29 March 2019

Newsletter Articles

Lions Youth Of The Year

On Saturday 2nd March, three of our talented Year 12 students competed in the Lions Youth of the Year competition at the Australian Hotel. Marcus Brimblecombe, Courtney Spackman and Bronte Johnson delivered a five minute speech as well as responding to impromptu questions for two minutes which required students to think on the spot about how can we encourage youth of today to join local clubs and what makes Australia great.

All students performed exceptionally well under pressure and received much praise from parents, teachers and guests. Prior to the evening, students were interviewed by the judges which contributed to their marks as well as their efforts on the night. Marcus Brimblecombe was awarded Lions Youth of The Year. Marcus has won a trip to New Zealand in December, where he will gain valuable experience living with a host family before attending a two week youth camp. Congratulations to all students involved.

A special thank you to the Lions Club of St George and Mr Michael Kennedy for his organisation of the event and the support he provided to the entrants.

From the Principal

We are almost at the end of Term 1 and I know just how hard staff and students are working to complete the necessary assessment items in each subject. Can I thank all parties for attending to this important aspect of learning in the manner they have been? These results will inform the Term 1 reports which will be sent out in week one Term 2.

As this is the last newsletter before we begin holidays I want to take this opportunity to wish all staff and students are very restful holiday period. School will begin again on Tuesday 22 April.

Over the next few days we have a range of activities occurring at school. On Friday afternoon we will hold our annual school cross country. Thank you to Mr Luke Basile and his team who have worked so hard to plan for this event. The Year 7 camp is being held over the last week of school. To all those students attending this camp remember to enjoy the experience and do your best in all that is asked of you. During this last week we also have Mr Josh Arnold and his team at school working with a select group of students from Year 8-10 in developing and producing a music clip with a strong anti-drug and alcohol message. Permission forms to be part of this experience were made available from the school office on Monday.

We have made changes to the mobile phone and personal digital device policy of the school following some concerns about how these devices have been used by students over the term. The new policy and its guidelines will come into effect as of day one Term 2 (i.e. Tuesday 23 April 2019). I encourage parents to contact the school if they wish to provide some feedback on this important matter that directly relates to removing barriers to student learning.

You may notice work being done around the school over the next few months. This is the beginning of the air-conditioning installation across the school. This will mean the removal of the existing heaters and evaporative coolers that are installed in the ceilings of most rooms. This work will begin in Week 10 when G block will have new walls installed and in the administration section of S Block and continue throughout the year until completed. Classes will be removed from buildings undergoing this refurbishment to ensure a safe work environment for all.

Our Parent-teacher evening following Term 1 will be held on Wednesday 8 May in S Block. I look forward to meeting with many of you at this time when we discuss your child’s progress in their course of study.

From the Acting Deputy Principal

Report Cards - As term 1 comes to a close, many students and parents new to the school will be interested to know about our assessment and reporting process. Students have worked hard over the last 10 weeks and will be in the final stages of submitting their assessments to teachers. This process will be occurring right up until the end of Week 10.

Report Cards will be issued to students at the start of Week 2, Term 2 during their Period 4 Health and Wellbeing class. This will allow students to reflect on their progress and then take them home to parents and carers. The Term 1 reports will be of an interim nature only and reflects student progress to date. A Semester One report, with the summative results for all subjects will be issued at the start of Term.

Parent/Teacher Interviews - St George SHS teaching staff will be making themselves available for parent and carers to meet with teachers in Week 3, Term 2. Parent/Teacher Interviews will occur from 3.30pm to 6.30pm on Wednesday, 8 May 2019.

You can book a Parent Teacher Interview by going to the following link or please call the front office on 0746 208 222.

Parent Link:

I would encourage all parents or carers to take advantage of this opportunity to meet with their student’s teachers. This is a great time to discuss learning progress, any difficulties that the student has encountered and to build a positive relationship between home and school.

From HoD Senior Secondary

I can’t believe Term 1 is coming to a close. This Term has been extremely busy and there is so much happening for the rest of the year.

Year 12 - As our last group going through on the current QCE system, these students are set to finish strong. They have Jersey and Senior shirts ordered and arriving shortly.

Year 11 - As the first group going through the New QCE system these students are coping well with the changes that have taken place. The main change that students have noticed is that there are no longer Term or Semester Units, instead the first unit for all subject will finish mid next Term. This means that students need to be cautious about time away from school as even if it is the last week of Term, students are likely to be learning right up until the last day.

Year 10 - These students are being set up for the new QCE System and are also being taught in varied length units. The year is about to ramp up for these kids with many things happening next Term.

Week 8 will include a subject information night and SET Plan interviews for all Year 10 students.

Week 10 will be work experience and forms will start to go to students next week for this.

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

From HoD Teaching and Learning

This term has been a busy term for teaching and learning at our school as we have been busy completing diagnostic testing across years 7-10, introducing more reading instruction and reading for pleasure time, and ensuring unit plans and assessments are submitted and to a high standard. We have spent the time setting up strong foundations for the rest of the year and I would like to thank all of those teachers who have been working so hard to do their very best to ensure students have the best outcomes possible. I would especially like to thank the L Block team members for their tireless work around the development of Individualised Curriculum Plans for students, completing diagnostic tests, creating data profiles, assisting teachers to modify assessment, and all the while continuing to deliver support and programs to our learning support students and students with disabilities.

