Morayfield East State SchoolMorayfield East State School

1Morayfield East State School Newsletter

13 February 2014

From the PrincipalDear Parents and Care givers

The 2014 academic year has commenced with great joy, enthusiasm and optimism with a positive mood of purpose evident in every classroom throughout the school. Our children rely on their parents/carers, teachers and family members to support them in their learning and within the busy cycle of life, I encourage you take an active interest in your child’s school life and engage fully with them in their learning program.

I would like to extend congratulations to students and parents for the way that students have presented themselves for the start of the New Year. In last week’s newsletter I reminded all families of the expectations in regard to learning, behaviour, uniform, and attendance. These expectations have also been discussed throughout the year in 2013 on our school assmeblies, presented at all new family enrolment interviews and published in our school prospectus.

QUADRENNIAL SCHOOL REVIEW

Every four years schools take time to reflect and renew their ways of working to be able to achieve the best outcomes for their students. Morayfield East State School is undergoing this process across Semester 1 this year.

This process involves our staff, students and parents/carers. All school community members have a voice. Over this semester we will be asking our staff, students and parents/carers to complete surveys and participate in consultation discussions to ensure that we are able to develop the greatest understanding of how we are working and what is achieving the best results for our students.

We have a group of staff leading the QSR process of reflecting and renewal. Our review will cover the areas of:

School and Community Partnerships School Curriculum Teaching Practice Principal leadership and school capability

After the review is completed the school will develop a Four-Year School Strategic Plan 2014 – 2017. This plan will guide our future actions as we strive to work together to improve student learning and achievement.

Please look out for opportunities to be involved in this review as we need your opinion on how can we work together to improve student learning and achievement.

ENROLMENTS

We submitted our Day 8 enrolment numbers last week and we are very pleased to say we have 990 students enrolled in our Primary school. This year we have got a greater number of students in our Prep- Year 3’s.We have created an extra Prep class which created some re-arrangement of classes .Thank you to all families for their support during this time. I am delighted that students have not experienced any disruption to their learning routines.

THANK YOU!

So many of our new families tell us that they’ve chosen our school because they have heard so many wonderful reports about it! We don’t need a big advertising budget when we have parents who are so ready to promote our school. Word of mouth is always the most effective form of advertising, thank you all!

This is a timely reminder that our school has an enrolment management plan which means that only families who live in the school catchment can attend our school. We have a current waiting list for all enquiries from families who live outside the school catchment.

PARENT PARTNERSHIP MEETINGS

It has been great to have parents come along to hear from their child’s class teacher about the many aspects of their child’s classroom and program.

The students are very keen to be a part of showing and demonstrating to parents the rules, procedures and expectations for their class. It also gives parents an opportunity to have a conversation with other parents in their child’s class.

I was also very pleased to receive the positive feedback from parents about the work of staff and the programs that we offer at the school

A reminder to all of our Prep families joining Morayfield East in 2014 to come along and have some fun tomorrow morning ( Friday 14th February) for your parent partnership meeting with your child’s teacher and an informal morning tea afterwards which is being held in MESS Central. This will give parents an opportunity to meet other parents and some of the familiar faces of school staff and P&C.

Invitations were given to students last week.

Research tells us that the most successful schools engage students, parents, carers and the community as partners in supporting student learning. Morayfield East has already developed strategies to engage with parents and community. However with the overwhelming evidence that parent engagement has a positive effect on student achievement, all state schools and their communities are being encouraged to strengthen their engagement - with and between students, teachers, parents and carers, support staff, community, industry and business groups.

MORAYFIELD EAST STATE SCHOOL COMPLAINTS POLICY

During the course of your child’s school years, you may have cause to make a complaint about an issue or concern you have with their education.

At Morayfield East State School we are committed to ensuring that all complaints are dealt with in a fair and equitable manner. There are processes and support networks in place to enable you and your child to work through any issues or concerns you may have.

107 Graham Road, Morayfield Qld 4506. Phone: (07) 5428 8444 | Fax: (07) 5428 8400 Email: the.principal@morayfieldeastss.eq.edu.au Web: www.morayfieldeastss.eq.edu.au Subscribe to our eNewsletter! : http://morayfieldeastss.schoolzinenewsletters.com/subscribe

Morayfield East State School

Morayfield East State School Newsletter 2

To achieve an effective resolution for all parties, when making your complaint, you should ensure you:

provide complete and factual information in a timely manner deliver your complaint in a calm and reasoned manner

You should be aware that if you are making a complaint about a staff member that, in most instances, the staff member will be told of the complaint and offered the right of reply. You also have the right to have a support person participate throughout the process.

