In this week’s newsletter……. * Colour Run prizes * Stargazing Event

* Cross Country Champions

Upcoming events

Bookfair in library till next Wednesday

Wednesday 23rd May—Stargazing Event Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th June—Grafton Eisteddfod

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 2: Friday 18th May 2018

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. We are having big projector screens in use, there will be food and drinks available to purchase and the weather forecast is for a clear night. This is shaping up to be fabulous event but you must go online to register and get your ticket.

Stargazing

It’s going to be a great night!

Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2018 is well under way. Students can find the Premier’s Reading Challenge Site by logging onto their student portal and clicking on the link. Stage 2 & 3 students are shown how to do this during their library lessons. Students in K-2 will complete a shared reading challenge during their Library lessons. If students in Year 2 wish to also complete the challenge individually they should then follow the same procedures for Years 3-6. All students participating in the Premier’s Reading Challenge will receive a certificate and have their name printed on an Honour Roll (There will be no other identifying factors placed on the Honour Roll). Many students from Grafton Public School will be completing the challenge for the fourth year in a row and will receive a Gold Certificate for this. The Premier’s Reading Challenge finishes on the Friday the 31st August 2018. It is asked that all students complete their reading register by Wednesday the 29th August 2018 as they will then need to be validated by Mrs Penfold. Number of books required to complete the challenge: K-2– 30 books (25 of these must be PRC books) Purple dot books at GPS Yrs 3-4– 20 books (15 of these must be PRC books) Green dot books at GPS Yrs 5-6– 20 books (15 of these must be PRC books) Orange dot books at GPS

Library News

The prize winners in our recent Colour Run were announced and prizes presented at assemblies on both campuses last Monday. The winner of the new bike for being the highest fundraiser across the entire school was Theo Dickson from Kinder Green. The winner of the junior Fitbit, which was drawn from the names of all participants was Alva Eastwood from 2NL. Congratulations to both boys! The highest fundraisers in each grade received a $20 Wishcard from Big W and they were: Kinder- Theo Dickson, Year 1- Kaedyn Avery, Year 2- Vinh Coorey, Year 3 - Madison Durrington, Year 4- Chelsea Winters, Year 5 Jordan Durrington and Year 6 Emmit Green. Well done to these students. All students who raised over $50 received their rewards being a Saraton movie voucher, or an IScream voucher, or an Art Pack or a Red Hot hair voucher. We sincerely thank these sponsors for their continued support of our school. There was lots of cheering when the classes were announced on each campus who had collectively raised the most money. These classes will receive a pizza party one lunchtime. Congrats to Kinder Green and 5/6BT. The runner-up classes will receive a cupcake and fruit morning tea and these 2 classes were Kinder Blue and 5SW. 3AR receive an ice-cream party after lunch as being the class with the most participants. Thankyou to all of our families for their support of the Colour Run which was a fantastic fun event for our school. Just over $10,000 was raised which has been channelled back in to buying resources for GPS. So far we have purchased some additional technology for our Kinder classrooms and have spent over $2000 on class sets of chapter books for literacy programs in our Stage 3 classes. Special thanks to Mrs Kelly Fletcher, Mrs Jody Duroux and Miss Michelle McDonagh for all of their hard work in co-ordinating the event.

Colour Run

Last Friday 48 students from GPS went out to Junction Hill to compete in the 2018 Clarence District PSSA Cross Country Championships, which double as the selection trial for the Mid North Coast Cross Country Championships. All of our students performed magnificently and gave their all in order to achieve their very best. The students from our school also behaved impeccably, representing their school and community very well. Performances of note were as follows: Jeremy Davies 3rd 8/9 boys; Myles Adamson 5th 8/9 boys; Tegan Watters 4th 8/9 girls; Ivy Eggins 5th 8/9 girls; Ciarna Gardiner 6th 8/9 girls; Brodie Madden 2nd 10 boys; Jack Munro 4th 10 boys; Kai Abrahams 6th 10 boys; Isaac Collins 9th 10 boys; Chelsea Winters 6th 10 girls; Abby Goodall 7th 10 girls; Jordan Baker 2nd 11 boys; Emmit Green 3rd 11 boys; Charlie McGarvie 4th 11 boys; Gideon Litchfield 8th 11 boys; Leeanna Richardson 1st 11 girls; Maia Adamson 4th 11 girls; Grace Kennedy 6th 11 girls; Lilly Diskon 9th 11 girls; Tyron Paxton 4th 12/13 boys; Sophie Coles 1st 12/13 girls; Shayde Firth 3rd 12/13 girls Congratulations to these students who have qualified for the MNC Cross Country Championships which will be held at Nana Glen, Friday, 25th May.

District Cross Country

With winter coming quickly, we have had many students unwell with coughs and colds. There also seems to have been

a few cases of other contagious childhood complaints such as school sores and staph infections.

We would appreciate parents’ co-operation in keeping their children at home, where practical, when they are unwell

so as to not infect other students.

Brief But Important

BEWARE: THE PARKING RANGER AND THE POLICE ARE ON THE LOOKOUT

We have been asked by the authorities to remind all of our parents that the area directly in front of the Infants Campus is a “Drop Off” area only. Between 8.30am – 9.30am and 2.30pm –4pm, cars are not allowed to park in this area. Cars are allowed to drop off passengers only. A time limit of one minute applies and drivers must stay with their vehicles. Vehicles must reverse park to let the student/s out but only have the one minute time limit.

