Every year towards the end of Term three, students in our school, participate in online assessments for reading comprehension and mathematics that align with the Australian Curriculum. These assessments serve as valuable tools for teachers to gauge students' current levels of proficiency, assess their progress, and identify areas where additional support may be necessary. Progressive Achievement Tests, commonly referred to as PATs, consist of multiple-choice tests designed to assist educators in evaluating students' achievements in Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Listening Comprehension. The results obtained from these assessments play a crucial role in guiding teachers' decisions regarding their programs and the interventions we put in place the following year. Moreover, PATs are of significance because they offer insights into the year-to-year progress made by each student.  

For our Year 7’s the move to high school is an exciting but sometimes overwhelming transition. We continue to seek advice about better systems and processes we can put in place to ease this transition. In the next couple of weeks, we will be seeking the opinions of our current Year 7’s about what parts they think have worked well and what could be improved. We will be also visiting the incoming Year 7’s for 2024 to get some ideas from them about what they think would improve the experience for them. If any parents have any feedback regarding the transition experience, please feel free to send me an email or give me a call. 

Our Year 12’s are starting to come to the end of any new learning for their subjects in the next two weeks. As we approach the final assessments, it is essential our Year 12’s in particular maintain their focus, manage their time effectively, and prioritise their well-being. These assessments are a culmination of their hard work and may play a significant role in shaping their future endeavours. I encourage our students to: 

1. Plan Strategically: Create a study schedule that balances their subjects, allowing sufficient time for revision and practice
2. Seek Support: Our dedicated teachers and support staff are available to provide guidance and assistance. Reach out if you have questions or need help. 
3. Practice Self-Care: Prioritise physical and mental well-being. Get enough rest, maintain a healthy diet and manage stress through relaxation techniques. 

Over the last few weeks, we have had numerous reasons to be very proud of the achievements of our staff and students. Fletcher Wren details amazing achievements in Agriculture at the Royal Show later in the newsletter. I would like to personally acknowledge the work of Fletcher in providing our students with the opportunity to be part of such an exciting experience at the Show. Together with Michael Bennet, Deb Davis and Dean Humphries the students have been supported and encouraged to achieve amazing results. A number of our students also entered their artwork in the Gladstone Art Exhibition. At the official opening I was delighted to find out Alana Bunting and Henry Prest were recipients of prizes for their artworks. Congratulations to all of the students who entered work for being brave enough to display your skills in a different forum. 

There have been a number of finals in the last few weeks as winter sports start to come to the end of the season. This weekend sees the culmination of the local football and netball season. Congratulations to all of the students who have committed to their chosen sports and through their efforts have achieved great results and for those few who have made it the Grand Final well done and all the best. 

Congratulations to the following students for their Term 3 awards.

Overall Academic Achievement GPA

Outstanding Academic Awards - Subjects Year 7

Outstanding Academic Awards - Subjects Year 8

Outstanding Academic Awards - Subjects Year 9

Outstanding Academic Awards - Subjects Year 10

Outstanding Academic Awards - Subjects Year 11

Outstanding Academic Awards - Subjects Year 12

Perfect Attendance 

At our Governing Council meeting on 22^nd August, we discussed how we might spend the proceeds of the Quiz Night and Folk Fair. Council has committed to spending up to $7000 on playground equipment. This has been an ongoing request, mainly from the younger students in the school, and will enhance their experience at GHS by providing exercise and recess/lunchtime entertainment. We look forward to seeing the playground progress over the next few months.

A request was also received from the Canteen Committee for GC to subsidise a new refrigerator to the amount of $1000. This was also passed at the meeting.

Don’t forget the Canteen now has eftpos facilities available. This has helped to increase sales and the Canteen is looking at producing a nice profit by the end of the year. We are always on the lookout for volunteers in the Canteen. If you can spare 2-3 hours on any weekday to help, please contact the school. Our new Canteen Managers are doing an awesome job of providing healthy, fresh food to the students and teachers every day. If you can’t support by way of donating your time, please consider making an extra batch of muffins or biscuits to donate to the canteen.

As the end of the year draws near, please consider nominating yourself or a friend to become a councillor. It’s a super rewarding role at GHS.

