In this issue

Student Arrival Time

Arrival time at Grace Primary is from 8:00 am to 8:24 am, as the school day officially starts at 8:25 am.
Exceptions to this are when students arrive for co-curricular enrolled classes such as dance and instrumental classes or activities such as Clean Crew and Running Club. Other students take the early bus to school. These exceptions are supervised by a staff member.

Parents who require their child to be at school earlier than 8:00 am need to enroll their child in GOSHC, to ensure they are supervised and cared for in the Grace Primary School grounds. As the safety and wellbeing of your child/ren is of paramount importance to us, please note that rostered staff supervision occurs from 8:00 am at GLPS.
Also, students who arrive later than 8:25 am may miss out on Student Notices and key information about the class day’s plan or routine. Sometimes these children need to play ‘catch up’ during the day as they have missed this time of sharing and support.

Please contact the school if you need to discuss your family’s situation or if you need information about enrolling your child in Grace Outside School Hours Care (GOSHC).

Kathy Stock, Deputy Principal – Student Wellbeing

Pink Hat Appeal

We are so proud of our Year 6 students Mary, Samantha and Jenny.  They have raised (with the help of Grace Primary) $1677 for the Pink Hat Appeal. They have used the $$$ to make meal packs, hygiene packs and crisis packs for people in need.

Pack a shoebox and bless a child this year!

Operation Christmas Child has begun.  If your family would like to do a box together, we have OCC boxes available at Reception or use an average size shoe box (no bigger than an A4 size).

We love this list of fabulous gift ideas!

Something to love – Cuddly toy, doll
Something for school – colouring pencils, sharpener, exercise book
Something to wear – dress, t-shirt, shorts, thongs
Something to play with – marbles, tennis ball, skipping rope, car, barbie
Something for personal hygiene – brush, soap, toothbrush, face washer

For specific gift suggestions, please visit the  Operation Christmas Child website.

Please note the ‘What not to include’ items: No liquids (shampoo, bubbles, drinks), sharp objects, scary things (war-related, masks etc), breakables, medicines or large clothing items.

If you have any questions, please contact Joelene in Reception.

Donating Items for Loose Parts Play

Loose Parts Play is a popular play break choice amongst Grace students. As parts are in high use and high demand, some become worn out or damaged and need replacing.
We are really needing to have safe, metal or plastic old pots, cups, any shaped cake tins, large stirring spoons, ladles, colanders, whisks, scoops, egg flips, scrappers, watering cans and plastic milk cube crates. Please support this play choice by bringing any of these items to reception to be included in the Loose Parts Play collection.

STEM

The STEM department would like to thank Pallet Masters of Clontarf. They are a local business that has been operating for more than 30 years. The team at Pallet Masters were very helpful when we were purchasing supplies for term four. Pallet Masters is located on Duffield Road and can help you with all your pallet needs.

Tuckshop

Can you help at the Tuckshop?
If you can spare anytime on Wednesdays, Thursdays and especially on Fridays (even just 30 minutes), please email Christina (Tuckshop@glps.qld.edu.au).

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop is open on Tuesday & Thursday Mornings and Wednesday afternoons by appointment only.  To book your appointment, please click here.

Please note, the online shop is available 24/7 for all your uniform requirements and orders can be placed by visiting USM website.

We thank you for your understanding.

UMS
Phone: (07) 3283 0022  Email: uniformshop@glps.qld.edu.au

Upcoming Events

Wednesday 21 October – Book Week Celebration Day & Character Dress Up Day

Monday 26 October – 4W PCYC Bike Safety Excursion
– Charis Coffee Shop Grand Opening 

Tuesday 27 October  – 4A PCYC Bike Safety Excursion

Thursday 29 October – 4T PCYC Bike Safety Excursion

Thursday 29 October – World Teachers Day @ GLPS

Friday 30 October – Yr 4-6 NISSA Sport Gala

Monday 2 November –  Whole school photo – Wear navy uniform

Wednesday 4 November – Year 5-6 Mothers & Daughters High Tea – Book online

Friday 6 November – 9-12 Years Swimming Carnival (Burpengary Regional Aquatic Centre)

Tuesday 10 November – Story Night in the Library

Wednesday 18 November – Junior Swimming Celebration

Mon 23 Nov- Wed 25 November – Year 4 Camp

Date Claimer

Community News

What does it mean to ‘be a good example’ to other people?

Charles Barkley, a superstar basketball player, once said in a television ad, “I am not a role model.” But, like it or not, he is. Everybody is a role model for somebody else. As we grow up, we have many role models, people who inspire us—parents, teachers, athletes, political leaders, characters in novels and in the pages of history.

Parents are also role models to their children, whether we like this or not. The well-known poem by Dorothy Nolte reminds us that “Children Learn What They Live”. This does not mean that children will necessarily become like their parents. We are all born with unique personalities. But as we interact with people (especially in the home), we have the power to shape and influence lives. Each of us has an awesome responsibility, especially in our homes and families.

The Bible also gives us many role models. The fascinating thing here however, if we carefully read the Bible, is that more often than not we find God’s people were far from perfect. There’s another well-known poem here that highlights this that begins “Noah was a drunk, Abraham was too old, Isaac was a daydreamer, Jacob was a liar….” Yet the Bible also describes these people as great people of faith. The reason their faith is often held up as an example is not because of the amazing things many of these people did. Their faith ultimately rested in the knowledge of the grace and peace that comes from God.

