2015 Issue 9 - Queechy High School

26 June 2015
9
Dear Community,
Tonight your child should bring home their mid-year report. There should not be any surprises, for them or you,
as these are just the formal record of what should be ongoing conversations and feedback about
student attainment and performance. Hopefully you will have an opportunity to talk with your child not only about
their achievements so far but also about their goals for the remainder of the year – knowing you are interested and
supportive of their learning is an important factor in their progress. Questions such as “What are your strengths
as a learner and what are your needs – does this report reflect your belief?” “What was a surprise in this report?”
“What would you like to see changed in the end of year report? How will you achieve that?” “What are you most
proud of in this report?” are good starting points. Don’t rush your child to answer – pose the question and wait,
or accept the first response but pause to allow more information to be added – too often we have quick
conversations that only skim the surface of our thoughts and limit our plans.
As per usual your child’s attendance data to date is included with their report. We have a school target of 90%
attendance. In truth this shouldn’t be hard to achieve but, on a daily basis, we are not reaching it. Sadly, despite
knowing that “every day counts”, we have students who miss days because it’s their birthday, their friend’s
birthday, they need a haircut, or a relative is visiting…..these are not good reasons when we consider the impact
that missing school has on success later in life. The diagram below equates regularly missed days to the schooling
actually received – it is quite astounding. Some people would consider missing twenty days a year as acceptable or
normal – it isn’t! As can be seen, twenty days a year is the equivalent of finishing at Grade 11, meaning the student
is already a year behind when compared to all others reaching adulthood. The other shocking information, not
shown diagrammatically, is the reality that students who begin missing a day a fortnight or a week in early primary
are likely to be non-attending for whole weeks by their final years. By allowing this to happen your child could
have missed years of schooling and be entering the workforce and society with the academic (and, arguably, social)
understandings of a Grade 4 student. Please consider the long term impact before agreeing to a day off –
adolescents can be persuasive, don’t fall for the “everyone else is allowed” argument! Please contact us if you
would like help with any issues that might be impeding your child’s attendance – together we can usually resolve
issues and provide support.
If your child
misses…….
That
equals….
Which is……
1 day per fortnight
1 day per week
2 days per week
3 days per week
20 days per year
40 days per year
80 days per year
120 days peryear
4 weeks per year
8 weeks per year
16 weeks per year
24 weeks per year
And over 13 years
of schooling
that’s……
nearly 1.5 years
over 2.5 years
over 5 years
nearly 8 years
Which means the best your
child might perform is……
equal to finishing gr 11
equals to finishing in gr 10
equals to finishing in gr 7
equals to finishing at gr 4
Thank you to everyone who contributed, organised and/or attended our School Association Trivia Night – it was
an enjoyable way to raise much needed funds for our school. Thank you also to Newstead College,
Launceston College and our Gr 10 leaders who organised last week’s information session – we had a strong
turnout showing how people really want to be making informed choices about post year 10 options. Enjoy
unpacking the reports - we hope to see many of you at next Thursday’s Parent/Teacher Interviews.
Kathy Davis
World's Greatest Shave
Our SLB is delighted to announce we raised $750 for the
Leukaemia Foundation with our World's Greatest Shave. Well done to
all of our staff and students who supported this great cause.
A huge thank you to the following hairdressers for donating their time:
Caitlin McCarron - Cheveux Hair and Beauty
Krista Preece - Krista's Mobile Hair Styles
Well done Queechy community!
7D Cushions
Disabled Parking
I wish to remind parents not to park in the disabled car parking spaces near administration. The only
people that are authorised to park in these spaces are those who are issued with disabled parking
permits or parents/family members collecting their child who has a disability.
Launceston 10
On Sunday 14th June Mr Tepper organised a group of 13 eager Queechy High School students to
participate in this year’s Launceston 10. The race itself was a heap of fun, with over 2000 entrants in
total participating and Queechy the only school who entered. Congratulations goes out to the
following students for the way they conducted themselves and participated following our schools
motto of ‘Quality, Harmony & Success’.
Jessica Griggs
Paige Harvey
Dahlia Westergreen
Maddy Whitney
Megan Grice
Sophie McEwen
Amanda Gentle
Charles Russell
Tyler De Ruyter
Eliah Cameron
Sam Walley
Emily Allen
Miranda Kroczewski
Well done all!
UTAS Visit
Breakfast Program
The Breakfast Program for 2015 has started on Tuesdays (8.15am to 8.45am) for the remainder of Term 2. We
will be looking to run it over Term 3 with days to be announced soon. To make this possible we would like to
give a big shout out to our community partners:
•
•
Betta Milk (Milk)
Kings Meadow Rotary Club (Milo)
If anyone would like to get involved by donating any spreads (honey, vegemite, jam, butter etc.) or by financial
donation (for bread) it would be greatly appreciated. For more information contact Marty (Chaplain) via the
school on 6341 4455.
