13 September 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter. The last fortnight has been one of the busiest of the year. We had our subject expo which was well attended, followed by our Arts showcase evening and block exams. Also during this our Year 12s sat for their Core Skills Tests over two days. So our seniors have worked very hard as have their teachers as well. This week our Year 10s are out on Work experience and they have also completed their SET plans on Monday and Tuesday. The junior school students have commenced their end of term assessments as well. Whew!!

The good thing is that our students have stayed focussed and given their best, and that is the most important issue of the day. AS this will be our last newsletter for the term, I wish to thank all our staff for a working above expectations in the past 10 weeks. I wish all our students in winter sporting clubs who are starting their finals all the best.

Coming up

• Colour Fun Run – Sunday 10th September
• Last day of School – Friday 15th September
• Interim reports emailed out – Friday 15th September
• Term 4 commences – Tuesday 3rd October
• Parent teacher interviews commencing 3.30 pm Wednesday 4th October

Special Mentions

• Dylan Fox (Yr. 7) Represented Capricornia in the under 12 Rugby Union State Champs on the Gold Coast. The team went on to win the Country Cup for 2017. Well done Dylan!
• Kayden Renwick and Joe Stoneman who both made outstanding achievements at the JKA World Karate Championships recently held in Ireland. Kayden ended up in the top 8 for fighting in his age group.
• Well done to Taylor Sutton who I am told is now crowned as the “Coffee Queen of Springsure”.
• A big thank you to Mr Norman, Mr Platell and Mrs Lawson for takins the teams down to Maryborough this weekend to compete in the HPV state Championships. Best of luck team.

Have a safe and happy
Spring Break

Ray
Ray Clarke
Principal

From the Head of Department – Sport/Japanese/Westerns 7s

Sport:

There have been many different sports events this term and students have been successful in progressing to the next level. We also finish of this term with a group of senior students going to Gladstone to play in a Rugby 7s competition. Good luck to the girls and their coaches.

Western 7s:

Western 7s in on in the early weeks of term 4. This year Western 7s is being held at the Ag College and not at the High School. It will run on the weekend of 13th – 15th October. We will be having teams in all the age groups for both Boys and Girls. These teams will start doing training from the start of next term.

Japanese:

8 Students and 2 teachers leave this week to go to Japan for 2 weeks. They will be spending 5 nights in homestay and attending our sister school (Ichinoseki High School) and then touring around the south of Japan. They will be visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima. We wish them all the best on their adventure.

HPE News

In HPE this term, our junior school students are participating in a range of sports. The year 7 students are participating in Invasion game and the year 8 students are enjoying modified bat and ball games. The year 9s are participating in touch football. The junior school has also had a soccer round robin competition running between the classes in each year level throughout the term. Classes in the senior school have also been exploring various sports including lawn bowls.

For the theoretical component, the year 7s are learning healthy food choices and investigating food labels. The year 8s are studying the topic of inclusivity in the Olympics, which has involved comparing results between countries and why some countries dominate specific sports. The Year 9s have learnt about the importance of first aid and how to apply basic first aid in situations.

In a final note, participation is essential in the subject of HPE. All year levels are emphasising the importance of participation and always giving it a go.

We look forward to continuing to see our students continue to try their best in this subject.

Home Economics/ Hospitality Department

It has been all systems go in the Home Ec/ Hospitality department over the last few weeks.

Our junior students have been creating fantastic dishes for their practicals assessments, from Burgers with caramelised onion and homemade relish to Vietnamese prawn salads.

On top of finalising assessments and engaging with practical exams, our seniors have been busy catering for events such as the QCS Breakfast and the Arts Showcase. Students are to be commended for their extra efforts over these events, as they were required to rise bright and early, or stay late into the night. The food the students presented was of an extremely high standard, they should be proud of this accomplishment.

Learning Support Department

Just a quick update from our department. We welcome back Mrs Elyse Gilbert into the department. She has been on maternity leave since the end of 2016. Mrs Gilbert oversees ICP and Numeracy within her role as Learning Support Teacher and comes with a wealth of knowledge.

If you have not already contacted the office regarding your student’s ICP (Individual Curriculum Plan), please do so urgently. Some ICPs have changed since Semester 1 and it is important that you are aware of these changes.

The Extreme Literacy students have now been working on the Reading Decoding Program for over 6 months and it is exciting to see the improvements that these students have made in regards to their phonetical awareness, their pre- reading strategies and their comprehension of texts. This program will continue in 2018 for those students who test as needing it.

“If you tell me, I will listen.
If you show me, I will see.
If you let me experience, I will learn!” Lao Tzu.

Gabrielle Hunt
Learning Support Teacher: EALD, Literacy Coach

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