27 May 2022

Newsletter Articles

From The Acting Principal

Welcome: This is Week 6 of Term 2 in our school year. It looks like the rain has abated, however Sen Sgt McQuilty tells me the Balonne is expecting another peak on the weekend. With 75 thousand megalitres going down the river every day that is about one Sydney Harbour (SH) 500000 megalitres every six days. All those aspiring hydrologists out there please correct me if I am wide of the mark.

A big thanks also to Sen Sgt McQuilty who has been dropping into the school to share his plethora of knowledge with students on all sorts of issues, they may face as they progress through adolescent life.

School Mantras: Be Safe / Be Respectful / Be Prepared / Be Responsible.

PBL: Our PBL focus this week is “Be safe. We know and follow expectations.” Being safe encompasses a broad range of aspects in a child’s life. Students and adults receive plenty of guidance about being safe. However, who tells people when they walk out of an airport in America and try to cross the street to look left not right. A part of being safe is taking some responsibility for your own actions and putting a lens over those actions with a cautionary nature. Is it a good idea to let your child ride down the street without a helmet on? Probably not.

Year 7 Camp: Late on Saturday afternoon whilst I was driving back from Brisbane Mrs Knights rang me with the news that we could not find a bus driver for the Year 7 camp. Unfortunately, it looked like I was the lucky last option. When Mrs Knights informed me they were leaving at 6am and could I be there at 5:45 to put the trailer on I thought I would be the only person around at that time stumbling around in the dark. I was, however incorrect and to my great delight Mr Sheedy and another parent had already changed the trailer over, loaded half the gear and were checking lights and brakes on the trailer. Thankyou gents and thankyou to all the parents who made the effort to get the Year 7 students to the shed on time for a prompt departure. Our trip whilst a little slow as the trailer did not like the wind was uneventful until we arrived at Moonie for a toilet break and supplies. Unfortunately, on my bus his pitstop woke our dozing students up into full flight. Mr Murphy managed to calm some playful minds down with eye spy however Jairra Binge’s BS call took the cake for me with BS being Blue Sky. One it was cloudy and two the sky may look blue but to a scientist it is black. We also pulled up at Dalby for fuel and more supplies and then off to McDonalds at Toowoomba for lunch.

We arrived on the coast to showers and heavy rain which to the best of my knowledge has continued on for our intrepid adventurers. Burleigh Hill is an old training area for myself however Miss Embrey had a secret turnoff that my navigator had missed and won the race to the top of the hill. Excited faces were greeted by staff and after all the gear was taken off the bus, students settled into inductions. That was exit stage left for me and whilst I didn’t manage to get back that night I made it back to school the next day a little fatigued. From all reports the camp is going well and students are enjoying the experience.

What are the five questions we ask students? On our treks around classes of the school we as Senior Teachers often pop into a classroom and ask 5 guiding questions of students.

• What are you learning?
• How are you going with that?
• How do you know?
• How can you improve?
• Who can you go to for help?

Some of the answers are fairly interesting, however most students tend to be on track with their learning and have a focus to do well at school.

A very interesting conversation was had between a teacher and a student a week ago. The teacher casually asked the student what she would like to do when she finished school?

The answer “I am not doing anything because I am not leaving St George.” Was also an interesting, response, however the teacher then said “What would you do if you didn’t have to leave St George.” “I would like to be a teacher” came the earnest response. After which the teacher informed the student that she did not have to leave St George to be a teacher as all the facilities she needed to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Education could be done at the HUB in the library.

The old adage you don’t know what you don’t know highlights the fact a lot of our students don’t have any idea about the opportunities available to them in the St George community. Hopefully events like Mrs Mullholland’s Community Careers Expo will highlight opportunities available in the community.

Dropping Food/Information or Clothes off at school: Could I please ask all parents and carers to drop any food / information / clothes or other items to the office, there are too many people coming into the school dropping items off to students.

8:30am Start: Parents and Carers please be aware that supervision of your children starts at school at 8:30am unfortunately with the new curriculum and other restraints we do not have the resources to supervise students before this. Obviously, a duty of care exists should an emergency happen however I would much prefer to avoid that circumstance with drop offs as close to 8:30 am as possible.