The following two-step procedure is in place to assist parents/carers and school staff to reach an outcome that is in the best interest of the student.

1. Discuss your complaint with the class teacher

If your complaint is with your child’s teacher or relates to an issue concerning your child’s experience at school, make an appointment with that teacher as soon as possible through the school administration. Discuss your complaint with the teacher and give the teacher an opportunity to suggest a solution. The teacher will make a record of your complaint and report your meeting and any outcomes to the school Principal or Deputy Principal. Together, both you and your child’s teacher should be able to resolve the problem at this level.

2. Discuss your complaint with the Principal or Deputy Principal

If after approaching your child’s teacher your complaint remains unresolved, make an appointment to see the school Principal or Deputy Principal to discuss the issue further. Alternatively, you and the teacher may agree to ask the Principal or Deputy Principal to act as a go between in an attempt to resolve the problem.

If your complaint relates to more general school matters, including issues of school policy and issues of compliance or non-compliance, you should raise your complaint directly with the Principal or Deputy Principal. A record of your complaint will be made and we will work with you to come to a resolution.

Complaints to the principal may be lodged in person, by telephone, writing or via email. Principals’ email addresses can be accessed through the Schools Directory at www.education.qld.gov.au/directory/ - select the relevant school, then click on the email link

Please note that Facebook is not an avenue for complaints and no staff member will respond to complaints through this avenue.

QCursive

A Queensland handwriting resource for lower primary

QCursive: a Queensland handwriting resource for lower primary contains QCursive fonts, editor software (to process unjoined to joined characters), and style and joining rules. Handwriting and spelling activity resources for Years 1 to 3 students are also included as well as the QBeginners fonts to support use of the beginners’ printed script.

Since the beginning of 1985, students in Queensland state schools have been learning handwriting styles in line with the Queensland handwriting guidelines. These guidelines initially feature the Beginner’s cursive handwriting style, a sloped print script. With a transition from print to cursive script being achieved by linking the printed letters together, students are then progressively introduced to the Queensland modern cursive (QCursive) handwriting style - a sloped cursive script. This sloped cursive script is a simple style which contributes to the ease and fluency of writing.

Overview

Students in Queensland state schools learn handwriting styles in line with the Queensland handwriting guidelines provided in the following documents:

These guidelines initially feature the Beginner’s Alphabet (QBeginners) handwriting style, a sloped print script. Students are then progressively introduced to the Queensland modern cursive (QCursive) handwriting style - a sloped cursive script. This sloped cursive script is a simple style which contributes to the ease and fluency of writing. This progression occurs through a number of stages:

Stage 1 Pre-writing activities.•

Stage 2 Beginner’s alphabet.•

Stage 3 Unjoined Queensland Modern Cursive.•

Stage 4 Joined Queensland Modern Cursive.•

These stages are supported by the resources described below:

The Beginners Alphabet (Q Beginner’s) font to support • Stage 2.

The Queensland Modern Cursive font (QCursive) font to • support Stage 3.

The QCursive Editor to support Stage 4.•

Deputy Principal’s ReportRoles of the Deputies

There has been a reorganisation of Deputy Principal Roles for 2014.

Mr Cox is now working with the students and staff from year five (5) to seven (7). Mr Simpson works with the year three (3) and year four (4) students and staff. Mrs Nilsson will work with the Preps to year 2 students and staff.

With these changes, a restructure of assemblies has also occurred. Mr Cox leads the upper school assembly (year 4 to year 7) at 12pm on Friday. Mrs Nilsson leads the junior assembly (prep to year 3) at 2:15pm on Friday. Mr Simpson will handle the whole school and special event parades such as Anzac Day early in term 2.

Focus for the first few weeks

It has been an exciting return to school after the Christmas break. All of the students in the year 3 and 4 classes have settled into the routines of their new classes. They have been very busy learning the new procedures for both inside and outside the classroom. New lunch areas and lining up spaces have been reassigned and should now be settled.

