Cranbrook Newsletter - Term 2 Week 10 2022
- Principal's Message
- Coming up....
- Every Day Counts - Attendance
- Positive Behaviour for Learning
- Cranbrook jumpers/jackets
- Cranbrook Bus Service
- Excursions, displays and activities
- From The Arts
- Sports News
- Interest Groups
- From the Resource Centre
- From our P&C
- Happy Retirement Mrs LaFauci
- Drop Zone Works
- Sports Pride Fridays
- Community News
Principal's Message
Well, here we are - the end of Term 2. You'll see by all the photos we have packed into this edition, that it's been a wonderful, busy and exciting term for us all.
Extra Curricula Activities
It is expected that some extra curricula activities will begin in Week 2 Term 3 and that a program of activites will be forwarded to students in week 1 of Term 3.
Staffing Updates
3A - Due to Mrs Martyr’s pending resignation from the department at the end of this term, will be backfilling this position for the remainder of 2022. We have been able to source the services of Mrs Sue Vapor and she has been appointed part-time (teaching 4 days/week) to the 3A class for the remainder of 2022. Ms Sam Negra will continue to teach 3A on Mondays for the remainder of Semester 2.
Mrs Vapor is an excellent and experienced teacher who has been working in Western Australia and New South Wales for many years. Mrs Vapor has high expectations of students and has achieved excellent outcomes with students at previous schools in the past.
P/1 - During 2022 we have continued to attract further enrolments in our Prep and Year 1 classes which has now seen our numbers increase well above the departments target class numbers of 25. With this in mind and the real possibility of continued enrolments in these year levels over the remainder of the year we have been able to source an additional teacher to allow us to form a Prep/Year 1 class. The importance of a quality early years education is recognised by Cranbrook State School and as such we have been able to redistribute $80 000 in funding to be able to form this additional class to increase the students' outcomes in their early years of education. The result of this additional class will mean that our student numbers will remain at the department's target levels of 25 or below.
School Annual Report
Each year, all schools in Queenlsand publish a report on their school's progress and achievements for the previous year. The report is a version of our review and reflection which is completed at the end of each academic year (which is the same for all schools).
School annual reports are a key governance and communication mechanism for schools and their communities to help express and celebrate the focus, activities and outcomes of schooling each year. Our 2021 school annual report is available to view on our school website.
Athletics Carnival
Congratulations to Wallaringa who won the Athletics carnival last week. Well done to Mrs Von Wald for organising a considerable and complex event. A big thank you to parents who were respectful in maintaining your distance on the mounds. Well done to the P&C for organising food and drinks and for allowing parents use the OHSC facility toilets.
Breakfast Club
Our school Breakfast Club is very popular every morning. A big shout out and thanks to those parents who regularly donate items so that the children have an opportunity to have a healthy start before their learning each day. This initiative is only possible with the support from our major supporter, Food Relief North Queensland, various charities, church groups and our wonderful Cranbrook parents.
Keep a watch on our school these holidays
Please help to take care of our school by reporting any suspicious after-hours activity to School Watch on 13 17 88. By keeping an eye out we can work together to create a safer school community and help to reduce vandalism, theft and arson in our school.
If you see something suspicious, please don't intervene. Call the School Watch number and let the local police or State Government Protective Security Service deal with the matter.
I wish you all a safe mid-year break and look forward to seeing you all next term.
Term 3 commences Monday 11th July.
Coming up....
Here are some dates for your diary:
Monday, 11 July - School resumes
Tuesday, 12 -Friday, 15 July......Years 5 & 6 on camp
Wednesday, 13 - Friday, 15 July.....Year 4 on camp
Wednesday, 20 July.......P&C Meeting
Thursday, 21 July......Interschool Block Sport resumes
Friday, 22 July......Report cards sent home
Wednesday, 10 August......Red Track Interschool Athletics (select students)
Friday, 12 August.......School Fete
Wednesday, 31 August AND Thursday, 1 September......Star Warts Musical
Friday, 2 September......Student Free Day
Every Day Counts - Attendance
Regular, punctual attendance at school is expected of all students. Students should be present at school ready to prepare for the day's learning by 8:30am.
