2 July 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Over the last two years, we have made many changes to our school as we seek to improve outcomes for the present and future learners of the Quorn community. While the physical changes to the site can easily be seen and celebrated, the changes to our culture are invariably harder to both see and secure. Our aim to place learners at the heart of all decision-making has resulted in numerous changes to relationships and a significant change in the way we undertake our core business of preparing learners for their future. As of last week, our success in re-thinking learning has been used as a model to support schools across Australia and New Zealand. We are the first school in South Australia to feature as a Visible Learning case study, and over the coming weeks, our journey will be promoted in all three Australian education journals as part of a Stories of Impact series. We are excited by the prospect of becoming a 'living book' that other schools can visit for inspiration on school improvement; however, we are also aware that there is still much to be done both this year and in future years. We regard this recent acknowledgement of growth in the same way that we hope our learners viewed their recent progress reports. Reaching a milestone, such as the end of a semester, provides an opportunity to reflect upon the past and set new goals for the future.

Over the coming weeks' work will be continuing on both the cricket nets and the aquaponics installation on the primary block feature wall. Please be mindful of these changes when collecting children, or if you are visiting the site outside of operational hours.

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed

School News

Importance of Attendance

Get involved in your child’s education – Volunteer

Tomorrow - Hot Dog, Milkshake and Footy Colours Day

Toastie Tuesday

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

MNSEC Formal

Cricket Nets

It’s been all hands on pitch!

Recently we were successful in receiving a grant for the installment of new cricket nets on site. The orange bunting currently on the oval is cordoning off the location of the cricket nets. It may not look like much has happened however; there has been significant prep work in order to ensure the foundations are ready for concreting. Many thanks must go to Corey Finlay and Anthony Rodgers who have volunteered many hours over the past week to make sure we meet the deadline for concreting in the holidays.

We are truly grateful for the generous community support and thank all those involved in getting us this far. There is plenty more work to still do, however, it will all be worth it once seeing them in use.

BYOD Purchase Portal

We have a BYOD purchase portal on our website where you can buy devices for students. BYOD is recommended for students moving into Year 7-12 next year.

Select ‘New User’ and follow the prompts.

Registration Key Code (required): qOrn@s2017

Payment plans are available through the website. If you have any questions relating to the BYOD program please contact Andrew Gilsenan-Reed on 86486101.

Walking Wednesdays

A reminder that we have been participating in ‘Walking Wednesdays.’ Meet at the Railway Station each Wednesday at 8:20am and earn a point for your house. This is encouraging students to walk to school and increase their daily activity levels. We currently have around 20 students who are participating. Come and join in the fun!

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

All schools are required to collect information about the numbers of students that they provide adjustments to under the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) and Disability Standards of Education. This data is used as the basis for national funding.

The NCCD involves the collection of;

• the number of students receiving adjustments to enable them to participate in education on the same basis as other students
• the level of adjustment provided to students
• student’s type of disability if known

Under the model the definition of disability is broad and includes learning difficulties, health and mental health conditions.

If your child is identified for inclusion in the Collection, the required information will be included in this year’s data collection.

If you have any questions about the data collection, please contact Sarah Bury at the school. Further information can be found at:

Secondary Report

We are now one week into Semester 2 of 2019. The only impact this has on our learners is the change from Geography to History and some have changed from Digital Tech to Tech Studies and vice versa. These changes are all made to ensure our learners get to experience all aspects of the Australian Curriculum.

I cannot emphasise enough how important Term 3 is to our Year 12 students. This is a time where the work output increases significantly which can lead to increased stress on the learners. It is really important that your child continues to attend school each day, as when they are here all of our teachers are more than happy to offer extra help. If you have concerns or just want to check in with the progress of your child please make contact with me at the school or send me an email matt.griffiths310@schools.sa.edu.au.

We have also started the process of Subject Counselling for our Year 10 and 11 students in preparation for 2020. These discussions have been based around what their future aspirations are and subjects they would like to study as part of their SACE. Toward the end of Term 3 we will bring parents in to be involved in these discussions.

