This week has been quite busy for all of the year 11’s. They started with an introduction to their year 12 subjects with teachers providing the year ahead plan, textbooks and some holiday work in preparation. On Wednesday they were involved in a Senior First Aid course with thanks to the family who continue to sponsor this very valuable opportunity. Those students who have not yet completed their Research Project have been continuing to work on this, so that they can start year 12 with this completed.

The student leaders ran a fashion parade on Wednesday to seek opinions from students on the proposed jacket designs and to gauge interest in school dresses and possible new polo designs. Order forms will be coming out shortly to purchase new items ready for next year.

We welcome Harry Catchpole to the staff this week as the new farmhand. We are also excited to announce some new staff for 2023: Samantha Ramm –Outdoor Ed and HPE, Alexandra Dewar – Home Economics, Veronica Travers – English and HASS, Michael Bennett – Agriculture, Celeste Kuske – Classroom SSO.

Work on new cabling and infrastructure for our network has commenced and will be completed for the start of the 2023. This will improve the quality and speed of our WIFI which is certainly an essential feature of student access to ICT.

Next week is looking just as packed with year 6’s coming on Thursday and Friday for transition and the year 12 Formal at Bowmans Park.

Presentation Night is on 12^th December and all students and families are invited to attend. Formal invitations have been sent out to award winners. We look forward to seeing you there.

Tyler Hogan - Principal 

This term, both year 8 English classes have been learning about debating. This week, we put our newly learnt skills to use and held a debating competition between Mrs Cameron’s 8A and Mr Hussell’s 8B classes. Some of the debating topics were:

• Schools should have surveillance cameras in classrooms and hallways
• Maths is the most important subject at school
• People who get better grades will be more successful in life
• Book smarts are better than street smarts
• Humans should not eat animals
• Animals should not be kept in zoos

Students had a lot of fun throughout this process and presented some articulate, researched and entertaining arguments. It was a pleasure to witness a growth in confidence when students presented their arguments to the audience.

Mr Hussell and Mrs Cameron

On Friday the 25^th of November, 4 students from Gladstone High, as well as Booleroo Centre District School participated in a defensive driving course. We also had someone come up from Kadina and a community member attend. The course taught participants valuable skills in road accident prevention and how to deal with additional challenges that present as a result of living in the country. Feedback from parents and students who took part was very positive, with many recommending that anyone who has the chance to do the course should do it as soon as they can. A huge thank you to the parents who took photos, the Year 10 Hospitality class for catering for the event and the Australian Driving Insitute who came up to deliver the course to us. Thank you to the council for closing the roads for us so we had somewhere safe to apply newly learnt driving skills. Also, a massive thank you to the Rotary Club of Port Pirie and the Lions Club of Rocky River who very generously sponsored the event - it would not have been able to go ahead without them and we really appreciate the support. We hope to see many more students taking advantage of this amazing opportunity in 2023.

Jacqui Edge - Senior School Coordinator

On Monday 21 November, 2022 Madison Clogg and Jaxon Brand went with Mrs Cameron to Clare to participate in the Public Education Student Forum. The forums are the beginning of a state-wide conversation about the purpose of public education and an opportunity to hear from students about what they currently value and what they wish for the future as learners.

During the day, students discussed topics such as student wellbeing, student agency, the curriculum and preparing for life after school. Madison and Jaxon were able to hear presentations and share their thinking with others. Both students explored and provided opinions on state-wide data and considered ways to collect feedback from their peers at school.

“I liked how we used both our voice and online resources to share our thoughts and to emphasise how we want to see change towards our learning.” Madison

 “It provided an opportunity for us as students to have a voice in how we want our learning to change to hopefully improve students learning at all grades.” Jaxon

Kate Cameron - Wellbeing Coordinator 

Swimming carnival this year was very different to usual! After being cancelled in Term 1 due to the COVID restrictions at the time, we were able to reschedule the event for Term 4. We also ran this event during the normal school day with students walking down to the pool at recess to hold the carnival from 11:30-2:30, with buses collecting students directly from the pool.

While attendance on the day was low, we were so impressed with the attitude, participation and team spirit of those who were there. Lots of students filled in for extra races in other age groups to ensure that we had swimmers in the pool for all events.

I would like to extend a massive thanks to the GHS staff for scoring, timing, marshalling, judging and starting events on the day. Special thanks to Luke Bartlett, Deb Davis and Tyler Norton for their hard work leading up to the carnival.

It was great to see several families join us for the event. Some notable helpers included Kristen Cleggett and Jo Brand setting up the Pool Canteen, Emily Samuel, Aynsley Samuel and Kel Donaghay for timing, Deb and Lynton Smart for setting up the timing system and judging stroke, Lesley Nicolson for judging stroke.

Congratulations to Max Smart who broke the 50m Backstroke record that was previously set in 2009 by Jed Hennenesy with a time of 37.0 seconds. Max completed the race in 36.73 seconds. 

We also had some students stand out for their leadership, teamwork and willingness to help with extra jobs. They will be recognised and thanked at school.

Kate Seidel - Sports Coordinator 

TEAM RESULTS

1st	SULLIVAN	876
2nd	RICHARDS GALE	647
3rd	OSWALD	386

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 

13U Boys	Eli Tucker	36	Ollie Heinrich	28
13U Girls	Iysha Cunnningham	46	Bella Sargent	36
14U Boys	Hudson Seidel	44	Aaron Hombsch	34
14U Girls	Tess Cleggett	48	Nikki Zanker	38
16U Boys	Isaac Smart	48	Cooper Seidel	40
16U Girls	Asia Brand	46	Eliza Heinrich	36
Open Boys	Max Smart	78	Logan Wurst	20
Open Girls	Lillie Shepherdson	28	Asia Brand/Eliza Heinrich	24

In week 5, the year 10 & 11 Outdoor Education class travelled to Vertical Reality climbing in Adelaide. Throughout the preparation for the expedition, we developed our climbing techniques and components of the planning. This included the development of our own risk assessment, travel arrangements and collaborative skills. When we arrived, we received an induction from Simon and were taught the technique of belaying and climbing. The instructors observed the class do our first climb and belay to ensure our safety. Once the instructors felt comfortable with our technique, they allowed us to tackle the first wall in pairs.

Throughout the day, the students had the opportunity to attempt a variety of difficult climbs, which included some tricky holds and overhangs. The teamwork and collaboration shown by the students was excellent throughout the whole day, with students supporting and encouraging each other. 

Luke Bartlett

In Year 11 Food and Hospitality, the students have been learning about the issue of malnutrition and its prevalence in Australian remote and rural communities. Some of the reports are rather concerning, therefore the students all worked together to hold a takeaway fundraiser where they made nutritious meals that were mainly sold to staff but a few students as well. After carefully costing their recipes to ensure they were profitable and fulfilling all of the orders, the students made lasagnas and curry with naan bread and were able to donate $80 to the Drought Angels charity which supports farmers experiencing hardship as a result of weather extremes such as floods and droughts. This was an excellent effort and the students worked very well on the day. The charity and people they support are very grateful for the work the Year 11 Hospitality students have done, as were those who got an extra special lunch for the day.

Jacqui Edge