Kathryn Hansen - 2023 Chairperson, GHS Governing Council

SENIOR SCHOOL REPORT 

Term Three has been another very busy one as the students worked hard to achieve their best while also taking part in a range of academic, sporting and pathways activities. 

Year 11 Work Experience 

In Week 4, the Year 11 students engaged in work experience  working in a wide range of professional contexts including Port Pirie Regional Healthcare Services, Crystal Brook Kindergarten, The Playful Pooch, Waters Metalworks, Mid North Christian College, Kelly Tillage, JM & KJ Davidson Electrical and NRAG. Work experience is a wonderful opportunity for students to gain experience in the workplace and to help them focus on their plans for their futures beyond school. 

Australian Army Cadets 

On Monday morning, I delivered a back-to-back presentation to the year 7/8s and 9/10s about why they should come and join the Australian Army Cadets in Port Pirie. Being a cadet has heaps of benefits for young people including SACE points and the opportunity to develop important knowledge such as life skills, survival skills and military experience. The cadets program runs in Port Pirie at 143 Warnertown Road, Port Pirie on Mondays from 6:30 to 9:30pm 

Come and join the cadets today! 

Ethan Farrows 

MNSEC Formal 

On Friday, 11 August, a small group of Year 12 students dressed up to attend the MNSEC Formal at Booleroo. Many photos were taken upon arrival. The night was spent dancing and singing to the songs that DJ Wade played for us. There was lots of yummy food available for us to snack on throughout the night and we caught up with friends from other schools and made some new friends as well. Thank you, Miss Alison Johnson, for driving us, and Booleroo for hosting. 

Ammelia Chapman, Takeria Crosby-Woods and Matilda Heinrich 

It has been a busy few weeks for our Year 7, 8 and 9 students. As you will read throughout the newsletter we have had several sports carnivals/events, ski trip and activities for students that remained here at school and the Adelaide Show for our Year 9 Goat team. Around all of these exciting events, there is a lot happening in our classrooms… Year 8 English are writing essays on the themes of The Hunger Games, Year 7 History are completing source analyses about democracy in Athens, Year 9 Maths are exploring data and statistics, Year 7 Science are focusing on Agriculture and learning about the animals being taken to the Adelaide show and Year 8 Maths are getting familiar with everyone’s favourite topic – Algebra!

Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT):

To support our targeted focus on literacy, numeracy and goal setting with students, we will be conducting the annual PAT schedule in Week 9 of this term (18-22 September). These tests are approximatley 40 mins in duration and will involve all students from Years 7-10. There are two tests:

PAT-Maths

PAR-Reading

These assessments are completed online using the students’ laptops. In order to maintain a supportive, familiar environment, PAT will take place during English and Maths lessons. They will be supervised by class teachers. If you have any questions about these assessments, please contact the school.

Students in Education Department schools complete these assessments each year to allow schools to track growth and plan next-steps in student learning. The program also contains a range of resources for teachers to use with classes.

MATH WITH MR RUTJENS

Lately, my classes have been starting math lessons with a new game I like to unoriginally call What's The Rule?.

The basic premise of the game is as follows: someone thinks of a rule that a three-number sequence obeys, and keeps it secret. For example, it might be 'numbers in ascending order'. The rest of the class then take turns to guess three-number sequences, and the person running the game simply writes the sequence on the board in one of two columns - Fits or Doesn't Fit. Using this information, students rely on their knowledge of number properties, and skills in pattern detection, to try and determine the rule. Keeping with the example, if someone said "2, 4, 8", that would fit the rule and would be written in the Fits column. Conversely, if someone said "67, 92, 15", that would not fit the rule and would be written in the Doesn't Fit column. The game continues until the rule is successfully identified. 

There are no limitations on what the rule might be, or which numbers can be guessed by the students (although simple is usually better), allowing for variety, replay value, increases and decreases in difficulty, etc. I have used it all the way from Years 4 to 10 and haven't found too many students who don't enjoy it.

Below are two photos of what the board has looked like at the end of two different games - one is simpler than the other though.

Can you determine what the rules were for each game?

