Gatton State School

A warm welcome back to Gatton State School for term 4!

Welcome back to the final school term for 2020 and I hope that you’ve been able to enjoy a safe and rewarding time with your children over these past two weeks. It’s great to see students catching up with their friends, teachers and school staff as we all look forward to a positive semester 2. A special welcome to new students and families enrolling at Gatton State School this week.

Following the extraordinary events of the past 6 months, globally & locally, it’s refreshing to see a gradual return to some of our normal school operations. The term ahead is packed with plenty of interesting and engaging learning opportunities for what we hope will be a productive and rewarding time for all children at Gatton State School.

Student free days on 10 and 11 December 2020

Your patience and flexibility during this pandemic have been extraordinary. This year will be remembered for many things, not least a year of challenge, uncertainty and great complexity.

Everyone has been affected by COVID-19. While many in our communities across the state have contributed to ensuring Queensland families remain healthy and safe, I think we all would agree all of our state school staff have done an incredible job at leading our children’s education.

In recognition of these efforts during the pandemic, the Queensland Government has declared the last two days of Term 4, 2020, Thursday 10 December and Friday 11 December, 2020, be allocated as student free days. Schools will be closed on these days.  

This will come as great news for those who are keen to begin their school holidays early. For some families, alternative arrangements will need to be made for the care of children on these two days.

You can view the updated school holiday and term dates and download the calendar at https://education.qld.gov.au/about-us/calendar/term-dates.

Educating our children is a team effort. On behalf of our teaching and school staff, I would like to thank you for your support and cooperation during this year.  

Kind regards,

Warren Merchant

“I know that everyday counts”

Each fortnight we have a specific focus on a selected behaviour. Over these two weeks we are focusing on “I know that every day counts”.  Research shows that in Queensland, higher student attendance is associated, on average, with higher student achievement. Additionally, attending school every day helps children to build social and emotional skills such as communication, teamwork and resilience.  If your child is unwell we encourage you to keep them at home until fully recovered.  Lessons devoted to teaching our students what this looks like can be observed in many areas across our school.  At home you can support your child’s learning by having a conversation about the fortnightly behaviour.  The table below reflects schooling missed if the child is not attending school regularly.  Resources to share with your children are available at the following website https://everydaycounts.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx  Thank you for your ongoing support.

Lynette Urquhart

CBST

Last week of term, we celebrated ALL of our students’ behaviour.  Each student has worked hard to make changes in their behaviour and follow the three expecations:  Be safe, Be respectful and Be responsible”.  We had some of our parents from the P & C cooking their little hearts out to provide the students with a sausage sizzle each.  Iceblocks were delivered to each class to be shared with all the students.  A great big thank you to our helpers to make our day a success. 

Our A & B behaviours participated in the following activities.

The students played games in the hall.  They were able to enjoy a variety of activities whilst mixing with their peers.  Fun was had by all.  There was a lot of laughter and squeals of delight whilst engaging in many of the games.  After first break A level students were rewarded with an ice cream bar.  All the students involved enjoyed choosing their choice of toppings to garnish their icecream bowls.       

Keep up the good work and we are keen to see what the PBL team dream up next time.  

Gatton State School is now accepting enrolments for Prep 2021. Please contact the office if you would like any further information or would like to make a time to meet with the Deputy Principal to talk about prep for your child next year. Enrolment forms and information packs are available now. We look forward to meeting you and your children to start their exciting school journey with us.

Prep Transition Days

Due to an unprecedented year with covid-19 restrictions, prep transition activities will look a little different this year. To adhere to social distancing, we are still restricting large groups of adults entering our school grounds for the time being.

To make sure our new prep students are not disadvantaged, we are developing a virtual transition program to present to our prospective prep families for 2021.

Details will be coming soon and be posted on our website, facebook and in upcoming newsletters. While it will be sad not to be able to have our families visit this year the virtual tools present an exciting new opportunity for us to explore.

If you have any queries regarding transition to prep, please contact the school and we will be happy to assist you.

Jump Rope for Heart is a fantastic physical activity and fundraising program that has been run by the Heart Foundation for over 36 years. It’s a great way for your child to keep fit and learn new skills, but it also helps raise funds for vital heart research and education programs.

Since Jump Rope for Heart started in 1983, schools like ours have raised more than $104 million for the Heart Foundation’s lifesaving work. This year 2W, Year 4 and Year 6 will be completing in Jump Off Day. Sponsorship forms have been sent home with students in these classes. Please encourage students to each get a couple of donations to help raise funds for vital heart research and education programs. The class that raises the most will receive a class party.

We will hold our school Jump Off Day on October 15th, and this will mark the end of the program and is a chance for everyone to come together to skip and show off their newly learned skills.

Thank you for supporting the Jump Rope for Heart program!

If your child is asking for 5c/10c it is to add to their class’ Sustainability Change Train. This money will be going towards the purchase of outdoor tables and chairs for the students to sit at lunch times. Each table and chairs is approx. $1000 to purchase. Our goal is to collect enough 5c/10c pieces to purchase one table and chairs before the end of the school year.

Wow, what a successful fundraiser! The Student Council would like to thank all those who participated in the ‘throw a sponge at a teacher.’ We raised over $1 000 which means we will be able to purchase and install our cold water fountain this term which will provide cold water for all students in the hot summer months. A special thank you to all the staff who volunteered and got saturated. It was a great way to conclude Term 3.