8 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

AWARDS NIGHT 2018

On Tuesday 30 October students, staff, parents and community members joined together to celebrate the academic, cultural, service and sporting achievements of our students. It was a packed Cultural Centre again with students receiving Academic Excellence and Merit Awards, Subject Area Awards, Cultural and Service Certificates and Silver Sporting Medallions before the major awards were presented.

Guest speaker, Dr Adam Coltzau addressed the audience with a strong message that you receive nothing without hard work. Dr Coltzau told of his journey to become a doctor in rural Queensland and that he never gave up on that dream. We hope his inspirational message to our students will echo to them in the future.

Taylor Robinson was awarded the Senior Dux (Year 12) and Lily Brimblecombe the Junior Dux (Year 9). Congratulations to both these girls, who had set goals, worked diligently and achieved their best. The finale of the evening was a repeat performance of two songs and dances from the musical.

The P&C continued to work brilliantly as a team and supplied the delicious supper after the event.

A copy of the Awards Night Program with recipient’s names is attached.

From the Acting Principal

It’s the middle of Term 4 and the school is in full swing for its 2019 preparation and plans to celebrate the achievements of our Year 12 graduating cohort. A huge thank you to all of the families and community members that attended our 2018 Awards Night to celebrate the student achievements for the year. In particular, I would like to extend my thanks to the staff and P&C members who coordinated the award presentations and supper. It was a great night.

We were lucky to have guest speaker, Dr Adam Coltzau who delivered a simple, yet powerful message to our students around working hard and not giving up. A message that is incredibly relevant to our Year 12s as they enter their post school pathways, and also a message that can resonate with all students throughout their educational journey. Nothing good comes free. Work hard, stay focused and do not give up.

In Term 4 there is often a significant amount of information being communicated to families from the school through letters, Facebook and newsletters in relation to celebration days and 2019 preparation. I would encourage all parents and carers to be abreast of these mediums of communication and if you have any concerns please contact the school.

As always, if you would like to organise an appointment time with me, please contact the office staff and they will organise this for a time that suits.

Thank you for the continued community support.

Mr Nick Hutchinson, Acting Principal

From HoD Senior Secondary

We are already at the halfway point for the senior students for Term 4. Make sure that you are aware of the following dates:

With so many events happening this term, every day at school counts. Please ensure that your student is attending every day and remind them that as this term is so short, assessment will be due a lot sooner.

Below are the current year level attendance statistics for this term:

Great work to the Year 11 and Year 12 cohorts who continue to improve.

Year 9-12 students heard about school-based traineeships and apprenticeships from Natalie from Golden West Employment Solutions. There are some full time apprenticeships that are up for grabs next year for our graduating Year 12 students. Students can see Donna Waters or myself about these possibilities.

The planning for the New QCE and ATAR for next year is going well in the school. Teachers are planning the new units and assessment for their subjects and are enjoying the shared nature of having state wide topics to be covered, with our teachers sharing resources with teachers across the state.

Remember that if your student is set to graduate from 2020 these changes will be in place for them. More information is available from

For any questions or concerns you may have regarding your Senior Secondary students please email me at daddi4@eq.edu.au or call 4620 8205.

Mrs Deborah Addison, HoD Senior Secondary

Edible Science!

Every living organism on Earth is made up of cells. The cells that make up animals (like humans) vary in structure depending on their job within the body, but all of them have some common characteristics. Last week, the Year 8 students made a model of a basic animal cell. They were given a zip lock bag filled with jelly & a variety of different lollies to represent different organelles found within an animal cell. Although plant cells have a rigid cell wall around the cell membrane and animal cells only have a flexible cell membrane and this was represented by the plastic bag. The jelly was the cytoplasm (which fills the cell), a Ferrero Rocher chocolate was the nucleus (the cell’s brain), the mitochondria, which make the energy for the cell, were jelly beans and the Golgi body was a folded up sour strap. After the students made their model, they had to explain what was what to their teacher . . . and then they were allowed to eat their creations!

So why can’t plants escape prison? . . . Because their cells are surrounded by walls!!

Mrs Karen McKechnie Science Teacher

STUDENTS IN THEIR ELEMENT

Did you know that there are now 118 elements in the periodic table that have names? The latest ones were named in 2017, with the element with atomic number 117 being called ‘tennessine’ after the state of Tennessee in the USA.

