Thursday's Tidings - 17 October 2024

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, our students and staff had a great time watching the ZimboyZ perform their acrobatics. I was in a meeting in the library next door, but could hear the excitement and the cheering. It sounded like the kids loved it and the staff later confirmed it. Thank you to our P&C for their willingness to support all students to attend this performance. The kids will remember this for a long time. Ask your children to tell you about what tricks the ZimboyZ performed and their favourite part of the act. 

Prep Transition - 6 November 9:00-10:30am 

Our next prep transition is happening on Wednesday 6th November. Mrs Phillips, our amazing Guidance Officer, will be presenting to parents around school readiness and strategies to support your children before, during and after they start their school journey.  

Do you know any families with prep age children next year? Let them know that they can come along to the transition session and check out how our school can support their young child to be happy and successful.  

Supporting reading development through conversation 

It’s never too early to start reading to your child. The time spent close to your child reading a book has many benefits for literacy development as well as being a wonderful bonding time. In addition to reading, oral language skills are vital building block for literacy development. Oral language is one of the most important skills needed in your child’s everyday life. Children use this skill every day to make requests, interact with peers, ask questions, and engage in conversation. 

Research shows that children who engage regularly in conversational turn-taking with an adult learn faster when they’re older. Taking every opportunity to chat with your child will help them build the language and vocabulary skills they need for school. Let your child pick the topic they want to talk about, listen to them, ask questions and share your ideas. You can use daily activities to spark conversation with your child, such as getting dressed or making a meal.  

World Teachers Day - 25 October  

Gympie Central is privileged to have an experienced and dedicated teaching staff who are committed to the Gympie community. World Teachers' Day is a wonderful opportunity to recognise and applaud Queensland teachers for their important role in our communities and for the positive impact they have on the lives of students. 

Let’s join together on World Teachers’ Day, Friday 25 October 2024 and thank teachers for all the work they do to educate, inspire and empower learners across Australia. 

Day for Daniel - 25 October - Wear some red and raise awareness 

Held annually on the last Friday of October, Day for Daniel honours the memory of Daniel Morcombe. Next Friday, we invite our students on this very special day to wear red. It can be a shirt, a red ribbon, red socks or a red accessory to help raise awareness around personal safety. Students can bring in a gold coin to donate to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. 

We encourage parents, carers, and educators to start a conversation with children and young people about personal safety.  

Day for Daniel is the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s biggest fundraiser each year. Your support through fundraising helps the Foundation to continue developing free resources and programs for parents, carers, and educators to teach children how to stay safe. Funds also contribute to supporting young victims of crime. 

School Strategic Planning 

Each year schools develop an Annual Implementation Plan to set the strategic direction of the school. This year our school is working on providing quality feedback to students on their learning, and reviewing and refining how we teaching reading across the school.  

Over the next 6 weeks, I’ll be consulting with staff, students and the school community about next steps for the school. We’ll be starting with our motto, Truth Courtesy Knowledge and what it means for us. Keep an eye out for a survey either in person or online. Your feedback is valued and will help inform our planning for 2025.

Year 6 to Year 7 Transition 

The high schools are urgently requesting Year 7 enrolment paperwork to be completed and returned. Timetabling in a high school is a lengthy process and the more accurate the high school’s enrolment numbers, the more effective the timetable. Thank you to those who have enrolled and if you need assistance to identify the appropriate high school - both are enrolment managed - use the link: https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/maps/edmap/  

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. 

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.

To relieve cost of living pressures, help is here now.

The popular FairPlay program is open to all Queensland children aged from 5 to 17 years from 1 July 2024, with the voucher value increased per child to $200 to offset the rising cost of junior sport for families.

The number of vouchers for the program has also increased from up to 50,000 to up to 200,000. The additional 150,000 vouchers is available for Queensland children and young people aged between 5 and 17 years, to participate in sport and active recreation.

There is a limit of 1 voucher per child per financial year.

Apply for a FairPlay voucher today.