1 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

I recently had a conversation with my daughter and I made the comment, ‘What did we do before Google?’ She looked at me and asked, in all seriousness, ‘What did you do before Google?’ For those of us over a certain age (I’m not going to put a number on it!), we can remember a time where we looked for information in an encyclopaedia, spoke to people face-to-face, rang someone to request information to be posted to us or we found some other creative way to communicate before we could just ‘Google’ everything! It’s difficult to do many tasks in this day and age without the use of technology. It offers many positives but can also include some negatives.

As parents, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with the constantly evolving new developments in technology that attract children and teens. While we may not always be able to keep up with all of the latest things, we can introduce a framework so the young people in our families can develop a healthy and safe relationship with technology. Young people are open to talking about online safety if you show them you understand the huge role that social media and the internet play in their lives and have a discussion around the issue and don’t just lay down rules.

ReachOut.com offers the following tips and conversation starters to encourage your teenager to use technology responsibly:

• Technology is a part of life. Help your child recognise that it’s a privilege to have this ‘tool’ and that they should use it responsibly. That means sticking to the rules you set up for its use
• It’s an important lesson to learn that online material is forever. How does your child want to be seen in the world – not just now, but when they’re an adult looking for a job?

• Respect is key. Teach your child not to say or do anything online that could hurt or humiliate anyone, just as you would expect them to behave in real life
• They must only make friends with people they know in real life and should not do anything that they know you would be unhappy with, such as forwarding material that would hurt or embarrass someone else
• If they ever receive material that is private, such as personal or explicit photos or videos, they should delete them immediately. Failure to do this could have very real consequences.

Some of these consequences were explained to students this week by Acting Sergeant Dale Howe from SAPOL’s Crime Prevention Unit who spoke to all of our students about issues such as bullying, online safety, sexual harassment and respecting ourselves and each other. He was particularly blunt about the severity of consequences for people sending images online and what police can do to recover deleted images. We look forward to following up with Dale in the weeks ahead.

All of us, especially young people, need to learn how to exercise moderation in the things we spend time on, including the use of technology. Having fun and staying connected to our friends and family is important. Some teenagers do this in an online forum but it’s important to support them to balance that with face-to-face time with people, and to make sure they leave enough time in their week for physical exercise, learning, and other activities.

Sonia Pringle
Principal

Gladstone High School Twilight Swimming Carnival

Gladstone High Schools annual Swimming Carnival had numerous highlights including three broken records.

• Tahlia Chapman - Richards Gale broke the Open Female 50m Breaststroke record, previously held by Chloe Smart of Sullivan (44.78), in a time of 43.13 seconds
• Ben Treasure - Oswald broke the Open Male 50m Breaststroke record, previously held by Daniel Zander of Oswald in 2012 (42.93 seconds), in a time of 42.12 seconds
• Year 6/7 age group, Max Smart - Crystal Brook, broke the Freestyle record from 2014, held by Jack McCoy (Crystal Brook, 16.30 seconds), in a time of 15.78 seconds.

Congratulations to Oswald, whose team captains Ben Treasure and Alyssa Crisp happily accepted the A.C Read shield from Chloe Smart who is the great-granddaughter of A.C Read.

A.C Read Shield

Oswald 463 points
Richards Gale 422 points
Oswald 319 points

Primary School Shield

Crystal Brook Primary School 119 points
St Josephs Primary School 102 points
Gladstone Primary School 83 points
Laura Primary School 66 points

Champion Swimmers

Open Female

Emily Smart
Alice Jackson

Open Male

Ben Treasure
Adam Jackson

Under 16 Female

Hannah Watson
Casey Cleggett

Under 16 Male

Jack McCoy
Hugh Rackham

Under 14 Female

Charlotte Durrant
Lara Zanker

Under 14 Male

George Klemm
Angus Gilby/David Mumford

Year 6/7 Female

Asia Brand – St Josephs
Chloe Crawford - Gladstone

Year 6/7 Male

Jackson Staker – Laura
Max Smart – Crystal Brook

Thank you to the Gladstone Swimming Pool community for running the canteen on the day, Governing Council for the running of the BBQ, Crystal Brook Swimming Club for helping with the use of the timing system, and all parents who assisted on the evening.

MNSEC Swimming

On the Tuesday, February 22nd students from Years 8 to 12 attended the MNSEC Swimming Carnival at Booleroo Centre Swimming Pool. The weather was good for swimming and the carnival was well organised thanks to the officials. All Students swam extremely well, some even swimming in extra events on the night. Quorn won the night overall Gladstone came fourth. Gladstone won the Junior shield with swimmers from Gladstone Primary, Laura Primary, St Joseph’s Parish School and Crystal Brook Primary. Special congratulations to Max Smart who broke the record, in the 6/7 50m Backstroke in a time of 40.78sec.

Students who have been selected as part of the MNSEC team to compete in Adelaide will be announced at a later date.

Thank you to all the parents who supported the event and special mention to the parents who helped with timekeeping in our lane. Thanks also to Barry for driving the bus to Booleroo Centre.

Congratulations to all swimmers on the night, especially to Hannah Watson who won the overall Female Swimmer of the meet.

Canteen Committee

Gladstone High School Canteen Committee are catering for a function on Monday 5th of March 2018. If any of our school community are able to assist by donating food items such as fruit for platters, eggs (boiled) cake or biscuits’ it would be appreciated. Items can be dropped off to school on the Friday prior (2nd March) or on the day.

