BNSHS Newsletter May 27th 2020

From the Principal's office

What can I say?  What an interesting and challenging time we have all experienced over the last 2 months.  Welcome back students and families.  
This week we have been able to have all our students return to school.  I want to sincerely thank all our parents and families for supporting their child/children throughout the COVID 19 restrictions.  We have relied on parents/carers monitoring student learning, teachers providing online and modified programs and students working to the best of their ability to engage in the work provided.
We recognise that there have been issues with internet connectivity, access to devices, ability to collect and return paper copies and a variety of challenges with completing set work.  We understand that students will be at varying levels and that they have had varying levels of success in completing work.  Now that we are back, students and staff are working together to move forward.  
We will be extending the date for the issue of Semester 1 reports.  This will allow time and opportunity for students to complete work and assessment and will allow teachers time to make a judgement on Semester 1 work following a modified program.   The reports will be issued in a modified format but we will be planning opportunity for a parent/teacher/student progress conference to occur in mid Term 3 to discuss progress and any concerns.  It is very important for students to be in attendance each day to be able to maximise their level of success. 
Students have not returned to ‘normal’ but have returned to a ‘new normal’ with high expectations of personal hygiene, social distancing and as usual, completing work to the best of their ability.  We do not want any student disadvantaged by the recent changes to the learning environment so we will be promoting good personal hygiene practices, social distancing outside of the classroom and making plans with students to complete work, provide new timelines and adjust assessment accordingly.
You will note that our Newsletter has been given a ‘facelift’ with a new layout using a company called Schoolzine.  We hope that you will find the Newsletter informative and engaging and we welcome any feedback about the new look.  
Thank you again for your support throughout the past weeks.  It is great to have the students back and settling into their classrooms.  

Senior assessment

Assessment schedules
By now, all senior students should be aware of changes to their assessment schedules. The most significant change affects our year 12s, where one piece of assessment has been removed. This means that the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) and Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) points for this year will be calculated from 3 assessment pieces instead of 4. While this changes the calculation method, particularly for ATARs, the equation for students is simple: achieve your best on every piece of assessment. The best way to do this is for students to work with their teachers and seek help when needed.
Students in years 7-11 will also have changes to their assessment schedules. Teachers will be communicating with students to ensure they are ready for their next piece. Student assessment schedules will be available for all students from week 6 via OneSchool or Qparents.
Confirmation
Students in year 12 studying General subjects will soon hear the results of the confirmation process. This is part of the new Senior system, whereby student assessment results are quality assured. We are receiving confirmed results this week and students will start to receive finalised results for their first assessment pieces soon. If your student has any concerns about their results, please ask them to speak to their subject teacher first.

Mr Wright
Senior School Deputy Principal

Introducing Rocky

Rocky the French bulldog cross is in attendance at North High.  Rocky is on a part-time timetable and comes to school with his handler, teacher Mr Agius on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.  Rocky is an Animal Assisted Education Dog and is still in training so he is learning how he should behave at school and with students.  He has achieved the first level of his training and Mr Agius works closely with Rocky to guide him through each step of the intensive course.  The students are asked to check with Mr Agius before approaching Rocky.  Many students have commented that it is great to see Rocky around the school grounds and he just seems to 'make people smile'.  

Year 11 Biology break down lactose

A catalyst is not a list of names you would find at a cat show. It is a substance that speeds up a reaction.  If this reaction takes place in a plant or animal, the catalyst becomes an enzyme. 
Lactose is the complex sugar mainly found in milk, and anyone who is lactose intolerant knows that digesting cow’s milk can be a real pain.
Enzymes need optimum conditions to work in, and the 11 Biology classes investigated a number of these conditions: temperature, concentration, surface area, flow rate and type of milk.
By inserting the enzyme into a porous substrate, the lactose in milk can be broken down in a continual process, instead of the normal batch by batch system currently used.
This has great industrial applications and reduces dramatically the amount of enzyme needed to treat a specific volume of milk.
So, with the research 11 Biology has done – removing lactose from cow’s milk will mean that for lactose intolerant people their next milkshake will no longer be a pain in the guts!

National careers week, 18th-24th May

National Careers Week is an initiative of the Career Industry Council of Australia and aims to celebrate career development and career development practitioners and to promote the economic, social and personal benefits of career development.

Career development is a process of managing learning, work and leisure to progress through life. It includes gaining and using the skills and knowledge needed to plan and make informed decisions about education, training and work. Ultimately, career development is about much more than jobs - it is about how to live your life. 

At Bundaberg North State High School we have participated in a variety of Career themed activities and some can be found on Student SharePoint - National Careers Week. On this Careers page, students can find the latest information from ADF, TAFE, apprenticeships, Tertiary institutes and more. On Friday, staff dressed as their favourite career/job to raise awareness.... can you guess what they are dressed as?

Remember there are many staff at North who can help you with career pathways - just ask!

Furnishing skills

Year 12 Furnishing students were pleased to be back at school to complete their projects last week.  Darcy put the finishing touches to his araucaria pine hallstand while Jhye uses the lathe to shape his project.  