Late Arrivals
Students arriving after 8:50am must report to the office to receive a lateslip. If a student is late, a letter of explanation from the student's parent/guardian must be presented to the office staff on arrival.
Absence
If a student is absent and the parent/guardian has not notified the school, they will receive an automated text message by 10am that day.
Parents will receive a text message informing them that their child is absent. If you receive one of these text messages, please contact the school to explain the reason for your child’s absence.
A working mobile number should be registered with the school, if available.
Please remember that absence is only marked for the days specified by the parents. If you ring up on a Monday informing that your child is sick and they remain away from school for the following 2 days because they are sick you need to inform us that this was the reason for their absence. You can inform us after the absence via a message directly to the teacher or by contacting our absence hotline or email.
If your child is absent, please leave a message detailing:
- Child's name
- Class
- Reason for absence
- Dates or duration of absence
Absence Hotline - 4726 1260
Absence Email - absences@cranbrookss.eq.edu.au
Absence For More Than 10 Days
What is an exemption and why do I need it?
Every parent of a child of compulsory school age has a legal obligation to ensure their child is enrolled and attending school. Parents can apply for an exemption from this obligation when their child cannot attend or it would be unreasonable in all the circumstances for their child to attend school for a period of more than 10 consecutive school days.
Situations where an application for an exemption may be made include:
- Illness
- Family reasons
- Cultural or religious reasons
If your child is exempt from compulsory schooling, you are excused from your obligation in relation to compulsory schooling.
The school principal is not responsible for providing an educational program for your child, however they may provide advice on other educational options available. Decisions about exemptions for up to one school year are made by the principal and decisions about exemptions for more than one school year are made by the relevant Regional Director of the Department of Education, Training and Employment, responsible for the supervision of the school your child attends.
Keep a copy of Queensland Health's Time Out Poster handy, so you know when you should keep your child at home for illness and infectious conditions. Thank you for helping to keep everyone happy and healthy.
Positive Behaviour for Learning
A big congratulations to our weekly PBL snappy winners:
Week 9 was Iris-Jean.
Week 10 is Claire.
Thanks for being safe, responsible and respectable students.
When we return in Term 3, we will revisit our 10 focus PBL lessons, starting with 'I follow routines and transitions'.
As part of our PBL Program, at the end of each term, we hold a celebration for those students who have achieved 30 classroom 'snaps' and who have had no 'majors' for the term.
Teachers organise a variety of activities that the students can opt in to....and they can move to as many activities as they'd like, in their time.
Here's some photos of the fun we had today!
Cranbrook jumpers/jackets
Cranbrook jumpers and jackets are a part of our compulsory uniform! Not only are they necessary for the cooler weather, they are also handy to have in the airconditioned classrooms - no matter what time of the year. Our P&C have worked hard to be able to offer you two lovely, good quality and practical options.
The jacket is light, windproof and spray proof, has two zipped hand pockets and is lined with soft knit material, making it ideal for wearing at any time. The cost is $45.
The fleece pullover also has two zipped hand pockets and a zip near the neck, allowing the child to protect their neck in the cold but gives the option of having some extra air if it's getting a bit warm. This is our more economical option at $30.
Both items are available in our Uniform Shop, which is open every morning from 8-9am and each Tuesday and Thursday, from 3-4pm. If these times don't suit you, please call Bridget on 0402142961 to arrange an alternative time.
Please don't forget to label your jackets/jumpers also!
Cranbrook Bus Service
We are fortunate enough to be able to offer two bus services for our students. One run covers Kirwan and the Upper Ross areas and the other run covers Cranbrook/Heatley/Vincent/parts of Gulliver.
We have various vacancies on both runs, to begin in Term 3.
The cost is calculated per trip, depending on the distance away from the school. Prices begin at just $2 per trip. Passes are also available and bookings can be made on a casual and permanent basis, depending on numbers. Payment must be made two weeks in advance. Please download and complete the form below, if you are interested.
