15 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Work has now been completed on the senior learning space and Y11/12 classes will be relocating this week. This represents the first stage of our strategic plan to improve both the physical environment of our school and our learning spaces. The introduction of interactive screens coupled with the professional learning already commenced by staff will offer students new opportunities for learning and improve engagement through an integrated approach to learning technologies. The recent changes we have made to our school and both the interest and support they have generated has highlighted the importance of the school as a hub of the Quorn community. Maintaining this support is essential if we are to prepare our young people for a future in which they can actively contribute to society and I welcome suggestions from the community on how we can further strengthen this bond.

Recently I attended a conference in Adelaide presented by world renowned educator Jo Boaler. Jo is a British education author and is Professor of Mathematics Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education in the United States. She is the driving force behind ‘Youcubed’ which is a centre that challenges many of the established beliefs about the learning of mathematics and offers support and resources for both caregivers and teachers across the world. If you are concerned or confused about your child’s mathematical development I would advise you to follow the link below and discuss the articles with your child’s teacher.

Later this term all students will be involved in the ‘Week of Inspirational Math’ which aims to engage students in open, visual, creative mathematics and challenge their beliefs about their math ability.

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to Monique Carcuro for her vision and hard work in relation to our outstanding website. Our website and associated app were recently identified as the gold standard across the far north region. The QAS website also appears in Schoolzine’s marketing literature across Australia.

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed

Secondary Report

We are already nearly one third of the way through Term 3. Our Year 12 students have approximately 8 weeks of school left until they begin the next phase of their lives. We ask both parents and students that they remain diligent with their studies and not let 12 years of hard work slip in the last two months. Students need to work hard to ensure all work is completed to a high standard therefore ensuring they achieve the highest mark possible. Please ensure that your child doesn’t miss any unnecessary days away from school as it puts a great deal of pressure on them and the staff to complete their work.

The secondary students have begun lessons in our upgraded learning space near the school library. We are lucky to have such amazing facilities on offer and it is something that all the students are enjoying being a part of.

Later this term Luci Legge and myself will be holding subject counselling meetings with our 2018 Year 11 and 12 students. These meetings will be held with both the parent and student to ensure we are selecting the correct subjects for your child to follow their career pathway. There will be letters sent out soon regarding times of these meetings.

Matt Griffiths
Deputy Principal

Primary Report

Celebrating Geri’s Italian Adventure

Geri Tschirner, a Year 5 student, recently returned from an extended stay in Italy with her family. To celebrate Geri’s Italy adventure, Year 5/6 dedicated a day to all things Italian.

On Tuesday 9th August the class began the day by greeting each other in Italian, discussing the history of the language and relating it to the Spanish language that we are currently learning. Students then randomly selected a topic about Italy to conduct an individual guided research investigation and produce a poster from their findings to share with their classmates.

After recess, over in the Home Economics room with Bart and Tricia, students made pasta from scratch and cooked traditional Italian Beef Ragu. It made for a tasty treat, surpassed only by a sample of gelato for dessert.

In preparing for the day, students went through their wardrobe at home looking to see if they had a green, white or red shirt to wear on the day. We were able to have fairly equal numbers of students dressed in these three colours. Students sat in the shape of the flag appropriate to the colour that they were wearing to form a “human flag” for the purposes of helping to understand, remember and recognise the Italian flag. It also made for a great photo as a memento of the day!

Geri then gave an inspiring PowerPoint presentation with an array of photographs and notes. You can see a copy of her slides on the noticeboard outside the Primary Computer Room. Having given us all the travel bug, Geri then shared some pasta coloured playdough that she had made at home and we tried to mould it into a wide variety of pasta shapes, many of which we had never seen nor named before.

To conclude the day, the class presented Geri with a box set of CD’s and mini-books to support her in continuing to learn the Italian language. We would like to thank Geri for her in-put in making the day one to remember.

“It was a great day with the cooking lesson and the project.” Reece Freer
“I enjoyed dressing up for the human flag. It looked amazing.” Mackenzie Chapman
“I really enjoyed cooking and getting to eat homemade Ragu and then have gelato, yum!” Brooke Maison

Celebrating Geri's Italy Adventure

VIEW GALLERY

Celebrating Geri's Italy Adventure

Click images to enlarge

Vennessa James
Year 5/6 Teacher

Counsellor News

Learning Potential App -

Packed with tips and ideas for you to get involved in your child’s learning, the Learning Potential app helps you to make the most of the time you spend with your child.

Personalise the app for your family’s needs. Type in your child’s or children’s name and age and receive articles and videos that are relevant to their age group.

