31 May 2019

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Under 8’s Day – It is great to be under 8!

Under Eight's week is an event proudly initiated by Early Childhood Australia Queensland Branch. It has been running for over 50 years across Queensland. We held our celebrations on Wednesday 22nd May. Prep, Year 1, Year 2 and our local kindergartens had the opportunity to take part in a variety of amazing activities, with the big focus on fun.

Chappy Week

Last week was Chappy Week where we acknowledged the important role Chaplains play within our schools, in particular with the pastoral support of our children and families. On behalf of the Musgrave Hill State School community, I would like to offer my thanks to Chappy Rusty for all of the work that she does; this work is greatly appreciated.

Semester 1 Report Cards

As in previous years your childlren’s Semester 1 Report Card will be emailed home on Wednesday of Week 10 (26th June). Please add OneSchool.application@dete.qld.gov.au to your ‘safe senders list’ so your child’s report card will be delivered to your inbox.

If the email address on your enrolment form has changed, please let the office know by Friday 7th June. Changes received after this date may mean that your child’s report card is not delivered on time. Provisions will be made for those families who do not have access to the internet.

Update Drop Off and Pick Up Zone

I have been informed that the Council’s Traffic Section is currently investigating the issue with regards to our signage in the Drop off and Pick Up Zones and I am hoping for a resolution shortly. I will continue to keep you updated.

Prep 2020

Enrolment applications are now being accepted for Prep 2020. Children born between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2015 are expected to attend Prep in 2020. Please contact the office to collect an enrolment pack.

Amazing Student Achievement

Aiden T (Year 5) was recently in Victoria competing at the Australian BMX National Championships. Aiden fought hard in one of the largest age groups and has earned a podium finish: Aiden is Ranked No. 3 in Australia and will be representing Australia again at the next UCI BMX World Championships in Europe (July 2019). Well done Aiden, Musgrave is very proud.

Winter Uniform

I would like to remind families about the school dress code. Please ensure your child is wearing the full school uniform, this includes black shoes. I do not want to put families under financial hardships but I do ask that the uniform policy is adhered to.

As winter is quickly approaching, I am noticing many of the jumpers students are wearing to school are not in line with the Dress Code Policy and therefore students may be asked to remove the jumper as it is not school uniform. Please support us and your child by ensuring they are aware of the dress code expectations and are in full uniform each day. A full copy of the dress code will be made available at the office for those who require it.

Julie-Anne McGuinness - Principal

QSCHOOLS APP

In the April school holidays technical updates were made to the QSchools App. As a result of this many parents/carers, who have not updated their app recently, will not be able to receive the notifications and reminders that we send out through QSchools. To rectify this could you please open your app to allow it to ‘perform’ an update. Or alternatively if you don’t already have the QSchools App you can download it through the App Store (IOS) or Google Play (Android). Please ‘allow’ push notifications when you are prompted as this brings our notifications directly to your front screen. Through the QSchools App you are also able to access our newsletter archive, calendar events and a range of school documents.

Prep 2020 – School Tour, Coffee and Chat

ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Monday 20/5/2019

Monday 27/5/2019

TUCKSHOP NEWS

State of Origin Spiders

On Wednesday 5th June at Little Lunch and Big Lunch we will be selling State of Origin Spiders in Red or Blue for $2.00 each. Support your team.

New Menu Items

Ravioli - $4.00 available everyday
Vegetable Lasagne - $4.00 available everyday

Qkr!

We are looking to completely phase out Flexischools shortly so if you’re having trouble with the new Qkr! app come and see our lovely tuckshop ladies. We still accept orders over the counter up until 9.15am each day.

Uniform News

We now have a selection of Polos, Shorts, Skorts and Jackets in stock.