For further information or to book a place on our service, please contact Amanda at the office on 47261222 or by email at aihle2@eq.edu.au.
Just a reminder for those families already using the service, the number to call to advise any changes to your bookings (including students not attending that day) is 0477703598. Please ensure you advise us by 7am on the day.
Excursions, displays and activities
Year 6 went down to the Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare Bush Garden Nursery today at Rowes Bay, to collect the native plants they researched, ordered and purchased, as part of their Year 6 Technology learning with Ms Bartels. It was so exciting to have our actual plants in our hands! Thanks to the wonderful staff and volunteers at the Bush Garden Nursery and especially Maureen, for her very interesting bush tucker talk. We learnt about native ginger and the Wombat Berry plant! Thanks also to Mr Capell for purchasing native plants for our school and to the P&C who make our excursions possible, with the purchase of our buses. Keep an eye out for the new plants around our school!
The Bush Nursery is open to the public, Friday and Saturday 8:00am – 2:00pm. Nothing over $3!
The Year 4 & 5 Culminating Activity was held on Wednesday afternoon. This gave the students a chance to show their parents what amazing work they have been doing. Thank you to the parents who were able to come. Your children really appreciate it! Thank you teachers, for your dedication.
Year 4
Year 5
The Global Tropics Future (GTF) project is a unique partnership between the Department of Education (DoE) and James Cook University (JCU), with the vision and drive to achieve improvements in education outcomes and workforce participation in Tropical and North Queensland. The project enables like-minded students to connect, collaborate and explore their STEM interest and passion through a range of enriching and challenging learning opportunities.
On completion of their recent project, our students were awarded with their 'Certificates of Completion'. Well done!
Then today, the group were fortunate enough to head out to JCU to join other Townsville students for a STEM challenge: to adapt current sustainable living practices (food, shelter or water) so that it is viable to develop a colony on the planet Mars. We need to reduce the pressure on Earth due to the increasing population and therefore you will innovate sustainable practices that will enable humans to live on Mars......
We'll have an exciting report for you next term!
From The Arts
Cranbrook Creates may have been a few weeks ago now, but that doesn't stop us celebrating! Check out our gallery of photos. We had so much fun!
Last Saturday, our Nightingale and Songbird Choirs performed at the Willows Winter Fair. A big pat on the back to Jess and Eli - the only representatives available for the Nightingales! Thanks to Mrs Earle and alumni Lauren-Kate, for stepping in to help them out. (Sadly, for the performance, but not for the students, the weekend coincided with the SHEP workshop that a lot of our students were attending) Thank you parents, for supporting your children and their love of singing and performing.
Last week on parade, we were entertained by the very cute Prep students and their Year 6 buddies, to a cool performance of the 'Bubble Wrap Rap'. Thanks to the parents who were able to come along to watch. Your children loved you being there!
Now, for a performance for us (not by us!). Opera Queensland is coming to perform 'The Frog Prince' for us on Tuesday, 9 August at 9am. The performance is open to all students. Tickets are $9 and can be purchased now via the Qkr! app or with cash at the office. Ticket sales close on Friday, 5 August.
Our Star Warts Musical is not very far away now! (31 August/1 September). Over the holidays, the Arts teachers would like you to get your costume organised and then bring it in as soon as possible and definitely by Week 6.
Please see the note below for the details.
In other Arts news, this semester, the Year 3 students have been learning how to create landscapes in Visual Arts. They have been developing their knowledge of colour, lines, shapes and texture. These artworks have been made using oil pastels and a variety of 'found' objects to highlight significant features of each landscape. The students also had to learn to display their pieces, in order to engage their audience and to enhance the meaning of the piece. They have had so much enjoyment doing this and have really begun to shine, in their ability to understand and apply Visual Arts concepts.
