10 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Commonwealth Games Flags

As part of our Arts Program, our year 6 students embarked on project that was designed to inspire our Commonwealth Games Athletes while discovering the power of colour. The students below produced the most inspirational and colourful flags and their efforts were rewarded with a flag raising ceremony last Friday which was attended by parents, staff, students and representatives from the Commonwealth Games Committee. We are beaming with pride for those students and the chosen flags will fly proudly at the front of our school next year leading up to and during the Games.

School Leaders for 2018

The School Leaders election process for 2018 is well underway with many current year 5 students showing interest in undertaking one of our leadership roles. These candidates were required to complete a detailed application and then have an interview with the Principal and Deputy Principal. From there, successful applicants were shortlisted to undertake the next phase in the process. Formal speeches by the shortlisted candidates will be conducted in the coming weeks. After these speeches the staff and students will then be asked to undertake a voting process to identify our School Captains and School Leaders for 2018. All of our school leaders will be formally inducted at a ceremony prior to the end of the school year. I have no doubt that the caliber of students vying for our leadership positions will conduct themselves admirably and I am extremely confident that our school will continue to be in good hands when we elect our Student Leaders for 2018.

Your Opinion Matters - School Opinion Survey

Earlier this year, all parents/carers, staff and students from years 4, 5 and 6 were invited to participate in the annual School Opinion Surveys which are undertaken to help schools identify what they do well and how they can improve. While the P&C and School Council are forums for parents to give their opinions, the School Opinion Survey allows every parent the opportunity to have a say in our school each year and help set the future direction.

Preliminary results from these surveys have recently been received and we are very pleased that as a school we are continuing on our improvement journey.

While all questions from the School Opinion Survey are important, and provide our school with useful information of future direction, I have included a summary of key responses from ‘staff’, ‘students’ and ‘parents/caregivers’ that were extremely pleasing to see.

We will unpack the data in more detail in the near future and this information will help drive our improvement agenda for the years to come.

Prep Enrolments for 2018

I will continue to place this information in our Newsletter as it is vital that if you have a child that is eligible for Prep in 2018 and have not yet enrolled contact our office to ensure that they will be able to start next year as places are filling fast. Eligibility for Prep is your children must be five years of age by 30 June in the year they intend to commence Prep. Early entry to Prep is only available if a child meets certain criteria (such as having previously been enrolled in an equivalent program interstate or overseas, or if the child will turn five years between 1 and 31 July and is considered by the Principal as being ready for education).

If you already have children enrolled at the school and have Prep aged children for 2018 who are not enrolled please contact the office as soon as possible please. If you are aware of families that have Prep aged children for 2018 can you pass on this information to them. We do not want any families disappointed.

2018 School Shoes

Shoes are a big part of our uniform policy and our policy states that Musgrave Hill students are to wear black shoes. Please ensure when you are considering shoes for 2018 that the shoes you purchase are in line with our policy.

Lost Bracelet

We believe that ‘A Rose and White Gold Bracelet” similar to the picture below, may have been lost here at the school. The owner of this bracelet is a staff member and she is devastated with the loss. She is offering a $500 reward for its return. So if anyone comes across this bracelet please hand it in to the office.

Julie-Anne McGuinness – Principal

WHAT’S HAPPENING

You are invited to our Christmas Carols Evening

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

A NOTE FROM THE OFFICE

Student Resource Scheme 2018

You should have received information and an email invoice for participation in our Student Resource Scheme (SRS) 2018.

There are 4 payment options.

1. Pay in full by 30th November
2. Payment plan through BPoint
3. Centrelink Deductions if you are already using this system
4. Use credit balance on your account

Forms, payment or payment plans need to be completed by 30/11/17 so that the school can arrange for the purchase and delivery of the book packs in January.

You can download a copy of

1. SRS form
2. Payment plan Form
3. Information about how the Direct Debit payment plan will work

ASSEMBLY AWARDS

CLASSROOM CAPERS – PREP SILVER

WE HAVE...

We have loved reading lots of picture books and writing retells.
We have worked hard to make connections when reflecting and remembering the story of Bear and Chook by the Sea by Lisa Shanahan.
We have been learning our numbers and subitising.
We have been comparing objects using mass, length and capacity.
We have been scientists and learnt about materials and their properties.
We have been a teammate.
We have been sharing with our classmates about our favourite places.
We have been practising or rugby skills with the Rugby Reds.
We have been using SHELL to help us prepare for Year 1.
We try.
We are kind.
We love our DOJO.
We love school and learning.
We make Mrs Newman PROUD every single day!

Mrs Newman – Classroom Teacher

TUCKSHOP NEWS

New Item

Falafel wraps, with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and tzatziki sauce or in a salad box for $5.00

Lost Property

Please check our lost property bin outside the tuckshop

Uniforms

We have all sizes of uniforms available for purchase or layby

Angela Anderson and Sally McWilliams – Tuckshop Convenors

P&C NEWS

Christmas Concert - Monday 4th December

Tuckshop will be open for drinks and snacks. Salvation Army will be providing a sausage sizzle plus there will be ice creams and slushees.

Arts & Craft stalls will be open prior to the concert, buy some great local handmade presents for Christmas.

Anyone interested in holding a stall please see Ange or Sally in the Tuckshop

Tina Quirke - P&C President

SPORTS NEWS

eLEARNING

Please find below the minimum specifications for participation in the BYOx Program for 2018 if students are new to the program.

