BNSHS Newsletter February 17th

From the Principal's office

Thank you to the many parents who attended our Meet the Teachers afternoon on February 11.  It was a great opportunity for parents and teachers to meet.  This was then followed by our first P&C meeting – I encourage parents to attend our monthly meetings.  Next meeting will be on Thursday March 11^th at 6.00pm in A Block.  All are welcome.       

Our School Council meets this week and we welcome Kate Giles as our  new parent representative. 

Our new timetable structure introducing ‘Friday 5’ has been progressing well.  We are in discussions with Regional council and the police to assist with the traffic congestion at 1.10pm and will keep you informed of any developments.  You can read more about this in the Junior School section of this newsletter. We thank you for your support and patience in ensuring students are exiting the school safely.    

Our school enrolment on Day 8 was 801 students.  This was a very pleasing result and has allowed for a small increase in our staffing allocation.  We have a large year 7 cohort and a number of large classes and we are working on using extra staffing to reduce class sizes.  Students and parents will be notified of any changes as soon as possible.

Reminder that our Swimming carnival will be on tomorrow. Students should ensure they have a hat, sunscreen and protective clothing.  Arrangements are being finalised for a fun filled day for the students.  Please ensure that you have registered your child/children using the online permission form for which you will find the link below. 

School photos will be held Tuesday 23^rd.  Students must be in correct school uniform and following dress expectations.  Please see the article later in the newsletter for instructions about how to purchase your students school photos.

To keep you informed about important events, dates and achievements at North High we are using email, SMS, Facebook, school website and the fortnightly newsletter to relay our communication.  If you have any queries please call the office so we can assist and so that consistent, accurate information is shared.

Robyn Kent

Principal

Friday 5

Friday 5 - Students remaining at school until 3pm.

Inter-house swimming carnival

Tomorrow, Thursday 18th February, the inter-house swimming carnival will be held at Norville Council Pool. All students are expected to attend the day, however competitive swimming is optional.  There will be activities organised for all students.  There will be competitive swimming and social activities.  There will be no organised classes at school as all students and staff will be attending the swimming carnival.  Unfortunately, due to COVID 19, parents are not able to attend this year's carnival.  

Students will be bussed from school to and from the venue at a cost of $2 per student. Students pay their $2 as they enter the bus.  Students will be bussed back to school by 3.00pm. 

There will be a canteen operating on the day at the pool. Shade will be provided, however please ensure your child has sunscreen, appropriate sun safety clothing, a hat and water.  Students need to be sun safe throughout the day.

Students are encouraged to participate and dress in either themed costume or house colours.  This year's theme is 'Pool Party'.    

Students are to return their signed form OR parents can complete the digital consent form below once they have read the information letter.

For further details about the activity, please contact Mr Thatcher on 41300222 or rthat1@eq.edu.au

Year 6 Experience Day

On Thursday 18^th February Bundy North High will be taken over by Year 6 students from Bundaberg North State School, Kolan South SS, Sharon SS, Oakwood SS, and Moore Park Beach state school. The visiting students will get a chance to experience the speciality subjects offered at North High. They will get to create in the Design Technologies workshop, cook in the Lifestyles kitchen, play an instrument in the Music room, code in the Digital Technologies computer lab, learn about Business and Economics and conduct experiments in the Science lab.

We are excited to meet the current year 6 students and have a fun day together.

Senior news

 School leadership and badge ceremony

The school enjoyed its first signature event of the year last week with the Year 12 Induction and Senior School Badge Leadership Ceremony. As always it was reassuring to witness so many students prepared to contribute to the school community. We can look forward to a productive year with the quality of student leaders across the school. More importantly we are developing students who will actively engage and contribute to their respective communities in the future. In particular I wish our School Captains Braydan and Alison well for the challenges ahead. We also look forward to inducting our junior school representative later in the year.

Assessment calendar

The term 1 and 2 assessment calendar has been published to students and parents. This calendar allows students to see all of the assessment due dates for their classes for the first semester. Students can access their assessment calendar through OneSchool, and have been emailed instructions. Parents can access their student’s assessment calendar via QParents.

Mr Wright, Deputy Principal, Senior School

Junior school news

Changes to the Timetable

School resourcing is based upon student enrolment on Day 8 of the school year. Our Day 8 return saw 801 students enrolled at Bundaberg North State High School which represents an increase of approximately 30 students on last year. Minor changes have been made to the school timetable over the last few weeks to balance class sizes which provides our students with greater access to personalised learning with their teachers during classes.

Major changes to the timetable that are being made include; adding an extra Year 11 Essential Mathematics, adding an extra Year 11 Sport and Recreational Studies class and adding an extra Year 7 class for all subjects.