The students are also hard at work with the curriculum requirements for the year. Staff, other than the classroom teacher, works in most rooms across the school. So it is very possible that your child may have staff from our learning engagement or student support team as well as teacher aides in the rooms at various times throughout the day.

A number of new initiatives have been introduced this year to encourage and recognise positive behaviour of the students. Ask your child about the details. Memory prompts such as ‘iPod as a prize’ or ‘leading sports team for gotchas’ should start a lengthy conversation for most children.

Parent/Teacher meetings are also underway at this time of the year. It is important to attend these meetings to be informed about particular aspects of your child’s classroom and requirements for the year. If you are unable to attend the meeting, an alternative appointment with the classroom teacher could be arranged for a suitable time.

Morayfield East State School Newsletter 3

SWPBS NEWS

Our school values are Respect, Learning, Safety and Responsibility, and these are core to all aspects of our school’s operation and the environment in which our students learn.

The School Wide Positive Behaviour team’s mission statement is to support positive behaviour by developing clear expectations and consistent school wide processes in order to creative a positive and proactive culture, based on these school values.

There are a number of exciting changes to our school rewards programs and systems this year.

Each week, an explicit lesson will be taught regarding an expectation from our school matrix. This expectation will be the focus for the week and students will rate their improvement following the rule.

Gold Pass has been replaced by a new process ….. Gold Day. On this day at the end of each term, all students will participate in a reflection process with their class. They will reflect on their improvements in behaviour over the term and will receive feedback and set goals for the following term. This will be followed by a short, negotiated reward activity with their class. All children will participate as we are celebrating all improvements in behaviour.

Every student has the chance the chance to earn GOTCHAS when they are caught demonstrating the expectations in the playground or classroom. This year, we are excited to announce that one student, each term, will win an Ipod Touch. This will be a random draw at the end of each term, so clearly the more Gotchas that students earn, the more chances they will have to win. As you can imagine, the students are very keen to earn GOTCHAS this year!

We also have a house competition underway with the GOTCHAS. At the end of the year, the house with the most GOTCHAS from Prep – 7, will participate in a celebratory activity. This has created some exciting competition, and not just between the students!

The first totals for the year are:

Yarrah: 578

Namoi: 555

Willunga: 343

Mangiri: 411

If you have any questions about SWPBS, or our reward systems, please ask your child’s teacher for more information.

ATTENDANCE

Again this year we plan to improve attendance rates. The pattern for the last three years has seen a gradual improvement to 91.55% in 2013.

Where we have seen significant improvement is in the percentage of students who are attending school 95% to 100% of the time. In 2009 only 34.7 % of our students were attending more than 95% of the time, whereas in 2013, 46.8% of our students attended for more than 95% of the time.

Unfortunately, we still have 13.9% of our students attending for less than 85% of the time. Whilst this has been an improvement on the 2009 figure of 16.3%, these students’ absences impact our overall attendance rates quite significantly.

Our school Attendance Policy outlines a number of strategies that we hope are having this positive impact on student attendance. One of these strategies has been the 100% Attendance Certificates each term. This term will see a small change in this award, as follows:

Each term, students who attend 100% of the school days • will receive the 100% Attendance Certificate

Each term, students who attend more than 97% of • the school days will be recognised with an Excellent Attendance Certificate

On the student report cards, there is a section for recording absences. One of the areas of concern as a whole school is the number of unexplained absences, and again this information is recorded on the report card.

The following data illustrates the significant numbers of unexplained absences already this year (except for Year 5!):

Percentage of Absences with no explanation for 2014 to date

P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

43% 40% 63% 49% 58% 0% 70% 57%

It would be great to see all families notifying us as regularly as the families of our Year 5 students!

Year Seven Camp

Yesterday, the year seven students returned from their camp at Emu Gully. This three day leadership and team building camp was fantastic. The students and teachers participated in a variety of learning activities and experiences. We will share some photos and more details from camp in our next newsletter

Parent/Carer Contact DetailsIt is vitally important that you make sure you notify us when your contact details change. Several times a week we try to contact parents and find that phone numbers have changed, but we have not been notified.

The greatest issues arise when we need to phone you because of an accident, or because a child may be unwell or a child may be missing. Whilst this is a fairly uncommon event, it highlights our need to have up to date details.

