Welcome to a New School Year at Junior School!

We are thrilled to welcome students back after what we hope was a relaxing and enjoyable summer holiday. A special welcome to our new Year 7 students and a warm greeting to our new Year 8 students. Our Year 7 homegroup teachers are Mr. Kirk and Mr. Wren, and for Year 8, we have Miss Travers, Mrs. Pech, and Miss Philp.

Students will spend 20 minutes with their homegroup teacher each morning, starting the day with a Morning Circle based on our Berry Street Training. This is followed by activities focused on building Skills for Learning, Skills for Life, and Wellbeing throughout the week. Your child’s homegroup teacher is an excellent point of contact, and we encourage you to introduce yourself to them at your convenience.

Every student has been given a school diary to keep track of homework, important reminders, and communication between school and home. In addition to the diary, you can stay in touch with your child’s teachers via phone, email, or through the Sentral portal.

We’re excited to have 31 new Year 7 students who have quickly settled into high school life, forming new friendships and exploring a variety of subjects. A highlight for these students will be the Year 7 Aquatics Camps, taking place in Weeks 4 and 5 at the Port Augusta Aquatic Centre. We look forward to lots of fun and learning during camp!

Term 1 is always a busy time, with the Swimming Carnival behind us, and the Athletics Carnival just around the corner.

We look forward to a fantastic year ahead!

Helen Gaunt – Year 7/8 Coordinator

Gratitude

Our year 7s extended their gratitude on behalf of GHS to anyone helping fight the fires at Wirrabarra. They cooked up some delicious biscuits and wrote letters of appreciation to accompany them. Thanks to Mrs Pech for coordinating the bake-off!

Swimming Lessons

The Year 7 students have been actively preparing for the upcoming swimming carnival as part of their Health and Physical Education curriculum. As a cohort, we visited the Gladstone town pool, where students engaged in event practice, demonstrated essential pool safety skills, and fostered connections with peers from various feeder primary schools. This experience provided an excellent opportunity to apply our theoretical learning on sun safety and aquatic regulations in a practical setting, reinforcing the importance of safe and responsible participation in water-based activities.

Year 8A HASS

“How hard is it to turn a globe into a flat map?” Students in 8A HASS explored this challenge by attempting to peel their oranges and flatten the peel with the least distortion to the countries drawn on the surface. There some very different approaches, some successes and some not-so-successful attempts - but a delicious cold orange on a hot day was also a welcome treat!