21 February 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Our recent Swimming Carnival was a great advertisement for the strengths of our school. Whilst others strive to foster support, strong community partners, and a true village approach it is clear that Quorn Area School has proven success in this area. The day was hugely successful with outstanding participation from so many young people who modelled both our values and the general capabilities of the Australian Curriculum throughout the entire event. On behalf of all of the students, I would like to express my thanks to all of the volunteers and staff who freely gave their time to both plan and stage the event.

The Governing Council AGM on the 15th February was exceptionally well supported by the community. In a time when many schools are struggling to fill vacancies on their Governing Council it was heartening to see so many community members willing to give their time to provide strategic direction to our school. The feedback I received during the meeting will enable me to work closely with the Governing Council to review our provision and practices relating to communication, reporting, buildings, and access to ICT. Updates on our progress in these areas will be provided via the newsletter and Governing Council minutes.

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed
Principal

Deputy Principal/Secondary Report

We have hit the ground running here at school, with the students and staff settling into the 2017 school year nicely. I have personally been on a sharp learning curve and have really appreciated all the support and feedback during this time from all members of the community.

At school, the students have already been involved in a school visit from the Australian National Nuclear Research and Development Organisation (ANSTO) where they presented an informative session for all students from F-12. The students really enjoyed the opportunity to take part in these sessions and were commended by the presenters about how well behaved and engaged they were.

Students also had the opportunity to be involved in our annual Swimming Carnival, it was great to see the students participating and engaging with the younger students to help them in many races. The MNSEC Swimming Carnival is tonight and more information about this is further in the newsletter.

Over the next two weeks we are really lucky to be having two visits from the Adelaide Crows Football Club. The first is this Thursday where members of the Crows Community Division will run a workshop for our primary students. On the following Tuesday (28th) we have some players from the Adelaide Crows coming to visit the school and meet the students (I know Mrs Crisp is hoping for Rory Sloane to be one of them). The players will arrive at recess time and will have a kick and catch with the kids followed by a brief session in the gym where students will have the chance to ask them questions and get any Crows memorabilia signed (strictly crows gear).

Finally, it has been great to see how supportive and productive our school and community can be, for events such as our Swimming Carnival. It is something everyone can be very proud of.

Matt Griffiths
Deputy Principal

Primary Report

Year 5/6

Students in Year 5/6 have had a fantastic start to the year! Some of their first week reflections included:

“I love being able to ask people around you for some help and getting to know them and make friends.”
“I like that we have coloured groups and get the ticks if we are good”
“I like how some people have jobs and how we have group ticks”
“I love the group idea and the Fun Friday lesson”
“I enjoy having different lessons with different teachers and they always make it fun”
“I like how everything is set up and that I understand easily what I get taught”
“I like that we are learning big numbers in Maths”
“I love the things that we are learning because it’s not too easy or too hard”
“I enjoy the morning routine when reading books”
“I like how our class is set out and organised for a great learning space”
“I love that the classroom is really colourful”

In our classroom, seating teams are identified by the colour of a mat on their tables. Teams are awarded ticks for a whole host of reasons including helping and cooperating well with each other, work effort, enthusiasm, insightful participation in specific learning tasks like discussions and inquisitive and innovative thinking. To reward the group that has accumulated the most ticks over the week, that group decides the “Fun Friday lesson” activity for that week. The activity lists from which they choose are typically linked to The Arts and HPE curriculum. Students in the winning team also get to choose something from the rewards box to keep. The following information is a sample of other things that have been happening in our classroom.

Each morning one student presents a “Fact of the Day”. The student who presents their fact has their name drawn out of an envelope the morning before and has 24 hours to discover an interesting fact that they did not already know. At the end of the week our class votes for the best fact and the winner gets to choose a fancy writing pencil.

One of our getting to know each other activities in the first week of school was to make a poster for our “At home I live with…” noticeboard. Once the posters had been made, each student introduced us to each of the people on their poster that they live at home(s) with.

One of our first writing activities was presented at the first Primary Assembly of the year. Students created an unusual looking creature by randomly selecting one of several heads, middles and tails. When the body sections were joined, students named and decorated their unusual creature. Then they described their creature in as much detail as they possibly could. The aim was to write such a vivid description that when we placed the decorated creature on our noticeboard and mixed up the descriptions that we could work out from the description precisely which creature was being described. Following on from that work students wrote very creative narratives around “A day in the life of my creature”.

For Valentine’s Day some students used crocheting cotton to sew a pattern within a heart shape. Other students chose to make a collage of patterned paper within a heart and some even wrote a lovely spin on words “I love you to pieces” around their collage.

The Swimming Carnival has also been a highlight for Year 5/6 students in these first few weeks, with many dressing in House Team colours and wearing coloured face paint. It has been wonderful to hear the support that they have given each other for not only participating and placing in the events but also for recognising the efforts of our enthusiastic cheer squads.

Year 5/6 Classroom Activities

VIEW GALLERY

Year 5/6 Classroom Activities

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Vennessa James
Year 5/6 Teacher

Choir

Subject Report

Library

For the latest library news please consult the monthly Quorn Mercury – available at the Library or Quorn Newsagency.

