Thursday's Tidings - 10 August 2023

Dear families,

Gympie Central students have been shining across their recent endeavours in Gympie. Our strings ensemble was awarded first place at last week’s Gympie Eisteddfod. Congratulations to Kavin, Mya, Mia, Bailey, Alex, Lakoda and Asuka. A number of these students were also awarded first places for their individual performances. What a great result and recognition of these students’ dedication and hours of practice. For a small school, the instrumental students have really impressed in 2023. The wider group were part of the fantastic ANZAC Day marching band and having the chance to see the Queensland Youth Orchestra and soon the JNSHS concert band will show them what’s possible with hard work and (lots of) practice. 

Earlier this week, two separate teams of Year 5 and Year 6 students joined schools from across Gympie at the primary school Maths and English Competitions. In the small schools’ category, our maths team came second and the English team third. Impressive results! These competitions are a good chance for students to challenge themselves in academic tasks and encourage problem solving and teamwork.  

Book Week parade - 23 August

Get your costumes ready! Book Week parade is Wednesday 23rd August at 9am. All families are welcome to come along and join the fun. This year’s theme is Read, Grow, Inspire. 

Prep 2024 - enrolments are open now!

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.  

Under 8’s - Tuesday 15th August, all welcome!

Gympie Central will host its Under 8’s morning next Tuesday 15 August. This is open to any families interested in seeing what Gympie Central can offer their prep child in 2024. The morning commences at 9:00am and will conclude at 10:30am. Staff will be running activities and we’ll be joined by the 3 emergency services as well as Mitre 10 who will be running an activity. 

Hello from our new Chappy! 

My name is Carla Walker and I am the new chaplain at Gympie Central State School. I am here every week on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

At the moment, we have extra loaves of bread. If you are in need of some extra bread, please feel free to come and see me on the days that I am here. Alternatively, please feel free to come and say hi at breaky club before school. 

I will also leave my email below if anyone wants to contact me, even if you just want to have a chat. 

carla.walker@suchaplaincy.org.au 

Kind regards 

Chappy. 

True Relationships - permission due Friday

There will be a 40-minute parent information session at 9am on the morning of Wednesday 16 August.

The P-4 sessions commence immediately following the parent information session and the Year 5 and Year 6 sessions start next Friday 18 August. 

All classes will be attending sessions delivered by Qld organisation True. True presents programs around relationships and sexual education.  There is no cost for the program as the school has funded the program thanks to the Department of Education’s Wellbeing funding scheme. However, consent to attend is required. If families prefer to wait for the parent information session to sign consent, this can be accommodated. 

Supporting the healthy sexual development of children and young people is a responsibility shared by schools and families. Those people who receive comprehensive, respectful Relationship & Sexuality Education (RSE) from an early age inclusive of sexual abuse prevention, are more likely to: 

• Make informed and responsible sexual decisions later in life 
• Recognise appropriate and inappropriate behaviour 
• Understand and accept changes and individual differences 
• Talk about their feelings and experiences. 

These sessions are excellent conversation starters for families and the benefit of True presentations is that the students hear factual, accurate information from trained educators. Aside from family, the other sources of this information are usually online and through their peer group. While some such information is accurate, there is the potential for much of what they hear from friends or learn online to be misinformation.  

Colour Run - It’s happening on 15 September! 

Get your colour on, Gympie Central State School P&C is hosting a Colour Explosion School Fun Run fundraiser!  

The Colour Explosion School Fun Run will be on 15 September 2023 from 2pm.  

Not only are we hosting an awesome explosion event, students can win up to 15 awesome automated incentive prizes by fundraising via online sponsorship donations.  

Students have received a sponsorship book with instructions on setting up their cybersafe, online fundraising profile at www.australianfundraising.com.au. This is an entirely online fundraiser; all cash donations must be converted to online donations to redeem your prizes. 

Extra Incentives to Fundraise! 

• Online Golden Coins – complete fun online tasks to redeem an extra $75 towards your prize credit. 
• Monty the Monstar’s Bonus Prizes – achieve milestones to unlock Monty’s bonus prizes. 
• $10,000 JB HI FI Spending Spree for one organisation’s highest fundraising student – it could be you! 
• Our school will win an extra $5,000 if we have the highest average fundraised amount per student in 2023. 
• A Play Station 5 Gaming Bundle – see your child’s sponsorship booklet for more! 

For more information, please contact the office for more information.   

Happy fundraising!

Statewide Oral Health Study - Gympie Central has been invited to participate 

The University of Queensland and Queensland Health are pleased to partner with Gympie Central State School to conduct the Queensland Child Oral Health Study (QCOHS) 2021-24. The study will provide important information about Queensland children’s oral health and dental care that will underpin future strategies to improve child dental health. 

All Children are invited to participate in QCOHS. Participation will include completing a parental questionnaire and a free dental check-up for your child at school.  

If you receive an invitation via email, we encourage you to participate in this important research project. Participants will receive a toothbrush pack and parents will be notified by email of the outcomes of the dental check-up.  

From QCOHS team

Saver Plus from the Smith Family 

Could your family use an extra $500?  

Yes, then read this information about Saver Plus supported by the Smith Family. 

If you save up to $50 a month for 10 months, Saver Plus will double it.  

$500 saved + $500 matched = $1000 (in 10 months) 

Participants can put that money towards education expenses for themselves or their children, including: 

• Computers, laptops, and tablets 
• Books, uniforms & shoes 
• Sports & music, camps, excursions, and more… 

What is Saver Plus? 

Saver Plus is a program for people on lower incomes. It’s about boosting financial skills, so one can develop (and keep) good savings habits. 

At its heart, Saver Plus is about steering people towards sustainable, life-changing savings habits that set them up for a brighter future. 

How can it benefit our school families? 

In plenty of ways! Researchers at RMIT discovered that program participants: 

Please read the attached flyer for more information and details on how to get involved. 

School Student Broadband Initiative – Australian Government 

To boost educational opportunities and narrow the digital divide, families without home internet are encouraged to apply for the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI). Access to internet at home can support children to build their digital skills and participate in a world that is more reliant on digital technology. 

The Australian Government is supporting the National Broadband Network (NBN) to implement the SSBI to provide free home internet for one year for up to 30,000 unconnected families across Australia with school aged students.  

To be eligible for SSBI, a family must: 

• Have a child living at home that is enrolled in a Queensland state school in 2023. 
• Not have an active internet service at home. Having a mobile internet service does not affect eligibility. 

• Be referred by a nominating organisation such as the Department of Education (the department).  
• Agree their child has access to a device and has the digital skills to use the internet safely or will be supervised. 
• Live in a premises that can access the NBN via a standard connection – this will be checked by NBN. 

Referral through the department 

The department is pleased to support the nomination of families for the SSBI. If you would like to apply for the SSBI please use the link or QR code below OR contact the office for an application (online or paper form) and further information about the initiative. Applications must be submitted by 8 September 2023. 

QR code:  

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. 

P&C News

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.