Reports

On the 24th June we published our Semester One grades for each learner on Daymap. If you have any questions about the grades that your child received please contact me and I will work through the questions you may have. Our next report will contain a written comment and will once again be accompanied by Parent, Learner & Teacher interviews for you to discuss the progress of your child with the teacher.

Matt Griffiths
Secondary Coordinator

Primary Report

It’s been a busy Term in the F2 Class!

In Numeracy we have been covering, sorting and finding the odd one out. We had our student teacher Eliza come in and teach us about sorting into a Venn Diagram. We have also been working on adding sentences and using the words add, plus, makes and equals. We have covered the teen numbers and have started moving into numbers to 30.

In the Arts we have begun our unit on Dance. Learners have been experimenting with controlling their movements; creating different shapes and moves that are high and low. We started exploring adding props to our dances with ribbons and veils/scarves which has been very exciting. Next term we will continue to look at dances from different cultures and learn to put together our own dance sequence. Stay tuned!

In Health the learners have been learning how to keep themselves happy and safe. They have learnt about healthy food and how to stay safe in the kitchen. The learners had the opportunity to plan a balance meal and then use the school’s kitchen to prepare their meal. Learner’s used their safe knife skills to butter bread and cut up ingredients. A few students stepped out of their comfort zone and tried something a little different by making Sushi. Although not everyone liked their sushi, they were all brave and tried something new. Overall, it was a great success and both Miss Miller and I are incredibly proud of how collaboratively and safely the learners worked in the kitchen.

On Friday afternoon learners have been participating in Investigation Time. During this time, learners use QAS Learning Dispositions of Inquiring Ivy, Collaborative Cam, Ownership Ora, Reflective Rae, Adaptable Ash and Persevering Pete to learn through play-based activities.

A number of different stations are set up to encourage students to use/develop different skills. Some of these stations include:

• Bookmaking (to allow students to transfer knowledge from the Literacy Block).
• Kitchen/Shop play (allows for numeracy concepts such as counting and money exploration, role play of safe kitchen skills and healthy eating learnt in Health).
• Science (allows for students to be Inquiring Ivy and use trial and error problem solving).
• Puppet Theatre (to encourage oral language skills and Collaborative Cams).
• Construction (to encourage Collaborative Cams, Inquiring Ivy, problem solving).

Each week there are 2 Focus Children, a Reporter and a Photographer. At the end of the session, the 2 Focus Children get to share their learning though a conversation with the teacher in front of the class. The Reporter also reports back on something interesting they saw someone else do to the whole class. The photographer then shares some of the pictures they took of their peers learning during the session.

Subject Report

Quorn School and Community Library

Congratulations to the following learners and families on making the decision to sign up to Children’s University Adelaide, a member of Children’s University Australia (CUA)!

Year 1-3: Hayley McCarthy, Flynn Saxton, Ebonie Werth, Georgia Shannon, and Logan Buckingham
Year 4-6: Bailey Buckingham, Sarah Anjum, and Cheyanne Maher

We have chosen to offer this program to our learners to help them develop a love of learning and open their eyes to the endless possibilities that await them in their futures.

The program is run by the University of Adelaide and aims to reward learners for making positive choices in their learning journey. Each participating learner will receive their own passport. Much like a normal passport, learners are asked to carry their passports with them to all CUA activities.

When learners complete an activity they will receive a stamp/sticker in their passport to record their participation (please remember to see CUA Coordinator – Megan Novillos to receive this stamp of approval). The passports are an important part of the program as they act as motivation for learners to get involved.

Note: All participating learners have received their ‘learning passports’ and CUA informational package in a folder - which contains instructions, contact information, and forms.

I look forward to seeing all participants embark on their learning journey over the school holidays as well…

• Megan Novillos
  QAS Teacher-Librarian

SAPSASA Football

Congratulations to Joel Finlay who participated in the SAPSASA Football carnival during Week 8 of this term. He had a successful week competing with players from a number of local schools.

The following report is from Vinny Urbancic (Coach)

The Australian Football SAPSASA State Carnival was held at Barratt Reserve, West Beach from the 17th to 20th of June. Thank you to all the parents and family members for their help and support.