Year 1 students this semester, have been studying lines, shapes and colour, through portrait drawing. These abstract portraits were created using a 'roll-the-dice' chance method which students really enjoyed. This somewhat unusal, but fun, way to design and create this type of artwork, also gives an additional amount of 'success' to each student.
Visual Arts for our Year 6 students, saw them take inspiration from contemporary Australian artist, Pete Cromer and create their own sculptures, based on Pete's design principals. This meant that the students had to take their creating to the 'next level', adding additional textural features to enhance their designs.
Sports News
What an amazing day we had on Monday for our Athletics Carnival. Well done to every single student who participated and gave it their best. A big thanks to all our staff and especially to our HPE teacher, Mrs Lara Woods, for her organisation of the event. Thanks too, to the P&C who gave us all the chance to stay energised, with their food and drink.
There's a lot of photos, but we just had to share the fun with you!
Our amazing team spirit....
Sprints
Relays
High Jump and Long Jump
Throwing Activities
Tug-of-War
Fun and Games for our younger ones
800m race
Our amazing kids
Our amazing staff
A big congratulations to .......WALLARINGA....... for their triumphant win.
A special congratulations goes to our Age Champions who performed superbly all day and earnt themselves the most points for their age groups.
Male/Female Age Champions were....
8 years: Yarren and Mahalia
9 years: Hamish and Emelea
10 years: Dontrelle and Skye
11 years: William and Amelia
12 years: Delphin and Talithia
13 years: Erik
Well done kids!
Interest Groups
On Thursdays, some students choose to participate in Interschool sport, while some choose to join the interest groups back at school.
One of those groups is Coding Club. Here the students are creating a catch game!
From the Resource Centre
Class Borrowing Days
Please return your child’s home reader and library books on the following days:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
1/2E | Prep B | 1A | Prep A | 2A |
4A | 5A | 3A | 1B | 2B |
| 5B | 6B | 4B | 3B | |
| 5/6D | 3C | |||
| 4C |
For students in Prep / Year 1 / Year 2 / Year 3…..you must have a library bag to protect your books.
Thanks to everyone who supported our Bookfair last week. It was lovely to see the excitement on the students' faces when they came out with their purchases.
Congratulations to our colouring in competition winners. I know you would have enjoyed choosing your books.
We must also acknowledge the hard work of Miss Kelli and her team of helpers, who put time and effort into setting up (and then packing up) our wonderful Bookfair. Thank you!
From our P&C
Due to suppliers increasing their prices, menu prices at the Tuckshop must increase also as of Term 3. More details will be supplied as soon as we confirm them.
Happy Retirement Mrs LaFauci
With sadness for us and happiness for Anne, we sent her off to retirement this week, with cake and cards and flowers. Congratulations Mrs LaFauci on over 30 years of teaching. From the days of being told that if she was married, she wasn't welcome to a teaching job, to the many, many years of love and dedication she has given to thousands of students and the majority of those being right here at Cranbrook, to now hanging up her duty roster and vest, Anne has shown us just why she is loved and remembered by all. Happy retirement, Mrs LaFauci. We will miss you and hope to see you around our community for many more years to come. Thank you for the years and memories.
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Sadly today, we also say farewell to another of our much loved teachers - Mrs Kari Martyr. Kari will be missed for her immense kindness and love to everyone and her special way she can tap into exactly what a student needs, which often is simply a kind word, a hug and a bit of reassurance. All the very best, Kari, as you move on to your next teaching season. Thank you for your years of dedication here at Cranbrook.
Drop Zone Works
We have some exciting news to share with you from our local council.
Council will begin works to improve the school's pick up and drop off zone on Alice Street, on Saturday, 25 June. Works are expected to last about 6 weeks.
Please be patient during this time - the works will cause disruption and for the sake of everyone's safety, please slow down and follow the detours and directions of traffic controllers carefully.
It will be wonderful to have a new drop off/pick up area, to improve the safety of our students and our community!
Thank you.
Sports Pride Fridays
Community News
Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information in this issue of our newsletter at the time of publication.
For all enquiries please contact our School Office on 4726 1222.