Cranbrook State School eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Good afternoon everyone.

Orange Hats - Prep Students Only

One of our safety measures to ensure prep students remain in SAFE areas is the wearing of an orange hat. If staff see an orange hat outside the prep areas, they know to act by taking them back. Parents of other year level students are asked to ensure that a Cranbrook School Hat is worn. NO CRANBROOK HAT = NO PLAY

Uniform Reminder

A massive thank you to all parents who have supported the school in a smooth transition to the school year by wearing the school uniform.

As the P&C have asked that the uniform policy is strictly enforced, both myself and Deputy Principal, Amanda Allender, will contact parents to develop a solution to meet our end Term 1 goal of 100% of students wearing Cranbrook Shorts/Skorts/Shirts and hats.

Parents are reminded that every time you wait on the opposite side of the road and let your child walk across the road, you are putting them in danger. We had a close call late last week simply because the child was excited to see Mum and didn’t look before crossing the road. Protect your children and walk to the school side of the road and walk them across using crossings where available.

Jewellery

Boys and girls are permitted to wear a watch, plain bracelet and two pairs of sleeper earrings or two pairs of plain studs if these are necessary, one plain chain necklace and a plain ring. No other form of jewellery or adornment is to be worn. Nose and other forms of face studs are not acceptable.

Parents are reminded to help the school by enforcing these expectations before they leave your home (especially the rubber band bracelets).

Term 1 Extra & Co-Curricular Activities

All students are invited to attend the Term 1 activities. Activities are limited to a maximum of 25 students in most cases and parents will be informed if their child is unable to continue to attend due to high student participation rates. A copy of our timetable is available to view and download below.

Make Every Day Count in 2023

Make 2023 the year that your child doesn’t miss a day of school. Research shows that students who have good patterns of attendance are more likely to achieve at school. If students aren’t at school or don’t stay for the whole day, they are missing valuable lessons.

Extra Curricular Activities Term 1

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Jeff Capell - Principal

Since the last newsletter, we've had an addition to our staff group.....

Meet Year 5 teacher, Miss Christine O'Reilly.

Cranbrook is Miss O'Reilly's very first teaching placement after graduating from JCU last year. Her heart is in Townsville - she grew up here, attending Holy Spirit School and then St Margaret Mary's College. Christine enjoys exercising and joining her Marian Vixens teammates on the court for a game of netball. She's really excited for everything that her new career will bring.

Thanks for joining us Miss O'Reilly - we're glad you're here!

Coming up....

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.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Here is our Term 1 PBL focus outline............

Over the past two weeks, we have learnt how to be Respectful and show respect, courtesy and pride as well as how to be Responsible and act as an outsider. Have a chat at home - you may find these tips helpful.

Our Snappy Winner for Week 3 was Tabitha!

Next week (Week 5), our PBL lesson will be focused on Respect. We will be learning how to show self-respect, courtesy and pride.

In Week 6, we'll be looking at how to be responsible by being determined to improve.

Prep Parent-Teacher Check Ins

With just two more weeks to go, we invite all Prep parents, if you haven't done so already, to book in a time to meet with their child’s Prep Teacher. This will commence the three way partnership that exists in each child’s journey through school and support a positive relationship of everyone working together to achieve the best outcomes for each individual child. During this time your child’s Teacher will provide a brief update on how your child is travelling so far, raise any initial concerns or observations and give an opportunity for you to ask or share anything that you feel is relevant.

Where: Your child’s classroom

How to book: https://eq.sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=70355

(New parents will need to create an account). Please see the PDF flyer below for instructions.

When: available timeslots as below

Week 5- Tuesday 21st February 3.10pm / 3.30pm / 3.50pm / 4.10pm / 4.30pm

Week 6- Tuesday 28th February 3.10pm / 3.30pm / 3.50pm / 4.10pm / 4.30pm

Please contact our office if you have any enquiries.

Create a SOBS Account

Let's take a step into Prep....

Prep has been a very big step for some of our little ones - some still have tears in the morning but some already think they have learnt all there is to know! Some are still trying to hold their pencil correctly and some are writing with particular care and attention. Some know their letters and how to rhyme, how to count and what is a living and non-living thing. Some are still learning to recognise these things. Our teachers are all enjoying their little people and getting to know them individually. Don't forget to book your chat with your child's teacher either Tuesday 21 February or Tuesday 28 February. Details on how to do this can be found above in our Principal's Article.

