Thursday's Tidings - 8 May 2025

A big thank you goes out to all the students (and the families who got them there!) who marched in the Gympie ANZAC march. Gympie Central always stands out and this year we had over a third of our students marching either with the school, the marching band or the scouts. Amazing effort! 

Disco tonight - Fluro theme 

See you at tonight’s disco. It starts at 5:30pm and entry is via the Lawrence St gate. See the attached flyer for more detail. 

Show excursion - Thursday 15 May, permission due tomorrow  

The school excursion to the Gympie Show is next week and is a excellent opportunity to experience the show with friends. Thank you to the many families who have returned their children’s permission notes. For those who haven’t returned the permission note, they are due back tomorrow. 

Don’t forget that Friday 16th is the show public holiday. 

Prep open classroom - Wednesday 14 May 2:30-3:30 

Prep R and P/1BM will host an open afternoon for new and existing families whose children will start prep in 2026. Meet the teachers, explore the classroom, play and enjoy.  

Let your friends and family know. All welcome! 

Tuckshop tomorrow 

Thanks to our P&C volunteers we’re having a mid-term tuckshop with burgers on the menu tomorrow. They’ll even be using the lettuce grown in our very own vegetable patch. Orders to be placed by 8am via Qkr! 

Pick of the Crop Factsheet

Pick of the Crop Factsheet 244.42 KB

Term 2 attendance check in - emails coming soon 

The school will take a snapshot of attendance rates in the next fortnight and each family will be emailed with their child’s attendance. This data is shared so that families have an awareness of their child’s year to date attendance.  

OSHC - Semester 2 

Waru Kids OSHC is coming to Gympie Central and are opening at the start of Term 3. They be hosting a meet and greet on Thursday 26th June to align with our Celebration of Learning. They’ll need our support to ensure Waru Kids is a long-term sustainable operation for before school, after school and vacation care operations. 

It’s important that families are aware that children who are at school before the 8:15am bell are required to use the service. Children who arrive after 8:15am can go straight to the supervised (by school staff) playground. The service will be available at the following times: 

Focus on reading 

Shared reading with young children - Why use shared book reading? 

Shared reading describes the interaction that occurs between an adult and a child when reading or looking at a book. Although one of the most obvious and engaging features of storybooks is their illustrations, they also provide children with access to a world of sights, sounds, and words that may be quite different from what they experience in their homes, communities, and schools. 

Reading aloud with your child builds language development so that by the time children have mastered letter-sound correspondences and can read increasingly complex texts themselves, they will have the language skills to understand what they read. Having strong oral language skills sets the foundations for children to build strong literacy skills. 

Reading authentic texts aloud to your child allows them to continue to hear stories, information and written language they may not yet be able to read themselves. 

What does shared reading look like? 

An important aspect of shared reading is the conversation that occurs between the adult and child during the reading. Pausing while reading and taking the time to discuss details in the story can support your child’s oral language development. The conversation might focus on the storyline, such as characters or where the story takes place; it may focus on similar experiences the child has had to those that happened in the book; it may focus on specific words; aspects of print; or concepts that are new to the child. When you read aloud to your child, they hear and learn lots of new and sophisticated words and sentences they may not hear or use in everyday talk. 

Uniforms - navy jumpers in Winter 

Students wear our uniform with pride and with the cooler months approaching, navy jumpers are the required winter uniform. Our uniform jumper is navy blue. The uniform shop has jumpers (with logos) for sale. However, a navy-blue jumper without the logo is appropriate as we head into the cooler months. Supporting our uniform policy shows pride in our school and helps children feel part of the school community. If you’re missing a jumper (or hat/ lunchbox/ water bottle!), the lost property is stored at the base of the stairwell at the admin end of A Block. 

Transition to High School 

Parents of Year 6 students are encouraged consider where your child will attend high school in 2026. Gympie SHS and James Nash SHS encourage families to enrol their Year 7 students as soon as possible to enable forward planning for 2026. Further information around their enrolment processes will start being shared later this term. 

School Photos

Gympie Central will hold their annual school photos on Tuesday 10th June. See below flyer for ordering information.