Thursday's Tidings - 13 July 2023

Dear families,

It’s been an awesome start back to Term 3 and welcome to our new families here at the Gympie Central community. You will find the staff, students and families very warm and welcoming. 

Gympie Central kicked off Term 3 with a fantastic visit on Tuesday from the Queensland Youth Orchestra. This was a real highlight for the students and the staff as it’s a rare opportunity to hear these talented musicians showcase their skills. A big thank you goes to the team from QYO for taking the time to visit and play for our school. 

Prep 2024 transition  

Have you added your child to our prep enrolments for 2024? Children born between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019 are prep age next year. Contact Mrs Cross in the office to secure your child’s 2024 enrolment.  

Our first transition afternoon will be the Thursday afternoon of 27 July. Our Prep/1R and 1/2S classes will host a grandparents’ afternoon. Pre-preps and their families are invited to join us here at school to join the classroom activities and start to explore school life. 

The dates of the transitions are: 

Thursday 27 July 1:45pm - 3:00pm (Grandparents’ afternoon) 

Tuesday 15 August 9:00-10:30am (Under 8’s morning) 

Wednesday 6 September 9:00am – 10:30am (1st parent info session) 

NAIDOC Week @ GCSS - For our elders 

National NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year (Sunday to Sunday), to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. The dates of NAIDOC week always fall during the school holidays so Gympie Central will celebrate NAIDOC starting with a parade next Friday 21 July, then activities during lunch breaks for the following week, culminating in our indigenous students participating the Gympie NAIDOC Family Fun Day at Nelson’s Reserve on Friday 28th July. 

P&C Movie Night - Thursday 27th July 

Did you receive your child’s report card? 

Report Cards were emailed the last week of last term. If you didn’t receive this email, please contact the office to have the report resent. 

Parent Teacher Interviews - 24 July to 11 August 

Parent/teacher interviews provide families the opportunity to check in with your child/ren’s teacher, follow up on the report card and set goals for the remainder of 2023. The interviews are scheduled for Weeks 3, 4 and 5 and are offered before and after school. Next week, each teacher will send a letter showing their available times, and families book a time by returning the letter to the teacher.   

Annual School Opinion Survey 

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys will be conducted in Term 3 and will close on 18 August 2023. All families, school staff and students in target year levels (5, 6, 8 and 11) will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well, and how we can improve. 

An invitation to complete the Parent/Caregiver Survey will be emailed to one parent/caregiver per family in the week beginning 17 July.  The invitation will be sent from the Department of Education, not the school, and it will have the subject line School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2023.  Check your junk email folders if you can’t find it.  The survey can be completed as soon as the invitation is received and will take approximately 5 minutes using a computer, tablet or smart phone.   

Parents/caregivers who do not have access to the internet at home are welcome to complete their survey online at the school. School computers/tablets will be available.  

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. 

Student Council Fundraising

This term, the Student Council will be back out selling ice blocks on Fridays. They will be on sale at 2nd break and there will be $1 and $2 options available.

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.