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Dear Parents and Carers,
What a fantastic term we have had! The last few weeks in particular have highlighted the wonderful work our teachers, teacher aides, administration staff, cleaners, and groundsman Wayne, all do for our school and the fantastic behaviour and effort our students have put into their learning this year.
It is a wonderful feeling to be celebrating student achievements with you, and as I have been reading report cards this week, I have been impressed with the progressions in learning happening in our classrooms.
Academically, we have seen a HUGE 20% of our Prep to Year 10 students move forward a curriculum level in their learning. 13 of our students are moving up to the next curriculum level from the start of next semester.
- 4 students are moving from 1d pre-foundation level curriculum to Prep / Foundation
- 6 students are moving from 1c pre-foundation level curriculum to 1d
- 3 students are moving from 1b pre-foundation level curriculum to 1c
We are so excited to see this improvement for our students and it lets us know we are on track as a school with teaching and learning. Well done to our students, our dedicated teaching staff, our Head of Curriculum, Shellie, and all of our wonderful teacher aides who support our students with their learning.
We held a very successful Sports Day, and an excellent Rewards day in the last few weeks. I have been very impressed with our high levels of participation and the terrific behaviour displayed by our students. We will be holding another rewards day towards the end of Term 4, if students achieve the same high numbers of Ardy Tickets.
Senior Camp this week has also been an amazing experience for our young adults. I was so proud of them all when I visited for a night to hear of the team work, problem solving and leadership demonstrated by our Senior students. I was very impressed by their helpfulness and the way they supported and encouraged each other over the duration of the camp. Well done, Seniors!
We have a Tree to decorate for Winter on Mary Street, being held on Wednesday 21st July. If you can donate any beanies, scarves or wool to make pom poms, we are going to decorate our Tree as a giving tree – we will be donating all items to the homeless following the event. Please drop these items into our office from Monday 12th July.
I wish all of our families a safe, refreshing and enjoyable Winter holidays. I look forward to seeing everyone return ready for a fabulous Term 3 on Monday 12th July.
Moving forward, learning together,
Sarah Lester - Principal
Kind regards,
Rachael
Hi everyone,
Over the past 3 weeks I have collaborated with all sector teachers to pre-moderate student learning goals and assessment tasks for semester 2 curriculum units. Within these sessions, we looked at specific student learning evidence around communication skills, literacy development and numeracy skills. We used this evidence to identify what our students know and what their next steps in learning are. This guides the classroom curriculum to meet the individual communication, literacy and numeracy learning needs of each student.
Last Tuesday, as we moderated student learning and assessments from the current units of work, it was clearly evident that many of our student had achieved their goals and progressed to move up a curriculum level. I am so happy to announce that 20% of our school (13 students) have moved up a curriculum level. My Head of Curriculum heart is beating with pride. This demonstrates that the continued focus on communication and literacy learning through the balanced literacy approach is working phenomenally well for our teachers and their classroom planning and in turn increasing and improving student learning outcomes.
I am extremely excited about next semester units of work for our Prep to Year 10 students.
- English will be a focus on rhyming texts including poems, rhymes, song lyrics and rhyming picture books. Student will also make a rhyme and present it to their class or sector.
- Mathematics will be hands-on, real-life learning experiences around time, location, number and place values.
- HPE will be focused on ball skills, in particular, hand, foot and eye co-ordination. Attention will be given to social skills working in groups and how emotions can impact the people around us.
- Science will have a focus on earth and space sciences looking up at the sky and observing how it changes across the day and year, seasons and weather changes. Our Primary and Junior Secondary classes will also research and learn about space and planets.
Best wishes for a wonderful winter break!
Miss Shellie
Parade every Monday at 2pm
Week 1
Monday 12th July
School Resumes
Friday 16th July
Beefy's Pie Drive Orders due back to school
Week 2
Tuesday 20th July
P&C Tuckshop Days resume (every Tuesday for the term).
Week 4
Saturday 7th August
P&C Cent Sale Extravaganza!!
