BNSHS Newsletter 21st July 2021

From the Principal's office

Welcome to our first newsletter for Semester 2.  By now all parents and students will have received Semester 1 reports.  I hope that you have been able to spend time looking at your child’s report and I invite you to contact any teachers who you would like to discuss progress with.  We have Progress Conferences planned for the end of Term 3 but invite phone or face to face discussions at any time during the term.

It was pleasing to see that the Year 8 English results for achieving A-C results improved by 10% from Term 1 to Term 2 and that in Year 12, 23 out of 29 subjects met the target of 85% of students achieving A-C results.   Junior Maths A-C results have improved from Semester 1 2020 to Semester 1 2021 – Year 7 increasing by 8%, Year 8 increasing by 10 % and Year 9 increasing by 15%.

I would like to congratulate all the students who participated in the Athletics Carnival on 25 June.  It was a fantastic day with several records being broken.  Students participated well throughout the day and a team of students will be selected to compete in the Bundaberg District Athletics carnival on August 2&3.  

It is that time of the year when we participate in the School Opinion Survey.  All staff, parents and students from Year 8 and 11 have been emailed a link to the School Opinion Survey.  I would encourage you to complete the survey so that we gain an accurate picture of how we are travelling at North.  The survey will remain open until July 30.  Please take the time to complete the survey.

This week we held our Year 11, 2022 Subject Selection Evening and from Friday July 23th until Friday July 30th, we will be conducting SETP (Senior Education Training Plan) interviews with all Year 10 students to discuss their subject selection for 2022.  All Year 10 students have been  allocated a 30 minute interview with their parents.

This week we also conducted our first enrolment meeting for new Year 7 students for 2022.  We welcome all our new families and year 7 students for next year.  Any queries about the enrolment process can be directed to the main office.  We are very happy to answer any questions as you complete the enrolment paperwork and submit your enrolment request.  As of this semester, North has an Enrolment Management Plan (which means that we have a catchment area) – students who live in our catchment area enrol at North.  Students who do not live in our catchment area will need to submit a request for consideration.  This process aligns with Bundaberg SHS and Kepnock SHS and their Enrolment Management Plans.  Please head to our website for more information on our Enrolment Management Plan.

Below you will find the Term 3 registration form to advise us if your student WILL be remaining at school for Friday 5.  Please help us out by completing the form and submitting it online.  If your student will NOT be staying at school, and will leave each Friday at 1:10pm, you do NOT need to complete the form.

Robyn Kent, Principal

Register for Friday 5, term 3.

Friday 5 - Students remaining at school until 3pm.

Warm welcome to new Deputy Principal

Hi, my name is Mick Findlay and I’m privileged to be starting semester 2, 2021 as a Deputy Principal at North High. I began my career 12 years ago completing my rural service in Moura where I taught HPE, Geography and History. I moved to Bundaberg in 2013 and worked at Bundaberg SHS in many different positions including HPE Teacher, Year Level Coordinator and VET/ Senior School Head of Department. Over the past 4 years at Gin Gin State High School, I have worked as the Head of Department for HPE, Art, Drama and Hospitality.

My wife, Malinda, and I have a 10-year-old son and a 1-year old dachshund. Being a HPE trained teacher, I enjoy most sports including running, swimming, cycling, tennis and golf. I like to spend most weekends at the beach and volunteer for surf lifesaving at Neilson Park, Bargara. I support anything QLD including the Reds, Maroons, Broncos and Lions. I look forward to my time at Bundaberg North SHS and I thank all the staff, students and parents for a warm welcome.

Mick Findlay, Deputy Principal

News from Mrs Arnold

Year 6 into 7 Enrolment Afternoon

On Tuesday, 20^th July, 2021, we continued our ‘Transition Program’ for year 6 into 7 students. Parents and students were able to meet the junior wellbeing team and staff that will support them in their ‘Bundaberg North High’ journey. They also learnt about important aspects of high school life and the biggest changes to school for a student from their primary to secondary education years.