The addition of an extra year 7 class to all subjects will dramatically increase the opportunity for year 7 students to engage one-on-one with their teacher during class time. This change means that some of our current year 7 students will be moved from their existing class to a new class for the remainder of the school year; this change to the year 7 classes also impacts the order in which some year 7 students will take Health and Physical Education and Japanese. We are working to finalise the changes to the year 7 classes and will email the parents of those student who will be impacted.

The Importance of Routines

Our school pedagogical improvement is based upon the Marzano Art and Science of Teaching (ASOT) Model. The Bundaberg North State High School teaching staff has been using Marzano’s Framework as the core of our professional development delivery for the last seven years. A key component of the ASOT Framework is the use of effective routines in our classroom environment. Research has shown that strong routines support clear expectations enabling students to engage optimally in classroom learning.

Routine is important in maximising learning outside of school. It is important that students have a regular daily study time and a set place to complete this study in the household. The notion of routine can also be extended into sleep. Students will generally function at a higher level when they have set sleep and wake up times. The beginning of the school year is an excellent time to establish good routines to support learning.

For junior students the move into high school can be challenging and the setting up of effective routines both at school and home can be the starting point to successful high school life. The requirements of the curriculum in the Senior School will place strong demands on student recall. Success in this system will be largely dependent on effective study skills underpinned by strong routines.

Parking and traffic congestion

We would like to thank parents for their support in overcoming the traffic congestion during pick-up and drop off times and in particular note the increase in traffic on Friday afternoons.

School representatives are having consultation meetings with various local and state stakeholders to determine a solution to this congestion and until the solution is found we all have a part to play.

The school has staff currently assisting with students exiting on Friday afternoon and we have liaised with the Bundaberg Police Service to assist us where possible to monitor the current traffic congestion.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads has released a number of other tips for safe driving and parking around schools, which include the following:

• Allow enough time to get your child/children to the school gate safely without rushing.
• Consider parking a few streets away and walk your child/children to school.  This is also good for teaching your children road safety skills.
• Always observe the speed limit signs around the school.
• Always observe the parking signs outside the school. These are designed to keep children safe.
• Never park illegally across a driveway, on the nature strip, near a school crossing, or in a bus zone.
• Never double park. Double parking blocks the vision of other drivers, forces children onto the road and obstructs the flow of traffic.

Tips sent in from other parents:

• Arrange pick-up with your student prior to the start of the day.
• Make sure your student knows which car they will be picked up in.
• Be patient while we all get used to the new Friday pick-up time.
• Approach Marks Street from Young Street so that you do not have to try and cross over or through traffic.

Yr 12 'REC'ers up the creek with a paddle

The 12 Recreation classes have been having fun on their canoeing excursions at Burnett Downs. Students are learning the basic forward and backward paddle and the turning strokes of sweeps and rudders. Miss Tibbey’s class had fun this week paddling further up the river and practising their capsize drill & supporting class mates getting back into their canoes. Looking forward to seeing the students skills develop over the next few weeks.

Recreation Coordinator, Miss Tibbey 

School photo day 23/2/2021

Dear Parents,

School photography day is coming up soon. Group and portrait photographs can be purchased by following the link below or by returning the order envelope with your payment to our photographer on school photo day.

NEW
advancedlife now offers Latitude Pay! To take advantage of LatitudePay and split the cost of your order into 10 small easy payments, simply order your school photos online as usual, set up a Latitude Pay account in just a few clicks and pay no interest or fees when you pay according to your payment schedule; it’s that easy.

3 easy ways to purchase:

1. LatitudePay – Set up an account during the online order process and split your payments across 10 weeks with no interest or fees, if you pay on time
2. Visa, MasterCard or PayPal
3. Cash – complete the envelope supplied and return it to our photographer on photo day

Or visit: www.advancedlife.com.au
And enter online order code: XRE VMX 8E2

School photography information:

• Online orders - do not require an envelope returned to your school
• Sibling Photos - Don’t forget to pre-order your sibling photos online up to 24 hours before photo day. We provide your school with a list of sibling orders right up to the day of photography, so no one misses out. If you miss the online order deadline, you can submit a completed sibling order envelope first thing in the morning of the day of photography, so your school is aware you want the photo taken and can bring your children together in time for it. Sibling photographs only apply to children enrolled at your school. Please note not all schools offer sibling photos
• Late fees - a late fee will be applied to each package purchased after photo day due to the additional cost of producing these packages separately
• Package delivery - photographic packages will be returned to your school for distribution approximately six weeks after photos are taken
• Previous Years’ photos - Past years’ photographs including sports, co-curricular and representative groups are also available to order under the 'previous years or group photo' tabs at your school’s advancedorder site when you click on the 'Order School Photos Here' button above. You can also order past packages, portrait images and gifts from your child’s unique, individual and secure advancedyou image archive site using the unique 9 digit image code found on packages you have ordered in the past

advancedlife would like to express our appreciation to Bundaberg North State High School for placing your trust in us. Please remember we offer a 100% money back guarantee on our products to ensure your peace of mind. We would also love to receive your feedback or resolve any issues you may experience as fast as possible, to ensure your satisfaction. If you have any questions, comments or feedback relating to your advancedlife experience please contact us at: www.advancedlife.com.au/contact

