7 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Welcome back to the start of a new decade. The children have settled in well over the past 2 weeks thanks to the hard work of both parents and staff preparing the students for a smooth transition. Thank you once again for entrusting the Musgrave team with the education of your child. Educating children is one of the most important professions in the world because our future is being-shaped today in our classrooms.

What a huge responsibility we have at Musgrave in ensuring we prepare our students for the best future opportunities possible. To do this well it is important that our school and community work together and pull in the same direction. Our teachers are here to help all children realise their potential and I encourage you to stay in regular contact with the class teacher and to encourage your children to maximise the opportunities our school offers.

To our returning families it is great to see you back ready to go in 2020. To our new families a big Musgrave Hill welcome to you. You have chosen an amazing school and community to be a part of.

We have approximately 570 students starting the year, which means at this stage there will be no class changes and we will continue to operate as we have since the beginning of the term. The prediction of enrolments are never easy but the strong communication between families and the school at the end of last year and the beginning of this one, has allowed us to be relatively accurate.

Parent Information Sessions

Parents/Guardians of Musgrave Hill students are invited to attend the upcoming parent information afternoon sessions on Wednesday 12th February 2020. These afternoons are a great opportunity to meet your child’s teacher, hear all about the great things your child will experience this year as well as an opportunity to ask any questions you may have in relation to the teaching and learning planned for your child. Details for the Parent Information Sessions are as follows:

Reminder of our Parents on School Grounds Policy

Musgrave Hill State School is a school that embraces and encourages strong community involvement and I know you would agree with me that the safety of our students and staff has to be our highest priority.

Therefore, I am asking that unless you are attending a scheduled school activity or meeting, or collecting your child/ren after you have signed them out through the office, that you do not enter the school grounds until the end of the school day at 2.40pm. Once you have collected your child/ren, I ask that you please exit the school grounds by 3.15pm. These procedures are not new and have been in place for some time.

I understand and appreciate that many parents arrive early in the afternoon to secure a parking spot. However, this early arrival results in the school grounds being accessed by parents ½ hour to 1 hour prior to the end of the school day and sitting outside classrooms, near classrooms, or congregating in main thorough fares within the school. Afternoon sessions are still critical learning times for our students and parents outside classrooms, or near classrooms, are distracting for both students and teachers.

The numbers of people on site is also a significant safety concern, as we are unable to keep track of who is coming and going within our school.

I acknowledge the importance for parents/carers to connect with each other. We have a very supportive school community and I encourage you to utilise the various locations outside the school gates where these gatherings and conversations can take place. This will assist staff to be able to quickly identify anyone who should not be on the premises, limit the disruption to the learning of our students, and most importantly, ensure the highest safety measures are operating within the school environment.

Drop Off and Pick Up Zone

Schools are busy areas, please make sure to take extra care when parking on the roads and streets around the school and please follow the signed parking rules at all times. This includes not parking in restricted zones such as bus parks, yellow edge lines and across driveways. It is disheartening and concerning that some road users are not following the road rules to ensure safety of our children. There is always a staff member supervising and assisting in the Drop Off and Pick Up zones and they are there to help keep our children safe and to keep the traffic flow moving.

Parking in Nakina Street in front of the school is prohibited between 8am to 9am and 2.30pm to 3.30pm. This side of the street is a pick up and drop off zone only. You are not permitted to park your car and get out as you stop the flow of traffic. The effectiveness of our Pick up and Drop off zone depends on parents doing the right thing.

Can I ask all people utilising the pick-up zone in the afternoons that you clearly display your name signs on your car visors until you reach the end of the pick-up zone so each staff member on duty can see the name. Please let us know if you require a new name sign as we are more than happy to provide this for you as it makes the process so much more efficient and effective. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Julie-Anne McGuinness - Principal

ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Monday 3/2/2020

A MESSAGE FROM OUR BUSINESS MANAGER

Student Resource Scheme (SRS) initial payment is due now.

Excursions

When students are invited to attend an excursion, a note is sent home and an invoice is created and emailed.

The invoice has a Bpoint link on the bottom of the page for payments. This is the quickest and most efficient way for the funds to go directly to the correct invoice.

At the end of the excursion, if your child has not participated, an adjustment note with a negative amount will be emailed. This will clear the original invoice on your child’s account.

Statements

During the year a statement of account will be sent home.

This statement will show how much money you owe the school (if it is a positive balance) or it

will show your account in credit (if it is a negative balance).

Please contact the school if there are any issues with your account.

TUCKSHOP NEWS

Welcome back everyone I hope you had an amazing break.

We have some great new items on the Tuckshop menu this term. You can place your order online via the Qkr! App before 9.15am or simply come up to the Tuckshop before 9.15am. We accept cash or card but no payments over the phone. All orders must be placed before 9.15am as we only make to order so that there is minimal wastage which also allows us to keep our prices fair.

If your child has forgotten their lunch and has come to school with no food the Tuckshop will provide a piece of fruit and a jam or vegemite sandwich for the day. If you have any dietary requirements or concerns please come and see myself or Rach in the Tuckshop.

