1 May 2019

Newsletter Articles

ANZAC DAY

It was great to see so many students representing their school and interested in the march. A special mention needs to be made to the students in the 142 Army Cadet Unit who worked tirelessly all day to fulfil their duties. Congratulations also to those students in the band who performed so well at the march and during the ceremony. Thank you to all staff who contributed to or participated in the ANZAC Day celebrations this year. Well done to all!

Last week the Year 7 students learnt about the importance of ANZAC day and what it means to Australians. Students were extremely happy to make ANZAC biscuits.

Farewell Chappy Simon

It is with a great degree of sadness that I received a letter over the holidays from Simon Teunis, our school Chaplain, informing me of his resignation to take up duties on the Sunshine Coast. I know the valuable work and contribution Simon has made to the staff and student body of the school and know that you all join me in wishing him and his family all the very best for whatever the future may hold. Simon’s last day at school will be today. Arrangements have already been made to advertise this new vacancy and I hope we are able to announce a replacement soon.

From the Principal – York McFadzean

Welcome to Term 2! This is typically a very busy term in which we have a wide range of events occurring across the whole school.

Term One Reports

These reports were distributed during period 4 on Monday. Congratulations to the 18 students who received at least a “B” standard across all their subjects. A morning tea will be provided to this group not only to congratulate them on these fine results but also to investigate what else they need from the school to assist them develop in their studies even further.

Parent Teacher Evening

This will occur on Wednesday 8 May 2019 after school in S Block. I invite all parents to come and meet their student’s teachers and discuss with them how we can work together to improve the quality of the work produced each day in class. The parent link to SOBs to make a meeting time is

Term One Attendance

Thank you to all the families who ensure their student attends school each day. We have had almost two-thirds of our student population attend for over 85% of the term which is a great result. Well done to all those students who make attending school such a priority!

Introducing new Guidance Officer

It is a great pleasure to be able to notify the school community that we now have a Guidance Officer for the Cluster. Ms Kelly Lawton was working last term at Emerald State High School and will work here two days each week. I welcome Ms Lawton to our school community.

Athletics Carnival

As many know, the carnival was originally set for last Wednesday. The rain overnight meant that it was unsafe to hold the carnival that day so it has been postponed until this Thursday 2 May. My thanks to Mr Luke Basile who has worked so diligently to ensure a successful carnival in 2019. I encourage all students to attend this day and support their house as they challenge each other across a wide range of track and field events.

Visit from the Centre for Leadership and Wellbeing Team

We have this week staff from the CLAW visiting our school to work specifically with staff and students from Year 7 to develop and improve the teaching practice to focus on the literacy needs of each student. This will be a pilot study that we hope will be able to be rolled out across the whole middle school over the next year.

School Review

Later this term we are scheduled to have our school review. This will entail a group of experienced educators coming to our school to talk to staff, students and parents about what we do and make suggestions as to where we can improve our practice. I see this as a wonderful opportunity for us to review our practice and develop a plan to further improve what it is we do each day. Please feel free to contact me should you wish to discuss this visit.

Year 12 Formal

I realise that this is an early mention, but I know many parents are beginning to consider and plan for this event. To that end, I will be sending home with each Year 12 student an invitation to meet as a group so we can plan and prepare fully for this end of year function.

Till next time,

Mr York McFadzean

From HoD Senior Secondary – Deborah Addison

Year 12

There will be a meeting for students and their parents/guardians to discuss the planning for the Formal. This date is still yet to be set, when it is, a text message will go out and it will also appear on the school Facebook page.

Students have started well with the majority of students passing all subjects this term. Any students who did not pass will have a meeting with me to discuss strategies on how to get to a passing grade.

Year 11

Students are 11 weeks in to their first unit and will have the opportunity to change classes at the end of the unit, approximately Week 5 this term. Any student who is currently failing or wants to change classes will have a meeting with me in the following weeks to discuss the changes.

All ATAR students and their parents will be invited to a meeting to discuss the progress their student has made and where they are looking to head in the future.

This is a timely reminder that although senior students might not have set homework, they always have the ability to revise what they have been learning in class.

Year 10

Forms regarding work experience have started to go home. This is taking place in Week 10 and all students are to take part in this wonderful opportunity. Please discuss with your students the workplace or style of work experience they might be interested in.

If you run a business or know someone who might be willing to take on a work experience student, please send the school an email and we can hopefully place a student with you.

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 Junior Secondary – Chris Delroy

WHAT IS NAPLAN?

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. All students in these year levels are expected to participate in tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. All government and non-government education authorities have contributed to the development of NAPLAN materials.

WHY DO STUDENTS DO NAPLAN TESTS?