Thanks, your Advanced Life team

Science in the sand pit

Today our year 12 Earth and environmental science class went on a field trip to Sunstate Sands sand mine at Coonarr. Students had a safety induction before heading out to the active area of the mine, where they got to see an excavator and dump truck at work. Next was a look at areas that have been rehabilitated. Students toured the wet and dry processing plants, where they learnt about how the sand is processed before being packaged for customers. Thank you to Matt, Dave and Jason from Sunstate sands for being fabulous tour guides and answering all our questions.

Introducing our team

Hi, I am Lauren Samuels and I am very excited to be returning to Bundaberg North State High school after returning from maternity leave. In 2021 I am fortunate enough to have taken over the role of Year 7 Year Level Coordinator, this means that I am responsible for students in Year 7’s social and emotional wellbeing at school. Working with students is a great joy and I look forward to watching the Year 7’s flourish over the year. My speciality areas are English and History and I also enjoy my role as classroom teacher. When I am not at school I love to spend time at the beach with my family and going on short camping trips on the weekend. I am looking forward to getting to know more of the Bundaberg North State High School community and working with you all.

 My name is Nelle Hearn and 2021 will be my 4th year of teaching. During this time, I have taught at Gin Gin State Primary School. I absolutely love teaching and find it rewarding being able to make learning engaging and accessible for all students. When I’m not at school, I love spending time with my family and friends. I like to run and you will find me most weekends at Parkrun.  I hope to run my first half marathon this year. I am so excited to be joining the team at Bundaberg North team and look forward to meeting you all.

North High Planeteers

The North High Planeteers are a group of Bundaberg North SHS students who are interested in making a positive difference to the environment both at school and in the wider community. We organise activities to improve the environment and sustainability in our school and participate in some community activities promoting improved environmental outcomes. We welcome new students from all year levels to join our group and especially encourage junior students to join, as we are interested in new ideas younger members can bring. Some of the activities we have organised or been a part of before include: Clean Up Australia Day, National Tree Planting Day, presentations by Wildlife carers and an organisation auditing beach rubbish, a biosphere conference in Maryborough, Milbi Festival, making beeswax wraps, and a visit to see nesting turtles at Mon Repos. Any interested students should come along to our meetings on Thursday at second break in the library (J04) with Mrs Roberts.

City visit for Art students

How do artists draw inspiration from the world around them to create magnificent pieces of work? On Friday 5th February, year 11 and 12 General Art students, including myself, travelled to Brisbane, looking for inspiration and information. This excursion will set the tone for the next year of artworks as we investigated an array of artists such as Vernon Ah Kee, Gordon Bennett, Reko Rennie and many more who will help inspire upcoming artworks and assessments. After our bus trip from Bundy to Brisbane, we visited artworks in the city centre, analysing them and finding meaning in their creation. The next stop included the two art galleries Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, in which the class experienced studied artists’ works in person. At this point, we were all tired but we still greatly enjoyed our guided tour of the luxury W Hotel and its magnificent artworks. Finally, after a long but educational and creative day we hopped on the train and made our way back home. Thank you to Mrs McDonald and Mrs Martin for taking us on this wonderful experience. All of us had great fun and learning many things along the way.

Samantha, Year 12 Art student

Let's go Lego

Lego can help us all improve our skills in communication, problem solving, emotional growth, fine motor skills and creative thinking. We are looking to integrate Lego in a number of our programs here at North High, and are hoping our community can help us out by donating any old or excess Lego that’s out there taking up valuable cupboard space.

We’re looking for loose Lego bricks, building plates, old kits (with or without instructions), Technic pieces…anything Lego.

If you have some to spare please drop it off at the administration office.

We can’t wait to share what our students can do with it!

From the Sports desk...

Please find links to the Summer sports draws below.  

Meet the teachers

Thank you very much to the parents and families who attended our annual 'Meet the Teachers' BBQ last week.  It was wonderful to see so many new faces along with some familiar ones as well.  It was a great opportunity for parents and carers to meet with their students' teachers in a casual, informal environment - and to share a sausage sizzle too!

We welcome and encourage calls from parents at any time of the year to contact teachers to discuss their students' progress.  

