‘Light of Learning’

Issue 10 Term 2, Week 10 - 2011

Ballina High School’s Official Newsletter

THE PILOT Ballina High School was first established in 1929 as an Intermediate High School. In 1956 the school became a High School. Ba llina High School has a long tradition

of excellence in academic, cultural and sporting endeavours. Students have gained district, Regional, State and National sta tus in all areas of school life.

www.ballina-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Principal: Mr Phil Steer Deputy Principals: Mr Errol Ussher & Mr John Douglas

Locked Bag 1 (Burnet St) Ballina 2478 Ph 02 6686 2133 Fax 02 6686 4235 Email: ballina-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Ministerial Visit

BHS Marine Discovery Centre On Friday 24 June, in the rain, the Minister for Local

Government and the North Coast, Don Page, presented the

Ballina Marine Discovery Centre with 100 new lifejackets for

use in the Centre‟s Safe Boating program, on behalf of

Minister for Ports and Roads, Duncan Gay, and NSW

Maritime.

The Marine Centre introduced its Safe Boat Handling Course

in partnership with NSW Maritime, fifteen years ago, and has

extended this program to other schools teaching Marine

Studies throughout New South Wales. As part of the course

Ballina High, and visiting students to the Marine Centre, can

gain a Certificate of Satisfactory Course Completion which

allows them to gain a NSW Maritime Boat Drivers Licence.

They complete the examination and the practical driving skills

now required for their licence while at the Centre.

The school operates five, 3.3 metre aluminium V bow punts

with 8 horsepower motors, and three amphibious LARC‟s each

capable of carrying thirty people, as part of its program, and

needed lifejackets to comply with the new NSW Maritime

regulations.

Centre Co-ordinator Lynda Hourigan highlighted the value of

the donation of the lifejackets and the Centre‟s appreciation of

the continued support of NSW Maritime.

MOVIE PASS GIVEAWAY

Question: What acid is associated with muscles in the body experiencing lack of oxygen?

Have your answer in by Wednesday, Day 3, Week A, Term 3.

Place your answers in the box on the Receptionist Desk at the Front Office.

Last weeks winner was Jessica Newman Yr 8 with the answer “Damage to your Eye”.

So

me

are

pa

id a

dve

rtis

em

en

ts a

nd B

HS

acc

epts

no r

esp

on

sibili

ty f

or

the

se o

rga

nis

atio

ns

an

d t

heir

act

iviti

es.

School Holiday Circus Workshops

Monday 4 July – Saturday 16 July

Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri & Sat 9.30am–4.30pm, Full day $70. Half day $40. Add flying Trapeze $40

3 & 5 half day/full day SPECIALS Suitable for 5-15 years

Term 3 classes from Mon 18 July 2011 www.circusarts.com.au

BYRON ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE 17 Centennial Crt. Arts & Industry Pk, Byron Bay

6685 6566 Bookings Essential

WIN your Makeup

Professionally done! ‘like’ on Facebook to enter

& receive 5% off

♥ Makeup for any occasion ♥ Makeup Party

♥ Makeovers ♥ Private Makeup Lessons

www.ladybella.com.au0421 718 595

NAIDOC WEEK BEGINS A Flag Raising ceremony was held on Monday 27 June here at school to mark the beginning of NAIDOC week.

The Aboriginal boy‟s group dancers entertained those present and Mr Ussher encouraged all students to be involved

with the celebrations which will be held during the week. On Wednesday 29 June a formal assembly was held.

A big thank you to Aunty Carol Roberts, Dave Kapeen, Kylie Coldwell, Tammy Kapeen and Tania Marlowe.

A BBQ for the whole school, parents and community followed the assembly. A huge thank you to

BHS P&C Committee for donating $1000 to our very special celebrations.

Darby Barker, who has been relieving

since the beginning of 2011, has recently

been appointed permanently to this

position. His main role is to support

indigenous students, to co-ordinate and

promote indigenous programs, and to be a

liaison person between the school and the indigenous community.

Darby is also keen to work with all students at the school.

Congratulations on your appointment, Darby, and welcome to

Ballina High School. We are proud to have you on our staff.

Mr Errol Ussher

ABORIGINAL EDUCATION

OFFICER (AEO)

Rebecca is a former student of Ballina

High School. We like to keep in touch

with former students and their

achievements. Rebecca‟s latest

achievement was the “Chancellors

Excellence Award in Science, Rural

Science or Resource Management”. She received a certificate

plus $200. Her grade average is 6.75/7.00. 6 H.D and 2 D.

