20 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

Senior Secondary Report

It has been a very exciting start to the school year with all students working hard to keep up to date with some demanding course work. I have been particularly impressed with the high work ethic and desire to do well of our Year 11 and 12 students. They are a great bunch of students to teach. This is also a great reflection of all the teachers in our school and the hard work that they have put in to make learning interesting for these students. The use of Daymap with our students is allowing them to become more independent learners and is improving their accountability to hand assignments in on time. It is a very exciting time to be in Quorn Area School.

We have a history of our students achieving quite high results with the subjects that we deliver here at Quorn Area School. The two tables below indicate how our students performed in comparison to the rest of South Australia. This is a reflection of the high expectations we have of our students and their ability to meet those standards.

Year 12 Results

Year 11 Results

As you can see we outperformed the rest of the state in almost all areas, which shows that there are very positive things happening in our school for our local children. Once again if you have any questions about your child’s progress into the senior years please make contact with me at the school.

Other News

Our annual Swimming Carnival was once again a great success. I would like to thank all of our staff members and volunteers who went above and beyond their normal duties to ensure the smooth running of the carnival. It was great to see so many students participating. I would also like to thank Vinny Urbanic and Hawker Area School for bringing their students to the carnival. It was great for all our students to have added competition and I am sure that the Hawker students loved the experience. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the work of Sarah Bury, Monique Carcuro and the QAS Sports Committee for the successful organisation of the Swimming Carnival.

Tonight is the MNSEC Swimming Carnival, being held in Booleroo. Thank you to all students who made themselves available. We hope to go one better this year after only losing by 8 points last year. Results from tonight’s carnival will be in next fortnight’s newsletter.

Matt Griffiths
Senior School Coordinator

Middle School Report

The learning is continuing in the Middle School and students have been making progress across the curriculum. I would like to focus on the QAS values which include:

Respect – Treat others with consideration and regard, respect another person’s point of view
Responsibility - Be accountable for one’s own actions
Honesty and Trustworthiness – Be honest, sincere and seek the truth
Understanding, Tolerance and Inclusion – Be aware of others and their cultures, accept diversity, being included and including others
Doing your best – Seek to accomplish something worthy and admirable, try hard, pursue excellence

Please talk with your children and ask how they are demonstrating these values in their everyday experiences at school. I would like to remind students that they must treat others in the way they would like to be treated and to show an awareness of others by accepting diversity. At times, I have to speak to students about their awareness and understanding of others.

LEARNING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

The Yr 5/6 class has been busy undertaking some literacy and numeracy assessments. This will assist in forming groups to allow for the morning teaching blocks to be focusing on particular areas of literacy and numeracy. This will allow for teachers to implement explicit teaching practices which allow for differentiation within the classroom.

The Yr 7/8 Health and PE class have also been busy planning some modified athletics events to allow our junior primary students to be introduced to some new skills. The 7/8 class were extremely focused when working in small groups and planning their ideas. I’m looking forward to seeing the 7/8 students execute their activities (with the F-2 classes) over the next few weeks in the lead up to Sports Day.

The Yr 9 Media Arts class are planning on making good use of our new 3D printer in the near future. They have currently been designing magazine covers, which focus on the different elements including text, image, cover lines, masthead and selling lines.

Keep up the great work.

Sarah Bury
Middle School Coordinator

Primary Post

Well it has been nothing but busy for the Primary cohort over the past 2 weeks. We had swimming carnival on Monday 12th February that the Primary students participated in. The Splash & Dash games were a hit with all students participating and eager to have a go. A favourite by far was the 10m long slip and slide.

It was great to see the oldest students of the school support the youngest in their first ever-swimming carnival, an opportunity only made possible due to the nature of our Area School configuration.

Assessments have been full steam ahead in the primary classrooms and the implementation of a Literacy and Numeracy Block in the morning has been going well from all accounts.

Check out some of the action below.

Primary Gallery

VIEW GALLERY

Primary Gallery

Click images to enlarge

‘What We Have Learnt So Far...’

FOUNDATION STUDENTS

Levi showcasing his Piet Mondrian inspired artwork and demonstrating what he has learnt in Art.

Savannah describing her plasticine model.

GRADE ONE & TWO

Noah & Ebonie recapping on the novel they were reading during Literacy.

GRADE THREE & FOUR

Ethan using Numicon shapes to find different ways of creating 10.

Bailey is using Numicon Cuisenaire Rods to create 9 multiple ways.