NAPLAN is the measure through which governments, education authorities, schools, teachers and parents can determine whether or not young Australians have the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.

The tests provide parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. They also provide schools, states and territories with information about how education programs are working and which areas need to be prioritised for improvement.

NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process, and do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance.

NAPLAN 2019 paper test

Individual students are not permitted to sit the paper tests after Friday 17 May 2019.

Parents must complete the following forms and submit to the office by the Friday 3 May 2019. Forms available are adjustment, test exemption, and parent withdrawal.

Mr Chris Delroy

From HoD Teaching and Learning – Amy McKenna

Welcome back to another busy term. This term there are several exciting things happening in the areas of teaching and learning. The Roma Centre for Learning and Wellbeing (CLaW) are working with Year 7 teachers on a project to improve literacy outcomes for Year 7 students, with the goal to eventually embed this throughout the school. This project begins in Week 2 and will continue until the end of the year. Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) continues this term, where students in years 7-10 read a book of their choice, for a minimum of ten minutes a day. Thanks to the parents and community members for their donations of young adult fiction books to our DEAR initiative. These donations have helped us to keep it engaging and relevant for the students. Please encourage your child to read a little bit every day to improve their vocabulary, their ability to comprehend texts, and foster an enjoyment of reading.

Miss Amy McKenna

New Guidance Officer appointed

This term we welcome Ms Kelly Lawton to the Guidance Officer role. Ms Lawton comes to St George after a term as Guidance Officer at Emerald State High School. Ms Lawton will be based at St George State High School providing Guidance Officer Support to Begonia, Bollon, Dirranbandi, Hebel, Thallon, St George State School and Surat. Ms Lawton will be at the high school 2 days per week and appointments can be made through the office.

As some of you may be aware, I have commenced in a new role this year as Acting Senior Guidance Officer based at St George State School. This role means I provide support to Guidance Officers based in St George, Cunnamulla, Charleville, Roma, Miles and Chinchilla. I have enjoyed working in my various roles at St George State High School over the last 12 years and look forward to continuing to support the school and the incoming Guidance Officer.

Each year, Universities host open days, which are a great chance to see their programs on offer and visit the campus. Please check out the individual university websites for further details of time and events for the days. University Open Day Information:

Mrs Annette Woodrow

Year 7 Camp

Camp Log: Monday 1 April 2019

After a long ride in the buses, driven expertly by Miss Weatherall and Mr Delroy, our intrepid campers finally arrived at their intended rendezvous point: Camp Kindilan, Redland Bay. After unpacking and settling into the dormitories, followed by dinner in the mess hall, all parties took part in teamwork challenges ably instructed by the camp leader Mr B, who pushed the campers to their limits. After a long day of travel and activities all campers were confined to their sleeping quarters to the call of ‘lights out’.

Camp Log: Tuesday 2 April 2019

Rising early and jogging around troop-lines was mission one for the day. Our crew were split into three new groups directed by the very capable teachers of St George. Today’s challenges included: the conquering of the Giant Swing, Rock Climbing and Bushcraft, which asked the students to build shelters using all of their survival skills. This shelter came in handy as today was the first day that it rained. Open canoeing also ran throughout the day to great success, with only three not so happy campers capsizing.

Camp Log: Wednesday 3 April 2019

Rain greeted the troops this morning and the jog was cancelled. After breakfast, exercises for the day were taxing, given the plague of mozzies that seemed to follow us everywhere, and rain that threatened to break the resolve of even the most hardened operators. Activities such as raft building (building vessels required to float and survive a race around the lake wherein a lone crocodile lived) and low ropes called for cooperation and collaboration and the flying fox was simply exhilarating. The rain poured down and the happy campers were all too happy to watch a movie and stay out of the rain for their night activity.

Camp Log: Thursday 4 April 2019

Once again we awoke to the smell of bug spray in the morning. To start the day was the Orienteering Challenge which required mapping, teamwork and geography skills for all to survive (we only lost one team and I am sure they will make contact with us soon). The Sugar Glider challenge asked us to embrace our inner super-hero as we flew gracefully though the sky (they even got Miss Wallace and Mr Fisher up there). Archery was the next activity and we have future marksmen and women amongst us. I am sure Mr Fisher will be writing Zingers for the rest of the year given how many bullseyes were hit during this activity. The rain continued on for the night but the students didn’t seem to care. Instead, their attention was firmly focused on the Broncos vs Roosters match which took place that night. All the campers were all enthusiastic with the final score of 36 – 4 to the Broncos.

