8 December 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

As the 2020 school year draws to a close, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the school community for your continued support during this most challenging of years.

The restrictions imposed on our recent Presentation Evening were not a decision taken lightly, and we appreciated the help of our community on this matter. We have included photographs and a video in this newsletter, whilst also adding both to our website. The event provided further evidence that our learners have demonstrated incredible resilience throughout 2020. It is also worthy of note that the Learner Dispositions that we all value highly have been shown in ways we never imagined. In addition to these individual successes, the school also has much to celebrate in terms of established benchmarks. These have included:

• Significant improvements in both reading and numeracy, as evidenced by the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT)
• Phonics Screening Check results that are significantly higher than the statewide average.

Last month Sarah Bury, Monique Griffiths and I were both presenters and panellists at the international conference Moving Learning Forward. To be invited the share the Quorn Area School improvement journey with over a thousand education professionals was a great honour. I want to congratulate Monique and Sarah for their exceptional work, and the staff whose work and success they shared.

As this is our last newsletter of the year, I would like to thank all of the staff members whose hard work during 2020 has benefitted all of our learners. I am pleased to report that all of our current team are returning in 2021 for the next chapter of our improvement journey.

Finally, I would like to wish all of our learners and their families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed

2020 Award Presentations

Unfortunately due to the restrictions placed upon us recently we were unable to hold our annual end of year award presentations with the support of families and the wider community. We had much to celebrate amongst adversity in 2020 and have recorded this event for you to view; a link to this presentation has been included below. We thank you for your patience while we have been editing the recording but trust that you will enjoy the recognition our students have been given.

Prefect Acceptance

We are honored to be chosen to represent Quorn Area School as your 2021 School Prefects.

We thank the 2020 Prefects, Aiden, Tayla and Shalaynee, for their hard work and contributions within the school and we hope to fulfill the responsibilities associated with becoming school leaders.

As Prefects, we are looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead. We are currently planning many exciting events for the 2021 school year. We will do or best to ensure the student voice is acknowledged and leaners are supported and encouraged to achieve their goals.

We are excited to be representing the student body in the upcoming year. By working together, as a trio, and in collaboration with the school’s leadership, we believe our role as Prefects will be a smashing success.

Ethan, Maya & Jayde

Primary Class Awards

The following end of year awards are for learners in the Primary school who were nominated by their subject teachers. These are awarded for a range of different reasons, which align to the Learner Dispositions. Congratulations to Georgina, Ashleigh, Nevaeh, Maddison, Georgia, Riley and Maia.

Primary School Academic Excellence

Academic Excellence for Semester Two (Terms 3 and 4) have been decided upon using a criterion, based on grade distribution. These learners are representative of the Years 1-3 and Years 4-6 cohort. Congratulations to Evie and Maia who received the highest grade average within their cohort.

QAS Governing Council All Rounder (F-6)

The Primary School Governing Council All Rounder Award is presented to a student who has demonstrated an immense amount of growth throughout the year in regards to resilience and perseverance. Noah demonstrates leadership amongst his peers and displays all attributes of our Learner Dispositions on any given day. Noah has taken ownership and shown school pride by volunteering to clean up the school prior to Sports Day, assisting peers with their work and made significant growth within his Lexile levels and overall academic progress. Congratulations Noah.

Ministers Volunteering Award for Outstanding Service

Unfortunately, it has been a tough year in regards to volunteers supporting our school; they had to obey strict restrictions and certain procedures that we would have never thought necessary. In saying that...it didn’t stop the litter legends cleaning up prior to Sports Day, our canteen gurus who make toasties week in and week out, sports event volunteers such as marshals and food preparation specialists. We have had cricket experts and those who just want to lend a hand to get the cricket nets finalised and ready for the season and we have also had Aboriginal artists and families supporting our NAIDOC celebrations.

For a rough year of restrictions, they still made it all happen. Without our volunteers we would not have achieved as much as we had planned, nor given our learners the opportunities they were lucky enough to have this year.

This year we are awarding the McCarthy family for their efforts to support NAIDOC week. The McCarthy family arranged transport and donated the fire pit that currently resides in our Wan Do Mae Bush Tucker garden. The fire pit was used during NAIDOC week and will continue to be used in years to come. We thank you for your kind and generous donation of not only the materials but also your time…as I know it took a long time to precisely laser cut the chosen design. The final result really does look amazing.

