Thursday 29 March 2018 Issue No. 5

Newmarket State School Newsletter

Upcoming Events

School Resumes

Tuesday, 17 April

Cross Country

Friday, 20 April

Working Bee

Saturday, 21 April

School ANZAC DAY

Service

Wednesday, 24 April

ANZAC Day Holiday

Thursday, 25 April

Mother’s Day Stall

10 & 11 May

NAPLAN

15-17 May

Principal’s Points

Page 1 of 8

Happy Holidays to all Families

As this is our last newsletter of the term, I would like to wish all of our

school families a very happy holiday. Term One has been a very busy

time at Newmarket State School. Our Prep students have settled well into

the routine of primary school life and are all looking forward to a well-

deserved break. At the opposite end of our school, our Year Six students

have accepted the leadership challenge in a positive and enthusiastic

manner. All classes in our school have worked hard throughout the term,

laying a solid foundation for the remainder of the year. When we return,

the Year 3 and 5 teachers will be further consolidating skills in preparation

for the NAPLAN testing which will occur 15-17 May. Thank you to

students, staff and parents for a great Term One at Newmarket State

School.

Parents are reminded that today is the last day of school for this term and

students return on Tuesday 17 April. I am sure that after the busy term,

everyone will appreciate the two week break.

Importance of Reading

As the holidays draw near, I would like to draw your attention to the importance of reading and how reading frequency has a high correlation and impact on success. I am reminded of these defining statistics.

Student A reads for 20 minutes a day, a total of 1 800 000 words in a year and achieves in the 90th percentile ranking on a standardised test. Student B reads for 5 minutes a day, a total of 28 200 words in a year and achieves in the 50th percentile ranking on a standardised test. Student C reads for 1 minute a day, a total of 8 000 words in a year and achieves in the 10th percentile ranking on a standardised test.

Please ensure that your child reads daily. The holidays are a great opportunity to catch up on some leisurely reading. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of making reading part of your daily routine to ensure your child’s future success.

NAPLAN

On 15, 16 and 17 May, students in Years 3 and 5 along with students across Australia will sit for literacy and numeracy tests. Please inform the office as soon as possible if your child will not be present at this time.

TO REPORT STUDENT ABSENSES CALL 3552 7266

Secondary School Enrolments

If your child is in Year 6 and you have not yet enrolled him/her for High School in 2019, you need to do so as a matter of urgency. With greater enrolments in secondary schools, schools need to plan ahead and are keen to have predicted enrolments finalised.

Keep a watch on our school these holidays

With the holidays fast approaching, we need you to look out for after-hours crime in our school. If you see anything suspicious, please remember to call the School Watch number – 13 17 88.

The School Watch Program is a partnership between Education Queensland, the Queensland Police Service and the State Government Protective Security Service. It aims to reduce vandalism, theft and arson in Queensland schools. If you do see something suspicious, please don’t attempt to intervene. Call the School Watch number and let the local police or State Government Protective Security Service deal with the matter.

Principals points continued...

Page 2 of 8

Easter Hat Parade

School Cross Country

It is great to see so many students enjoying Kilometre Club in preparation for the rescheduled cross country event to be held on Friday, 20 April at Sedgley Park, commencing at 9.15am. Students in Years 3 -6 will walk to the park with their teachers whilst children in Prep -Year 2 will have a mini Cross Country on the school oval. We encourage parents to come along to support their child and their team.

Congratulations!

Our teacher aide, Aica Carroll and her husband Ewan welcomed a beautiful baby daughter recently. We wish Aica, Ewan and Elena every happiness for the future.

Coles Vouchers

Thank you to those of you who have contributed to the many vouchers we have accumulated. Please continue to bring them in after the holidays to assist our school in obtaining and updating sporting equipment for our students.

ANZAC Ceremony

ANZAC Day falls in the second week of term. We will hold a special ceremony on Tuesday 24 April which will involve our senior band and choir. The ceremony will commence at 11.30 am in the area near the flag pole at the front of the school. Donald Quinn will be our guest speaker again this year. All community members are invited to join us for this commemorative occasion.

Working Bee

The P&C are requesting your assistance at the first working bee of the year to be held on Saturday 21 April. The main tasks are topping up the soft fall on both playgrounds, mulching the gardens, cleaning out the sand pit and clearing the drain around the oval. Many hands make light work and your assistance would be much appreciated as we strive to ensure that the play areas are safe and that our environment continues to be aesthetically pleasing. Thank you to those parent who have already offered their services.

This week, we welcomed Will

O’Sullivan (school captain 2017)

back to Newmarket SS.