The Commissioner for Children and Young People SA, Helen Connolly, is currently involved in a series of consultations with young people in Years 8, 9 and 10 on wellbeing, and what wellbeing means to them. Gladstone High School was lucky enough to have her visit on Wednesday 30^th August to meet with a small group of students.

Since her appointment in April 2017, Helen has met with thousands of South Australia’s children and young people in various settings and contexts. During this time, she has also heard from many agencies, families, community members and stakeholder groups regarding their concerns and hopes for South Australia’s children. She has heard from many young people that mental health and wellbeing is increasingly important and top of mind. The Commissioner is focused on how schools can best support young people’s physical, mental and emotional health.

The students participated in a strengths-based session. They designed the best school ever, and then put forward ideas for actions that could be taken to have more welcoming and inclusive schools, healthier schools, more interesting lessons and more opportunities to have a say.

Students reported that they enjoyed the session and Helen was very complimentary of both our students and the work we do in the wellbeing area.

Kate Cameron - Well Being Coordinator 

2023 Royal Adelaide Show Led Steer Competition

From the 31st of August until the 3rd of September, the Year 11 and 12 Led Steer team attended the Royal Adelaide Show to compete in the Schools Led Steers competition. This team consisted of Hailey Hodgson, Chloe Crawford, Ammelia Chapman, Nick King, Logan Draper, and Max Hollitt. The on-hoof competitions were the South Australian Young Beef Breeders handling competition and the Thomas Foods International prizes for best steer in a weight class. Hailey, Chloe, and Ammelia all presented themselves and their steers exceptionally, however, the competition was fierce, and they did not come away with a ribbon. Students also participated in an overall presentation competition where the judgement was on the student's ability to decorate the steer pens and keep them presentable for the remainder of the competition. Unfortunately, Gladstone High School did not receive any ribbons during the on-hoof competitions. The carcase competitions took place shortly after and we saw our three steers have great results. Our Black Angus "Tank" won out 2^nd place in the Princess Royal Station prize for best heavy domestic eating quality carcase. Our South Devon "Tucker" won out 1^st place in the SA branch of the South Devon Cattle Society highest scoring South Devon carcase and 2^nd for the Princess Royal Station Prize best light domestic eating quality carcase. These are tremendous results as they are not only against the other schools but also the stud breeders.

The Led Steer Team would like to thank Dean Humphries for coming along to help, and for the advice and knowledge he brought to the team. We would also like to thank Tanya Havelberg and Brooke Hansen for lending a hand and being supportive throughout most of the weekend.

A huge thank you is also sent out to our breeders, with whom this would not all be possible. BM and BP Mumford and the boys for supplying our Black Angus steer, Tank. David Leese for supplying our South Devon steer, Tucker. Sam Inglis for supplying our Shorthorn steer, Truffle.

2023 Royal Adelaide Show Merino Competition

From the 5^th to the 7^th of September, the Year 10 Merino team competed in the Royal Adelaide Show Schools Merino competition. This team consisted of two pens of three merinos. Team 1 consisted of the handlers Nicki Zanker, Hayden Laird, and Sataya Spencer. Team 2 included Eliza Heinrich, Tobey Dwyer, and Haylee Magnay. Isaac Smart, Isabelle Batchelor, Max Pedlar were also present to assist with the management of the sheep and team as needed. Both teams were very strong in all the competitions they participated in. Gladstone High School Merino team recieved one major ribbon for 3^rd place in most professional schools. This is a whole team effort and is judged on students participating together, showing good teamwork, having a good presentation of the pen and of ourselves. I am sure students were sick of me reminding them to wear ties and keep them properly adjusted, but it was worth it in the end.

The team would like to thank Dean Humphries for helping us prepare the show sheep in the weeks leading up to the competition. As well as our breeders Tom Ashby, Ashley Dunsford, and Levi Hansen for supplying us with some sheep early on in the year. The Ashby and Dunford sheep ended up composing our two teams of 3. We are looking forward to returning next year.

