19 March 2025

Principal News

Return to school after Cyclone Alfred

It was fantastic to see our children back at school on Tuesday. We know that some of our Morningside families were impacted by the recent weather event and if there is anything that the school can do to support your child, please reach out to us.

I have also attached a fact sheet for parents that has some useful information on how to support your child at home.

Term 1 & 2 parent teacher interviews

In Weeks 9 and 10 of this term and Weeks 1 and 2 of Term 2, we are inviting parents to come into school and meet with their child’s class teacher to discuss their child’s progress to date this year. This is an important opportunity for parents to connect with their child’s class teacher to celebrate their child’s learning and help support their child’s learning goals for the year.

Bookings for Parent Teacher Interviews are now open. Please click on the link below, to book an interview. 

Please ensure you always make your child’s class teacher your first point of contact if you have any questions or concerns during the year.

NAPLAN

This week our Years 3 and 5 students completed their NAPLAN tests. NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It tests the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy.

For more information, please click on the link below. Parents will receive a copy of their children’s NAPLAN report later in the year.

Wearing jewellery to school

Children are reminded that they should not be wearing jewellery to school. Jewellery, can be a health and safety risk when playing at school, can be broken and lost. Items can also become lost in the pool. Students who have pierced ears can wear small studs or sleepers. If there is a cultural or other reason for why a child needs to wear an item, please let the office and your child’s class teacher know.

Queensland engagement and welfare (QEW) Survey

Our Years 4-6 students will be participating in the QEW survey again in Term 2. Information about the survey will be emailed to parents and can also be found at this link.

Supervision before and after school

Parents and students are reminded that teachers are not rostered on duty before and after school for formal supervision of students. 

Our first bell sounds at 8.35am and formal learning commences at 8.45am. Children who arrive at school before 8.15am should be enrolled in OSHC unless they are enrolled in a supervised extra-curricular activity such as band. 

Children in Years 1 - 6 who arrive after 8.15am should sit quietly under the roof in the Green Space until the first bell sounds at 8.35am. 

Prep children need to be supervised by an adult before school every day and escorted to class by the adult at the first bell. 

After school children should proceed directly home, unless they are enrolled in OSHC or a supervised extra-curricular activity. Prep children should be collected from their classroom by an adult.

The school playgrounds are under the license of OSHC before and after school and should only be used by children enrolled in OSHC.

Have a fantastic fortnight!

Sheryl Kennedy
Principal

Deputy News

NAPLAN FINISHED!

Very exciting news for our Year 3 and Year 5 students and their teachers. NAPLAN is over for 2025. Well done to our students for their efforts over the four tests.

2025 Student Leaders

There are a number of exciting things happening at Morningside SS led by our Year 6 student leaders.

• The Arts Captains are currently running the annual Harmony Week activities. As well as promoting Harmony week the Arts Captains are running the annual postcard competition and cultural/orange dress day on Monday 24 March.

• The Peer Support Leaders are helping to support our new Prep students at assembly and will soon begin to support all our students from Prep to Year 6 in the playground. They are also doing an amazing job at assemblies promoting the weekly PBL focus and our school’s RISE expectations
• Our Leaders are also working on the important decisions of selecting themes for the upcoming school disco and the semester 1 PBL reward day. Students are currently shortlisting options to put to a vote.

Have a great fortnight.

Adam Gilmore
Deputy Principal

Dates to Remember

Administration

Picking up children during break time or assembly

If you are picking up your child during break time, please advise the office or your child’s teacher beforehand. It can be difficult to locate a student while on the oval or in the play area which may lead to a delay in the student making their way to the office.

Morningside State School break times are:
First break:         10.45am - 11.30am
Second break:   1.30pm – 2.10pm

Also, if you are planning to pick up your child during assembly (Monday afternoons between 2.10pm and 2.50 pm) please advise the office or your child’s teacher beforehand. While students are attending assembly, it may be difficult to find them or get a message through to them.

Communication from the school

We encourage all parents to download and use the QParent App and the Szapp App.

QParent App

This app is a very helpful tool with which you can easily read or download report cards, notify of absences, see outstanding invoices and pay invoices.

Our office staff will be happy to help with the registration process, should you require assistance. 

Szapp App

We are communicating through this app with families and inform about upcoming events, changes or send out reminders.

