Around the School

Senior Police Liaison Officer Visit

Guyra Central School has recently had visits from Jaime Porter, Senior Constable School Liaison Police Youth & Crime Prevention Command New England Police District - Glen Innes.

The first presentation was on the "Appropriate use of Social Media" and "Racism". This was well received by the secondary students with many students remaining behind to ask Constable Porter further questions. This week Constable Porter was presenting on the dangers of "Vaping", offering students in Stage 4 and Stage 5 current and relevant information on this topic.

We thank our Senior Constable School Liaison Police Officer for having such a close partnership with our school and to be able to provide our students such important information in their educational journey.

What is a Student Support Officer? 

New Outdoor Furniture for K-2 students

Mr Curran and his woodwork class have made the first of five outdoor tables for the K-2 area. 

Students are enjoying having additional seating and staff are impressed by the quality of the tables! 

Well done and thank you to Mr Curran and the woodwork class!

Crimson Class Report

Jess: We have been doing Diamond Cricket for Sport. In PE we have been practicing our bowling skills. Billy and Tommy have been a great help in Sport and PE. We have had a PBL rewards day on Friday in the first session - we did the computers, watched movies and did craft. We made Glitter Jars in class. It was fun. 

Brax: We have been doing a food web in Science and also been doing dance. Also Maths and we have learned the nut bush. We’ve been doing Essential Assessment and have been learning great things. 

Ms Kelson: Crimson class have had an eventful semester after going in and out of lock down with everyone else. The students have really enjoyed becoming familiar with an online program called Essential Assessment which allows them immediate feedback on how they are progressing and has some learning games and activities. We’ve also been playing lots of hands-on games in Maths and having some fun in Science. In term three the students did an experiment about static electricity and discovered that the balloons would hold onto them just from electrical energy! 

In Geography we’ve been able to explore Uluru using Google Earth to have a virtual walk around the base and to look closely at some features of this truly amazing place. Jess also brought in an enormous snake skin that she found on her property to show us. Crimson class has had a great year, learned a lot, and had a lot of fun! 

Stage 1 Mint and Lime

This week in Stage 1 Science, we have been learning about gravity. We know that there is gravity on Earth and that’s why we stay on the ground but in space there is no gravity so we would float around. We tested the theory of gravity using ramps and cars. We wondered how far the car would go based on different theories, such as a heavy car vs. a light car or a steep ramp vs. a gradual ramp. We then measured using our hand span. 

Stage 2 Rose

We have had a busy time in term 4. It was exciting to return to the classroom and see all our friends after home learning. Some of the interesting things we have been doing include;

• We have been working in pairs to complete work in the google classroom, these activities included making presentations about; ‘What can plastic bottles be used for?’ Did you know you can make clothes and plastic play equipment out of plastic bottles? And we chose an environmental issue to research and share. These included saving the Great Barrier Reef from coral bleaching and endangered animals. 
• We have been learning how to play cricket for sport: We played french cricket and practiced bowling in the nets. When we tried playing on the cricket pitch, it was so windy the cricket ball kept going the wrong way and  we had lots of ‘wides’!  
• In Science we have been investigating small animals and mini beasts as part of our Science unit ‘Feathers, Fur or Leaves’  We were able to look at a collection of animals preserved in perspex. We made a ‘What am I’ booklet to share with our friends, trying to guess which animal from the clues given. We were also able to invent our own mini beast!
• PBL rewards dress ups/on the PBL rewards we had a Halloween theme. We were able to dress up,  eat chips and lollies as a treat and watched Hotel Transylvania. 
• We have been doing Just Dance as brain breaks.
• In Mathematics we have been learning about multiplication and division and angles. Some of our multiplication is challenging so Mrs Paull and Mrs McIlwain have been teaching us ‘tricks’ to help us remember them. We have been learning how to use a protractor to measure angles. We worked with a buddy to design a putt putt golf course. 
• We are looking forward to our Thalgarrah incursion on Tuesday November 30th at school. Matt McKenzie will be visiting us. 
• In Literacy we have been learning about Slam Poetry. 
  Some interesting vocabulary we have discovered includes biosphere, innovation and idiosyncrasies. We have started planning and writing our own Slam Poetry and look forward to presenting it to the class with our best Public Speaking skills. 
   

Year 9/10 Careers

We often hear in the media the need for people and in particular young people to have good soft skills. But what are soft skills? The easiest explanation is that Hard Skills can be measured or skills that can be taught. For example, an electrician attends TAFE to gain their qualification, a teacher goes to university which enables them to teach. Therefore soft skills are the skills that are very difficult to teach but can be practiced, for example, communication, problem solving and initiative. At the many Careers events that I attend, employers are always telling us that they are looking for soft skills and to be able to view students reports for attendance and the teachers comments about a student trying their best in class.

In year 9 & 10 Careers this term we have been practising soft skills such as interviewing skills and this week we have focussed on communication skills with some role plays. Students in Year 9 were divided into pairs and then they were given a topic each. Some had a career focus but others were being able to state a case for an opinion. They were given 2 minutes to plan their response and then given 5 minutes to put their case to their pair. After 5 minutes, the bell went and they were swapped around. After the first round, students were brought back together to debrief before they were split into different pairs, where the process was repeated again.

After the second session ended the students were brought back together again to give feedback on the value of the exercise and what they learnt. All the students were very positive and many students showed increasing confidence in even such a short period of time.

A big shout of thanks to the staff that supported me to deliver this session. Everyone was really enthusiastic and we are planning a mock interview session in our last lesson for the year.

Mrs Helen Doyle

Careers

Year 6-7 Transition Day

On Wednesday 17th November Year 6 students from the local area gather together again for another great day. The students spent the day experiencing either Mainstream of Big 

Picture lessons. 

Mainstream students explored the horror genre in English, built a wooden game spinner, explored a range of different graphs in mathematics, designed and decorated cupcakes then finished the day creating anthropomorphic art works.

In Big Picture students spent the day moving through a series of activities based on learning about themselves and their interests. Students had to direct themselves and make sure they completed their work before the end of the day. There was a mix of academic and creative tasks.

Thank you to the teachers who provided such engaging lessons and gave students a taste of what the next 6 years of their school lives can be like.

The final transition day will be held on Wednesday 1st December.

Tracey Condrick

Teacher Librarian