Term 4 Week 10 Thursday 7 December 2017 PRINCIPAL'S PAGE

Merry Christmas

On behalf of the staff, we extend our warmest holiday greetings to all our families. We thank you for your support throughout the year and look forward to your involvement in 2018. Have a very safe and happy holiday season. School resumes for all Prep to Year 6 students on Monday 22 January 2018.

Carols Success

Although we had to move the Carols indoors on Monday evening due to the heavy rain, the night was still a big success. Thanks to all our families who came along to support their children and join in all the fun and excitement of the Carols. We still had a huge turnout of families despite the inclement weather. The PAC was packed with excited students and proud families. Thank you to Mrs McCarthy for a wonderful job as our Carol’s coordinator and also to Miss Hill who assisted Mrs McCarthy with this job. Mrs Rickards and Mrs Lamburd did a great job on the night as our MCs. Mr McBlane did an excellent job with the sound and lighting which made the night possible. Congratulations to all the children and their teachers for putting on such entertaining performances. The fireworks display at the end of the evening still went ahead and was a spectacular highlight of the night. It certainly capped off a great event. There were many helpers during the day and on the night as well. Thank you to all staff, teachers, P&C members and parents who had input into the organisation of the Carols. There were many hard workers setting up, working on the night and packing up, and all your efforts contributed to a very successful event. A big thank you to our Santa who did a terrific job. The giant raffles on the night proved very popular. Thank you to our sponsors and congratulations to all our winners. Thank you to the many P&C helpers on the night. Staff and their families also did a great job with the Student Council’s sausage sizzle. To all who helped on the night your efforts were greatly appreciated. Our students also did a great job with the Christmas decorations that lined the walkways to the PAC. It certainly added to the Christmas spirit!

Year 6 Graduation

Our Year 6 Graduation was held this morning in the Performing Arts Centre. There were over 400 parents, family and staff in attendance to celebrate the Year 6 Graduation. It was an extremely successful event with many parents providing very positive feedback. A big thank you to everyone who helped make the Year 6 Graduation such a successful event. A special thanks

to the Year 6 teachers for a great job in coordinating this year’s Graduation Ceremony. The Years 6 disco will be held tonight from 6.00pm to 8.00pm in the MPC. Tomorrow our Year 6 students will enjoy a day at Wet ’n’ Wild and then attend a school farewell parade at 2.30pm in the PAC. We extend our congratulations to all our Year 6 students and wish them all the very best for their High School years. We also wish families who are leaving our school all the best and thank them for their support of our school over the years.

Student Leaders For 2018

The election process for all our student leaders for 2018 is now complete. Congratulations to the following students: School Captains: Riley-Jaye Paikea, Sorina Turcas, Kaiden, Mitchell, Daniel D’Abate Sports Captains:

Gooding – Jaxx Brooks-Jeffares and Cullen Horgan Davidson – Poppy Zarew and Carter Armitage Birmingham – Sasha McDonald and Logyn Sandford Hamilton – Rianna Bogdan and James Galligan Languages Leaders:

Carmi Trindade and Jazz Capel Music Leaders:

Band – Sawa Kitano and Holly Pallin Strings – Holly Shelton and Ryunosuke Narumi Choir – Ella Corcoran and Tegan Clancy The badge presentation ceremony will be scheduled for early next year. The date will be advised in next year’s Week One newsletter. Staffing News

For next year we will have in place the same Admin structure at school. Principal Dr Randall Pointing Deputies:

P-Year 2 Ms Carole Hall Years 3 & 4 Mrs Brandi Anderson (3 days), Mrs Chris

McNeilage (2 days) Years 5 & 6 SEP HOSE

Miss Lindy Murray Mrs Trish Boccacinni

In addition Mrs Chris McNeilage will continue to undertake the Head of Curriculum role for 3 days a week to complement her Deputy Principal role. For next year we will also continue with the following positions:

Master Teacher Mrs Lee White (5 days) Literacy Coach Mrs Prentis (3 days) School Engagement Officer Mr Boff (5 days) Currently we are planning for 32 class groups for next year (one less than we currently have this year). The teacher/class allocations for 2018 will be published at the beginning of the school year. The majority of our specialist teachers for next year will remain the same: LOTE LOTE

Mrs Marshall (full time) Mrs Renae Mason (two days)

PE Mr Singh (full time) Library, Robotics, ICT Mr George Webster (full time) Learning Support Mrs Roxanne Sloss (three days)

Merrimac State School

Newsletter

Music Music

Mrs Powell (three days) Mrs Dena Reid (two days)

Instrumental Band Miss Deb Body (1 ½ days) Instrumental Strings Guidance Officer Speech Therapist ESL

Miss Hurst (1/2 day), Miss Jemma Losada (1 day) Mrs Kim Roebig (to be confirmed) Mrs Leigh Sainsbury (two days) Mrs Amanda Dixon (one day)

Our school has been advised that we can start the school year with 4.9 Special Education Program (SEP) staffing. This includes Mrs Boccaccini as our HOSE along with Mr Niotakis, Mrs McDonald, Mrs Turney (0.9) and Mrs Conder as our SEP teachers. At the end of this term we farewell Mr Epiha who has been transferred to the new Coomera school – Picnic Creek State School from the start of next year. This is a fantastic opportunity for Mr Epiha to teach in a brand new school which is much closer to where he lives. Mr Epiha has been a part of our school for many years and has always been involved in many extra curricular activities – interschool sport, Breakfast/Fitness Club, Japan trips, Canberra visits and Disco DJ, just to name a few. Mr Epiha will be sorely missed as a valuable member of staff and we wish him all the very best for the future. We also farewll Mrs McClavey at the end of the this year for a different reason. Mrs McClavey has made the decision to retire from Education Queensland having spent 12 years with us here at Merrimac. She has been a leading teacher within our lower school and has been a great support and mentor for many of our new and beginning teachers here at Merrimac. We all wish Mrs McClavey all the very best in retirement. At this stage a number of our contract teachers will be returning in 2018: Mrs Rehana Lowndes, Mr Brandon Mahon, Mrs Sandra Messinbird (0.2), Miss Sam Hill (0.4) and Mr Ben Shaw (0.6) Our school has had a number of other contract teachers at our school during the year. I would like to thank them for the work that they have done here at Merrimac. A big thank you to Mrs Rayma Bryant, Mr Nathan Rutherford, Mrs Pascale Street, Miss Stephane Williams, Mrs Denise Boyd, Mrs Jan Beggs and Mr Greg Chin. I’m sure that we will see many of our contract teachers back at Merrimac some time in 2018. All the best to Mr Rutherford who has a teaching position in Tasmania for next year. Also during the year, we have had a number of Teacher Aides who have completed various contract positions. A big thank you to all of them. Again we hope to see many of them back at our school some time in 2018. For next year our school will be continuing with our whole school reading and numeracy for identified children who need additional support in these areas. Our intervention program in 2018 will delivered by four Teacher Aides and overseen by Mrs Turney. We welcome Eve, Rhinnon, Sonya and Violett as our Intervention Teacher Aides to our school for 2018. They will be working Monday to Thursdays from 9.00am to 1.00pm for all 41 school weeks. Class Groupings For 2018

2018 class groups will be published on the first day back next year in the Tuckshop under cover area and outside all classes. Hopefully this will lessen the chance of forced changes to class groups which usually happens over the Christmas period. Parents are reminded not to take photos of the class lists as this is a breach of privacy.

2018 Booklists /Bookshop Opening Times Please note the Bookshop will re-open in 2018 on Wednesday 17 January, Thursday 18 January & Friday 19 January from 8.00am to 2.00pm.

Attendance Awards.

Congratulations to all children who received an attendance award this semester. A silver award recognises an attendance rate of over 95% for the semester, while a gold award recognises an attendance rate of 100%. A special mention to all children who received a gold award for the year. Twelve children from Prep to Year 6 were awarded with this certificate and a special morning tea on Tuesday with Mr Boff and Dr Pointing. Well done all award winners.