2023 Royal Adelaide Show Goat Competition

From September 5th to 7th Year 9 students represented Gladstone High School as part of the Goat Show Team at the Royal Adelaide Show. The main events we participated in were the Grand Parade and the Led Goat Wether. The Grand Parade students had to lead our goats around the main arena oval in pairs alongside other animals. Our school managed to obtain a 5th-placed ribbon for best presented in this competition which was a proud moment. For the judging, we missed out on a ribbon for most professional team, but four of our eight goats obtained ribbons for potential meat quality in their weight category. We obtained two 3rd places, a 5th place, and a 6th place. Imogen Cunningham also made it to the finals of the animal handling competition and received a ribbon for her effort. Overall, we put in a great effort as a team, and it was a great time for the students and teaching staff.

Many thanks to Nigel Clogg for helping transport our goats and to Dean Humphries, Max Hollitt and Deb Davis for supporting the students both in their preparation for the show and managing the team at the show. Dean’s experience and expertise were greatly appreciated. Thank you to Jim and Maggie Dunbar for supplying our goats, their quality was evident in the ribbons we obtained and the compliments we received throughout the show.

The students that composed the Royal Adelaide Show Goat Team were:

• Madi Clogg
• Bella Sargent
• Billi Nicolson
• Sierra Draper
• Lucy Farrows
• Amelia Venning
• Tess Cleggett
• Grace Hollitt
• Kathryn Zanker
• Christian Zanker
• Taylah Palmer
• Imogen Cunningham

This term has been a great start for each of the new classes this semester. Year 7’s have been working their way through a series of works with Pop Art. They have learned about the key styles and techniques of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Starting with coloring their own version of the iconic soup cans and now creating their own abstract Pop Art portraits on canvass. Next, they will be learning how to stencil and make screen prints.

Year 8s have learned key skills with clay and have used these to create clay Mandala artworks. They have sculpted and carved radial patterns onto these before they are fired, then painted. During this process they have documented the key steps and decisions in their designs with a folio of images and annotations on their work.

Year 9s have been learning about the use of perspective in artwork and have practiced using these skills in one, and two-point perspective drawings, before creating final landscape artworks. They are now moving on to experimenting with printmaking, transferring their skills from learning about perspective to create landscape lino prints.

Year 10s began with a design task, creating a folio of idea development and research toward their choice of an Olympic poster and logo or sports uniform. They are now completing written inquiries into ceramic artists for inspiration, before developing and documenting their skills with clay through a practical skills folio.

Our SACE Creative Arts students have continued creating a range of works and experiments for their individual projects. This semester has seen the art studio grow with most of our Stage 1 students electing to complete a second semester of Creative Arts and others joining at the start of this term. Their learning and creating have included Macramé, photography, branding and digital design packages, ceramics, and painting and drawing with a number of mediums.

Students from across the school have also recently entered their chosen artworks into the Gladstone Art Exhibition. In association with Flinders Ranges: A Brush With Art, their works (shown below) will be on display in the Gladstone Town Hall alongside other artists from the region until the 6^th of October. If you have the time, visit the gallery and support art in our community.

Jack Kennewell – Art Teacher

Leaving at 9:00pm on Saturday 12 August, a group of 21 Year 9 students departed for the 2023 Ski Trip. Knowing we were setting off on a long bus ride, we were lucky enough to be able to spread out with a double seat each for as much sleep as possible. Arriving in Mt Beauty a quick 16 hours later, the adventure had commenced.

We thank the staff who attended the 2023 Ski Trip: Samantha Ramm, Nathan Gillard, Scott Watson and Kate Seidel. Most of the work for this camp takes place before we leave and for that we are extremely grateful for Deb Davis who takes on the bulk of this – all while still running our library and working in classrooms to support students.

Students who didn’t go on Ski Trip were involved in a range of activities and excursions. These were orgnanised by Ms. Travers and involved a range of different teachers and SSOs. Thank you to all of the staff who made these events possible.

Below are some highlights of the week from our students:

GHS Ski Trip (Madi Clogg)

In Week 4, many of the Year 9's from Gladstone High, Jamestown Community and Booleroo Areas School experienced a lifelong memorable camp. We left Gladstone late Saturday night and travelled all night arriving at Mount Beauty around 12 o'clock Sunday. We stayed at the Mount Beauty Park and travelled an hour up the mountain early each morning. We had small group lessons running for approximately an hour, learning a different skill we could then put into practice after lunch. We began on Mousetrap, when we were comfortable skiing, moving on to the green (basic snow plough use), blue (basic skills plus turns and jumps) and by the end of the week, black (steep, windy and long) routes.

