11 March 2022

Newsletter Articles

Leaders Induction

On Wednesday we celebrated the induction of our school leaders for 2022. School Captains, Vice Captains, House Captains, Junior Leaders, Indigenous Ambassadors and Show Team Representatives were presented their badges in front of staff, students, community members including Mayor Samantha O’Toole and their proud parents and family members.

School Captains are Josiah Timmer and Maddison Kings, Vice Captains are Michelle Hams and Skye Kann, House Captains are Michelle Hams and Christina McKee (Leichhardt), Skye Kann and Maddison Kings (Mitchell), Matilda Hoolihan and Rachael Van Gosliga (Nixon).

The remaining Year 12 students consist of Darcy Beeson, Shakyra Cowburn, Ruben Davis, Tom Fisher, Matilda Fry, Samantha Goodwin, Aaron Griegg, Taeah Hiles, Tina Hodges, Bresharna McLachlan, Jed Mutch, Jessica Parkes, Kaitlyn Proud, Ellsy Rudd, Piyush Sangwan, Tyrese Tattam, Joseph Tzvetkoff, Lauren Walters and Summer Weribone.

Indigenous Ambassadors this year are Seamus Lamb and Tomas Kunde. The Junior Secondary Leaders are Josie Small and Penny Wilkinson.

Show Team Captain is Ashleigh Ferguson, Vice Captain Sharon Pearce and Show Secretary is Kaitlin Sheedy.

Thank you to Dave Campbell our Facilities Officer who goes above and beyond to ensure a smooth set up of our school events.

From The Principal

Welcome - This is Week 7 of our school year. Hopefully we are over all the disruptions.

PBL:

Our PBL focus this week is “We follow safety procedures in the playground.” Whilst in our new age of litigation everyone wants to attribute blame after an accident, we must remember accidents do happen. Accidents can, however be avoided by none other than often “Common Sense.” Kicking the soccer ball across the game of cricket. Running around corners of the buildings during breaks when ALL the students are out. Standing at short leg without protection in the cricket game. These are “accidents waiting to happen.” They can however, be avoided by a little common sense.

School Mantras:

Be Safe / Be Respectful / Be Prepared / Be Responsible.

BE RESPECTFUL, In my short time at St George, unfortunately for my weight loss program, I have found the “Hotbox” at the Handimart. A number of our students work there and it is very pleasing to see how they approach the service of patrons.

As you would all know the customer is always right. The customer, however does also appreciate being treated respectfully as does the salesperson. Most of our students working in the Handimart exemplify respectful service with excellent manners “Can I help you sir.” “Thankyou very much and I hope you have a nice day.”

It’s not that hard, however it can be really difficult if there is a lack of respect. This is especially so in a school setting with teaching staff and ancillary staff who might have 25 students in a classroom. Teachers at our school have already earnt the right of respect from students in a classroom. This has been earnt by having completed 4 or 5 years study at University to empower them to teach. Fundamentally, however, whilst respect should have already been assigned, it is also very much appreciated.

Opening of the HUB:

Our staff utilised the HUB for a staff meeting this week. Importantly however, with the opening of the centre on Monday our school intends to make use of the fabulous facilities with classroom visits and tours.

Prioritising Work:

I once read a fantastic analogy on how to organise work priorities. The analogy went something like this. You have a jar, a group of stones and a pile of sand. You have to get them all into the jar. If you pour the sand in first you will never fit the rocks in. However, if you place the rocks in and pour the sand on top, the sand will fit around the rocks and you will get the whole lot to fit. Think of the rocks as your priority engagements or work tasks and the sand a minor engagement or tasks you should do if and when you can get them done. Ensuring however, once the jar is full you can not get any more in.

Prioritise your (Rock) jobs first, give them a time frame ie a half hour or an hour block in your day. IF you get the (Rock) priority task done with time to spare in the hour, do a few of the (Sand) tasks. If not move on to the next priority task. Always remember to prioritise the tasks and you will find you get a lot more out of the day.

School Fees / Excursion Fees: If you have overdue school fees including excursions from 2021 or before, can you please come up to the office with a payment or to start arrangements to begin a payment plan. We have quite a few outstanding balances that need to be reconciled as soon as possible for auditing. Thank you for your diligence in this matter.

Celebrations of Success:

Ashleigh Ferguson is off to St Patricks school to complete a Cert III in Support Education.

Montana Cochrane and Lilly Bourke are at Warrawee Aged Care completing a Cert II in Kitchen Operations and Certificate II in Personal Care respectively.

Lachlan Mayes and Toby Brimblecombe are completing Heavy Diesel Mechanic Apprenticeships at RDO Mechanical.

Lachlan York is at CASE Machinery Centre completing a Heavy Diesel Mechanics Apprenticeship.

Nate Davis has signed up for an electrical apprenticeship with DENCOR Electrical.

Taeah Hiles is completing a Cert III in Retail at IGA supermarket.

Jackson Hearn is completing a Light Vehicle and Mechanical apprenticeship at O’Brien Toyota.

Can I take this opportunity to thank all the industies around the town and surrounds for making the time and putting in the effort to organise and enable our students to complete their training. Of course this would not be possible without the efforts and contribution of our YSC Mrs Leisa Mullholland.

Friday Fun Day:

You may have noted that many of our staff had Hawaiian Shirts on a week or two ago. Due to the success of that day we have decided we will have a regular co-ordinated activity on some Fridays. This week the participating teachers will be wearing Ging Ging (I think, being the fashionista that I am) or something similar. (If however, it goes beyond blue stripes or checks it will mean a rare venture into an online buying experience from the Big Mans Shop or Johnny Bigg for me).