Lost Property

Thanks to two hard working mums, Mrs Stewart and Mrs Jones , who kindly sorted the lost property box in the undercover area. They spent many hours on Tuesday going through all the Lost Property and returning the many jumpers, etc to their owners. It does help immensely when the clothing items have names on them. There are still a few items that couldn’t be returned so Parents are asked to do a final check through the lost property today or tomorrow. Any unclaimed, unnamed property will be sent to charities over the holidays. Parents are also asked to check the lost property at the After School Care.

Whole School Parade

On the last day of term, Friday 8 December there will be a whole school parade at 2.30pm in the PAC to farewell our Year 6 students. School Watch

Should you observe any suspicious behaviour around the school during the holidays please contact School Watch on 131788. Other than the Vacation Care Program, Facility Hire and school staff there should be no persons on the school grounds over the holiday period. The school premises will be monitored by State Government Security along with increased police patrols in conjunction with our own security arrangements. Any person found trespassing will be referred to the police. Sound Equipment Children and Flag Children

On last week’s upper school parade we recognised the students who have assisted with the school’s sound system throughout the year. Thank you to them all for their hard work. For next year, we will have a newly trained group of students who will take on these special roles. On the same parade we also thanked those boys who have looked after the school flags each day this year.

Canberra Trip 2018

Preparations are currently underway for next year’s Canberra Trip which will take place from Monday 17th – Friday 21st September 2018. 60 positions will be available for students in Years 5 and 6. The cost of airfares, bus transport and some venue admissions have risen since our last camp so it is anticipated that the cost of the trip will increase next year. The estimated cost per student will be between $1300 and $1400. This will include all bus travel, return airfares, accommodation, food, admissions and team tracksuit. More details and expressions of interest will be issued early in the school year. The Radio Control (RC) Club

Each Wednesday afternoon after school, Chappy Steve has been running a Radio Control (RC) Club for invited students. The RC Club is a place where RC enthusiasts can build, repair and share ideas about their vehicles and hobby. It is also a place where they can socialise and build friendships within a safe environment and most important that they have a lot of fun. The club has been so successful, that Chappy Steve is planning to continue with the RC activities in 2018.

ICAS Mathematics Competition Success

Congratulations to Samuel (Year 4A) who scored a 100% in the this year’s ICAS Mathematics Competition. This is the top score within the state and only 14 students were able to achieve this. On Saturday, Samuel was awarded his ICAS Medal at a special State Award ceremony in Brisbane. Samuel should feel very proud of his achievement. This is a fantastic effort.

Year 3 Poetry Writing

Some of our year 3’s have been working on poetry writing, inspired from Jackie French’s books Fire and Flood. They have used the poem’s structure to create their own piece of work.

FLOOD

Rain flowing away green , gloomy , ghostly , sky. Grass soaked opposite of dry.

Rain is pouring heavily. Like a nail gun bashing into a piece of timber.

Water rained, water destroyed. Stay in the house, leave the car.

Is it safe, is it going to stop and finish. Water banks filling higher and higher.

People drowning and kids cowering. River monster has turned it’s wet back on us.

The river monster washed every thing we love. Strangers helping, people rescuing. Trying to stop the monster itself.

Offering homes, people fighting for no more At last the monster has given up it’s naughtiness.

Water creeps back to it’s banks. Hunter F 3B

Book-In-A-Box – 6A

The student’s in 6A created a Book-In-A-Box display to share their favourite book with others. Their box highlighted what they loved about their book and encouraged others to read it. Students created a number of great activities including: Find a Words, Quiz Questions, Book Reviews, Drawing Activities and Character Profiles. 6A invited other classes to visit them and shared their Book-In-A-Box last week.

Active School Travel Calendars

All students have been given a 2018 Active School travel Calendar as a thank you for their participation in this year’s Active School Travel Program. It was great to see the art work of two of our students chosen to be in the calendar. Well done to Cameron K 6B and Rylee Mc 3A.

