6 December 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

As the 2017 school year draws to a close I would like to thank the school community for your support and the staff for their commitment to our school priorities in improving the learning outcomes of our students. The final term of the year is always a time of reflection and celebration in schools and this is especially true for teachers and leaders during periods of sustained change. We sincerely hope our end of year reports, that will arrive home next week, will provide both you and your child an opportunity to reflect on achievement and plan for a successful 2018. With regards to celebrating success we still have two significant events planned for the final two weeks of the year. The first of these is QAS Showcase on Thursday 7th December in the school gym. This event is the brainchild of Monique Carcuro and I hope that it will be the first of many opportunities for students, families, and the wider community to celebrate the artistic endeavours of our students. Doors open at 5:30pm and caregivers will have the opportunity to view the artwork created by students prior to an array of richly diverse performances. Our final celebration of the year will be the Presentation Evening which will be held on Tuesday 12th December at 7pm. All families are welcome to attend as we celebrate the achievements of our students during 2017.

As this is our final newsletter of the year I would like to thank the staff who are completing their contact positions with us, and make special mention of Vennessa James who is leaving to take up a position in another school. We thank them for their dedication to our school over the years and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. I would also like to thank all of the families for their support throughout the year and thank our Y12s for their contribution to the school. We wish them well for their futures and we are confident that they will thrive in their chosen pathways. Finally I would like to wish all of our students and their families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed

Secondary Report

What a year it has been! So many positive changes made to our school all for the benefit of our students and their learning. Personally I have learnt a great deal, lots of it through trial and error but it has been a learning curve none the less. I really look forward to the challenges and opportunities that 2018 will bring for our students and staff.

We have almost finalised subject selections with our current Year 10 and 11 students in preparation for next year. If you haven’t met with me to discuss your child’s subject selections please make a time to do so either by email or phone (matt.griffiths310@schools.sa.edu.au or 86486101). It is important that parents are involved in their child’s education across all year levels. As Bob Beauprez said “education is a shared commitment between dedicated teachers, motivated students and enthusiastic parents with high expectations”.

Our Year 12s have now finished all of their Year 12 schooling commitments – they have handed in assignments, completed exams, had their farewell dinner and taken part in the schoolies festival. We now look to next year and our new class of Year 12 students. This week they are taking part in an extensive Research Project study session. Students who complete this by the end of the year will set themselves up for greater success in 2018. In week 9 we will have lessons for our 2018 Year 11 and 12 students who can attend to prepare themselves for the final years of their schooling.

Our staff have been busy entering reports for your children to give them accurate feedback about their learning this year. To ensure that we provide you with this information you will notice the formatting and content of the reports will have changed significantly. This is to ensure we meet the requirements of DECD, but also to make sure that parents are more informed of their child’s progress.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone for an amazing year at Quorn Area School. I wish you all a happy and safe holidays and I will see you back at school on 29th January.

Matt Griffiths
Deputy Principal

Year 12 Graduation Dinner

On Saturday Evening, 2nd December, The Quorn Area School Class of 2017, along with their families and teachers, gathered at the Northstar Hotel in Melrose. The purpose of this get-together was to celebrate the completion of secondary schooling for Shay Geldard, Kyle Maison, Julian McCarthy, Mackenna Roeby, Grace Smith and Gemma Taylor. James Chapman could not be there and we would like to take this opportunity to wish him all the best.

Smartly turned-out students, enjoyed a meal whilst being subjected to anecdotes from their early years. They were then presented with a Graduation Bear, complete with academic cap and a group photograph as a memento of their time at QAS. Aleesha Baker put together a wonderful PowerPoint which showed photos of the students over the years. Wow, have they changed? In some ways but the same beautiful smiles are still there. Everyone was delighted with this and we cannot thank Aleesha enough for her efforts on behalf of the cohort.

Once the speeches were over, Mr Griffiths and Miss Carcuro hosted several rounds of Family Feud which was thoroughly enjoyed by all despite the competition from the musicians in the next room.

Congratulations to the Year 12 Class, although it is sad for us to say goodbye our staff hope that we have helped you to Prepare for Life and wish you every success and happiness in your futures.

Thank you to all those who have contributed to your education for the last 13 years.

Thanks also to Nadine, Joe and Staff of the Northstar Hotel for providing a lovely venue and meal.

