23 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Students have many opportunities to demonstrate their leadership at Gladstone High School, not least of which is being elected as a Student Leader. The process for selecting these prestigious positions was expanded this year with students initially being nominated by their peers. These students were then invited to an interview with members of the teaching leadership team, where they had to present their views on their leadership skills with reference to the school values. This was a daunting task and students rose to the challenge with some delivering very well planned speeches highlighting their examples of respect, honest, responsibility and doing their best.

We congratulate the following students on being elected as the 2018 Student Leaders and we have included their thoughts on what they aspire to achieve in their positions next year:

Year 12

School Captains

Alyssa Crisp “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work in a great leadership team”
Ben Treasure “I want to see where the school will be in 12 months’ time”

Deputy Captains

Nikayla Schmidt “I want to make change with the school”
Noah Zwar “I want to improve the school’s canteen”

Year 11

Sophie Crouch “I’m excited to be involved in positive changes throughout the year”
Jayden Pratt “I want to get more students’ ideas heard at meetings”
Emily Smart “I’m looking forward to hearing about the ideas of students from different year levels”

Year 10

Tommas Kirchner
Georgia Wegner “I would like to create more interesting fundraisers next year”

Year 9

Tyrell Crosby-Woods “I would like to see more sports equipment for students to use at breaks”
Kelly Edwards
Hugh Rackman “I would like to be involved in more fundraisers at school”

Each year, the Pacific School Games are held and provide an opportunity for approximately 4000 school-aged students to participate in 11 different sports at the highest level. This year the games are being hosted in Adelaide from the 3rd of December and we would like to congratulate Adam Jackson who has been selected as a member of the State Under 16 Hockey team. This is an amazing achievement by Adam who participated in a number of trials before being selected as part of the team and we wish him all the very best for the upcoming Games.

2018 STUDENT LEADERS

After the interview process we have appointed School Leaders for 2018. Congratulations to the following students:

Year 9

Hugh Rackham
Kelly Edwards
Tyrell Crosby-Woods

Year 10

Georgia Wegner
Tommas Kirchner

Year 11

Emily Smart
Sophie Crouch
Jayden Pratt

Year 12

School Captains:

Ben Treasure
Alyssa Crisp

Deputy Captains:

Noah Zwar
Nikala Schmidt

Kerrilyn Elmer - Senior Leader

ANNUAL PARENT SURVEY

Gladstone High School invites parents to complete the annual parent survey for 2017. Your participation in completing the survey is valued and appreciated to assist us reviewing best practice and planning for the future educational needs of students at Gladstone High School.

This online survey is open now and closes on Friday 15th December. Paper copies are also available on request from the Front Office by contacting us on 86622171.

If you choose to participate, your responses will be completely anonymous. Your responses will be regarded as personal information and will be protected by applicable privacy laws.

Thank you for your participation.

YEAR 8 ZEN GARDENS

In Year 8 HASS we have been learning about the Feudal Era of Japan. This period of time covers a range of interesting events and we have investigated the different social classes and their roles in society. Throughout this we have also looked at Zen gardens and the purpose they held. A Zen garden is a miniature stylised landscape created through carefully composed arrangements of various natural elements. We have tried to create our own based on what we could find around the school yard, along with making use of food colouring to create some interesting colour combinations.

Josh Palmer Year 8 HASS Teacher

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST YEAR 9 SKI TRIP 2018

To enable more accurate costing can all Year 9’s please return their Year 9 Ski Trip 2018 Expression of Interest form by 4th December. Thank you to all the families who have already returned their form.

Stephen Bosch Year 9 Coordinator

TAG RUGBY 2017

On Friday of Week 4 Year 8 and 9 students participated in the tag rugby competition held in Jamestown. We had four teams compete in the competition, two were combined with Burra. During the day our team (Gladstone and Burra) played a total of six games and ended up winning the minor championship for our pool. The combined Burra girls’ team won the Grand Final and received a trophy and a certificate. The combined Gladstone/Burra boys’ team came second overall.

By Jessie Harslett and Casey Cleggett

ST KILDA MANGROVES & ADELAIDE ZOO EXCURSION

On Monday 6th of November, the Year 9 students attended a science-based excursion to the St Kilda Mangroves and Adelaide Zoo. Currently both classes are studying eco-systems and how we can be sustainable to our environment. The St Kilda Mangroves were our first stop. Mangroves are coastal trees that grow in salty water and have aerial roots which stop the trees drowning in the submerged soil. At each location the requirement was that we were to take at least two photos that showed how that type of ecosystem had sustainability or conservation. For example Mangroves are sustainable because they have a root filtration system that removes a large amount of salt from the water. Next stop was the Zoo and we were split into groups of 3 or 4. We searched enclosures finding techniques used that were a great alternative for the environment. An outstanding fact we learnt was that from each Panda enclosure, an average of 14kg of manure is collected daily, it is than taken out the back to the compost and then used throughout the zoo. Now that we have a better understanding on how sustainability and conservation work in different eco-system, we are required to produce an information report explaining the purpose of the photos captured. Thank you to Mrs Zohs, Miss Kerr and Meredith for organising and supervising us throughout the day and to Hanley’s for the transport.

GHS RAFFLE

SALVATION ARMY CHRISTMAS APPEAL

This Year Gladstone High School is collecting items of food and toys for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. We have attached two flyers that may assist with what would be suitable and needed the most.

You can drop off your items unwrapped under the Christmas Tree at Gladstone High School Front Office. The goods will be collected prior to Christmas for those in need.

We would love to see our school community support us in helping those most in need.

COMMUNITY NEWS

PORT PIRIE CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

MAXIMA

Maxima as an organisation that works with people with long term medical conditions or disabilities to assist them into employment. Some of your leaving students may qualify for our assistance, but many others in the households of your current students may also be interested in having a chat with us.

Maxima Shop 15 Flinders Arcade 72 Ellen Street Port Pirie Phone 8632 2332

NDIS BUSINESS START-UP TRAINING

Business start-up training is to be commenced in February next year, heavily subsidised training applicable to school leavers, aspiring entrepreneurs and parents.