GOOD LUCK, CLASS OF 2025! 

The Year 12s have hit the ground running, setting up their Common Room as both a study space during free lessons and a relaxation area during breaks. We wish them a productive and successful final year!

YEAR 12 HOME STUDY

Many students find they study more effectively at home. Year 12 students can arrange home study during study periods which occur outside of timetabled lessons. Letters have been sent home for approval for students who have requested home study—please sign and return them if you consent. Students must sign in and out at the Front Office when leaving or returning from home study. Once signed out from GHS, students are under their parents' care.

VET

Congratulations to our students undertaking VET courses in 2025:

• Patrick Cock – Certificate II in Automotive Servicing Technology, TAFE SA
• Dustin Greatorex – Certificate II in Construction Pathways, TAFE SA
• Jed Griffin – Certificate II in Construction Pathways, TAFE SA
• Blake Phillips – Certificate II in Automotive Servicing Technology, TAFE SA
• Haylee Magnay – Certificate II in Animal Care, TAFE SA
• George Rackham – Certificate III in Agriculture, RST

"Our Year 9 and 10 cohorts have an exciting array of events planned for this year, promising enriching experiences for all students.

The Year 9 students are eagerly anticipating their Ski Trip in Term 3, a highlight that promises adventure and learning in a unique environment. We appreciate your promptness in returning the expression of interest forms. For those students remaining at school, other exciting activities will be scheduled, ensuring everyone has an engaging experience.

Miss Pullan and Mrs Jeffries are the co-homegroup teachers for the Year 9s, and we are actively incorporating morning circles and class bonding activities into our morning homegroup. These initiatives have fostered a supportive and inclusive atmosphere, strengthening peer connections.

For the Year 10s, a Careers Trip camp is scheduled from Tuesday to Friday in Week 1 of Term 2. Planning is currently underway with many great workshops and tours planned to provide valuable career insights and real-world exposure. Following this, work experience will take place at the end of Term 2, offering students a chance to explore potential career paths. More details will be provided for work experience early in Term 2.

A gentle reminder for all students: please ensure you bring a hat for break times and PE, and water bottles are essential, especially in the heat. Additionally, diaries are crucial for organisation and communication and will be checked regularly by homegroup teachers to support student success.

Mr Bennett (10A) and Mr Hussell (10B) are the homegroup teachers for Year 10, where great classroom activities and morning circles are also occurring. These sessions are designed to enhance learning and foster a positive classroom environment. 

It has been a pleasure to see our students back at Gladstone High School, and I look forward to supporting the 9-10 cohort throughout the year. 

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Emma Jeffries 9-10 Coordinator

Year 10 Science

10A students did a strawberry DNA practical. They used soap, water, salt and alcohol to break up the DNA and allow it to be viewed by the naked eye. We got some excellent results and the students enjoyed themselves!

Welcome to a New School Year at Junior School!

We are thrilled to welcome students back after what we hope was a relaxing and enjoyable summer holiday. A special welcome to our new Year 7 students and a warm greeting to our new Year 8 students. Our Year 7 homegroup teachers are Mr. Kirk and Mr. Wren, and for Year 8, we have Miss Travers, Mrs. Pech, and Miss Philp.

Students will spend 20 minutes with their homegroup teacher each morning, starting the day with a Morning Circle based on our Berry Street Training. This is followed by activities focused on building Skills for Learning, Skills for Life, and Wellbeing throughout the week. Your child’s homegroup teacher is an excellent point of contact, and we encourage you to introduce yourself to them at your convenience.

Every student has been given a school diary to keep track of homework, important reminders, and communication between school and home. In addition to the diary, you can stay in touch with your child’s teachers via phone, email, or through the Sentral portal.

We’re excited to have 31 new Year 7 students who have quickly settled into high school life, forming new friendships and exploring a variety of subjects. A highlight for these students will be the Year 7 Aquatics Camps, taking place in Weeks 4 and 5 at the Port Augusta Aquatic Centre. We look forward to lots of fun and learning during camp!

Term 1 is always a busy time, with the Swimming Carnival behind us, and the Athletics Carnival just around the corner.

We look forward to a fantastic year ahead!

Helen Gaunt – Year 7/8 Coordinator

Gratitude

Our year 7s extended their gratitude on behalf of GHS to anyone helping fight the fires at Wirrabarra. They cooked up some delicious biscuits and wrote letters of appreciation to accompany them. Thanks to Mrs Pech for coordinating the bake-off!

