BNSHS Newsletter 3rd August 2022

From the Principal's Office

This week we are holding our Student Progress Conferences on Thursday afternoon, that gives parents/carers the opportunity to meet with individual classroom teachers to discuss their child/childrens’ progress.  Semester 1 Reports were issued via email to parents, available on QParents and students can access their report via their Oneschool account.    I encourage all parents/carers to take the opportunity to meet with the teachers, and join us for a sausage sizzle while you are here.  It was very pleasing to see that all junior English classes improved their results with an increase in the number of students receiving an A, B or C result in Year 7,8,9 and 10.  Congratulations to the English students and staff.   This year we have focussed resources on enhancing English and Mathematics and it we should be celebrating the significant improvement in the English results.

We are still experiencing numbers of staff and students absent due to COVID 19 or other illnesses. It is important that we continue to follow the advice from Qld Health and remain at home if unwell.  If your child does contract COVID please ensure that they isolate for 7 days and that you notify the school.  Students returning from COVID should be wearing a mask for 7 days after.  Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any queries.

Vaping is a concerning issue that has been on the increase across Australia and has made its way into schools.  We have had a number of cases and I ask that you ensure that your child/children are not bringing vapes to school.  Action is being taken against students who are bringing vapes or using vapes at school.  We encourage students to let us know if they are seeing students vaping so that we are able to address the issue.  It is not acceptable for students to be possessing or using vapes in a school setting.  We are looking into providing resources and support to address this issue and ask for your support in discussing the negative impacts of vaping with your children.

Our Year 10s have completed their subject selections for year 11, 2023 and their SETP interviews.  Thank you to the parents who attended meetings with their year 10 child.  Working together on selecting suitable pathways for students is extremely beneficial.  Year 10s will also be taking part in work experience in the last week of Term 3 and are currently organising work placements.  If your child needs assistance with finding a suitable work placement please contact Mrs Prince our Work Experience Coordinator.

Finally, we were very excited to welcome the first group of Japanese students to Queensland since the COVID pandemic.  We currently have 20 students visiting from Hakuo High School in Tokyo.  Thank you to the families who are hosting the students.  The students have been enjoying the sites of Bundaberg and experiencing life at North High.  We farewell the students on Monday next week.

Just a reminder to join us for our P&C cent sale at Spotted Dog on Saturday 13^th.  We would be very grateful for any donations of non-perishable foods.  If you are able to contribute just one or two items, your student can hand them in to their RAS teacher.  Hope to see you there.

Robyn Kent, Principal

Friday 5 registration - Term 3

Friday 5 - Students remaining at school until 3pm Term 3, 2022

The Watson Report

PRESENTATION NIGHT AWARDS

Presentation Night is Thursday 13 October 2022. At Bundaberg North SHS we have a Presentation morning and evening event. An Award Committee has been formed to consider students’ achievements and involvement in extra-curricular activities. There are many awards across year 7 to 12. Some of these awards are determined by academic results, others consider representation of the school or extra-curricular activities. For this reason, students are asked to nominate for awards, so the Award Committee has as much information as possible before making decisions. Now is the time for students to nominate for the following awards:

• Year 12 Major Awards
• Sport Awards including: Green and Gold, Maroon Award, Full Colour, Half Colour, Wide Bay Certificate, Sporting Certificate
• Service and Cultural Awards including: Green and Gold, Maroon Award, Full Colour, Half Colour, Wide Bay Certificate, Service or Cultural Certificate.

To nominate, a student collects the appropriate form from the office or accesses it through SharePoint, then returns the completed nomination form to the office by Friday 19 August. For more information click on the link to the Power Point shared with students last week.

REACH FOR THE SKY AWARDS

Reach for the Sky Awards recognise students who consistently demonstrate excellent effort and behaviour across their subjects. Students can receive a BRONZE, SILVER or GOLD award based on the number of ‘excellent’ results for effort and behaviour. Each student must meet the minimum requirement for both effort and behaviour, for example, to receive a BRONZE award they must achieve at least 4 x Excellent results for effort and 4 x Excellent results for behaviour across their chosen subjects.

