11 OCTOBER 2018 (Term 4 Week 1)

Queens Beach State School 

Ph 4791 3111

Office Hours - 08.00 a.m. to 04.00 p.m. Mon – Fri

Principal’s Update

Welcome back to Term Four. I hope everyone had a wonderful break and is ready for our last term of 2018. Historically Term Four is a very busy term. It is a time where we saw good-bye to our Year 6 students as they move into a new chapter of their lives. We welcome our new Prep students for 2019. We will celebrate the student successes and performance abilities with our Presentation Night and Semester Two report cards. It is time to buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Teacher Transfers:

With a heavy heart, I have to announce Damian Stapleton and Zoe Anderson have been successful in obtaining a transfer back to Brisbane and family for 2019. Both teachers have brought so much to our school and will have a lasting impact on Queens Beach. Miss Paxton is also taking leave in 2019. The work Miss Paxton does in Prep is first class. It is a loss, in our Prep department, that will be hard to fill.

World Teacher’s Day:

October 26th is World Teachers’ Day. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the wonderful things the teachers at Queens Beach SS do. We are very fortunate to have a hard working and dedicated staff that educate our children. Make sure you thank them on this day.

Student Collection:

Just a reminder that, when you are picking your children up before school ends, you must sign them out of the office. This is

a legal requirement for schools, to know where our students are at all times.

We have also noticed a lot of parents’ not correctly waiting in the waiting area before school ends. All parents are to wait in the walkway and tuckshop area to pick up their children. Being outside the classrooms can cause a distraction and waiting in the correct area will assure that there are no strangers hanging outside the classrooms. Admin will walk around in the afternoon ushering families to the designated waiting area.

On-line Gaming:

I wanted to bring to your attention, some on-line games or videos that your children may be watching that could be very distressing to their wellbeing. There is a clip called ‘Jeff the Killer’ that we have had reports of students watching which is quite horrific. This clip can come up when searching for things like Minecraft clips. Also the game ‘Fortnite’ is not appropriate for students under the age of 12. Some of these games, and many more, have inappropriate content for children. The ratings are there to protect the students from witnessing or participating in things they are not equipped to handle. We have had some instances at school where these games are interfering with the students’ wellbeing. Please be vigilant and watch these clips/games, talk to your child and possibly restrict their access to them. 

Great Start:

We have had a great start to the term. From all reports our students have displayed exemplary behaviour at swimming lessons. This behaviour has been noted by the pool operators and bus drivers. We also had Steve Baxter (Shark Tank), Carly Brown (UNE Piece Swimwear) and Llew Jury (Founder of Reload Media) talk with our Year 6 students about becoming entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The three visitors spoke very highly of our students and their manners. 

Have a great fortnight.

Yours in Education

Mark Wrigley

School arrivals

Please remember that school commences at 8:45. We are having an increase in the number of students arriving late and this is disruptive to not only their education but also that of the entire class.

Life Education Van

Over the next 10 days all of our students will participate in Life Education. This is offered to our students free of charge thanks to the support of RREAP. Each class will have 1 session in the van where they will learn about topics such as being cyber safe, friendships and the human body.

Free Desks

We still have a large number of student desks available, these are now free if anyone wants them. There is no chairs left unfortunately. If you are interested please call into the school office.

QBSS LEARNING TARGETS FOR 2018

Attendance daily – 95% or more 

40% or more of students in Top 2 Academic Bands

85% or more with C or Higher in English

NB Bowen Police Liaison Officer and Bingalie Project Officer both support families to increase their attendance rate from below 80% to 95% or higher.

Important New Credit Card Procedures

Due to new Education Qld policy we won’t be able to take credit card details over the phone.

New Newsletter Layout

Our newsletter has a new format which is mobile phone friendly.  Have a look at the great new look.  You will be able to access the newsletter from the school website, facebook and the QSchools Ap. 

Lost Property

Lots of winter clothes and other items in the sick room.  Come in and check if your child has lost anything. 

Greetings Parent’s and Care givers,  

Would just like to announce our school Fete on the 11th of August was a huge success and has taken us so much closer to our goal for the shade cover over the stop, drop and go area.  This great success was in huge part to the teachers and staff that went above and beyond their roles and gave up their weekend to bring it all together.  Also, to those parents that helped out for half an hour or the whole day to give stall holders a break throughout the day.  

I would just like to give a huge big THANK YOU to the Teachers, Staff, Parents and Care givers for helping during the weeks leading up to and on the day of the fete, and as a thank you the QBSS P & C is putting on an Afternoon Tea for those people.  The Afternoon Tea will be held at the school on Friday the 7th of September at 3:30pm. 

Father’s Day

It’s almost Father’s Day and we need help to celebrate our fathers this year.  We want Parent and Care giver input, we have a poll currently on our QBSS P & C face book page which closes on Friday which asks if you would like a Father’s Day RAFFLE, similar to what we did for Mother’s Day or would you like a Father’s Day STALL.  Where you bring in a gift no more than $10 to the school office.  Then your child brings in $5 and can purchase a gift for Dad.

If you are not on Face book and would like your say or would like to contact us, please email us on pncqb@outlook.com.

Thank you,

Your P & C Executives

Hello again, everyone.  As I am writing this there are only seven school days left for the year, and those are likely to disappear just as quickly as the previous one hundred and ninety odd other school days that have come and gone already.

I think one of my highlights of the year was the Movember Foundation sky diving event.  It was fantastic to see Mr Wrigley, Mr Bidgood, Mr Stapleton and Mr McNee arrive in style on the school oval last week.  Some of you may be aware that another eight or nine people also did a jump at the Bowen aerodrome the Saturday before; I was one of those lucky people who got to go sky diving at someone else’s expense. This event seemed to be a real success overall, and all those students who were able to watch their principal and teachers land on the school oval will remember that experience for a long time. 

There is another chaplaincy waffle night coming up on Monday the tenth of December.  These nights are usually on a Wednesday, but this time around it will be Monday.  As usual, bookings are encouraged, and l am happy to organise this for anyone who would like to attend, or bookings can obviously be made directly with Le Sorelle . I am very grateful to the people who have supported these events in the past, as they are a valuable source of funds to support the school chaplaincy service in the Bowen region.  Le Sorelle have been very generous and supportive of these events, and I would like to say another big thankyou to them for their ongoing support of school chaplaincy.

This week on parade we also took the chance to acknowledge the people who have contributed in some way to our breakfast programs which have been running on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  Woolworths has been contributing toward this by donating fruit every week towards the Wednesday morning breakfast program since the beginning of the school year.  I would like to acknowledge their contribution and say thank you to them for their support.

There have been many other people contributing to the breakfast programs in different ways. Many of you would have seen Mr Peter Fallon standing behind the barbecue cooking pancakes most Tuesday mornings, and if you happened to look through the tuckshop window when you walked past early, you may have seen him washing up as well.  Thank you Mr Fallon.

Many other people have contributed pancake ingredients, fruit, or other items needed to run these programs, and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped out in any way.  These programs are only possible when many people contribute, and there is always a need for more help in these areas.  I would love to talk to anyone who is interested on volunteering or contributing in any way next year so these much appreciated programs can continue.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas, and all the best for the year to come.  This is Chappy Glen signing off for 2018. 

Chappy Glen

The school dental van has been in touch with everyone about dental visits.  If you would still like to make an appointment the contact number is 0417 615 438.  The van will be at QB School till the end of the year but you can still make an appointment at any time if needed, even if the van is at other schools.