Next term we will be starting an exciting project alongside the Roma Centre for Learning and Wellbeing (CLAW) with our Year 7 cohort. The project will examine the Literacy Continuum, which is a document mapping the curriculum demands of the Australian Curriculum at each year level from 7-10. Year 7 teachers will be tracking the Year 7’s on the literacy continuum to determine where the gaps are and how to fill them. This will allow teachers to be equipped with more knowledge of how to embed literacy across all key learning areas. The teachers will receive extra professional development in this area, including members of the CLAW team working in our Year 7 classrooms intermittently throughout the remainder of the year. This is an exciting collaboration that we look forward to in Term 2.

New Teaching Staff

Chris Delroy – HOD Junior School

I am fortunate to have a sole mate who is a learning enrichment and special education primary school teacher. We have two adult children, our son is a lawyer in Canberra and our daughter is a social worker in Brisbane. As a family, we are lifelong learners and enjoy travelling and experiencing cultures in Australia and around the world. This is my 27th year within the Education profession having worked in independent, government and International schools. Prior to that I spent six years as a soldier with the Royal Australian Infantry Corps (RA Inf) who financially supported my Bachelor of Applied Science in Physics at Queensland University of Technology.

Mereana Henare District Relieving Teacher

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land past present and emerging. Tena koutou nga whanau, kaiawhina, pakeke hoki o nga akonga o te kura o St George State High School. Greetings to families, caregivers and elders of students at St George State High School. I am Mereana Henare of Maori, Chinese and English heritage and am a District Relieving Teacher based at SGSHS. I was born and bred in Otaki, a small town approximately 50 minutes out of Wellington where I attended Primary and Intermediate School then moved to Christchurch to attend a Maori Girls Boarding School. Fast forward 30+ years and up until April of last year lived in Te Araroa, East Cape North Island New Zealand. This is a very small rural town with a population of about 500 situated in the most easterly corner of the East Cape region in the North Island which attracts thousands of tourists every year to the most easterly lighthouse ‘Easter Island’ where the sun rises first in the Eat in New Zealand. The nearest town is Gisborne and two and a half hours drive away so I am a rural girl at heart having lived on our sheep and beef farm.

I’ve been teaching for 35 years in State Schools and Colleges in different parts of NZ as a Primary, Secondary Teacher in mainstream, bilingual and total immersion environments in classroom roles as a Teacher, Deputy and also a Teaching Principal. I came to Australia last April living in Coorparoo teaching at State Schools and Colleges with my last contract position at Darling Point Special School in Manly Brisbane.

I love my job with a passion and believe in delivering quality education to all students proving them with a positive learning opportunities that will enable them to be successful learners who are competent, confident local and global citizens.

St George is a town with history, character and has a vibe of its own. I look forward to being part of the SGSHS Learning Community and the wider community and may see you at the pool, tennis, church, watching a footy match or at the shops, so don’t be shy to come say hi!

My four favourite sayings or whakatauki (proverbs) are:-

1. PPPPR ‘Positive People Produce Positive Results’ and ‘Eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive’
2. ‘He aha te mea nui o te ao? ‘He tangata, he tangata, he tangata’. - What is the most important thing of the world? ‘It is people, people, people’.
3. ‘Hapaitia te ara tika pumau ait e rangatiratanga mo nga uri whakatipu’ - ‘Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength independence and growth for future generations’.

Heoi ano Mereana Henare ako
Koka, Koka Miss, Kokz

Year 7 LOTE

The Year 7’s were busy in class looking at Indigenous symbols. Students then created their own cards using the symbols

Year 7 Archaeology

Today the Year 7 cohort participated in a school based archaeological excavation as part of their study of Ancient Egypt. Students participated in the excavation, documentation and recording of clay artefacts, including bowls, pots, scarab beetles, birds, beads, buttons and royal icons. This excavation was a great success with all students uncovering hidden items and one lucky team finding the golden snake artefact.

Show Team

On 22nd of March the 15 students, 15 sheep and Lennie, Mr Brimblecombe, Mr and Mrs Ferguson and Miss Ives went to Warwick show. The team arrived on Friday afternoon and set up camp. On Friday night our four rams were used for Junior Judging. Our St George State High School students competed in the Junior Judging Competition against approximately 40 students. Seven students out of the 40 were chosen to speak, and four of those were from St George State High School. Toby, Lachy, Ashleigh and Oscar were chosen to speak in the U15s competition, Lachy received 2nd place and Oscar received 3rd place. In the over 15s Taylor and Haley were chosen to speak. Taylor received 1st place and qualified for the meat sheep young judges state final in Toowoomba. She will compete on Thursday 28th of March with students from all over the state. In Junior Handlers, Tilly received 3rd place. Amongst many other ribbons the team won the all breeds shield competition for schools with the best ewe and ram. It was successful show. All students are to be commended on their efforts and representation of St George SHS. Students who attended were: Toby Brimblecombe, Abbey Cowley, Molly Davies, Ashleigh Ferguson, Kelsey Graham, Matilda Hoolihan, Bronte Johnson, Kaise Mawhinney, Taylor McDougall, Oscar McGee, Hayley Nolan, Sharon Pearce, Stavrianna Purcell, Haley Rollins, Lachlan York. The Sheep Team would also like to announce the birth of twin ewe lambs named Fairy and Floss who were born at the Warwick Show on the 23 March. Mum Cookie is doing well as a new mum.