This week, thanks to some great work by our labbie, Di Bergmann, the Year 11 and 12 Chemistry students enjoyed an activity in which they matched up samples of the elements (or objects that contained the elements) with an information sheet on each. These were all arranged around the J03 Science Lab. It was a mammoth task and we all discovered some interesting facts. For example, did you know that iron (Fe) is found in broccoli, mercury (Hg) in thermometers, bismuth (Bi) in fuses, krypton (Kr) in ‘black’ lights, selenium (Se) in anti-dandruff shampoo and antimony (Sb) in mascara? What about that granite rocks contain traces of the radioactive element radon (Rn)?

Also, it is good to know that if your pet dies, the best this to do is BARIUM (Ba)!!

I’d tell you another element joke, but all the good ones ARGON (Ar)!!

Mrs Karen McKechnie, Chemistry Teacher

STUDENT’S WORK ON DISPLAY

The St George SHS proudly displayed student’s art and manual arts works at the Anglican Church Art Show over the weekend. The community were very impressed from the work produced from the students.

Thank you to Mrs Annette Brimblecombe and Mr Michael Watson for making this possible.

EDUCATION WEEK DISPLAY

2018 State Education Week was held 21-27 October and again this year Golders allowed us to display our school and student works in their front shop window. 2018 State Education Week is our chance to celebrate the unique qualities of our school.

World Teacher’s Day was also celebrated on Friday 26 October with a lovely morning tea supplied by the Non-Teaching staff. Business Manager, Mr Ben Lawson, thanked the teaching staff for the commitment they show to students and the school.

CHAPPY FUNDRAISING

A community fundraising event hosted by the Local Chaplaincy Committee was held at ‘The Anchorage’ St George on Saturday 27 October. ‘The Anchorage’ is the residence of the high school chaplain, Simon Teunis and his family. It was a wonderful afternoon of ambience, conversation and music with tours of the 115 year old house that is being lovingly restored. A fabulous grazing table was inviting and the refreshments served were delicious. Funds raised by the LCC go toward the Chaplains of our local region.

With 2018 quickly coming to an end, the Student Council wanted to organise one final activity to finish off the year. After much discussion, the students decided they would like to help support our Chaplain, Simon by organising a fundraiser at school. Wanting to be a little bit different this year, the student council wanted to go beyond the normal free dress day in order to raise more awareness and get more people involved. For this reason the students decided to sell soft drinks during break times and organise a special one-off event for second break. While the free dress and soft drink sales raised some money the biggest fundraising activity for the day was the opportunity for students to throw a paper plate filled with whipped cream at their chosen teacher. Almost everyone in the school converged on the Rec Centre at second break to watch Mr Smith, Mrs Brimblecombe, Mr Basile, Miss Wallace, Miss Batoon, Mr Wiggins, Mr Jenner, Miss Knee, Mr Rigney, Mr Morris, Miss Garner, Simon and our Prac Teachers, Mr Fisher and Mr Helwig get covered in cream. There were lots of laughs and excitement as student after student was given the chance to cover their chosen teacher in cream. We thank all the teachers that took part and all the students that parted with their hard earned money to support the great chaplaincy work within the school. The student council raised over $500 from all the activities which is a fantastic effort by all involved.

P.S. from Simon: I also want to thank all the teachers and staff who put their hands up to get creamed! (also staff who turned up to watch the creaming.) It’s a real blessing to work with every last one of you and I feel very honoured to be a part of this team.

Simon Teunis, Chaplain

P&C News

Awards night

Congratulations to all the recipients at Awards Night last Tuesday night. A massive thank you for the overwhelming support the P&C received on the night. Thank you to everyone who contributed with a plate for supper and to those who helped set up and pack-up. This made the night more relaxed. I know everyone will agree in saying the night was very enjoyable and we all left feeling extremely proud of our students.

Year 12 formal

If you can help in anyway with the catering for the Year 12 Formal please don't hesitate to contact me. This will be a massive under-taking from us but I know we can achieve this as a team.

Thank you all for your ongoing support.

Warm regards
Rochelle Ferguson, P&C President

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