Sally and Rachele - Tuckshop and Uniform Convenors

CLASSROOM CAPERS – 2 MAUVE

This term in 2 Mauve we have been learning about sea creatures in preparation for writing an information report about sharks. We received a video from a marine ‘expert’ asking for our help. She was concerned that too many people were misinformed about sharks and therefore have starting avoiding the Gold Coast as a holiday destination! What would that mean for our tourism? She has asked us to help clear up any of these concerns by researching sharks and writing only true information and facts about them to share with others. Hopefully we can help spread the word that not all sharks are as ‘scary’ as we are lead to believe!

We went to SeaWorld on an excursion and it was there that we started our research.

The research has continued back in the classroom. We look forward to writing our reports and sending them to our ‘expert’. We hope we can answer her call for help and serve her proud!

We have also been busy learning many new math concepts too! Check out these pictures of us in action learning and practising skip counting with a beach ball, learning about place value with playing cards, counting money with notes and coins and measuring and comparing the area of different shapes.

Mrs Pearce and Mrs Ledwidge – Classroom Teachers

A WORD FROM OUR GUIDANCE OFFICER

Helping Kids With the Ups and Downs of Friendships

It is not always easy for children to know how to manage friendships. Problems with friends can affect how children feel about themselves and their enthusiasm for activities that involve others. Parents and carers can help children learn the kinds of friendship skills they will need as they grow and develop.

Learning how to make and keep friends involves a number of skills. Children learn more and more complex social skills from those around them as they develop.

Home life has an effect on the development of social skills. A child who has an adoring little sister is likely to have more skills of leadership. A child who is the little sister may be more used to fitting in with what others want to do. These children are likely to react differently when they go to school and meet other children with different life experiences and different social skills.

Friendship skills for children include:

• Cooperation - how to share, how to take turns, how to work together towards a common goal
• Communication - using words to explain what you want and listening to others respectfully; paying attention to body language, e.g. making eye contact, smiling and being able to read others’ nonverbal reactions
• Understanding and managing feelings - being able to express feelings in ways that help others understand you; recognising and responding to others’ feelings
• Tolerance - Accepting and including others - recognising others’ needs for respect and friendship.

How Parents and Carers can help:

Be aware of feelings

Children need to learn that having angry feelings is normal and okay, but that reacting aggressively towards others when you’re angry is not. Adults can help children become aware of feeling annoyed, frustrated, angry or furious by naming feelings. Learning to say, “I’m feeling angry” or “I’m really frustrated” gives children a way to separate feeling angry from how they react.

Time to talk

Talking to your children about what has put him/her in an angry mood will help them see that feelings have causes and that solutions can be found. Once you find out what they were angry about you can help him think up better ways to handle the problem. This kind of conversation doesn’t work while they are really angry. Sometimes it must wait until later.

Children often find it easier to talk in informal situations where they feel less pressure. Find a relaxed time to talk to children about feelings. Asking, “What makes you angry?” can be a good way of starting a conversation about anger.

Find alternatives

Getting children to think through a difficult situation helps them develop problem solving skills. Asking, “Is that what you wanted to happen?” or “What else could you have tried?” encourages children’s helpful thinking. Thinking of alternative solutions helps children plan different ways of reacting next time. Be sure to praise their efforts.

Have ways to calm down

When emotions are strong, it is easy to act without thinking. Encourage your child to take control and allow time for the emotions to subside by trying one of the following: practising breathing, walking away, using a quiet spot to think, riding a bike or listening to music, talking to the family pet.

Try a Problem Solving Approach

When problems arise in friendships it is important not to blame children but to show them how to find a solution. A problem solving approach is often helpful.

1. Encourage the child to describe what has happened
2. Ask about how they felt
3. Ask them how they think the other person might see it and how they might be feeling
4. Get them to think of ways they could do things differently next time (use the High 5)
5. Encourage them to try the new approach – get them to practise with you so they feel more confident
6. Check back with your child to see how things turned out

As parents our job is to help our children to develop skills that will, not only serve them well, but also skills that they can pass on to their children.

Adapted from: www.kidsmatter.edu.au

Joy Wheeler – Guidance Officer

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 Girls Sport Immersion Program

UPCOMING EVENTS