In this week’s newsletter…….

* P & C Family Fun Night

* Scholarships on offer

* Principal’s Message

Upcoming events

Monday 16th November: Swim school commences and continues

daily for 2 weeks.

Tuesday 17th November: GHS Orientation day for Year 6

Wednesday 25th November: Kinder Excursion

Tuesday 1st December: DP and Principals Awards on both

campuses

Term Calendar - Click Here School Website - Click Here

Grafton Public School A Tradition of Excellence

Term 4 Week 7: Monday 16th November 2015

Locked Bag 9024 Grafton 2460 PHONE: Primary - 6642 1000 Infants - 6642 2286

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

Thankyou to the 37 families who came along on the weekend to support the P & C Family Portrait fundraiser. $525 was

raised for the P & C. Our photographer Cherie is always extremely impressed with families here in Grafton and tells us

that she got some beautiful shots.

Cherie is back on Thursday 3rd December for the viewing day of portraits. This will take place in the library.

The lucky family photographed who will win their complete portrait package valued at over $200 for FREE will be announced in next week’s newsletter.

P & C Family Portrait Fundraiser

A reminder to all Year 2 students and other selected Primary students that

swim school starts TODAY and will continue every day for 2 weeks. This is a compulsory activity for Year 2 students. Parents please ensure that your child

has all they need packed in their bags each day ie. swimmers, towel, thongs (for

walking to the pool), goggles etc.

Attention: Regular Market Stallholders, Talented Parents and

Crafty Citizens!!

If you are interested in having a stall at our P&C Family Fun Night, Friday 4th December, please contact Karen Crispin

at GPS. Market stalls will be open from 4-8pm and cost $15 for a site (payment required at time of booking). Sites are

all unpowered and you will need to provide all your own tables, shade etc. Stallholders do not require their own public

liability insurance as you will be covered under the P&C’s insurance.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Many people adapt narratives from their truth allowing them to interpret and then implement values indifferently

creating chaos in this changing world. On the weekend we witnessed atrocities all under the guise of a distorted belief.

No person is born ‘evil’ yet those who choose to follow a self-righteous path have either been provided with or created

their own environments whereby this is their considered best option; this being the general consensus opinion. For the

young, excitement and heroism are strong motivators with promises of glory and salvation promoted by leaders willing

to sacrifice many for the pursuit of their ideal option, ‘POWER’, in the frame of organised religious ideology. It is

indeed a sad day when many innocent persons are the victims of senseless atrocities, although I do hear the call of

those who have been the innocent collateral damage all in the name of war. As one of our world’s most enlightened poets

and songwriters stated:

Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people living for today Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people living life in peace, you You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope some day you'll join us And the world will be as one (John Lennon) On Friday we received our school’s Primary Data Summary from our department with respect to our performance in the

NAPLAN exams in April this year. We received and distributed our students’ data in August. The school data validates

much of our school’s plan and expenditure upon literacy, numeracy and technology. This year is our fourth year of

Average progress in Reading between Year 3 and 5, where we performed well above the state average growth. Our

school’s growth was 86.1 with that of the state being 76.4 giving us a 9.7 point growth above state, a very pleasing

result. In Mathematics we also scored well above the state growth scoring an average mark of 103 compared to the

state’s average of 94.1, thus giving us an 8.9 point growth above state. Again, quite pleasing with the average data being

drawn down from matched students from within our school moving from Year 3 through to Year 5. We are continuing to

grow through better teaching practices and students seeing the benefit of engaging and achieving. Well Done! to our

students for their achievement and our teaching and support staff for providing a structured curriculum with explicit

teaching.

Swimming season is upon us and we have a large group of students working their way through this nine day intensive

direct and explicit instruction program. It is excellent to see all of our students gaining water confidence and swimming

skills that will acquit them for survival near and in the water this summer. I extend our sincere thanks to Mr Keogh for

co-ordinating the Clarence Valley’s schools’ swimming program. It is a huge task.

I hope you all enjoy time with family making every moment special.

Will Randall

Principal

From the Principal

As we move into the final stages of the year we are preparing for our Presentation Day which is on

Thursday, 10th December, at the Saraton Theatre. One prize on this day is the Marie White Scholarship

which offers a current Year 5 boy and Year 5 girl $150 towards their Year 6 education expenses such as

stationary, textbooks, school uniform and clothing, tuition and/or excursions. There is also the a Riverside

Church Scholarship, also for $150, for a Year 5 student to be used in the same manner.