Mobile Phones: The issue of mobile phones continues to raise its ugly head at school. The school rules in regards to mobile phones are quite clear as outlined in the prospectus. I expect teachers to fulfil their duties when it comes to mobile phones being used in class time as I expect students to abide by those rules. If you have an emergency please ring the office and pass on the message. A situation of a phone ringing in a classroom is very disruptive to the learning environment and the response from a student to a teacher of “it’s me mum and I gotta take it” is also not appropriate for our learning environments.

Communication with School: The school has many methods of communication which include the Newsletter, a Facebook Site, letters home and 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.

From The Deputy Principal

What can students do after Year 10?

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in the community about what a student can do when they finish Year 10. The following information should clear this up for everyone.

When a young person stops being of compulsory school age (16 years) or completes Year 10 they enter their senior phase of learning—Years 11 and 12.

During the compulsory participation phase , a young person must participate in an eligible option.

An eligible option is participation on a full-time basis in one of the following:

• approved education or training (including registration for home education)
• paid employment (minimum of 25 hours per week)
• a combination of approved education, training and paid employment.

Eligible options for education or training are provided by learning institutions such as schools, universities, TAFE institutes or registered training organisations.

So, to put it simply, when a student finishes year 10 they cannot just leave school. They must be working or studying somewhere else. If this does not happen they must remain at school in Year 11.

Please contact the school if you have any other questions about the compulsory participation phase of schooling.

Year 10 into 11 information

Early next term Year 10 students will begin to receive information about Year 11 subjects and potential future pathways. This information will help them in the subject selection process. The senior subject information booklet will be available on the school website in the next week. if you want to begin having conversations with your student about their future, students have also received a copy of the booklet this week.

There will also be parent information sessions so parents have the opportunity to learn about the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE – which is the “senior certificate”), the ATAR system for university eligibility, the different types of subjects a student can do, and potential school-based apprenticeship or traineeship pathways.

These dates will be advertised soon, so keep an eye out for them.

Flu Symptoms

Stay home when sick—if you are feeling unwell, even with only very mild symptoms, it’s extremely important to get tested and stay home until you get the results.

Everybody is at risk of getting COVID-19. For most people, they will only develop mild illness and recover easily, but others may develop severe sickness.

To protect yourself, your family and the community from getting COVID-19 you must maintain good hygiene and practice social distancing (also called physical distancing).

Do

• Stay home if you are sick.
• Get tested if you have any COVID-19 symptoms .
• Stay 1.5 metres away from other people (two big steps).
• Wash your hands often using soap and water or hand sanitiser.
• Sneeze or cough into your arm or a tissue. Put the tissue in the bin.
• Wear a face mask when you are not able to keep 1.5 metres away from other people or whenever mandatory face masks are required.
• Get vaccinated .

Do not

• Go near people if you are coughing or sneezing.
• Touch your mouth, nose and eyes.
• Shake hands.
• Hug or kiss people.

Restrictions on meeting up with other people, in homes and in public places like restaurants and parks, are changing often. Find out the current restrictions in Queensland

Year 7 Camp

It has been great to see all of the photos from the Year 7 camp. They are obviously having a great time and enjoying themselves. Photos of the students on camp are in this newsletter and also on the St George SHS Facebook page.

Parent/Teacher interviews

If was great to see so many parents at the parent/teacher interviews last week. If you were unable to attend these meetings please phone the office to make an appointment to see your teacher.

It is important that communication channels are open between parents and teachers to ensure the best possible learning outcomes for students.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is over for another year for all of the Year 7 & 9 students! I must congratulate the students who sat the test on their excellent behaviour and commitment to try their best. It was a pleasure to see the students engaged in the test and taking it seriously.

Nicole Hyland

Year 7 Camp CYC Burleigh

What a fantastic camp the Year 7 students are on!! A group of very excited Year 7 students along with Miss Embrey, Miss Harrison and Mr Murphy made their way down the Moonie Highway to CYC Burleigh Heads for a week of fun and adventure. The week was one designed to test limits – the weather was fresh, the sand was everywhere and the activities a personal challenge and so much fun. Some students found themselves doing things they have had never done before. They have hiked, surfed, paddle boarded, tubed, done team building activities, Dreamworld and night activities. Overall it was a great opportunity for students to experience coastal activities and push the limits of what they thought they could achieve. There will be some tired campers coming home today! Thank you to Mr Nowlan and Mr Campbell who helped with transport over the week.