Please always abide by road rules and be sensible drivers while dropping off and collecting your children. Stick to the 40km limit in the school zone, watch the crossings and obey the parking instructions. We have had a couple of near misses in the past week or so, so please slow down and take care in school areas.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last week was a very emotional time for the staff and students at Grafton Public School as we farewelled Mr Randall and wished him well with his retirement after 43 years of teaching. The week was definitely “The Festival of Mr Randall” and he managed to spend quality time in every classroom with the students. We look forward to Mr Randall visiting us from time to time and attending some of our special events throughout the year. Our wonderful P&C volunteers also worked tirelessly last week to provide the students with a great selection of Mother’s Day Stall presents. I’d like to personally thank the volunteers and hope that Mother’s Day was a special day for all our GPS Mothers. This week was a busy week with NAPLAN testing. Our students in Years 3 and 5 were involved in this testing and whilst some students breezed through this exam, it proved very stressful for others. We are always proud of all our students for trying their hardest and we celebrate each of their personal successes in their own areas of strength. The students were looking great for their school photos on Thursday and Friday, which will be precious keepsakes in years to come. Year 6 were lucky to have Mr Randall visit so he could be included in their class photographs. We don’t have an exact date for the return of the school photos but will include this information in a newsletter at a later date. This week we also have had our Library’s Book Fair. Thank you to all the parents who have supported our Book Fair again this year. All money raised goes back into purchasing resources for the school library. A huge thank you to Mrs Penfold for her dedication to this special library fundraiser. Next week Grafton Public School will be hosting the ABC’s Stargazing event for Grafton and attempting to break a world record! We will be linking up with the ABC and watching their live screening with Brian Cox. Mr Craythorn is also organising another large screen that will be showing live footage of the moon. Registered participants will then be stargazing from the Primary playground using binoculars and telescopes. Please use the link on our facebook page to register for the event so you will be included in the record breaking attempt! This will be a fabulous event with food and beverages available for purchase on the night. Mr Keogh will be cooking a BBQ, our wonderful canteen volunteers will be selling drinks and snacks and there will also be a coffee van onsite. You can bring your own binoculars/telescope or purchase one when you pre-register for less than $7! We are hoping to make this event as big as possible so please encourage other members of the community to register! Unfortunately as this is a record breaking attempt which is organised through the Australian University and the ABC, there will be no registrations on the night. Telescopes that are ordered through the ABC site will be available for collection in the hall from 7pm. Please wear warm clothes, and possibly bring a blanket and pillows for comfort while stargazing!! See you there. Kind regards, Miss Michelle McDonagh Relieving Principal

From the Principal

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, Maximus Coorey, Romeo Grieves, Kiara Chellew, Thomas Eggins, Jackson Maddrell,

Vienna Thurtel, Sherrielee Perry, Holly Hawes, Harrison Kelemec, Layla Hayes, Malualii Leaegailesolo, Archer Riepon,

Ella Woolfe

Year 1: Sidney Martin, Ashley Davies

Year 2: John Louloudias, Benjamin Austin, Chainey Gosper, Evie Wilson

Year 3: Max Rosenberg, Travis Smidt, Cloe Highley Peacock, Damon Irving, Harrisan Dendle-Duroux, Paige Tilse,

Sebastian Perrett, Naithanial Lasker, Eva Heywood-Dunne, Addison Menzies, Aiden McBeath, Kane Tucker, Izac

Shelton, Georgia Carlton, Tiffany Mills, Anabel Bridges-Hanson, Isla Norris, Kai Jackson, Matthew Hoade, Cody

Johnston, Amber Child, Taylor Larkin

Year 4: Hailey Stapleton, Myla Smith, Nash Boyd, Chelsea Winters, Sawyer Kettler, Lei-Keisha Armstrong,

Cooper Rumpf, Toby Smidt, Elissa Whatley, Ryker Montague, Abbagayle O’Toole-Finn, Clementine Eaton, Cooper

Stephenson Cooper, Sonia Kettler, Shalisse Chard, Lachlan Passmore

Year 5: Lachlan Simmons, Zac McClymont, Brock Holten, Lane Logan, Sienna Connell, Lotte Pereira, Kade

Goodwin, Xavier Corcoran, Jordan Durrington, Jarell Atkinson, Oliver Shortt, Telisha Stubbs, Eli masters, Shaniqua

Williams, Mae Carroll, Tayla Willis, Taj Elliott, Elle Fisher, Jake Crowe, Jayde Penfold, James Hourn, Lilly Fletcher,

Brea Beckhouse, Riley Smidt, Silvio Carr, Alexandra Harrigan, Archie Eggins

Year 6: Tyson Hartog, Aliyah McKenna, Lewis Riepon, Dylan Primorac, Lilly Diskon, Brayden Shiels, George Holmes,

Mia Fahey, Syian Thompson, Kira Boulton, Hayden Jeffs, Latalia Borg, Emmit Green, Maia Adamson, Tallon Elliott,

Julia Hennessy, Rory Sapienza, Rugeerthana Kumaradasan, Shaylee English, Shayde Firth, Madison Cole-Harris, Xavier

Rautenberg, Savannah McLachlan, Shakayla Stewart, Teven Gallagher, Charlie Beadman, Ty Linsket, Alex Barnes,

Ethan Howe, Molli Graham, Ryan Prasad, Catie Holloway

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

Net Program

$90 for the season, with the active kids vouchers the cost of the program is fully covered.

Saturday at 12:30pm Every Suncorp NetSetGO participant will get a

pack when they register. It’s packed with goodies, including: * a size 4 netball

* Suncorp NetSetGO t-shirt * a Healthy Habits activity book

* Suncorp Super Netball collectable player card Suncorp NetSetGO is a fun, safe, social and

active program for girls and boys turning 5 to 7yrs or new players 8yrs. It gives kids of all abilities a positive

introduction to netball and teaches them the basic skills of the sport. Please contact Brooke Burton 0437426070 for more information.

Grafton Netball Association

E: grafton.netball@bigpond.com W: graftonna.nsw.netball.com.au