Thank you to the McCarthy Family

Sally Smart Art Award

Sally would like to dedicate this year’s Art Award to her mother Felicity Smart who passed away in September; Felicity was involved with Quorn Area School for three decades - and a great advocate for education. Sally’s mother Felicity, taught her sister Rosemary and herself via School of the Air for their first years of Primary school. Felicity was also a keen borrower of library books and an avid reader.

The 2020 Sally Smart Art Award is awarded to the very deserving Aiden who has a mature and creative approach to all areas within Visual Arts and shows excellent craftsmanship in the production of artwork. Aiden has excelled throughout the year, he has an eye for detail and exhibits natural ability, congratulations Aiden.

Maloney Primary Sports Awards

This year the Maloney Primary Sports Award is presented to Ella Holtham who has been involved in a range of SAPSASA sports throughout the year. Ella received the Under 12 championship trophy by accumulating the most individual points in her age category at our school carnival as well as breaking the Under-12 800m record. She then represented QAS in the SAPSASA Athletics Carnival receiving some outstanding results. She was also selected to represent the Quorn – Port Augusta region in both athletics and swimming unfortunately these events were cancelled late in the year. Congratulations Ella.

Des Wallace Swimming Award

The Des Wallace Swimming Award this year is awarded to Jayde who represented Yarrah in the QAS Swimming Carnival to a very high standard, whilst also assisting younger students in her role as vice-captain. Jayde received the Under 16 championship trophy by accumulating the most individual points in her age category at our school carnival. She was selected to represent QAS at the MNSEC carnival where she had some outstanding results during the afternoon. Jayde went on to represent the MNSEC team at the SSSA swimming event in Adelaide where she received some more commendable results. An amazing achievement, well done Jayde

Tom Bury Athletics Award

William Bennett is the 2020 recipient of this award; he has shown great talent and drive to improve himself in many areas of PE this year. He participated enthusiastically in the QAS Athletics Carnival where he received some rewarding results, taking out the championship trophy for his age group by accumulating the most individual points in his Under 14 age group. William showed an above average ability in all of our school PE lessons, demonstrating a willingness to improve performance in all sports covered. He is a modest young man who always demonstrates teamwork. Congratulations William.

Claude Stokes Secondary Sports Award

Tayla Finlay is a very worthy recipient of the Claude Stokes Secondary Sports Award. Tayla competed in the secondary schools volleyball competition with the team once again making it through to the state playoffs in Adelaide during September. She was an integral player throughout the tournament, providing support and encouragement to her team mates at all times. Tayla achieved excellent results at the QAS Swimming Carnival and went on to represent the school in the MNSEC team at the SSSA competition in Adelaide. Tayla broke two records at the QAS Sports Day and was the overall champion for the Open Girls. Congratulations Tayla.

2020 Overall House Winner

Activities such as Walk to School Day, swimming and athletics carnivals, various team challenges and end of term Lizard Cup events have contributed to the result. Congratulations to the Kanyaka team.

2021 House Captains

Congratulations to the 2021 House Captains who were selected after submitting written applications for these positions.

Representing Yarrah are Jayde, Emily, Kathleen (VC) and Austin (VC)

Representing Kanyaka are Maya, Ethan, Dayne (VC) and Lachie (VC)

Dan Van Hollst Pellekaan Attendance Awards

There are many benefits of regular attendance. For example, it can improve achievement levels and academic success, give you the opportunity and exposure to things you wouldn’t get the chance to do normally; such as extracurricular activities and camp, to be part of a school community, learning valuable social skills and developing a broader world view.

Georgia and Bailey have maintained an outstanding record of attendance at school this year, therefore achieving the highest attendance rate at QAS. This certainly demonstrates a commitment to education.

Georgia did not miss any days of school in 2020 which is an incredible effort. Bailey only missed one half day which is also a magnificent effort.

Walpaara Ana

The Walpaara Ana award is an initiative that has been developed to encourage academic participation targeting Year 10 Aboriginal secondary school students across South Australia. The applicants need to apply for this award and submit a written application addressing attendance, school report card as well as individual strengths. Congratulations Josh

Secondary Class Awards

The following end of year awards are for learners in the Secondary school who were nominated by their subject teachers. These are awarded for a range of different reasons, which align to the Learner Dispositions.