Aspiring to Inspire
Monique Carcuro
Primary School Coordinator

Subject Report

Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all students who participated in the Swimming Carnival last Monday. It was lovely to see the House Captains again fulfilling their roles in a number of different ways. They began the day organising and running the house events which included decorations, team war cry, dance and mascot as well as the designing and building of the rafts.

A huge thank you to all of the parent volunteers who assisted in the set-up of shades and furniture over at the pool during the morning as well as their invaluable help with marshalling, time keeping, announcing and official ‘starter’. We also extend our thanks to Sue Smith and her helpers in the canteen. Without all of these people, the day certainly wouldn’t happen. A special mention to Angie Finlay who introduced a new program to us which enabled the students to be placed in events with times recorded. This encouraged maximum participation of all students and we were visibly able to see a higher participation rate this year!

The Junior Primary students had a fantastic time and were entertained by a number of activities both in and out of the pool. It was excellent to see the younger students being involved and eager to be a part of the carnival. I was amazed at the ‘have a go’ attitudes that were displayed by most of the students involved during the day and was pleased to see the two teams organising their events with the House Captains. Our school values were certainly on display from the participating students on Monday.

Congratulations to the group of students who were picked based on their swimming times and will head over to Booleroo tonight to represent QAS in the MNSEC carnival. We wish these students all the best with their events and look forward to hearing how they performed. I have no doubt that they will continue to display our school values and conduct themselves in a positive manner.

We would love to hear some feedback in regards to the Swimming Carnival as we are always eager to make improvements for the following year. I also encourage parents/community members to join our Sports Committee. Our next meeting is this Thursday the 22nd at 6:30pm at the school. During this meeting we will review the swimming carnival and make plans for sports day which is fast approaching.

Please contact Sarah Bury at the school or send an email if you have some feedback from the carnival or would like to be involved on the sports committee. Sarah.bury988@schools.sa.edu.au

2018 Swimming Carnival Results

Swim Carnival

VIEW GALLERY

Swim Carnival

Click images to enlarge

Library

ADVANCE NOTICE - The Scholastic Book Fair will be held in the Library during Week 8 beginning on 19th March. Reasonably priced books from the extensive Scholastic range – proceeds benefit the School/Community Library. Cash sales only.

Miscellaneous Reports

What is Phonics?

Watch this fun animated introduction to the key aspects of learning to read using phonics. Great for learning more about key terms such as ‘phonemes’, ‘blending’ and ‘tricky words’.

Toastie Tuesday

Toasties are back again and we had great success last week. Remember that it’s TUESDAY this year.

Place your order at the front office and come down to the Canteen at lunch. We are also selling ice blocks.

A huge thank you to Hollie Hancock and Heidi Roberts for volunteering their time to oversee the lunchtime toastie production.

Parents & Friends

On the 9th February, Parents and Friends held a meeting to farewell Rebecca Lyman who was Quorn Area Schools 2017 Parents & Friends president. Thank you again Rebecca for all that you have done.

We Need You

We are looking for active, fun loving, mums, dads, carers and relatives to join us to continue to provide our children with a safe, challenging, inspiring and fun school environment

Check out our new Sports Tops that P&F have heavily subsidised for our students.

2018 is looking promising with a few fundraising opportunities already locked in.

Great schools need great parents. If you would like to hear more or become involved in QAS P&F group, drop in and grab a coffee between 8:30 and 9:00 on Monday 5th March. Alternatively if you would like to share any great ideas we would love to hear from you.

It’s not all cake sales.

Drum/Guitar Lessons with Mr O’Dea

Mr O’Dea will be returning to Quorn Area School to provide guitar lessons for new and continuing students. He is also willing to offer drum lessons if all the guitar sessions are not filled. Please be aware that places are limited. Priority will be given to continuing students and those interested in guitar. New students will be considered on a first-in-best-dressed basis.

Lesson fees are $20 per child for an individual lesson. Lessons are held weekly (on average) and families will be invoiced at least twice a term. If your child is interested in enrolling in these lessons please contact Quorn Area School and fill in a consent form by Friday 5th March.

Elevated Work Platform Training

EWP Training at Quorn Area School is planned for the week leading up to Easter the 27th-28th of March and is only open to people over the age of 18 years.

The course will be run over two days with theory and practical assessments delivered by TafeSA on the Trailerable Boom Lift and the Scissor Lift (up to 11 meters). There is a maximum of 8 positions only (TafeSA guidelines) with a fee. People interested should contact the school and provide their Name, USI Number and TafeSA ID number to Michelle Baker. Further information will be forwarded as it becomes available.

Travis McDonald
Pichi Richi Trade Training Centre