Take a look at us!

Here's the photographer from The Townsville Bulletin, trying his hardest to get some smiles for our photo!

From the Resource Centre

This week Queensland celebrated School Library Week. Queensland school libraries positively influence the learning outcomes of students through teaching multiple literacies and encouraging a lifelong love of learning and reading. Our Cranbrook Library is always a busy hub with enrichment groups, reading intervention, class borrowing, meetings, Book Fairs and Chappy Danielle visits. At play times, our doors open and we see students reading with friends or with "Reading Buddies", learning cooperation, patience and turn taking whilst playing board games, building spacial awareness with puzzles and lowering stress levels with drawing and colouring in. Now we also have our amazing Year 6 Resource Centre Assistants, who do a fabulous job in assisting Mrs Ross and students who are visiting our library. Our Library is certainly a humming community space!

Class Borrowing Days

For students in Prep / Year 1 / Year 2 / Year 3…..you must have a library bag to protect your books.

It is very important that books are returned every week.

Students are not allowed to borrow more books until any outstanding ones are returned.

Please return your child’s home reader and library books on the following days:

The Arts Space

This week in The Arts, our little preppies began their Buddy Program linking up with a special Year 6 friend to be their buddy in class. They had a chat about what their favourite things are and what they liked to do. In the weeks to come, they will be spending more time together in The Arts lessons - there may even be a special little performance for us in the future.

All our Instrumental, Choral and Drama programs are now up and running. We have so much fun when we have the opportunity to perform. Already this year, our recorder ensemble have given our younger students a little performance and our combined years 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 choirs did a beautiful job of singing the National Anthem at our Investiture Parade.

Guitar Timetable Term 1

2023 Guitar Timetable Term 1

For their participation in ALL activities, safe transitions within the Arts Block as well as cleaning up responsibly, CONGRATULATIONS to Week 3's Arts Class of the Week, 1/2D!

Pictured here with classroom teacher, Mr Henry.

Week 4's Arts Class of the Week was 2/3D! This class worked well as a team, listened 'first time - every time' and were very kind to one another throughout their Arts lesson.

Sports News

Swim Team Training continues this coming week. Notes have been sent home to those students who have been shortlisted for the final team and who need to attend training. There is no fee involved. Students must be at the Ignatius Park College Pool, ready to be in the water by 7am. The school bus will return students to school after training finishes at 8am. Parents are welcome to stay, however, you must only park outside the school grounds. Dates for training are as follows:

Monday 20 February
Friday 24 February

Students selected in the final team will have an additional two days of training in the following week, Week 6. The Interschool Carnvial is on Tuesday 7 March.

Sports Excellence continues for those students who were successful in obtaining a place. Notes have been sent home advising of this.

Sporting Schools - Hockey began on Tuesday and continues next week.

Sporting Schools - Cricket began on Thursday and continues next week.

CONGRATULATIONS to our HPE class of the week, Week 3 winners.....2/3D! This class had excellent focus during their health lessons and worked really hard to finish their tasks on time. Well done students! Pictured here with classroom teacher, Miss Snell.

Environmental News

Cranbrook State School developed an Environmentally Sustainability Plan a few years ago to address the environmental concerns of our community. The plan includes sustainable practices such as recycling, composting, tree planning, plant propagation and animal waste disposal. The plan was developed following a waste audit and after the audit it was identified that the school produced over 15kg of food waste per day! This waste included whole foods such as fruit, sandwiches and burgers and after consulting with the P&C parents agreed that food waste should be sent home so wastage does not occur and parents money wasted. After consulting with parents further, the food waste that was being sent home, the majority of it was going into landfill.

Cranbrook has been successful in obtaining a grant to further enhance our environmental practices with the continuing use of Bokashi Bins, introduced into classrooms for Healthy Snack composting and the collection of partially eaten food waste such as crusts, skins and cores etc which will be composted and feed to the chickens.

.....and here are our amazing and very responsible, Term 1 Class Environmental Captains.

PA – Aria and Bailey

PB – Mila and Jaxxon

PC – Maverick and Amity-Rose

1A – Corbin and Ahmarni

1B – Charli and Jaxon

1/2D – Sophia and Samuel

2A – Logan and Serenity

2B – Dawson and Taylanee

2/3D – Oscar and Amelia

3A – Harrison and Azaliya

3B – Mereseini and Trinity

4A – Annabelle and Tyson

4B – Peyton and Hunter

4C – Caelyn and Michael

5A – Krystall and Logan

5B – Ryleigh and Matthew

5C – Tarique and Ellie

6A – Hunter and Emilie

6B – Natalie and Mitchell

6C – Deakyn and Tazz, who is also our 2023 Environmental Captain of the school

Breakfast Club

Our school, in conjuction with Food Relief NQ helps our students start their day right with a wholesome breakfast. We provide weetbix, toast and tin fruit - every morning!