Criteria:

GOLD: 6 x Excellent for Effort and/or Behaviour       

SILVER: 5 x Excellent for Effort and/or Behaviour       

BRONZE: 4 x Excellent for Effort and/or Behaviour   

PLATINUM: Achieve 3 x Reach for the Sky in 2022.

The current Reach for the Sky awards are based on semester 1 reports. Students receiving a Reach for the Sky award will receive a postcard during RAS congratulating them. Parents/carers will receive an email informing them of their child’s achievement. Reach for the Sky awards will be presented to students at out next whole school parade on Tuesday 9 August. Unfortunately, due to the length of the parade, parents/carers will be unable to attend the presentation of these awards. All students with media permission will have a photo taken, which will be uploaded to the school Facebook page.     

Thank you to parents and carers for your ongoing support and encouragement of students to achieve their best and demonstrate school values.  

RECOGNISING POSITIVE STUDENT BEHAVIOUR

HOT PIE WEEK was held last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Over 140 yummy pies from Chic’s Bakery were eaten! The students were excited to know they had a choice of pies and enthusiastically handed in their voucher to order their pie. A special ‘thank you’ to Jacky at the tuckshop for sourcing local pies and organising the distribution. What will be the next Gotcha item? Students can tell their RAS teacher their ideas, send me an email (rwats34@eq.edu.au) or come and see me. Thank you students, for demonstrating the school values of respect, responsibility and safety.

Mrs Watson, Deputy Principal

Qld's first school tour group from Japan!

Yokoso! (Welcome). On Wednesday 27th July Bundaberg North SHS held a welcome reception for the state’s first school tour group from Japan, post-COVID19, consisting of 20 students, 3 teachers and 1 tour chaperone, from Hakuo Metropolitan Junior and Senior State High School.

Thanks to our school community for so graciously opening their doors, homes and hearts, as Host Families for the Japanese students, to give them a truly warm and memorable visit.

Our Head of Department, Miss Rayner, has tirelessly lead hours of meticulous work to produce an extremely exciting and carefully planned program that aims to impress our international guests with a truly rich Australian experience!

Highlights:

• Welcome ceremony, games and activities
• Cane toad dissection
• Trying Australian foods
• Boomerang throwing, egg & spoon race, traditional Australian games
• Home-stay experience living with an Australian family
• Visit to CQU exploring science, artificial intelligence, drone technology, agriculture and manufacturing
• Tour to Ginger Beer Factory and Greensills farm
• English lessons for our Japanese guests, in relation to living in Australia, emergency services, Mon Repos turtle rookery etc

“Truly the best English language lessons I have seen delivered. The program is fantastic” – tour chaperone, Mr. Adam Cottrell.

Our daytime buddies have enjoyed spending some class time with their Japanese friend and learning about Japanese culture and language too. Our Year 7 and 8 Japanese students impressed with their ability to introduce themselves in Japanese, and to also understand the students visiting from Japan!

Over dinner with the teachers from Japan, our Principal and Japanese teacher were fascinated to hear how many similarities our schools share. What do our teachers and students learn from this experience? It is a testament to the fact that no matter where you live in the world, or how foreign a culture may seem, chances are that you will have more in common than you realise, and you will make friends for life. Open your mind and the future is full of possibilities.

Whilst it is not possible to capture all of the fabulous experiences these students have had, what we do know is they will certainly remember Bundaberg North State High School.

Nathan Williams, Japanese Teacher

My New Gallery

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Students celebrate Tree Day

Friday, 29 July was National Schools Tree Day.  North High’s Planeteers group including Hannah, Caitlyn, Shanice, Faye and Kaitlyn spent their lunch break planting trees near the school’s long jump pit to celebrate the day.  A selection of Australian Natives were planted in an artistic formation and the group is excited to see the trees grow during their time remaining at the school.

Mr Duncan, Planeteers Coordinator

GP bookings now open!

Appointments are now available to visit the GP each Tuesday at North High.  Students can make bookings by scanning the QR code above, which takes them to the school webpage, where they click on the MAKE A BOOKING box.  Alternatively appointments can be made simply by emailing GP@bundabergnorthshs.eq.edu.au.  

