Principal’s Piece — Justin Harrison
As Term 3 draws to an end, I would like to sincerely thank our Toolooa community for the support and commitment you have shown our school, and more importantly, your child over the course of the last ten weeks.
Providing students with the best education possible in a safe and supportive environment would not be possible if it was not for the hard work of the teaching and non-teaching staff. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff for their commitment to providing each child with a quality education. To those families who have taken the time to thank the school for everything we do, I appreciate it.
I am sure all students and staff are looking forward to the break, a time to recharge and return with the energy and focus needed to achieve great things in Term 4. For those families who are travelling on our roads during the break, please take care and we look forward to seeing everybody back on Tuesday the 3rd of October.
Reporting
Year 11 and 12 reporting is now complete for Term 3. Your child's report has been e-mailed home. Please talk with your child about how they have progressed this term and make contact with the school if you have any concerns.
Year 7 - 10 reports are due to administration on Tuesday 3rd October. They will be emailed out shortly after this. As with senior, I encourage all families to discuss these results with your child, celebrate their achievements and if you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher.
Attendance Celebration:
Friday 15th September sees our term 3 attendance celebration. Any student who has attendance at or above 90% will be invited to celebrate with an ice-cream sundae. Thank you to the tuck shop who are assisting with serving over 600 children ice-cream!
Term 4 Dates
Term 4 will commence on Tuesday the 3rd of October.
Final day for Year 12 attendance is Friday 17th November
Final day for Year 10 & 11 attendance is Friday 24th November
Final day for Year 7,8 & 9 attendance is Friday 8th December
Arts Showcase
Congratulations to each and every student involved in last week's Arts Showcase! What an incredible display of talent, hard work, bravery, and entertainment!
Thank you to the community for supporting this event. How wonderful for our students to be able to perform to a packed house at the Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centre, filled with love and support
Huge thanks also to the Arts team (and their supporters) for the endless hours of work that went into this wonderful event.
National Youth Science Forum
Congratulations to Matt, Ben and Josh (Year 11), who represented Toolooa SHS at the National Youth Science Forum, and were successful in selection!
Thanks to Mrs Read for her dedication and support!
R U OK Day
R U OK? Day (Thursday 14th September, 2023) was our national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone that every day is the day to ask, “Are you OK?” and support those struggling with life's ups and downs. We are very proud of our Toolooa State High School staff and students for their efforts in supporting the raising awareness of checking in on our fellow peers.
Future Cities Program
We have had some amazing achievements from some of our students. This term a small group of Yr 7 and 8 Students participated in a program called Future Cities where they had to design the transport for Gladstone in 2050. These students have worked very hard on this project and have stayed back at school sometimes until 5pm doing online lessons and preparing their pitch videos. I am proud to announce that at the awards ceremony our Year 7 team placed 3rd while our Year 8 team finished 1st. This challenge has always been won by the Redeemer College in Bilo and we were the first team to beat them. If you would like to watch the students please do (Link below) and if you see these students around school, please congratulate them for their amazing achievement.
Year 7 Team - Mission Possible - Jyoti Warrier, Elizabeth Nicol, Layla-Jayne Scott, Sienna Maunders
Year 8 Team - Fantastic 4 + 1 - Jarvis Bruhn, Jehan Sadi, Tanishka Kannan, Lily Bainbridge, Robert Dobson
Student Parking and Road Safety
2023 is only the fourth year we have had some Year 11 (17year old) students gaining their P Plates and driving themselves to school. As a result of the change to the starting age in Queensland, we now have two cohorts of students eligible to drive and park across the road from the school. Students who drive to school and park on the designated area (council property), park at their own risk. The school is unable to take responsibility for damage to staff or student vehicles parked on or near school property. Students are reminded that any pranks or dangerous driving resulting in damage to vehicles will be referred to police and families.
Students have been reminded that they are not to leave the school grounds without the permission of the school. They must also sign in and out through the office when arriving or leaving due to their timetable variations. Students have been reminded that they must not take other students in their car during breaks. Finally, the school will not give lunch passes to purchase food from nearby shops. Wholesome, great tasting lunches can be purchased from our wonderful school tuckshop.
Year 10 SET (Senior Education and Training) Plan Meetings
During the last 6 weeks of this term, a team of 13 SET Plan case managers conducted individual meetings for close to 210 Year 10 students and their parent/guardian(s). These mandatory meetings were an excellent opportunity to meet with parents/guardians to review, align and discuss the student’s intended learning options after Year 10, their career aspirations, explaining the QCE, their chosen school pathway (ATAR Vs Pre-vocational) and to also help guide subject selections and external program options/applications. Additionally, I believe these contact meetings were also used to effectively communicate school expectations, policies and procedures of the Post-compulsory phase of education. I would sincerely like to thank all parents of Year 10 students for engaging in the SET planning process and supporting the school on the advice/guidance given to students. A big thank you must also go to the following SET Plan Case managers, who gave up their time and re-scheduled calendars to fit in each of their allocated meetings; Mark Thomas (DP), Danielle Willard (DP), Silke Hetherington (G.O), Jenny Morris (G.O), Dave Roby (HOSES), Vic Provan Year Level Coordinator (YLC), Darren Boase (HOD Senior Schooling), Chris Hill (HOD), Amanda Patzwald (YLC), Paula McDonald (YLC/HOD), Tracy Connolly (CEC), Kelly McEachran (Youth Support Coordinator) and Sue Jerez (Year 10 Diverse Learning Case Manager). Your commitment to student pathways and outcomes does not go unnoticed. If parents/guardians have any further questions regarding their child’s Senior schooling please do not hesitate to give the school a call.
Year 12 Mock External Assessment
Congratulations to all Year 12 students who have sat their Mock External exams over the last week. I believe all students conducted themselves with academic integrity and given these mock exams their best effort. Whilst these Mock exams do not contribute to a student's overall summative results and may have been stressful for some, the anecdotal feedback we have received from students and parents alike has been very positive. Most students are extremely grateful for not only the exposure to a simulated EA environment and conditions, but more importantly, the opportunity to have their responses marked by their teacher so as to receive constructive feedback which will then guide the re-teaching and learning for the 3 weeks leading up to the real EA block starting in Week 4 next term. More information about the real EA block will be communicated early next term.