Occasionally, we'll shout out for some extra donations such as strawberry jam. Thank you in advance for your support.

P&C and Tuckshop news

Please check your child's 2023 class is correct when ordering through the Qkr! system.

Hot Dogs will now be Monday's Daily Special.

Meet Chloe! Chloe is a familiar face down at OSHC and now she joins our Uniform Shop and Tuckshop also! Chloe recently came up to Townsville from Canberra where she was working for a TV station, monitoring it's advertisements, to ensure it was all working precisely. Chloe will be working in our Uniform Shop from 8-9am each morning, serving uniform requests, coffee requests and even, coming soon, breakfast treats both sweet and savoury! She'll then head over to the Tuckshop to assist Lillian in getting all the yummy food prepared for us! Watch this space - exciting things are coming our way!

Don't forget to book your table at our first fundraising event of the year - our Trivia Night! It's an over 18s event, so the bar will be open, there'll be snacks to enjoy and of course, some friendly competition to see just which group is the brainiest!

Spotlight on.....

Our Leadership duo!

This is our Principal, Mr Jeff Capell. Jeff joined our Cranbrook Community 12.5 years ago now! Did you know that the Cowboys are his favourite sporting team? You may have guessed that if you saw his birthday picture on our Facebook page today! Jeff was born in Rockhampton and moved to Townsville in 2009 for love and yes, Terrena is still by his side today. She even puts up with him often doing his favourite weekend activity - fishing. Jeff's favourite thing about Cranbrook is the P&C. He loves that the parent group works together and supports the school, to give our students better facilities. In fact, the P&C meetings are actually a great way to get to know him, outside the official day to day running of the school.

This is our Deputy Principal, Mrs Amanda Allender. This year will be Manda's 4th year with us! Time flies. Did you know, Manda was actually born a Kiwi? She was born in Whangarei, New Zealand and moved to Townsville in 2019 for work. She is a big supporter of the Silver Ferns and of course, netball is her favourite sport. On the weekends, Manda loves to browse around the markets and spend time with her kids. What she really loves about Cranbrook, is it's community feel and the respect that students and staff have for each other. If you come across Manda in the school, stop and say hi - she loves a chat and loves getting to know our school community.

Sad to see you go....

Yes, we have had to say goodbye to one of our much loved cleaners - one who was always up for a chat, one who has amazing knowledge about the land (especially dessert roses!) and one who you could rely on. Cheryl is leaving us to explore the cut flower market, with the hopes of expanding their property to grow and then retail local cut flowers. Cheryl, thanks for your service to us. We will miss you.

Sports Pride Fridays

Community News

Saver Plus – helping take the stress out of back to school timeThe Saver Plus community program has helped over 55,000 Australians take the stress out of back to school time. It’s free for eligible people to join.

At Saver Plus, we pair you with a savings coach while you budget and save over the next 10 months. You attend online workshops to learn tips, tricks and information to grow your budgeting and savings skills. Once you reach your agreed savings goal, ANZ matches your savings dollar-for-dollar, up to $500. You can use that money towards education costs such as uniforms, text books, laptops or extra-curricular activities such as sport or music.

You could be eligible to join Saver Plus if you:

have a Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card
are at least 18 years old
have some regular income from work (you or your partner) including casual, part-time, full‑time or seasonal (we also accept child support and carer’s payment as income)
have a child at school or attend vocational education yourself.

If you’re eligible, start now and we’ll help take the stress out of next year’s back to school.To find out more, or to apply, go to www.saverplus.org.au or call 1300 610 355.

𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗬! Know about a business that is passionate about The Arts and giving back to the local community? We want to hear from you!We are seeking a local business to provide sponsorship for our 2023 production of The Addams Family. This opportunity provides your business naming rights and to be featured on a range of promotional materials such as our musical shirts, banners, posters, and programs.Think you can help us out? Contact Deputy Principal, Dave Ackers – dacke3@eq.edu.auSupport Local Townsville #supportlocaltownsville #townsvilleshines