To assist you in notifying us, we have attached a Notification Form that will accompany each newsletter, which you can return

Morayfield East State School Newsletter 4

with your child to school when your address or phone numbers change.

Date Claimers

10-12 February

Year 7 camp

Emu Gully

14 February Year 6 camp final payment due today

18 February P & C Meeting

19 February Student Leadership Conference (GRIP)

(20 selected students)

20 February Student Leader Induction Ceremony, 9.10am

3-7 March Year 6 camp

Tallebudgera Beach School

Every Tuesday the Ladies Auxiliary meets at the school in • The Craft Shed for coffee and craft making. Everyone is welcome

Every Thursday parade for years 4, 5, 6 and 7 at • 12.00pm in the school hall. Everyone welcome.

Every Friday parade for Prep, years 1, 2 and 3 at 2.15pm • in the school hall. Everyone welcome.

News from the OfficeStudent Leaders Induction

The Morayfield East State School student leadership team will be inducted as part of a ceremony which will be held on Thursday 20 February at 9.10am. Forty-six students, including school captains, sports captains, library monitor and school councillors, will receive their badges. Congratulations to all of our student leaders.

CAPTAIN

Sarah H Jessica H Cale C Brody S

SPORTS CAPTAIN

Namoi Captains

Haruka M Nicholas M Emma M Thomas

Yarrah Captains

Elizabeth S Justin R Aliyah W Declan W

Willunga Captains

Trinity C Byron B Abbey D Liana B

Mangiri Captains

Lauren J Liam F Ella G Caleb E

Library Captain

Taryn W

STUDENT COUNCILLORS

Nicholas M Brody S Lauren J Jessica H D’Ante O Madeline T Cale C James P Jasmin E Amy C Dakota G Alyssa M Mason D Sarah H Mackenzee L Quade S Kyla M Emily D Haylee E Poppy H Kylie R Zachary F Caprice C Rosie L Luke M

Playground Equipment

Hello everyone, Last newsletter I provided everyone with an update of what facilities projects had been carried out over the school holidays. This fortnight we have a pictorial look at the 2 new playground areas for Prep and Year 1 and 2 students. The students are really enjoying the new play equipment; it is great to watch their enjoyment at break time.

Regular visitors to our school will have noticed our Schools Officer/Groundsman Tom Dickfos replacing the old timber hand rails around campus. These old timber rails are being replaced with galvanised steel pipe. These new rails offer the benefit of being longer lasting than the timber and require much less maintenance. This is an ongoing project that will take some time to complete.

Until next newsletter Sue Taylor

Library NewsWe are always looking for ways to encourage our students to read and see the value it can add to their lives. Reading plays a part of most aspects of our life throughout each day. Over the next five newsletters we will provide sections from a parent brochure, Never too Young to Read! This brochure gives tips and ideas to incorporate reading into daily life and instil a love of reading in your child.

Never too Young to Read! – Part 1

“From the moment a child is born, he or she is constantly learning. It’s a fact: children learn more in their first five years then during any other period of their lives.” (Trevaline, 1997) Make the most of these early years by reading to your child and begin a magical learning journey together.

Morayfield East State School Newsletter 5

Reading Aloud

In her book ‘Reading Magic’, Mem Fox, renowned read aloud advocate and children’ author, suggest that before children begin to read for themselves they need to hear a thousand books read aloud. She suggests three stories a day – this covers the thousand in one year alone.

When reading together:

Sit comfortably with your child•

Let your child turn the pages•

Read expressively. Be guided by the words on the page. • Vary your voice: loud/soft, fast/slow, high/low vocal variations will help to create the mood. Use pauses strategically to create tension

Carefully choose books that sound wonderful when read • aloud. Books such as Who Sank the Boat? By Pamela Allen, Big Rain Coming by Katrina Germein and Where is the Green Sheep? By Mem Fox sound magical when read aloud. Visit the library to ask for other good read aloud titles

Encourage your child to choose books for this special • read-aloud time. You don’t need an extensive library. Local libraries have wonderful collections of children’s books

Encourage your child to join in with words or phrases that • are repeated, or pause at the last word of a line that is easy to predict. Praise your child’s attempts at reading

Most importantly, have fun•

Relax and enjoy the delights of reading with your baby, your toddler or your child. Remember, your baby, toddler or child is never too young to read and don’t forget your older children, they still love to hear a story read.