Camp Log: Friday 5 April 2019

Withdrawal of the troops began at first light and was executed with precision (after breakfast, of course). The trailer was packed and head-count concluded, leaving no one behind! We re-fuelled, hit the road and meandered through Brisbane streets looking for the highway back to St George. After a quiet trip we returned to base, all safe and sound. The troops were shortly dismissed, returning to their families for a well-earned restful weekend.

HOME ECONOMICS

This term 9 HEc are investigating processed foods – how they are made, what’s in them & how good they are for our health. Week 2 we did group cookery trialling some available products. We enjoyed Lamb Rogan Josh, Butter Chicken & Beef in red wine all using commercial recipe bases and served up with poppadums, instant rice, soba noodles and polenta. We compared pearl and standard couscous in salad dishes, fresh honey chicken tenders with chicken strips that have less than 40% chicken meat and home-made macaroni cheese with the processed variety. As well as enjoying the taste testing, we discovered that although processed food has a really bad reputation, there are some great products available to save time, energy & money.

Yr 8 HEc have almost finished their first elective rotation, completing their practical cookery exam in Week 2. Their challenge was to create a healthy sweet or savoury snack based on scone dough. The students had some creative ideas and generally worked well to produce delicious snacks. Week 3 they will make a pizza for their final practical lesson before they move onto another elective choice from Week 4.

Indigenous Art Challenge: ASDAN

On Tuesday 2 April, the Year 9 ASDAN class visited the Mani Tribes Art Gallery. Gordon took the class on a tour of the gallery, careful to explain each facet of the artist’s purpose and technique. There were over 100 pieces of art that were housed on walls, tables, and display cabinets. One amazing stand out was the way in which Gordon adapted brushes to make the lines – called ‘cross-satch’ and how he applied the paint. The ochre (earthy colours used in Indigenous art) paints actually come from different rocks found down by the river and are ground into powder and mixed with water.

The boys were told by Gordon that the ‘dots’ that are so often assumed to be Aboriginal Art in origin, actually came from the Solomon Island people who traded with Aboriginals, a long time ago, for their lines (cross-satch). Trading was common among artists even from different parts. The idea was to ‘share’ like a circle, to keep the art going. Gordon is from the Dirran people who are famous for their carvings.

In ASDAN, each of the students have been working on the ‘detail’ in their own artworks. At the end of Term 1 the class will bring their canvas’ to the yarning circle and talk about their designs and use of colours. Every artwork has a story, as it comes from an experience and our latest challenge has really delved deep into the talents of each student. Their story is worth being ‘heard’ and celebrated!

Mrs Wiggins, Ned, and Donna

Queensland Rugby Union Visit

Thursday 28 March saw students participate in a Rugby training session with Queensland Rugby Union. Coaches Aaron and Michael were more than happy to run them through a training session before getting into a game of touch football afterwards.

Sport

Cross Country

Friday 31 March saw the whole school participate in Cross Country. Mitchell House was the overall winner with 126 points, 2nd was Leichhardt on 113 points and 3rd was Nixon on 102 points.

Age Champions were:- 17 years/Open – Sam Killen and Tia Cubby, 16 years – Joe Ricketts and Brodee Parkes, 15 years – Rhonin Wilkinson and Shakyra Cowburn, 14 years – Braxston Beardmore and Jessica Parkes, 13 years – Jaspar Wilkinson and Sharon Pearce, 12 years – Kallum Oliver and Bella Cubby.

Under 15 Girls Rugby League

April 4 saw girls travel to Charleville for the South West Rugby League trials. Congratulations to Taeah Hiles who was successful at making the Under 15 South West team to compete at the State competition in Carina 25-28 July.

Paper Plane Activity

With the wet weather last Wednesday a paper airplane folding contest was held in the library for any interested students.

Congratulations Chris who designed and created the winning airplane.

P&C News

HELP NEEDED – Please spread the word that we still need helpers for the gate. Please help even if it’s only for a short time. Ask another parent or friend. Please contact Rochelle Ferguson on 0419 798 352.

St George Show

St George Show is on Sunday 5 May, see the flyer below with details of the entertainment that you will find there. Go along to the St George Show Grounds, have a great time and support the P&A Association.

To encourage families to become members of the St George P & A Association, we are running a competition where families could win a family pass to Australia Zoo with return flights! See the flyer below.

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN

Become a member today to be in the running to win a family pass to Australia Zoo & a return flight to Brisbane with Rex Air.

What will becoming a St George Show member give you:

• Entry into the Membership Draw (Chance to win big!!)
• Discounted entry to the show
• Invitation to the AGM
• exclusive updates on whats happening

This offer cannot last, so get in quick! Offer ENDS 1st May 2019!

If you would like to become a member, message us or go to our website below:

2019 Next Step survey

The Queensland Government is conducting its annual state-wide 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 Mobile service is coming in 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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