Welcome Back - Middle School

We are excited to be welcoming our new Year 7 and Year 8 classes to Gladstone High School this week! They are having a unique start to their High School education but seem to be quite excited to have the school mostly to themselves to explore before the older students return to site on February 14.

My experience with Online Learning with our current Year 9s was very positive. While this is a challenging way to start the year, I’m sure they will make the most of it! On their first day back on site students will be assigned their lockers and given time to set these up.

You will soon start to receive communication from your child’s Home Group and Class Teachers, including their contact details and overviews of their Learning and Assessment Plans.

Homework and Diaries

Some subjects will have a structured homework schedule (ie a homework book or contract) while others will have homework set as required. This will be communicated with you and, where possible, also uploaded to the Homework module on Sentral.

We will support new students to use their school diaries to record and manage this. We ask that you support them at home by asking to see their diaries and signing them weekly. Parents and care givers can also use the diaries for communication with teachers.

Camps

At this stage, our Year 7 and Year 8 Aquatics Camps are going ahead as planned. This camp involves no contact with people outside of our school as the campsite is reserved just for us. There will be 3-4 Aquatics Instructors who are employed by the Department for Education running the activities on the water.

Assuming that no further restrictions are in place after the current directions, the camp dates are:

Year 8 – Tuesday 1st March – Thursday 3rd March

Year 7 – Wednesday 23rd March – Friday 25th March

Our Year 9 classes have traditionally participated in the Ski Trip. This has been affected by Covid-19 restrictions for the past three years. Further information about this will be shared when we have it.

Contacts:

If you have any questions or concerns, please never hesitate to get in touch with us. Generally, a phone call to the front office will allow our admin team to direct you to the right person!

If you would like to discuss your child’s learning in a particular subject, the individual teacher is your starting point.

Home Group teachers will support you and your child with questions about organisation, diaries, settling in to their class, etc.

If needed, these teachers may meet with members of the leadership team. If you have broader questions or concerns, my role as the Middle School Coordinator is to support students, families and teachers.

We hope all Middle School Students have a positive start to the year, whether they are at school or learning online.

Kate Seidel - Middle School Coordinator