Principal’s Piece — Justin Harrison
Evidence Gathering
Toolooa SHS is a school that is providing all students with a quality education in a safe and supportive environment. We are a school that is constantly reflecting on our current practices and looking for ways to improve.
In the upcoming weeks, a select number of students will have an opportunity to provide Toolooa SHS with feedback on a number of areas that impact their schooling at Toolooa. More specifically, they will complete a survey whereby they give us their insight into areas such as safety, school culture, teaching/learning and clarity and fairness of rules.
This feedback will play an important role in our school’s executive committee moving forward in determining priorities for further improvement and thus enabling us to make Toolooa SHS an even better school. We do appreciate the student’s feedback.
Uniform Reminder
Toolooa SHS is a ‘uniform school’ because the Parents’ and Citizens’ Association decided at the outset to support the wearing of school uniforms. There are a number of advantages of wearing school uniforms, some of these being; developing a sense of belonging to a group, pride in membership of that group and identification of students travelling to and from school. As it is now getting colder, this is a reminder that the only jumpers that are allowed to be worn are either the school jacket or a plain black jumper or jacket. If students are choosing to wear a black jacket or jumper, please remember that it is to have no logos on it of any shape or size.
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)
Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).
Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:
- year of schooling
- category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
- level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.
This information assists schools to:
- formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
- consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
- develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.
The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.
The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the
Australian Government's Privacy Policy (
https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).
If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.
2025 Year 11 Subject Selections
This is an important reminder that the first Senior Schooling Information Evening is on tonight in the shelter, starting at 6pm. The Senior Schooling team will be discussing what senior education looks like (Queensland Certificate of Education, ATARs, pathways, etc.) and more specifically, what pathways Toolooa offers to support your child transitioning to further education, training or employment.
Our second parent/guardian information evening is on next week, 13th of June in the shelter at 6pm. This information evening is focussing on what each subject/program is comprised of. Subject Heads of Department, Guidance Officers, Heads of Senior Schooling and the Senior Schooling Deputy Principal will all be available to speak with you about Year 11 subject choices and pathways, and answer any question you may have. Representatives from external training providers will also be present for parents/guardians and students to talk with for any questions in regards to their pathway for 2025.
Final 2025 Year 11 subject choices will be made later this term.
Parent Teacher Interviews
Last week we held our parent teacher interviews which were a great success. Thank you to the many parents who attended and thank you for being so understanding around the date change. Parent teacher interviews are an important part of a student's educational experience. It is an opportunity for school and home to demonstrate they are on the same team working together towards student success. Research indicates when parents and schools work together children achieve better academically and an improvement in student engagement and wellbeing is evident. Teachers very much welcome these productive relationships and appreciate the chance to discuss your child's progress. Communication is key to the success of these relationships, which is why you may hear from your child's teacher throughout the year, equally we encourage you to contact the school and your child's teacher if you would like more information on how to best support your student. Your child will soon be receiving their Semester report card which is a great indicator of their achievement, effort and behaviour. If you have any concerns, please feel free to discuss your child with their year level Deputy Principal or their year level Head of Student Engagement.