In this week’s newsletter……. * Dress Up Day next Friday

* Stargazing Event * School Photos

Upcoming events

Tuesday 8th May: P & C Meeting ICAS Digital Technologies Wednesday 9th May: Infants Mothers Day Stall Thursday 10th May: Primary Mothers Day Stall Friday 11th May: Dress like Mr Randall Day Clarence District Cross Country Additional Mothers Day Stall

Term Calendar - Click Here School Website - Click Here

Grafton Public School A Tradition of Excellence

Locked Bag 9024 Grafton 2460 PHONE: Primary - 66421000 Infants - 66422286 Email: grafton-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Term 2 Week 1: Friday 4th May 2018

Next Friday, 11th May, all staff and students are asked to come dressed in the theme “ bright shirt with tie”. There is no cost or donation required. This is to pay tribute and say farewell to Mr Randall, whose last day with us here at GPS is next Friday before he goes on extended leave pending retirement. So we are asking everyone to join in the fun as a special surprise for him. We have nicknamed next week “The Festival of Will” as we have many activities scheduled in for Mr Randall to give him a chance to spend time with all the students before his departure. He will be reading stories to classes, participating in maths and science lessons and there is even a game of soccer planned on the playground, so if your child comes home and says Mr Randall was their teacher for part of the day, he probably was.

Special Dress-Up Day next Friday

P & C Meeting, Tuesday 8th May

7pm in the library All welcome!

* Mr Keogh is in the process of finalising the details for the Performing Arts Tour which will be held this year in the last week of August. If your child is in Golds Band, Senior Choir or Senior Dance and wishes to attend the tour to Gold Coast and Brisbane, an Expression of Interest note should have already been returned. If you have not yet indicated that you wish your child to be included, please send in a note to Mr Keogh ASAP so that they may be added to the list. If you are still deciding and wish some more details about the trip, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Keogh or Miss Karen who will be happy to have a chat to you about it. * A reminder for those students who attended the ANZAC Parade in the holidays: please bring in your red "poppy" voucher to receive a zooper dooper or water icy pole from the canteen. The canteen is open for icy poles on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Brief but Important…..

Join Grafton Public School on Wednesday 23rd May for an evening of fun and excitement as we try to break a Guinness World Record! This free community event will include a live screening of Stargazing Live with Brian Cox. We are trying to set a new Guinness World Record for Most People Stargazing Across Multiple Venues . For this record, the participants will stargaze at the Moon through a telescope or binoculars for a 10 -minute period simultaneously across multiple sites throughout Australia. The current World Record, set in 2015 by the Australian National University, stands at 7,960 people across 37 locations. We are aiming to set a record so large that it will be nearly impossible to break again.

The night starts at 7pm. If you wish to be a part of this world record breaking attempt, you must go onto the site to book a ticket. If you have your own binoculars or telescope, your ticket is free (but you must still book a spot). There is a small cost involved if you wish to attend and purchase a small telescope to use.

This is something different for our school and should be a great night. Please read up on the details and put the date on your calendars.

GPS Star Party

School Photos will be taken in Week 3 on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th May. Individualised School Photo envelopes have been handed out to all students. All envelopes must be returned to class teachers anytime on or before the 17th. This includes the envelopes for those who are not ordering please as this helps to streamline a busy photo schedule. Orders can be made online or with cash payment (no cheques accepted). Spare order envelopes for additional orders are available from the office. We will publish a photography schedule in the newsletter next week, so that parents know which morning to have their children looking extra gorgeous. All students are asked to wear full school uniform, including black shoes. No Year 6 shirts please. If you would like a sibling photo order envelope, these can be obtained from either office. Sibling photos will be taken in the hall at the Primary Campus before school from 8am on Friday 18th May. These are only available for students at GPS and are ordered on the day by taking your completed envelope with you to the school hall for a “join the queue” system. This photo company offers the following Family Discount: Order three or more student packs and you can receive your sibling photo pack for free by simply marking the sibling order envelope “Family Discount—Free”.

School Photos

Library News

Dear Parents and Families:

Reading for pleasure unlocks the power of information and imagination and helps children discover who they

are. Here’s what you can do to help children develop stronger reading skills and a love for reading:

*Set the example. Let children see you read.

*Have a collection of books in your home. Update this collection routinely to keep up with changing

tastes and reading skills.

*Support our school’s Book Fair. Allow your children to choose their own books to read.

Our Scholastic Book Fair is a reading event that brings the books kids want to read right into our school. It’s

a wonderful selection of engaging and affordable books for every reading level. Please make plans to visit our

Book Fair and be involved in shaping your child’s reading habits.

Book Fair dates: Friday 11th May – Wednesday 23rd May

Shopping hours: 8:15-8:45 am, 2nd half of lunch, 3:00-5:30pm

We look forward to seeing you and your family at our Book Fair! Remember, all purchases benefit our school.