What’s Cooking In Home Ec

Year 9 Home Ec were creating some amazing meals this month. Students made everything from scratch.

Students At Work – ITD and Art

Library Abuzz

Crazy Sock Day & Pancake Day

Students celebrated World Down Syndrome Day by wearing crazy socks and donating gold coins to help celebrate what people with Down Syndrome bring to our community. Pancake day was also celebrated with Chappy Simon and Donna Waters cooking up yummy pancakes.

Enrichment Steam Day

A Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) morning was conducted at St George SHS, Wednesday 20th March 2019 for Begonia SS, Bollon SS, Dirranbandi SS, Hebel SS, Thallon SS, and St George SS.

Students in the first session completed a number of Science experiments with Mr Fisher, exploring physical and chemical change of everyday household chemicals. Then after a 20 minute morning tea they moved to session two of the morning.

In the Art room, Mrs Brimblecombe set the students a challenge of constructing the tallest free standing tower, using only A4 paper and sticky tape. In their team of four they had to use their problem solving skills to first plan their design before construction their architectural master pieces. The final judging was won by a team with a tower of 1.32 metres tall. Well done to all students.

Mr Delroy would like to thanks the schools and parents for having the opportunity to share our love of STEAM at St George SHS with your wonderful students. Can’t wait for our Term 2 day.

Sport

SW Swimming News - Congratulations to the two St George SHS student’s that that made the trek to Chinchilla for the South-West Swimming Trials on Friday the 1st March. Brigitte Brunner won the 50m freestyle for the 13 year old girls. Lachlan Wilson took out first place for the 12 year old boys in the 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke as well as the 200m individual medley. Fantastic effort by these year 7 student’s! Lachlan this week is in Brisbane attending the Queensland State Trials at Chandler where he will be swimming 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly as well as relays. Lachlan was also named as the Team Captain for the South West Swim Team. All the best Lachlan!

Netball – Thursday the 21st of March saw sixteen keen netballers travel to Roma to trial for South West Selections with Miss McKenna and Miss Weatherall. After a few weeks of tough training sessions in the sun, we were keen to show Roma what we had. The girls showed superb teamwork and great sportsmanship all day, playing a gruelling five games each in hot conditions at the PCYC Roma. While all the girls played well and each and every one of them impressed us, a few stood out to the selectors on the day. For the Under 15’s South West Team, three players were chosen: Paige Clark, Shakyra Cowburn and Michelle Hams. Well done girls! In addition to this, Grace Waters and Anna Moloney were chosen as a shadow for the U15’s and U19’s respectively, and they were invited to train with the Maranoa squad, which will give them valuable experience for the future. I would like to thank Kylie Whitaker for driving the bus and for her help with strapping, Lisa Anderson for umpiring some games for us, and of course Kym Weatherall for her coaching.

P&C News

Thank you from outgoing President-

A heart felt thank you to everyone for your support while I was President of the High School P&C. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and loved working and getting to know everyone. All teachers and non- teaching staff welcomed me at the school. Thank you to all the parents, careers, friends, grandparents and my own family for your help to ensure fundraising events ran well and were a success. I was constantly overwhelmed by the time people gave up in their busy lives. I wish Scott and the new committee of 2019 all the best for a successful year ahead.

Warm regards
Rochelle Ferguson

Thank you Rochelle for a great introduction. I look forward to this year and the challenges ahead, I believe it can be a great year for the P and C committee, School and students. We have upcoming fundraisers and I would encourage parents to engage and help where possible. Every little bit of assistance goes a long way in a team effort. Upcoming event is the Battle on the Balonne breakfast, with other events not that far away. Please keep posted for their time and dates. Next P and C meeting is for the 20 May at 6pm as the April meeting falls in the school holidays. Please come and attend, it’ll be great to have you on board.

Regards
Scott Brimblecombe.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

2019 Next Step survey

The Queensland Government is conducting its annual statewide survey of all students who completed Year 12 in 2018. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12.

Between March and June, all our students who completed Year 12 last year can expect to receive instructions to complete a web-based survey or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office. Please encourage them to take part. If their contact details have changed, please assist the interviewer with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate.

Thank you for your support of the Next Step survey in 2019.

Further information on Next Step is available online at the link below or on toll free telephone 1800 068 587.

BreastScreen Mobile Bus coming to Balonne

The BreastScreen Mo`bile service is coming to Surat on 2-3 April, St George from 4 April to 3 May and Bollon on 17-18 May.

One screen is not enough – get a mammogram every two years. If you are aged 50-74 call 13 20 50 or book online at

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