28 April 2017

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Welcome back to a new term. I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Easter break. It was an unusual end to Term 1 with the State Government taking the precautionary step of closing all schools in South East Queensland for the final two days of term due to the severe weather event. I would like to thank our community for their support during these two days, particularly on Thursday when the decision to close was made while some families were already on their way to school.

ANZAC DAY CEREMONIES

ANZAC Day now goes way beyond the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity.

Words cannot express how proud I was of all our students during the ANZAC ceremonies we held here at the school on Monday. It is truly an honour and privilege to be the Principal here at Musgrave Hill and it is events like this that make me realise how lucky I am. We are extremely grateful to Mrs Pearce and Miss Kelsey for the outstanding job they did to ensure such a special occasion was phenomenally organised and a true reflection of the ANZAC spirit. It was a truly moving ceremony and it was wonderful to see our students all in the one place, respectfully paying tribute to an event that holds so much significance in Australian history. Many of you went out of your way to see me and share your thoughts on how wonderful the ceremony was and how well our students were throughout the entire service so I thank you on behalf of the students and staff for your praise. Special thanks need to be given to Ms Wagg, Ms Doolan and the School Ensemble who also worked hard to ensure the true spirit of the ANZAC shone through.

Well Done to the Musgrave Community.

3 WAY INTERVIEWS

We are running our very successful 3 Way Interview process again this term. These interviews will involve your children explaining and sharing data they have collected and recorded throughout the term. This is an exciting initiative and an extremely effective practice in providing feedback and your child’s progress.

Please ensure that when you get the note from your child’s teacher in relation to parent teacher interviews that you get yourself a time slot and be a part of this interview process.

NAPLAN

Term 2 is always an important term as our Years 3 and 5 students take part in the National Assessment Program, Literacy And Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing. These tests are designed to give a point in time snapshot of a child’s progress and to compare this progress with peers within the school, across the State and also across Australia. The tests will be held in Week 4 and parents of Years 3 and 5 will receive an individual student report later in the year. The end of term 2 will also see formal written school report cards emailed home for all students outlining their broader achievements across all subjects for the first semester.

ATTENDANCE

Attendance = Success

At Musgrave Hill State School our goal is to have a daily attendance rate of 95% and above in each year level, as you can see below from the Term 1 percentages, we are still falling way short of our targets in the majority of year levels. We must continue to make Every Day Count so please send your children to school.

SAFETY OF OUR STUDENTS

The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority therefore I am very concerned with the number of students riding scooters and bikes to and from school without helmets. It is a legal requirement to wear a helmet and I am seeking your support to ensure your child is wearing a helmet when riding a scooter or bicycle. Any student seen without a helmet will be asked to dismount and walk their scooter or bicycle home or we will be asking them into the office to call parents to come and collect them. I appreciate your understanding and support in this matter as there is nothing more important than our children arriving at school and at their homes safely.

WHAT’S HAPPENING …

A big congratulations to all students from Years 1 - 6 who participated in our second annual Spell-Off competition. It was wonderful to have the support of our whole school community. The class champions and year level champions are listed below.

Term 2 Excursions & Incursions:

Monday, 15th & Tuesday, 16th May - Year 1 Fleays' Wildlife Centre Excursion. Payment due: Tuesday, 9th May

Monday, 15th & Tuesday, 16th May - Year 5 & 6 Let's Talk About It Incursion. Payment due: Thursday, 11th May

Thursday, 25th May - Prep, Year 2, 3 & 4 The Aunty Peach Show Incursion. Payment due: Tuesday, 23rd May

Friday, 2nd June - Year 5 St Helena Excursion. Payment due: Tuesday, 30th May

Monday, 19th June - Year 6 Let's Talk About It Incursion (Session 2). Payment due: Thursday, 11th May

Date Claimer – Art Auction

This term, Musgrave Hill will be hosting an Art Gallery and Auction evening. Mrs Doolan has been working with each class in the school to create a class ‘art piece’ that will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on the night. All proceeds will go directly back into the Art Budget to further resource our fantastic art program. So add the following details to your calendar to ‘save the date’ and keep your eyes open for the invitation that will be sent home in the coming weeks.

WHAT: Musgrave Hill State School’s Art Gallery and Auction
WHEN: Thursday 15th June, 5:30-7pm
WHO: All school community members are welcome
WHY: To showcase the artistic skills of our students and raise money for our art program

ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Mathletics

TUCKSHOP NEWS

School Closure Days

For those parents who ordered lunches on the last 2 days of last term, please contact the Tuckshop on 55271012 so we can replace your child’s order for another day.

Uniforms

Winter jackets are now available at the tuckshop for $47 or we have a selection of preloved ones from $3. You can also purchase bottle green jumpers and track pants from either Kmart or Best and Less.

P&C NEWS

Fun Run

Friday 5th May is our FUN RUN, please return your sponsorship form and money to the tuckshop before the 5th or an easier option is to register online.