Our New Items are as follows:

Tuesday Meal Deal

Beef Burrito

Beef, beans, corn, red onion, tomato, sour cream, cheese, avocado and salsa on a tortilla served warm for $4.00 or $6.00 in a Meal Deal that comes with water and an ice block.

Vegetarian Nachos

Gluten free chips, tomato, corn, red onion, sour cream, avocado, salsa and cheese served warm for $4.00 or $6.00 in a Meal Deal that comes with water and an ice block.

Thursday Meal Deal

Chicken Nuggets and Salad

6 nuggets and green salad with dipping sauce for $4.00 or $6.00 in a Meal Deal that comes with water and an ice block.

We also have an everyday meal of 3 nuggets and green salad with a dipping sauce for $3.50.

It is extremely hot at the moment so a good tip to keep the lunches cool and fresh is to simply freeze your fruit the night before. The kids love frozen orange wedges and grapes. You may also find that due to the hot weather they might not be eating as much, so maybe you could pack smaller food items and a couple of different varieties instead of the standard sandwich, fruit, snack and drink. Freezing your drink bottle or popper is another good idea to keep the lunch nice and cool.

Some of you may remember last year we added some lunch box ideas and recipes for busy working parents on a budget that you can make ahead of time and freeze.

Here is this week’s edition:

Banana Bread – Makes 12 Cupcakes or 1 Loaf of 8 Slices

Ingredients:

2 Ripe Bananas
1 Egg
1 ½ Cups Self Raising Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Pinch Salt
¾ Cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup Melted Butter

Method:

1. Preheat the Oven to 180C and spray a loaf tin or cupcake pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir in the melted butter.
3. Mix in the baking soda and salt then stir in the sugar, beaten egg and vanilla extract. Slowly mix in the flour, using a wooden spoon is always best.
4. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan or cupcake pan. Bake for 50mins for the loaf or 25mins for the cupcakes, you can double check that they are cooked by placing a skewer in the middle and making sure it comes out clean.
5. Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove. Now you can slice your banana bread and freeze them. Simply pop them in the lunch box frozen the morning of school and they will be amazing at little lunch.

Lunch Box Idea for Summer

Munch & Crunch

Apple

Little Lunch

Sandwich – Vegemite & Cheese
Water Bottle

Big Lunch

Peaches and yoghurt
Trail mix – crackers, twiggy sticks and cheese
Muesli bar (make sure these are nut free please)
Extra piece of fruit or small fruit salad

Uniform News

Firstly, I’d like to apologise for the current uniform situation and would like to say a big thank you to all of our lovely parents that have been so understanding of the current situation we are dealing with in regards to our uniform delivery. So everyone is aware, we ordered the uniforms last year around August and were expecting a delivery before school ended in 2019. Unfortunately, the shipment did not arrive and the updates on an estimated time of arrival just don’t seem to be much better. We are currently waiting for another update from the manufacturer. As soon as we know anything we will be sending out a text and notification on the QSchools app as well as putting it on our electronic sign at the front of the school. All staff will be notified via email to let their families know as soon as we have confirmation of the goods being delivered.

If you have pre ordered your uniforms and are still waiting please come and see myself or Rach and we can try and work something out to help you in the meantime. Once again I apologise for the inconvenience of this situation and hope to have some answers very soon for you.

Sally and Rachele – Tuckshop and Uniform Convenors

eLEARNING

Safer Internet Day

February 11th is Safer Internet Day. Do you know how to stay safe online? Do you know how to keep your family safe online?

If you are unsure of either of these then you may like to join a webinar online about how to keep your family safe; see the poster below for more details or here so that you can learn about ways to be safer.

The theme for Safe Internet Day is 'Together for a better internet’, which encourages individuals to create a better internet by developing four, critical skills. We call these skills the 4Rs: Respect, Responsibility, Reasoning and Resilience.’ All students in Years 1 to 6 will participate in cybersafety activities as part of their introductory lesson in the ICT Lab, including going through the 5 top safety tips poster below. These lessons will be followed up throughout the year as needed. Musgrave Hill State School is committed to being a cybersafe school. Please take the time to discuss internet safety with your children.

Our ICT Technician, Andrew Shaw, will be available during the Parent Information Sessions on 12 February in the Library if you would like any extra information about ICT use at school or cybersafety.

If you would like more information about safety online contact your class teacher or email me at avlaa2@eq.edu.au.

Parent eLearning Information Session

NETTS: Number Explicitly Taught Through Skills

Musgrave Hill State School offers a targeted program for improving the understanding of Number concepts and problem solving in Prep to Year 4. Students from Year 1 to 4 have a lesson for one hour a week, while Prep students have a 30 minute lesson each week. This is the sixth year that NETTS has been offered at our school and it is a way of exploring number concepts in a fun, game and digital learning environment. Students are involved in counting, writing and reading numbers in lots of different ways, as well as using hands-on materials, iPads and computers to share their understanding. While NETTS supports the school program and Australian Curriculum, it also focuses on improving students’ skills from the students’ current level of understanding. It is a program unique to our school.

