2 November 2023

Dates to Remember

Principal News

As we approach the final few weeks of this school term, I wanted to take a moment to emphasize the critical importance of regular school attendance for your child's academic success and overall well-being. Regular attendance is not just a school policy; it is a fundamental aspect of your child's educational journey. It plays a pivotal role in their ability to learn, grow, and thrive in both the short and long term. Here are some compelling reasons why consistent attendance, particularly in these crucial last weeks of the term, is essential:

Academic Progress: Regular attendance ensures that your child does not miss out on valuable instruction, class discussions, and interactive learning experiences. As we near the end of the term, teachers are reviewing and reinforcing essential concepts. Consistent attendance allows students to stay updated with the material and perform well in assessments.

Preparation for Assessment: With final assessments approaching, attendance is vital. Students who attend class regularly have a better grasp of the subject matter and are better equipped to succeed in these evaluations.

Building a Strong Foundation: Each lesson in the classroom builds on the previous one. Missing a day or two can create gaps in your child's understanding, which can hinder their performance in future lessons and even in the next school year.

Social and Emotional Development: School is not just about academics; it's also a place where your child develops crucial social and emotional skills. Regular attendance allows them to establish and nurture friendships, learn to collaborate, and build self-esteem.

Accountability and Responsibility: Consistent attendance teaches your child responsibility and accountability, which are valuable life skills. It shows them the importance of commitment and punctuality.

Teacher-Student Interaction: Regular attendance enables students to build a strong rapport with their teachers. This connection can be invaluable for seeking help, guidance, and mentorship, especially during challenging times.

School Community: Being a part of the school community fosters a sense of belonging and pride. It allows your child to engage in extracurricular activities and events, which contribute to their overall development.

We understand that occasional absences due to illness or other legitimate reasons are unavoidable. However, we kindly request your support in minimising unnecessary absences during these critical weeks. Please help your child understand the importance of being present in class and the long-lasting benefits it will bring to their educational journey.

If your child is struggling with health issues or other challenges that may affect their attendance, please reach out to us. We are here to support you and your child in any way we can.

Thank you for your continued partnership in your child's education. Together, we can ensure that they finish this term successfully and well-prepared for their future academic endeavours.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are here to help and provide the best possible education for your child.

Prep Outdoor Classroom Day

Today the Preps at Grand Avenue participated in Outdoor Classroom Day! This day is a global movement to inspire and celebrate outdoor play and learning, at home and at school. On Outdoor Classroom Day itself, teachers celebrate with a special day outdoors for their class. Students were engaged in learning activities that supported the curriculum in many different ways.

Year 2 News

The Year 2 students have been having a wonderful time exploring forces in Science this Term. Last week we had a visit from Big Bang Science to teach us more about push and pull forces. Each class participated in a show and a hands-on workshop. The students experimented with a variety of equipment and are now looking forward to using what we have learned to design our own toy with a push or pull force. I wonder what we will create?

Mrs Thompson 2E

Year 5 & 6 News

Year 5 Digital Technologies

We've been designing User Interfaces for our library information system. We're thinking about making our designs accessible for a range of library users. Can you see the different features that might help someone with another language background or perhaps a hearing or vision impairment? We also thought about our Prep students and how they could access the library system without having to remember a password. 

Synthesising – Little Miss Muffet from a different perspective

5E have been focusing on the reading strategy of synthesising where the students put together all the information in the text using their prior knowledge to develop new ideas and understandings. We watched three different versions of The Three Little Pigs to demonstrate how viewing something from a different perspective can change your thinking. 

We then recited the nursery rhyme, Little Miss Muffet. The task was for students to spend five minutes writing a very short story of the nursery rhyme, but from the Spider’s perspective.

Once upon a time, I was just exploring the bush nearby for some food, when I smelt a sweet porridge dessert nearby. I saw an old lady quietly eating the sweet dessert so I quietly crawled up the chair to ask her for some porridge. All of sudden she let out an ear-piercing scream, “Ahhh!” She ran away and dropped all her dessert so now I can it all to myself!