From ALEA, thanks to the Children’s Bookshop Beecroft NSW

Sports ReportCaboolture District Trials are up and running in a number of sports. Cricket, softball and swimming have already been completed. Caboolture district soccer for boys has been called.

Other school selections for interschool sport are now complete. We will use this Friday for training at school in readiness for the competition kick-off on Friday 21 February. Students need to pay their money to the office and make sure they have returned their permission notes.

Representing Morayfield East at interschool sport is a privilege. Children need to remember when representing Morayfield East State School we expect good sportsmanship and a high standard of behaviour at all times. Parents are welcome to attend Friday sport as spectators but also need to remember that they too are representatives of our school community. I have attached the code of behaviour that players and spectators are expected to adhere to.

The draws have not been completed yet but it is expected softball and cricket will be played at Person Rd touch fields. Basketball will be at Morayfield Sport & Leisure Centre or St Eugene College (Station Rd Burpengary) and AFL will be at the new AFL grounds beside the Caboolture Regional Aquatic Centre.

Sportsperson of the Year

Each year a student is awarded this prestigious award at the graduation ceremony. This year as year 6 and year 7 are both graduating we will have 2 recipients, one from year 6 and one from year 7.

Students score points for the award by representing Morayfield East at interschool level, by making Caboolture District teams and by making Regional and State teams.

MORAYFIELD EAST STATE SCHOOL

Code of Behaviour

Be a good sport•

Play for enjoyment•

Work hard for your team as well as yourself•

Treat all team mates and opponents as you enjoy being • treated yourself

Play by the rules•

Cooperate with the team and competition officials•

Control your behaviour on and off the field•

Learn to value hones effort, skilled performance and • improvement

For Spectators

Demonstrate appropriate social behaviour•

Remember children play for enjoyment. Do not let your • behaviour detract from their enjoyment

Let competition officials conduct the events without • interference. Discuss and liaise with the Team Manager

Support skilled performances and team play with • generous applause

Demonstrate respect for opposing players and their • supporters

Music NewsWhat’s happening in Music world?

Over the last fortnight we celebrated the birthday of Music legends Graham Nash (2nd Feb – “Crosby, Stills & Nash”), Dave Davies (3rd Feb, Guitarist and Singer “The Kinks”), One of my all-time fav’s Bob Marley, Axl Rose (Guns & Roses) (6th Feb), and Sheryl Crow (11th). The 3rd of Feb also commemorated “The Day The Music Died” when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and “the Big Bopper” were all tragically killed together in an aeroplane crash (along with the pilot) in 1959, 55 years ago.

At Morayfield East State School the year is definitely off and running (pardon the pun Mrs Arthy who suffered a leg injury last week). All members of the Instrumental music program have started their lessons this week. In classroom music lessons the year 5’s are cracking on with learning the guitar, the preps are cutely singing along to old Mac’s SCARY farm and are preparing a song for their parents to see on parade in about 4-5 weeks’ time (I will keep you posted).

Still to become operational over the next few weeks are the lunch time guitar, drum and Rockband groups. I hope to meet some of the prep parents on Friday morning for the official welcome to you and your families into the MESS community.

Take care and of course, Rock On !!!

Curriculum CornerFrom this year, all Queensland state schools will begin the implementation of Australian Curriculum: Geography and will report on student achievement in Geography as a separate subject similar to that which we currently do with History.

Geography is a subject within the Australian Curriculum learning area of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Australian Curriculum: Geography describes geography as “a structured way of exploring, analysing and understanding the characteristics of the places that make up our world, using the concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change”.

Geography is made up of two interrelated strands of Knowledge and Understanding, and Geographical Inquiry and Skills. The Geographical Knowledge and Understanding strand incorporates

Morayfield East State School Newsletter 6

a number of key concepts, including place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change.

The Geographical Skills and Inquiry strand ensures students develop the skills and processes needed to learn and deepen their understanding of geography. Investigations start with geographical questions and proceed through the collection, evaluation, analysis and interpretation of information to the development of conclusions and proposals for action.

Below is a representation of the focus and context of which Geography will be taught this year.