Apart from the pain of putting snow boots on and walking, we all had an amazing time. On Thursday, we left Mount Beauty , enjoyed lots of Mcdonalds, lots of powernaps, before arriving back at school around 10.30 Friday morning. Thank you to Mrs Seidel, Miss Ramm, Mr Gillard, Mr Watson and everyone else who helped make the week run smoothly!

GHS Year 9 Activity Week (Matthew McKerlie)

In Week 4 of the 3rd term, Year 9 students from Gladstone High School that did not go on the week-long Ski Trip had a week of excursions and activities.

We had three excursion days, the highlight of the week was Wednesday, that day we went to Blyth Cinema and watched Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning: Part one, after we drove to Clare and got to walk around unsupervised for about an hour, it was really fun walking around with friends in the city streets and was a nice refresher before going back to school.

My personal second favourite of the days was Tuesday, where we went to Port Pirie, and went bowling. Bowling was very entertaining, and in between we could by drinks and play other games like Pinball, after we went to Subway and McDonald’s for lunch.

On Monday we went to Crystal Brook and bought some food and drink before going to Bowman Park and did a scavenger hunt, it was fun to walk around in the wild.

Lastly was the two activity days, which comprised of multiple fun activities like making coffee, and going to the Booyoolee Brew.

Term 3 has been another big term for our students with lots of excursions, camps and of course sports. Week 3 was a busy week for our Middle School Students, with a large group of Year 8 and 9 girls selected to play in the MNSEC 7/8/9 Football Carnival in Nuriootpa.  We also had our Year 7/8, 5-A-Side Soccer carnival at Booleroo, with 6 teams entered.

In footy news, the girls played against Nuriootpa High School and St Micheal’s College on Tuesday of Week 3. Unfortunately, they didn’t get a win, but the games were extremely close, and GHS students showed some excellent talent for the day.

Thursday of Week 3, our Year 7/8’s travelled to Booleroo for the day, playing 9 games each, not to worry as it was 5-A-side and teams had plenty of subs for rotations. Games consisted of 2x 6min halves, with the winning team announced at the end of the day. GHS put up a great fight throughout the day with many wins and losses. We had a handful of Year 9’s volunteer to help assist with coaching and umpiring for the day. Each Year 9 was allocated a team to coach and took turns helping umpire games throughout the day. Thank you to Riley. H., Jackson, Aaron, Amelia, Isabella, Georgia and Tess.

In Week 6 we hosted the Fast 5 Netball, we entered 6 mixed teams of Year 9 and 10, boys and girls. We competed against Orroroo, Peterborough, Jamestown and Booleroo, with Orroroo taking out 1^st and 2^nd place. We had one team place 4th in the overall comp: well done Isabelle Batchelor, Sataya Spencer, Jonah Amey, Riley Hoskin, Mia Chapman and Hudson Seidel. A big thank you to those Year 8, Year 9 and Staff who helped umpire throughout the day. The Year 12’s provided a BBQ to raise money for their Formal.

It’s been a busy term for sports, but even busier for the Year 11/12 PE class. For the past 6 weeks, they have been putting their skills to the test by playing against Booleroo’s Year 11/12 PE class in a series of volleyball games. This was done to allow both classes to collect valuable data for their folio as a part of their final assessment. In Week 3 Booleroo travelled to GHS, in Week 5, we travelled to their school and in Week 7 both schools travelled to Adelaide for the final game. We played at Lights View Community and Sports Centre, where we also competed against other senior PE students in a tournament.  GHS had a great day with a mix of wins and losses, with a total of 10 games played. GHS finished 5^th out of 7th in our competition.

Samantha Ramm - PE Teacher

On the 10 and 11^th of August Shakaya, Jasmine and Farley attended an Indigenous STEM workshop in Adelaide.

