In this week’s newsletter…….

* Book Character Parade

* Mini Olympics

* Principal’s Message

Upcoming events

Thursday 8th September: Kinder orientation

Friday 9th September: Alumny Creek Excursion Year 2

Tuesday 13th September: P & C Meeting 7pm in Library

Term Calendar - Click Here School Website - Click Here

Grafton Public School A Tradition of Excellence

Term 3 Week 8: Monday 5th September 2016

Locked Bag 9024 Grafton 2460 PHONE: Primary - 66421000 Infants - 66422286

Email: grafton-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Wow! Fabulous! Such a great day! What wonderful costumes!

Were just some of the comments being expressed by our school community.

Thank you to all of the GPS community for their support of Book Character Parade and also Book Fair. This Book Fair

saw record sales, thus record commission coming back to our school to be spent on resources for your children.

There were many students who ordered books through Book Fair. When these arrive at school, they will be sent

straight to your class teacher.

Book Fair Lucky draw winners-

Mace Beresford Maddy Carlton Lara Middelbosch Billy- Bob Winters

Emmalea Knott Dominic Blanch Kiki Tan Tahnee Milne

Chelsea Farqhuar Tristan Messer Qwayde Collins

Library News

Our Kinder Kritters Orientation program commenced last week and will continue now through till mid

Term 4. If there are any little brothers and sisters, friends or cousins who are starting “big school”

next year, please call in to get forms as soon as possible so that they can be a part of this program.

Please spread the word to friends and neighbours who may have pre-schoolers starting with us next

year.

Last Tuesday at Grafton Public School, Cinderella’s two ugly stepsisters were the school crossing guards, fairies

taught Kindergarten, Cleopatra was our librarian and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum taught our senior classes. It

was the fun and mayhem of our annual Book Character Parade. The playground was full of princesses, pirates,

superheroes, ninjas, queens, BFG’s and lots more, even a Barbie in a box! Each year the costumes are becoming more

creative and we seem to have a greater number of students joining in.

A HUGE thankyou to all students, staff and parents for the enthusiasm and effort put into the creation and making

of costumes for last week’s parade. The imagination and skills of our parents never ceases to amaze us. A special

thankyou to staff member, Mrs Rhonda Walters who single-handedly made the majority of the staff’s costumes.

She is a genius! Overall, it was lots of fun and a wonderful day was had by all!

Book Character Parade

Dear Parents and Carers,

Little things done with kindness are those that make one’s day. A moment is all it takes to make or break

a friendship, start an altercation or build a relationship into a strong friendship. Children are indeed the

kindest and sometimes the cruellest persons as they struggle to build their personalities and develop

their values. They learn from us, the adults and it is up to us to ensure we are passing on the right

message. One should never discuss a child in front of a child nor should one deviate from the path of

adult behaviour – displaying prudence, fortitude, temperance, justice and respect. With these we set

ourselves above those others that inhabit this planet.

To our wonderful P & C mums and community members so ably led by Mrs Jayne Grieve who manned the

Father’s Day stalls and assisted some confused children with selecting items for their fathers, I pass on

our sincere thanks and gratitude as all children left with something they cherished as a gift for their

father. I’m amazed at the variety of goods that were on offer at the stalls on both the Mary St and

Queen St sites. Again, I pass on our sincere thanks for making this an easier event for our students in

selecting a gift for their dad.

Well …. parents running, teachers running and finally students running and laughing all under the umbrella

of our Infants Athletics Carnival, this year run as a “Mini Olympics”. What a wonderful morning of

events, laughter and chatter as our children engaged in “Olympic” activities from a torch relay ,

equestrian and hockey, through to the traditional running race. A day that was made all the more

pleasant with so many parents joining in, from cheering through to participating. Also, to our teaching

and support staff in making sure the pergolas were erected for shade, the track was marked and the

sound system was audible and filled with happy and positive tunes.

What a smooth segway as I move to our Book Week Character Parade. This event is indeed one of the

top three cultural events that gives our school its character and maintains tradition. We witnessed

children dressing as their favourite character, staff dressing as characters – some with notable

personality similarities, and parents, family and community members joining us to celebrate the joy of

reading. Be this the reading of novels, magazines, short stories, newspapers or comics – all worthy as

literature which has one transcend thought to that of the imaginary. We emboldened the very essence

of reading – taking that step into the world of a shared relationship between the writer and the reader.

It was indeed a magnificent event. Again, I extend my thanks to everyone for supporting this event.

Another moment to relish this week was our PSSA Girls Hockey team’s defeat of Tamworth PS 2-1. They

now move into the finals, vying for the state title in Narellan on the 13th September. Surprised? Not

really, as these girls play as a champion team with every one of them supporting their team mates whilst

individually playing to their best out on the paddock. We are indeed very impressed with their

commitment and attitude and wish them all the best in preparing for this last series of matches.

Congratulations also to Miss Buckley who has supported, mentored and guided the team through her vast

experience in hockey skills and tactics.

…………………….cont

From the Principal

Congratulations to the GPS Gold Debating Team consisting of Oskar Robertson, Hope Endean, Cindy

Counsell and Sophie Rowe who won the Zone Final debate against South Grafton Public School Lions last

Thursday. The topic for the debate, presented to each team 30 minutes prior to the debate commencing,

was: ‘That primary schools should start each day with a 30 minute exercise class’. Our team put forward

a string of sound and great arguments as the affirmative team including the production of a model to

enhance their view. The team will now go on to compete against Yamba in the Quarter Finals for the

North Coast Region. Well done!!!! Again, I extend my sincere thank you to Mrs Kate Goodall and Mr Tim

Keogh for developing and preparing our school’s 2016 debating teams.