The Northern district team consisted of 22 students from Port Augusta, Quorn, Roxby Downs and surrounding regions. Schools represented included Augusta Park Primary, Caritas College, Carlton School, Flinders View Primary, Port Augusta West Primary, Stirling North Primary, Willsden Primary, Quorn Area School, Roxby Down Area School, St Barbara’s Parish School and School of the Air.

Northern finished up with a record of 6 wins and 3 loses which placed us 4th in Division 4.

MNSEC Football

Cameron Finlay and Luke Finlay represented the MNSEC Open Boys Football last Wednesday in the second round of the competition. The boys travelled to Port Pirie and competed against Whyalla and St Marks, playing some excellent football. Unfortunately they were beaten in both games and did not advance to the next round. Congratulations to the boys for making it this far in to the competition.

Cross Age Tutoring

Over the past two extended Care Group lessons, the Year 7-9 students have been planning engaging numeracy activities to undertake with the Primary classes. Senior students were given time to work in small groups to plan these activities and were given a focus from the Primary teachers. Last Monday the cross age tutoring activity occurred and there were a number of successful outcomes from the lessons. It was excellent to see our learners from across the year levels work together.

SAASTA

On the 19th of June Shalaynee Brady and Nuala Wilton travelled down to Adelaide to participate in the Santos Aboriginal Power Cup. Throughout the week we played multiple games of nine a side football. We played alongside people from Coober Pedy, Leigh Creek, Marree, Oodnadatta, Gladstone, Roxby Downs, Hawker, Kangaroo Island and Crystal Brook in the Far-North Flinders team.

We spent four days in Adelaide playing football and networking with schools and teams from all over South Australia. We watched the boy’s and girl’s teams play in the Power Cup finals, with our boys team taking home the cup. At the end of the week we watched the AFL game between Port Adelaide and Geelong. Beforehand, as an opening ceremony all SAASTA students participated in the cultural dance.

The Santos Aboriginal Power cup is a part of the SAASTA program that Shalaynee and Nuala have participated in since the beginning of the year. During the first semester of school our team had multiple workshops in Port Augusta where we completed four hands-on assignments. The SAASTA program is a program created for all Aboriginal students in Years 10-12 to help them complete their SACE. The SAASTA program helps young indigenous people have greater success in the future with career pathways and jobs.

Written by Nuala and Shalaynee

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself.

2019 NAIDOC week has the focus of United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages

Find out more about the origins and history of NAIDOC Week.

On Friday the 2nd of August, QAS will be welcoming the Malka Carving Group to work with students. There will be a number of activities on offer including Coaster Printing, Wood Carving demonstrations, Aboriginal Stories and Songs as well as Painting Demonstrations. The Primary classes have been busy incorporating Aboriginal Culture in to their teaching and learning plans in the lead up to our NAIDOC day.

We are currently looking for some volunteers who would be prepared to work together to organise a camp fire with some damper/stew or soup for the students to cook on the day. Please contact Sarah Bury if you could be of assistance on the day.

Sports Day

Sports Day will be held on Friday the 9th of August, Week 3, Term 3. In the lead up to Sports Day, students across the school will be given the opportunity to practise the athletics track and field events. There will be student mentoring opportunities in the lead up to sports day as well as the Year 7/8 Health and PE class who will be arranging modified activities for the F/1 students.

Sports Day Food and Canteen Volunteers

We are looking for Parents and Friends volunteers to help run the canteen on this day. If you are prepared to donate a cake, muffins or biscuits to sell on the day, that would be fantastic. We will be unable to offer a canteen if we don’t have the volunteers to help run it on the day. Please contact Sarah Bury at the school if you can help out in any way please.

PLP – Get your Team Registered for Thursday’s Trivia Night

If you would like to participate please contact me via my email address Ethan.Baker220@schools.sa.edu.au.

Ethan Baker
Yr10 Student

Parents and Friends

Morning Coffee

Drop in and grab a coffee at our next catch up between 8:30 – 9:00. Alternatively if you would like to share any great ideas we would love to hear from you. It’s not all cake sales.

Ranges Colour Run

For more information and to register your interest, please visit the Ranges Colour Run Facebook Page