Sincerely,

Grafton Public School

Dear Parents and Carers, Welcome to Term 2. It has been a positive and enjoyable short week with our student population settling well back into routine. Wellbeing is an item high on our agenda. The wellbeing of students is essential as we need to provide them with a safe and secure environment in which learning can take place. It is only appropriate that we ensure all of our students know our school code of behaviour/rules and understand what this looks like within our school. We use the terms “wearing our uniform” and “within our school gates” when talking to students as these are ideas that our students understand. It is useful to have a common point that the student understands, allowing for a conversation. The narrative follows the line of: “When you are within our school boundaries/wearing our uniform you agree to behave in this manner.” This is also a narrative that adults/parents may choose to use when guiding their children through issues. This a busy term so please look at our facebook page or on our website to keep abreast of the upcoming events, with the first of these being the Mother’s Day stalls next week. Also, our P & C meeting is next Tuesday night, I hope to see your there. I will be taking leave from the start of Week 3 until the end of the term at which time I intend to retire. I do hope you all have enjoyed the journey under my stewardship. Miss McDonagh will be relieving Principal and Mr Campbell will be relieving Deputy Principal in my absence. I will try to keep a low profile when on leave yet will be back to complete a number of projects that are still running. Take care and may the Big Spirit in the Sky keep watch over your journeys. Cheers for now, Will Randall

Principal

From the Principal

The P & C will be running Mothers’ Day Stalls at both campuses next week to give our students the chance to

buy something for their mum. The Kinder and Year 1 students will have the chance to “shop” on Wednesday

9th May and the stall will be held at the Primary Campus on Thursday 10th May. Each class will have the

opportunity to buy from the stall (generally one or two things each) which has lovely gifts available ranging in

price from $1 to $8. These little gifts include things like candles, notebooks, mugs, pens, photo frames and

lots, lots more. If you wish for your child to buy a small gift please send along an appropriate amount of money

on their designated day.

For any Primary students who forget their money, the P & C will be having a “clearance sale” at lunchtime on

Friday 11th May down near the hall.

Mothers Day Stalls

Each week we will try to acknowledge the children who received awards at their grade assemblies during the week. Congratulations to the following students who received awards this week:

Kinder: Nyville Robertson, Max Austen, Andee Spencer, Amarni Cutts, Oliver Moss, Bella Moss

Year 1: Tiara Mills, Connor Westbury-Chisholm, Hugh Fletcher, Matilda Herring, Kelsey Larkin, Logan Stasse, Eli

Brown, Bella Pace, Zaiden Kleinschmidt, Kooper Waldron

Year 2: Ardra Rautenberg, Marcus Holten, Lilly Childs, Skyla Marscham, Makybe Sinclair, Romey Castle, Olive

Pereira, Trent Tomlinson, Elsie Childs, Matilda Collins, Sophia Denham, Kaelah-Rose Ballard, Rebecca Beilby, Andrew

Bultitude, Jazmine Shelton, Preston Larkin, Kloe-May Chellew, Alva Eastwood

Year 3: Charlie Hamilton, William Rhodes, Sianna Oxenbridge, Nyokah Duroux, Reigan Dodd, Keira Cooper,

William Maddrell, Ciarna Gardiner, Logan Smith, Talia Causley, Jeremy Davies

Year 4: Jack Munro, Isaac Collins, Tyron Hickling-McGrady, Holly Swadling, Cadence Anderson, Toby Smidt, Neve

Rhodes, Tylissah Third

Year 5: Blake Claydon, Izaya McKenna, Cameron Swadling, Jarell Atkinson, Levena Schembri, Charlie

Schlenert, Caitlin Kingsley, Ason Crouch, Chad Carlsson, Mia Nagle, Scahlotte Morgan-Saurine, Matthew Shiels,

Samuel Ellem, Lillian Macbeth, Oliver Shortt, Telisha Stubbs, Shaniqua Williams, Phoebe-Rose Collins, John Bates,

Hayley Cowley, Tyler Gooley, Amelia Fels, Grace Kennedy

Year 6: Bodhi Derrick, Molly Murray, Charlie O’Toole-Finn, Blade Collins, Jessica Stapleton, Timathy Collins, Paris

Scott, Chaniqueka Kershaw, Bryson Fauntleroy, Loghan Barrett, Adrian Armstrong, Willem Clark, Oshiarna Jarrett,

Hayley Tucker

Assembly Awards

Community News

WANTED PLAYERS

Grafton Netball is looking for girls or boys 7 to 8 years of age to play in our competition.

This age group plays at 11.30am every Saturday. It does not matter if you have never played netball before. Come and try it this season!

If you are interested, please contact Cathy Walls 0402803324 or come down on Saturday at 11am to the netball courts on Bacon Street.

Community News

Community News

GRAFTON FIRE STATION PRINCE STREET GRAFTON

Open Day

When: Saturday 19 May 2018 Time: 10am to 2pm

Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) will hold its annual Open Day on Saturday 19 May 2018 with fire stations across the State giving visitors a personal glimpse into Australia's busiest fire and rescue service. Open Day includes safety demonstrations, fire station tours and the chance to inspect firefighting equipment and trucks used by our firefighters when responding to fires and other emergencies. There is also an array of activities for kids. Visitors can also speak to firefighters first-hand about fire safety in the home, including how to install and maintain smoke alarms and how to develop a home escape plan to ensure they can quickly and safely escape a fire.