Rebecca is currently in China as she won a “High Achieving

Collegiate Scholarship”. This Scholarship is an International

Scholarship for a very select group of students.

Well Done Rebecca. Mr John Douglas

REBECCA BUCKLAND’S

LATEST ACHIEVEMENT

All of our Volunteers were invited to a Morning Tea held on

Wednesday 29 June at 9.30 am in the TAS area as a get

together and “thank you” to them for their valuable help

throughout this term. Kim Hernage CLO

OUR VOLUNTEERS TERM MORNING TEA A big thank you to students Michael Cremin and Jackson Carr

who worked over 2 days helping Mr Hollingsworth to revamp

the garden in E Block.

It looks great and your work is very much appreciated by all.

Kim Hernage CLO

GARDEN THANK YOU!

Year 10 students are to be commended for

the positive and enthusiastic manner in

which they undertook their work experi-

ence last week. Students have received

most favourable evaluations from their

host employers. Congratulations for being

excellent ambassadors for our school.

Below is a personal reflection of Nada Van Kempen‟s work

experience

“From June 20-24 all year 10 students attended a workplace for

5 days, through the school‟s Work Experience Program.

I worked at Rhythms magazine for the week, and it was one of

the best experiences I‟ve ever had. It‟s Australia‟s Premier

Blues and Roots magazine, which is based in Brunswick,

printed in Sydney and distributed nationally. Having written for

them prior to the school program, it was easy for me to contact

them and organise the placement. It was deadline on the

Wednesday, which meant everything was being finished and

perfected at the office. My jobs included proofing and editing;

entering subscribers into the database; contacting lapsed sub-

scribers; writing reviews; checking ads; and of course listening

to hours of good music. Once deadline passed I sorted plenty of

music, and learnt the interview and feature writing process.

After an interesting and well-spent week at Rhythms, I remem-

bered why I love music and journalism so much.

Nada Van Kempen, Year 10 Student

YR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE

Positive Behaviour for Learning

is coming to Ballina High School Positive Behaviour for Learning is a whole-school framework

that addresses social behaviour. It is designed to improve the

school‟s learning environments.

A school-wide team to drive this initiative has been formed

which includes: teaching staff, non-teaching staff including

Indigenous personnel and front office staff, and a parent rep-

resentative.

The framework for addressing behaviour will be constructed

around four values which have been decided on following a

parental mail survey, a student electronic survey, input from

members of the Indigenous community and that of staff. The

four core values that were most widely identified across these

groups were:

Respect Safety

Learning Honesty

By way of encouragement for members of our school com-

munity to participate in the mail survey, those with names

were entered in a draw for a $50 gift voucher from the Cherry

St Butchery. The winner is Mrs Angie Bailey.

Mr Phil Steer, Principal

Next P&C Meeting Monday 18 July 2011 – 7.00pm

Every parent is warmly invited to attend

Note Taking should be much more than purely writing.

To build students’ resourcefulness as a habit, we should

encourage them to gather information by hearing, seeing

and feeling and recording it using their dominant Multiple

Intelligence and Learning Style. Drawing idea maps,

making lists, creating flowcharts, using abbreviations

are all effective methods of taking notes.

www.learningcurveplanner.com.au

STUDENT DIARIES

to be used Daily

Not done yet

Date Event Contact

01 Jul LAST DAY OF TERM (Friday) Mr Steer

18 Jul STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY (Monday) Term 3 Mr Steer

19 Jul STUDENTS RETURN TO SCHOOL (Tuesday) Mr Steer

20 Jul Yr 12 Marine Studies Exc, Ballina Mr Brown

Yr 11&12 Visual Arts Exc, Goma Ms Taylor

21 Jul Yr 10 Geography Fieldwork Exc, Ballina/Lennox Ms Hambly

26 Jul Yr 11&12 Tertiary Info Day, SCU Lismore Mr Crane

Yr 10 Geography Fieldwork, Ballina/Lennox Ms Hambly

1 Aug Yr 10 Careers/Subject Interviews Mr Crane

2 Aug State SRC Conference, finish 5 Aug

Dates for your Diary

Ben played in the CHS

Championship Lawn Bowls in

Warilla on 5-7 June. He played

pairs and singles. In the pairs he

lost the 1st game 9-12 but won

the second 21-10 and had a bye

in the third game just missing

out on going to next level. In

singles he missed out as he had

a hard draw.