Early Years Sector News
We are half way through the year! While we have been completing the report cards, we can see how much the students have achieved over the Semester. It is wonderful to celebrate our students’ successes and growth. As we have had our curriculum planning sessions, ready for next semester, we are ready to begin our ICP meetings with parents to ensure our student goals are completed to begin next term. These meetings and conversations are very important to us and we greatly appreciate the time you put into them. We look forward to meeting with each family to ensure the best possible outcomes for our students.
We had our fabulous PBL Rewards Day last Friday. Activities included a Petting Zoo, Jumping Castle and Obstacle Course, Balloon Lady, Arcade Games and Bubbles. It was so much fun! All students deserved this day as they have put a great deal of work into following our 3 school rules and building awareness around our Positive Behaviour for Learning.
Horse-riding will continue for next term. We are really looking forward to a fantastic term 3 and seeing everyone back at school after a refreshing holiday. Best wishes!
From Lynne Kelly, Jennie Bryant, Megan Abbott, Jodi, Jordan, Jas, Sonia, Janet, Deb, Emma and Early Years Students.
Hi Primary Parents and carers,
The time has flown by and we are at the end of Semester 1 already. Over the last few weeks we have been busy finishing off the last of our work and enjoying the rewards of our hard labour.
During our English sessions we have finished our focus on the community around us, “Who’s Next Door?’ Students have continued to develop their reading and writing skills, as well as their continual development to communicate using strategies other than writing.
In Mathematics our students have been busily working on patterning and sorting objects by common parts. The students have really enjoyed the many different ways on showing how to make patterns in our classes.
In other news, our students participated in our PBL rewards day, with the students gleefully enjoying the petting zoo, jumping castle, arcade games and balloon creations. The students were so incredibly well behaved and the smiling faces showed the great time they were having.
We also held our Annual Sports Day, with students participating in both running and field events. The primary students were once again amazing with the effort they put in and the behaviour that they showed on the day.
Thanks for your support this semester and we look forward to seeing you all next term.
The Primary Teaching Team: Miss Erin & Jenny & Dana, Mr Dale & Katrina & Ev, Miss Trista & Bree & Tricia.
GSS Arts Room News
The students have enjoyed a term of drama, exploring the different roles that occur in real life situations, as well as the emotions and feelings portrayed by imaginary characters. They have extended their skills in starting and ending a skit, being prop assistants, camera people and assistant directors, as well as being an appreciative audience. We show-cased photos from early years in week 3, primary years in week 6, this newsletter will showcase junior and senior secondary students. Enjoy!
What a term, we’ve had so much fun! We have completed two major sporting events with our cross country and sports day. Our cross country showcased a range of talents and skills from running to persevering to complete the course. Sports day proved to be a memorial event with the Reds defeating the Blues (I am not happy about that). Students competed in a range of events including a relay against the teachers and tug of war with staff helping.
JS1 are becoming more proficient at identifying our core words using Auslan, Proloquo2Go, PODD, and our Coreboard. It has become a part of our morning session, especially with everyone practising our signing. The students have become proficient at following their individual literacy goals with a range of tasks and are becoming more independent as their confidence grows.
Last Friday, the students participated in a PBL fun filled day of obstacle course, arcade games, magic show, and petting zoo. The petting zoo was a huge hit with most students finding a favourite animal to cuddle.
Have a lovely break!
JS1 students, Darren, Dana, and Deb.
Keep safe, until next time,
JS1 students, Darren, Dana, and Deb.
Junior Secondary 2 News
Over the past few weeks we have created some amazing texts in response to our Books of the Week. We enjoy making our predictable chart sentences on Mondays. During the week, we sequence the words in the sentence and finally type it out, finding suitable illustrations. Two books we particularly liked were “Courage” and “Mr Chicken Goes to Paris.” We discussed what courage feels like and what it would look like for each of us, and that its okay to make mistakes and try again. We all thought that Mr Chicken was a funny character and liked learning some French words and a little about the sights of Paris. As usual on Wednesdays, we joined with EY2 to share our created books and always appreciate our younger audience’s enthusiasm.
During this term in maths, we have been making patterns, measuring the length and mass of objects and studying 2D shapes and 3D objects. We look forward to extending our knowledge in different areas of maths next semester.
This week we say goodbye to Miss Sue, who will be taking up a new role as an internal relief teacher within the school. We would like to thank her for her teaching, especially in helping us produce our predictable chart sentences on the computer, finding illustrations and making our finished books. We wish you good luck in your new position. Miss Libby will be extending her days to include Thursday and Friday, next term.
