2 August 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Last week we sent out the most recent correspondence from SA Health regarding the current spike in COVID-19. The key points were:

1. It is recommended that all students in years 3 to 12 continue to wear face masks when indoors to help reduce the spread of the virus.
2. Like last term, you are encouraged to ensure your child takes a mask with them each morning or collects one when they arrive at school. There will be a supply available if they forget.

Suppose we are to maintain quality learning programs, support our senior learners to complete courses and offer growth for every child. In that case, we need to minimise the risk of the virus spreading in our school community. All our staff have committed to wearing masks over the coming weeks, as they are acutely aware of risks and the unavailability of relievers in the event of absence. We ask that you continue to support us so we can help all of our learners to engage in learning actively despite the external challenges.

Last week Travis McDonald supported our senior learners in attending a Road Awareness Program (RAP) at Booleroo Centre District School. The focus was on keeping our senior learners safe on the roads, as they are in the high-risk category. RAP is just one of many programs we offer on a roster to support our learners and their families, and many more programs are available in our community. Sarah Bury and our Pastoral Care Worker Tina Glastonbury regularly engage with several agencies that support our learners and their families in Quorn. These services offer support ranging from budgeting to reconnecting families, and caregivers are welcome to contact the school at any time to receive further information regarding the services available to our community.

Recently our foundation classes passed the milestone of ‘100 Days of Learning’. While these first hundred days have presented some challenges for all of us, it is incredible to see the resilience and growth shown by these young learners on their first stage of the school journey. It has been a pleasure to witness their engagement in learning and significant development in so many vital areas. Meanwhile, our oldest learners have entered their final full term of lessons as they strive to complete the coursework necessary to secure their personal goals. The secondary teachers’ team has been tracking their progress, and they will be working closely with learners and their caregivers to ensure these young people are in a position to fulfil their dreams in terms of post-school pathways.

Andrew Gilsenan-Reed

Whole School News

Sports Day 2022

We are looking forward to our annual Sports Day which is scheduled for Friday the 19th of August. Please familiarise yourself with the information below.

Housekeeping

Students in Years 2-12 are asked to meet in their designated house classroom at 8:40am SHARP for a team roll call. F-2 students will meet in their regular base classrooms at 8:40am. All students will make their way down to the oval at 8:50am.

The first event will be the 100m dash for the junior primary students at 9.00am, followed by the 400m age group events. There will be programs distributed on the day. The Under 10 boys and girls will be split into two groups this year as we have many competitors. The Under 12 and 14 girls will be grouped, as will the Under 12 and 14 boys. The same will occur with the Under 16 and Open age groups. This is due to smaller competitor numbers. An allocated supervising staff member will take the under 10 groups around to their events during the day. ALL OTHER AGE GROUPS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN PARTICIPATION AT THE EVENTS. They will be given a printed timetable to follow for the day.

Hawker Area School will join us again, and we welcome them to Quorn Area School.

Program

The final program will be completed and published in the week 4 newsletter.

Food Options

There will be a canteen available on the day. The menu will also be provided in the next newsletter. Please ensure your child has a water bottle and snacks throughout the day to stay hydrated.

Timing/Measuring of Events

We are actively looking for volunteers for jobs to ensure that the day runs smoothly. Please see Sarah Bury if you can be of assistance. We can’t facilitate all events without volunteer support.

House Meetings

A house meeting for students in years 2-12 will be held this week to ensure that the House Captains/Vice Captains prepare their teams for their events and all housekeeping matters.

Week 3 and 4 Events

Wednesday Week 3 – Lesson 1A – 1500m – OPEN event
Monday Week 4 – Lesson 1B – 800m – OPEN event
Monday Week 4– Lesson 2A – Javelin – U/14-OPEN event

After School Opportunities

There will be sports day training on Wednesdays and Thursdays of weeks 3 and 4 from 3:15pm - 4:15pm. We would love parent/volunteer assistance. If you are confident in a particular track or field event, we encourage you to come and share your knowledge and expertise at these times.

SAPSASA Athletics

Quorn Area School will select a team of athletes born in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 to represent our school at the SAPSASA athletics carnival held at Stirling North Primary School on Friday the 26th of August. The results from our sports day will determine the team in which we take. Please remember that attendance at school needs to be at 85% for students to attend.

Sarah Bury

Secondary Report

Growing Careers Project – August 16th and 17th

Thanks to the partnership that QAS has developed with the Smith Family, we have successfully locked in our second Work Inspiration Program event. This will involve our year 9-11 learners taking part in a two-day program with a focus on various career opportunities. Last year we were lucky enough to learn about different career prospects within the Flinders Ranges Council, Country Health SA, Max Cranes and Access Training Centre. It was amazing to be able to talk with and listen to a large array of employment opportunities, some of which we were unsure even existed!