Lucille Legge
Year 12 Home Group teacher and SACE Co-ordinator

Counsellor Report

Subject Report

Year 5/6

Christmas illustrations to be published in the Advertiser newspaper Tuesday 12th December

Late last term teachers across the state were invited to express interest in their students being involved in illustrating and researching some Christmas symbols for publication in the Advertiser newspaper. The 5/6 class were delighted to be given the opportunity to draw three symbols; reindeer, mistletoe and Christmas bells. Our Year 10 art students mentored the 5/6 students over a double lesson to produce an original illustration and research based information put into the students own words. From there, one illustration and research write-up was chosen in each category of symbol. This work will be published in the Advertiser on Tuesday 12th December, so don’t forget to grab a copy - the Quorn Newsagency will be ordering some extras for the day.

Year 2/3/4 and 5/6 Spanish theme day

Yesterday, 4th December, the Year 2-6 students celebrated all things Spanish after spending this past Semester learning to speak some of the Spanish language. Students researched and produced posters related to Spanish speaking countries, cultures and traditions. Students also cooked some traditional Spanish cuisine and shared it in a combined class lunch. Following the lunch, there were a host of Spanish inspired activities including the piñata game, skipping, dancing the Macarena, and having a Salsa and Tango demonstration. We were absolutely delighted to have Rebecca Lyman as a special guest on the day. Having spent an extended time in Chile some years ago now, Rebecca has experienced what it’s like to be immersed in the Spanish language. We have been fortunate that Rebecca not only joined us on our theme day, but has been regularly volunteering her time in the classroom over the past two terms. She has shared stories of her time in Chile and helped us understand and pronounce words. She has also extended many students so that they can now ask questions, respond to questions and have other short conversations in Spanish. We would like to take this opportunity to say a big ‘gracias’ to Rebecca!

Spanish

VIEW GALLERY

Spanish

Click images to enlarge

Vennessa James
5/6 Class Teacher

Library

Some of the events in the Quorn School Community Library in 2017:

• The hosting of two Scholastic Book Fairs during Terms 1 and 4.
• 18th May - an author visit and book launch with Kristin Weidenbach.
• National Simultaneous Story Time - with the Kindergarten and R-6 students. Thank you to our guest reader - Nikki Downing.
• Celebrated Book Week with activities and an extra-large Story Time with Nancy.
• 8th August - we had an entertaining and educational talk by John Christensen on the Australian Constitution.
• 16th August - celebrated National Science Week by being a screening venue for SCINEMA, the International Science Film Festival. Thank you to the students who helped out on the night making popcorn for the attendees.
• Nancy Norris continued her excellent renditions of the ‘hokey-pokey’ with fortnightly Story Time.

The Library continues to be well supported, as indicated by visitor and borrowing numbers; both local and through the ’One Card’ network. For example, from the 31st January, 2017 until the 25th October, 2017 visitor numbers (as recorded by the door counters) were: for the community door = 5648 visits; for the student door = 14195 visits.

Mike Unger
Teacher/Librarian

SAASTA

Kosmo Wilton (from Quorn) and Mariah Schmerl (from Hawker) participated in the 2017 SAASTA Shield in Adelaide over two days during Week 6. Both students should be proud of their efforts during the Shield. SAASTA provides an excellent opportunity to increase self-confidence and self-awareness. An interesting statistic that we found out about while at the Shield is that the Cultural Dance the SAASTA students performed before the Power/Hawks game earlier in the year is the third highest viewed video for 2017 on the AFL’s social media pages!

Mike Unger
AET

Sports

It has been another busy year in sport for our students at Quorn Area School. We have been involved in many sporting experiences that would not have happened without the fantastic support of all the members of our school community. Thank you to the parents who continue to offer transport for our students to multiple events all over the countryside. One of the main highlights this year was our SSSSA Open Boys Volleyball team making it to the state finals. In the first newsletter of next year I will publish the dates of next year’s sporting events to give you notice of when they are planned to occur.

Once again, thank you to everyone for the support and guidance throughout 2017 and I look forward to working with our students in this area next year.

Matt Griffiths
Sport Coordinator

Flinders House Choir Visit

The Quorn Area School Choir accepted an invitation to perform at Flinders House on Tuesday 28th November as part of a Christmas luncheon for the residents. Under the guidance of Sharon they sang ‘Aussie Jingle Bells’, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ and ‘Little Donkey’. Students also enjoyed a cup-cake which has become a bit of a tradition over these past couple of years to celebrate the Choir’s team-work and singing success.

Vennessa James

Miscellaneous Reports

Student Safety

We have noticed as a school community that many students are either riding or scooting to school without helmets. Please ensure that your child has the appropriate headwear to ensure that you minimise the risk of injury and eliminate the chance of a fine. Please discuss the road rules with your child for their own safety.

STEM Scholarship Opportunities