Border Leicester Artificial Insemination (AI) Program.

Gladstone High School is a registered breeder of stud Border Leicester sheep. Currently we have fifteen ewes, ranging in ages from 8 months old to 5 years old. These sheep are mated annually by importing the best genetics available and undertaking an AI program. The ewe lambs are added to the flock each year and the ram lambs are sold to farmers. (Currently we have 2 rams for sale and a further 3 will become available after the Royal Adelaide show. Please contact me if interested.)

On Friday 23rd February, Dr. Martin Edelmaier from Clare Animal Health Services completed the final stage of the AI program with our stud sheep. Starting a fortnight before this, preparations began by inserting a Controlled Internal Drug Release device (CIDR) into the ewes. This disrupted their Oestrus cycle and a new cycle began. Twelve days later the CIDR was removed and the sheep were injected with a hormone to make them ovulate 24 hours later, timed when Martin was present to insert the semen.

After 15 years of the semen being supplied free by Coolawang Stud in the South East, this year we were supplied by Wattle Farms in Victoria. The Stage 1 Agriculture students complete this program as part of their SACE course, investigating some of the various reproductive technologies that are available to assist farmers to improve the genetics of their animals.

AI has about a 75% success rate and we worked with eleven ewes this year. In five months the new lambs will be born. Last year we raised eight lambs to maturity, including five rams and three ewes. From these we will choose the best two rams and ewes and take these four sheep to compete in the show in September.

Dean Humphries and Kim Zohs (Ag teachers)

Grape Picking

On Thursday, February 22nd, the Year 11 Agriculture students, along with the Year 11/12 Physics/Chemistry class, picked the school's Shiraz grape harvest. Although the harvest was down on previous years the students enjoyed the morning removing the netting from the vines and picking the fruit.

The entire harvest will be used for educational purposes and the Senior Chemistry class will produce wine from the grapes as part of their chemistry studies. The Stage 1 Agriculture class will complete the pruning of the vines later in the year in preparation next year’s vintage.

Thank you to all those involved.

Kim Zohs
Agriculture Teacher

MATERAILS & SERVICES CHARGES 2018

A reminder that all fees are now payable. Prompt payment would be most appreciated.

If you are eligible for School Card you can now apply online (as advised in Wk1 Newsletter), or contact the Front Office for an application. A big thank you to those families who have already paid.

Sue Foulis
Finance Officer

School Immunisation Program 2018

Immunisation Providers will be visiting Gladstone High School on Tuesday 10th of April 2018 at 1:30pm to administer the following vaccines-

All Year 8 students

• Dose 1 of human papillomavirus vaccine, (Gardasil)
• Dose 1 of the diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough vaccine (Boostrix)

Year 11 & 12 students

Swab 2 for the Meningococcal B study- as per previous correspondence with SA Health & University of Adelaide

All information regarding the vaccinations will be with the consent forms.
It is important that students have breakfast on the day of immunisations.

Any queries contact Dymph, Gladstone Health Centre ph: 86622158 or dymphna.catford@health.sa.gov.au

Governing Council 2018

The AGM of the Governing Council was recently held. It is my pleasure to have been elected Chairperson of the Council. We farewelled some parents who have contributed greatly to the school over the years. Thankyou to Catherine Combe, Scott Watson, Sonya Wilsdon, Julia Wardrop and Stephen Duffield. And a fond farewell to Kathleen Hoare, our Principal for the last 18 months. A warm welcome to our new Councillors for 2018 - Gabrielle Crouch, Vanessa Watson, Kate Flowers, Richard Rackham, Bronwyn Mumford and Fraser Smith. Scott Crawford is our Community Representative, and of course, Sonia Pringle, our Acting Principal. Already Governing Council is active in the school. We cooked and served the BBQ at the Swimming Carnival. Many thanks to Richard Rackham and Levi Hansen for cooking the BBQ and to Brooke Hodgson, Kylie Sawley and Jodie Zwar for their assistance in serving. This was a school fundraiser that the GC was more than happy to help out at! Term 1 is always busy and this year is no exception. We have a catering day on March 5th – please see info in this newsletter, and we are serving burgers at Athletics Day. Please refer to the advert in this newsletter. All funds raised go to the benefit of the children attending GHS. Did you know Governing Council contributed $5000 towards the improvements in the quadrangle area? This will be an awesome area for the children to hang out at lunch and recess once completed!

Governing Council is YOUR voice in the school. If you have queries, concerns or even gratitude, we would love to know about it. Please feel free to contact your local councillor or myself on 0438 363 123.

Let’s make GHS great!
Kathryn Hansen
Chairperson 2018

Governing Council Representatives

Gladstone High School Governing Council

Athletics Day Burgers!
Friday March 9th, 2018
$6 Burger with the lot OR $4 Cheeseburger

*Pre-ordering preferred for students and parents/visitors. Forms were sent home with your child this week*

Community News

The Laura Folk Fair Committee invite you to come along and enjoy the family fun of Laura Folk Fair 2018.

Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th April 2018, gold coin entry and great entertainment all weekend

Busking permits are available via the link below or over the weekend at The Laura Soap & Gift Shoppe (corner Herbert St and Hughes St)

For more information please see the links below.