2023 Edition 9 - 02-06-2023

Principal's Message - Mrs Meyrick

It has been another successful fortnight in our school and classrooms.

This week was Reconciliation Week and a range of lessons and activities occurred across our classrooms and in our Quiet Room at lunch times. In particular Prep A learnt about the Native Desert Rose flower and its connection to the Stolen Generation. In 4A students participated in a range of activities and lessons to learn more about Reconciliation and Healing. 

In 5/6 students watched the videos from BTN and What does reconciliation mean to you? The students had powerful ideas about why Reconciliation is important and they spoke about how they are the future changemakers.

At our recent P&C meeting we unpacked the SRS (Student Resource Scheme) for 2024 and had our P&C support and approve that booklist items will no longer be on the SRS. Our SRS in 2024 will include science consumables, the Arts consumables, English texts and online subscriptions and will still prove very cost effective for parents. As always, parents who opt out of SRS will be required to supply all of the listed items. We will support families wishing to opt out with clear timelines for the items to be delivered to classrooms. SRS uptake by our families has been 98% and we know this has supported you immensely in your organisation for school.

This fortnight our focus has been on our value, ‘We are Polite’ with the expectation that ‘We are Compassionate, Considerate and Courteous’.  This has seen our classes look for ways to show this in the classroom and around our school. I have noticed students looking for ways to be considerate as they move around our school (the way we wait at doors to let people out first or the side of the stairs we use for up and down). They have shown they can be compassionate by helping others who are sick, upset, injured or just needing a bit of care. Our students have also shown they can be courteous in the way they are respectful and polite in their interactions. Next fortnight we will unpack our value ‘We are Inclusive’ and the expectation, ‘I am patient with myself and others’ when we introduce our Comfort Spot to each classroom. Our Comfort Spots will be a place where a child can use if they need to self-regulate their emotions. We look forward to showing you these spots soon!

Mrs Wuanita Meyrick| Foundation  Principal

Deputy Principal's Message - Ms Yager

I am excited and proud to bring you some exciting news from the extracurricular corner of our school. Our very own FISAF Dance teams, 'The Ripley Allstars' and 'The Ripley Koala Crew,' are gearing up to compete in the State FISAF Super Series Championships in Crestmead, QLD on Saturday, 10th June.

These dynamic teams are made up of eager students from Prep and Year 1, who, at the start of the school year, enthusiastically stepped forward to express their interest in dance. Since then, their commitment, drive and team spirit have been nothing short of remarkable. They have been diligently training weekly for the past 2 terms, showing resilience and the importance of hard work in the pursuit of a shared goal.

We are incredibly proud of the dedication and team spirit shown by all our dancers, their coaches, and supportive families. Your journey exemplifies the values at Ripley Central State School– Empowered, Polite, Inclusive and Careful.

I would like to wish the Ripley Allstars and the Ripley Koala Crew all the very best. It's been a pleasure to watch you grow and develop, and we cannot wait to see you shine on the big stage.

Go Allstars! Go Koala Crew! Dance your hearts out and enjoy every moment of the experience.

Ms Petra Yager | Foundation Deputy Principal

Deputy Principal's Message - Ms Swadling

In the last week I have visited two of our local daycare centres for the National Simultaneous Story Time, to read the story, The Speedy Sloth, written by Rebecca Young and Heath McKenzie. It was a story about a sloth who tried her best in a running race even though she didn't come first. She was proud of herself for running as fast as she could. It was great to connect with the daycare centres again and the children were amazing.

I also visited Raceview Kindergarten for their Prep Information Session to answer any questions parents might have had for commencing Prep in 2024.

As our enrolments for 2024 are open, we are preparing our Prep Transition Program, Koala Joeys.  If your child is in Prep this year, I would like your feedback with your transition to school this year and Koala Joeys last year if you attended.  Look out for this email soon to share your experience and ideas, as we are always looking for ways to improve our processes.

Ms Fiona Swadling | Foundation Deputy Principal

Business Manager's Message - Mrs Van Der Zee

Finance

This week our finance team have been following up overdue payments and statements have been emailed home. Thank you to those families who have already paid the second SRS instalment which was due on 28th April. If you have not yet paid the second 2023 SRS instalment please do so as soon as possible.

Upcoming due dates

• Puppet Show  due by 19th June 2023
• Camp $50.00 deposit due by the 9th June 2023

HR- Cleaning Staff

A special mention to Alexandre who will be finishing up with us on a regular basis at the end of this week.  Alexandre has been assisting our permanent cleaners each morning for the past two months.  You have made a big difference and we have welcomed the extra help.  You will be missed Alexandre - thank you!

I wanted to say a big thank you to Brooke and Bev who have stepped in to clean our school when our permanent staff members have been unavailable over the past fortnight.  We are very grateful for the help you have given us at such short notice - thank you!

We welcome a new permanent cleaner to our team, Wayne Sherriff.  Wayne will be starting with us on Monday.  Welcome Wayne!

