29 June 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Half way there!

This week saw the start of Semester 2 – the halfway mark of the school academic year.

Students in Year 11 embarked on an entirely new timetable and set of subjects this week, while Year 8-10 students will have begun a smaller number of new subjects, largely based around elective options. As we end one semester and commence a new one, we also have a reporting process that provides students and parents feedback on the learning journey so far this year. One aspect of the reporting process is interviews at school and this term they take on a slightly different format to the traditional parent-teacher interview.

To this end we will hold Year 8 and 9 Three-way Student Led Conferences on Tuesday July 4 and Year 12 interviews by invitation on Wednesday July 5.

Positive communication between school and home continues to be one of the most important influences on a student’s ongoing engagement with education in the secondary years according to a wide body of research. The DECD website has a section for parents with tips on how to engage with your child’s secondary education and prefaces this with this quote from the Harvard Family Research Project;

“Family involvement in education – defined as parenting, home-school relationships, and responsibility for learning outcomes – is just as important for older youth as it is for younger children.” (Harvard Family Research Project, 2007)

There are many ways we can engage in our children’s education, however involving them in leading the conversation about their own learning is perhaps one of the most successful strategies I have utilised. The Australian Curriculum and the SACE both have at their heart 7 Capabilities that all students need to develop to help them live and learn successfully now and in the future.

• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Information and communication technology (ICT)
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Ethical understanding
• Intercultural understanding

The Personal and Social Capability is of particular interest when we are thinking of ways that students can grow their own understanding and responsibility for learning.

Student led conferences can support and encourage students to:

• develop a sense of personal identity
• review and plan personal goals
• understand and exercise individual and shared obligations and rights
• participate actively and responsibly in learning and work
• establish and manage relationships in work and learning
• make responsible decisions based on evidence
• work effectively in teams and handle challenging situations constructively

We have been working hard in classes all term to prepare for Three-way Conferences and really look forward to seeing you next Tuesday July 4 to hear and see the growth in your child’s learning.

Kathleen Hoare - Principal

THREE-WAY CONFERENCE

The Year 8 and 9 students will be involved in the Three Way Conference process next Tuesday 4th of July. This has been highly valuable and successful with students able to articulate their learning and set goals for the future.

At the conclusion of the conferences, we will collect feedback from students, parents and staff on areas of strength of the event and areas we could improve on. Scheduling this event at the end of Term 2 allows for reflection on student learning but, equally as important, the setting of realistic goals and timeframes for students to achieve them.

In the past the vast majority of parent respondents have found the process a valuable way to discuss their child’s learning, a chance to set goals, connect with homegroup teachers and learn about their child’s strengths and area to improve in future. We encourage parents to book their appointments as soon as possible to attend these learning conferences. We look forward to making further developments in these discussions once all feedback has been received and analysed.

Stephen Bosch Middle School Coordinator

Past Parent comments include:

“It is good to see how the students present their work and to see them out of their comfort zone”
“This is a useful process. It’s good to have a formal conversation with my child about his learning. Goal setting is a good way to get them to reflect and then look forward towards improvement”
“This process is good for students to reflect on the positives and ways to improve their learning. It’s also valuable for public speaking”

Past Student comments include:

The process is beneficial because I get to look at my improvements and I can set goals to know I’ll make those improvements”
“The three way conference showed me where I am in my learning and I am interested in seeing my progression at the end of Term 3”
“I think I spoke well and presented my work clearly”
“This process taught me that I need to have better time management and ask more questions in class”
“It taught me that I need to use my time more efficiently instead of focusing on being ‘perfect’”

KNOCKOUT NETBALL

Gladstone High School took three teams to Knockout Netball in Pt. Pirie on Wednesday 31st May. It was a stunning day for netball and our students represented the school with pride, displaying great sportsmanship and quality skills.

Open Team

The open girls team finished the carnival undefeated after finishing their pool in top position with wins against Jamestown (38-1), Peterborough (26-4) and St. Marks (36-3). We then played John Pirie in the semi-final, defeating them 31-4. The grand final was played against Booleroo and after a slow start we prevailed 20-10 and move into the next phase of the Knockout competition.

Year 10 Team

The Yr. 10 team were unable to come away with a win in the two games played against Booleroo and Quorn. Many of us got to play in new positions and we would like to thank Michelle for being our coach for the day.

Year 8/9 Team

The Yr. 8/9 girls won their games against Orroroo, Booleroo and John Pirie in convincing fashion, but lost our last game to Jamestown by 6 goals to finish in second position. Overall it was a good day and we all had lots of fun. Thanks to Emma for coaching us and Mrs Hodgson for time keeping/scoring.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CHALLENGE

Congratulations to the Year 10 students who participated in the Science and Engineering Challenge at John Pirie Secondary School. Our team placed first overall and are to be congratulated on their achievement in each of the STEM design challenges. The placing’s for the day are as follows:

Gladstone High School : 1041
John Pirie Secondary School : 984
Jamestown Community School : 959
Orroroo Area School : 915
Saint Marks College : 913
Mid North Christian College : 895
Port Broughton Area School : 717
Kadina High School : 698

Mission to Mars

The activity we worked on for the day was called 'Mission to Mars'. We worked together to design and build a buggy that could hold various amounts of weight. The materials we were given included a plank of wood, various bolts, bands and wheels. We worked successfully together and our buggy held 2/3 of the weights while being pulled over a table full of bumps that replicated the surface of Mars.