This week witnesses over 20 of our students attending our Invitational Independent Living Skills Camp

at Darlington Park. Here, the children work together building their independence as well as their

tolerances and inclusivity as they participate in a wealth of activities from building sand structures

through to walking along pathways with check points and features to note. It is an exhausting event

which has so many special moments when we see our children rise to a new level of caring and sharing. I

especially want to thank our staff who attend this camp as it is indeed exhausting as well as highly

rewarding.

May the breeze and sun be gentle as this first full week of spring takes us towards another season of

blossoms and blooms.

Will Randall

Principal

From the Principal

Last week's recipient of the Grafton City Cycles $20 voucher for riding to school was Jett Sewell.

Congratulations and thank you Jett for keeping the world cleaner.

Bike Bus Winner

Canteen

Infants Roster

6/9/16 Dale Simpson

7/9/16 Kelly James

8/9/16 Dannielle Chamberlain

9/9/16 Paula and Ingrid

12/9/16 Kelly James

Primary Roster

6/9/16 Help Needed

7/9/16 Help Needed

8/9/16 Help needed

9/9/16 Roxie Collett

12/9/16 Kate Kratz

School Banking

This year’s Infants Sports Day for students Kinder and Year 1 was held on Friday and took the form of a Mini

Olympics. It was a great day! All of the children embraced the concept happily and participated as designated

countries. Each “country” did a march pass (China were very impressive) before a torch relay, featuring all of the

week’s super stars, signalled the start of the Mini Olympics when Cameron and Zingy Bee lit the Olympic flame.

The running events were the first on the program. Each class ran races with the fastest two athletes to then run in a

grade championship race. Once the championship races were run, gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the

winners.

A pre-schoolers race, parent races and staff races followed which resulted in many smiles and a tad of competitive

spirit shining through.

After morning tea, a rotation of other Olympic events followed including basketball, equestrian, hockey and archery.

A fun day was had by all! Thankyou to the parents and family members who came along to support our Olympians and a

big thankyou to the staff for their organisation.

Infants Mini Olympics

Sports Congrats

* Congrats to our girls hockey team who after a close match with Tamworth Public

School last week have earned a spot in the State Finals in Narellan next Tuesday. Good

luck girls, we will be all cheering you on from afar!

* Congrats to Grayson Reimer in 4/5SL who has made it through to the State Athletics Carnival in Homebush early

next term. Grayson had some exceptional results at the North Coast Carnival last Friday finishing 2nd in the 100m

and 200m events and 3rd in the 800m. Well done Grayson and good luck in Sydney in October!

Each week we will try to acknowledge the children who received awards at their grade assemblies in the previous

week. Congratulations to the following students who received awards last week:

Kinder: Fletcher Purnell, Samantha Gardiner, Benson Landrigan, Kaelah-Rise Ballard, Kyrahn King, Ryan Woolfe,

Rebecca Beilby, Elsie Childs, Jerome Morgan, Evie Wilson, Caleb Shaw, Sophia Denham, John Louloudias, Saxon

Green, Jacob Hawkins

Year 1: Hudson Michael, Indiana Hall, Arron Barnes, Amber Child, Addison Menzies, Jasper Tobin, Ashleigh Bulmer,

Travis Smidt

Year 2: Tylissah Third, Teven West, Rebel Morgan, Braiden Stewart, Toby Smidt, Daisy Ada, Shalisse Chard, Chelsea

Winters, Lei-Kiesha Armstrong, Sonny Jones

Year 3: Riley Smidt, Amelia Fels, Makaya Dendle-Gadd, Ruby Deefholts, Xavier Corcoran, Kobey Jackson, Xander

Young, Jarrad Williams, Lilly Fletcher, Jade Middelbosch

Year 4: Zoe Penfold, Mia Fahey, Latalia Borg

Year 5: Isabella Mitchell, Jacob Brugnatti, Khane O’Dwyer, Isabelle Ellis, Rosemary Brown, Alecia Howe, Tayla

Morrissey, Anneka Carlsson, Levi Kirke, Rahni Holten, Zayden Plumb, Danielle Rodrigues-Noble, Chelsie Bagnall

Year 6: Harrison Clark, Kisha Primorac, Isabelle Brennan, Abbey Daniels, Jordan Loadsman, Alysia McLennan,

Shanika Daley, Tae-Arleigh Donnelly, Will Simmons

Support Unit:

Assembly Awards

Parents and families can order a DVD of our recent “Who” Gala Concert by sending $10

to the office in an envelope clearly marked with a name and child’s class. Ordered DVDs

will be distributed as soon as they are received.

GRAFTON PUBLIC SCHOOL

presents

2016 Gala Concert

Wednesday, August 17

Community Notices

Community Notices

Grafton Little Athletics

2016/17 registrations are now open. This year they

are to be done ONLINE ONLY. Please visit our

Facebook page (Grafton Athletics Club Inc) where

you will find the link to register, plus additional

information for the upcoming season. An

information session will be held on Friday 23

September 2016 at the Terry West field at Junction

Hill field from 4.00pm. Competition will commence

Friday 14 October 2016.

Community Notices

Westlawn Cricket Club Junior Sign-On Days

Westlawn Cricket Club will be holding 2 junior sign-on

days for the upcoming cricket season:

* Thursday 8 September at the Ellem Oval nets, from 4pm

to 5pm.

* Saturday 10 September in Shoppingworld (near Wool-

worths), from 10am to 2pm.

If you can't make it to either of those days, but would still

like to find out about playing, please contact Andrew Cahill

on 0428-946-468 or andrew.cahill.rsa@gmail.com. You can

also check out the club's Facebook page (search for

"Westlawn Cricket Club").