Cranbrook Newsletter - 2023 Term 1 Week 8

Principal's Message

Good afternoon everyone.

Don’t forget Cranbrook State School provides our parents with another option to increase the convenience around school finances. Parents are able to pay all school payments (SRS, Camps, Excursions, Guitar Lessons, Swimming Lessons, Sports, Performances) and all TUCKSHOP ORDERS online.

Take a look and see how it works.

https://vimeo.com/185558039

https://vimeo.com/185424478

QSchools App

Our school is committed to keeping all parents fully informed on up and coming events and opportunities to become involved in your child’s education. The QSchools app will assist you to stay up to date on all of our school’s events. To download the QSchoolsApp and receive the latest news on our school, simply go to the iTunes store or Google Play and search for ‘QSchools’ or use the following link for more information:  https://alt-qed.qed.qld.gov.au/about-us/department-apps/qschools

School Student Resource and Stationery Scheme 2023

Congratulations to those parents (99.1% of families) who joined the scheme this year. For those parents who decided on supplying their own materials, you are reminded that all items need to be supplied by the end of this week, otherwise you will be invoiced for the 2023 SRS amount of $270 (Yr4 to Yr6) or $150 (Prep to Yr3) to access the school resources. Please feel free to contact our Business Manager, Deana Edwards to discuss this further.

Electronic Devices

Electronic Devices (other than approved laptops) MUST be handed in when students arrive at school -  NOT at 8.30am.

The staff carpark is for staff 

Please do not park in there when picking up your children after school.  Parents are reminded that the school staff car park is not a safe place for children to be delivered or collected from school.  If you do need to legitimately come in to the school carpark,  please remember not to park in our designated bus areas.

A reminder also, that dropping students off on or near the pedestrian crossing on Bergin Road is also very unsafe as it endangers the lives of children using the crossing correctly.

School Hats

Some students have reported their hats have gone missing.  The chances of their hat going missing could be greatly reduced by writing the child's name (or Initials/symbol) on the OUTSIDE brim instead of on the inside.  A supervising staff member can then easily see if the hat belongs to that student. Staff, especially teachers, do not have the time to do hat inspections as we are busy teaching your child the Australian Curriculum as well as catering for their physical, social and emotional needs. Remember - No Cranbrook Hat = No Play.

A school initiative has begun that places the student's initials on the outside brim of the hat and their first name on the inside brim of the hat using iron on vinyl transfers, as a way of reducing the burden of cost to parents for lost hats.  (Our Prep students have their first name on the outside of their hats)

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Congratulations to those students who were invited to their class celebration for positive behaviour. Every student who received 15 SNAPS (our school mascot (SNAPPY THE CROCODILE) links to positivity) in the first five weeks were invited to the celebration. As a school we were pleased that 100% of students attended, with the exception of those students who were either suspended (behaviour so serious that it required their right to education to be suspended due to extreme misbehaviour, extreme disobedience or conduct that effected the school operations and/or the safety of students) or on an EXIT so the rights or teachers to teach and the students to learn could be re-established.

For those who are unaware of what PBL:

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is an educational process that brings together the whole-school community to contribute to developing a positive, safe and supportive learning culture. The PBL framework assists schools to improve social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for children and young people.

PBL is a process, not a program.

When PBL is implemented well, teachers and students have more time to focus on relationships and classroom instruction.

Students and staff benefit from:

• reduced problem behaviour
• increased time focused on instruction
• improved social-emotional wellbeing
• positive and respectful relationships among students and staff
• better support for teachers to teach, model and respond effectively to student needs
• a predictable learning environment where staff and students know what is expected to deliver effective practices that can be sustained over time.

What Wonderful Work – Reading at Cranbrook

Reading is of the utmost importance at Cranbrook and we regularly set targets to improve our student outcomes. Our Teachers are working hard every day to make a difference in your child’s reading abilities.  One of the ways we improve reading is providing extra support for those students who need it, through our Reading Intervention Program. 

The level of results below are usually only achieved if parents are reading with their child EVERY night.

It was with great pride that we watched our Cranbrook Swim Team compete at the 'C' Schools Interschool Swimming Carnival on Tuesday. There were some great individual performances and as a team they supported each other in defeat and victory, which was a great attribute displayed by our swim team.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Jeff Capell - Principal

Welcome back to Mrs Kari Martyr, returning to our school and taking up a roll in our relief team.  It's lovely to have your smile and warmth back, Kari. 

