Term 1 Week 8 2024

From the Principal

Dear Mapleton State School Families,

We hope this newsletter finds you well and enjoying the school term with your children. As we approach the end of March and the Easter break, there are a number of updates and events we would like to share with you.

P&C Annual General Meeting - Wednesday 27 of March: We invite all interested parents to participate in our upcoming P&C Annual General Meeting. There are positions available on the executive board, and we encourage all passionate individuals to nominate themselves. We would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the 2023 P&C Executive for their extensive contributions to our school community directly supporting our school and students.

Cross Country - Tuesday 26 of March: Our annual Cross-Country event is scheduled for Tuesday of week 10, starting at 9am and concluding around 12:30pm. Parents and families are more than welcome to join us and cheer on our young athletes. Please refer to the note sent out via SZapp this week for further details.

ANZAC Day march - Thursday 25th of April: Mapleton SS will proudly participate in the ANZAC Day march at Mapleton alongside the local RSL. We invite all parents and families to attend and march with the school as we commemorate this important day. More details will be communicated early next term via SZapp.

NAPLAN Online: This week, our Year 3 and 5 students undertook the NAPLAN tests. We commend our students for their effort and diligence, and eagerly await the results later this year.

Curriculum Learning Group: Last week, we had the privilege of hosting Montville SS, Eudlo SS, Conondale SS and Kenilworth SS for a curriculum learning group session. We received glowing feedback from regional staff and supervisors about the quality of teaching and learning practices at our school. Congratulations to Tia and Fiona for their outstanding work!

Five Nations Volleyball - Friday 22 of March: Students interested in representing the school in the Five Nations Volleyball event should see Mr. Price for more information. Please note that there will be a slightly altered class structure for students remaining at school on the day.

Parent-Teacher Interviews – Tuesday 19 of March: Parent-teacher interviews are scheduled for Tuesday. If you haven't already, please book through the App or phone the office. If there are no available slots, feel free to contact your child's class teacher for an alternatie arrangement.

Campus Opening Hours: A friendly reminder that the school campus opens at 8:30am each morning. We appreciate your cooperation in dropping off students after this time. School concludes at 3pm daily, and we kindly ask for your assistance in departing the campus promptly after school hours. If you wish to socialise after school, we recommend utilising the nearby Lilly Ponds facility.

As we approach the Autum vaction, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for your ongoing support. Wishing you and your families a wonderful  break.

Warm regards,

Aaron Willis

From the Business Manger - Lois Staier

PAYMENT of INVOICES

BPAY will no longer be an option for payment of school invoices.  If you have saved BPAY details in your banking details, please remove so it cannot be accidently selected.

BPOINT is a preferred option to pay invoices and the details are displayed on the bottom left hand corner of the invoice.  This will match correctly to the invoice you are choosing to pay. Parents/customers can select the link which will open the BPoint Web Page and pre-populate information into the BPoint Payment Screen. The information pre-populated includes: Customer Reference Number (CRN), Invoice Number and Student Name. The only data that the parent needs to enter is the payment amount. When parents use BPoint, they need to make one payment for each invoice, for each of their children.

Direct debits are always available as an option for payment and the bank details appear on the Excursion Consent form.

Cash is always welcome as an option for payment and please bring correct amount as we don't have change.

Centrepay

Centrepay provides a service of setting up regular deductions from some Centrelink payments.  If families are receiving Centrepay approved Centrelink payments, you can now set up deductions to assist with management of paying for school excursions and incursions. Mapleton State School’s reference number is 555 141 213J.

Centrepay gives you control over the target amount, start, change or stop deductions at any time and there is no cost to you.  While Centrepay allows you to manage your payments, you still need to meet the payments required by Mapleton State School.

Once you have created a regular deduction, please let me know.  If you have questions regarding Centrepay please contact Centrelink on 136150, or for questions relating to how it works from the School side, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

To read more about how to use your Centrelink online account to add a new Centrepay deduction, please click on the below link.

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/centrelink-online-account-help-add-new-centrepay-deduction

Prep News

The Preppies have been learning about collecting data in Maths. We have collected data on who has lost a tooth, who has shoelaces on their shoes and this week, who likes vanilla or chocolate ice-cream. The children have had to ask the questions and record the data. Then they have to interpret the data to find out what they have learnt.

In English, we have been reading “No Way Yirrikipayi” about a hungry crocodile who isn’t having any luck catching animals for his food. ‘Yirrikipayi’ is a Tiwi word for crocodile. The children have talked about the characters in the story, the events and made connections to their own lives. We made our own yirrikipayis as well. They aren’t as troublesome as the crocodile in the story!