In the Bible Reading in Chapel this week (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3) we hear this word from the Apostle Paul, “We always thank God for all of you. We keep on praying for you. We remember you when we pray to our God and Father. Your work is produced by your faith. Your service is the result of your love. Your strength to continue comes from your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul is commending these Christians for their faith, works of love, and hope in the Lord. We also read that Paul describes himself as God’s example, as those Christians were examples to other Christians.

The reality is that so often, even when we genuinely try to ‘get things right’, we so often ‘get it wrong’. We’re not always the best example to the world, and certainly to our own family. But Paul calls on us to imitate Christ (see also Philippians 2). And we do so not only in strive to be the best version of ourselves (and to show real love to others). We also know that we ‘imitate Christ’ when we reflect that love He showed on the cross for forgiveness of sins, and the new life we have because Jesus is raised from the dead and gives life that lasts forever.

It is good to strive to be a good example to our children. It is good for children to strive to be a good example to one another in terms of faith, hope, and love. But it’s great to know that in our failures and fears, we can reflect in the holy and forgiving love God has given us in Jesus.

Also… we rejoice in the gifts many people revealed in the musical. What a wonderful example in many ways to others.

May your heart and mind know God’s great love in Jesus. May you know God’s blessing, peace, and strength for life.

In Christ.
Pastor Mark

Email: mark.brinkmann@lca.org.au
Phone: 0499 014 189

Year 5 and 6 Mothers and Daughters High Tea and Personal Development Session

On Wednesday 4 November, Grace Primary is delighted to invite our Year 5 and 6 girls and their mothers/carers to a high tea and Let’s Chat personal development session in the Hall. The evening starts at 5 pm with the High Tea, followed by chat time table games and then at 6pm the “My Changing Body” presentation by Mandy from the Lets’ Chat organisation will occur. As this event is capped at sixty people parents are urged to purchase their tickets as soon as possible to avoid missing out on this opportunity. We look forward to the wonderful catering food from Penelope’s Pantry and service of this food by the caring Grace Lutheran Congregation members which will help make this a wonderful time of relationship building and connection with our Year 5 and 6 Mothers and Daughters.

To purchase tickets to this event, please CLICK HERE.

World Teachers Day

At Grace Primary this year we are celebrating World Teachers Day on Thursday 29 October.

Wizard of Oz Musical

What an amazing group of performers we have! 166 students, four shows and hundreds of hearts bursting with pride. We are so proud of our students, staff and the support from our community.

THANK YOU TO OUR MUSICAL SPONSORS!

With only one sleep to go till our ‘Wizard of Oz’ school musical performances begin at the Redcliffe Cultural Centre, we would love to give a big shout out thank you to our Musical Sponsors. Without you our musical wouldn’t be as fabulous as it’s shaping up to be!

The Wizard of Oz

What a fabulous event our musical was this year. We are all still celebrating The Wizard of Oz and the performances which occurred last week. The talent of the 166 students who were involved and their ability to be so disciplined to learn their lines, their songs and their dances was a sheer delight to see.
Musicals are huge community building events and I want to thank the team of staff and volunteers led by Mrs Luostarinen who worked so hard to make it a very special time in our school. I also want to acknowledge the parents and relatives who sewed costumes, helped with sets, helped with rehearsals by cooking food and in many other ways. It is a massive effort but the end result was a delight.

Carols on the Green

Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions, we will not be having Carols on the Green this year. I know this is very disappointing as the event is always a wonderful way to end our school year, but I hope you will understand the restrictions on crowds and our ability to host such a big event. We look forward to next year where hopefully we can come together as a community again to celebrate the birth of Christ at our school.

In place of Carols this year, we plan to have a special last day of fun and activities for the students so they can culminate this year with a terrific day together.

Staffing News

Mr Mark Thomas has taken Long Service Leave this term and we welcome Mr Solomon Mace to teach his class for Term 4.
Over the holidays, Mr Stephen Greener our Business Manager was promoted to a new position within the Lutheran Schools at Prince of Peace Lutheran College at Everton Park. Stephen’s new school is a 2 campus, Prep to Year 12 school with a Kindergarten so it is a much more complex role than Grace Primary. We congratulate him on his success and wish him well. I am delighted to advise that Mr Cedric Laverdure, who is currently the accountant at Living Faith Lutheran School will be our new Business Manger and we will welcome him to our school on 19 October.

Class Lists 2021

If you would like to advise the school of considerations for your child’s class placement for 2021, please email me at principal@glps.qld.edu.au Please do not give verbal or written indications to the class teachers because they need to be centrally collated. Staffing is not yet clear for 2021 so please do not request specific teachers because I will not know who will be on which class until much later in the year. Any requests for class considerations for 2021 must be received by November 2 as we will begin to organize the task of selecting class groups for next year during November.

At this time of year, I remind all parents that 90 days’ notice is required if you want to withdraw your child/ren from our school or a term’s fees will be charged to you. We have had unprecedented interest in our school for 2021 and we are looking forward to many new families coming to our school and becoming part of the wonderful Grace Primary Community in our 50th anniversary year.

Trudy Moala
Principal