This year we will be visiting Uniting Care Wesley, Port Augusta Council on Tuesday and SANTOS in Whyalla on Wednesday. Thanks to the amazing support of The Smith Family, these two days will be fully funded for QAS students. Learners will be provided with transport and lunch on both days. This will be another fantastic opportunity for us to undertake some research leading up to the event, and to plan some questions that might be beneficial as we visit these work organisations. Consent forms with more detailed information will be distributed this week. Please return to Sarah Bury ASAP.

Sarah Bury
Secondary Coordinator

Road Awareness Program

On Monday, the 25th of August, the year 11 and 12 class went on a trip to Booleroo to participate in a Road Awareness Program. Once we were at the school, we were introduced to a firefighter named Doug and a public speaker called Lachie, who was there to talk to us about his traumatic car accident that he survived. Doug was there to talk to everyone about how we can be safer road users and what steps to take to look after ourselves and our mates on the road. The program showed us stats detailing how many road accidents have happened. I was surprised by how few accidents happen on South Australian roads because of the education road users receive. It was shocking to find out how many people in our age bracket (16 –20) have road accidents due to the lack of education about road safety. It was disheartening to find out that we lose 1 in 4 Aussies every day in road accidents. When the presentation was over, Lachie was called upon to share with us his heart-breaking story. He went on to talk about how his accident was caused and what grief his family went through while he was in a coma- fighting for his own life for 3 to 4 months. Lachie shared with us some of the symptoms he now has to face life with, such as a weakened memory and partially paralysed limbs on one side of his body. He ended the talk with a heartwarming message to everyone about how vital road safety is. Overall, the day was very informative and also saddening to know how many people are hospitalised due to poor road safety.

Emily Reed, Year 12 student

Primary Report

Welcome back for Term 3. Due to changes in our staffing, we have adjusted the Primary timetable to continue supporting our learners with high-quality learning experiences. Our new base groups are as follows:

Foundation: Jess Trott
Year 1/2: Kate Neu
Year 3/4: Amber Tomney
Year 5/6: Matthew Buckingham

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Book Week

This year’s Book Week theme is ‘Dreaming with eyes open…’. Our Book Week celebrations will be held on Friday of Week 5, Term 3 (August 26th). We encourage everyone to dress up as their favourite book character or the Book Week theme. More detail will be released closer to the date.

Premiers Reading Challenge (PRC) is closing in September!

QAS learners are encouraged each year to participate in the Premiers Reading Challenge. There is still plenty of time to get involved before the closing date of September 9th! If you need a copy of the form, please come and see Miss Neu ASAP. All forms can be returned to either Miss Neu or your classroom teacher before Friday of Week 9.

For more information, please contact your classroom teacher or Miss Neu ( kate.neu862@schools.sa.edu.au ) or visit

Happy Reading

PRC Stem Challenge

A number of learners entered the PRC STEM Challenge this year. The competition received 3,353 entries. Out of these entries, 34 entries were selected as outstanding across the three topics.

QAS would like to congratulate Logan Buckingham and Georgia Shannon, who have both been recognised as one of the 34 outstanding entries!

Read Write Inc. Phonics

Congratulations to the following learners who have moved up groups in the Read Write Inc Phonics program for this term:

We have some missing Book Bag books (readers). If you have any Book Bag books (readers) at home from previous weeks or last year, please return them to your classroom teacher. Thank you.

Kate Neu
Primary Coordinator

Miss Tomney’s 3/4 Class

Term 3 has come around really quick! The students in Miss Tomney’s class have been learning a range of topics; some will be discussed below.

Please remember to ask your child what they have been learning as they know what they are doing.

Literacy

Learners are beginning to read George’s Marvellous Medicine as a class novel. After specific chapters are read, learners complete various questions to show their comprehension skills. They are also looking at a range of genre types, which they are looking at a narrative and how they can include a sizzling start to engage the reader.

Numeracy

For the next few weeks, angles are our main focus. Learners are exploring the different types of angles and identifying where they can see specific types. They have even made their own little information booklet which they can refer to when needed. Ask them about angles, as they are pros at defining and identifying them!

Art

This term, we are focusing on Dance and Music. For Dance, we are looking at creating an alphabet dance where they create a dance move for each letter in groups to present. This will lead them to be able to create a word using the dance moves of the letters they have created. For Music, learners will learn the beat of the ‘cup song as well as sing to a chosen song. They have started practising creating beats with a cup.

1/2/3 PE

This term, the years 1,2 and 3’s are joined together, so we have a big group to play lots of games. However, we are playing a range of teamwork games to support each other working together, before a sports game is played, along with learning the skills of that sport.

Please check out photos of us working together to create different letters and our video of our class making the word “Quorn!”

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me via the school. I am more than happy to speak to you.

Have a lovely week
Miss Tomney