14 October 2022

Newsletter Articles

Year 12 Formal

From Deputy Principal

YEAR 6 ENROLMENT FOR 2023

If you have not done so already, please enrol any Year 7 students for 2023 as soon as possible. All enrolments will need to be completed by Friday 2nd December at the very latest so that they can be processed. Please contact the school office to make an appointment.

YEAR 6 TRANSITION

The Year 6 transition process is still occurring. Staff from the High School have been visiting both primary schools in St George so that the students become familiar with the staff.

The year 6s will be coming to the High School for their half day transition on 27 October and we are all looking forward to this.

GIFFITH UNIVERSITY VISIT

Representatives from Griffith University will be visiting next week to speak to students about attending university when they finish High School. All year levels will be involved in this as it is quite important to start to develop aspirations early on.

NEW BUILDINGS

I was involved in a start up meeting with the builders and EQ officers last week. They will commence work on these buildings before the end of the year. The hall at the front of the school will be one of the first that you will notice.

2023 TIMETABLE

The Year 11s of 2023 have completed the SET plan process and have finalised the selection of their subjects for next year.

This week the year 9s and 10s of 2023 have received their subject selection forms and it would be appreciated if they could return these by Friday 21 October. Congratulations to the Year 10s who have already brought back so many forms! Well done!

SENIOR EXAMS

The Year 12 external exams will commence in Week 4 (24 October).
The Year 11s will complete their final exams of the year in Week 5 (31 October).

AWARDS NIGHT

Please make sure that you have awards night marked off on your calendar – Wednesday 16 November in the Rec Centre at the High School.

LAPTOPS

Laptops have been allocated and handed out to all of the Year 9 and 10 students who have completed hire agreement forms. We have been very fortunate to have been able to secure these laptops for the students to use to support their learning.

Ms Nicole Hyland, Deputy Principal

From HoD Senior Secondary

We are heading into the fun time of assessment here at school. Students are reminded to study at home and complete assignments on time. For students who are struggling, due to sickness, please fill out an extension form from the front office.

Year 10

We are looking forward to camp this term and I think that the students attending are starting to get excited about the activities we will be completing such as paint ball, twister buggies and the slides into the lake. Miss Embrey is doing an excellent job coordinating the camp and I know it will be an excellent chance to see our future leaders in action.

Year 11

Students are finalising Unit 2 assessment this term and they will have a week of exams in Week 5. Students will leave normal classes to attend their exams and then return to classes. Some of these lessons will be run as study lessons.

Year 12

The formal was a wonderful night and the students did not let a little rain dampen their time. They all looked so lovely and it was great to see them perform a dance that they had been rehearsing for weeks with Miss Tatham-Joyce and Miss Embrey. Well done to all who were a part of the evening.

The students are gearing up for their final assessment and for students completing General subjects this will include sitting an external exam. Due to the extended nature of the exams students will continue with scheduled classes until they have finalised assessment for that subject. After this they may either sign out or stay in tutorial classes at school. Students have been given exam and assessment schedules and can get another copy from me if required.

For any questions or concerns you may have regarding your Senior Secondary students please email me at daddi4@eq.edu.au or call 4620 8222.

Mrs Deborah Addison, HOD Senior Secondary

Hospitality

This week saw students whip up some tacos as part of their focus of Mexican cuisine. "Not much skill there Mrs Hyland", I hear you say. However, along with the chopping of the salads (which were limited for some) and cooking their mince, students also had to make their own tortillas for their soft tacos. The dough was a simple flour and water mix that students then kneaded until soft. They divided the dough, rolled out their tortillas and dry fried until they were golden and bubbled. Some groups paid particular attention to their presentation, while others just inhaled them as fast as they could because they were so good! Only one more cuisine to go before we begin planning for our restaurant!

News Flash from Mrs D-M 8B Hass

As those who have been part of our class journey this year, and Mr Nowlan and Miss Weatherall (Junior HOD) would be aware, the 8B HASS class has in place a restorative practices grid on the classroom white board during each lesson that uses the school buddy class process as a consequence for managing disrespectful/disruptive behaviour as outlined in the school’s behaviour matrix.

Restorative practices are a key component of Education Queensland’s PBL (Positive Behaviour for Learning) agenda. Restorative practices allow the student to correct their behaviour by using their negative behaviour as an instructional opportunity and the consequences ideally promote self-reflection and aim to maximise learning.

The Buddy Class Grid (see example below) is a visual tracker and reminder to all the students how their behaviour can be ‘managed’ by them. They can, with self-determination, continual encouragement by the teacher, and time during class, reverse their tracking to total removal from the grid.