Bookings are completely confidential, as are all emails sent to this address.  So, if you would like to provide feedback you can also do this by emailing GP@bundabergnorthshs.eq.edu.au

P&C News

Our tuckshop is looking for volunteers. Please email Jacky our convenor if you are able to offer any help jburt144@eq.edu.au 

We are always looking for new Committee members. The P&C meets once each month to discuss matters of concern to the school and the school community.  If you would like to connect to the P&C but are not able to attend meetings in person, we are happy to have you join the meeting via Teams or phone.  Meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month in the conference room in A Block and commence at 6:00pm.  You will find meeting dates on the school websites event calendar. 

www.facebook.com/bundabergnorthhighpandc

pandc@bundabergnorthshs.eq.edu.au

Mrs Shelley Hansen, P&C President 

Discover your path

TAFE Bundaberg Open Now for 2023 Course

Applications

Applications are now open for 2023. We have seen a really positive start with a lot of students applying for courses next year already. We encourage students to get their applications in as soon as possible, so they don't miss out on a spot in their preferred course next year.

2023 TAFE booklets available from Mrs Prince (G Block).

Bundaberg AgriTech Immersion Day- 25^th August 

Students are invited to get hands on with robotics and see demonstrations about telecommunications and drones while discovering how these skills can be used in the world of work. Students will learn about:

• Emerging technologies and career pathways in agriculture, agribusiness and technology
• Robotics
• Telecommunications
• Drone technology

Numbers are limited so if your student is interested please come and see Mrs Prince ASAP (G Block)  

Community Service -Assistive Technology Workshop-24^th August

In partnership with ICT Gateway, the teams have been working together to design a workshop that highlights career pathways in the disability services sector incorporating digital technology. 

The full day workshop will be held at CQUniversity Makerspace, students to learn how to create a communication tool using emoticons on an LCD display, with all students being able to take home their device from the day!

Numbers are limited so if your student is interested please come and see Mrs Prince ASAP (G Block)  

Year 10 Work Experience 2022  

Year 10 compulsory work experience will commence on 12^th September to 16^th September 2022 last week of 3^rd term.

Work Experience enables students to explore an idea of a career they’re interested in. Employers who host work experience students have the opportunity to inspire young people about their industry and the education and training pathways available.

Work experience helps students to

• Test their chosen career choice.
• Engage with the wider community.
• Practice course work in a relevant setting.
• Learn about what is required from a worker in the workplace.
• Build general work skills like good communication, team work, critical thinking.
• Gain confidence, maturity, and self- management skills through participation in an adult work environment.
• Make informed decisions when planning their transition from school and to further education, training, and work.
• Demonstrate reliability, motivation, work ethics and good personal presentation.

Students will need to locate their own placement with the support from the school and parents and carers. These placements will then need to be approved by the school and appropriate paperwork to be provided to employer.   

Some of our local businesses are very popular and students will need to book their work experience dates well in advance

Students within their SET P class will be guided on how to approach a business for their placement.

If any student needs assistance to find a placement they can come and see Mrs Prince (G Block) or email aprin52@eq.edu.au  or SETP Teacher.     

Stymie - #saysomething

What does Stymie do for young people?

Of every 30 young people in Australia seven will be dealing with a mental health issue, yet only two will reach out for support. Stymie works with you to give the young people you are working with, the power to say something or ask for help. We are an early intervention initiative that changes and saves lives.

Stymie empowers young people to ask for help when they need support, or if they are seeing or experiencing harm.

Stymie provides online reporting for schools. Encrypted, anonymous notifications are delivered within seconds to authorised recipients, who respond according to their wellbeing framework. The notification provides the option to include screenshots or images that validate the notification.

Being able to anonymously report, relieves feelings of helplessness for those who want to help their peers but don’t quite know how. Our purpose is to support you in creating an environment where harm can be minimised and effective action can be maximised.

Stymie can be used by anybody. It does not have to be a student at our school. The link to make a notification is on the school website front page

School Opinion Survey

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys will be conducted 18 July to 12 August 2022. All families, school staff and students in target year levels (5,6,8 and 11) will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well, and how we can improve.  The Department of Education will commence sending email invitations to participants in the first week of term 3. 

Keep an eye out for yours!

Support for families & community

Important dates