10 May 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

We have recently restructured our leadership structure to reflect recent staffing changes. I am delighted to inform the community that Kate Neu has been appointed as the Primary Coordinator for the remainder of 2022. Kate has consistently impressed with her commitment to improving outcomes for all learners since her arrival at the school. We are confident that she is well-positioned to maintain the upward trajectory of the Primary team this year. Sarah Bury has again demonstrated her adaptability and flexibility as a leader by agreeing to lead the Secondary School team. Sarah has already deployed her immense experience and knowledge of the role during the early stages of this term. I am confident that our senior learners will significantly benefit from her direct support over the coming months.

Unfortunately, the opening weeks of this term have proved no less challenging than the closing weeks of the last. We have experienced some disruptions to our staffing due to COVID-19, and cases amongst our learners have been high. Despite these challenges, we have continued to provide the quality of learning our community expects, and we appreciate their support and understanding. Please continue to keep us informed of events, and in the event of non-attendance, we will explore ways to maintain engagement with learning. The majority of lessons are available on Daymap, and the following website offers a wealth of online learning materials for our younger learners.

Finally, NAPLAN has begun, and our learners have engaged very well despite the disruptions of this year. If your child is absent this week, we will be running catch-up sessions next week.

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed

School Photos

School Photos will be held on the 25th of May. Envelopes for ordering will be sent home shortly.

ANZAC Day Service

The Quorn Community ANZAC Day Service was held on Monday the 25th of April. I would like to congratulate our 2022 Prefects who took part in the service. It is lovely for QAS to be a part of this commemoration and our Prefects did an amazing job with Kathleen Medlam reading ‘A Tribute to Anzac Day’ and Reece Freer and Amaru Omonte-Kramer laying a wreath.

Mother’s Day Stall

The Mother’s Day stall was once again a huge success this year. Thanks to the Prefects and several helpers, we were able to offer some lovely gifts for our students to purchase for their mothers and grandmothers. I would like to extend a warm thank you to all the students and staff who gave up their break times to assist with the wrapping of gifts, and to ensure that all went smoothly. We hope that all our mums and grandmas had a lovely day on Sunday and enjoyed their gifts which were carefully handpicked by their children. I just love watching the thought, consideration and love that goes into choosing that ‘perfect’ gift.

Secondary Report

Welcome back to what is proving to be a very busy Term 2. I am looking forward to working with the Secondary School community this term. I will be spending the next two weeks checking in with our SACE learners to ensure that they are all on track to completing their first semester of work. All stage one subjects for the first semester will need to be completed and resulted by the end of this term. Learners need to be busy completing set tasks and approaching teachers for assistance to achieve this. SACE teachers are currently creating traffic lights to flag learners who are ‘at risk’ to make them aware of incomplete tasks.

Embrace Youth Expo

I am pleased to announce that our Year 10-12 learners will be attending the Youth Expo on Thursday the 19th of May at the Central Oval Complex, Port Augusta. This exciting opportunity has been made possible by HEADSPACE. QAS has a partnership with HEADSPACE, and we are very keen to support this local event.

Dolly’s Dream will deliver a session - “Share This” for Years 10-12 (Covers digital identity, privacy online and consent). Our other sessions have also been tailored for specific age ranges. Headspace will deliver an AOD session for the senior students, covering risk, looking out for your mates and a shared personal story from one of the presenters. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation will be attending the Youth Forum. There will also be a Hip Hop Dance workshop for students to participate in, among other sessions.

Local services will be onsite with a mini expo on the basketball courts for students to peruse before starting and during the lunch break.

Lunch will be provided on the day for students. Please keep an eye out for permission forms coming home later this week.

Growing Careers Project

Last Friday our Year 9/10 learners were involved in an online ‘Career Straightalk’ facilitated by the partnership between The Smith Family and QAS. They were exposed to several guest speakers who ranged from various career pathways. Learners were allowed to ask pertinent questions after listening to the multiple speakers. The yr. 9/10s were all very engaged and displayed a mature attitude when participating in the online sessions. Thanks to Miss Novillos for ensuring that the learning environment was organised and promoted notetaking and probes for questioning. I have outlined the lineup of speakers who made this possible for our learners:

1. Mark Gare - IT/Cyber Security & Business

I grew up in Golden Grove – when it was a country town- and was schooled at Modbury Primary and Banksia Park High School. I studied at the University of SA (then the SA Institute of Technology) for my Associate Diploma and Bachelor in Applied Science in Computer Studies and then the University of Adelaide for a Masters in Business Administration. I have owned People Oriented Systems (Australia) Pty Ltd since 1989 – a Technology Company that has started, operated, sold and closed various Technology businesses over the past 30 years. From 1993 to 2000 POS traded as Pollak Partners Adelaide – SA’s largest computer training business. We have also operated - since 1995 - as a Defence Contractor in the Engineering and Logistics Data support domains. POS currently operates, primarily as a Forensic Technology Investigations business in a variety of capacities including insurance fraud, employee conduct, criminal and bullying and harassment domains.

2. Dr Cris Birzer - School of Mechanical Engineering

3. Craig Williams - Public Health

4. Darcey Watson - Executive Officer at the Andy Thomas Space Foundation at Lot 14

5. Phil Blake – Former Department for Infrastructure and Transport

Born and grew up in Melbourne. Attended Pinewood primary and Syndal Technical Schools. Studied I studied engineering at Swinburne Institute of Technology (now Swinburne University) in Hawthorn, Melbourne. Most of my career was at the SA Department for Infrastructure and Transport and its various former organisations, starting with the Highways Department in 1986. I was very lucky but worked hard too to progress in different roles in the department. The main latter roles involved traffic management / traffic signals / signs, etc and a.lso 'intelligent transport systems' such as seen on the South Eastern Freeway / tunnels and North-South Motorway. I also was involved with trials of self driving vehicles. I maintain a voluntary interest, being the secretary of the SA Chapter of the Australasian College of Road Safety.

Year 7/8 Food Technology

Mrs Bury’s Year 7/8 Food Tech class have been busy growing some vegetables and herbs in the garden as part of the curriculum. We have also investigated food production and how our foods move from being in the ‘paddock to the plate’. Learners have also been studying arable and pastoral farming and organic versus non-organic foods.

Last week, we made our pizza dough and used our garden's fresh vegetables and herbs. Below are some pictures that show the learners planting and caring for our herbs and vegetables in the garden and how they have grown over time. There are also some pictures of the class preparing their pizzas in the Home Ec room.

Miscellaneous Items

Parent Forum for Parents and Carers of Children with Disability

Parents and carers of children with disability are invited to join a free parent forum on Friday 27 May. This continues the series of forums for parents provided by the department.

The forum will open with the keynote by Angela Falkenberg, President SA Primary Principals Association titled ‘Self-care is not selfish – When we are at our best, we play better, work better and parent better’.

Other presentations on the day will include an update on current projects and policies, One Plan and the Inclusive Education Support Program (IESP) funding.

When: Friday 27 May 2022
Time: 10.00am to 2.00pm
Venue: 72a Marlborough St, Henley Beach

Contact

SERU
Phone: 82352871
Email: education.ParentForum@sa.gov.au