24 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

As this is the last newsletter for the Term, I just want to say a big thank you to all of our school community. Your continual support of our school is greatly appreciated. Please note that students return to school from the holidays on Tuesday 18th April.

P & C

Wednesday 8th March the Annual General Meeting for our P & C was held. The executive positions have been filled and listed below. A big thank you to our Executive Team and I look forward to another successful year working closely with the P & C team.

PRESIDENT – Tina Quirke
VICE PRESIDENT – Melissa Holland
SECRETARY- Michelle Cook
TREASURER – Kelsey Davies

The Importance of Reading everyday

At the recent Principal’s Conference Professor John Hattie presented research on the significant impact reading in the early years has upon vocabulary development. In its simplest form, the more you read the more words you know. This in turn has a measurable impact on subsequent academic performance. The following statistics show the importance of why reading is vital in our student’s lives and why here at Musgrave Hill it is one of our highest priorities.

• Student A reads for 20 minutes a day, a total of 1,800,000 words in a year and achieves in the 90th percentile ranking on a standardised test.
• Student B reads for 5 minutes a day, a total of 28,200 words in a year and achieves in the 50th percentile ranking on a standardised test.
• Student C reads for 1 minute a day, a total of 8,000 words in a year and achieves in the 10th percentile ranking on a standardised test.

In the years prior to formal schooling, children develop their oral language (vocabulary) through being read to and via discussion of the world around them. Please help us to continue to make reading our focus and encourage your child/ren to read at home.

Harmony Day and National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

This past fortnight marks some important work our school does around embedding Musgrave Hill Values in our school community as we celebrate Harmony Day on 21st March as well as raising awareness around the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence on 17th March. We highlight these days as it reflects the way we learn and work together in the spirit of “inclusivity”. We have a wonderfully multicultural school community and are proud of the way in which our students, their teachers and our families demonstrate their acceptance, compassion and understanding of our differences and our diversity.

It is important to note that not all disagreements and conflicts between students constitutes bullying, but persistent and targeted behaviours designed to isolate, upset or threaten a person can be considered serious bullying issues. The best way to deal with a bullying situation at school is to bring these behaviours out in the open by reporting them to a staff member. Musgrave Hill State School takes any actions which upset or threaten fellow students or staff very seriously and all students are encouraged to report issues immediately so that they can be dealt with. Musgrave has a lovely tone and the cases of deliberate and persistent bullying are very isolated, but if we don’t know about it we can’t fix it. Our very structured school behaviour processes ensures that complex issues such as bullying are dealt with quickly, fairly and effectively.

Normally our students and teachers would wear orange to show support of this day but due to School Photos this was not possible this year.

Uniforms

The feedback from the uniform survey last year has been collated and presented at the first P & C meeting this year. We have contacted suppliers and example designs will hopefully be available for parent feedback after the Easter Holidays.

Can I please ask again that your child/ren are in the full correct uniform each and every day, this includes black shoes. Thank you in advance for your support in this matter.

WHAT’S HAPPENING …

Spell-Off Competition

Students in Year 1-6 have been busy practising their spelling words at home in preparation for the Musgrave Hill Spell-Off. The Spell-Off is an opportunity for families to partner with their child and their education.

Each class will determine a ‘Class Champion’ via a class Spell-Off. The Class Champions will then participate in a Year Level Spell-Off to determine the ‘Year Level Champion.’ The Year Level Championships will take place in the hall at the following times:

• Year 5: Monday 27th March at 9am
• Year 6: Monday 27th March at 10am
• Year 2: Wednesday 29th March at 9am
• Year 3: Wednesday 29th March at 10am
• Year 1: Thursday 30th March at 9am
• Year 4: Thursday 30th March at 10am

ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Mathletics

eLEARNING

Focus: Promoting Numeracy

Holiday Maths

With the holidays not far away the big question arises as to what to do to keep everyone busy. It is a great time to develop mathematical understandings in everyday situations and for children to see how mathematics relates to the real world. It is a great way to keep growing brains engaged, while doing fun things.

Here are a few ideas of fun things to do in the holidays that build mathematical understanding:

• Cooking can involve weighing, measuring, ordering, estimating, adding, multiplying
• Restaurants and shopping can involve money, number identification, estimating, adding, subtracting, division …
• Parties can involve matching numbers of people to plates, cutlery, area of tables, estimation, multiplication …
• Trips can involve time, distance, budgeting, speed, evaluating various routes, license plate games (e.g. adding or multiplying the numbers on the plate) …
• Home projects can involve estimation, measuring, multiplication …
• Gardening can involve measuring, counting, area, division …

These ideas all demonstrate how much maths is involved in our daily lives and will support your child in his or her basic computation and problem-solving skills in natural, fun and real ways.