We advise any parents that if you have a child in Year 6 currently to ensure you hand in your enrolment documents as soon as possible. This allows us to monitor our numbers. Bundaberg North State High School is enrolment managed so there is a process in place if you wish to apply for ‘Out of Catchment’ enrolment consideration. If you know of any families who may have their first child attending Bundaberg North SHS in 2022 please feel free to pass this information on to them and encourage them to get in contact with the school.

Parents can get access to our enrolment forms and information through registering via our website, newsletter using the online form below or a phone call to the office on 4130 0222. Once you have registered your interest we can send the information via post or email or the information to be collected from our administration office.

Our Orientation Day for year 6 into 7 students is on Wednesday, 1^st December, 2021. On this day students will engage in learning about daily high school life, meet their 2022 teachers and classmates. There is also an information session in the morning for parents that wish to attend. It is important to note that students who have not submitted their completed paper prior 1^st December, 2021, will not be able to attend the Orientation Day.

Subject Selections for year 11 students in 2022

This term Year 10 students have been preparing their Senior Education and Training Plan (SETP). As a part of this, the school held a subject selection evening this week. Key documents distributed at the evening, including the subject selection booklet (also available on the website), the pathways diagram, and the subject selection form has been emailed to all students and parents. If you were unable to attend the subject selection evening, there are some important messages I would like to convey to you now.

Please look carefully at the Pathways document (link below). We are encouraging students to think about which of the three pathways (employment, training, or tertiary) they are intending to pursue, before they make their subject selections. The document shows which subjects are suitable for each pathway, as well as listing other experiences and people the student is likely to access on that pathway. The three pathways can be briefly described as:

Employment – Students who intend to enter the workforce during their senior years, or immediately after.

Training – Students who intend to pursue further training in the vocational education sector, including apprenticeships and traineeships

Tertiary – Students who intend to pursue university qualifications

Please help your student to make preliminary subject selections on the subject selection form. Students have been given a hard copy of the final version of the Subject Selection Form. This form is to be retained by the student and used as a planning document. Students are to enter their selections online prior to their subject selection interview. The official subject selection will take place during SETP interviews.

The next important event for year 10 students will be the SETP interviews, taking place from this Friday 23^rd July until next Friday, 30^th July, 2021. You will have received an email confirming a day and time for a SETP interview. At the SETP interview, an expert staff member will discuss pathways and subject selection with you and your student, leading to a finalised SET Plan or plan for further support in regards to decision making.

If you have any further queries, please contact the school.

Subjects Selection for year 9 and 10 students in 2022

Later this term, year 8 and 9 students will attend sessions and hear information in regards to their subjects in 2022.

All year 9 and 10 students, in 2022, will study mathematics, English, science, history, and HPE. Students will then select four (4) electives - students will study two (2) electives in Semester 1 and two (2) electives in Semester 2. Each elective will be a semester in length.  

Out of the four subjects you select, ONE must be from ‘The Arts’ (Visual Arts, Media Arts, Music, Drama). 

Out of the four subjects you select, ONE must be from ‘Technologies’ (Design Technologies – wood, Industrial Technologies – metal, Digital Technologies, Lifestyles – cooking). 

Students may also choose to study electives from the humanities or languages including; Economics and Business or Japanese.

Students will select two additional preferences in case they do not get their first preferences; these preferences MUST contain a subject from THE ARTS and TECHNOLOGIES.  

An email will be sent out later in the term with the subject selection form that is provided to students and other important information.

Mrs Arnold, Deputy Principal

Enrolment at North 2022

Intention to enrol at BNSHS

Reach for the Sky

On Tuesday, 27^th July, 2021, our second “Reach for the Sky” Awards Ceremony will be held. These awards are not based on academic excellence but instead highlight our school values of Responsibility and commitment to learning and the right to learn in a safe and supportive environment to produce: Outstanding Learners, Outstanding Achievements, and Outstanding Futures.  

To receive these awards students must meet the criteria listed below; 

• Gold – 6 or more Excellence results for Effort, 6 or more Excellence results for Behaviour
• Silver – 5 or more Excellence results for Effort, 5 or more Excellence results for Behaviour
• Bronze - 4 or more Excellence results for Effort, 4 or more Excellence results for Behaviour

These awards are very difficult to accomplish and the students who have achieve these awards deserve to be recognised. Unfortunately, due to ongoing COVID restrictions, we will not be able to have parents in attendance at this ceremony.