Kitty

A scream with fright,

Like a haunting at night,

I scared her away

With her ribbon astray,

Her food wasn’t that ripe.

With no more hype

I made my way down the newly dried pipe.

Jershon

There I was, running away from a massive bird who was chasing me, when I saw a little house with a pipe sticking out. So, I did the only reasonable thing, I ran inside, of course. I then scurried through the pipe and fell inside the house. I caught onto the pipe with my web and saw a fly in an old lady’s custard. Since I am a kind spider, I pulled myself down and tried to tell her so that I could eat it for her! When I came down I scared her right off of her tuffet and she dropped her custard. She just left it there so I ate the fly, and that’s how I became the Big, Bad, Scary Spider.

Isaac

Once upon a time, there was a spider. He smelt delicious food. He saw Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet and saw that she was eating yummy crumpets. He sat down beside her. He didn’t mean to frighten her. He was just looking for a friend, but once she left, he knew that their friendship had ended.

Marquez

It was a fine day. I was hungry! I smelt food so I went near the food to eat it, but a woman jumped up and ran away! I was going to eat the food but she came back with BUG SPRAY!

Samuel

Year 5 Water Safety 

Earlier in the Term, just as the weather was warming up, the Year 5 students attended a water safety program at Streets Beach, Southbank.  They participated in a lot of fun activities including beach safety, survival skills, rescue techniques, water skills and beach obstacle course.  An awesome day was had, both on the sand and in the water.

Year 6 Mask Display

On Tuesday 31 October our year 6 students put their wonderful masks they have created throughout this semester on display to share with the rest of the school community.

The project, centered around exploring masks from diverse cultures around the world and subsequently crafting masks that represented elements of themselves, has left students and staff alike in awe of the talent and imagination that flourishes within our young learners.

Through engaging lessons, students gained an understanding of the cultural significance behind a variety of masks. This not only expanded their knowledge but also fostered a deep appreciation for diversity and the power of art to convey emotions and stories.

As the students absorbed the rich history of masks, they were encouraged to reflect on their own identities and the aspects of themselves they wished to express. They engaged in exercises aimed at exploring their personalities, interests, and experiences. From these introspective moments emerged the ideas and concepts that would shape their individual masks

Hadi- I enjoyed making the mask because it allowed me to be creative in my own way and it was enjoyable.

Brooklyn- I enjoyed being able to craft different things to express myself and put it on my mask.

Nehaya- I enjoyed making the mask because I got to express my creativity.

Senior Assembly

This weeks Senior Assembly was one of recognition, music and celebration.  Our Senior Band played Desert Storm.  So many students from each cohort, Years 4-6, achieved their gold badges, our new school mascot was revealed, Startacular, many Year 6 students earned a place in the Forest Lake State High School Excellence Program, our 2024 Captains were announced, we all sang Fill our Hearts with Song and celebrated Kingfisher with special confetti cannons as they were the winning house for 2023!

Click here to watch the house captains pop the cannons. 

Congratulations to all.

Enjoy photos from this assembly.

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Dance News

Hip Hop Crew Perform at Rumble

On Saturday 21^st of October, students in The Avenue Hip Hop Crew had the opportunity to compete at House of Champions, a hip hop competition being held at ERPAC at St Laurence’s College. It was a fierce competition, and we were the only primary represented and were competing against junior high school crews. The students performed with loads of enthusiasm and spirit! We were so excited to be awarded the Spirit of Dance award in the junior section! Congratulations The Avenue Crew!

Students thoroughly enjoyed dancing and interacting with the other high school students, the House of Champions staff, as well as the MC. They watched the high schools perform in the open section, and eagerly cheered and supported all the other schools. We had an absolute blast!