Year 2 News

Year 2’s have been learning about materials and their properties this term in Science.  They had to plan and build a lunchbox that was water resistant and strong enough to carry a sandwich and piece of fruit over a distance of 5 meters.  Construction day was a lot of fun, a huge thank you to our parent volunteers who diligently wielded stanley knifes and hot glue guns with great precision to make our lunchbox dreams come true. We could not have done it without you!  The creativity of construction and ideas was amazing.  Great job everyone!

 Also, in English we are writing a new story for a familiar character.  Today we had a choice to paint, draw, playdough or craft our chosen character. We are a lot of things in Year 2, but creative tops the list!  Paris made an outstanding effort on her Tree character. Keep up your fabulous work.

Year 3 News

Marvellous Mapping has been the highlight of the past few weeks as we learn to create a detailed, labelled map of our classroom from a top view perspective. We also had to describe the relative location of a key feature - our desk

In Science we have continued our exploration of living things and enjoyed describing the animal group best suited to some interesting animals!

Year 6 News

Dear Parents, Children and P&C,

Four more weeks have passed since the last newsletter, this week, the grade 6’s have been doing some fun stuff but have also been  doing some assessments.

In English, we have been reading a book called ‘Boy Overboard.’ Boy Overboard is about a boy called Jamal and a girl named Bibi living in Afghanistan who have a passion for soccer. Their mum runs an illegal school in her house. Eventually the government found out about their ‘illegal school’ and Jamal’s whole family had to escape their own house and go to Australia. But they never got there.

The kids have also been doing artworks such as a one-point perspective drawing and a cute puppy. We are now doing line art.

We  recently had our life education session with Healthy Harold. The year 6’s learnt about e-safety, respect and kids turning into teenagers. The Grade 6’s have also been having a blast with our buddies. Other subjects we have been doing are Science, HASS, English and Maths assessments.

Remember guys, cross country will be coming soon on Tuesday of Week 10 so make sure your kids are ready to run metres, or kilometre races.

5 Nations Volleyball is also coming up on Friday Week 9.

Enjoy the remainder of the term!! 

Written by Alex  and Fateh assisted by Miss Ward

Instrumental News

Last month we were fortunate to have an amazing visit from Rebecca Quain, Percussion Project Officer from the region. Rebecca worked with our beginning and continuing percussion students, helping to develop technical and foundation skills. Rebecca was incredibly generous in sharing her time, resources and expertise. It was a fun afternoon for everyone.

Student Council - Art Competition

In Term 1 Week 10 Student Council are holding an art competition.

When:

Second lunch Week 10

Prep, Year 1 and 2- Monday and Tuesday

Year 4, 5 & 6- Wednesday Thursday

Where:

School library

(To keep it fair, the artwork will need to be done at school)

Cost:

Gold coin donation (or more if you would like to contribute more to this worthwhile cause)

All money raised is going to a good cause. Water Aid which is a charity that builds wells and toilets in poor communities around the world and works on hygiene education in these communities.

Theme:

Easter and/or water

Prizes:

There will be a prize for the best artwork in each grade. Prizes will be handed out early Term 2.

If your child does not want to do an artwork but you would like to make a donation to Water Aid please feel free to send it along with your child on Monday 25 March.

We are looking forward to seeing all the amazing artwork that is produced and excited to be raising money for such a worthy cause.

School Notices

Head Lice

Head lice have been detected in the school. It is extremely important for you to check your child’s head for head lice.

If you do find head lice, commence treatment immediately and be sure to complete the process of treatment. This will help prevent head lice from spreading.

Remember to keep checking your family member’s heads every 2 days until there are no head lice found for 10 consecutive days.

For further information regarding treating head lice, refer to the Department of Health

https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/health-a-to-z/head-lice

Your local pharmacist can provide advice regarding head lice treatment options and head lice combs.

Remember - Anyone can get head lice – they have no preferences for cleanliness, hair colour, hair type, ethnicity or age.

Triple P - Positive Parenting Program

Parenting is the most important job we will do in our lives. It can be both rewarding and challenging. It is helpful to know that wherever you might be in your parenting journey you can always develop new skills and strategies.

Triple P – Positive Parenting Program is a free online course funded by the Australian Government. They offer child and teenage courses.

The following information is taken from their website.

Proven, positive tips that can help every family

You can support your child’s development, grow closer and solve problems – positively. There are many simple strategies you can start using right now, to make every moment count!

• Boost their emotional wellbeing and maintain a good relationship – now, and in the years to come.
• Make family life less stressful and more enjoyable – even in tough times.
• Set good habits early and prevent problems from getting worse with practical strategies you can start using straight away.
• Join more than a million Australian families who’ve been helped by the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program!
• Backed by 35+ years of research studies here and around the world.

Communtiy Notices