Hannah Watson and Ali Cowin

Confounding Communications

One of the tasks we completed was called ‘Confounding Communications’. This task required us to use lights to communicate. The colours of the lights were red, blue and green. There were two different tasks we had to complete using the three coloured lights. These tasks involved making different types of patterns, using symbols, numbers and letters.

Rachael Hodgson, Teneal Malycha, Bree Matthews

Flat Pack

Our task involved designing and constructing two small chairs and one small table to hold a 1kg cat and 2.5kg dog. We had limited materials to use and needed to spend a minimum amount of money to make a profit. Each item cost a certain amount with the most useful items being the most expensive. If an item wasn’t used, the item was deducted off the final price. To find our total income the amount we spent on materials was subtracted from our income, which was determined by our tests. The winner was the team who could successfully hold both animals on their furniture with the highest profit. Our second chair was the strongest as it passed every test, unlike our table that passed three tests.

Emily Smart, Ellen Crisp and Sophie Duffield

Tower

We made a tower out of paper and straws to see if it can withstand an earthquake machine. We were given 20 minutes to build the tower and during the earthquake test our structure held 200 grams and during the static test it held 400 grams.

Joel Zanker and Thomas Marheine

Electacity

Electacity involved ten scenarios that were achieved by using a range of different cable wires (black, red, short and long). This all was displayed on a large vertical board with holes at each building. The aim was to ensure that more than twenty-five of the red lights lit up. Each wire had a different price; therefore they could not be picked at random. The task was based around trying to make a profit. Connecting wires didn’t always work; therefore we had to pick different routes. We got through the ninth scenario before running out of time, although we didn’t finish, we are happy with the final results.

Lucy Duffield, Chelsea Tobin and Deanna Dohnt

The Bridge

The bridge task involved designing and constructing a bridge from different materials so that the bridge would be structurally strong enough to hold different amounts of weight. We were given four hours to complete the task and placed third overall. We used triangles and squares to construct our bridge. In the final testing stage ingots were pushed across the bridge and our bridge was able to hold four. When the fifth ingot was pushed across made it across to the other side of the bridge, however the bottom of the bridge was touching the table so this ingot did not count.

Tahlia Chapman, Joel Ambjerg-Pedersen and Chelsea Chapman-McInerney

Grasping Straws

The task we completed was called ‘Grasping Straws’. In this task we had to create a bionic hand using the materials that were provided. The materials included 5 straws, 5 rubber bands, a glove, masking tape, scissors, cotton buds, string and a piece of pipe. Using these materials we had to make design and create a working hand that could pick up two different balls, straws and perform several hand motions. The hand that we created was able to pick up the two different balls and perform several hand motions. Unfortunately our hand was unable to pick up the straws.

Georga Nettle, Maggie Gambling and Mackenzie Meaney

Stringways

The task that we completed was called ‘Stringways’. We were given a board with black indications lines, bolts and numbers on them. The bolts and numbers were together and indicted a different town. The first scenario that we were given was to use the string reel to go around all of the bolts, using the black lines as a track. There were some constraints to this task these included; not crossing string lines, not leaving out bolts (towns) and also not going off of the black lines. This was very difficult and we ended up missing a few towns.

Chloe Hatswell, Mikayla Fountain and Jayden Pratt

STEM

On Tuesday the 13th of June the Year 8 Science classes joined the Year 7 students from Wirrabara, Laura, Gladstone and Crystal Brook Primary schools for an excursion to Clements Gap Wind Turbine farm and O'Dea's solar and electrical. Students were given the opportunity to observe a wind turbine in action and look inside a working turbine. They also had the opportunity to listen to leading industry professionals about how renewable energy works on a large scale and how solar energy can be used to power homes and businesses. The students asked lots of interesting questions about the sustainability of this technology and how much electricity is produced from each system. The students will now be able to use what they have learnt and apply it to their individual STEM projects.

Julia Murrie

COMMUNITY NEWS

NYRSTAR APPRENTICESHIPS 2018

Applications are now open for full time & School Based Apprenticeships in the following trades:

Metal Fabrication
Fitting & Turning
Electrical

Minimal standard for all positions is completion of year 11 by the end of 2017.

To receive further information and an application form please email PP_Apprentices@nyrstar.com

Applications close 31 July 2017

A.S. CONDON MEMORIAL GOLF DAY

Tuesday 18th July Laura Golf Club
Ambrose Competition, 10.00am start $80.00 per team
Entries to Val Thomson by 11th July 86 632472