Congratulations to Joel, Geri, Reece, Kathleen, Jayde and Tiarna

Secondary School Academic Excellence

The Secondary School Academic Achievements Awards for 2020 have been calculated in a cluster of age groups. The students receive allocated points for each grade that they receive. We then analyse their results from their reports and see who the highest achiever was from each year level. Congratulations Aiden, Tiarna, Tayla, Geri, Jayde and Maya who received the highest grade average within their class.

The Flinders Ranges Council All Rounder Award (7-9)

Each year The Flinders Ranges Council provides us with an award to recognize a learner from Years 7-9 that is seen as an all-rounder. Geri is a very deserving recipient of the award and has taken part in all activities at school including all sporting events. Geri managed many responsibilities, whilst regularly volunteering her time to assist with tasks around the community.  Geri has continued to maintain a strong work ethic at school and continues to inspire and motivate her peers. Congratulations Geri.

Caltex All Rounder Award (10-12)

Tayla has been outstanding across all areas of her schooling and community involvement for a number of years now. She has maintained strong academic grades, represented Quorn at the highest level in all sporting endeavours including volleyball, swimming and athletics whilst also maintaining many responsibilities outside of school. We are pleased to congratulate Tayla as our Caltex All Rounder for 2020.

UniSA Whyalla Campus Award for Academic Achievement

This award is used to recognise the hard work and endeavour of Tiarna who intends to complete further study beyond 2020. In recognition of her academic performance, desire to succeed and continual hard work to set goals and achieve them we would like to congratulate Tiarna on winning the Whyalla Campus Award for Academic Achievement.

Eddie Hughes Year 12 Outstanding Academic Excellence

The Eddie Hughes Year 12 Academic Excellence Award is used to recognize an individual that has achieved an outstanding level of academic excellence across all subject areas in 2020. Aiden is a very worthy recipient and has worked extremely hard to get himself into this position today. Congratulations Aiden.

Rowland and Phyllis Nicholas Scholarship

Former Quorn Primary School students Rowland and Phyllis Nicholas left a sum of money to Quorn Area School for a scholarship. This scholarship is to assist students with their studies at the completion of their schooling. This year the scholarship has been awarded to 2019 Graduate Chloe Hilder.

ADF Leadership Awards

The ADF Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Awards recognize students who demonstrate leadership and teamwork within both the school and the broader community and who display strong values that align with our own school values, such as doing ones best, respect for others and “mateship”, that are integral to Australian society.

The Year 10 ADF Award- Kathleen Medlam

The Year 12 ADF Award – Tayla Finlay

Year 12 Graduation

On Friday 13th December our graduating class of 2020 formally completed a truly wonderful journey with us at our Graduation Dinner. After the year it’s been, it was a great opportunity to come together one last time and congratulate our 2020 class and reflect with their families on what has been a challenging-yet-magical experience. It was a fitting finale to a tremendous achievement.

Their years at Quorn Area School have indeed been memorable ones and we hope they look back on them with fondness throughout their lives. We hope to have taught them all how to ‘Prepare for Life’ and implore each one of them to face the challenges of life with courage and tenacity, determined to make this world better than the way they found it.

Splash Day

As an end of year celebration all learners will be attending a Splash Day at the Quorn Swimming Pool this coming Friday. The Primary group will attend between 11.00am and 12.30pm before returning to school, the Secondary group will attend between 12.30pm and 2.00pm. A BBQ lunch will be supplied to everyone however learners will be asked to bring their own drink bottles. All learners will be dismissed for the holidays at 2.05pm from the school. More detailed information will be given to learners during the week so please keep an eye out on Schoolzine, school bags & communication books.

Miscellaneous Items

Term 4 School Reports

Learner end of year reports are now live. To view these please access your parent portal on Daymap.

Primary Class Structure 2021

The 2021 class structures for Primary students have been determined based on current student enrolments. We would like to confirm that the following ‘base’ classes are:

Next year MAPPEN will be moving to join the Junior Primary cohort in (Room 3) as we prepare for further building upgrades.

Upon returning to school on Wednesday 27th January 2021, please make your way to the above ‘base' classes for a morning meet and greet. A document outlining your child’s curriculum timetable will be sent home during Week 1 of 2021.

School Yearbook

We are expecting the delivery of our 2020 Yearbook any day now. Families who ordered one will have them sent home during the week. Thanks for your support of our Yearbook, we hope you enjoy the memories created throughout 2020.