25 August 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Address

Principal’s Message

Term 3 is always a busy term with many student activities taking place. We look forward to seeing our students participating in Country week, RUOK Day, reward camps, Careers Expo, Lightening Carnival, and MASH World Gym – not to mention the everyday things that are happening in classrooms. Even though we have been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and responses, I continue to be overwhelmed by the number of opportunities our students regularly have. I cannot show my appreciation or thank staff enough for the time and effort they put into ensuring that our students get the best educational opportunities possible.

STEM Fair

This year’s STEM fair was the best ever, and I want to thank all the staff who were involved in making it so successful. The Crest Awards were of an extremely high standard and they showcase the high calibre of work that our students are involved in their Science classes. The displays and activities around the gym also highlight the diversity of learning that occurs in our Science classrooms. I want to take the opportunity to thank the involvement of the Mathematics, HASS and Technology learning areas in conducting workshops for our local primary school students throughout the day.

Leadership

Leaders are not born, they are made. At Newton Moore SHS we provide several opportunities for our students to develop and practice their leadership skills. We have three key leadership groups of students who are elected as our Student Leaders in Years 7-12. Students are elected to these positions by their peers and the staff of our school. I am very proud of how these students give up their lunch or recess times to plan and organise events and activities in our school. It has been great having our Year 12 Exec representatives giving short presentations at the School Board meetings as we believe student voice is very important.

RUOK

The school will again be involved in a range of activities to formally acknowledge R U OK day. This event reminds us about the importance of our mental health and wellbeing. It is important, however, that we focus on good mental health and wellbeing every day. R U OK? Day is 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. If you need some support in asking if someone is OK and supporting them, the R U OK? website is a great resource.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our staff, particularly those who go above and beyond coordinating all these events for your children.

Boorda/ See you later

Susan Kerr M.Ed.Admin, B.Ed,Dip.Teach
PRINCIPAL
Newton Moore SHS

From the Finance Team

Charges are the compulsory component of your child’s education program at Newton Moore, and must be paid in full to ensure the resources that are required to meet the outcomes for that subject are available to your child.

The Department of Education does not provide funding for this purpose and so the school needs to reallocate funds from other priorities to cover any charges that remain unpaid by parents/caregivers.

Contributions, although voluntary, do make a huge difference to the school’s ability to deliver the programs at Newton Moore, and the school greatly appreciates those parents who provide their ongoing support in this way.

Payments can be made via bank transfer, BPay, EFTPOS at the school accounts office, or credit card by phone or email. The Newton Moore SHS bank details are below:

Centrepay is also available. You can arrange this through your Centrelink online access using our schools CRN: 555 062 848L, or by contacting Centrelink.

If you require a copy of your latest invoice, please email newtonmoore.shs.accounts@education.wa.edu.au, and it will be emailed to you.

As we are moving into the latter end of the school year, payment of these costs would be appreciated. Payment plans are available, tailored to your budget and pay frequency, please contact the Accounts office for more information on the email address above.

Lower School Deputy Principals’ Update

Is your child a victim of cyberbullying?

Students are reporting instances of cyberbullying more regularly but are unsure what they can do to stop it.

There are measures you can take to safeguard your child. eSafety is a government organisation that provides guidelines for what to do when there has been serious online abuse or illegal and restricted content.

Here is what you need to do to stop cyberbullying:

1. Collect evidence - if you are unsure how to do this, follow the eSafety link below.
2. Prevent further contact – block and check privacy settings.
3. Report harmful content - to the service or platform used to send, post or share it, at least 48 hours before it is reported to eSafety. After this time if the content has not been removed eSafety will be able to investigate.
4. You can report complaints about image-based abuse or illegal and restricted online content to eSafety immediately.
5. If the cyberbullying is affecting your child's mental health seek further support. You may contact the school if you are unsure of who and where to go for support.

Here is the link for your information.

How to report abuse or content to eSafety | eSafety Commissioner

Should any bullying continue at school, please have your child attend Student Services and a member of the team will be more than willing to assist them.

Senior School Deputy Principals’ Update

Year 12

The last week of Term Three is a busy time for Year 12 students. We are looking forward to celebrating all that they have achieved and making some lasting memories at the following events:

Leavers Assembly – Wednesday 21st September

Joins us in the gym to celebrate the achievements of our Year 12s and recognise all that they have contributed to whilst at NMSHS

Year 12 Activity afternoon – Wednesday 21st September

All Year 12 students are invited to attend this excursion based at Dalyellup beach. There will be games, music and food provided to reward the hard work of this wonderful year group.

