29 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Welcome back

How wonderful it was to welcome back all our Prep to Year 6 students. We missed their smiles and laughter. There was genuine excitement in the air this week and it was not just from our students. Schools are built to be busy and filled with children; seeing our students return has made school feel like a school again.

Thank you

Thank you to all of our families for the support and understanding you have shown over the past weeks of lockdown. We greatly appreciate the changes to home routines and time schedules that many of you implemented to embrace our home learning platform. We feel very blessed to have such an accepting and supportive community during this unique time.

Our staff have been overwhelmed and humbled by the messages and gestures of support we have received from our community over the duration of this crisis.

Just a reminder about the Pick-Up Zone in the afternoon. Prep to Year 3 finish at 2.30 and Year 4 to 6 finish at 3.00pm.

Please collect child/ren with your oldest child’s finishing time in mind or you will be asked to move out of the queue and re-join at the later time.

It is not all over yet

While we are returning to some sense of normality, it is important to note that COVID-19 has not been eradicated, it still exists in our society, the pandemic is not over and we will still be feeling its effects for some time. So with this in the forefront of my mind our students returned this week to some noticeable changes to school routines, start and finish times and staggered lunch breaks. They adjusted beautifully allowing for a very smooth transition back to school. Well done Musgrave. These changes will continue to be adopted until further notice. We are also continuing to ask parents/carers to remain outside the school boundaries at all times. If you have any concerns they can be made via the front office.

Report Cards for Semester 1

As you are well aware, the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the delivery of teaching and learning this semester. Families began withdrawing children from Week 6 last term with over 70% of students absent by Week 9 and no face to face schooling delivered in week 10 due to the special Student Free Days. Term 2 has seen a home learning model in place for the majority of year levels for the first five weeks. Due to the impact of the pandemic on schools, we have had to deliver modified learning programs this term and some children were unable to complete summative assessment last term.

As a result, report cards for Semester 1 will be adjusted to reflect the nature of learning over this time. In line with the Department of Education guidelines for Semester 1, we will be issuing an abridged version of the report card based on the learning evidence teachers can substantiate. The report cards will include a level of achievement for English, Maths, Science and HASS. The report card will also consist of a general/overall comment, a behaviour comment and an effort rating for the 4 areas of the curriculum mentioned above.

Report cards will be issued electronically on Friday 26th June in the last week of term. All schools in Queensland are in a similar situation in regards to Semester 1 reporting. Students will not be disadvantaged by the change to reporting this semester. Please feel free to approach your appropriate Deputy Principal, or myself, if you have any additional questions around Semester 1 report cards.

Uniforms

With the whole school returning this week, I have noticed a number of students out of uniform. I understand there may be genuine reasons behind this and as a school we are more than happy to support families to ensure all students are in the correct uniform each day. If you are having issues of any kind regarding uniforms please contact your child’s Deputy Principal.

A reminder of the uniform requirements-:

• Full black shoes (no other colours on shoes permitted)
• White Socks.

Standard Uniform:

• Navy Blue shorts or skorts (Available at Tuckshop or at leading Retailers)
• Musgrave Hill navy, green and yellow panel polo shirt, with “Musgrave Hill State School” Emblem embroidered on the collar. (Available at Tuckshop)
• Black shoes and white socks

Winter Uniform:

As above plus the following options:

• Navy Blue Tracksuit pants and Navy blue jumper (Available at Leading Retailers)
• Navy blue tights can be worn under shorts or skorts.

Keeping a Healthy School

To support a healthy school environment the following measures are in place:

• Hygiene practices including regular handwashing for children and adults on entering and existing all learning spaces.
• Our cleaners and ground staff will continue their concentrated daily clean of learning and high traffic areas both indoors and outdoors.
• Students will be given frequent reminders of cough and sneeze etiquette.
• Fresh air circulation in classrooms as opposed to closed circuit air-conditioning or heating.
• Entry to the school grounds is restricted with all parents/carers to please remain outside the school boundaries unless making an enquiry through the front office.
• There will be no volunteers until further notice.
• Visitors and contractors must report to the office.
• Tuckshop - Please note the tuckshop will only be taking on-line orders. No cash sales will be permitted.
• Please keep your child home from school if they are unwell and phone/email/text the school absence line.
• In accordance with Queensland Health Directions, parents or carers of any child showing signs of illness will be asked to collect them immediately from the school.

Take care and stay safe

Julie-Anne McGuinness – Principal

INTRODUCING KINDYLINQ AT MUSGRAVE HILL

What is KindyLinQ?

KindyLinQ is a play-based program that families living in identified locations can attend in the year before their child can start kindergarten.

The program provides a safe, welcoming space for families to stay with their 3-year-old child and participate in fun early learning experiences.

KindyLinQ is led by a qualified teacher and early years support coordinator for a minimum of 6 hours a week across 2 or 3 days.

Benefits for children and families

KindyLinQ enables young children to play, explore, sing, create and socialise with their parents, other children and experienced staff in a safe space.

The program also offers guidance for families about how to support their child’s learning and development at home.

Parents and carers play the most significant role in establishing the environment children need to support optimal development and learning, and they will attend each session with their child.

