17th October, 2014 – Issue 31

Phone: 02 67461177 Fax: 02 67462648

Email: quirindi-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Message from the Relieving Deputy Principal

The 2014 Higher School Certificate is now well underway and our current Year 12 appear to have settled in well to the process. By all reports, exams this week were well prepared for and comments were positive. It is important that Year 12 students continue to use their time to study and prepare for the remainder of their exams. There is still time to improve results and teachers are still available for support.

On Monday 20th October, all of Year 11 have the opportunity to be involved in a Study Skills Seminar run by a Sydney Organisation ‘Elevate Education’. The workshop provides students with the tools and motivation necessary to adequately prepare and revise for their senior subject areas. This serves as a timely reminder for those, who in exactly a years’ time, will be sitting their HSC examinations in 2015.

Next week our Under 15’s Girls and Boys Basketball teams travel to Bathurst and Terrigal respectively. As in the past, I hope we continue to dominate and thank our coaches Mr Field and Mr Langston for taking these teams and wish all of our players the best of luck.

On Tuesday 14th October, 30 students from Quirindi High School had the privilege of attending an Arts in Education performance by Matthew Doyle. Students participated in traditional Aboriginal dance and song. Matthew Doyle is one of Australia’s leading performers who played the didgeridoo for the opening and closing ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. This experience was a great opportunity for a small country town. Andrew Harries Relieving Deputy Principal

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End of Year Excursions are fast approaching

REMINDER Outstanding Elective Fees

Students will be denied the privilege of attending non-compulsory excursions as per the Quirindi High School policy if there has been no effort in the payment of elective fees over the year. Any fees owing from the previous year will have to be paid in full as soon as possible. We would be grateful if you could settle your account as soon as possible.

A student assistance scheme is available through a government funded subsidy whereby, anyone who is having financial difficulty is encouraged to contact the Principal requesting assistance with payment for excursions or elective fees.

This will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.

Uniform pool

The school has a uniform pool that is available for all families to use, however it is currently running low on school skirts. If you have any uniforms that no longer fit your child, it would be appreciated if you could please bring them into the school to add to our uniform pool. If you need help in obtaining a uniform, come to the front office and you can access the uniform pool.

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Horse Sport News On Monday 13th October Quirindi Public School ran their annual Horse Sports day. It was a great day although we were all at the mercy of the weather, for an extended lunch, when a halt was called for student safety because of lightning. Hack and rider events started on time until lunch break, when the temperature dropped and the rain fell and lightning could be seen. After lunch, the sporting events took place with some fast times around the barrels and accurate hoof work through the keyhole. Quirindi High riders were quite successful on the day. We achieved high point scores with; Sasha Mackay 13yo Girl Champion Jordie Thompson 13yo Girl Reserve Champion Chase Clarke 13yo Boy Champion Casey Clarke 13yo Boy Reserve Champion Matthew Forsyth 13yo Boy Encouragement Award Lachlan McMahon 14yo Boy Champion Cory Mackay 15yo Boy Champion Rebecca Palmer 16yo & over Girl Reserve Champion Congratulations to all our riders who competed and thanks to Quirindi Public School, their Horse Sports committee and their P&C for a well-run event.

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Hunter New England Population Health Direct Contact Details Phone: (02) 49246477

LAST CHANCE FOR STUDENTS TO RECEIVE VACCINATIONS AT SCHOOL The last school based vaccination clinic at school will be held on:

Friday 24th October It is not too late for your year 7 son or daughter, or year 9 son to receive missed vaccine doses offered in 2014. If you have not completed a consent form, please ask the school for one and send it back in time for the last clinic. Any missed vaccine, even a first dose of HPV can be administered at this last clinic. HPV is an expensive vaccine, and is only funded if the course is commenced in year 7 at school. What happens if my child has not received a full course of 3 doses of HPV by the end of this year? – as long as your child starts the course of HPV while they are in year 7 in 2014 the nurses will complete their course while they are in year 8 in 2015. You do not need to take any further action. This will however be the last opportunity for boys in year 9 to have a HPV vaccine dose at school. Year 9 boys who have had less than 3 doses of HPV vaccine after this next visit can complete the schedule at their GP practice. Your child is given a record of vaccination for each vaccine administered; you may need to ask them for this copy. You can contact the Hunter New England Population Health Unit on 49246477 and ask for an immunisation officer if you have any questions.

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Library Happenings! Reading Challenge

Have you challenged yourself to read a

book each month yet?

Pick up a book and you just might

“ Discover or rediscover the joy of reading” !

Need a Book to Read? Come and browse the shelves and try out our Reading Chair!

THANK YOU to

Whitehaven Coal and

the Children’s Charity Network On Monday 13th October Quirindi High School Library had the pleasure of hosting celebrated children’s illustrator, Marjory Gardner. These workshops were part of a program organised by the Children’s Charity Network and were generously sponsored by Whitehaven Coal. The aim of the program is to assist in improving the literacy and artistic skills of students and encourage them to participate in the Young Australian Art and Writers Awards and the Young Indigenous Art Awards. During the day, Marjory Gardner held workshops for students in Years 8, 9 and 11, showing them her folio of drawings, discussing how she became an illustrator and then getting the students involved in creative drawing activities, which brought the inner artist out in lots of students. This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to be inspired by the talents of Marjory Gardner and her excellent presentation skills. Students walked away from these workshops having learned a great deal about different techniques and ideas for improving their artistic and literacy skills. We would like to make a special thank you to Whitehaven Coal for sponsoring the program and $400 worth of books to the Quirindi High School Library, and to thank celebrated children’s author, Paul Collins and his publishing company, for providing a fantastic range of books. They will be well read by the students at Quirindi High School. Also, thank you to the Children’s Charity Network for making these workshops possible.