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 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 include others as well as how to be Responsible and accept responsibility.  Have a chat at home - you may find these tips helpful.

Our Snappy Winner for Week 7 was Addy and our Week 8 winner was Tom!

Thanks for being Safe, Responsible and Respectful Cranbrook Learners!

Next week (Week 9), our PBL lesson will be focused on Respect. 

We will be learning how we must respect others' privacy and property. 

For our last week of term, we'll be looking at how to be Responsible and be resilient.

Prep Photos

The Prep photos that were taken by the Townsville Bulletin will appear in their publication on Wednesday 22 March.  For those with a subscription to the Bulletin, you can now access the photos online.

Available to all are the 'funny photos' - online now at https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/education/my-first-year/funny-faces-my-first-year-2023-townsville/news-story/d3dc2f1c3fb9de5adef7c5e54e7f9fa9

In Year 3, we're as smart as can be!

Each week at our Cohort Parades, class awards are given out for:

• Attendance
• Behaviour
• Kindness
• Excellence in Learning
  

Year 3 student, Keanu, received the kindness award this week, for always including everyone when working in groups.  Nice one, Keanu. 

In Maths, we've been working on collecting and representing data.  We had some fun using M&Ms as our collection material!

In English, we are very clever and practising our evaluative adjectives!

In Year 4 we're keen to learn more!

Students in 4B simulating the effects of erosion for Science.

4A started a new maths unit last week on data. They went to the staff car park to observe and record the colours of cars owned by staff. Students then used this data to make a bar graph. 4A observed white as the most popular colour but were very disappointed in the lack of purple and pink cars. 

Here's Thomas and Caelyn from 4C, showing us some completed Maths and English work.  In the library, Flynn and Alanie assist the class with the return and borrowing of their books.

Getting prepared for Year 5 camp

Our Year 5 students were introduced to a little 'Camp Daragee' this week, with a presentation and a taste of the type of team building activities that they will get to experience on this amazing camp!

Thanks to the families who have confirmed their child's place on the 2023 camps by returning the form, along with the deposit.  Camp forms giving details and the final cost have been handed out.  If your form has been misplaced, please find copies here:

Year 5 Excursion

This week, it was our Year 5 students' turn to venture out and about and gained valuable information from our community.  We headed over to Townsville's Local Disaster Co-ordination Centre.  This building, built to withstand a Category 5 cyclone, is the hub for all members to come together and work together, to respond to any disaster that Townsville may encounter.  Zac provided us with a great presentation that challenged our knowledge of what a disaster is, the details of some of the weather incidents that can occur and helped us to think about how we would prepare with our own families in our own homes.  A quiz at the end saw some students luck enough to receive some great 'disaster ready' prizes from the Townsville City Council.  

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Year 6 Excursion

Last week, 6C had the opportunity to visit the Rowes Bay Sustainability Centre and Wetlands.  It was a fantastic insight into how, from little differences we can all adapt, big differences grow.  The tour was informative and interactive and made all the more interesting by our very knowledgeable guide.  We talked about reducing, recycling, aquaponics, water conservation, energy conservation, solar options and growing things we can use in our own backyards.  Our guide then took us across the boardwalk, through the wetlands and showed us various (and useful and not so useful!) plants and animals.  It's a great place for bird watching!  

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NAPLAN 2023

Year Three and Five students have now completed their NAPLAN sessions.  Students who were absent for these days will have an opportunity to complete make-up tests in the days following.  

From the Resource Centre

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.

Students in Prep, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 borrow 2 Home Readers and 1 'Read for Pleasure' book.

Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 can borrow 2 books.

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

Our EASTER COLOURING COMPETITION is here! 

Age categories are:

Prep / Year 1 / Year 2 / Years 3 & 4 / Years 5 & 6

There will a prize awarded for 1st place and runner up in each age category.  Entries must be handed to Mrs Ross in the Resource Centre, by Wednesday 22 March.  

All the best everyone!

The Arts Space

Our lovely Recorder group are progressing well and held a little performance for our Preps at lunchtime. 

Last week in the Arts, 1/2D had heaps of fun working on a music game called 'Scoot'.

