Principal’s Piece — Justin Harrison
End of Term 1
We have made it to the end of term – well done to all! It really has been a positive start to the year. We have; appointed our junior and senior leaders, held our Term One Recognition Parades where students received their Gold Awards, recognised Alyssa Pease as our 2023 School Dux, our Seniors Leaders attended the GRIP Leadership Conference in February, completed NAPLAN testing for our year 7 and 9 students, allocated Junior and Senior leadership roles for our Careports and held our Swimming Carnival with Keppel taking out the win. There has been a number of student successes, some of these being; our School Captains (Jiexi Zang and Benjamin Campbell) successfully completed in Lions Youth of the Year, we have had a number of students being selected in Port Curtis and Capricornia school sporting teams and Riley Townsend was selected to attend the National Schools Constitutional Convention in Canberra. Our school community has also celebrated International Women’s and Harmony Day, helped out at the Gladstone Park Run, Ran a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle, and so much more. What an achievement! It’s hard to believe that we’ve managed to fit all this in over just 10 weeks, in addition to our normal day-to-day business.
I would like to acknowledge the students who, for the most part, have been exceptional this term. The students and their families should be proud. A special mention must go to all staff who have worked tirelessly to provide a quality and engaging education that provides the students with the best possible learning environment, both inside and outside of the classroom. I thank all staff for your contribution and making a difference. I’d also like to acknowledge my teaching staff, who have engaged in a successful coaching cycle—always striving to improve teaching and learning.
I hope that all our families have a chance to rest and recharge the batteries over the break and come back ready for another successful term.
I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Easter break. School will resume on Monday the 15th of April.
Principal Change
For the first four weeks of term 2, I have accepted the position of acting School Supervisor for all secondary schools in the Region. I am grateful for the opportunity and excited to learn in the role. With regards to my replacement, it gives me great pleasure to appoint Mr Mark Thomas to the acting Principal position for that period of time. As you are aware, Mr Thomas has proven himself in the Principal chair on numerous occasions during my absence and has obviously demonstrated the skillset needed for the position. Ms Jess Batey will backfill in the Deputy Principal position of Senior Schooling.
Staffing Changes Term 2
It is with a heavy heart that we farewell four of our teaching staff at the end of this week. Andrew Patrick, Laura Legget, Costantinos Koudounas and Megan McCall are all moving on to other schools or alternative employment. We wish them the best of luck and thank them for their contribution to the education of students here at Toolooa SHS. To Eamonn O'Loughlin, we wish you all the best for your parental leave during term 2.
On a positive note, Toolooa SHS would like to welcome back Matthew Rochford who has been on leave for term 1 and Tamara Wuertz who has permanently joined our teaching ranks. Tamara will be primarily teaching in English and Learning Support.
QCAA Confirmation Event 1
The first internal assessment for Year 12 General subjects has been completed this term. Student provisional results have been uploaded to the QCAA Portal and are now awaiting Confirmation (QCAA Quality Assurance/moderation). We have some outstanding provisional results so far with several perfect IA1 scores across a range of subjects including English, Math Methods, Specialist Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. We are anticipating another fantastic year of Senior results and outcomes.
Keep up the great work students and staff!
Senior Reporting and Academic/QCE Tracking
Senior interim report cards have been finalised and emailed home this week. Any students not on track for their Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), which is defined by the school as failing (D/E/NR, or not on track with VET competencies) for 2 or more subjects, will have a meeting scheduled with Mr Thomas and their parent/caregiver. In this meeting, Mr Thomas will discuss class/assessment concerns, external barriers to success and school support and intervention including mandatory P5 detentions. These meetings with Mr Thomas will be scheduled early Term 2.
Uniform Reminder
As we approach the end of term 1 it is important to remember what the school expectations are with regards to warmer clothing. As is stated in our student success journal:
“A school jacket is available for purchase through the school office. Alternatively, a plain black pullover or zip-up jacket may be worn in winter. No hoods are to be worn at any time. The CQ representative or Queensland sporting jackets (obtained through school sporting teams) are also acceptable.
- Girls are allowed to wear plain black stockings under a skirt during winter. The wearing of tights at school is not acceptable even under a skirt or shorts.
- Plain black slacks or tracksuits pants of fade resistant material may be worn in winter.
- Denim is not accepted at any time.
- Failure to wear the appropriate uniform will lead to uniform infringement procedures being followed.
School Pick Up
Like all Queensland state schools, Toolooa State High School treats the safety of students, staff, parents, carers and the wider school community very seriously. We work in partnership with the Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR), local councils and relevant stakeholders, to ensure there is a coordinated approach to road safety around state schools. I encourage all drivers and pedestrians near the school to exercise caution and patience, especially during peak periods. To help reduce traffic congestion and increase safety for students and other school community members, I encourage all families to abide by the stop, drop and go procedures, allow clear access for buses and even postpone the time that you pick your child up of an afternoon.
Online Disability Service Plan Co-Design Workshop
On Tuesday 19th March, four of our senior students participated in an online Disability Service Plan (DSP) co-design workshop where they had the opportunity to provide feedback to the Department of Education about issues such as:
- Enabling young people with disability to access high quality education;
- Supporting people and making our workforce inclusive for all;
- Accessible and safe environments for everyone to use; and
- Supporting everyone to access services, events and activities.
The Department of Education and Toolooa State High School were very impressed by the collaborative, inclusive and respectful perspectives and experiences that our students shared.
NAPLAN – That’s a Wrap
Parents if you have a child or children in years 7 or 9 you should be very, very proud of them. All of us at Toolooa are extremely proud of them. NAPLAN is a team effort, consisting of student, home and school. This collaborative team has worked beautifully and effectively together to ensure that the 2024 NAPLAN testing was an overwhelming success.
Special thanks to the diverse learning team for their work behind the scenes in helping students and parents understand the process and assist them where necessary weeks in advance of the testing window. Thank you to all the IAs, teachers and HODs who helped to prepare our students for the testing and thank you for your help in shaping the wonderful attitude that the students demonstrated. Thank you to Mr Gerard Clark who was the instrumental driver of the NAPLAN process, which involved a lot of work behind the scenes since the beginning of the year to make sure the process ran as beautifully and as smoothly as it did.
The students were amazing and displayed an absolutely admirable attitude towards the tests and the sheer number of kids who attended the catch ups was a fantastic sign of their willingness and eagerness to participate. Their impressive attitudes are a credit to the students and you, their families. Student results will be issued later in the year. Thank you for your support.
Outstanding Geospatial Student Award Finalists
Congratulations to Ava Hetherington, who has been selected as an Outstanding Geospatial Student Award Finalist!
This award is based on Ava’s use of geographic information systems and transformation of data and maps using online geospatial platforms in Geography. Last year Ava participated in the SheMaps How Cool is your School competition and submitted an outstanding entry.
We wish Ava the best of luck as they announce the winner in the coming weeks.
Benaraby Road Parking
Please be aware that the Department of Main Roads have recently installed new ‘Emergency Vehicles Only’ signs along Benaraby Road.
This means you cannot park in front of the driveway to the Toolooa SHS Pump Station. This access must be kept clear for emergency vehicles.