Australian Curriculum: Geography across Foundation (P)–Year 10

Year level focus described by Australian Curriculum: Geography

Prep Exploring local and more distant places

People live in places

Year 1

Places have distinctive features

Year 2

People are connected to many places

Year 3

Investigating places and environments

Places are both similar and different

Year 4

The Earth’s environment sustains all life

Year 5

Explaining places and investigating the world

Factors that shape the human and environmental characteristics of places

Year 6

A diverse and connected world

Year 7

Regional and global places in an environmental and human geography context

There are two focus areas for students in Year 7:

Water in the world

Place and liveability

If you would like to become more familiar with the Australian Curriculum: Geography, or any of the other Australian Curriculum subject, just visit the online curriculum. Taking the Guided Tour will help you to navigate the website. Alternatively make a time to have a curriculum chat with your child’s teacher.

Community NoticesTaekwondo

Looking for a sport for the whole family then why not try Taekwondo. If you wish to call into Caboolture Taekwondo it is located at 1/5 Machinery Parade Caboolture (in the industrial estate near the showgrounds) or for more information please call 0414 090605 or visit their website at www.caboolturetkd.com

For Sale

Maroon shorts sizes 6, 8, 12, 14 - $3-$7 negotiable Please contact Suzanne on 0434 005 715 if you’re interested.

Lil Mans personal training

When: Mon,tues and Thursday 3:30 pm-4:30pm

Cost: $10/ session $65. / 10 block sessions

Please contact Mandy 0416988937

For Sale

Maroon shorts sizes 6, 8, 12, 14 - $3-$7 negotiable Grey Shorts sizes 12, 14 - $10 Please contact Suzanne on 0434 005 715 if you’re interested.

P & C NewsWelcome back to school!

The P&C would like to extend a huge welcome to all of our new and returning families here at Morayfield East State School. For our new Prep students, welcome to our school! We hope you enjoy your first year of school and make lots of new friends! Congratulations to all of our school leaders for 2014, we know you will do your best and encourage others to do the same. It’s going to be a fantastic year at Morayfield East, with lots of work for the P&C to get started with…the P&C had a very successful year last year with our fundraising and we hope to have some great new fundraising ideas from existing and new members, for 2014 and beyond.

The P&C provided a $10,000 donation to the school at the end of the 2013 school year, which will be used to provide new books and other educational tools for our Resource Centre, along with new library books and home readers for our students to enjoy.

P&C Meeting

The first P&C Meeting of our school year will be held on Tuesday 18 February at 3.15pm in the conference room of our School Hall. All are welcome to attend; light refreshments will be provided for parents and students, and activities will be provided for those children staying while parents attend the meeting. We look forward to seeing some new faces from our school community at our first meeting of the year.

We will be holding our AGM Meeting on the Tuesday 18 March at 3:15pm for the positions of our Executive Committee and Sub Committees everyone welcome.

The P&C are looking for volunteers…can you help? Join the P&C and get involved

Parent involvement has been recognised as one of the major influences in a child’s educational environment and P&Cs are a wonderful vehicle for this. As well as being the consultative body for parents in the school on policies and other key issues, P&C volunteers provide an ideal way to support and expand programs that will provide a benefit to the students of the school. It is not only a fantastic way to meet other parents and caregivers in our school community, but lend a voice to school, P&C, tuckshop and other issues to help bring about the best possible educational outcomes for your children.

To become a member of our P&C Association, simply come along to one of our meetings in 2014 and complete a membership application form. This gives you the opportunity to cast a vote on important school matters and strengthens the voice of our parent and caregiver community. It’s a great way to be kept up-to-date with things happening around our school, and most importantly, gives you a place to have your opinions and voice heard.

The P&C Association

Tuckshop NewsNew 2014 Menu

Our 2014 menu has now been handed out via your classroom teachers, so please check your child’s bag for our new orange menu. Changes include some delicious home cooked meal options as a move to introduce more nutritious, healthy meal choices for our students. Our parents and carers will be happy to note that there has been no price increase at this point in time to our menu items.

Morayfield East State School Newsletter 7

For our Prep students

Parents and carers need to be aware that your children are allowed to have tuckshop in Prep (orders must be placed on bags or ordered online via Our Online Canteen), however they cannot come to the tuckshop at 2nd break to purchase ice blocks but are welcome to order an ice block on a bag for the child’s 2nd break. It can be quite overwhelming for younger students to stand in queues with older children, especially if they are not familiar with a particular area of the school.

