BNSHS Newsletter 5th June 2024

From the Principal's Office

What a wonderful 50^th Anniversary celebration held at North on June 1^st.  An Open day followed by an evening event was attended by hundreds of former North High students and staff.  It was a wonderful day for former students and staff to meet up with old friends and colleagues, tour the school, and view memorabilia.  We were honoured to have six out of the 7 previous principals attend the day including North High’s first Principal Mr Tom Dobson who is now 90 years of age. Principals also including Brian Rout, Greg Johnson, Debbie Best, Shirley Johnson and Ross Robertson, along with Mayor Helen Blackburn (former student of North High) and Councillor Tracey McPhee, along with the Deputy Director of Education Stacie Hansel (also former student of North High) took part in the Official Proceedings and also the opening of our Bushtucker Garden and Yarning circle.

The time capsule (built by our Janitor Mr Dave Orpin) was opened by Mr Tom Dobson and George Punter (who originally opened the capsule in 1998).  We will be resealing the time capsule with the existing contents and also building a new time capsule later in the year ready to be buried for the next 25 years.

I would like to thank the organising committee and the staff and students who helped in the planning, preparations and production of the 50^th Anniversary celebrations.  It will certainly go down in history of North High as being an outstanding day for all who attended.

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Robyn Kent, Principal

The Watson Report

High Expectations – Attendance and Assessment

As we approach the last two weeks of term 2, it is essential for students to maintain high standards and motivation. All students have assessment to complete and must remain committed to their school routine. What does your child’s school routine look like? A school routine is what students need to do to be successful at school. This includes:

• Weekly study plan – time for school, study, work and extracurricular activities
• Attending school every day and arriving at school on time
• Having the correct equipment and resources for class
• Putting in effort for every task
• Knowing when assessment is due and what is required
• Handing in drafts and using feedback
• Asking for assistance when needed.

To assist with assignments and study, please see the attached ‘Study Skills’ which can also be found on page 11 of the Student Diary.  Ask your child:

What assessments do you have this week?

Have you got the draft ready for ….?

How will you revise or study for your exam?

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s upcoming assessment, please contact their class teacher.

Student Success

Congratulations to Jesse S for his selection in the CQ Bulls 2024 U14 Boys team. This is a great achievement, being one of only two Bundaberg boys being selected. Well done Jesse and good luck!

During this term 10 year 7 and 8 students participated in the Youth in Touch program facilitated by QPS (Queensland Police Service). Each week the students attended a session to improve their touch football skills, with a ‘finals’ day on Monday 3 June. These students have proudly presented the school, always demonstrating excellent behaviour and effort. Well done students.

North Rewards

GOTCHA CASH IN DAY next week on Thursday 13 June. Items available include hot pies, sausage rolls and cans of soft drink. Students will need to pre-order hot items with vouchers through their year level team: YLC / HOD. Then the vouchers need to be given to Jacky at the tuckshop b y Monday 10 June. In this cold weather, a hot pie of sausage roll will be perfect!

Reward Day

On 22 May the first Reward Day for the year took place. This day was to recognise the excellent behaviour, effort and attendance of students during term 1. Some students chose a tuckshop voucher, while others chose the relaxing day at Oaks Beach or the challenge of abseiling at Wyper Park. View some of the photos below. Thank you students, for your outstanding behaviour on the day! The next Reward Day is in August with different options for junior and senior students. Please see the Reward Day menu.

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Rebecca Watson, Deputy Principal 

Senior Schooling Report

Senior Reporting

Reports for students in Years 11 and 12 will be sent home via email on Friday 14^th June. This time of the year sees the year 11 complete their first unit of their senior course of study. Students bank up to 6 QCE (Queensland Certificate of Education) points by completing their units satisfactorily. All senior students will be able to check their QCE projection of points at their Coaching interviews which will occur after this round of reporting.

Students in years 7 – 10 will receive their reports at the end of week 1 after the holidays via email.

Year 12 External Exams

The 2024 External exam schedule has been released by QCAA and can be accessed below:

We will be implementing practice External Exams in Week 10 of Term 3 this year to prepare students for the length and protocols of the external exams. It also means that students will be able to identify areas to work on in the final three weeks of classes in Term 4.

All year 12 students will be expected at school that week as they are either completing practice exams or having extended time in their other subjects. A roster for this practice week will be released early Term 3. Any students who are unable to sit the practice exams at this time will not be afforded class time after the holidays to sit them. They will be able to access the exams and the whole class feedback but not individual feedback on any attempts they make in their own time. Therefore, it is important that students are here during week 10 to sit their practice exam and gain that important feedback from their teachers.

In the lead up to these exams, it is expected that students approach them as if they are the external exams and build their study and revision plans for this. If students do not put in extra work in the lead up these practice exams, then an opportunity is lost in identifying areas for improvements in knowledge.

Uniform

Now the cooler weather is here, all students should be in appropriate winter uniform. Our official uniform is the school jacket which is available from ShawLine on Walker Street and this remains our preferred jumper.

However, we acknowledge that for some families this school jacket can’t be purchased at this time for a variety of reasons. For those families, students are able to wear a PLAIN black jumper with no logos, stripes or writing on it, without a hood. It can be a pullover or a zip up front, so long as it is plain and without a hood. These are available from places like K Mart and Big W for $8 to $12 each so this does provide a budget friendly option if the school jacket is out of reach at this point in time.

If students do not have a compliant jumper to wear, they should be attending Reprographics of a morning to exchange their jumper with a school jumper for the day.