School Uniform Donation

Parents whose children finish at Merrimac at the end of the school year may like to donate their children's old uniforms to our school reserve supply. This would greatly help our spare clothing pool for when children have accidents at school or are in need of borrowing a spare uniform. Parents, please check your uniforms at home as we are missing a few uniforms from our supply. They are numbered on the tag. Also, the Music Committee would be very appreciative of black shoes donations.

Centenary Pavers

This year was a very special year for our school, as we celebrated our school’s Centenary. Do you and your family want to have a permanent reminder here of your attendance or involvement in Merrimac State School and our Centenary celebrations? We are offering the opportunity to purchase a Centenary Paver as a lasting record of your child’s/children’s/family’s involvement in our school’s Centenary year. Attached to the school newsletter is further information about the paver promotion and also how to order your paver or pavers. The cut-off date for paver orders is tomorrow Friday 8

December. Please note the extension date for the ordering of pavers. This will be your last opportunity to order a paver. Orders can be placed through the Bookshop. The paver promotion is also open to school community members as well as businesses. If you know of any businesses who may like to purchase a paver, please pass on the information or get them to contact the school before the order cut off date. It is planned to develop a large paver space near the entrance area to the Performing Arts Centre as a permanent tribute to our School’s Centenary year. Special Visit to School

Recently our school had a visit from Georgia Godwin, a past student of Merrimac State School. Georgia is now an elite gymnist and and a medal hope for next year’s Commonwealth Games. Georgia certainly impressed some of our students with her gymnastic routines. From everyone here at Merrimac, we wish Georgia all the very best for the Commonwealth Games and we will all be cheering her on.

Koala Joeys Family Program - Term 4

The Koala Joeys Family Program is a transition to school program and has been specifically created to deliver in all primary schools for families with children under school age. It focuses on empowering parents and carers to use nursery rhymes, songs, dance, movement and stories as a tool to form secure attachments. Early literacy and early numeracy information is shared during the program in a fun, interactive and supportive environment. The Koala Joey’s Family program has now finished for the year. Koala Joeys will recommence in Term 1 2018. The exact date will be published in the school newsletter next year. Thank you to all the parents and children who have attended and supported the Koala Joey’s program. We wish you a safe and happy holiday break. See you next year.

From the desk of Ralph and Rosie

Merrimac State School Focus of The week

Over this past week, the children at Merrimac State School have been examining the topic of how to develop independence and initiative. Being able to tackle tasks or problems independently makes us less reliant on others while showing initiative allows us to control our own learning. In their classes and on parade, the boys and girls at MSS have been asked to engage in discussions, role plays and class demonstrations on how to become more independent and demonstrate increasing initiative. As it is the last week of school, there have been no new nominations for the Ralph and Rosie’s Class of the Week. Congratulations to all girls and boys for remembering to be safe, respectful learners in the classroom and in the playground.

Ralph and Rosie

Merry Christmas from Chappy Steve

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas, and a fantastic New Year. This year I am embarking on my 10th year as the Chappy of Merrimac State School, as this year I celebrated my 9th Merrimac birthday, and I am delighted to say I have enjoyed every single working day. I have had a variety of careers in my life but compared to my job here there is no comparison. I really appreciate all of you who have supported me over the years. This year has been very successful, the Chappy Hut attendance averages between 35 to 50 students per session and with the financial support from my different fund raiser projects and also the support of the School Council and the school, the Chappy hut remains very well equipped and maintained. Our Fitness Brekkie Program has also been the most successful to date feeding between 80 and 100 kids on Wednesday mornings, a BIG thank you to all my volunteers and sponsors. Our latest project the R.C. Club has been a roaring success we are finishing the term with over 10 members and I hope to continue with the program next year. The LEO Program and Drumbeat have also been a great success and the participants have all benefited from being involved. I would also like to say goodbye to all our year 6 students who are heading off to high school. Don’t worry it’s not that scary, if in doubt go find the Chappy. Finally a massive thank you to all the staff here at Merrimac you are an awesome team. Christmas is a happy time but it can also be a sad time for many. Please as you celebrate together with your family and friends keep in mind those who may have lost loved ones during the year and they are facing a Christmas with that empty chair and silent voice. In our multicultural society the significance and meaning of Christmas may differ greatly but the underlying message is about Peace and Goodwill to all men and women across the globe. May the God of Peace bless you all this Christmas, and I will see you all next year.