Music News

State Honours Choir

Three of our Year 6 students were selected to participate in the QLD State Honours Choir Camp on 17-19 October. Alosha Hathurusingha, Sanya Bimb and Aasiya Bimb spent three days at the QLD Old Museum, singing with 200 other students. After their hard work, there was a final concert on the Thursday night and many parents came to watch. The experience was a great chance to sing with students from other schools, learn some new skills and have fun making music

Chess News

A huge congratulations to Grand Avenue's very own chess whiz, Jethro, for his efforts at the 2023 Brisbane Chess Individual Age Championships! Jethro achieved an incredible 4th place out of 550+ players. What an amazing achievement Jethro, well done. 

Student Council

Day for Daniel

Day for Daniel was a sea of red as the school community was reminded about the importance of being safe both in real life and online.  Such an important message to always have in the forefront of our minds. All staff got into the spirit of the day.

Thank you to those who also contributed to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation too. 

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From Our Guidance Officers

On Friday 27^th October, Brett Lee presented to the Year 5 and 6 cohorts on being safe online. Children were educated on ways to stay safe online as well as learn how to use the internet in a healthy way. Some of the key messages included in the presentation were: 

• The internet is public and permanent 
• Protecting your personal details online 
• We all have rules on the internet and computer 
• People I only know on the internet are strangers 
• I talk to a trusted adult if I have an online problem 

He spoke about his experiences as an ex-detective and discussed various scenarios where students can make the right decisions to be safe. He urged for students to make sure they are careful what they send/share or post as anyone can take a screenshot and pass private messages/images/videos onto others. Students understand to speak with a trusted adult if there is anything they feel comfortable about that was posted or shared on the internet. 

We thank Brett Lee for coming out and speaking with our Year 5s and 6 students. He is an excellent presenter and has shared some very valuable information to students. 

Webinar for parents/carer with Year 6 students

Headspace is offering a parent/carer webinar that discusses ways to support your child with transitioning to secondary school. The session will cover: 

• mental health and wellbeing in adolescence
• how to have conversations with young people about their mental health and wellbeing 
• noticing signs that a young person might be going through a tough time and struggling with their transition to secondary school 
• identifying strategies to connect and communicate with young people 
• increasing knowledge about how to support them during this transition period and where to access professional support

The webinar will be held on: 

• Tuesday 7^th November from 7.30-8.30pm
• Thursday 9^th November from 9 - 10pm 

To register and for more information please click here. 

Book Fair

P&C News

Family Photo Weekend - 10, 11 & 12 November (Friday, Saturday & Sunday)

We have had an outstanding response to our family photos and as a result we have now opened bookings on Sunday 12 November. Bookings are limited and will fill quickly, book via: www.trybooking.com/1129448  Photos will be conducted in the auditorium on Friday and Saturday and in Kauma Hall on Sunday. Sunday families will be welcome to drive down the driveway at the end of the top carpark down to the hall.

Disco Under the Stars

https://www.trybooking.com/CMUQC

Do you run or work in a business that might be interested in supporting our Disco Under the Stars? We are seeking sponsors who are interested in supporting us to make this a successful night. If you know anyone, please let us know.

We will be running a raffle on the night and are currently seeking donations for the night. If you have any contacts that you’d like us to reach out to, please email p&cpresident@grandavenuess.eq.edu.au

Uniform Shop News

Uniform shop is being painted on the 7^th of November. The shop will be closed 7^th and 8^th of November. Flexischools orders can still be placed. 

Canteen News

Thanks to everyone who supported this Terms meal deal day.

Facebook

Like and Follow our Facebook Page to keep updated with information on upcoming events. Feel free to share this with family and friends and others in our Grand Avenue Community.   https://www.facebook.com/gasspandc  

Next General Meeting:  

All are welcome to attend our General Meetings. They are held the third Tuesday of the month during school term. If you would like items added to the agenda, please email p&cSecretary@grandavenuess.eq.edu.au. Want to become a member? Membership Forms can be found on the School Website or email the Secretary above for a form.

Our November meeting with have a special guest and pizza will be provided. Please RSVP by Monday 20^th of November on our https://forms.office.com/r/EZf3Fz3hdC

Community Notices