BEN CHRISTENSEN-GIBSON COMPETED

IN THE CHS CHAMPIONSHIP LAWN There have been increasing incidents recently where parents have come to the school to collect their children without having notified the school in advance. This places an extra burden on the Office Staff and often results in delays which frustrate parents.

To avoid this we ask parents to observe the following protocol when collecting students from school.

Bring a note from home indicating Full Name, Year, Reason and Time to be picked up with date, parent/carer signature and parent/carer name printed.

Student presents note to Mrs Allen before school, (opposite M5 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) or Mr Buchanan (PE staff room on Wednesday) and a pass will be issued.

If your child is sick or injured, the school will ring you to come and collect your child.

Do not react if contacted directly by your child. If your

child is sick or if there is an emergency the school will contact you.

Following these procedures will make student collection from school a lot more orderly, and a lot less frustrating for everyone.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Mr Errol Ussher, Deputy Principal

Collection of Students During School Day

This valuable evening was held on Thurs 16th June at Ballina

RSL. Many parents took advantage of the many organisations

that were represented who gave free expert advice from a range

of professionals about options for student‟s futures

Thank you to all organisers and this partnership of Ballina

High P&C, Xavier Parent Assembly, Centrelink Dept of Edu-

cation and Training , Connect, Nortec and Novaskill.

One parent commented that the event opened her eyes to the

many and varied opportunities available in our local area and

made her feel more able to support her child with these impor-

tant decisions for their future. Kim Hernage CLO

PARENT INFORMATION EVENING

CONNECT TO YOUR CHILD’S FUTURE

Over the next few weeks students will see their student portal change with a new look, enhanced features and a new URL. Four new student portals have been developed to

support the different needs of students: Kindergarten to Year 2, Years 3-6, Years 7-12 and TAFE.

On 14 June 2011 Year 9 students will receive their new student portal. Year 9 will be followed by Year 10, Years 7 and 8. Years 11 and 12 will follow early in term 3.

From 14 June 2011 all school students will access their student portal, from home and at school, from a new URL:

http://student.det.nsw.edu.au, whether or not they have

access to the new student portal.

Students will be able to search, access and organise information for school tasks via their student portal on computers used at home or at school, at any time. The new student portal will have timetable and calendar portlets for students to add their own details. Students will also be able to make their portal look the way they want by changing the colour scheme and rearranging, opening or closing portlets.

Mr Richie Miles

NEW STUDENT PORTAL

http://student.det.nsw.edu.au

Trek Quest Outback 4x4 Jurassic Adventure, Walk with the Dinosaurs— Lismore to Graman via Condamine, Charleville, Muttaburra, Winton, Jundah, Adavale and Bollon. 24 September to 1 October, 2011. Fees $200 Deposit paid with entry plus $1000 paid by 17/9/11. Call Peter on (02) 6663 1442 or A/H 6663 1538, 0418 666 937, Fax: (02) 6663 1528. www.trekquest.org.au. Pathways to Manhood — For boys aged 13-15 and their fathers (or a male mentor). Pathways to Manhood is a contemporary, community based Rite of Passage for boys aged 13-15 and takes the form of a six-day bush camp. A Rite of Passage is an event that facilitates the fundamental shift from boy psychology into healthy man psychology. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional. The Pathways Foundation is a non-profit organisation with over 15 years experience offering camps that are dedicated to assisting young people make the important emotional shift from being a child to young adult. Our programs aim to develop healthy individual and family relationships. For more info visit; www.pathwaysfoundation.org.au. Date: 18-23 July, 2011, near Mullumbimby, for bookings call 1300 850 766 or for more information contact Anthony Brown on 0416 130 399. Bonfire Night — Rous Public School P&C Association is having a Bonfire Night on August 6, from 5.00-8.30pm. Admission $2 each or $7 for a family. Entertainment: Fireworks, Merry Go-Round, Jumping Castle, Ferris Wheel, Chocolate Wheel, Live Performances, Ducks, Clowns, Laser Skirmish, Slot Car Racing, Show Bags/Kids Stall, Plant Stall. Food: Cafe De Rous, Krispy Kreme Donuts, Popcorn, Fairy Floss, Donuts, BBQ, Hot Potatoes, Hot Dogs, Spit Roast, Vegie Burgers, Hot Chips. Follow the signs from Alstonville along Wardell Road, turn right at Rous Road. The school is approximately 3km along Rous Road. Parking available in the school grounds and surrounds. BBELS Winter Cultural Exchange — Byron Bay English Language School (BBELS) is seeking local families to host our young International students for 1-4 weeks in July/August. This is a fun opportunity for the whole family to live and learn another culture and share our way of life. Suitable families will be asked to provide food, accommodation (own room) and a safe home environment for our students who will range in age from 15-18 years. You will be paid a weekly rate which you may donate to the school for future cross cultural programs, or use to cover costs. For more information, please contact Kerry on homestay@bbels.com.au or phone 6680 8253. Want to get back into work or study but not sure where to start? — Wollongbar TAFE’s free Flexible Learning Course is a great stepping stone to your goals. Choose the subjects that suit you for getting back to work or preparing for a study area. With Job Seeking and Study Skills, and 2x2 hour computer sessions each week, you’ll get the edge. The course