Do you like Maths? Are you good at it? One way to improve numeracy understanding is to talk to your children about how you use numeracy in everyday life; whether it is cooking, shopping or completing puzzles.

This month I have added a link to an information sheet outlining what Numeracy actually is. It offers some helpful strategies on how we can improve attitudes and skills in number. We all know that if we start with a positive attitude we are halfway there!

If you would like more information on how to improve numeracy understanding in your family, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Annette Vlaanderen – NETTS Teacher

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC (BAND & STRINGS)

Dear Music Students and Parents

Welcome back to Musgrave Hill State School for 2020! As well as welcoming back all the band and strings students from last year it is our pleasure to welcome our new students to the program this year. We are looking forward to another productive and successful year.

Unfortunately, we have had two flood events at the school in the space of five weeks. The Music Room was affected and we have been working hard to assess damaged instruments and equipment and arrange to get repairs and replacements organised so we can start our 2020 program with the minimum of disruption. We certainly appreciate your understanding and patience at this time.

Band Program – Mr Denning

Continuing Band students (Yr 5&6)

Instrumental Music lessons (during school time) will commence on Mondays from week 3. Please check your timetable for lesson times and allocated room. Timetables are located on the Music Room door and all Yr 4, 5 and 6 classrooms will have a copy. Come along whether you have an instrument or book or not.

Band Ensemble (before school at 7.45) There will be NO band rehearsals in term 1 until we get all instruments re-allocated to students and finalise repairs to the Music Room. Band rehearsals will re-commence in term 2 and we will advise again closer to the time.

Beginner Band students (Yr 4&5)

All beginning band students will begin lessons on Monday in week 3. Lessons will be in the Music Room unless advised otherwise. Beginning students with their own instruments should bring them on Monday. Students hiring school instruments will be issued with their instruments during the next few weeks.

Strings Program – Miss Williams

Beginning and Continuing String students

Miss Williams will be starting with strings students on Thursday in week 3. Lessons will be in the Music Room unless advised otherwise.

Please check your respective timetables to make sure you have the correct day and time. Timetables are located on the Music Room door and all Yr 4, 5 and 6 classrooms will have a copy.

Please return any remaining Instrumental Music forms to the Music Room or to Admin as soon as possible. If you have any questions regarding the Instrumental Music Program please contact administration. We’re looking forward to a great year filled with music.

Southport State High School Strings and Band Days of Excellence

Southport State High Independent Public School would like to cordially invite all continuing Year 5 and 6 Instrumental Music students to attend and participate in the 2020 Southport State High Strings and Band Days of Excellence, to be held on 24 and 25 February, respectively. These days are intended to extend students’ playing abilities through a workshop setting, provide performance experience, and allow primary students to further gauge the offerings available at Southport State High School.

Dates: Monday 24 February 2020 (Strings) and Tuesday 25 February 2020 (Band).
Time: An approximate outline for the day is as follows:

Continuing Band students please see Mr Denning for more information and permission forms.

Continuing String students please see Miss Williams for more information and permission forms.

Is your child interested in learning a musical instrument in 2020

Learn a Musical Instrument at Musgrave Hill

There are still some limited places available for band and string instruments at Musgrave Hill in 2020.

If you missed our parent information session or would simply like to get more information about the Instrumental Music program, you can request an Instrumental Music Handbook from our admin staff. The handbook is our school’s policy document for Instrumental Music and has everything you need to know regarding the program at Musgrave Hill State School. There is also an Expression of Interest form attached to the back which can be filled out and returned to the school.

Students currently in Year 3 are eligible to learn a string instrument in 2020:

Violin, Viola, Cello

Students currently in Year 4, 5 and 6 are eligible to learn a brass, woodwind or percussion instrument in 2020:

Trumpet, Trombone, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Drums/Percussion

Please don’t hesitate to contact the music staff or admin if you have any further questions.

Mr Denning and Miss Williams - Instrumental Music Teachers

A WORD FROM OUR CHAPLAIN

I would like to wish you a warm welcome to the new school year.

I am here at Musgrave Hill on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this year. Please feel free to come and say hello.

Chaplaincy Breakfast

Everyone is welcome to come to our Chaplaincy Breakfast, I would love to see you there.

Chappy Rusanne (Rusty)

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”

Southport State High School – Year 7 - 2021

Little Big Sport

Fun Soccer Program for Kids aged 2 - 10 years old at Musgrave Hill State School

Friday afternoons on the school oval

2 - 4 year old sessions: 3:30pm
5 - 10 year old sessions: 3:30pm

Register today for a free trial via our website:

or

Give us a call on 0426-236-063 for more information.

Soccer X

Starting in Term 1, Soccer X will be running a 9 week After School Soccer programme at Musgrave State School every Monday from 3 - 4pm beginning 3 Feb. The program is available to students from Prep – Year 6. Children will be split into groups according to age. All sessions will be run by qualified coaches who hold blue cards. The sessions will be fully inclusive & fun based, catering for all abilities. For more information and online registrations please visit this website:

UPCOMING EVENTS