Battle of the Knights – Friday 23rd September

The final opportunity to contribute towards your house being crowned King of the school. The highlight of the day is the legendary Fun Run where the Year 12’s get the opportunity to soak all the teachers and students as they run around the school course!

For this last week to be a success, please ensure your child has:

• completed all set tasks and assessments
• completed and handed in their clearance form
• gained parental consent for the Year 12 activity day

Year 10,11 and 12 OLNA

A reminder that OLNA is scheduled for Week 8 and 9. Individual schedules will be handed out to students in Week 6.

Year 11

It is important to reflect on progress at this time of the term. To move into Year 12, students need to achieve a minimum of 8 C grades, so it is important to check in with your child to ensure that they are on track. All Year 11 students have the support of their teachers, Wellbeing Coordinator, VET Coordinator and Deputy Principal to guide them on their journey. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions.

Year 10 – Subject selections

Although selections have now closed, if your child wants to complete or change any of their choices for Year 11, please call into Administration or contact the school.

Study Skills

Top 10 Tips for parents to manage and communicate expectations about schoolwork and results

If parental expectations are too low, students may not strive to achieve their personal best. If parental expectations are too high, this can contribute to high levels of student stress. So how can parents find the right balance? Some areas to consider are:

1. Understand your own motivations: Why do you want your child to achieve particular marks in their studies? Is it because you have pressure from family/friends/society about what your child will achieve? Do you want them to follow in your career footsteps? Do you want them to have opportunities you never had as a child or young person? Understanding your own motivations will help you find balance in your expectations of your children.

2. Help your children to set realistic goals: Keep talking to your children about what they want to achieve, in individual subjects, at school overall and in other aspects of their life. Their career goals may mean they want to focus intensively on something like art or music, rather than maths or science. Helping them to identify their goals will enable them to determine what subjects they need to focus on and what marks they are likely to need, which means that effort can be concentrated on the areas which will help them to achieve their goals.

3. Be involved in your children’s learning: Throughout the term talk to your children about what they are studying. Ask them to show you their bookwork and homework. The more you understand about what they are doing and how they are going along the way, the better you will be able to set and manage your expectations.

4. Make sure you really communicate what you expect: Many students feel like they are not meeting their parents’ expectations. Often this is a result of poor communication about expectations by both parties. Reflect on your motivations (see 1 above) and think about how you communicate your expectations to your children. Remember to praise them for the effort they make rather than the results they achieve, this way they are motivated to keep on trying, even when learning is difficult.

5. Develop an understanding of the school’s assessment and reporting structures: Assessment and reporting systems change over time and are different in different schools, states and countries. Making sure you really understand what your children’s reports mean may help you to understand what they are actually achieving. Sometimes students are excelling in certain skills or areas, but reporting structures may not highlight these.

6. Remember nobody is perfect: Even the brightest, most highly motivated child will struggle at times. They may struggle to understand a particular topic or concept, or they may struggle with motivation, particularly for a subject they don’t particularly enjoy. Problems with teachers or peers can also contribute. It is unrealistic that anyone can work with 100% effort all the time.

7. Provide practical homework and exam support: Provide practical help to your children with things like proofreading and reviewing drafts, checking work and listening to speeches. Remember though, it is not your work, so don’t make changes, rather make suggestions and provide guidance.

8. Spend time together doing something fun: Make sure your relationship with your child is about more than homework and study. Allocate some time to do fun things together. This is the time in which your child is most likely to open up to you about the things that they are struggling with and you can work out how best to help them. Ideas include going for a walk or run together, having a dinner date (even to Maccas) or having them show you the latest funny videos they like.

9. Support your child to do their best: You can do this by providing healthy, nutrient rich food; opportunities for exercise, rest and relaxation and an environment which is supportive of and conducive to study.

10. Keep alert for the physical and mental signs of stress: Familiarise yourself with how your child responds to stress. Do they withdraw? Act out? Work harder or stop working? When you notice that your child is stressed provide them opportunities to discuss what is worrying them and work with them to identify how you can help them. You may wish to involve the school counsellor, a teacher or tutor at this point.

You can learn more about how to support your student’s learning at www.studyskillshandbook.com.au by logging in with these details:

Attendance

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

Congratulations to the following students who have the highest point totals in their respective year for Semester 1 of 2022. They have done an outstanding job to follow the PBS expectations of the school. They have all received a certificate and K-mart voucher.

Our current PBS behaviour expectaion focus is Engage and cooperate positively with your peers. This fits under the the broader expectation of Wellbeing.

Student Services Update

Career Practitioner

ECU Alternative Entry presentations to Year 11s & 12s

Edith Cowan University presented to Year 11 and 12 General classes this week to provide information on university life and alternative university entry pathways. Completing ATAR is certainly not the only way into uni, with TAFE studies and an ECU UniPrep course being among other options.

