 4 resumes Tuesday 6 October
9 October	Spring Festival

Thumbs Up Certificates

Parade Friday 14 August at 9:00am in the Hall

20 TOKENS: Kaylun B-B, Aemon T (1C)

40 TOKENS: Hayden S (5N), Ethan H (3B), Jayden R, Zarlia B, Tanaya B, Levi H (1C), Jarrod B, Brienna S, Aidan W (6C), Myles D, Josh L (6K), Eva W, Trinity S, Angus P, Riley L, Blake C, Alec B, Maryem A (4L), Madeline DB, Will R (4R)

60 TOKENS: Charlotte K, Grace P-S, Emily B (5N), Mia W, Lucas M, Izak P, Amber S, Hayley S, Wyatt D (3B), Tahni R, Jayden R (1C), Alice F, Keira H, Ava T, Tawni P (2S), Emily L (6K), Eva T, Kaydee P, Charlize L, Mahalia B, Meisha Mc, Breanna TE (4R)

80 TOKENS: David S, Keeley K, Jackson T (3B), Andrew VD (6K), Mitch K, Chris P (4R)

Silver Academic Awards

Certificates for students absent from last parade

Silver: Bianca H, Deck R, Taylor R, Alex W, Elijah H and Connor E.

Principal's Award

Presented on parade July 31

• Kobi McB (PJM) – Creating his own sentence
• Steele B (PJM) – Fluency and expression while reading
• Izak P (3B) – Great effort with reading – huge improvement with results
• Dana A (1B)- Great reading and narratives
• Christine T (1B) – Great reading and narratives
• Levi B (4/5W) – His application to his learning and producing great results
• Georgia F (4/5W) – Focused learning and excellent independent work
• Riley L (4L) – Great recount
• Ketsia E (1C) – Showing beautiful handwriting about the blue moon
• Jayden R (1C) – Showing beautiful handwriting about the blue moon
• Jayden H (1C) – Showing beautiful handwriting about the blue moon
• Liliana M (2N) – For her prediction of the text Make Way for Ducklings
• Roxy Snell (2N) – For her sizzling start

Spring Festival

Jones Hill Spring Festival is on Friday 9 October. Information on the Festival is on the attached flyer. We are seeking donations for the raffle at the end of the day. These items could include gardening products eg. seeds/plants/watering cans/garden decoration/tools/books or any other sustainable pieces. Please leave donations at the office.

We are giving ice block vouchers to class who donate the most prizes.

Raffle tickets will be going home to sell at a later date.

Spring Festival Sponsorship

Any businesses wishing to sponsor the Spring Festival, please contact the school for further details. There are different levels of sponsorship available.

Casual Cleaner

We are looking for casual cleaners. You must be available for morning and afternoon shifts 5 days a week, out of school hours. Please forward your resume to the office and it will be passed onto the Business Services Manager.

P&C News

FATHER'S DAY STALL

Our Father's day stall will be held on Tuesday 1st September. All classes will be given the opportunity to visit the stall to purchase something. Items will range from 50 cents to $6.00. If you are able to help out on the stall, even just for an hour please contact Sasha on 0409 429 24.

BUNNINGS BBQ

Our next BBQ is on Saturday 5th September. Helpers are still needed. Please leave your name at the office or contact Denise on 0437 024 441 or Sasha on 0409 429 242 if you can spare a couple of hours.

Relay for Life

Raffle Winners

The lucky winners of our Relay Raffle were:

• Gravity Defying Cake – Miss Kyte
• Mr Lee's Painting – Mr Walters
• Party Pack – Ella L (Mrs Hurren's Niece)

Jonesy's 5 Cent Challenge

Jonesy and Jonesy Junior our Relay for Life Mascots are back again collecting 5 cent pieces for the Queensland Cancer Council. The 'Class Jonesy Challenge' will run for the month of August and the class which brings in the most 5 cent pieces will win a trophy. The first weeks' class totals were very impressive. It looks like it is going to be a close race.

Family Photo Day

Jones Hill Strings

I would like to invite all strings players (excluding beginners yr3) to join the string ensemble. Practices for the ensemble are held on Monday mornings from 8:00am to 8:40am. It was lovely to play at the recent Eisteddfod with such good results: now is the time to boost the numbers in the group and let all the students benefit from playing together as an ensemble. I look forward to working with your children in this session. Lessons will continue as normal. Please come see me on Monday morning if you are interested in our string ensemble.

Kind Regards

Judy Luke (Strings Teacher)

New students work hard on a card to show the teachers of Jones Hill School how much they appreciate them and how much they love their new school.

Book Week Celebrations

Traditionally, as part of our Book Week celebrations, we have a Dress Up day. The theme for this year's Book Week is 'Books Light Up Our World'. Your Dress Up theme can be a favourite book character or something innovative based on the Book Week theme.

When: Thursday August 27
What: Dress Up and celebrate Book Week.

Classes assemble on the oval or in the hall (depending on the weather) at 9.00am. Everyone has a chance to appreciate the costumes and take photographs. Dress Up and join in the fun!!

Woolworths Earn & Learn

We are once again participating in the Woolworths Earn and Learn program. If you shop at Woolworths you will receive 1 sticker for every $10 you spend. Attach the sticker to the special sticker sheets and place the full sheets in the specially marked box in the school office. Our school can redeem stickers for fantastic new resources. Find out more and print your sticker sheets by visiting

Camp Australia

What we have planned for the next fortnight!

Over the next fortnight I will continue spending time getting to know the children and enjoy meeting new children as they come to the service. This will help me to plan a program keeping in mind what will help your children achieve and extend on the strengths they already have. We will be continuing on with creating our very own Super Hero Me posters, creating Indigenous Australian artwork and finding out about the history here in Gympie. We hope to set up our garden in the Eco area soon with plants and edible vegetables for the children to grow, look after and enjoy. We will also be talking about sustainability and taking care of the environment, recycled construction and starting on making a weave T-shirt rug. Your child will enjoy range of physical activities, games, craft, construction and puzzles at our Before and After School Care here at Jones Hill School.

Donations welcomed!

• We would appreciate donations of old T-shirts. All colours and sizes are welcomed as we are trying to collect as many as we can to create woven T-shirt rugs.
• Egg cartons.
• Bottle Tops

Tennis Gympie Primary School Challenge Years 1 to 7

Tennis Gympie will be holding the next interschool challenge of 2015 at The Reg English Memorial Tennis Centre on Cartwright Road on Wednesday 12th August from 3.30pm to 5.30pmThe 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.

For more information or to book in please call Brett Cottrill Ph 0417746795 or Matt Watkins 0417070129