These are their reflections:

At STEM we did some amazing things like making paper aeroplanes and we got to fly them in the Hall. We also tried making a fire with a stick. We made a little bit of smoke. We also got to try a VR set and draw in the VR. Then we had lunch and went back to the hotel for the next day. 

Farley O’Brien.

In the STEM Workshop we got to make a fire the traditional way with sticks and wood. The friction from the sticks burnt the wood and it started smoking. Only 5 out of 20 students made smoke. Shakaya and I made smoke.

We also made paper airplanes and we got to throw them around the room.

Jasmine O’Brien

On the first day when we got there, we worked on making a fire and it was so fun because we were the first ones to make a fire. I like it so much I would do it again for sure. I really had fun.

Shakaya O’Brien

Levi is pretty sick of starring in Dad's stupid TV show, Kid Kablam. Because Levi is the kid who gets Kablammed. So far he's been knocked down, blown up, and attacked by wild animals. And Dad has one more scene planned - the most dangerous stunt so far. Can Levi survive this final stunt without seriously stacking it?

Doris Kozlowski's life is anything but normal. But Doris is good at pretending to be just like everyone else, and she has a plan to get through Year six… A hilarious yet touching middle grade debut about embracing who you are and finding your true friends.

Who are you when your other half is gone? Twelve-year-old Charli knows no other way of being than as a twin. But when her twin sister, Freya, succumbs to a lifelong battle with illness, Charli, consumed by grief, retreats into a tent in her backyard. Closed off from her family and friends, Charli risks losing not only her other half but her whole self. Without her twin, who is left to save Charli? From Di Walker comes a story of loss, the importance of friendship and the transcendence of love, even if it is sometimes hard to see.

Twelve-year-old Will Haddon and his twin friends, Dar and Juno, find a safe full of money and human bones in an old house that’s sticking out of a rapidly receding lake amid the worst drought in history. Their mission to identify the body reveals secrets that will rewrite the history of their town and the story of their lives.

This enticing collection of contemporary fiction is a celebration of our ubuntu: the invisible ties that bind us all together.From ancient forest guardians to modern cultural warriors, from grappling with age-old traditions to championing hair identity, these evocative stories explore the duality of Kenyan life and how to find a way between two cultures, both of which are yours. Chemutai Glasheen’s unforgettable characters are drawn from her early life in Africa with all its richness, diversity and complexity.

Lily's emotional problems run deep - three miles deep. After she gets kicked out of school for her destructive behaviour, Lily agrees to an unusual fresh start: going with her mum to live at Deephaven, an experimental deep-sea mining rig and research station located at the bottom of the ocean. Lily instantly regrets her decision: claustrophobic and isolated, it's hardly her idea of home. Turns out, Deephaven has problems of its own. The head scientist, they quickly learn, has disappeared - just as he was on the brink of a shocking discovery. In the darkness of the deep, something is stirring ... something dangerous. And it's calling out to Lily.      Young Adult  Science  Fiction  Mystery  Fantasy  Thriller

The new book from author of The Barefoot Investor, the #1 all-time Australian bestseller If you want the kids in your life to be good with money, hand them this book. Teaching kids about money isn't easy. So let Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor, do it for you! .

Earth Knowledge Genius! is packed with more than 60 topics, including the highest mountains, largest deserts, most extreme weather, breathtaking natural wonders, and much more! As you hop from one continent to the next, you will not only learn more about our fascinating world, but also have fun in this brilliantly entertaining quiz book for kids and the whole family.

Recently the Resource Centre received an upgrade, removing the old compactus and installing new shelving and cupboards plus new carpet in the work area.  Huge thank you to Barry for his skills to make this space more workable.

Do you know of someone who contributes to the school and has gone the extra mile to make Gladstone High School better?

We are looking for a parent/caregiver, staff member or community member who volunteers time and skills for the improvement of the school to receive the Rowan Ramsey MP School Community Award for 2023. This is a prestigious award and is only given after careful deliberation. 

If you know of someone who meets this criteria, please contact Tyler Hogan at the school on 86622171 or myself on 0438363123.

Thankyou - Kathryn Hansen
Governing Council Chairperson 2023