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Hayden Whitney and Dominic French working with Marjory Gardner

Brooke Percy and Erin Batterham drawing

Abbey Lobsey's fabulous drawing

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Term 4 Whole School Target is

Upgrading My Skills Well, here’s one way you can get started on

UPGRADING YOUR SKILLS! Great news! Our school SUBSCRIBES to the ELES Online Study Skills Handbook. The ELES Online Study Skills Handbook provides a comprehensive and interactive online guide for the school community (students, parents and teachers) as to the study skills needed for success in high school studies. This approach taps into students’ affinity with technology to create a new and effective way to improve students’ study skills. This is a great online resource for parents and students to address all their study skills issues and concerns and enable students to learn new ways to improve their results at school. The handbook has a huge amount of information for both students and parents as well as a large number of interactive activities.

QHS students have direct access to this handbook through the school’s Moodle site. They use their DET username and password to access QHS Moodle.

The topics currently covered by the handbook are:

at home 1. Home Study Environment 2. Organisation and Filing 3. Time Management Skills 4. Managing Workload 5. Dealing with Distractions 6. Overcoming Procrastination 7. Developing Motivation 8. Goal Setting 9. Lifestyle and Balance 10. Managing Stress at school 1. Will we ever use this? 2. Using Classtime 3. Asking for Help 4. Dealing with Conflict 5. Groupwork Skills

specific skills 1. Reading Skills 2. Writing Skills 3. Mathematical Skills 4. Language Skills 5. Research Skills 6. Presentation Skills 7. Science Skills tests and exams 1. Summarising 2. Active Studying 3. Preparing for Exam Blocks 4. Test-Taking Techniques 5. After Tests & Exams

extra ‘general’ mini-units 1. Starting Secondary School 2. Becoming a Senior Student 3. Bullying: Issues and Strategies 4. Managing Part-Time Jobs 5. Your Brain and Memory 6. Live Your Best Life + Educational Kinesiology + Living Across 2 Houses + Travel: A Motivator to Learn + Uni: Lecture Note-Making extra ‘technology’ mini-units 1. Technology Tools 2. Basic Computer Skills 3. Be CyberSmart + Useful Apps for iPads + Microsoft OneNote

In addition to the huge amount of content, the systematic program for students to work through includes: online quizzes, summary sheets, worksheets, lots of FAQs answered, articles and links, online polls, facility to submit questions, helpful grids and planners, jokes and quotes, student thoughts, images and photos, students can submit ideas to win, competitions, audio and video files, streaming audio (to allow students the option to read or listen to the content) And: new content added regularly, new units added each year, new features added regularly. There is also a tracking system where students save the results of their end of unit quizzes and modules over the years.

We encourage all parents and students to take advantage of this opportunity to further develop their students’

study skills abilities through this online resource.

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Logging in to the Online Study Skills Handbook Login to QHS Moodle - you should find a link on your student portal homepage or go to http://web1.quirindi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/ to get to QHS Moodle. Use your DET internet username and password to login to QHS Moodle.

Check out these topics to help you get the most out of your studies and help you to work towards UPGRADING YOUR SKILLS.

For further information please contact Mrs Owen – Teacher Librarian at QHS.

Happy Reading and Upgrading your Skills! – Mrs Owen – Teacher Librarian

Click this Log in and it will take you straight to the Study Skills Handbook Homepage below

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Werris Creek Swimming Club Registration/Information Days

Saturday 25th October at 12pm – 2.30pm

Saturday, 1st November at 11.30pm – 2.30pm

at the Werris Creek Club House.

Swimming Assessments for Learn to Swim

(children and adults) as well as swim squads

and people with special needs

Saturday 1st November 2014 from 11.30am – 2.30pm

at the Werris Creek Swimming Pool

Season Commences on Monday afternoon 3rd November at 4.30pm.

Please check our Facebook website for updates

For further enquiries, please contact our Werris Creek Swimming Club email on werriscreekswimclub@gmail.com or our Club Secretary Tammie Clark on

0428 474602.

QUIRINDI SWIMMING CLUB

QUIRINDI SWIMMING CLUB’s 2014/2015 season is about to get underway. The town pool will open on Saturday 1st November!

Registration / Information days: at the Pool from 10am until Noon

• Saturday 25th October

• Saturday 1st November

Grading day: at the Pool from 10am til Noon

• Saturday 1st November

So please bring your children along to the Grading day with their swimming gear, so the Club can work out squads for commencement from Monday 3rd November. Enquiries can be directed to Kelly Barwick 0428471723, Sarah Pollard 046889033, Shelley McInnes (text) 0428462720, qascinc@hotmail.com or Facebook page Quirindi Swimming Club.

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Dates to put on your Calendar

Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sat/Sun

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A

20th October 21st October 22nd October 23rd October 24th October

Needles

Werris Creek

Horse Sports

25/26

4

B

27th October

Exam Week

Years 7-10

28th October

P&C Meeting

29th October 30th October 31st October 1/2

5

A

3rd November

Wallabadah

Horse Sports

4th November 5th November 6th November

Year 12

Formal

7th November

8/9

6

B

10th November 11th November

RSA

12th November

RCG

13th November 14th November 15/16

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A

17th November 18th November 19th November 20th November 21st November 22/23

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B

24th November

Year 10 Work

Experience

Commences

25th November 26th November 27th November 28th November 29/30

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A

1st December

Year 10 Work

Experience

Continues

2nd December 3rd December 4th December 5th December 6/7

Quirindi Junior Cricket

Quirindi Junior Cricket begins this coming weekend - Saturday 18th October at the Number 2 Oval in Quirindi - further information please call Scott Chambers 0427476261

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