Many adults continue to study throughout their career – whether it be through university, TAFE, or another Registered Training Orgnaisation. I have personally gained qualitifications from all three of these provider types, to support my career pathway.

Ms Holmes

Virtual South West Career Expo Prize Winner

Many students took the time to explore the 2022 Virtual South West Career Expo that was promoted within the school recently. The expo showcased local businesses as well as further education pathways.

Our Year 7 student, Paige Brady, was the lucky spot prize winner of the Weber BBQ pack from Retravision, valued at over $600. Well done Paige, for being proactive in career exploration and for entering the competition.

The virtual expo link will remain live through to the end of Term 3:

School Nurse

If your child is unwell, please keep them at home.

Many schools will ask that your child stay home if they have an illness or other condition that could be contagious.

Staying home allows them to recover and also prevents the spread of disease throughout the school.

Generally, they should stay home if they have a fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea, sore throat, trouble swallowing, rash, unusual sores, unusual spots, earache, moderate to severe headache, moderate muscle ache, muscle pain, wheezing, difficulty breathing, red or burning eyes, or head lice.

They will also need to stay home if they are coughing, sneezing, or congested.

Stay home until the symptoms have decreased without medication for a period of 24 hours, if possible.

Learning Areas

Science

Year 9 Science students modelling oils spills to learn more about human impacts on ecosystems.

English

Year 12 ATAR English students from schools across the South West region recently came together at Edith Cowan University for a whole-day seminar to prepare for their upcoming WACE and Mock English exams. Students attended three sessions across the day, selecting from six different presentations they wished to attend. Each presentation was constructed to assist students to hone their skills in study and the three exam sections. A fun and valuable day of learning, complete with a big lunch, was enjoyed by our students.

VET

2022 World Skills Success

Congratulations to Ashlyn Buswell and Laura Bartlett for participating in the 2022 World Skills competition for Hospitality, held at South Regional TAFE. Both girls performed really well on the day, and Ashlyn picked up a silver medal for her superb skills in Hospitality.

A huge congratulations goes to Chloe Hodgkinson, Woranittha Singhawapee, Alvin Garcia and Jacob Teede for competing in the Kitchen Operations competition.

Chloe Hodgkinson was the overall winner for the day, coming away with a Gold Medal. Well done Chloe. This is a huge achievement!

Both students will receive their medals at a ceremony held at the Crown Casino in November. Chloe and Ashlyn will also be notified at the medal ceremony as to whether they have been selected to compete at the National World Skills competition in 2023, which will be held in Melbourne.

HASS

Year 7 Cookie Excavation

Whilst we didn’t feel like Indiana Jones, we enjoyed surveying and extracting our artefacts from our cookie site. We used toothpicks and a paperclip to come up with ways where we could carefully extract the goods, piling up the discarded dirt. We found that archaeology was difficult at times as you had to be exact and precise, even as the intensity continued to build. No dirt was to remain on the artefact, and the site had to remain clean.

Year 7s.

Technologies

Year 9 and 10 students are making a productive start to the term, with the Year 9 class preparing their timber stools and Year 10 constructing crocodile boxes. I have been thoroughly impressed with their work ethic, teamwork and problem solving skills.

Year 11 students are continuing work on their small table designs, having already completed a tea tray and decorative box project. Some impressive craftsmanship has been displayed by many members of this class.

Aboriginal Education

Clontarf

On Thursday 28th of July, the Coodanup Clontarf Academy travelled down to Newton Moore for a game of Football with our Year 7 Clontarf boys.

With 10 a side, the Newton Moore boys started strong, kicking the first few goals while displaying great teamwork and sportsmanship. Coodanup fought back late, but Newton Moore prevailed with Jo Bradshaw receiving the Clontarf Spirit for his great leadership on the day. The game provided an opportunity for the boys to meet other Year 7s from a different academy. Everyone enjoyed a sausage sizzle lunch together afterwards, wrapping up a great afternoon for all. We look forward to our rematch in Term 4.

News from Parent Bodies

School Board

The school Board consistently works with the school to achieve the best outcomes from students. What the Board does is learn from its members. This comes from both the school staff members and also from what we can learn from our parents, community and industry members.

At our next school Board meeting, our industry partner Plunkett Homes representative, Josh Drummond (an ex Newton Moore SHS student), will be sharing with the Board ideas about what the Plunkett industry does to be such a successful industry. We hope through discussions and sharing to gain some ideas we will be able to use to improve our strategic planning and future focuses.

Our school Board is a key advocate group who support us in so many ways, including providing educational ideas of how we can enhance each and every student’s experiences at school.

Community Notices