includes the option of work experience. Supportive and friendly, within school hours, Tues, Wed & Thurs week. Opt in for Semester 2, 2011. Phone Lee-Anne at Wollongbar Campus on 6620 4768. Hip Hop Workshop — Learn all the skills to Hip Hop and rap. Get coaching Lyric writing, production, recording and mastering of songs with MC Dingo. Get it recorded onto CD! Always very popular. Duration: 8xWednesday afternoons in Term 3. Using the Wardell Community Centre. Completely free, permission slip is required, ages 12+. Starts July 27, 3.30pm-6.00pm. Contact Matthew Tanttari to sign up. Call 6681 5511 or Email matthew.tanttari@bdcsa.org Grass Hockey Holiday Workshop — Learn to play grass hockey with FREE coaching, games, LUNCH & a lot of fun these school holidays over 2 days! 9.30am-1.00pm July 7 & 8. Contact Matthew Tanttari to sign up. Call 6681 5511 or email matthew.tanttari@bdcsa.org School Holiday Workshops for Kids — Dress to make a mess and celebrate NAIDOC in these fun hands-on art-making workshops with Aboriginal artist Emma Walke. For kids 3-5 years: Decorate your own ceramic breakfast bowl using brushes and under glazes and experiment with other fun tools and techniques. Create your own unique spoon rest by rolling, cutting and impressing clay! Thur 7 Jul 9.30-10.30am or Sat 9 July 9.30-10.30am. Cost $15/child. For kids 6-14 years: Decorate your own ceramic breakfast bowl and cup using under glazes, sgraffito and burnishing. Try resist glazing techniques using was, paper or latex. Thur 7 July 12noon-2pm or Sat 9 July 12noon-2pm. Cost $20/child. Important information: Bookings & payments 6681 6167 (Mon-Fri) or visit (Wed-Fri 10am-4pm). Parents/carers must stay for the duration of the workshop. Littlies may need assistance from parents/carers. Items will be fired off -site and will be ready for collection, at the Gallery, from Friday 22 July. For siblings that span the age categories — speak with Gallery staff when making your booking so siblings may attend together. Northern Rivers Community Gallery, 44 Cherry Street Ballina, 6681 6167. Ballina Shire Libraries — July Children’s Book Sale. 100’s of books on sale @ 50¢. Also: Videos, Magazines, Readers digest (condensed books) DVD cases, Music CDs, Cassette tapes, Records. Saturday 2 July, 2011, 9am-12noon. In the Richmond Room (Behind Ballina Library) 6-8 River Street, Ballina. Enquiries Ballina Library 6686 2831. 34rd Annual Muriel Findlay Young Artist Award — Part of St. Andrews Nursing Home Fete Saturday, 27 August, 2011, 8.30-12noon. Presentation at 12 noon. All entries should be submitted to St. Andrews Ballina, 59 Bentinck Street, by 3pm Friday, 21st August 2011. Please include Name, Age and School. 1st Prize Judged: $100 plus 5x$20 popular choice. Contact Helen, Leisure & Lifestyle or Fiona, Care Service Administration Phone 6620 5800.

Head Lice Alert Please inspect your child’s hair for nits/lice. If you find any eggs or lice

please commence treatment as recommended. Information is available at www.health.nsw.gov.au/studentsupport/

studenthealth/conditions/headlice/index.php or www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/environment/

headlice/treatment.asp.

NSW PUBLIC SCHOOLS ONLINE MAGAZINE

“SCHOOL PARENTS” Helping Mums and Dads with school life Accessible through

www.schools.nsw.edu.au/ezine

The Spine Society of Australia is offering a Scoliosis Self

Detection Brochure. The brochure can be accessed directly

via www.scoliosis/self_detection_prog.html or by typing

„Scoliosis Australia Self Detection Program‟ into a search

engine.

Spine Society of Australia

Scoliosis Detection