Source: (www.edugains.ca)

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me in the NETTS room (located in the library)

Annette Vlaanderen
avlaa2@eq.edu.au
eLearning Coordinator & NETTS Teacher

P&C NEWS

I'm BACK!!!

Thank you to all the lovely ladies for electing me as P&C President for 2017, also welcome back to Melissa, Michelle and Kelsey who all have executive positions. I'm glad to be back with our hard working bunch that is the MHSS P&C.

Last year we were able to raise enough funds to go towards this year’s air conditioner maintenance and upgrades, our Chaplaincy Program as well as hopefully a shelter off the hall on the oval side.

We are looking forward to a spectacular year full of exciting ideas, such as our Twilight Fete, Disco's and Mother/Father’s Day Stalls.

Thank you for all the support we received last year and we are hoping to count on you all again for 2017. We are always looking for volunteers so come along to our P&C meetings to find out what we have going on.

Thank you Ange and Sally for always working so hard and for just being SPECTACULAR!!!

Don't forget we have FREE toast daily in the undercover area until 8.40am - thanks to Church of the Good Shepherd Ashmore for our weekly bread donations.

Tina Quirke – P & C President

CLASSROOM CAPERS – 1 BLUE

1Blue attended a fabulous Starlab incursion. The children had a great time and then wrote a recount about their experience. Here are some examples of their writing:

Today I went to the Starlab. First we had to line up. Then we had to go inside. It was like a big bed that’s squashy. Next we had to sit down. After that we had to watch a movie. Finally we had to go back to the class. I felt dizzy because it was wobbly. By Kento

Today I went to the Starlab. First we had to line up in one line. Then we had to try to get in the black thing. Next we looked up at the stars and moon. After that we saw the Earth spin. Finally we watched a movie and after the movie we went back through the black door. I felt excited because we saw a movie that made me crazy and dizzy. By Hannah.

Today we went to the Starlab. First we had to line up in one line. Then we had to try to get in the black thing. Next we looked up at the stars and the moon in the dark sky. We looked at the sun, the Earth and the moon. We looked at north, south, east and west. We also saw shooting stars. After that we went back to our classroom. I felt pumped to write. It was fun. By Denali

Mrs Brownrigg – Classroom Teacher

CLASSROOM CAPERS – 2 RED

2 Red were lucky enough to engage in the Star Lab experience this year!

Our minds were blown as we entered the inflatable dome and embarked on an outer space adventure. We learnt about the sun, stars and all of the planets in our solar system. We learnt about the Gas Giant planets and the Rocky Midget planets. After we finished at the star lab we wrote about our favourite things and some of these included:

“Seeing all the planets in the solar system and learning what they are made of.”
“Learning about which planets are hot and which planets are cold.”
“Seeing Saturn’s rings and the man telling us they are made of lots of tiny rocks not just one big ring.”

SPORTS TALK

Commonwealth Day

On Monday 13th March, I had the privilege of attending a special media event with Hugh O, one of our Musgrave captains. As a Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games™ (GC2018) Gold Coast Schools Connect school, we were invited to attend the media call with special guests to celebrate Commonwealth Day and the world reveal of the first GC2018 Commemorative Coin.

Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations in Westminster Abbey in London. The Queen delivers an address to the Commonwealth, which is broadcast throughout the world. To coincide with this year’s Commonwealth Day, the GC2018 Queen’s Baton Relay officially launched at Buckingham Palace in London before it embarks on an extraordinary 230,000km journey through the entire Commonwealth, making its way to the Games’ Opening Ceremony on 4 April 2018. Kurt Fearnley, one of our Gold Coast Ambassadors firmly has the baton in his hands, and has started it on it’s journery to the Gold Coast.

Up and coming Broadwater Trial Dates …

A reminder that these trials are for Club Representative players only, they are not a come and try afternoon. If your son/daughter plays club level and is wanting to trial for the Broadwater District Team, the following sports and age divisions are approaching. Please tell them to come and see me ASAP. Nominations for these trials will be week 1 after the holidays.