If you or anyone you know would like to be a part of our cleaning team on a relief basis, please forward your details to me at bsm@ripleycentralss.eq.edu.au

Mrs Danielle Van Der Zee | Foundation Business Manager

2024 Enrolments Prep to Year 6 opening Tuesday!

In-catchment enrolments for 2024 will open on our school website on Tuesday 6th June. You will be able to download the 2024 enrolment pack and return via email (or visit our school administration if you are unable to comple it digitally). We will be only accepting 2024 in-catchment enrolments at this time.

Student Council Update

Our Student Council held their first meeting last week and look forward to organising their first fundraiser on Friday 9th June. Students and staff are invited to wear their PJs to school and make a gold coin donation. The Student Council are seeking your support so they can buy extra sporting equipment for when our school oval, hall and multipurpose court opens. 

Our Studnet Council students were elected in class and are supported by our School Captains. We look forward to working with them this year. 

Zeva - School Captain - President

Josie - School Captain - Vice President

April - 5/6A rep - Secretary

Macy - 4A rep - Treasurer

Tyko - 3A rep

Jordie - 2A rep

Darci - Prep/1C rep

McKenzie - Prep B rep

Darcie - Prep A rep 

Tour and Talk

Our next Tour and Talk is scheduled for Wednesday 14th June at 4pm. Any new families looking to enrol are invited to tour with our Principal and ask any questions you may have about enrolments for this year or next. 

Auslan

In Auslan lessons this term all students have been learning the signs for colours, foods, questions and preferences.  Students have played games and songs to help them remember signs.  Some families may have seen their children singing and signing to the Wiggles song “Fruit Salad” or the song “I can sing a rainbow”.

Students in the upper years have also been competing finger spelling exercises to improve their receptive ability.  It is wonderful to see the improvements that students have made already this year. 

Yr 2 students signing preferences for fruit (e.g. I  don’t like apples.  I want bananas.)

         Prep/1 class learning question words                        Yr 5/6 doing finger spelling exercises

Mrs Belinda Tolete

Case Management Meetings

This week we held our first Case Management Meetings (CMM). Mrs Grant, Mr McCarney and Mrs Tolhurst were in our first group early Monday morning. They each presented a case to seek support and guidance from each other, walking away with instructional strategies to try in their classroom to improve English achievement. The CMM continued after school, with two more groups and all remaining teachers involved. We meet again in week 10 to review progress towards the goals set. Thank you to our teaching team who are all showing they are Empowered, by taking risks in their learning and asking questions. 

Instrumental Music

The instrumental strings students at Ripley Central State School are making amazing progress  in the short time they have been learning. The program has students learning violin, viola and cello. There is still room in the program for any students that would like to join. Please talk to Miss Eastman at first break on Wednesday if you are in year 3,4,5 or 6. 

Staff Site Walk

On Tueday our staff visited the remaing stage one building site of our school! We look forward to sharing these exciting spaces with our school community soon!

National Simultaneous Story Time

On Wednesday 24th May our school participated in the National Simultaneous Story Time. At 11am all around our country, thousands of classrooms all read the same book at the same time. This year's book was The Speedy Sloth. Ms Sorensen (our Administration Officer) loved visiting Prep A and Mr Jones (our Schools Officer) loved visiting Prep B.

Bookclub

Just a reminder Bookclub orders are due by Monday 5th June.

Prep/ Year 1 Larrikin Puppet Show

On Wednesday, 21 June 2023, our Prep A, Prep B and Prep 1/C students have the opportunity to participate in an exciting incursion involving Larrikin Puppets.

Larrikin Puppets will present a colourful and exciting puppet show featuring zany Muppet-style characters performing skits, jokes, catchy original songs and live interactions with the audience.

The puppets encourage the audience to dance, sing and play along. Larrikin Puppets will also demonstrate how all their puppets work.  This performance is a fun way to finish our English unit on story telling for this term.

If you would like to learn more about Larrikin Puppets, please visit their website www.larrikinpuppets.com.au .

Invoices have been sent, please make prompt payment. Paymnet is due by 19th June. 

Book Week 2023

In August, our school will have a range of events and activities for the CBCA Book Week. This will include a Book Week Dress Up Parade on Friday 25th August. For families who like to be creative and make Book Week Dress Up costumes, this year's theme is Read, Grow, Inspire. Start thinking!

All students, Prep to Year 6 will be invited to dress up as their favourite book character and join us in the parade.

There will be a number of other events, including our Reader's Cup Final, the opening of our Curiosity Centre, Guest readers to our classrooms, competitions and more. We look forward to celebrating Book Week this year. 

Community News

Ripley Valley State Secondary College Excellence Trials

Contacting our School

Our school phoneline for outgoing calls will come up on your phone as No caller ID, or Private number. We are unable to change this at this point as our phone lines are being diverted until telstra connection occurs for our standard landline. You can call us on 07 3819 5777  phof if you need to contact us.

Email – admin_@ripleycentralss.eq.edu.au  OR for all enrolment matters please email enrolments@ripleycentralss.eq.edu.au 

Phone - 07 3819 5777  (between 8.20am-3.15pm Monday to Friday - or school days) 

Please no longer use the mobile number that we used to use so please delete it from your contacts in your phone.