Robyn Kent, Principal

Office notes

P&C News

The “Bundaberg North High P&C Association” will hold its annual general meeting on Thursday 11 March 2021 at 6pm in A17. All positions are declared vacant. If you would like to nominate for a position, please complete the attached form and submit to me prior to the meeting:

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Any other committee member the association may decide

We would really welcome your involvement in making our P&C / school the best it can be.

Extract from Constitution – Nomination of Office-bearers

Officers of the Association may only be elected as follows:

1. any two members of the Association (the Nominating Members) may nominate another member (the Candidate) to be an Officer
2. the nomination may be made:
   1. in person, by the Nominating Members, at the relevant meeting, or
   2. if the Candidate cannot be present at the relevant meeting, by giving the Secretary, before the meeting, a nomination in writing signed by the Nominating Members and the Candidate
3. if there is only one nomination for a position the Candidate will be elected to the relevant office if the candidate receives the votes of a majority of the members at the meeting
4. if there is more than one nomination for a position the Candidate who receives the majority of the votes will be elected to the relevant office.

Medieval Mania

Catapults successfully flung paper missiles while arrows were shot at imaginary game for our hungry peasants' dinner. The Vikings were there for their tug of war while “naughty” people were placed in the stocks for a bit of water retribution. For quieter moments there was pseudo stained-glass patterns or designing your own heraldry shield.  Our minds were challenged by the medieval board game, strategic moves of Japanese kendo fighting and trying to work out how to put on the kimono. All in all there was a lot of action as students completed the series of activities that made up the Medieval Mania  day.  Lots of fun and learning in the one event.

Miss Rayner, Head of Department - Humanities

Day of Excellence

The Bundaberg North State High School Excellence Program is an extension and enrichment opportunity for nominated students from Northern Alliance primary schools. The program includes four Days of Excellence which give nominated students from years 4, 5 and 6 the opportunity to connect and collaborate with likeminded students and external organisations in a series of activities designed to develop critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, ethical understanding and intercultural understanding.

Our first Day of Excellence will take place on Wednesday, 3^rd March 2021.

Nominees will need to complete a registration package and return to their primary school before Friday 26^th, February 2021.

For more information please contact Mrs Nicole Gray via email ngray59@eq.edu.au or phone 4130 0222.

Flexi success

Woohoo! Congratulations to Year 8F with an amazing score of 92% attendance and excellent behaviour! Last week, Mr Williams ‘gate-crashed’ Mrs. Thornton’s science lesson to capture some photos of students engaged in a science experiment. Mr Williams and Mrs Thornton have been very impressed by students’ hard work.

Students are engaged in lessons and working hard to build their literacy and numeracy skills.

In English, students are also exploring the world of Indigenous texts and the language techniques and features authors that use. In Humanities, students also have recently enjoyed Medieval Day and investigating the life of kings & queens, castles & witches during the Middle Ages.

BYOD

When purchasing a device for your student that is suitable for school use, please refer to the minimum specifications.  This is to ensure that the device you buy meets the minimum hardware and software specifications and can connect to the School Gateway.

Meet the Wild Brain

The Rebooting Education framework used at Bundy North refers to the region of the brain which includes the brain stem and cerebellum as Wild Brain. This region of the brain also contains the amygdala which works as our danger scanner and if it feels necessary it will hijack our brain, initiate a FIGHT, FLIGHT or FREEZE response and there is little we can do to override this.

During adolescence Wild Brain is more active, resulting in emotions that can rise quickly and intensely without a lot of Smart Brain input.  To help keep our Wild Brain from a hijack takeover we need to ensure that certain needs are considered. It is also important that adult role models support adolescents in developing skills which help them activate their Smart Brain’s in stressful situations so that they can avoid or deescalate an amygdala hijacking.

There have been studies which show that being able to identify and name emotions helps engage the Smart Brain and can therefore potentially minimise the risk of an amygdala hijack. This is why we encourage our Bundy North community to “check in” with their emotions using a 5 point scale we call the Five Faces. You might have seen our walkway mural displaying these faces when you enter our main gate encouraging our community to check in with themselves, because being able to name an emotion helps us tame it, can help balance the 3 Brains, and help us work in the Learning Zone more effectively.

School Savvy is back for 2021

From January 11, the School Savvy pop-up shop will open in Bundaberg. Students from families facing financial struggles will be able to access pre-loved uniforms and essential stationery supplies to prepare them for new school year.

Uniform and stationery donations can be taken to any donation drop off point across the region, with many convenient locations available. For a current list of donation points in your area, visit www.centacarecq.com/donationpoints.

Support your local community and make a difference in a student’s life.  

Important dates

TALKING FAMILIES:Are you having one of those weeks where you feel like you haven’t quite got this whole parenting thing figured out? Don’t worry, you’re far from alone. Check out some practical ways to reframe our thinking and realise we’re all in this together.  Click on the link below for more information.