The Arts Excellence students participated in a Townsville City Galleries 'Make a Mark' Workshop, facilitated by local artist John Bradshaw.  The students created mushrooms using texta and paper magiclay.  The extra exciting thing is, these will be used as part of collaborative artwork to be displayed at the 2023 Strand Ephemera!

This little, but enthusiastic bunch, make up our Piccolo Chorus that gave our Preps a little performance yesterday at lunchtime. 

Congratulations to students who have been awarded lead parts in our 2023 Musical, Mystery at Magpie Manor.  Please check when your rehearsal time is and make sure you continue to practise at home aswell.  

Congratulations to Week 7's Class of the Week.....5A!  This class had great focus in their melodrama performances and good teamwork overall.

......and to 3B for being awarded Class of the Week for Week 8.  

Sports News

Mrs Woods is very proud of the swim team who competed at the C schools carnival Tuesday last week. They did a wonderful job of representing the school with great pride and were amazing in the pool. The team came 4^th overall out of 8 schools. Well done team - so proud to be your coach.

Our Cross Country Colour Run is not very far away now and students have been doing a great job at getting out in the mornings before school and doing some practise.  More details to come, however, pop Thursday 30 March in your diaries and come and cheer the students on!

Season 1 of Sport is being organised and permission forms and payment should have now been returned to school.  The first round will be played on Thursday, 20 April. 

Congratulations to Class of the Week for Week 7.......6C!  This class had great focus with their theory work during the Health content of their HPE lesson.  Well done students.

Congratulations to 2A for being awarded Class of the Week for Week 8.  This class had excellent writing in Health and beautiful gymnastic technique in HPE!

P&C news

The Executive Committee work in conjunction with Bridget Bambrick - P&C Operations Manager, who oversees the management of the P&C Association.  If you would like more information regarding the P&C Committee, please feel free to contact Bridget on 0457 869 194 or pandcoperations@cranbrookss.eq.edu.au or email the current executives on pandc@cranbrookss.eq.edu.au

Our dedicated webpage can be found at:  https://cranbrook-state-school-pc-association.mybigcommerce.com/ or via the link below.

Our After School Hours Service has had a lovely upgrade to it's building, thanks to some serious fundraising and support from our community.  OSHC can be contacted directly on 4773 4424.

The other P&C Project that has just been completed, is our oval bubblers.  Students no longer have to leave the oval to grab a drink - cool water is now right there for them! Thanks for supporting your P&C - this is what we do and what we can provide for your children through your support. 

Stuck for lunch ideas on a Monday morning? 

Hot Dogs will now be Monday's Daily Special at the Tuckshop.

Spotlight on.....

Our Cohort Leaders!

Each of these amazing ladies has the responsibility of supporting a cohort (or 2!) and it's teachers, each and every day in so many ways.  From the little things to the big things, this is who our teachers go to as their first point of call for assistance.  The Cohort Leader oversees the curriculum planning and the delivery in the classroom.  Thanks ladies - I am sure to all our teachers, you are worth your weight in gold!

Meet a couple of them......

Prep/Year 1 - Mrs Amanda Flor

What do you do? I work with the teachers and students so that all students can be engaged successful learners.

When did you come to Cranbrook?  I came to Cranbrook in 2013.

What is your favourite colour?  Blue

What is your favourite weekend activity? I love to go camping and relax or getting creative making things on my weekends.

Would would you say is your favourite thing about your job and/or Cranbrook? My favourite thing about my job is getting to work with lots of teachers and students in Prep and Year 1 so that they can do their very best.

Year 2 - Mrs Teresa Garnett

What do you do?  I support Year 2 teachers to be able to give amazing learning opportunities to students.

When did you come to Cranbrook?  This is my second year at CSS.

What is your favourite colour?  All things purple are awesome!!!

What would be your favourite weekend activity? Supporting my son playing soccer and watching English Football!

What is your favourite thing about your job and/or our school?  Creating interesting opportunities of learning and celebrating student growth in learning.

Completing the team is Shannon Morgan for Years 3 & 4 and Nicole Bartels for Years 5 & 6.

Sports Pride Fridays

Community News

Saver Plus – helping take the stress out of back to school time
The 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.

Bunnings Easter Hop Night is on Thursday 30 March from 5.30 - 7.30pm.  Keep the kids amused this weekend and enter their colouring in competition!  Collect your paper copy from the library.

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

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.