Scholarship Criteria: All current Year 5 students may apply for this scholarship. These are all-rounder

scholarships available to students who have a proven record of consistent academic achievement and

positive school participation. Evidence of participation in the wider school community should be provided

along with evidence of academic achievement. Specific achievement in co-curricula areas will also be

recognised. The application is to be no more than a total of two pages which address: Personal Attributes;

School and Community Citizenship; Academic Achievement; Other Information; and a personal handwritten

answer to: Why I deserve this scholarship.

Scholarship Process: The scholarships are based on and assessed following the review of the application

and supportive material and an interview. Students are expected to maintain their interest, work

effectively and behave appropriately in order to maintain the scholarship. If the student transgresses this

expectation, the scholarship panel will meet to review the suitability of the student maintaining the

scholarship.

Applications close on Friday 27th November with interviews in Week 9.

P & C Pie Drive Scholarships on Offer

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: Naithanial Lasker, Addison Menzies, Raymond Randall, Charlie Rainbow, Nathan Shiels, Indiana Hall, Dora

Johnson, Elijah Waite, Oliver Spice, Toby Woods, Madalin Lynn, Elisabeth Kennedy, Jasper Tobin, Isla Norris, Jett

Chapman, Paige Tilse

Year 1: Rebel Morgan, Zahli Laverty, Braiden Stewart, Neve Rhodes, Hope Henderson, Cooper Rumpf, Elissa

Whatley, Lincoln Riepon, Rion Crouch, Myla Smith, Tahnee Milne, Harvey Watts, Jessica Quirk

Year 2: Lachlan Brugnatti, Cara Cookson, Miller Boulton, Mia Nagle, Sebastian Pousima, Oliver Shortt, Aiden Smith,

Lilly Fletcher, Jordan Durrington, Jessica Tomlinson, Riley Smidt

Year 3: Summer Loadsman, Zahaliah Reedy, Andrew Laurie, Latalia Borg, Rugeesthan Kumaradasan, Macy’Rose Potter,

Isabella Jackson

Year 4: Harley Spiteri, Jacob Brugnatti, Deakon Stubbs, Connor Cowley, Nathan Collins, Caitlin Blinman, Noah greedy,

Beau Brinkworth, Phoebe Clarke, Isabelle Ellis, Rosemary Brown, Megan Smith

Year 5: Oskar Robertson, Alexis Wright, Hope Endean, Akira Benn-Nolland, Shannon Vitnell, Samuel Kennedy

Year 6: Shannon Millard, Bella Powell, Seth Stavely-Alexander, Brooke Sippel, Sarah Rigby-Pierse, Kateena Hookey,

Melissa Davies, Ebony Cleal, Kalila Bell, Mackayla Irvine, Jack Murray, Olivia McLaren, Ryan Daniels, Mitchell Cachia

Support Unit: Lindsay Gordon

Assembly Award Winners

* IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL CURRENT Year 5 students who intend to apply for the GRAFTON HIGH SCHOOL

Year 7 SELECTIVE CLASS in 2017 but have not done so. This needs to be done immediately as late applications are not

possible.

All parents must apply online using http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/shsplacement.

There are no paper applications.

These online applications opened on Tuesday 13 October 2015 and will remain open until 10:00 pm TONIGHT, Monday

16 November 2015.

Brief But Important

Bike Bus

Grafton City Cycles wish to show their support for the GPS Bike Bus and all of those who ride their bike to

school by offering a weekly prize to one lucky bike rider. One student who rides their bike to school during

the week will be randomly drawn to receive a prize donated by Grafton City Cycles. We appreciate their

support!

This week…. Last week's random winner for riding to school was Keadan Jurkewicz who receives a $20

voucher from Grafton City Cycles as he has been riding his scooter to school.

Canteen Infants Roster

17/11/15 Yuki

18/11/15 Charlene Keefe

19/11/15 Jenny Irving

20/11/15 Rhonda Adamson

23/11/15 Help Needed

Primary Roster

17/11/15 Narelle Rankin

18/11/15 Suze English

19/11/15 Bonnie Thurtel, Sharon Creasey

20/11/15 Jayne Grieve

23/11/15 Kate Kratz

See these great ideas for scrumptious

non-sandwich foods to fill a

lunchbox.

Community Notices

Information evening this

Thursday 19th November at the

GDSC at 6pm. All welcome!