24 May 2022

Principal’s Report

The landscaping work at the Stokes Road entrance is progressing well and will be completed by the first week of June. We are fortunate to have such spacious and well-maintained grounds, and we are confident that the new shade structures and revamped entrance will enhance our outdoor learning spaces and foster school pride. Undertaking any building work during term time is always a challenge, and I want to thank caregivers for their patience and vigilance.

We recently informed the caregivers of our primary school learners that we were experiencing staffing stress, and this has led to some timetable changes. We are fortunate to have a teaching staff that is highly professional and both flexible and adaptable. I am confident that the changes we have made to keep classes open have not negatively impacted learning, and they have again highlighted the resilience of our younger learners. We will continue to update all caregivers on changes to the timetable in the coming weeks, and, as always, we thank you for your support and understanding.

Goal 1 2022-2024

Improving Literacy achievement/growth through oral language

We focused on goal one of our current School Improvement Plan during our most recent professional learning day. We spent much of the day identifying changes in teaching that we can make to ensure we contribute more effectively to the oral language development of every learner, in every classroom, every day. Researchers estimate that the average child learns over 2000 new words per year during their school life. We will be sharing tips and advice with caregivers in the coming months and providing further details of our improvements to achieve this crucial goal.

Secondary Report

Embrace Youth Expo

Last week on Thursday 19th May our Year 10-12s had the incredible opportunity to attend and engage in the EMBRACE Youth Expo presented by Headspace Port Augusta team. It was both a challenging and an insightful experience for our learners. Challenging – because it challenged their current mindsets and perspectives on mental health, wellbeing, diversity and the sense of belonging. Yet, this was also insightful since our learners were reassured that everyone is going through their own battles both internally and externally, and it’s okay to not always feel okay. This was especially true, through our awe-inspiring guest speakers. Isaiah Dawe was our first guest speaker who spoke about his life, having lived in 17 different foster homes, and spoke about how he had a long arduous journey to not give up on hope, on love, his purpose and most importantly his identity in his Aboriginal culture. Isaiah shared how he found his purpose in life and turned his negative experiences to make a difference in the world. He eventually became the CEO of the first Aboriginal non-profit mentoring organisation for Aboriginal young people in foster care in New South Wales, called ‘ID. Know Yourself’. He then said that after achieving this, he continued with the same mindset that “anything is possible” and believing in himself, when most people didn’t; is what motivated him to become the first Aboriginal person awarded the TAFE NSW Student Graduate of the Year in 2017. He then became the first Aboriginal person to be appointed chair of the NSW Youth Advisory Committee in 2019. Some of our learners were so fascinated by his life and even spent half the day connecting with Isaiah, to know more of his story and seek life advice.

Our other highlight of the day was our next guest speaker, Deni Todorovic. Deni is a Fashion Editor, Celebrity Stylist, Creative Director, Content Creator, Host and a respected expert voice within the industry with 12 years of industry experience under their belt. Deni had worked with British Vogue, Burberry, and Cosmopolitan UK and continues to work with world-renowned fashion and beauty brands. Currently, Deni identifies themselves as more of an activist for Queer rights/human rights and pushing the narrative forward , particularly around topics of gender and equality. Deni identifies as Gender Non-Conforming and gay. Their core values are to inform and inspire, whilst always remaining authentic to their sense of self. This was initially confronting for our learners as Deni’s story was not something they had been exposed to before. However, our learners learned the concept of embrace, acceptance, learning to truly love one’s self and letting go of the notion of always having the need to fit in. Deni shared their trials and tribulations having to go through challenges with the lack of equality and diversity which still exists in our present society.

Learners were then rotated into different sessions throughout the day. Some of the following presentations involved learning the dangers/risks of consuming Alcohol and Drugs; some attended the Dolly’s Dream Foundation session on anti-bullying, and lastly, we also attended a Hip Hop Dance workshop. It was such a joy to have learners get out of their own comfort zone throughout the day and immerse themselves with an open mind. I think the learners had fun seeing me giving things a fair go by doing the hip hop dance workshop with them as well. Because at the end of the day it was all about having fun, encouraging each other, embracing our true selves, and getting out of our comfort zone!

Miss Novillos

Design and Technology Studies

Students are now over halfway through the semester course for Technology Studies and have been developing skills in constructing solid timber joints used in furniture construction. Students in years 9 and 10 have tested the timber joints for strength and ease of construction. They have also reflected on the building process of each type used and how much timber needs to be added to make the joint work in their project idea. Currently, students are investigating and designing their solution to a problem that they have identified as related to safe storage of items, moving objects around when cooking or working outdoors or sitting and holding items off the floor when entertaining.

Photos show students working on storage box design, modelling furniture to scale, planning ideas, welding materials, testing timber joints and welding skills ready for project construction.

Students in Year 11 are working on completing the 1st-semester course for Design and Technology, while the year 12 are almost just over halfway through the entire year course. Students in Year 11 have designed their skills tasks and investigated the welding and woodturning skills required for assembling their project ideas and are currently busy assembling their major projects, ready to test the prototype and reflect on their skills and abilities. Students in Year 12 are busy completing the minor project investigation task, practical skills tasks and materials investigation into the different types of materials available before starting the major project construction.

MSNEC Formal

MNSEC Football

Joel Finlay represented Quorn Area School in the MNSEC combined Year 9/10 boys football carnival last Thursday in Port Pirie. The team had initial success, defeating Maitland in the first game. Unfortunately, they lost to a strong Clare side in their second game. Joel played well in both games and we thank his family for transporting him to this event.

Primary Report

QAS Book Week

2022!

We will be celebrating Book Week in Week 5 of Term 3 (August 26th 2022). We encourage everyone to dress on the day as the Book Week theme or favourite book character.

Assemblies

Unfortunately, due to the impact of Covid-19, we have had to postpone Primary assemblies. We will update you on a new date soon.

SAPSASA Selection

Congratulations to Sam Finlay and Noah Kruger for their selection in the district SAPSASA Footy Team. The carnival is being held from Monday 30th May until Wednesday 1st June at Barratt Reserve, West Beach.

We wish the boys all the best in the carnival next week and look forward to hearing the results.

News from the Foundation Class

As a class, the Foundations have been working on Persuasive Writing. Here is the persuasive argument that we created as a class. The students made this in an attempt to convince the council to put an arcade in Quorn.

Dear Council,

We are writing to ask for an arcade in Quorn. Here is why:

There are lots of people who are interested in games that are different from sports. These games help us to build our hand muscles.

There are lots of houses and buildings with nothing in them! We could use these spaces.

Port Augusta has all the things for kids! We can’t drive all that way.

An Arcade would bring people from all over! Especially because no other town has one.

We think you would make lots of money if you build an arcade. If you had 10 games, you could make over 100,000 dollars per year.

We need an arcade in Quorn. Please council, build us one.