On Monday morning, we were

delighted to see Will presented

with a cheque for $500 as the

winner of a competition he entered

last year where he had to write

about his dream for his future. Will’s

dream is to be a professional

saxophonist. We wish him well in

achieving his ambition!

Page 3 of 8

Year 1 Science Boat Making This term Years 1’s explored everyday materials and their properties by describing the effects of changing materi-

als to construct a boat that floats. They made predictions, participated in guided investigation, recorded and

shared their observations about their boat. The Year 1 students enjoyed designing, creating and testing their boat

designs and seeing if it would float or not. It was great to see a variety of unique and distinctive designs for the

student’s boats.

Some of the students would like to share a comment about the day.

I enjoyed making the boats out of recycled materials like plastic and foam. – Chase

I really enjoyed testing the boats to see if they would sink or float. It was exciting. – Charlie F

I learnt not to put heavy materials on top of the boats because they will sink. – Elliot

I enjoyed designing my boat on paper before I made it. I labelled the materials I used. - Zoe

I liked choosing from different types of recycled materials. – Lucy

It was a fantastic day! – Elijah

Mrs Avolio and Miss Hicks

STEM News Sleek Geeks Competition

The University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize is awarded for a short film that communicates a

scientific concept in an accessible and engaging way.

Entries are to take the form of a 1-3 minute film and must tell a real scientific story, which may be a scientific

concept, discovery, invention, or the producer's own scientific hypothesis! Anything goes, but keep the science in

the story, and keep the science real.

Entries are now open!

https://eureka-entry.australianmuseum.net.au/school-science/sleek-geeks-science-

eureka-prize-–-primary

Young ICT Explorers

Young ICT Explorer is a non-profit competition, which has been created by SAP to

encourage school students to create their best Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) related projects.

The registrations for this competition are now open: www.youinctexplorers.net.au

Popplet App in Year One

Last week the year 1 students worked with their year 4 buddies to create a Popplet

presentation. Popplet is a tool that enables the students to capture and organise their

ideas. The students used this digital tool to present their ideas about the Maths topic

‘Chance’.

Digital Portraits in Prep

The Prep students have been looking at portraits this semester and we decided to end

the exploration with producing a digital portrait. They used an app called Photo Lab to

manipulate their image to create some amazing portraits. We can’t wait to see them on

display at the Art Show, later in the year.

The NSS STEM Team

Mrs Dickson, Mr Bland, Mr Bjelke-Petersen and Rafael Aquino

Newmarket State School Newsletter

Page 4 of 8

Music News Why Music???

“Regular engagement with music can exert lasting effects on brain function, on brain malleability throughout life.”

- Kuzmich

Senior Choir

The Senior Choir spent their last rehearsal of the term practicing their ANZAC Day song, but we still have quite a

bit of work to do so, please make sure that your child is at our first rehearsal next term at 8.00am on the first day

back, Tuesday, 17 April!

ANZAC Day Performances for our Choir and Band

A note went home to choir and Senior Band students this week with information about our ANZAC Day

performance….but just in case your child missed it…

On Tuesday, 24 April, the Newmarket State School Choir and Senior Band will be performing at our school

ANZAC Day Ceremony which begins at 11.30am at the flagpole. All parents are invited to attend the ceremony.

Students need to wear a school polo shirt, school shorts or skorts, short white ankle socks and sandshoes. No

dresses, please! Girls should have their hair tied back from their faces, preferably with blue ties, ribbons or clips.

The first band rehearsal of the term will be on Monday, 23 April, 7.30am in the Hall. It is very important for all

children to attend this rehearsal so that we are ready to perform our ANZAC Day pieces.

Senior Band students will need to bring their instruments to school on Tuesday, 24 April.

Instrumental Music - the importance of practice!

Learning to play a musical instrument is definitely a challenge and it is very easy to get frustrated or disheartened

from time to time. It is always good to let your know child that everyone who learns an instrument goes through

times where they feel like it is all too hard….but! by learning to play a musical instrument your child is on the way

to growing a bigger, better brain (it’s true) and that takes quite a bit of effort! Here are a couple of tips to help

your budding musician on their journey:

15 minutes of practice every single day is so much better than 45 minutes once or twice a week. Little and

often strengthens muscles and builds stamina and you will notice an improvement in the sound your child

produces within a week or two.

Make a time for practice, have a space for practice and stick to it!

Check that your child is practising what they have been asked to, not just playing around on their

instrument.

Get them to give a performance of a new piece for you each week and applaud their efforts. You will inspire

them!

Happy music making and have a wonderful Easter holiday!

