FROM THE PRINCIPAL…

UPCOMING IMPORTANT EVENTS Please add the following dates to your calendars: Cross Country – The school Cross country will be run on the last Tuesday of Term One (28th March) Anzac Day – A special school Anzac Day Service will be held on the first Friday of Term Two – the 21st April. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS - UPDATE

WHAT IS BULLYING? Any situation where a student feels unsafe in school because of bullying is not tolerated in our school. We are committed to providing safe, secure and stimulating environments for all students. As part of this commitment we have policies and guidelines to prevent and manage bullying. Unfortunately, the word ‘bullying’ conjures up many and varied definitions that are sometimes not very helpful in resolving any unpleasant experience a student may have. Clarifying the definition of bullying is vitally important so that children, parents and staff at school approach and resolve any ‘incident’ in an appropriate manner. Bullying is when one or more people deliberately upset or hurt another person, their property, reputation or social acceptance, and this action is repeated over time. There are three broad categories of bullying:

Direct physical bullying - Examples include hitting, tripping or damaging property. Direct verbal bullying – Examples include name calling, insults or verbal abuse. Indirect bullying - This form of bullying is harder to recognise and is designed to harm someone’s social

reputation. Examples include spreading rumours, encouraging others to socially exclude someone and cyber-bullying. eg. use of text messages, e-mail

Many distressing behaviours are not examples of bullying even though they are unpleasant and often require teacher intervention and management. There are three socially unpleasant situations that are often confused with bullying:

Mutual conflict - There is an argument or disagreement between students but not an imbalance of power. Both parties are upset and usually both want a resolution to the problem. However, unresolved mutual conflict sometimes develops into a bullying situation with one person becoming targeted repeatedly for ‘retaliation’ in a one-sided way.

Social rejection - Unless the social rejection is specifically directed towards someone and involves deliberate and repeated attempts to cause distress, exclude or create dislike by others, it is not bullying.

Random acts - Single episodes of nastiness or physical aggression are not the same as bullying. If a student is verbally abused or pushed on one occasion they are not being bullied. Nastiness or physical aggression that is directed towards many different students is not the same as bullying

Solutions to the above variety of ‘bullying’ and ‘non-bullying’ behaviours differ greatly. It is therefore important that you contact the school with your concerns and then work with us to resolve the issue. We are committed to the happiness and well-being of every student at our school and we have different solution focussed responses to each of the above situations.

Kingsthorpe State School

2017

Term 1—2017

Newsletter Issue 5

23 February 2017

D Block – outside

walls, doors and walk-

way roof have gone

up this week. Painting

has also started inter-

nally.

New water cooler

installed under A

Block.

UNIFORM SHOP MESSAGE — Have some old school uniforms that don't fit or no longer require? Then why not donate them to the uniform shop. If anyone would like to donate any uniforms it would be greatly welcomed.

Thank You

Tammie Mathies

Uniform Shop

P&C News

Despite the books being with the auditor for what should have been more than enough time, we have been informed that the audit will not be completed before the planned meeting. As it is a requirement that audited financial statements be presented, the AGM can't proceed as scheduled. A General Meeting was held on the 21st February and the AGM will be held 21st March 2017. Look forward to seeing you at the AGM. Regards Bradley Siddans

Chappy’s Chatters.

During my usual kitchen duties last week, I kept on coming across these whiffs of a

really bad smell. I couldn’t quite figure out where it was coming from, and the smell

wasn’t constant enough to pinpoint exactly. It was really starting to get to me, so I set

out to find the culprit. After much searching… there it was at the bottom of the pantry… rotten

potatoes; ewwwww!! For the next while, I was left scrubbing and spraying the area and trying to

get rid of that lingering stench… For a fairly bland vegetable, potatoes really stink when they go

rotten!

Now, this is not the first rotten potato experience I’ve had, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But it

got me thinking about some other “rotten potatoes” that linger around in our lives sometimes.

Yep, the areas of our lives that sit there and rot. They too are often tricky to pinpoint, so they sit

there unattended. Unhealthy habits, a toxic “friend”, or a negative attitude, are a few I can think

of, but there are plenty.

Can you think of some in your life? Those things that just don’t belong in your life, but don’t

leave by themselves. These things always stink, and it’s only when we’ve sniffed them out and

identified them for what they are can these rotten things really be dealt with.

Yes, the search may be messy, time consuming and tricky; the clean-up even more so. As

unpleasant as that searching and cleaning was in my kitchen last week, I know it was all worth it

to be able to breathe the clear air again. Something to consider, I reckon…

Warmest regards,

Chappy Sarah

YOUR TUCKSHOP NEEDS YOU!!

We understand that life is busy & you can't always come in & help within the school but the Tuckshop is running low on a few essential items & would really like your help. Below is a list of items that we need to help keep our costs down, we would be really grateful if you could donate 1 item from the list below & drop it to the office.

Margarine Milo (Any Size) Large Disposable Coffee Cups & Lids Plastic Cutlery (Teaspoons,Forks & Knives) Sugar Brown Paper Bags (Large 280mm X 235mm) Zip Lock Snack Bags Chinese Food Containers Paper Towel Strawberry Jam Coffee Sachets Vegemite Floor Wash Sticky Tape Nico’s Pens Tea towels Zupper Doppers Food Prep Gloves (latex free Med & Large) Tomato Sauce Napkins Tissues White Board Markers Microwave Buttered Popcorn

Thank You

Tammy Nixon

Tuckshop

FLEXI SCHOOLS — Please be aware that Flexi Schools cut off time for ordering tuckshop

is 8:30 and orders must be placed and processed by 8:30. If you receive a “ordering cut off time is 8:30” message when placing your child's order the cut off time has passed and a packed lunch will have to be sent. PLEASE DO NOT call flexi schools and ask them to process a late order. Processing late orders interferes with the tuckshop schedule and difficult to accommodate. Be mindful of our volunteers and have your order in on time.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Students of the Week, Term 1 Week 4 Congratulations to students recognised by their teachers and classmates with

Student of the Week Certificates on 16 February, 2017

N/A

Prep A Braxtyn

Prep /Year 1 Sophie

Year 1 A Evie

Year 2 A Elizabeth

Year 2 / 3 Callum and Brody

Year 3 / 4 Matilda

Year 4 Amy

Year 5 Sharmana

Year 6 Ellie

What’s On

Thursday Parade 2pm in the hall

Thursday Tuckshop—Orders through flexi schools

Mon / Thurs Uniform Shop Monday (8:30-9:15am) and Thursday (2:45-3:00pm

21st March AGM P&C

28th March School Cross Country

30th March Toowoomba Show Holiday

21st April Anzac Day Service

PBL (Positive Behaviour for Learning)

Expectation for Term 1 Week 6

Be Safe, Be Respectful & Be Responsible

Be Respectful and Responsible

Follow staff directions , use kind words and actions.

Music— 1A SuperCup — N/A

Golden Dustpan and Broom — Prep Mrs H Beckham Award— N/A

TREAT

SHOP

Friday afternoon from

3:00 till 3:30 the P&C

will run a treat shop

under A block .

Zooper Dooper $1

Lolly bags $1

Sour worms and clouds 50c

Giant Freddo frogs $1