Sports

Swimming Carnival

Last Wednesday we held our annual Swimming Carnival with the new format being trialled with our two new teams; Kanyaka and Yarrah. The informal feedback we have received so far has been very positive and supportive of the new event and team structure. It is a credit to the House Captains and all the students about how well they embraced the new format and really made it one to remember. I haven’t been at a Swimming Carnival where both teams walked through the gate chanting their ‘War Cry’, it really was amazing. Once again thankyou to all the staff, parents, volunteers and helpers we had on the day, everyone contributed to the success of that carnival.

Tonight is the MNSEC Swimming Carnival held at Booleroo Centre Swimming pool where a large number of our students have been selected based on their terrific performances. That said, it is disappointing to have a number of students pull out of the carnival and not take the opportunity to represent the school and community at this event. It is amazing to see other students put their hand up for the opportunity to take on events just to help their peers, thank you to all those people. This carnival begins at 5:30pm and we will need to rely on parents/caregivers to transport our students to this event. If selected students may be invited to participate in SSSSA Swimming at Marion Swimming Centre on the 7th of March.

Thanks again to everyone who helped out with the Swimming Carnival to make it a huge success. It is now time to start thinking about Sports Day on Thursday 9th March.

Matt Griffiths
HPE Coordinator

2017 Swimming Carnival

VIEW GALLERY

2017 Swimming Carnival

Click images to enlarge

Vocational Education

Year 11 students completed their Certificate I in Construction in 2016. They were presented with their Certificates on Friday 10th February.

Parents and Friends

The Quorn Area School Parents and Friends (P&F) would like to welcome back all staff and students with a special welcome to our new students, staff members and families.

What does the P&F do?

The QAS P&F provides a way for parents and friends of the school community to participate in activities and work together for the benefit of the school and its students. The elected committee works closely with the school leadership to represent the general interests of the whole school community.

Activities

Every year the P&F provides funds for recurrent costs and additional spending outside the school budget. In 2016 the P&F:

Commenced improvements to the Junior Primary Playground
Held working bees to maintain and improve the school grounds
Advocated on the school’s behalf during a visit by Susan Close, Minister for Education
Supported the Pastoral Support Worker
Contributed to the purchase of SRC badges
Participated in Parents in Education Week live webinars
Supported Orange Day activities
Partnered with local business to deliver the fortnightly and end of term school values awards
Supported Carols by the Billabong
Installed cooling, signage and storage in the joint school/community gym

… and raised funds through:

Fund My Idea grant program
200 Club lotteries
Sports Day canteen
Pichi Richi Marathon soup kitchen and raffle hamper
Quorn Show gate
Curry Club

Name the Boat Competition

A major project for last year was the restoration of a boat for the junior playground. The vessel is now ‘moored’ in its new home and we had lots of wonderful suggestions for a suitable name. A panel of parents and teachers selected the winning entry—congratulations to Emily Taylor; we love the name SS Marina and will be painting it on the side of the boat soon! Emily wins a $20 voucher for her efforts.

What’s planned for this year?

At our first meeting for 2017 we discussed potential activities, events and working bee tasks for the coming year. These included, but are not limited to, an outdoor cinema and pizza night, Sports Day canteen, supporting the sale of produce from the Stephanie Alexander Garden, a Quiz Night, continued improvements to the junior playground and update of the Year 12 room. We’d love to hear from you if you have any ideas or suggestions.

QAS Parents and Friends have their own Facebook page. Join the page to stay connected with our activities.

We’ve got some exciting plans for the Stokes Road entrance and we look forward to sharing the date of our first working bee and hope to see many of you there. Your time is valuable to us—even half an hour makes a massive contribution to what we can achieve!

Wishing you all an enjoyable and successful 2017 school year!

Lisa Pearson

Miscellaneous Reports

School Uniform

Students attending Quorn Area School are expected to comply with our dress code which is based on a colour code of Navy Blue, Gold and Bottle Green.

• TOPS: QAS Polo Shirts, QAS Old style polo shirts or dark blue polo shirts, purchased from various retail stores
• BOTTOMS: Tracksuit pants, leggings, tidy denim jeans or shorts maybe worn in the following colours: Black or Navy.
• JUMPERS: QAS Hooded fleecy windcheaters, old style QAS Green Polar Fleece windcheaters or Dark Blue jumpers purchased from retail stores with NO Logo.
• DRESSES: QAS custom dresses
  QAS Polo Shirts, Hooded Jumpers and Dresses are available from the Finance Office.

Bulb Fundraiser

Our annual “SPRING BULB” fundraiser forms have been sent home via the youngest family member. This is a great opportunity to share a fun activity with your child at home. As bulbs are planted, you might like to share about the value of our seasons for our future meteorologists or maybe for the ‘budding mathematicians’ count the days from when they are planted to when the first shoots appear and then until the flower formation. Maybe for the little ‘savers’ out there in our midst, it can be a lesson in investment and return. Whatever your child’s specialty or interest, planting bulbs is easy and fun and the rewards can be amazing. This is a low cost fundraiser that will benefit your child at home and at school as the proceeds will go to supporting school improvements.

I am more than happy to suggest the most successful bulbs for our region and hand on my tips to anyone interested and would invite your tips as well. Maybe your child would like to share your success with us later on in the year with a photo in our newsletter!!

Happy gardening,
Sharon Taylor PCW

Community Events