Communication with School: The school has many methods of communication which include the newsletter, a Facebook site, letters home, text messages. However should you wish to communicate with the school on a particular matter please don’t hesitate to contact the ladies in the office. Please don’t forget to ring the school should your student be absent for the day.

Rob Nowlan.

Year 10 & 11 Hospitality Practices

Hospitality students have been busy learning about food safety including common causes of food poisoning as well as kitchen protocols that can be implemented to reduce the risk of food contamination. Last week students cooked smashed avo and poached egg on ciabatta. It proved a real skill to poach the perfect egg! This week students are cooking chicken stir fry ensuring all vegetables and meat are chopped separately to avoid cross contamination of surfaces.

Jodi Hyland

Year 12 Physics

If you flick a spring or a rope, it’s ‘phun’ (that’s what we call ‘fun’ in physics) to watch the pulse you create travel along it, but if you continuously create pulses at just the right frequency, you can create what’s called a ‘standing wave’. This is a wave that doesn’t appear to travel along the spring, but rather stays in the same spot and oscillates between maxima and minima (called the antinodes) with the points at each end (called the nodes) not moving at all. Doubling that frequency produces two standing waves with a node in the middle as well as at each end. Tripling makes three (two nodes at one third & two thirds the length of the spring) and so on.

This is the basis for harmonics in music and sound which the Year 12 Physics students are currently learning about. They created their own standing waves in the classroom. The photo shows them generating three standing waves – four were created but only briefly as it is difficult to sustain such quick movement of the hands.

As they enjoyed their “Physics Phun”, the students pondered the question, “If sound cannot travel in a vacuum, why are vacuums so noisy?”

Karen McKechnie

Lions Youth Of The Year

Congratulations to Ashleigh Ferguson and Christina McKee who both did very well last night at the Lions Youth of the Year competition.

Christina won the Public Speaking segment and Ashleigh took out the award and moves on to the Regional finals in Goondiwindi next Sunday.

Rural Inspire Youth Program

Rural Inspire is a youth-driven initiative that brings together all rural and remote young people regardless of their personal experiences, where they live and who they are. It fosters connections, aspirations and opportunities between rural and remote young people. Rural Inspire has been powered by an ever-growing, diverse team of passionate rural and remote young people from across the country.

This year, six Year 11 students from St George State High School have been nominated and invited to participate in the Rural Inspire Youth Program.

Congratulations to Ashleigh Ferguson, Jack Coltzau, Nate Davis, Seamus Lamb, Braxston Beardmore and Grace Waters. These students will be travelling to Roma on the 28th March to connect with students from other rural and remote schools, also partaking in this program. From there, students will travel to Brisbane on Sunday, May 8th to participate in Queensland’s first ever Rural Inspire program.

Rural Inspire works to remind everyone that growing up in a rural or remote place is not a burden, it’s a catalyst for collaboration and new thinking. We look forward to seeing this in action for these six students, and the new ideas they bring back to St George!

Jess Embrey

South West Basketball

A team of boys travelled to Roma for the South West Basketball trials. While the trip over was straight forward, coming home was another story having to travel the long way home due to flash flooding. Thank you Mr Campbell and Mr Synot for making sure the boys got home safe and sound. Congratulations to Ruben Davis, Shontayne Prince, Amdes Saunders and Cohen Davis on their selection in the South West Team. The Senior Team will travel to Toowoomba 17 March and Junior Team will travel to Toowoomba 3 May to try out for selection in the Darling Downs Teams.

South West Rugby League Girls

Last Tuesday we took a team of 6 girls over to Roma to attend the South West Rugby League trials. Unfortunately, many girls who were on the team were unable to attend, however exemption forms were submitted so they could still be considered. After a long hot day of tackle training, 15-minute games and playing with mixed teams, many of the girls had a successful trial. Special shout out to Kaitlin Sheedy who experienced her first major injury - a knee to the eye - but pulled through to play the final game without a fuss.

Congratulations to Bella Cubby (position 1), Nequwa Collins (position 6), Madison Hiles (position 7), Kahlela Prince (position 15) and Emma-leigh Turnbull Bennett (position 19) who made the South-West Team. Congratulations also to Emalie Hams, Ashanti Thurston and Bianka Oliver for being selected as reserves. A massive thank you to Jasmine Clevin for coaching and volunteering her day to join the girls, and thank you to SWIN for providing transport for the team.

These girls will attend the State Titles at Gladstone in May.

Miss Beavan

South West Swimming

Several keen swimmers travelled to Chinchilla to compete at the South West Trials. Each student swam very well, many bettering their nomination times. It is my privilege to announce that Andrew Sheedy, Daniel Sheedy, Josie Small, Lillian Stenhouse and Kaitlin Sheedy have all been invited to compete as part of the SW swim team in Brisbane at the end of the month. Great work! Thank you to all the parents who took the time to drive these kids to the event. Without you, many would have missed out.

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to the following students who broke records at our own carnival a few weeks ago.

• Claire Stenhouse -12 years Girls; Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly
• Lillian Stenhouse - 15 years and under Medley
• Josie Small – 14 years 50m Breaststroke

Karla Small

South West Netball

Congratulations to the girls who represented our school at the South West netball trials in Chinchilla! The girls all played well. Congratulations to Michelle Hams who was selected in the Senior South West team and Emalie Hams who was selected in the Junior South West team. Grace Waters, Brigitte Brunner, Kelsey Weribone and Bella Cubby were all selected as shadows.

Show Team

Congratulations to the following students:-

Calendar

P&C Uniform & Tuckshop

Tuckshop is available every Tuesday and Thursday. Try and get your orders in before school or the next break. Uniforms will also be sold only on a Tuesday and Thursday with cash or direct deposit. Any questions please email pandc@stgeorgeshs.eq.edu.au.

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