Swimming Lessons

The Year 7 students have been actively preparing for the upcoming swimming carnival as part of their Health and Physical Education curriculum. As a cohort, we visited the Gladstone town pool, where students engaged in event practice, demonstrated essential pool safety skills, and fostered connections with peers from various feeder primary schools. This experience provided an excellent opportunity to apply our theoretical learning on sun safety and aquatic regulations in a practical setting, reinforcing the importance of safe and responsible participation in water-based activities.

Year 8A HASS

“How hard is it to turn a globe into a flat map?” Students in 8A HASS explored this challenge by attempting to peel their oranges and flatten the peel with the least distortion to the countries drawn on the surface. There some very different approaches, some successes and some not-so-successful attempts - but a delicious cold orange on a hot day was also a welcome treat! 

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of our families for the start of 2025. For our new families, it is great to have chatted with many of our new students and to see all of the Year 7s settling in to high school.  

As many of you are aware, our Wellbeing Team has some changes for this term. Ali Gulin, who has been working with us in admin, classroom support and wellbeing for the past four years, takes on a new and more focused role of Wellbeing, Pastoral Care and Youth Worker. Ali’s timetable is Monday and Thursday and also includes providing case-management support for our students who are engaged in the Tailored Learning Program.  

For our new families, my name is Kate Seidel and I am working in the Wellbeing Leader role for Term 1. I have been a leader and teacher at Gladstone High School for four years, having started on the same day as Ali! In this role, I will work with Ali to support individual students, oversee students involved in our MaqLit program and continuing to develop our range of wellbeing strategies and programs. 

In 2025, our school will continue to focus on the Berry Street Education Model, building on our Pastoral Care, Morning Circle and Ready to Learn Scales from 2024. We are working towards refining our Reflection Zone processes and developing Ready to Learn Plans with students, allowing them to have their own bank of individual strategies to help them focus.  

A number of programs to support our students will continue to run throughout the year: Re-negotiating Anger and Guilt Emotions (RAGE), Seasons for Growth and What’s the Buzz. If you have any questions or concerns or just want to check in about how your child is settling into the new school year, please don’t hesitate to contact us.  

Kate Seidel - Wellbeing Leader 

Welcome to the 2025 School year from the Governing Council. A special welcome to our new students and families. We hope your time here at Gladstone High is fun, filled with wonderful experiences and memories and challenging as you grow. 

In the not too distant future we will hold our Governing Council AGM and this will be an opportunity for parents to hear about what our Council does and to join us in helping Gladstone High continue to be a school we can be very proud of. We are always looking for new members and details about how you can nominate for School Council will be sent out soon. 

We know times are tough for many people in our community so having people who can bring ideas about fundraising for the school (without always asking parents) would be valued. We also have committees for Grounds, Agriculture, Canteen, Finance andthe Sports Centre which will need parent representatives. 

We are very much aware of financial stress on some parents at the moment. To that end I'd like to encourage you to talk to the school administration staff if you need assistance with fees. The Governing council has not raised our school fees for three years, and if you need to pay in installments or delay a payment, please talk to our understanding finance officer Sue Foulis. 

The Canteen serves a great range of tasty and healthy food and is a key part of our school. Due to financial pressures we are trialling closing the Canteen on Tuesdays, to give staff more time in the busier times of the week. The dedicated Canteen managers do a great job, but if you have time to make some biscuits or cakes to donate for sale, or donate ingredients, please ask which products would be most used. Also, if you have a couple of hours once a term, please consider volunteering to help the Canteen staff out.

Lastly, earlier this term a letter went out to all families regarding a proposal to close early a couple of times per term to allow staff to work with staff from other schools and develop better methods for assessment and student engagement. We will be discussing this at the next Council meeting in week 4, so if you have an opinion for or against this proposal please let me know so I can bring your views to Council. Governing Council represents the parents of the school so we need to hear your voice. 

Again, welcome to the 2025 School Year. If Council can help you in any way, please let me know

A reminder about the Schools Sun policy. 

Australian Electoral Commission Job Opportunities 

Job opportunities at the federal election

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is offering up to 100,000 paid temporary jobs for the upcoming federal election.

This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone looking to earn extra money while contributing to the community.

Here are some great reasons to consider working at the election:

• a variety of different roles are available from entry-level to senior positions in metro, regional and remote areas
• no experience is needed, you’ll receive paid training and on-the-job support
• while most jobs are on voting day, some roles are for several weeks before or after the election
• for most jobs, you need to be at least 18 years of age
• eligible people under 18 may be able to work before and after voting day, but they cannot work on voting day as you must be 18 or older to work with ballot papers.

The AEC is committed to delivering elections with integrity and impartiality, so it's important to remain politically neutral.

People from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply, including:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• people with disability
• those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

To register and find out more, visit aec.gov.au/electionjobs.