Term 1 2015 Burpengary State Secondary College Issue 2 Principal’s Welcome Dear Parents, Carers and College families Term 1 has been a very busy term with students currently undertaking assessment and completing assignment work. Students have also participated in the numerous clubs on offer that are being held during lunch breaks, before and after school. This week students participated in the student leadership process. Students were asked to give a speech in front of their peers and staff highlighting why they should be part of the College’s Student Parliament. The quality of the year 7 and 8 candidates was outstanding and I look forward to working with these young people in the future. Major works will commence soon in relation to the front school car park. Relocation of power, phone and stormwater will commence soon. This will be a lengthy process so until this major work is done, the front car park will not be useable. I will update the College community once further information is forthcoming. The alternate car park via Wain Road will continue to be used. I wish to thank our college community for their patience and understanding at this time. Traffic management will continue at this time. Parents/Carers and Visitor’s to the college are reminded that all person’s coming to the college premises are required to sign in at the administration. Under no circumstances are parents, carers or visitors to go directly to the staff centre without receiving permission from the college principal and or signing in for a visitor’s pass. This is required for safety reasons and to ensure the careful management of our guests. Thank you for your understanding in relation to this matter. So as term 1 comes to a close, students should have now completed their personalised learning pathway plan (PLP 2) and I look forward to reading what individual goals have been set by students and what strategies they will employ to improve their learning. Thank you once again for kind support. Peter Hoehn College Principal Burpengary Matters Burpengary Matters Term 1, 2015 Links and resources Stymie Presentation for parents and carers in Lecture Theatre Wednesday 18th March, 5:30pm – 6:15pm Preparing your child for High School National Day against Bullying and Violence Harmony Day My name is Courtney Shorten and I am the Guidance Officer at BSSC this year. I have a background in both education and psychology and these two fields come together well to inform my practice as a GO. Guidance Officers can perform slightly different roles in schools so I’d like to take the opportunity to talk about what it is I do at BSSC. My role at BSSC essentially involves removing barriers to learning for students at the school. There are a number of things that can create barriers to students’ learning. More commonly, these include clinically diagnosed mental health issues, behavioural challenges reflective of underlying social or emotional concerns, difficulties with peer relationships, challenges within the family unit that are reflected in the schooling environment, and learning issues that make accessing the curriculum more difficult. In terms of mental health and serious social and emotional concerns, my role is not to provide the type of intensive, one-to-one counselling sessions that can be accessed through either the public or private mental health system. My role is to refer to services available to support the needs of students and then liaise with these services so that strategies can be put in place at school to support students more effectively. It is then appropriate for me to monitor how the student is going at school by meeting with them on a weekly or fortnightly basis and keeping in touch with you as parents to find out how you feel your student is coping at school. While I am required to keep conversations I have with students confidential unless they are being harmed, or are at serious risk of harm to themselves or others, I prefer to involve parents with the permission of students because I understand how critical it is for parents, students and school staff to work together to maximise outcomes for students. At a whole school level, my job is to work in conjunction with other staff members to ensure that the school implements appropriate wellbeing programs, and that the wellbeing of students is part of the fabric of the school. Every student at BSSC will have access to whole-of-school wellbeing programs, and depending on need, some students will participate in smaller group programs every term. These smaller group programs will often be run by our School-Based Youth Support Officer (SBYSO), Nick Norman, our School-Based Youth Health Nurse (SBYHN), Kirsten Keen, or in conjunction with staff from the PCYC at Pine Rivers. My role is also to work alongside staff members to ensure that we have a program where strategies to reduce bullying are taught, and that students are clear on how they can go about reporting bullying. With this is mind, we are going to be training students on how to use Stymie, an anonymous, online reporting system for bullying behaviours on Friday 13th March. I would like to also extend an invitation to you as parents to attend an information evening on Wednesday 18 th March from 5:30pm until 6:15pm. This information evening will be run by the owner of Stymie, and will give parents a host of information about how to ensure students are using technology safely and appropriately in the home environment. I will send invitations with full details of the night home with your students next week. Burpengary Matters Term 1, 2015 Readers Cup This term it is my absolute pleasure to announce that every year 7 student will be participating in the Burpengary State Secondary College inaugural Reader’s Cup Competition. It is a very exciting competition where every student participates in a reading program throughout the term. All students have been organised into groups of 3 and will have the pleasure of reading six (6) novels. I have selected a range of new and exciting novels for all year 7 students to read: 1. Trash – Andy Mulligan 2. Refuge – Jackie French 3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney 4. A Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson 5. Just Crazy – Andy Griffiths At the end of term, every student in year 7 will participate in a trivia style quiz, where students will have to answer 60 questions, 10 from each novel, of the novels read. The team with the highest score out of 60 will be crowned the Reader’s Cup Champions for year 7 of 2015. There will be trophies and prizes to give away and the winners will be announced on a whole school assembly. I would like to encourage parents to get involved and to read the books as well. Ask your son or daughter how they are going and urge them to read as many as possible. Peter Collins HOD English & Humanities Dates to remember: 18th March - Literacy Festival, Gold Coast 18th March - QUT Media Workshop 18th March – Stymie presentation, Lecture Theatre 5:30pm – 6:15pm 20th March - National Day of Action against Bullying & Violence 20th March - Harmony Day 25th March - QUT Media Excursion 27th March - Cross Country 31st March - Year 7 Readers Cup Competition 2nd April - Celebration Assembly 2nd April - Term 1 Ends Burpengary Matters Burpengary Matters Term Term1,1,2015 2015 Staff Profile – Kylie Wilson What a wonderful year we have had so far. I am excited to be on the journey of a new school with you and your children. My background includes a Bachelor of Education in Middle Schooling. For the early part of my career I worked as a nanny and then as an Outdoor Educational officer. More recently I taught down the road at a local primary school and have developed a great range of skills to better support the junior secondary program. At home I love getting outdoors and being active. Weekends see me wakeboarding, mountain climbing or resting on the beach, while during the holidays I love escaping our heat and seeking somewhere to snowboard. My passion is ensuring students feel safe, valued and listened to. Please say hello when you see me around and stop me for a chat. Canteen Opening Hours Monday 8:15 am - 1:45 pm Tuesday 8:15 am - 11:45 am Wednesday 8:15 am - 11:45 am Thursday 8:15 am - 11:45 am Friday 8:15 am - 1:45 pm See our new menu on the school website Students are encouraged to pre-order. This ensures they get what they want before we sell out! Pre-orders can be placed before school. Burpengary State Secondary College are looking for volunteers to join the Canteen, this allows profits to be put back into the school. Please get in touch if you can spare a few hours a week, all training is provided. It is a great opportunity to be involved in your child/children's school, have input into the menu, have fun and help out your school community. It can also give you skills if you are seeking employment e.g. food preparation, money handling, customer service etc. You are more than welcome to come along and meet me to have a chat about the Canteen and times you would be available to help out. Kathy Brett - Canteen Convenor Uniform Shop Opening Hours Monday 8:00 am -10:00 am Wednesday 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Friday 8:00 am - 10:00 am