Active School Travel Wacky Water Bottle Winners!

On Wednesday , 28 March in conjunction with Active School Travel, a competition was held in which students had

to decorate a water bottle in a weird and wacky way. There were many deep sea creatures and aliens from out

of space. Students really let their imaginations run wild and there were some very creative entries which made

picking winners a very difficult task for year 5 students.

Winning Entries Highly Commended

Library News Readers Cup Competition

Last week our annual Morris Gleitzman Readers Cup competition was held in the library. All Year 6 students

participated, apart from newcomer to NSS, Noah, who acted as answer-sheet collector.

When the scores were tallied, these were the top five students: 1.

Congratulations to our team, especially Violet and Samaah whose champion results were evidence of their

thorough preparation! The team will meet weekly in Term 2 to check on progress in studying five nominated

novels and to exchange books. Each student should read at least two and be able to answer in depth questions

on their content.

Chess Club

Here at Newmarket, our students are fortunate to be able to tap into a range of enriching extra-mural activities. In

addition to the Drama, Debating and Robotics clubs, Chess is held weekly in the library on Monday afternoons

from 3pm. Coordinator, Tom Keeton (pictured explaining strategies to children) writes:

"It's been a fantastic start to the year for chess! We now have 28 children doing chess every Monday. A lot of kids

who didn't know how to play are now playing full games and learning new strategies. This term we've focused on

having a good start by going over strategies such as the 'Spider', 'London System' and the 'Sicilian Dragon'. We

also learned about the risks of using your queen too much in the early game or copying your opponent. We've

learned about other concepts that can be used at any time in the game such as forks and pins. Our first

competition of the year was held at Clayfield College a few weeks ago. Jacob H and Elliot M played very well and

Noah B managed to get 2nd place in his division!

If you would like to join the fun, please send an email to info@chessmates.com.au or register online at chessmates.com.au. "

Easter Holidays

Getting in the swing of the Easter holidays early, some students enjoyed Easter crafts at lunch break this week. We'd like to wish all of the Newmarket community a happy and safe holiday break

Happy reading,

Penny Benson and Mary Gannon

Page 5 of 8

1. Violet K-M 2. Samaah K 3. William W

4. Menno M 5. Charlotte B

Page 6 of 8

Air-conditioning

At the P&C meeting on Tuesday night the committee agreed that a major fundraising activities for this year should

be to progress the air-conditioning of the school. The P&C funded the air-conditioning of the prep room several

years ago and soon the 2 classrooms upstairs in E Block will be air-conditioned. The cost of airconditioning these

2 classrooms is approximately $13,500 and this cost will be covered using funds raised by the P&C in past years.

The Library will be the next area to be air-conditioned and this will benefit the entire school community.

If you would like to help fund the air conditioning of the school, you can make a tax deductible donation to the

P&C’s Building Fund. There will be more information provided after Easter about our fundraising targets and how

we plan to achieve them.

Upcoming Working Bee

Thank you to those that have already agreed to help at the working bee on Saturday, 21 April. If you are able to

assist please contact the office by phoning 07 3552 7222. We particularly need someone with a trailer to help us

move the soft fall.

Tennis Court Volunteer Needed

Our tennis court convenor Penny will be away from 15 June until 24 July and we need a volunteer to manage the

public hire of the courts during this time. This involves taking court bookings on the tennis court mobile phone and

arranging key pickup. If you live close to the school and can assist please contact phassell@redcrossblood.org.au

Signup to be a P&C Members

We currently have 74 P&C Members which is excellent! However the more members we have the better chance

we have of winning grants. If you, or someone you know would like to become a member (including your partner if

you are already a member) please complete a membership form. These forms are available from the P&C

Secretary pigeonhole outside the school office. Completed forms can be put back into the pigeonhole or returned

by email to: julia.bamman@foranaro.com

P&C News

Mothers & Loved Others Stall

Year 3H and Year 3/ 4G parents are running this year's MOTHER'S (and LOVED OTHERS) DAY stall. This stall

will run on Thursday, 10 and Friday, 11 May ahead of Mother's Day on Sunday, 13 May. If you would like to

donate an item that will be wrapped and sold at the stall, you will find the DONATIONS box outside the office

area. With Easter just around the corner, there are also many discounted chocolates in the shops. Each year,

the stall sells 'treat' bags that include a wrapped chocolate and other yummies for ladies.

Edible donations (with a shelf life) are gratefully accepted also. More information regarding this stall will be sent

to our community via email in the coming weeks.

Thank you, Class Representatives Melissa Sherritt and Eileen Jacob for co-ordinating this event, along with

parent volunteers from these classes.