Students will be able to check if they are receiving one of these awards from tomorrow, Thursday, 21^st July, 2021, via Student SharePoint.

Mrs Arnold, Deputy Principal

Ecoman

Congratulations to our six Year 11 Business students who participated in the 3 Day Ecoman Program at Ulton Accountants last week. Miss Kent, Miss Wilson and Mrs Jensen attended the final business presentations made to the shareholders at the AGM on Friday afternoon.  Vanessa, Byron,  Jake, Shae, Michael and Harry all did our school proud. 

Mrs Jensen, Business teacher

Indigenous students participate in NAIDOC community events

Last week our Indigenous dance group performed and ran activities at Bundaberg North State School’s NAIDOC celebrations.  This week our dance group is attending Bundaberg Special School to perform. 

Uniform changes for 2022

As you may be aware, we will be changing school uniform suppliers in 2022.  We are currently finalising the uniform designs and will be providing details when the new supplier ‘Shawline’ will be operating.  Currently uniforms are supplied by LOWES at Stockland until November 30^th.  There will be several new uniform items for winter eg a jacket and trackpants, jumper, formal long pants.  The daily uniform of polo shirt and shorts and the formal uniform have not changed.   More details will be supplied later in the year. 

Changes to parking conditions - Marks St

The parking conditions outside the Bundaberg North SHS hall in the bus zone have recently changed.  As a result of collaboration with the Bundaberg Regional Council we have been able to provide more parking access,  which will assist parents collecting their students, particularly on Friday afternoons.  New traffic parking signs have been erected. Parking can occur in the bus zone between 9.00am – 2.30pm.  We are also working with the council on possibilities of adding a pedestrian crossing to improve safety for those crossing the road. 

Student pick-up on Friday afternoons has been running smoothly with students exiting within a 15-18 minute period of time.  The additional car spaces should add to the efficiency of the pick up time.

Robyn Kent, Principal

School Opinion Survey

Thank you to all of those who have already completed the Parent/Caregiver Survey.  If you  have not had a chance to complete the survey yet, please note that the online surveys will remain open until Friday, 30th July 2021.  This is your opportunity to provide feedback about what our school does well and how we can improve.  

To have your say, check your email for an invitation from the Department of Education titled School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2021.

We appreciate your time and value your opinion.

Instrumental music

Three of our ensemble students attended the combined high schools Strings Workshop at Shalom last Tuesday.  All of the Bundaberg high schools were invited to participate in this amazing event, which featured the top string ensemble from St Peter’s Lutheran in Brisbane.  All the Bundaberg students (and teachers) were inspired by the visiting ensemble.  The St Peter’s students practise on average between 1 to 5 hrs per day, and most of them would be considered professional standard.

Byron, Rebecca, and Kim had a fantastic day.  They started playing 9am in the morning, and continued rehearsing until the performance at 6pm that night!

Future Leaders' Eco Challenge Catch up

While the virtual Future Leaders’ Eco Challenge wrapped up week 5 of term 2, there were a couple of challenges we didn’t quite get submitted on time due to their complexity and technology issues. We still completed these challenges and would like to share them with you here. If any students in our community are interested in these types of environmental issues and activities, Planeteers meet in the library at second break each Thursday and we would love for you to join us. 

Climate Change 

Climate change is recognised as the biggest threat to ecosystems worldwide, including the Great Barrier Reef. As a result, habitats as well as animals on the Reef are threatened. For the week 6 Future Leaders’ Eco Challenge, we had to research how climate change affects animals on the Great Barrier Reef, pick an animal to focus on, draw the animal and colour it in, write a paragraph about our chosen animal, how it is affected by climate change and how we can protect it, then use the ChatterPix app to record our paragraph. We hope our short video will teach you about the impact of climate change on sea turtles. 