To date, this system has proven to be of enormous success with nil buddy class referrals for some 16 weeks. The class celebrated with a party after the milestone of ten weeks was achieved last term. The class voted recently to have another party when the class reaches 20 weeks. This excellent behaviour data has also been the reason why the class also has a different approach to the teaching and learning (pedagogy) each lesson. Our Tuesday lesson is content driven and usually a teacher created PowerPoint presentation during which time we note take and discuss the new terminology and information. Our Thursday lesson is group work whereupon we are split into groups of four and revise the content learnt during previous lessons. We have access to laptops to assist us with the research tasks in our group folders. In the folder there is also a feedback option so we can provide the teacher with information that may determine future tasks. Mrs D-M likes to know if our work is too easy, engaging, not enough, and any suggestions we may have e.g. Can we do a presentation, a quiz, a project etc. Friday’s lesson is the last lesson of the school week so we spend the 70 minutes doing technology-based activities such as creating visual presentations, mapping, drawing, and researching on the desktop computers.

As an additional success story for 8B HASS, the class’ academic results have also improved for 64% (14 students) of the class. This means most of the students have experienced movement in their grades for Term 3. A and C grades are up. D and E grades are down.

Rilee Taylor experienced the most growth (2 grades). Well done!

Great behaviour (consistent and acknowledged) can culminate in positive learning outcomes for all students.

Qld Mental Health Week

To celebrate Qld Mental Health Week (2022), local service providers, Bruce Kelly (Goondir – Child & Youth Mental Health Clinician), Laura North (Qld Health, Child & Youth Mental Health Clinician) and Felicia Lin (Drug Arm Family Support Worker) visited the school to discuss the services that they provide locally and to also speak about Mindfulness and Drugs & Alcohol.

Mindfulness is the practice of slowing down to really notice what you’re doing, so that you become more aware of thoughts, feelings, body sensations and the surrounding environment.

Students were given the opportunity to participate in 20 mindfulness activities. These included various sensory based activities where students were asked to smell, taste, feel, see and listen. As well as action-based activities like square breathing, visualisation and positive affirmation identification. Students were able to identify the activities that they had a strong preference for or made them feel calm. They were encouraged to utilise these strategies when feeling overwhelmed by strong thoughts or emotions. Students can seek support locally for Mental Health concerns. Contact cards for the various services are available with the Guidance Officer.

From The Guidance Officer

Almost half of all Australian adults will face mental ill-health during their lives. This year, Queensland Mental Health Week is focusing on ‘Awareness, Belonging, Connection’ with the aim of making change and helping increase community understanding of the factors that help enhance mental wellbeing. Hundreds of events, activities and conversations are set to take place across the state from Saturday 8 October to Sunday 16 October to mark Queensland Mental Health Week. To learn more about Queensland Mental Health visit qldmentalhealthweek.org.au

For 24/7 crisis support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Kids helpline 1800551800 or the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467. In an emergency, call 000

Annette McLean
Guidance Officer

Roma Music Eisteddfod

Wow what an amazing Roma Eisteddfod!!!

The St George State High School instrumental students travelled to Roma on Wednesday and participated in the Roma Eisteddfod. All of the students had a wonderful time and took out lots of awards! We nearly needed a truck for all the medals!!

A special thank you to the parents for the support and a huge thank you to Mr Campbell for being our bus driver, roadie and chief cheer squad!

Results:-

The St George SHS School Band: 1st place
Amelia Horneman: Third place Level 1 Woodwind Solo
Josie Beeson: Highly Commended for Level 2 Woodwind Solo
Claire Stenhouse: Highly Commended for Level 2 Woodwind Solo
Daniel Sheedy: Highly Commended for Level 2 Woodwind Solo
Layla Weatherall: Third place for Level 2 Woodwind Solo
Lillian Stenhouse: Second place for Level 3 Woodwind Solo
Tomas Kunde: First place for Level 3 Woodwind Solo
Tomas Kunde and Layla Weatherall: Second place for Woodwind Duet
Claire Stenhouse and Lillian Stenhouse: Third place for Woodwind Duet
Miss Nia & Lizzie Gardiner: First place for Woodwind Duet
Miss Nia: First place for Open Woodwind Solo.

Once again thanks to everyone for the support and happy music making!

Blast From The Past

Tyler Gunn Memorial Award – Good Ambassador Award

Jodie Farrell Memorial Award – Good Ambassador Award

Getting To Know………

Calendar

Homework Club Monday & Thursday 3pm to 4.30pm

P&C News

The next P&C meeting is scheduled for Monday 17 October at 6pm in Library. Hope to see you there! Uniforms can be purchased from the tuckshop Tuesday and Thursday of the school term.

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