9B English

This term in 9B English we are focusing on Speculative Fiction and students are working towards writing their own short stories. Last week, students learnt about direct and indirect characterisation and its importance in short story writing. They then used this knowledge and, in small groups, created their own character profiles using the five different methods of indirect characterisation. It was great to see how well the students worked together and the fantastic profiles they were able to create.

Ella Harrison

Year 9 Digital Technologies

The Year 9 students last week used coding to program Spheros to play a game of "hot potato". Sphero told them when they were out by changing colour & sound.

Lucille Acton

Home Ec News

Year 9 students are well into their investigation, deciding whether processed foods should be part of today’s diet. They had two experimental lessons making and sampling fresh, semi-processed and fully processed foods to compare for cost, time/energy saving and desirability to eat. For their class cookery they have tried packet “treat” foods (I’ve never seen so many trays of chocolate brownies) and bottled, packet or dried sauces to make meat dishes.

Year 10 students are enjoying their Multicultural unit having made dishes from SE Asia, India or Japan, the Mediterranean countries and trialling European cuisine this week. Some delicious dishes are being created and students are improving their organisational skills and cooking techniques.

It is very quiet with the Year 7 students mostly away on camp after completing designed folders to hold their zingers. The few remaining students have had two opportunities to cook this week – making pancakes with ice cream and maple syrup for themselves and a few lucky staff members and making a toasted sandwich to enjoy with a milkshake.

Year 11/12 Chemistry

A splash of vinegar on your hot chips can make them very tasty and this is because vinegar contains acetic acid. According to the Australian Food Standards, vinegar must contain a minimum of 4% acetic acid. This week the Year 11 and 12 chemistry students have been analysing different brands of vinegar to determine if they comply with this regulation. To do this, they have been titrating the vinegar with a sodium hydroxide solution of known concentration.

An indicator is added to the mixture to show when the two have neutralised each other by changing colour. At the end-point, phenolphthalein changes from colourless to pink and thymol blue changes from yellow to blue. The trick is to stop adding the sodium hydroxide once a single drop changes the mixture colour. It takes patience and close observation to detect the pale colour at the end point – if the colour is bright and obvious, then the end-point has been overshot.

Check out the photos to see how well the chemistry students did!

Karen McKechnie

Year 11/12 Rec Studies

The Year 11/12 students held their first community lawn bowls tournament today. Students are holding these sessions to encourage community participation and to play against people of all ages and abilities. There are two more sessions, one today at 12 to 1:15pm and on Monday 30 May at 2 to 3pm where an afternoon tea will be put on also. Love to see you all there!

Balonne District Sport

There is now a Facebook page dedicated to providing information about district sport. Please like and follow Balonne District School Sport Noticeboard for updates.

Rugby League State Titles

Shontayne Prince, Nate Davis, Dominic Walters, Kallum Oliver, Christopher Neven and Lachlan Mellifont were at the Rugby League State Titles held at the Gold Coast this week. With the weather not playing nice their first game was not until day three due to the rain. Games were rescheduled and played at different venues including Cbus Stadium. It was great to catch up with Mat Rogers again.

SW Cross Country

Good luck to those students competing at Wandoan for the South West Cross Country trials.

Arthur Beetson Rugby League Team Year 7/8 Boys

Congratulations and good luck to the following students selected to play in the Year 7/8 High School Rugby League Team.

Jackson Beardmore, Brodie Ferguson, Dylan Hart, Byron Oliver, Bryson Risson, Corey Rollins, Tom Mawhinney, Hale Wenck, Ashton Osborne, Fihi Fisiihoi, Beau Barnes, Tyson Mumford, Mason Mitchell, Andrew Sheedy, Daniel Sheedy, Domonic Twiner, Charlie Nelson.

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 .

P&C Proposed Meeting Dates In the School Library 6pm:-

• 20 June
• 18 July
• 15 August
• 19 September
• 17 October
• 21 November

All welcome to attend!

Community Notices

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