Thursday's Tidings - 13 February 2025
TERM 1 2025 |
|
| Friday 14 March | Badge Presentation Ceremony 9am |
| Tuesday 25 March | Nexus Arts Presentation |
| Thursday 27 March | Cross Country 9am-11am |
| Friday 28 March | Prep Vision Screening |
| Thursday 3 April | Celebration of Learning 2:15pm* |
| Friday 4 April | Easter Bonnet Parade & Mary St Walk |
| Friday 4 April | Last day of Term 1 |
Term 1 - Week 3
Dear families,
The school is currently going through the process of electing the sporting house captains. This Friday, nominees will speak to their house students before the Year 3-6 students vote for their preferred sports leaders. Best of luck and good wishes to the candidates. Next week the 6B, 45S and 34D classes will elect their Student Council representatives.
National Lunchbox Week 9-15 February
Packing lunchboxes doesn’t have to be complicated:
- Use leftovers creatively (last night’s pasta makes a great lunch)
- Embrace the simplicity of a sandwich
- Have some nourishing grab’n’go foods on hand
We can make lunchboxes fun:
- add a colourful napkin
- seal food using fun stickers
- include a simple note to your child
Visit the website for simple sandwich ideas, easy recipes and a list of grab’n’go foods: www.lunchboxweek.www.lunchboxweek.org
OSHC coming to Gympie Central SS!
Thanks to your responses to last week’s Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) survey and the level of interest, Gympie Central is hoping to have an OSHC provider operating here before the end of the year! More details to come in the coming months.
Prep vision screening- Friday 28th Feb
Qld Health staff will be at school on Fri 28 Feb to complete vision screening for our prep students. This is our only opportunity for this to take place this year so it’s really important preppies are at school on that Friday. Children require consent to participate and links have been sent out, a QR code is at the prep classroom or paper consent forms are available from the office.
Celebration of Learning at the end of term
This term our classrooms will be hosting a Celebration of Learning in the final week of school. Families will be invited to visit the classrooms to look at the work your children have completed in Term 1. The Celebration of Learning will take the place of the parent information sessions. The date of the Celebration of Learning is tentatively scheduled for Thursday 3rd April at 2:15pm.
Celebration of Learning at the end of term
This term our classrooms will be hosting a Celebration of Learning in the final week of school. Families will be invited to visit the classrooms to look at the work your children have completed in Term 1. The Celebration of Learning will take the place of the parent information sessions. The date of the Celebration of Learning is tentatively scheduled for Thursday 3rd April at 2:15pm.
Fair Play Vouchers
Remember that if your child is going to play a sport outside of school, you might be able to access the state government’s Fair Play Voucher. More information available at https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/sports/funding/fairplay
Attendance matters!
Parade is every Friday at 9am- everyone is welcome.
Sports captains and Student Council badge presentation ceremony Friday 14th March at 9am- Save the date.
How children learn to read
Learning to read is a process that needs step-by-step teaching and plenty of practise at school and at home. Unlike walking or talking, reading is not a skill that we learn naturally — everyone needs to be taught how to read.
Reading requires two very important skills:
- decoding (reading) the words on the page
- making meaning from the words, sentences and paragraphs that are read.
- For children to learn how to decode words, they need to understand how sounds and letters link together. They are taught that:
- words can be broken up into sounds (the word ‘cat’ is made up of 3 sounds: c-a-t) and that sounds can be blended to form words (the sounds c-a-t blended, forms the word ‘cat’)
- the sounds in words can be represented by letters or groups of letters.
As children develop their understanding of letter-sound correspondences and apply this knowledge to reading words and texts, they learn more complex English spellings.
- The same sound can be represented by different letters; the words ‘play’, ‘rain’ and ‘stage’ all contain the sound /ay/ but the spelling is different in each one
- The same letter can represent different sounds; the letter ‘c’ can represent a ‘k’ sound as in ‘cat’, or an ‘s’ sound as in ‘race’.
- Small parts of words can have a meaning all their own; in the word ‘walked’, the ‘-ed’ tells us that the walk has already happened — it marks past tense.
- Children practise their word reading skills by reading decodable texts that contain only the letter-sound correspondences children have been taught.
- As children develop their decoding skills and their reading becomes more automatic, they will move from reading simple decodable texts to authentic texts. Authentic texts are any texts that are read for enjoyment or learning and that support word reading, language development and engagement.
Children develop their language skills through the language they hear and read. In the early stages of reading instruction while children are developing their decoding skills, it is very important that they are read to often, so they hear lots of new words and learn about new things that they may not yet be able to read about themselves.
Parents play an important role in helping children learn to read by both:
- listening to your child read aloud to practise decoding words.
- reading aloud to your child to build their understanding of language and literacy.
Glenn Cafferky
QParents
QParents has launched at Gympie Central SS!
It’s great to see that so many parents have registered for QParents already. If you have not received an invitation, please advise us immediately.
Gympie Central will be starting to use QParents as a means of gaining digital consent for excursions and camps later this term to reduce the amount of paper notes that are sent home. You will need to be registered for QParents to enable your digital consent access.
If you need assistance with the registration process, please click on the link below or contact the office on 5480 2111 for support.
QParents Registration Guide for Parents
2025 Voluntary Financial Contribution - $20 per student
Each year, the Gympie Central State School P & C Association endorse a voluntary financial contribution of $20 per student, which equates to $0.50 per week for the entire school year. This money is a vital part of Gympie Central P&C’s commitment and helps to fund reading books, classroom resources, photocopying paper and tissues. This year the payment can be made via the Qkr! app or in person at the office. Your support in paying the voluntary contribution is greatly appreciated.
Payment Options
We have a variety of payment options available here at Gympie Central. Our most preferred method of payment is the Qkr! app. Qkr! is a cashless payment app, which means you can make payments on your mobile phone, rather coming into the school. The Gympie Central P&C also use this app, so not only can you pay for camps and excursions, but you can also order school uniforms and tuckshop with the app.
Instructions on how to download and use the app are shown in the link below.
Other payment options that we provide are:
1. BPOINT - (for invoiced activities) Pay online or by phone using credit/debit card: https://www.bpoint.com.au/payments/dete or phone 1300 631 073
2. CENTREPAY - (for invoiced activities) We now offer Centrepay as a payment method for instrumental music and school camps. Use Centrepay to arrange regular deductions from your Centrelink payment. You can start, change or stop using Centrepay whenever you like. If you would like to set up a Centrepay payment, or know more information about this payment method, please contact the school office.
3. EFTPOS - We accept Mastercard, Visa and all Australian bank, building society and credit union cards.
4. CASH - Cash payments are still accepted. However, the school no longer has the ability to give out change, so only cash payments of the correct denomination will be accepted.
Student Absence Notification System
If your child is absent from school without explanation you will receive a SMS text message that morning to your mobile phone asking to explain their absence. Please reply (on the same day) with a simple SMS answer eg sick; specialist appointment. Alternatively, you can call and leave a message on the Student Absence HOTLINE - Telephone 5480 2166 to report your child’s absence.
Please contact the office by phone if you have any concerns regarding the message you have received.
Noosa Heads Surf Education Program
We’re excited to announce that Noosa Heads Surf Education Program is expanding its services into the Gympie region!
See attached package for more details on our program. Spots are filling quickly—secure your preferred session now!