Chappy Steve

P&C NEWS

2018 Meetings

The first P&C meeting for 2018 will be held on Monday 12 February commencing at 6.30pm. The P&C AGM will be held in March next year.

School Website and QSchools Smartphone App

The QSchools app is available to the school community as a free download via the Apple iTunes store and Google Play. Update

regularly to access the latest features.

PE NEWS

2018 Years 3 and 4 Swimming Information

Students in Years 3 and 4 will participate in swimming lessons next year commencing in February. Students will be provided with details in Week One of next year. 2018 Years 5 and 6 Surfing Program Information

Students in years 5 and 6 will participate in a safety awareness program next year commencing in February. Students will be provided with details in Week One of next year.

Interschool Sports Uniforms

PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL UNIFORMS ARE RETURNED THOROUGHLY WASHED AND CLEANED TO YOUR COACH BY

TOMORROW. THANK YOU

School Swimming Carnival (Yrs 4 - 6)

Our Year 4 to 6 swimming carnival at the end of last term proved a very successful event. The weather was perfect. The venue at Merrimac High was excellent. We certainly appreciate the support given to our school by Merrimac State High School. A big thank you to all staff who worked on the day and to the many parents who came along and cheered the children on. Mr Singh did an excellent job organising and coordinating the carnival. The day ran very smoothly. Congratulations to all students who attended the swimming carnival. We were proud of your efforts on the day, the behaviour was excellent and everyone had a great time.

School Swimming Carnival Results:

1st Hamilton 3rd Birmingham 2nd Davidson 4th Gooding

Hamilton House Captains

Age Champions:

Year Girl Champion Boy Champion 9yrs Charlotte Smith Cordell Peisley 10yrs Sasha McDonald Alex Sheppard 11yrs Tara Harrington Joshua Cimini Tatumn Tonkin 12yrs Georgia Pike Harrison Eadie

Congratulations to all our Age Champions.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thurs 7 Dec 10.00am to 12.00pm Yr 6 Graduation Ceremony

in PAC

Thurs 7 Dec 6.00pm to 8.00pm Years 6 Graduation Disco

Fri 8 Dec Last day of Term Four

Fri 8 Dec Years 6 excursion day to Wet ‘n Wild

Fri 8 Dec 2.30pm Whole School Parade in PAC

Mon 22 Jan School Resumes

School Dental Van

The mobile Dental Van will be arriving at Merrimac State School on the 18th January 2018. We are excited to announce we will be offering FREE dental checks to all students. Previously we have offered exams by year levels, however this process has changed and we are available to see all grades at a time convenient to you. If there are younger siblings or high school students in the family we are happy to schedule them in as well if they meet the eligibility criteria. The mobile Dental Van will be operating daily from 8am – 4.30pm and open during the school holidays. Please call 1300 300 850 to arrange a time. We look forward to seeing you soon.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Surfside Buslines Information

School passes 2018 We would like to remind parents/guardians to submit their bus pass applications prior to school commencing for 2018 to speed the process up in receiving their children’s bus passes. Remember if your child is changing schools (includes primary to highschool) or address that you will need submit a new application. Frequently asked questions and more information regarding bus passes can be found on our website. http://www.surfside.com.au/school-services/queensland-school-services/#faq http://www.surfside.com.au/school-services/queensland-school-services/#application-information

Supporting Chris Black Chris Black is a former Merrimac State School student who is a very talented Musician. He is competing against the world in the latest singng competition run by the global superstar, Usher. Please get behind Chris and send in your vote. Details of how to vote for Chris are included in a flyer within the newsletter. I’m sure that Chris would appreciate your support.

Thank you to our Christmas Carols Sponsors