Online Tuckshop Ordering

As we have outlined in previous newsletters, our tuckshop is now online! This provides families with an easy and convenient way to order lunches, and means that you no longer have to come down to our tuckshop in the mornings to place orders. Registration is easy, simply visit http://www.ouronlinecanteen.com.au and fill out the online registration form. Once you receive a confirmation email you can log-in to the website and add some credit to your account so you can start placing orders for your children.

Sports T-shirts

We have sent out order forms for our sports coloured t-shirts. We ask if you can return your order forms as soon as possible so we can put an order in to our company. The more forms we have back the better so we do not run out of stock when it comes to our big sports day. If you did not receive an order form see Lisa at the tuckshop.

Meal Deal

We have sent out our first meal deal for the tuckshop. We have a few though the year just to give the children a little surprise and excitement at lunch time. Lucky Leprechaun Lunch will be held on Monday 17 March 2014 - potato pie, green jelly, green aroona drink, green biscuit, small gift, $6.50. If your child does not like potato pies please see Lisa in the tuckshop or call her on 5428 8423.

Special Education News

News from Outside School Hours CareWelcome Back

My name is Larissa and I am starting in the role of coordinator here. I have spent 5 wonderful years working in child care and have recently acquired a diploma in primary education. I am very much looking forward to putting my skills, experience and education into practice for the benefit of this service and the kids who attend.

Our goal for 2014 is to continue providing a fun and engaging environment full of interesting activities for kids to participate in. We also aim to increase child and parent feedback to ensure our OOSC community is connected through communication and participation. We want to make sure the service we are providing remains engaging, relevant and interesting to the children so they are getting the maximum benefit for themselves at OOSC Camp Australia.

This term we have a wonderful staff, many of whom have been a solid part of this team for years. I feel very lucky to be joining such a close team with such obvious dedication to child care and development. We kicked off the term with playing some old favourites, which got the kids involved and have started learning some new, exciting games including ‘Crocodile’. We are also getting creative, working together to create a group mural.

Please feel free to come meet our team and chat about the options and possibilities of OOSC with camp Australia.

Chappy ChatThe other day I saw two year 5 boys with their arms empathically around their friend. Moved by their obvious concern I asked the boys what was wrong and they told me with sad faces that their friend did not have any lunch. Of course as I looked into the teary eyes of the young boy, like his friends, my heart went out to him. I’m guessing his friends understood the discomfort of being hungry and going without.

As I go around the school at second break numerous students tell to me that they don’t have lunch. These students generally tell me a common theme that they ate all their lunch either before school or at first break. Consequently many students tell me they are out of food by second break and I’m guessing are ravenous by the time they come home.

Food is a central part of my family’s culture. In my family of origin we connected within our family over food, we socialised with others over food, we celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and births over food, we demonstrated our love by preparing good food for each other. My father and now my sisters, my-self, my husband and my son are all keen gardeners, which include growing fresh vegetables. Eating fresh healthy vegetables makes me feel great (except when I overdo it). It upsets me when I see children go hungry or just unhealthy food so this boy’s plight and others like him resonated with my sensibilities.

To support your child’s learning, care for their growing body, support them emotionally in their school day and lessen the risk they’ll eat everything in your home after school, help your child choose something healthy to set aside for second break. Hopefully this may lessen the feeling of an empty stomach some students are experiencing. If you’re needing some inspiration for a range of yummy and healthy school lunch ideas visit: www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52713 . If you’re experiencing trouble stretching your budget to include healthy food choices for your child, please drop in to the Chappy Lounge to talk through options that fit your family’s needs.

We are told our bodies are God’s temple in the bible. I quite like what Buddha had to say too: “Your body is precious. It is a vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.”

Morayfield East State School Newsletter 8

I hope you find ways to support your child to learn how to eat healthy foods in a balanced way so they treat their bodies with the respect and the dignity they deserve.

Participating in Chappy Activities

As some of you may be aware, having chaplains in state schools is again under threat through a high court challenge mounted by a fellow from Toowoomba. The first high court challenge to chaplaincy resulted in the ruling that upholds the Australian constitution which provides for freedom of religion, rather than freedom from religion. If you would like to support chaplaincy please take the time to fill in a Statement of Support.

Peace & blessings

Chappy Gail (Chappy Gail is contactable Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays via the office or email her gpipe4@eq.edu.au )