Student Resource Scheme, Camps and Excursion Payment Reminder

Payment reminder:

Payments can be made as follows:

• Selecting the payment link at the bottom of your invoice
• BPoint - the Bpoint code is 1002534
• QParents
• Direct deposit (BSB 064136, Account 00090111, Account Name Morningside State School) – please note student’s full name
• Credit card payment over phone via a secure BPoint number on 1300 631 073
• Directly at office
• Centrepay – Centrepay is a voluntary bill-paying service which is free for Service Australia customers. Use Centrepay to arrange regular deductions from your Services Australia payment.  You can start or change a deduction at any time. The quickest way to do it is through your Services Australia account online. Go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/Centrepay for more information.

Japanese News

Thank you (Arigatou!) Tama Meguro JHS!

And just like that, Week 5 and our 19 visitors from Tama Meguro Junior High School from Tokyo Japan came and went.

Our wonderful volunteer buddies from Grades 4, 5 and 6 did an excellent job representing Morningside SS on an ‘international’ scale and made sure our visitors from abroad enjoyed their week at our school. These buddies collected the students each break, shared lunch and playtime and introduced them to their wider circle of friends for play time. June, our wonderful canteen convenor put on a beautiful welcome and farewell spread and the class teachers opened their classrooms to provide engaging activities and integrate these students into their classrooms. Harmony postcards and Australia’s multiculturalism, Koala and Gumnut Baby art, fascinating Science and HASS activities were mentioned by our visitors as some of the highlights during the week. 

The Japanese students also spent time with our Prep classes and our Year 1, 2 and 3 classes for Drama, Dance, Health and Japanese lessons and they worked with our resident artist and wonderful teacher, Mrs Edmed creating some boomerang art.

On the final Friday, the buddies and homestay family children attended a Farewell Party with the Japanese students. In this session, all the students participated in a Japanese traditional summer festival dance called Bon Odori, tried some Japanese calligraphy and origami before the final formal proceedings that included a certificate presentation, speeches, cake cutting and farewells.

These tours provide such a richness to our community. MSS buddies grow so much through the week taking responsibility for their Japanese students, that extends into wider friendship groups, the playground, the classrooms, staff and then to the dinner table at night sharing conversations and new learnings with family. Some MSS families were also able to provide homes to support this tour. It certainly is a big world we live in.

The students left on Sunday to head to Sydney and from all reports, left Brisbane with hearts filled with joy, new friendships, pen friends and wonderful memories made.  What a gift! 

There is another tour of 20 students coming in early August from Minato, Tokyo Japan. Details forthcoming.

As always, thank you for your continued support and love of the Japanese program.  We have a lot of fun!  Any questions, do not hesitate to contact me on jkwal0@eq.edu.au

シルビ先生（silby sensei）
Japanese Language Teacher (jkwal@eq.edu.au)

Sports and PE

Term 1 Sports Carnivals

The new dates for our Term 1 Sports Carnivals are as follows:

Prep-Yr2 Fun Run – Tuesday 25^th March.

Yr3-6 Cross Country – Wednesday 26^th March.

All details including schedule remain the same. Please contact Mr Nolan (jlnol0@eq.edu.au) for more information. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding regarding the need to reschedule these events.

Metro East Regional Swimming

Congratulations to Poppy, Henry and Louis (all in Yr 6) who competed at the recent school Regional Swimming trials. All three students competed in multiple events and put in huge efforts to qualify and compete at that level of school sport.

Josh Nolan
Morningside State School
PE Teacher – Sports Coordinator

Environment Club News

Clean Up Australia Day

MSS was all set to participate in the School’s Clean Up Australia Day on Friday 7 March. Sadly, we missed this opportunity with school closures, but we will make it up in a couple of weeks’ time. ‘Emu Parades’, as they are affectionately known, are a regular thing at MSS with all classes involved in collecting litter from throughout the school grounds. Most of the litter collected comes from student lunch boxes.

One simple way to avoid litter at school is to pack a wrapper-free lunch box. For information and ideas on waste free lunches, this information from BCC might be helpful. You might also be interested in a comparison showing that packing litter free lunchbox items could save families approx. $400-700 a year. This is due to the high mark-up on pre-packaged snack multipacks. Here are some examples of the cost differences and savings per serve:

Containers for Change Collections

We have four collection bins at MSS for 10c containers. The whole refund goes directly to the school for the student leadership team to use to support sustainability initiatives. The collection bins are located under A-block and at the pool entrance on Pashen St. Please feel free to bring in any eligible containers to recycle – wine and spirits bottles are now accepted too. Alternatively, if you want to take your containers directly to a recycler and send your refund to the school – use the code C11355967.