Natalie Brandon, Deputy Principal 

Friday 5, Term 2 2024

Friday 5 - Students remaining at school until 3pm Term 2, 2024

Japanese students to visit North

Japanese Homestay EOI

Anthony Holt, HOD English/LOTE

Mylee attends STEM Girl Power Camp, 2024

Last year, our school was asked to nominate one year 9 girl to apply to attend this year’s STEM Girl Power Camp as a year 10 STEM ambassador. We have not had a successful applicant for a number of years, so we were thrilled when Mylee applied and was accepted. She flew to Brisbane in May and had a fabulous time immersing herself in STEM with 59 other year 10 girls and 10 teachers from around Queensland.

Throughout camp, students developed their understanding of STEM and its importance to our society, as well as their leadership, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication skills. The 2024 STEM Ambassadors will now plan and deliver a STEM event to celebrate National Science Week in August 2024 during Term 3, which aims to encourage others to consider STEM subjects and careers.

This is what Mylee has reported about her experience at STEM Girl Power Camp:

The first day at camp was all about getting to know everyone and settling into our cabins. Day two was super interesting, we visited TRI (translational research institute) where we got to see high tech labs that developed vaccine proteins, histology labs, and clean rooms. After the tour we did experiments with cancer cells in the SPARQ-ed labs. The camp broke off into four groups, I got to go to Aviation Australia and learn about all the different aviation and aerospace machinery and what goes into developing and maintaining them (plus we got a bunch of really cool photos). Day three we went to the University of Queensland saint Lucia campus, got to do a little lesson on quantum physics, a math magic trick, and investigate and solve issues with soil (we looked at the soil through fancy microscopes and saw nematodes – worm-like animals). After that we went to the Queensland Museum, saw the spark lab and got to explore the building. Then we got to see how pieces are restored and conserved for the museum’s displays (very cool). At sunset we went on the Wheel of Brisbane with QUT students and graduates (once again, very cool pictures). Day four was packed; we spent the day at The Precinct where we got to do all these experiments alongside some Brisbane primary school kids and attend talks from women in STEM (included a coding, aerospace, and biology focus). The Precinct held a team building activity that was basically an escape room (super fun). We had a talk from people in organisation with National Science week, where we learnt about marine biology and got to see and hold turtle skulls and shells, a shark skull, and a preserved water snake. We wrapped up our night at The Precinct with the closing ceremony. The last day of camp was solely dedicated to travel, and we spent three hours looking around Brisbane airport and got to visit a bunch of shops before we flew back home. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to go to Brisbane and meet a bunch of amazing people and make lifelong connections from across the state. Everything I saw was so inspiring.

Tracy Roberts, Earth and environmental science / mathematics / science teacher

Sport at North

Exciting Announcement - Sports Performance Rewards Trip

We are thrilled to announce a special rewards trip for our top-performing students in the Sports Performance Program! 

On Thursday, 11th of July, we will be heading down to Brisbane to watch the Dolphins take on the Rabbitohs at Kayo Stadium! 

This amazing opportunity will be for students who have been consistently meeting our school and program expectations, including excellent behaviour and effort.  Invitations will be sent out by the end of week 9.

Keep up the hard work, and you could be joining us for this thrilling match!

Get Ready for the BNSHS 2024 Interhouse Athletics Carnival

Year 10 Business Venture

Miss Wilson's year 10 Economics and Business class were incredibly fortunate to be able to run their business venture at the 50^th Anniversary, selling to the public. Students demonstrated their fantastic ability to provide quality customer service skills, count money providing correct change and marketing their product. The students were ecstatic that they sold out of all items. After the venture, students also completed a Statement of Profit or Loss and a personal reflection. 

Amy Wilson, Humanities and Business Teacher 

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 

P&C News

P&C ask for your uniform donations

My name is Shelly Hansen.  I am the President of the BNSHS P&C Association and I am seeking your help.  Sadly, there are students at our school whose families are not able to provide them with a uniform.  I would like to ask for your assistance by donating any items of North High uniform that your children no longer need.  The P&C try to support all requests for assistance but with your help we may be able to extend that support further.  

All uniform donations are greatly appreciated, and we thank you for the continued support of our school.  

Thank you for your help, Shelly Hansen, P&C President

Callout for volunteers

Can you volunteer some time either at home or in tuckshop?

We have some jobs for the tuckshop that could be completed at home such as cutting foil into squares, cutting burger paper (baking paper), putting labels on bags and more.

We also need assistance in our tuckshop. This can be a background position (not student facing). The jobs could include washing up, stocking fridges/ice cream freezer/spoons and helping with food preparation (cutting salads/fruit).

The main days needed are Tuesday and Thursday from 8am-12noon, but any amount of time from 1 to 4 hours would be extremely helpful.

We can also sign off on your Centrelink, work/volunteer forms.

If you think you could spare some time, please contact us via email – pandc@bundabergnorthshs.eq.edu.au

Shelly Hansen, P&C President 

Important dates

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

QParents in 2025 at BNSHS

QParents is all about making parents’ lives easier. QParents is a safe, private app to help parents and caregivers manage important details about their child’s education. Once you are registered, you can sign in securely and- Make payments online- Check your student’s timetable, assessment calendar and report cards- Inform the school of your student’s past or future absence- See upcoming events- View enrolment details- Update your contact details.

From 2025, the school will be asking all parents to submit their consent for excursions through QParents. Click the link below for more information or contact the school to arrange for your unique invitation code to start your registration process.

You can watch the introductory video at the link below to learn more about QParents and how it can work for you.

QPARENTS INTRODUCTORY VIDEO

Containers for Change program

Bundaberg North SHS supports the Containers for Change program and raises money for student resources.  If you have empty bottles or cans and would like to donate them to North High we would be very grateful.   You can either bring them to school office and staff will give them to the Tuckshop or you can take them to one of the recycling depots and quote our school code – C10002160.  

Thank you for helping our school and the environment.