Thursday's Tidings - 9 February 2023

Dear families, 

Next Tuesday 14 February, the class teachers will host their parent/ carer information sessions in their classrooms. These are a great chance to hear about the routines and expectations of your child’s classroom, as well as ask questions. The sessions start in each classroom at 3:15pm (3pm sharp for 4/5D). 

Student leadership and badge presentation 

Students in Years 5 and 6 are currently going through the process of electing sports captains and Student Council members. These will be finalised by next Friday 17 February. The students elected into positions will be presented their badges at the 9am parade on Friday 10 March.  

Priorities in 2023 - Targeted Student Feedback and Transitions through community engagement 

Gympie Central is continuing its focus on providing students effective, targeted feedback. We do this by helping students understand the assessment task requirements, then checking in on their progress work during the term and providing specific feedback to improved particular areas of their work. These successful practices have been in place for the past couple of years and we will continue this journey. 

Our staff will continue to consolidate transitions into prep and junior secondary through school community engagement - whether that be working with local early education service providers, taking part in the ANZAC march, visiting local community groups, sharing the great things happening at Central on local/social media or hosting performances on parade (these were a hit last year!).  

Free Prep vision screening - Monday 13 March 

The Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program will be screening at Gympie Central State School commencing on Monday 13 March 2023. We are a Queensland Government service that offers Free Vision Screening to all children enrolled in Prep.  If your child is in Prep and you would like their vision screened, you will need to complete a consent form.   

The following video explains the benefits of having your Prep child’s vision screened - “What is Prep Vision Screening?”

Please click on the following link to access the Online Consent Form and Parent Information Letter:
https://visionscreening.health.qld.gov.au/ParentalConsent/01025NaP 

Please note: The consent form link will close on Thursday 2 March 2023.  

Prep feature photos - Gympie Times and Gympie Today - Monday 20 February and Friday 3 March 

The Gympie Times and Gympie Today papers print a special edition of local prep students. The papers will be sending photographers to school on Monday 20 February and Friday 3 March to take a photo of our prep class. Only students with consent will be included. Mrs Cross will be calling families to confirm participation if this consent is outstanding.  

NAPLAN - This year it’s in Term 1! 

Education ministers have agreed to move NAPLAN to Term 1, 2023 - this will allow access to results earlier in the year to inform teaching and learning. NAPLAN 2023 will commence in Term 1, Week 8 from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March. 

NAPLAN stands for National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy and has been in place since 2008. All students in Years 3 and 5 participate in the program and the school treats it like any other school day. The only practice beforehand is around navigating the online assessment platform. There is no practice of the content as NAPLAN assesses the Australian Curriculum - the curriculum all State Schools follow.  

If you have questions around NAPLAN, please contact the school on admin@gympiecentralss.eq.edu.au  

Natural Disasters can strike anytime - see the message below from the Gympie Alliance of Principals 

Dear parents and caregivers, 

With the storm season upon us, it is timely to remind our school community of weather changes in our region which may affect school events or routines; including fires, storms or flooding.  

These weather events specifically impact students who travel to school by bus. The Gympie school bus system is heavily interlinked, with most bus runs dependent on other connecting bus runs.  

During severe weather events in the Gympie region, schools consult with and take direction from the Local Disaster Management Group and our relevant governing authorities in relation to school closures or changes to bus routines.  

I ask that you familiarise yourself with the below severe weather instances and how the school may manage student safety (should they occur).  

Please note in the event of a severe weather, the school has rigid risk-management guidelines in place, with student and staff safety our highest priority. In the event of severe weather, you are strongly encouraged to continue to check your email, the school website and/or the school Facebook page for updates. Blanket text messages may also be sent to your nominated phone number.  

Storms 

Violent storms are not uncommon in our area during the summer season. The risk posed to staff and students occurs as a result of exposure to the impact of wind, rain and or hail.  

In the event of severe and inclement weather, students will be kept safely inside away from effects of the storm. They will not be allowed to travel to and from buildings. 

Students will be retained until the storm has passed and are safe to leave school. 

We strongly discourage parents from attempting to pick up students when is risk is imminent.  

If required, we will arrange delayed departure for bus transport. 

Depending on the timing of the storm, the following two options are considered most likely: 

• Altered lesson or break lengths to minimise exposure of students to inclement weather. 

• This process will be managed by the activation or deactivation of the school bells along with messages to staff to advise of the situation. 

• The length of the school day may be altered. This will normally be the result of afternoon storms. In this instance, we will hold students in classes until the event passes. This may mean that we need to extend the day for our staff and students. In this event, the school will coordinate the buses to delay their runs. 

Fires 

While fires are unlikely to impact schools themselves, they do pose a threat to the safe transport of students to and from school (via buses or other means).  

In the event of a fire, if you have concerns about your ability to get your student/s to and from school safely, we ask you to consider keeping them at home until such time as you deem it safe to travel. 

In the situation where a fire may directly impact the school grounds and persons onsite, we will communicate with parents to arrange for the safe transportation of students and evacuation if necessary.  

Floods 

Flooding tends to have two (2) categories – localised flash flooding and general riverine flooding. 

Riverine Flooding 

In periods of prolonged heavy rainfall, the school actively monitors water levels at major creeks and river crossings via the Gympie Regional Council Disaster Dashboard. This allows us to predict with some certainty when roads would become impassable. Bus runs that travel low-lying routes may be cancelled ahead of time after periods of heavy rainfall and predicted flooding. This alleviates the possible need to run the buses earlier than normal on the day.  

In unpredicted riverine rises, it is possible that buses will collect students from school and return them home early. In this situation ALL buses will run as per their normal afternoon schedule at an earlier time. It is important that we consider not just the safe transportation of our students’ home but also the safe return to town of our bus operators and school staff.  

In both instances, parents and caregivers will receive advance notice via text message and email home.  

Local flash flooding  

In the event that a bus service is unable to run due to local short-term road closure the options are: 

1. manage through parent communication to facilitate the pick-up of students and/or the making of alternate arrangements for them. 

1. The enacting of all buses to run earlier than normal as per riverine flooding. 

In any severe weather event, families are encouraged to tune-in to local media, monitor weather conditions, heed the warnings and follow instructions from emergency services. 

Remember, we are here to help 

Like always, if there is something that you want our support with, or if your child is struggling, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher for support.  If it is not a matter for the teacher please call the front office and arrange to meet with a member of the leadership team, so we can work through things together.  It takes a village to raise a child, so let’s work together. 

2023 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.

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.

Qkr-instructions.pdf

Qkr-instructions _pdf 1.05 MB

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.

Crossing Supervisor