Sharon Wetzig
MSS Sustainability Partner

Chappy News

Mother’s Day high tea

Chappy Vlad

P&C News

**Morningside State School P&C AGM - Wednesday, 19 March at 6:30 PM in the Library** We warmly invite all parents and carers to attend the Morningside State School P&C Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, 19 March at 6:30 PM in the school library.

This is a fantastic opportunity to have your say, learn more about our school community, and get involved! Becoming a member of the P&C allows you to contribute to making our school a great place for our children to learn and grow.

Whether you’re interested in volunteering, fundraising, or supporting school initiatives, your involvement makes a difference.
For more information and to access our registration form please visit 

We look forward to seeing you there and working together to support our school!

Holly Bond
Vice President
vicepresident@msspandc.com.au

Morningside Flyers Swimming Club

All good things come to an end, but it’s hard to believe we are so close to the end of the 24-25 season for Flyers.

Our club nights are all complete and all that remains is our much anticipated Club Championships event on Sunday 23rd March followed by our end of season Presentation Celebration a week later on Sunday 30th March. Remember to nominate your swimmers! We can’t wait to watch our swimmers in the final big event and to celebrate their contributions and successes (who doesn’t love a great trophy presentation!?!)

Thank you to all our members for such a wonderful season of swimming, we are already looking forward to the next season when we start back up in Term 4!

OSHC News

With wet-weather visiting us all week, our amazing OSHC team have been keeping kids engaged in fun indoor activities, ensuring everyone feels safe and supported through play.
Opening our main room Milperra, E-Block, the Hall and A-Block has allowed for some fun-tastic inside activities like music making, drawing and coding. Hamma (melty) beads, paint crafts, imagination play in our play kitchens and hospital as well as silent headphones for music, has promoted calming and positive vibes in Milperra.

At the Hall, Just Dance was a great chance for some children to get out their excess energy and have fun with friends learning dances, and Cosmic Kids Yoga helped us practice mindfulness and care for our bodies by stretching during warm up and warm down time.

Kate has been cooking up a storm and made some delicious passionfruit muffins with the help of some very enthusiastic little chefs! This experience allowed children to learn baking skills like reading recipes, using numeracy skills to measure ingredients, personal hygiene and safety with handwashing, and decorating the baked goods with passionfruit. Please make sure you are keeping safe and following school and government guidelines. If your child is going to be absent from OSHC (or school) please remember to mark them as so on your KT Connect app.

Kind Regards,
Morningside State School - Outside School Hours Care
oshc@msspandc.com.au
0403 631 230

Tuckshop

Please make sure that you have updated your students' class on QKR. Also, if you need to cancel your child’s lunch this must be done before 7am by the parents.

We are looking for volunteers to help with the tuckshop please. If you are available and would like to support our amazing tuckshop team, please get in touch with June Burfoot june.burfoot@msspandc.com.au.

Thanks and hope you have an amazing day

June Burfoot
Convenor

Community News

Shake N Stir

Hampton Swim School

Get Ready for Our Easter School Holiday Swim Clinics! 🏊‍♂️

Looking for a fun and active way to keep the kids happy and fit this Easter holidays? Look no further than Hampton Swim School! Our full-day swim clinics (9am - 3pm) are designed for kids aged 6 and up who can swim 10 - 15 meters. It’s the perfect opportunity to improve swimming skills, build confidence, and have a blast with friends! 🤩
Our School Holiday Swim Clinics are tailored for both learn-to-swim and squad swimmers, with a focus on specific strokes each day. With a maximum of 20 swimmers per day, your child will receive plenty of personalized attention and guidance from our expert instructors. 🏊‍♀️
Special Offer: Get discounted rates when booking 2 or more days!

For all the details, including pricing and what to expect, click the links below:
👉 School Holiday Swim Clinics Information
👉 Book Your Spot Today
We can't wait to see your child make a splash with us this Easter! 🌊

Lucy Collier

Embrace Kids film screening

Cross River Rail Easter holidays activities