Learning through play

KindyLinQ is based on a facilitated playgroup model. It is about children learning through hands-on experiences with the support and guidance of a caring adult.

Children will learn skills that will support them now and in later learning, including socialising, managing their emotions and developing language skills to ensure they can effectively communicate their ideas and needs.

The program is informed by the Early Years Learning Framework and is separated from the curriculum expectations of school-age children.

KindyLinQ also assists in connecting families with approved kindergarten providers.

Where do I register?

Pop into our administration office to register your interest and to collect a registration form. Alternatively, you can register your interest at thall197@eq.edu.au

FINANCE FACTS

Parent statements will be emailed out next week.

Please check the statement/invoices and balances for any errors.

If amount is negative (-) your account is in credit.

• Do you need to request a refund?
• Do you need to adjust your Centrelink deduction?

Please ask the office for the required forms.

If your account is positive (+) this means the invoice amount is still owing. Please arrange payment.

• Parents in Year 6 - do you need to request a refund for amount paid on camp invoice?

Please contact the office if there is a problem with your statement or if you require a refund form.

Janette Connolly – Business manager

ASSEMBLY AWARDS

TUCKSHOP NEWS

Welcome back everyone, I hope you all stayed safe over your holidays, had lots of fun learning at home and I hope you all remembered to wash your hands regularly. Tuckshop is operating a little differently at the moment with all orders having to be made via our Qkr! App. I have separated the little and big lunches to reflect the times the children have lunches so please be mindful to order the correct little or big lunch. Unfortunately we are no longer open during play time for the kids to purchase items over the counter with cash. This is to ensure the safety of both students, staff and our families. We are not accepting any orders over the counter or over the phone, so please remember to log onto our Qkr! App and order this way.

UNIFORM NEWS

Once again our Uniform ordering process has changed a little bit too. All orders must be placed via the Qkr! App. If the items are not available we unfortunately do not have them in stock. Due to the situation at the moment our delivery times have been expanded. All orders that are placed via the Qkr! App will be checked each day at 9.00am and they will be delivered to the child’s class around 9.30am. If you order after 9.00am I will not see it until the following morning. If your order has not been delivered within 2 days, please contact the office and we will look into it for you. There is no over the phone or counter orders at this time and if anything changes we will notify you all via Newsletter.

Stay safe, remember to keep your distance and wash your hands regularly.

Sally McWilliams – Tuckshop/Uniform Convenors

CLASSROOM CAPERS – 6 EMERALD

In 6 Emerald we are investigating natural disasters.

We are conducting our inquiry around a fictional geological hazard (earthquake) occurring within range of our school and the potential effects and impacts that such an event would have on us. We have utilised augmented reality tools to visualise what is happening beneath the Earth's surface during a seismic tremor. We constructed a model of the famous Taipei 101, which is known for its Tuned Mass Damper (TMD), a mechanism within the skyscraper that limits the amount of sway that happens during earthquakes and typhoons. Our model was equipped with a Micro:bit (microcontroller) to feed data to an Excel spreadsheet from its accelerometer sensor as we tested our TMD. From there we tested the effects of adding different amounts of weight to the pendulum to see if it mitigated the sway of the model building. Next, we are gearing up to write newspaper articles on our pretend scenario.

We have taken eyewitness statements from several brave staff at our school and even a local member of parliament, we better get shaking.

eLEARNING

Managing Technology use and returning to routine

Having just had students at home for upwards of 7 weeks has meant that many students have had more access to devices and the internet. For many parents and students this will have been both a good and bad thing. While there is no denying the role that technology plays in daily lives for everyone, there may also be the need to re-establish routines around technology use within the home.

At school we continue to build in time for students to work digitally, with a balanced program including both time on and off devices. Students from Years 3 to 6 are encouraged to bring their devices to school every day. Go here to find out information and school requirements for bringing devices to school.

There are a number of places to go for support with digital use and managing during these times:

1. COVID-19 Global ONLINE SAFETY ADVICE for parents and carers
2. Advice for parents and carers to support children and young people
3. Returning to normal after COVID-19
4. Should I be worried about gaming addiction?

This is a trying time for everyone. Reaching out, asking for help and taking things one step at a time are all the start to renewing routines. Do not hesitate to contact the school if you would like more information.

Annette Vlaanderen
avlaa2@eq.edu.au
elearning Coordinator

Y.M.C.A. MUSGRAVE HILL

Hello to all Musgrave Hill families

I would firstly like to thank everyone for their support during these times of Corona Virus. We understand what trying times they have been and continue to be.

While our school is opening on the 25th May, our Outside School Hours sector is still on limited spacing so we are unable to continue care for all families. We are continuing with our criteria to take essential working families and then at risk families, which means the children of any parent that physically cannot work from home are able to attend. We do require families to complete our Essential Worker Declarations prior to attendance, so if you have not completed one please email the service or drop in for a form. Once we reach capacity we will need to implement a waitlist system. Our families have been wonderful communicating to us if their child will be absent so we are able to take bookings for the families who are waiting.

I will continue to update all information regarding care and changes to the booking systems as they come in. Again thank you to everyone for your patience and support during this time.

Triscina and the YMCA Team

A MESSAGE FROM DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT

A WORD FROM OUR GUIDANCE OFFICER