Please allow at least 3 weeks for delivery of prizes.

Mother’s Day Stall

Wednesday 10th May is our MOTHERS DAY STALL at 8am in the hall, we have some fantastic presents to purchase for $5 and under for Mothers and Grandmothers.

Tina Quirke – P & C President

CLASSROOM CAPERS – 6 ONYX

This term in Science we, 6 Onyx, have been learning about ‘Fair Testing’ and how scientists conduct investigations to find out how changing one thing ‘a variable’ affects another. We used the acronym ‘Cows Moo Softly’ of changing one variable, measuring another variable and keeping all other variables the same to enable a fair test. Our investigation was to find out how to make the best whirly bird, one that flies for the longest time, by testing wing length. After constructing our whirly birds out of paper we dropped them from a point and measured how long it took for them to reach the ground.

Our initial dropping location was from the top of the stairs outside our classroom, giving us about four meters of whirly bird free falling fun, however the swirling wind was too strong and after one whirly bird was sent up and over the building, we relocated to the school hall for the remaining tests. Once in the hall the whirling resumed and apart from a few whirly birds that refused to fly, testing was successful with positive results for the longer winged whirly birds.

Mr Waugh – Classroom Teacher

CLASSROOM CAPERS – 2 MAUVE

What’s happening in the marvellous 2 Mauve? We have been learning how to write procedures and were lucky enough to make some delicious ‘Frog in the Pond’ jelly!

Here is the recipe we read during guided reading. We searched the text for evidence to answer the questions and found lots of interesting verbs.

After we gathered all our ingredients and equipment, Kiana emptied the jelly crystals into the jug.

Next, we poured the jelly mixture into small bowls and put some red frogs in.

Then came the hard part….waiting for the jelly to set in the fridge!

FINALLY, we got to eat our scrumptious jelly! Yum! Yum!

Miss Newton – Classroom Teacher

A MESSAGE FROM OUR GUIDANCE OFFICER

“13 Reasons Why”

The national headspace School Support Program has grown increasingly concerned by the impact of a recently aired show on Netflix titled “13 Reasons Why”.

Please see the web links below which includes helpful information for schools, mental health services, and parents if they are aware that children or young people have been exposed to the content and have expressed concerns around their own mental health, distress, or suicidal thoughts and feelings.

eheadspace https://www.eheadspace.org.au / Ph 1800 650 890

Kids Helpline www.kidshelp.com.au Ph 1800 551 800

Joy Wheeler – Guidance Officer

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

Dear Instrumental Music students and parents

Welcome back to Instrumental Music at Musgrave Hill for Term 2

Mrs. Rickert, our Strings teacher, will be at MHSS on Mondays in the Art/ Music room.

Please check the new timetable to confirm strings rehearsal and lesson times especially around our public holidays.

Mr. Denning (Band) will be at MHSS on Mondays in the Arts/ Music room and Wednesdays in the school hall. Timetables are located on the Art/ Music Room window and all relevant classrooms have a copy.

Wednesday Band Rehearsals (before school) will not continue as we are commencing beginner band rehearsals (during school times) for Monday students from week 4 onwards.

Monday band students will not start until week 4 due to public holidays.

We still have some positions available in the Instrumental Music program at Musgrave Hill.

If your child would like to learn to play Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet or Percussion, please see Mr Denning or Admin and ask for an Expression of Interest form.

Here’s to a great term in music at Musgrave Hill State School

Mr Denning and Mrs Rickert
Instrumental Music Teachers
adenn52@eq.edu.au
lrick6@eq.edu.au

PLAYGROUP

Come and join our Playgroup where you can have fun and meet new friends every Monday.

YMCA – BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL CARE

Important Notices from your Coordinator

We are into the swing of things moving on through Term 2.

Vacation Care was a lot of fun, with many themes, an incursion with dress up photo shoots, and a trip to Reading Cinemas to watch the Lego Batman movie. Stay tuned for photo’s being sent to your emails if they attended the incursion session.

We will be focusing on many educational learning areas which include Sustainability Practices, Health and Wellbeing which will involve cooking nutritional meals and physical activities. We have an organisation called Sports RDK collaborating with YMCA to promote fun physical activities every week. We have a free session this Thursday and our children will be able to partake in the program. Flyers will be sent home for further information.

Our room has recently been revamped with some beautiful new solar blinds. This will block out sun and heat from our room to maintain a cooler environment for our children. We are also having carpet laid which will give our room an even nicer lift and hopefully cut out the echoing, so looking forward to seeing this when it is completed.

We have a Mother’s Day morning Tea coming up for all our mothers in the school community. We will send out invitations and flyers for this special event to celebrate our special mothers very soon.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Sports Program

YMCA Musgrave Hill Team

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”

KEEBRA PARK HIGH SCHOOL

Excellence Programs

VILLAGE FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAMS

Circle of Security

123 Parent Course

UPCOMING EVENTS