5 March 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

On Wednesday 6th of March, we will be holding our Governing Council AGM. This event allows us to celebrate the successes of the previous year and set an agenda for the year ahead as we seek to secure quality learning outcomes for all students. The 2018 Annual Report to the School Community will be presented at the meeting before being uploaded onto our website. In addition to the Annual Report, we will also be presenting the QAS Improvement Plan 2019-2021 which outlines the three goals that we will focus upon to improve outcomes for all learners over the next three years. I would like to encourage all members of our community to attend the meeting and consider nominating for different Governing Council positions available for 2019. The council meets twice per term, and they work with the principal to help set and monitor the direction of the school.

Last week I attended many different conferences in Adelaide aimed at improving learning across the state to challenge the best education systems in the world as part of a ten-year plan. I am confident that many of the changes we have made in recent times at the school leave us well-positioned to deliver on many of the targets set for 2019 and beyond. However, I still feel that we have much work to do in terms of shifting the focus from doing to learning. Last year I asked caregivers to ask their child “what did you learn today?” as opposed to “what did you do today?” This change shifts the thinking and is more likely to generate a richer response than a list of subject or “dunno”. Our aim is for all learners in every lesson to know:

• What they are learning
• Why they are learning it
• How it connects to future learning
• When they have been successful in their learning

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed

Governing Council

Secondary Report

We are continuing to make positive improvements throughout our secondary school. Our learners are engaging in lessons that have been planned by our teachers. We encourage all parents to view their child’s lessons on Daymap so you can see what they are learning and to have conversations about it. If you do not know how to access Daymap please make contact with me and I will help you through it. I will be hosting an information session on Thursday 21st March from 6-7pm where I will run through the basics and how to use Daymap as a parent.

Port Power

On Tuesday 19th February we were lucky enough to have 3 current Port Power players visit our school as part of their Community Camp program. Scott Lycett, Connor Rozee and Matt Broadbent conducted a whole school session where they informed our students about what it is like to be an elite athlete and to also share some insights on healthy eating. All our students really enjoyed the experience – even the Crows fans.

Matt Griffiths
Secondary Coordinator

Primary Report

Year 1/2/3 Class

This year has been very busy and full of challenging learning opportunities.
Some highlights so far;
We have loved swimming lessons which culminated with a fantastic Swimming Carnival.

Some of the team members from Port Power came to visit and share their views on the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle.

We have been learning how to initiate conversations in Spanish. We can ask your name and tell you ours, we can welcome you to our class, use appropriate greetings for different times of the day and tell you how we are feeling.

We are learning to edit our writing and identify areas we need to improve. Some of us have started setting goals for this to help us stay focussed on our learning.

We are setting targets for improving our maths skills and have enjoyed using Numicon equipment to help us.

We enjoy participating in Literacy Groups each morning because the different activities are a lot of fun as well as helping us to improve our literacy.

We love getting to school before the bell to help each other set up our class for the day and practise our reading and our words.

Parents are always welcome to come in and see what we are doing. Check out our notice board to keep up to date with what’s happening.

Senga Reed
1/2/3 Class Teacher

Subject Report

NAPLAN

It is the acronym that makes most parents, students and teachers stress. Ultimately it is not something that we need to stress about as this nationally based assessment provides the school with information about the things we are doing well and the things that we need to improve on as a site. The more students we have participate in the assessment the more information we can gather about student learning. This information will then allow us to make more informed decisions about our teaching programs ultimately benefiting your children. Please speak to your class teacher about NAPLAN if you have any concerns or hesitations about the national assessment.

The annual NAPLAN has moved online for 2019 and the testing window begins on the 14th May (Term 2 – Week 3).

MNSEC Swimming

On Tuesday the 19th of February, 26 eager students travelled to Booleroo to represent QAS in the annual MNSEC Swimming Carnival. Our students represented the school with pride and confidence, led by their team captains Chloe Hilder and Tom Millington. I was very privileged to have been a part of this successful evening of competition and I was overwhelmed with the amount of effort and perseverance from each and every QAS student. Students were a great support for each other, ensuring their team mates were ready for their events as well as cheering each other on in the pool.

The overall results were extremely close with Orroroo taking out the shield by a mere 1 point from Booleroo. Quorn finished third on the night, with a number of students receiving places in many races. Huge congratulations to Aiden Hately-Bell who was awarded ‘Male Champion Swimmer’ on the night, receiving the most points for an individual male swimmer. Jayde Finlay was awarded runner up ‘Female Champion Swimmer’; such an amazing effort from our two secondary students.

Congratulations to the ‘OPEN’ swimmers who also victorious in their age group taking home the Pennant for the most points.

Parents and Friends

Flinders Favourites Cookbook

Available to purchase from the School $30 each

Morning Coffee

Quorn School Community Library

Happy Haven OSHC

Miscellaneous Reports

School Photos

Retro Play Date

Parents bring your skills from yesteryear to pass on the magic of playtime.

Sandcastle building, Knucklebones, quoits, hookey and hopscotch.

Please come along for a family fun evening where you and your child can work as a team to vie for prizes on offer.

Ride2School

Toastie Tuesday

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

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

Students are asked to wear orange to school to support this important event. Activities will be organised for students throughout the day.

Full STEAM Ahead Scholarship

Youth Parliament