BYOx Program Requirement List

Bring Your Own ‘x’ (BYOx) is a new pathway supporting the delivery of 21st century learning. It is a term used to describe a personally owned digital device ownership model where students or staff use their personally-owned mobile devices to access the department’s information and communication (ICT) network.

Students and staff are responsible for the security, integrity, insurance and maintenance of their personal mobile devices and their private network accounts.

The minimum specifications for students new to the BYOx Program is the iPad Air or iPad Air2 32GB or any iPad purchased after March 2017 - 32GB. There is no need for 3G/4G or if the iPad has 3G/4G then it must be disabled when at school to meet DET requirements.

The iPad Mini is not a preferred option because of its screen size.

Existing students with earlier versions of all iPads will be accepted as part of the program but please note that Apple have ceased to offer major updates for iPad2 models.

From July 2016, we encourage all students from Years 3 to 6 to participate in the BYOx (iPad) program.

App List

The Core app list for 2018 will be available on the Website before the end of the year. We suggest the use of iTunes cards to purchase apps rather than attaching credit cards to accounts. In most cases the core apps will form a majority of eLearning opportunities while at school. Each term teachers may ask for a couple of extra apps for the following term. These will be sent home as part of the Class Term Newsletter and usually will not cost a lot of money.

The Core App List is mandatory for all students to participate in the BYOx Program.

iPad Accessories

The following accessories also form part of the BYOx Program Agreement:

A set of headphones, with a microphone (some purchased as part of book packs).
iPad case
iPad sleeve – protective outer cover like a pencil case
iPad clear screen protector

The better the quality of the accessories, the better they will help to care for the investment of the iPad.

The next Newsletter will outline more information about our 2018 eLearning Policy and Core app lists.

For more information on our current school eLearning policy, please go to the school website.

We look forward to maximising the learning opportunities that eLearning provides for our students.

If you have any questions on any eLearning issues, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Annette Vlaanderen
avlaa2@eq.edu.au

A WORD FROM OUR GUIDANCE OFFICER

Sleep and mental health

Life constantly throws up challenges and difficulties. Resilience is the ability to manage and cope with these. It is believed that having enough sleep is an important factor in our ability to deal with adversity and the demands of a busy life. Sleep in many respects is a built in biological source of resilience and the ability to bounce back. Although the relationship between sleep and mental health is not clearly understood, we believe that a good night's sleep helps foster both mental and emotional resilience. Chronic sleep disruptions set the stage for negative thinking, depression, anxiety and emotional vulnerability.

During the day, we are bombarded with new information. Sleep gives the brain some ‘down time’ to process all of this information and store it in our memory banks. This way, it is available and accessible when it is needed. Having enough sleep improves concentration, creativity and assists with learning.

An extreme example of a difficult and stressful situation is being in a Prisoner of War camp. In a study that followed repatriated prisoners of war for 37 years, sleep was the strongest predictor of mental resilience. Whatever is happening during sleep for traumatised people, it appears to assist with the recovery from these stressful experiences. Whilst thankfully few people will have had the experiences of a POW, all of us experience the ups and downs of life and would benefit from accessing quality sleep in times of stress.

Poor sleep and depression are very closely linked; treating one condition will often improve the other. Given that research suggests that 60-90% of patients with depression have insomnia (and approximately 20% of people with depression have sleep apnoea), looking after our sleep to promote good mental health seems imperative. The Harvard Mental Health Newsletter states that “Once viewed only as symptoms, sleep problems may actually contribute to psychiatric disorders”. People who sleep poorly are much more likely to develop significant mental illness, including depression and anxiety, than those who sleep well.

There are many simple ways to improve sleep. The first step for many people is:

• to improve their sleep habits. A regular bedtime and waking time are essential, as are avoiding stimulants before going to bed (cigarettes and caffeine)
• having enough exercise during the day (not too close to bedtime)
• eating well and healthy
• ensuring that the bedroom is quiet and dark and the bed is comfortable
• Removing all electronic screens from the bedroom is difficult for some people, but mobile phones, computers and televisions in the bedroom are a major cause of sleep disruption
• Some people may need to seek the assistance of a sleep psychologist or sleep clinic and very occasionally the short term use of medication may be helpful.

Adapted from Sleep Foundation, Cathryn Curtin, Psychologist, People Diagnostix

Joy Wheeler – Guidance Officer

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAPLAIN

Chappy Rusty

YMCA – BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL CARE

Here at YMCA Musgrave Hill we believe in building strong connections with our school community, so we would like to extend an invitation to all families to join us for an afternoon of fun!! On Friday 1st December from 3pm we will be hosting a sausage sizzle with a jumping castle, face painting, a bake stall and lots more. On the afternoon we will also be raising money for one of our YMCA Brisbane staff members who sadly has a terminally ill family member, so we please ask you to bring along some gold coins for donation and have some fun on the jumping castle or take a guess at how many lollies are in the jar whilst raising some much needed money. Any children not booked into the YMCA that afternoon must be accompanied by an adult.

Our 2018 enrolment packs are now available from our service and also the school office for your convenience. In order to have any 2018 bookings all families must complete a new enrolment form. All 2018 Prep students are able to join our exciting program in the January school holidays.

Please come in and see our friendly staff for more information.

YMCA Musgrave Hill Team

KEEBRA PARK HIGH - YEAR 7 ORIENTATION DAY

UPCOMING EVENTS