Fishing on the Great Barrier Reef 

The Great Barrier Reef supports commercial, recreational, Indigenous and charter fishing. It is important that fishing pressure is kept at a sustainable level in order to protect the amazing biodiversity of the Reef. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority uses ocean zoning to identify where and how you can fish in different areas of the Reef. The week 9 Future Leaders’ Eco Challenge required us to find out more about these zones and use things found in the classroom to create different fishing zones. It was interesting to learn what is allowed in each zone. We took some photos of us using fishing zones according to what is allowed. For more information on the zones, including maps of our local area, you can visit: https://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/access-and-use/zoning/zoning-maps  

Central Qld Schools Regatta

On the first weekend of the holidays the Central Queensland Schools Regatta was held at Bucca. Over 300 competitors came from as far as Townsville and Brisbane. The weather pulled out the absolute worst with miserable rain and wind, and rough water lasting the whole weekend. Despite the weather North High sculler, Sarah, achieved a gold medal in the girls year 8 and single, and a bronze alongside Piper, in the year 9 double.

Fast and furious

Design and Technology classrooms (DAT09) turned into a fast and furious raceway. This term students have been very busy designing, making and testing prototypes in order to manufacture the best CO2 Dragsters. Their designs were very creative and the speeds of these dragsters were very competitive, a high percentage were under a second for 20 metres.

Mr. Holledge, Mr Seary and Mr Crowley were thrilled with the student’s progress and the enthusiasm for this STEM - based project. It was wonderful to see so many students engage in learning everything from aerodynamics to anti-friction in a very competitive program and also having a great time in discovery learning.

Congratulation to the following students:

Jeannie         Outright Class Champion    

Tierra           Second Place  

Nash            Third Place

Judges’ choice award went to:

Talitha  

Hot off the press!

The top 8 students dragsters have been selected to go on to the Queensland State Finals later this year in Bundaberg.  Congratulations Talitha and Jeannie on an outstanding effort.

Jason Carlile, Acting HOD Technologies

Splitter's farm visit

Today Carly Clark, Owner/Operator of Splitter’s Farm visited Mrs Jensen’s Year 11 Tourism class. Carly discussed how the idea of Splitter’s Farm came about and how the concept has evolved. Students were provided with an in-depth account of how the local tourism provider operates and what the future holds for the unique business. Thank you so much Carly for your fabulous presentation today that tied in beautifully with Unit 1 – Local Tourism. Bundaberg is very fortunate to have such an outstanding tourism experience.

Mrs Jensen, Business/Tourism teacher

Indigenous community consultation

During Term 2 we conducted a consultation process with our Indigenous community, staff and students to work toward codesigning a model to support Indigenous students as they move through high school to successful pathways.

We are currently calling for expressions of interest of Indigenous representatives to form a Local Community Education Body (LCEB) – consisting on Indigenous Elders, Traditional Owners, parents, staff and students.  In Term 3 the LCEB will form and begin preparations for a support model to be developed for the start of Term 4.

I would sincerely like to thank those who have contributed feedback to the consultation process – your input has been very valuable.

Robyn Kent

From the Sports desk

INTER-HOUSE ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

Each year North students compete in our annual athletics carnival which is held over two days. The carnival is always a great success with many happy faces at the end of each day. Four teams, lots of points to be won and a wide range of competition between houses, fellow students and even teachers! Our very own school captain, Braydan, just edging out Mr Spanks in the 100m Social race. The theme ‘Dynamic Duos/Families’ had everyone thinking outside the box and was a big success. We had Spongebob and Patrick, Mario and Luigi. The competition was fierce with everyone putting in 100% effort, but at the end of the day there could only be one winner. The house that took out the trophy for the 2021 Athletics Carnival was … TIRROAN with a whopping 1748 points.

Congratulations to all age champion winners and a special congratulations to the following students that broke records:

• Tamara – 12year girls 100m, 200m, and Long Jump
• Bethany – 15year girls 400m. Smashing the previous record that was set back in 1979!
• Shannon – Open girls Shot Put, Discus and smashing the previous javelin record which was set back in 1989!

The house captains would like to thank all the students, teachers and volunteers that put in the hard work behind the scenes to make the carnival a success.

1. TIRROAN 1748 points
2. MABBRO 1477 points
3. MONDURAN 1139 points
4. WALLA 1113 points

AGE CHAMPIONS:

Important dates

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