Every day, we team up with our friends in JS1 and play imaginative games, ball games and other structured games, learning how to play by the rules and be safe.
We wish all our school families a happy and safe holiday!
Warm regards,
Libby, Sue, Michelle, Chris, and Kate.
Hello Parents and Carers,
It has been an exciting couple of weeks to end term 2. JS3 students have just about worn themselves out, not only with class room activities but also with the Athletics Carnival and the Rewards Day fun activities.
The Athletics Carnival was a great success with our students putting into practise all the skills they had learnt over the past 8 weeks with Coach Tim. Well done to the Red team for taking out the day.
Rewards day was amazing with a blow-up obstacle course, petting zoo, magic balloons and arcade games. The JS3 students participated in all the activities and enjoyed the day. The blow-up obstacle course was a favourite with a few not wanting to stop.
The petting zoo was a bit slower paced and allowed the class to relax and enjoy the experience of close contact with some cute and fluffy baby animals.
After a great term 2 getting to know the JS3 students, we look forward to Semester 2 and more fun and exciting activities. Have a wonderful break and see you next term.
Warm regards,
Gavin, Naomi and Dana.
HASS - Learning World News
As the semester draws to a close, the students have completed all assessments and been revising some of the concepts we’ve covered in History. The Early Years began looking at what other celebrations happen around them and around the world. Primary students looked at what celebrations have in common and the artefacts used in commemorations. Junior Secondary and Senior classes have finished History, with a look at the Human Rights declaration and why it came about. All sectors have been working really hard and completed great work. We look forward to next semester when Geography will be the focus for the rest of the year. Have a safe holiday!
Miss A
Senior School News
We have had an extremely busy but rewarding term. We have been busy with our Mother’s Day stall, senior production, sports day, PBL day and for the last three days of this week we have been on school camp.
On Sports Day, our senior students were out in their Blue and Red: cheering, running and throwing. It was a brilliant day. It was great to see all our senior students participating 100%.
Students really enjoyed the camp at Luther Heights, Coolum. Together we decided on what to include in the program, safety and behaviour guidelines and community values while at camp. The students built team skills and overcome challenges. The students rose to the challenge and overcome fears.
Thanks for your support this semester. We look forward to next semester which will include some great new activities. Year 12s will be preparing for Graduation. Our Senior Sector Calendar will be out in Week 1 next term, with our class letter, which will let you know what is in stall.
Best wishes for a wonderful Winter break,
Miss Liz, Miss Alison, Judith, Chrissie, Jas, and Kate.
Until next time,
Cann, Kate, Alison, Liz, Bree, Andrea, Chrissy, Judith, Jas Kate C.
Technologies
The students and staff have thoroughly enjoyed the Design Technology lessons and activities this semester. It’s an engaging subject with lots of hands on construction and opportunities for creative designing and experimentation. The students participated particularly well with the craft-style toy making activities as well as exploring toys that use spinning motion. The students often worked in groups to problem solve and design solutions together. It was wonderful to see students who finished early helping their peers to complete the various tasks or showing them how something worked. We hope everyone has a great holiday and we look forward to seeing you all in term 3 where we’ll be continuing to develop foundational skills in computational thinking.
Andrew Stokes
Design and Digital Technology Specialist Teacher
P & C News
TUESDAY TUCKSHOP!
The P &C, in partnership with Gympie West Store will continue to run Tuesday tuckshop in Term 3. Please fill in your order form in the first week of school, for delivery on 20th of July (week 2)
Pie Drive!
Order forms came home this week. Please ensure your completed form is returned to our office by Friday 16th July. If you can, please ask family and friends if they want to order as well.
CENT SALE: Our Cent Sale is being held at Hamilton Hall next door at the High School on Saturday 7th August in the afternoon. Mark your calendar now! Come along and support your P&C with a fun afternoon of raffles, prizes and afternoon tea.
If you have any new or unused items you can donate as prizes for our cent sale, please send them in after the holidays.
Kind regards,
Juanita Sempowicz P&C President
P&C Meeting
Tuesday, 13th July at 5:30pm
All welcome!