Classroom Calendars
Queechy High have signed up to receive wall planners. The wall planner consists of important dates and
events together with advertising from local businesses. If you operate a local business or know
someone who does and you would like to advertise, please contact Classroom Calendars.
East Launceston Junior Football Club
Football Report
Weekend Footy Round Up – Sunday 14th June
UNDER 10 – by David Skipper
Well we all knew we had to face it at some stage, a below zero start with a nasty frost and a nice lazy
breeze to make sure that every exposed appendage was frozen. However this did little to deter the
boys as they played a great game against the George Town Saints. The ground was expanded to full size
and this seemed to have a very positive effect on all the players. This game signalled the long awaited
return of Lochie McMaster, and he didn’t disappoint – welcome back. The boys are all developing a high
level of AFL skills, great effort by our dedicated coaches. Big thanks to the masses of parent helpers
who made the day enjoyable for all.
UNDER 12 – By Penny Foster
This was the first home game for the U12 Team - so extra jobs for the parent volunteers - thank you to
everyone who has been stepping outside their comfort zone and trying their hand at new tasks.
Coach Col took the opportunity to really change the boys' positions this game. Throughout the match
the boys applied continual pressure; shared the ball exceptionally well and showed they were thinking
about the play. A boot full of 4 goals from Oli Gibson and 3 from Oliver Cocks; several goal assists by
Angus Foster; clean hands from Connor Wright; and all up a smashing victory.
UNDER 13 – By Stephen Ives
It's amazing what a time of combined R & R will do for team building. After a pizza and watching the
2011 East U14's Grand Final last Friday night, our young lions came out roaring against ladder leaders
George Town on Sunday. Will Harper’s running goal in the 1st quarter provided our players with
inspiration and endeavour. They tackled hard all day and kept their opposition within kicking reach.
Although we lost, many players started to shine including Hugh Loane, Angus Mac, Gus Youl and
Riley Dawe-Ellis. Will O'Toole was sterling in defence supporting the ever reliable Shaun Cooper. Even
Taylah Croucher showed she wasn't afraid to get in the thick of play. Improving step by step. Well done
young lions.
UNDER 15 – By Darren Perry
Under 15s played George Town in a battle for 5th spot on the ladder. All games over the next few
weeks will be important in our efforts to consolidate a spot in the finals. Our boys played exceptionally
good football and showed that even missing a few of our stronger players we are starting to get some
great understanding of the roles, plans and the tactics we have been practicing at training.
Charlie Griffiths, Eddie Bell and Lochie Gee gave tremendous drive out of the centre and Cam Blanden
was dominant until late in the game he was “collaterally damaged” by our bone crunching tackle machine
Max Glover who along with Bede Archer & Josh Lehman and Pat Munnings headed up an impressively
strong backline who only let 5 scoring shots through all day. Matt Duggan, Ethan Perry and
Ben McShane were constructive all day in helping to set up forwards Nick House, Ryan Sherriff and
Will Beattie who helped contribute to our final score of 10.10. 70. The boys are continuing to work
hard and are keen to face some big challenges as we head into our next block of four games which starts
this week against 2nd placed South Launceston.
Term Dates 2015
Class Times
First bell 8:45am
Term 1
Wednesday 4th February - Grade 7
Thursday 5th February – Grade 8,9 & 10
Easter Break
Friday 3rd April - Tuesday 7th April
Term 2
Monday 20th April - Friday 3rd July
Term 3
Tuesday 20th July - Friday 25th September
Term 4
Monday 12th October - Thursday 17th December
Student Free Days 2015
Wednesday 25th February (Launceston Cup)
Thursday 2nd April
Tutor Group: 8:45am - 9:00am
Block 1:
9:00am - 10:10am
Recess 1:
10:10am - 10:30am
Block 2:
10:30am - 11:40am
Recess 2:
11:40am - 12:00pm
Block 3:
12:00pm - 1:10pm
Lunch:
1:10pm - 1:50pm
Block 4:
1:50 pm - 3:00pm
Monday 20th July (Now Cancelled)
Friday 23rd October
Friday 26 June
Reports going home
Tuesday 30 June - Sunday 19 July
World Challenge
Thursday 2 July
Parent Teacher Interviews 3:30 - 7:00pm
Monday 20 July
Student Free Day Cancelled - Normal School Day
Friday 24 July
Inter-High Cross Country
Tuesday 20 July - Friday 31 July
Grade 10 Exams
Queechy High School
Penquite Road, Launceston Tas 7250
PO Box 678, Kings Meadows Tas 7249
Ph: (03) 6341 4455 Fax: (03) 6344 9892
Email: queechy.high@education.tas.gov.au
Web: www.queechy.tased.edu.au