Active School Travel Breakfast and Say No to Bullying Day

Last Friday students celebrated Say No to Bullying Day with an Active School Travel Breakfast. The morning was

well attended and students had plenty of tasty treats and lots of fun. Thank you to those parents who contributed

food and drink to make the breakfast such a success. It was lovely to see a sea of orange to show that at New-

market State School we ‘Say NO to bullying”.

Get your Entertainment Membership NOW to help Newmarket State School raise much needed funds!

Help us raise funds for our School by buying an Entertainment Membership from us. You'll receive hundreds of

valuable offers for everything you love to do, and help our fundraising at the same time. Hurry, Entertainment

Memberships sell out quickly.

SUPPORT US NOW!

Page 7 of 8

School Banking It's been a great term for School Banking! We can't believe the school holidays have

already arrived.

The banking bags continue to be delivered to the Tuckshop as usual every Tuesday

morning and are now delivered back to each class teacher's pigeon hole to be returned to

the students.

If you are interested in School Banking and would like to open an account over the

holidays, here is a handy link with all the information.

https://www.commbank.com.au/personal/kids/school-banking.html

Have a wonderful break and we look forward to welcoming our School Bankers back on

Tuesday in Term 2!

Georgie & Eileen, School Banking Coordinators

OSHC - New child sign in and out process At the beginning of Term 2, NSS OSHC will be introducing a new process for signing your child/ren in and out of

our service. The new electronic system will replace the current paper based sign in/out sheets.

The new system will involve the use of a touch screen where you will sign your child/ren in/out using a unique PIN

that you set up on our iPad. The iPad will be positioned in the front entrance of OSHC under the parent notice

board.

Below is a sample screen from the system where a parent would be dropping Sally off to the service:

The benefits of this new system are:

We will have records of the times your child is at the service, enabling us to better manage our staff ratios

in accordance with legislation

The touch screens will in real time update our booking system, confirming your child’s attendance

ready for submission to the Government each week

If you forget to sign your child in/out on a day, the system will automatically remind you the next time

to confirm the missed instance.

Reduce the need for us to print out sign in/out sheets, assisting us in making a difference to the

environment.

If you have any questions on the new system, please do not hesitate contacting Vanessa or Emily for more

information to follow on setting up your account. Please email them at bookings@newmarketoshc.com.au

President: James Morris

mumdadrun@icloud.com

Vice President: Tahra Birch

tahrabirch@gmail.com

Minutes Secretary: Julia Bamman

Julia.bamman@foranaro.com

Treasurer: Genevieve Bourassa

genevieve.bourassa@hotmail.com

Assistant Treasurer: Megan Francis

davemegf1@bigpond.com

OSHC Committee Chair: Donna Moyle

donnaleamoyle@gmail.com

Fundraising: Kelda Jackson

keldaj@optusnet.com.au

Major Projects: Julian Farrugia

natandjules@gmail.com

Tuckshop Committee Chair: Cathy Brown

cathyb_richardm@yahoo.com.au

Tennis Court Hire: Penny Hassell

phassell@redcrossblood.org.au

Active School Travel: Tim Bowles

timothy.bowles@bigpond.com

School Contacts:

Principal: Vicki Richards Administration: Shari Davies & Kate Rickertt Phone: 07 3552 7222 Email: admin@newmarkess.eq.edu.au Student Absence: 07 3552 7266 Outside School Hours Care: 07 3356 6741 Tuckshop, Julie Loxton: 0424 494 251 tuckshopnss@gmail.com Uniform Shop: nssuniformshop@gmail.com

P & C Contacts:

Tuckshop News Thankyou

A big, heartfelt thank you to all of our volunteers, homebakers and supporters for a fantastic Term 1! This term we

have introduced 3 new menu items, delivered a very successful Harmony Day and provided hundreds of tasty

meals to hungry students.

Menu Competition

We can't wait to look at all of your ideas from the Tuckshop Menu Competition - could make for a very tasty

holiday.

New Menu

There is a new menu for Term 2. You can view and order from the menu on Flexischools and the menu is also

available to view on the schools website by clicking here: Tuckshop Menu

Interested in being part of the momentum?

We would love to have you down here to keep it going. We need volunteers and homebakers - even 30 mins of

your time is extremely helpful to us and is a great way to be part of your child's community.

You can drop down to see us at Tuckshop from 7am Tuesdays and Fridays, email tuckshopnss@gmail.com or

call 0424494251.

Have a safe and lovely holiday.

Julie Loxton

Tuckshop Convenor

0424494251

tuckshopnss@gmail.com

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