Art students fend off evil spirits

Year 9 Visual Art students began working on a ceramics unit before learning at home began. Fundamental to gothic architecture, gargoyle sculptures were designed to project water from rooves and to also protect people from “evil spirits”. While learning at home, the students’ designs for gargoyle sculptures came to symbolise protection from the evil coronavirus. What a way to beat the isolation blues! Students collected clay from the school and designed and made all of these creations from home. Participation in this task was outstanding and the art teachers are incredibly proud of students’ efforts.

The aliens are coming

No – it has nothing to do with the return of our junior school students. It’s all to do with the year 7 Digital Technology students making a Space Invaders game using code. The students have been using online software with Grok Learning to make fortresses and build enemy craft. The unit is self-paced and with the use of Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (an online classroom) they can speak with me if they are having problems. Space Invaders is a 1978 arcade game. The objective of the game is to pan across a screen and shoot descending swarms of aliens, preventing them from reaching the bottom of the screen. It is viewed as a pioneer of modern gaming. 
Our year 9 and 10 Digital Technology students have been coding using Python. Python is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language and is widely used around the world. In one of our online chat sessions a year 10 female student wrote:
Oml its so cool!!! Ok so its like a map and you have mini missions and you’re working towards something bigger.

Computer coding empowers people to not only consume digital media and technology, but to create it. Instead of simply playing a video game or using an app, they can imagine making their own video game, or envision what their own website, or app might look like—and they’ll have the outlet for expression.
We look forward to seeing our students return to the classroom.

Mr Newell (DIG Teacher)

RAS challenges

Our RAS (Relationships and Self) program aims to give students a “family” here at North, with RAS groups made up of students from 7-12. During remote learning we very much wanted to encourage and foster the connections between RAS group members. So, the RAS Challenges were born.
Each week students have been set three challenges to choose from and encouraged to share their attempts with their RAS groups by emailing their entry.  Every attempt earns a students the chance to win the weekly draw for a $5 tuckshop voucher AND a point for their House in the inaugural “RAS Challenge Cup”.
It has been so much fun to see our students joining in and connecting with their RAS families with challenges like cooking a family meal, writing short stories, writing a poem or song, designing superheroes, doing yoga and building a paper plane. 
At present the competition between the houses is building with the current leader board looking like this:

Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time for Tirroan to slip down the leader board with the RAS Challenges continuing for the rest of the term!

RAS challenges

Tuckshop is open for business!

Our wonderful tuckshop staff are ready to welcome back all our students.  They have been working in a limited capacity over the past few weeks but look forward to being able to provide a larger menu for everyone.  It is important that everyone entering the tuckshop washes their hands, applies hand sanitiser and follows the social distancing procedures.  

Welcome back!

Bringing a smile to faces

 Prior to the holidays, some of our students made cards to say thank you to essential workers or to send best wishes to some of our aged community members.  We were delighted to receive a thank you letter from  Pioneer Village.   Thank you to the students who made the cards.  They were greatly appreciated.

Get on board with QParents

At the moment, when families are experiencing new challenges with working from home and assisting students learning from home it is more important than ever to have easy and convenient ways to communicate.  The QParents site is a safe, government supported portal which provides a secure connection between you and our school.  Once registered you can see your student's timetable, assessment schedule, fix up any absences or advise the office of upcoming absences and see your child's report cards.  You can also view your school accounts and easily make payments.  Click on the link for more information or call the office on 4130 0222 to register.

From the office desk

The staff in the office are excited to have all of our students back at school.  It is a good time to refresh memories about the correct process when your student is absent or needs to leave school early.  Please advise us of your students absence by email principal@bundabergnorthshs.eq.edu.au , phone 4130 0222, QParents or by leaving a message on our voicemail (you can do this after hours) within 3 days of your student being away from school.

If your student needs to leave school early for an appointment, this should be arranged prior to the start of the school day.  Once you have advised us of the sign out details your student should collect a 'leave request' from the office.  They then show their teacher at the appropriate time and sign out of school.  We appreciate your cooperation and support of the school's process in regards to your students safety and wellbeing while attending school.  

Chappy week

This week is Chappy Week and would like to acknowledge the fantastic work our Chappys do at North High.  Terrence and Kelly are always here for our students and we thank them sincerely for the support they provide.  As well as being a friendly face and always available for a chat, they run programs and events around the school to support student welfare and well-being.  

Positive postcards

‘Positive Postcards’ is the Bundaberg Regional Council Youth Team’s project to build a connected community in response to COVID-19.   They wish to show their support for all your hard work by delivering ‘Positive Postcards’ to essential workers and vulnerable members of the community.

The Youth Team wishes to increase resilience by creating connections, and show that we are all in this together.  They extend a  community hug to all while we continue to flatten the curve and beat COVID-19. 

To create your own ‘Positive Postcard’ please visit  www.bundaberg.qld.gov.au/youth

We hope the ‘Positive Postcards’ brighten your day - please find a link above to a selection of positive postcards for you to view.

Growing up in Queensland