This free app has been developed by the Department of Education and Training in consultation with Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

Toastie Thursday

Place your order at the front office and come down to the Canteen at lunch.

New Lockers

The students are excited about the new lockers that will enable them to store their belongings securely in an undercover area. Check out some of the images below.

We would love your help – Become a Volunteer

Volunteers play a crucial role in supporting the engagement, achievement and wellbeing of all children and students.

DECD volunteers can participate in a wide range of programs and services including coaching sporting teams, helping children learn to read, attending working bees, mentoring students and through membership on governing councils, management groups and parent groups.

If you feel you have different skills, expertise and knowledge to offer, please get in contact with the school. It’s never too late to start. No matter who you are or where you’re from, it’s all about wanting to help out. It’s in this spirit that the department actively encourages Aboriginal people and people from multicultural and diverse backgrounds to get involved also.

Helping Children and Young People Learn

Families encourage learning in lots of fun ways, making a big difference to their children’s growth and development.

Families can make a big difference by helping children to learn new things, reading and supporting their interests.

There are many ways to support learning at home as well as school. Parents don’t need to be experts – supporting and encouraging learning is enough.

How to build resilience in your child.

PODCAST

The podcast for time-poor parents who just want answers now!

In each short episode Dr Justin Coulson explores a specific topic, offers his expert advice and provides simple strategies that will lead to positive results... fast.

The Happy Families podcast is the quickest way to gain the knowledge and information you need to make your family happier today.

Screen Tsunami

PODCAST

In this podcast Dr Justin Coulson looks at how to make the Internet Invasion – the Screen Tsunami – less cumbersome, exhausting, and outright punishing on the entire family.

Aspiring to Inspire

Monique Carcuro
School Counsellor

Subject Report

BYOD Update

We have a growing number of students bringing their own device to school and I am excited about the opportunities this has created. This move to BYOD will enable us to develop learning programs that truly exploit the potential of the technology currently available. If you are considering purchasing a new device for your child to use at school please read the BYOD policy before committing to a purchase. Please note that you do not have to purchase a copy of Microsoft Office. All students who bring their device and agreement forms to school will be emailed a fact sheet which contains information on downloading Office 365 Pro for free. Each student will have up to five copies of the software available to download to both devices at home and portable devices.

Please follow the link to order your BYOD device and electronically sign the BYOD and Learnlink Office 365 User Agreements

Library

Week 4 – National Science Week – SCINEMA

To celebrate National Science Week Quorn Area School Community Library in cooperation with RiAus, Australia’s Science Channel and BBC Earth is acting as a screening place for SCINEMA – the International Science Film Festival 2017.

Best of SCINEMA Program (total running time = 01:15:00)

• Nex – Award for Technical Merit
• Einstein-Rosen – Best Short Film Subtitled (Spain)
• Pangolins in Peril: A Story of Rare Scales – Award for Scientific Merit
• The Purple Plain – Best Director
• Northern Quolls – A student film especially selected for SCINEMA
• Think Like a Scientist: Natural Selection in an Outbreak – Best Experimental/Animation
• Fix and Release – Best Documentary
• Test Tube Babes – Special Jury Award

The above films will be shown in the Library on Wednesday 16th August, 7pm – no cost, popcorn supplied.

Week 5 – Children’s Book Council Book Week

On Tuesday 22nd August the R-6 classes will be celebrating Book Week with an Activity Day based on some of the shortlisted books. Your child is welcome to dress up for this occasion as a character from their favourite book.

Sports

Volleyball

On Wednesday 9th of August, 15 students from Year 10, 11 and 12 travelled to Adelaide to take part in the SSSSA Open Boys and Girls Knockout Volleyball competition. The students played five 45 minute games against schools from all over the state. Throughout the games, our students showed amazing skill and game awareness playing exceptional volleyball. I was really proud of the effort that the students put in and their amazing sportsmanship throughout all games. In 2016 when we participated we only won 4 sets in both the boys and girls combined. This year in 2017 our girls team finished a close third only losing two games and our boys team went through undefeated to win their way through to the state finals later on this term. It is an amazing achievement by the boys as they showed resilience and a cool head to win some extremely close games that are hard to watch as an umpire.

It must be said that throughout this trip to Adelaide, including an overnight stay, all of the students were absolutely amazing. They conducted themselves in a polite and respectful manner at all times and were a pleasure to take on this trip. Thank you to all students involved as you made it an unforgettable experience. Also thank you to Mrs Baker for coming along to supervise and umpiring her first game of volleyball. Finally thank you to the parents for the support of your children at this event.