12 yrs Girls/Boys Touch
12 yrs Girls Softball

Congratulations!!

A big congratulations goes to Essense P!! She was selected as a shadow player for the South Coast 12 years Girls Hockey Team. We are all very proud of your achievement!

Run Club …

A reminder of times …

Tuesday 2nd Break play bell (only students in years 1-6)
Wednesday 8am before school (all are welcome - parents, carers, grandparents, siblings!)

Mrs Halsall

TABLE TENNIS FUN DAY

On Wednesday 15th February, Ms Christie, Miss Jo and I took a group of lucky year 4, 5 and 6 students to the Smash Down Barriers Table Tennis Fun Day at the Gold Coast Table Tennis Association in Molendinar. We spent the day learning new skills, playing table tennis and we were even able to meet the Indonesian and Thai champions. We watched the Paralympians play a very fast and exciting game. We all improved our table tennis skills and had so much fun!

Mrs Leitch

QSCHOOLS

Don’t miss out on any important information. Download the QSchools app to your phone today or if you have already downloaded the app, please ensure that QSchools push notifications are enabled in your phone settings.

QSchools app is a convenient way to receive up-to-the-minute information from and about Queensland state schools.

The app is designed to integrate with Websites for Schools websites and is automatically updated when a school updates their website with the latest news, newsletters, events and information.

The app is particularly useful to parents who have students in different schools, as the app manages updates from multiple schools in a single view.

All Queensland state schools are searchable via the app, however only schools who have upgraded their school website with Websites for Schools will benefit from all the features of the app.

A Message from our Guidance Officer

Keeping Our Kids Safe During School Holidays

With school holidays approaching, it’s a good time for parents to talk with their kids about personal safety. For parents or carers, keeping children safe is one of the most important things we can do. To do this, we must equip our children with the knowledge and skills they need to avoid risky situations. Just as we routinely teach children the road rules, we need to give them an understanding of their rights to protect themselves.

The basic principles we need to teach our children (remember: it’s never too early to sow the seeds of personal safety) are:

1. To trust their feeling/instincts
2. That they have the right to say ‘no’ if they feel unsafe or unsure
3. That nothing is so yucky that they can’t tell someone about it
4. That if they feel unsafe or unsure to run and tell someone they trust (and to keep telling until someone listens).

There are some basic rules that we need to teach our children to keep them safe when they are not at home or with their parents. Rules for younger children might include:

• Know your name, address, phone number and your parents’ name
• Always check with your parents or person in charge before going anywhere – even going somewhere with someone you know.
• Always take a friend with you when you go somewhere
• Never go anywhere with someone you don’t know - run away if someone tries to get you to go with them

Rules for teens might include:

• Don’t go out alone – there is safety in numbers
• Always let an adult know where you are going
• Never go anywhere with someone you don’t know
• You can say ‘no’ if someone makes you feel uncomfortable or threatens or pressures you to do something you don’t want to.

Additionally, with many kids spending substantial periods of time online. Five quick tips you can teach your kids to safe online are:

1. Private stuff needs protection (if you wouldn’t want your parents or grandparents to see something, don’t post it)
2. You can only really know someone if you know them offline (think about what ‘a friend’ means to you)
3. What you share will always be there (think before you post)
4. Not everyone online is who they say they are (remember that behind the screen it is easy to pretend to be someone you are not)
5. If something doesn’t feel right, tell a trusted adult (check out Bravehearts’ Join the Dots reporting app and website)

If you would like further information explore our website or call our wonderful Information and Support staff on 1800 272 831.

Source: Bravehearts http://bravehearts.org.au/pages/keeping-our-kids-safe-during-school-holidays.php

Joy Wheeler – Guidance Officer

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAPLAIN

Mum’s Self Care Workshop

KEEBRA PARK STATE HIGH SCHOOL

Sport Excellence Days

COMMUNITY NEWS

“This is a service provided when space permits. The school acts solely as a messenger and is not actually recommending any activities advertised”

Broadwater Netball Club

"Come and play netball for Broadwater Netball Club in 2017! Our season is just about to begin and we have a few spots available for players born in 2008 to 2011. We are a family friendly club based at Runaway Bay, so if you would like to get active and have some fun with your friends, contact Kate Kyle on 0414 998 615 or email broadwaternetballclb@hotmail.com ASAP!"

RSPCA Easter Hunt

Gecko Sports

UPCOMING EVENTS