Beach Buzz Palm Beach State School

Principal's Patch

Dear Parents

SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES

Last week a group of us attended the State Government Procurement training update as we are required to do each 3 years. A major focus of this is supporting local business where possible, hence one of our main considerations when selecting Palm Beach Newsagency for our bookpacks again in 2019. The rising costs of real estate in Palm Beach are also effecting the local shop owners with inflating rent costs, and we are very proud to be supporting our local Palm Beach wider community. Not only are their prices very competitive and the service convenient, but we have also eliminated extras of stationery items to strongly encourage you to support our Palm Beach community by purchasing the stationery packs through this local business. A reminder that orders for the bookpacks are due no later than 14th December.

 

NEW PBSS ANZAC MEMORIAL STONE

The existing Anzac Garden out the front of the PAC has been a wonderful tribute but is now certainly in need of some repair, especially as many are unaware of its actual purpose. I have consulted with local RSL and community members and a decision was finalised last week, with great assistance from one of our PBSS parents, Ian Dunneman, who not only offered his services to guide me to a wonderful local source for the new stone monument, but also to clean up the existing area and prepare it for the new stone. The new design will be a stone approx. 1200 high x 700 wide with the Rising Sun and Lest we Forget carved into the stone work. This will sit alongside the existing pine tree, and the other rock with the plaque will also be suitably replaced to the area. It will certainly be a fitting tribute to our past and present service men and women.

 

FRONT GATE ALTERATIONS

A few months ago the GCCC identified huge safety concerns with the trees at the front entrance gate of the school which are on council land. The cotton wood is actually rotten and the fig has huge fault lines in one of the boughs along with continual trip hazards and infrastructure damage to the admin building because of the root structure that these trees send out. As the safety of all of our students is paramount, we have been working very closely with the GCCC with these issues and a decision has been made through the GCCC tree removal process that they will have to be removed. This will occur after school finishes for the holidays. In the meantime, Councillor McDonald, GCCC representatives and myself are working on the upgrade that will not only be functional, but also an attractive new entrance for the school, hopefully with shade and protection from the rain a feature in the considerations of the new look. This has been a difficult decision as from first glance the tree is certainly a feature, but unfortunately the ongoing issues have made its sustainability unviable. We appreciate your understanding on this matter  and we can all look forward to the new look front entrance.

 

CHRISTMAS CONCERT WET WEATHER PLANS

Next Thursday night is our second attempt at out Christmas Carols on the Green (our PBSS oval). We have everything crossed that the weather will work with us this year, but in the unfortunate case that it rains again we don’t want all the hard work preparing for their performances that the students and teachers have put in to go to waste.

So in the unfortunate case wet weather decides to ruin our plans …

  • Prep will return to their individual classrooms and perform. They may then go home.
  • Year 1 and 2 parents will move straight to the hall with their blankets and the students will be brought on and off the stage by the teachers and will meet you in the tuckshop area when finished to vacate the hall and take the younger students home. This should take no longer than 30 minutes.
  • This will be repeated for Year 3 and 4 and then 5 and 6. Depending on the space we may be able to get all Year 3-6 parents into the hall at the same time but with our growing numbers this may be difficult and unfortunately will have to be a decision on the night.

We are hoping that with this organisation all in place, the weather will work with us and we will have our wonderful planned evening on the ovalJ

 

2019 STUDENT LEADERSHIP

Last week we commenced the process for 2019 Student Leaders. All Year 5 students were spoken to and the process clearly explained to them, with the information communicated home to the year 5 parents. The process is multifaceted and the selections of successful candidates is not made by the principal or admin team.  School Captains and School Council Chair positions will be finalised this week, and House Captains next week. Music Captains are also being added from 2019. There are many, many, many suitable candidates for all of the positions and we wish all nominating students all of the best, with the resilience often required with the disappointment that comes if they are unsuccessful at this time.

 

NEW DOMAIN

Over time you may have been confused about the ‘h’ missing off the school domain address for emails, the website etc. Originally this was done across the state as it was limited to a particular number of characters for each school, but the good news is that this has now been rectified. Our new domain name for our school website – palmbeachss.eq.edu.au – should make things much easier. Our school’s new domain name is now live. The old domain name, palmbeacss.eq.edu.au, will now automatically redirect to palmbeachss.eq.edu.au for a period of 6 months and users will be taken straight to our website. Additionally, parents please be aware of the new domain name as you may need update your email address to contact the school, bookmarks, mailing lists, etc.

 

With only three weeks to go to the end of term it is important that you keep in regular contact with your child’s class teacher as I’m sure reminders re Year 3-6 swimming carnival, possible class Secret Santa ideas, Class party information and many other things will be communicated to you. As always please do not hesitate to contact our office staff for any further clarification.

 

Kind regards

Sandra Thompson

Principal