The Anchor

Secondary School

Week Four was an unusual week for Secondary School.  We missed our Year Nine cohort and the weather challenged us in quite unexpected ways: we appreciated Mr Irving’s decision for a change of uniform and an icy treat in the heat of Tuesday, and then battled through wind, rain and cooler temperatures on Wednesday in our Values and Christian Service (VACS) program!  As ever, students and staff came together and found creative ways to proceed with our programs; great examples of GSG spirit.

 

On Sunday, School Captains, Louis Cosh and Madeleine Warren joined me at the RSL Commemorative Service to recognise ADF service since 1973.  Please see Louis’ reflection below:

On Sunday, myself and Maddie, were able to be lucky enough to represent GSG at the commemorative service to recognise ADF service since 1973. 

This was an inaugural service held by RSL Albany subbranch at the SE Asia memorial at the Albany forts, Albany.  The keynote speaker Mr Rex Hendricks, President Albany RSL explained the purpose of the commemoration was to recognise service by Australian defence force persons (ADF) since the Vietnam war. Or within the last 50 years. The service recognised all ADF personal that have served in conflict and in peace missions, making special mention of those ADF personal that made the sacrifices during Iran war experiences. 

It was an honour to represent the school and to be able to lay a wreath at this event, which was not only the first service of this kind but was also live streamed nationwide and viewed by more than 11,000 people.  

 

UWA micro-credentials

UWA is offering micro-credentials again this year.  They have just released the options to be run in Term Two.  They require approximately a 50-hour commitment and some run for 4 or 5 weeks, others for 10 weeks.  Some micro-credentials are endorsed by SCSA and can contribute to a student’s WA Certificate of Education (WACE).  They can also contribute to unit points at UWA  More information available at UWA+ Starter : The University of Western Australia .

 

Culture | Engagement | Excellence

Last week I met with each House to discuss how we can develop House Spirit to contribute to our 2024 School themes of culture, engagement and excellence.  All four Houses have wonderful examples of their positive culture and engagement:  Baudin House had all but four students attend the Years Seven to Nine Interhouse Swimming Carnival last week, Wilson House enjoyed a House pancake event for Shrove Tuesday.  We also explored examples of excellence with Mokare reminding me of the number of events they won last year, and Camfield pointing out that the last three Duxes have come from their House.

 

Our next areas to target are details of uniform.  We clarified the following points:

  • Earrings: only small plain studs or sleepers to be worn.  No pearls or gems, and no band aids covering extra earrings.
  • No necklaces, bracelets or anklets unless they are medical alert items.
  • No air pods.
  • Unbanded shirts should be tucked in.

We also discussed the importance of wearing uniforms correctly and with pride out in the community, particularly before and after school.  Students can expect uniform detentions at school if they are seen outside of school with untidy uniform.  This includes shops, bus stops and the walk home.  We appreciate your support with this matter.

 

A Learner’s Toolkit

Staff have been sharing stories of how they are using the strategies in their classrooms.

 

Mr Ian Robson shared:

Physics: Doing the odd questions from an exercise and doing the even ones a few weeks later. Retrieve it and Space it.

 

Katie Gunning reported:

Following the Learners Toolkit roll out I made some flashcards with all the Media SCSA Glossary for Years Eleven and Twelve and I started each lesson by making students quiz each other in pairs. They get five random cards and have to define the term. One week they might know one or two definitions but across the term they start to get better and then it was a race to get five out of five to start the day. 

 

Penny Simpson told me:

In Year Nine Humanities, we use a period per week to learn a study strategy.  We then use it with our current piece of work. 

 

Next week I will share news from some of our students.  If you have seen or heard any stories about your child using a strategy from A Learner’s Toolkit, please let me know – I would love to include some parent stories in this segment, too.

NAPLAN

Dates for NAPLAN this year are:

Wednesday 13 March     Writing

Thursday 14 March          Reading

Friday 15 March                Language Conventions

Monday 18 March            Numeracy

 

Catch-up opportunities will be available every morning Tuesday 19 March to Friday 22 March. 

 

We will be running a practice test on Wednesday 28 February to help students familiarise themselves with the platform and make sure that the NAPLAN application on their devices is functioning as we expect.  Students will use dummy names for this test and no responses will be collected or marked. As with the NAPLAN tests in Weeks Seven and Eight, it is important that students arrive at school with their fully-charged devices and a set of earphones.

 

If you would like to explore the NAPLAN platform at home, NAPLAN provides this through their public demonstration site here.  

 

Mrs Victoria Turnor | Head of Secondary