Gatton State School Newsletter

Promoting the positives that Gatton State School has to offer . . . . on Thursday 27th August, school leaders and students from our school will be participating in a Department of Education promotional photo and video shoot as representatives of our school and broader community.

Photos will be used in departmental publications such as booklets, brochures and posters promoting department initiatives, posted on the department’s websites, Facebook pages and social media sites. In addition the photos will be added to the department’s image library and may be used by other government departments when promoting educational objectives.

Good hygiene practices are still a must

Everyone has a part to play to slow the transmission of COVID-19 by practising good hygiene, cleaning regularly used objects and surfaces and ventilating their home or workspace.

At school we are practising the following in an effort to keep our staff, students and community healthy:

• cover your coughs and sneezes with your elbow or a tissue,

put used tissues straight into the bin,
wash your hands often with soap and water, including before and after eating and after going to the toilet,
use alcohol-based hand sanitizers (remember sanitizers should be in an original bottle with a label),
avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth,
clean and disinfect frequently used surfaces such as benchtops, desks and doorknobs,
clean and disinfect frequently used objects such as mobile phones, keys and wallets,
increase the amount of fresh air available by opening windows.
Continuation of adult social distancing – 1.5 metres please!
Continuing from term two, we are not yet in a position to welcome back classroom volunteers or helpers within the school setting and limited entry to the school grounds will continue to be monitored as per last term. These measures are in place to ensure staff well-being as well as minimising the potential risk of adult transmission of the COVID infection in the wider community. Parents and carers are asked to not deliver students to classrooms of a morning or collect students of an afternoon and please remember all adults MUST maintain a minimum distance of 1.5m from one another.
The school website has detailed information on school procedures www.gattonss.eq.edu.au

Kind regards,

Warren Merchant

Can you believe we are half way through Term 3 already?  It has flown past for me as I settle into the role of Chappy here at GSS.  I am getting to know your children in different ways: through Breakfast Club (huge thanks to the student and staff volunteers who help with this, and to the Food Pantry for supplying all our needs); through class room visits; through lunch time activities and some individual sessions.  There is so much potential in all of our children and it is lovely to see them shine.

Many of the children who have visited my room, enjoy playing with the “Calm Down Jars” that I have, and some are asking if they can make one of their own, so I am putting the instructions here in case you would like to make one with your child.  The idea is to shake the jar and then watch it (calming down) until all the glitter is at the bottom of the jar again.

Requirements:

1 Plastic bottle (600ml drink bottles are great), cleaned and label removed

Water

Clear craft glue/glucose syrup (the glucose syrup slows down the movement)

Glitter

Food colouring

Instructions:

In a saucepan slowly heat equal quantities of water, glue or glucose syrup until all is melted and mixed together.  A low temperature works best, or if your children are safe around hot water, boil the kettle and mix together in a glass bowl.

Carefully pour liquid into your bottle, leaving space to add in the glitter and a few drops of food colouring.   Once they are added, tightly replace the lid (I have glued mine down), and shake it all together.  The glue or glucose should slow down the movement of the glitter, allowing time to calm down.

Enjoy!

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.” Robert Brault.

Chappy Ness

Our second event is “Throw a Sponge at a Teacher.” Students will be able to throw wet sponges at teachers who agree to participate. More information on this event will be provided in the coming weeks. All funds raised will go towards our cold water fountain project.        

Jeans for Genes Day

The student council would like to thank all those who supported Jeans for Genes Day on Friday the 7th August. We raised $266 which will be donated to Children’s Medical Research Institute.

On Friday 2D put their procedure into practice by making pikelets. They followed their method measuring quarter cups of sugar, sifting flour, pouring milk, cracking eggs, stirring the ingredients together and everyone’s favourite, tasting the delicious pikelets!

 The pikelets were served with butter and jam, YUM!

The EALD students did even more practise following a procedure by making Frogs in a pond. Don’t worry they were edible, jelly pond and a chocolate frog. 

Hannah and Kaylee were named Shadows for the Darling Downs School Girls team for 2020 a great effort.

The Lockyer District boys were:

Seth, Rizwan, Nick, Jack, Kougar, Hayden, Liam, Bryan, Xander and Kaleb.

The P&C Father’s day stall will be held in the hall on Wednesday 2nd September.

Students will be able to purchase gifts from $2.00 - $6.00 during the day or they can pre order gifts for the first time this year. Pre order forms have gone home with students this week. Please return your order with correct money to the office.

Prep – year 3 will have the opportunity to go to the stall with their class.

Year 4 -6 will be able to go before school or during first break 11:15-11:45pm

The senior school carnival was held over two days with some events on Thursday afternoon (week 2) and the main event on Friday (week 3).  Thursday afternoon events included High Jump, Long Jump and 800m.  At the finish of the day on Friday, Comets finished with 477 points, followed by Planets on 385, then Meteors on 348 and Stars on 338 points.

Places: First: Comets, Second: Planets, Third: Meteors, Fourth: Stars. 

The carnival is divided into two sections, championship events and non-championship events. This way all children participate in at least 6 Athletics events.  The contribution to the overall score is not only dependent on the champion athletes but all members of the house. Unfortunately there is no Lockyer Zone or Regional Athletics events this year.

Thank you to Mr Jim McDonald, Member for Lockyer, for dropping in to see the action.

This term students in year 4-7 participate in Friday afternoon sport. Children are divided into teams from a variety of sports.  In Term 3 students can play Soccer, Netball, Touch, Boxing Skills, Hall Games & CPA Games.

Netball and Soccer are graded so that they have an inter-school and intra-school component. A draw is created so that a number of the children can play against other schools including OLGC, Lake Clarendon and Helidon.   

Whilst most games will be played at Gatton State School, some teams will be required to travel during the term for games.  When a team travels out of town the cost is $6.50. 

Teams that travel in term 3 are:

Netball A to D                         Soccer A to D

Important note about messages to students

Lake Clarendon games are played in the morning whilst games against all other schools will be in the afternoon session.  It can be difficult for office staff to contact children during sport. Only ask the office to contact your child in an emergency.  Please ensure you tell the office staff what sport and team your child is in. 

Overview of draw:

17th July                                     Gatton selection day

24th July                                     Gatton Senior Athletics Carnival

31st July                                     Gatton Senior Athletics Carnival

7th August                                  Helidon games

14th August                                Lake Clarendon games (in morning session)

21st August                                OLGC games

28th August                                OLGC and Helidon games

4th September                            Pupil Free Day 

11th September                          Gatton Colour Explosion (postponed to Term 4)

17th September (Thursday)       Lockyer Zone Soccer, Netball     Carnival                 

Students are instructed by their teacher and on parade each week about who is to travel, cost and venues of each sport.  Parents are requested to ensure children bring correct money on all travel days.   

Students should bring correct sporting gear including suitable shoes, hat and water bottle. 

The Lockyer Zone Soccer Netball Carnival is planned to be held on Thursday 17th September (last week of school). Gatton sends both netball and soccer teams to this event.  Students selected in those teams will receive a separate permission form closer to the date of the meet. 

SPECTATORS: Due to CoVid-19 restrictions, we are unable to have spectators inside the school grounds.  We appreciate that you understand the importance of the constraints which we must comply with under these unusual circumstances.