Noosa District State High School eNewsletter

Principal Update End of Term 2 2022

Dear Parents and Families,

On behalf all of our staff, I wanted to thank you for your support and contribution to empowering student learning and success over the first half of 2022. We have so much to be proud of at Noosa High and I want to acknowledge the wonderful achievements of our students that continue to shine both in side the classroom and out. Once again our students have stood out on the sporting field, impressed far and wide in a range of extra-curricular activities including cattle team, readers cup, robotics and chess to name a few and given their best, not matter the challenge - no matter what.

This week, our Year 10 students have immersed themselves in the world of work supported in partnership by our wonderful community who have hosted them in their businesses and work places. This is an important milestone for students in their pathways planning, education journey and life experience; and we look forward to hearing their stories and celebrating with them. Every student has done themselves, their families and our school proud.

Today, all Year 7-10 families will receive their Semester 1 Report Cards and it has been wonderful to reflect on the success of students and their active learning. Our results continue to reflect hard work, dedication and a commitment to success and are summarised below:

Academic:

84% C and above
62% A and B results

Behaviour:

94% C and above
76% A and B results

Effort:

70% C and above
66% A and B results

Parent teacher interviews are scheduled for next term, please take the opportunity to discuss your students learning journey.

Looking ahead to next Semester, I can share that I will remain as Acting Principal for at least the first half of the term and Michele Kirkland will continue as the Year 9 Deputy at Cooroy Campus for that time.

I cannot thank you all enough for your support and for the positive contribution you have all made to empower our school to be the best it can be.

Please take the best of care over the holidays and stay safe and well.

We look forward to seeing you all on Monday 11^th July

Kind Regards

Stacy Wilmore

Principal

Principal update for the start of 2022

Dear parents and caregivers

Thank you for your ongoing support as we work together to respond to the evolving COVID-19 situation.

As announced by the Premier on Sunday 9 January, the start of the 2022 school year in Queensland will move from 24 January to 7 February to avoid opening schools during the predicted peak of the Omicron wave and allow more time for children to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations.

Our school will remain open for children of essential workers and vulnerable children during this period.

Essential workers are only those who absolutely must continue to attend their workplace during this time. The Department of Education has asked all parents to consider the Chief Health Officer’s advice and stay home with your children if you can.

If you need to send your child to school you must ensure your child is well and not displaying any signs of illness.

From Monday 31 January, Year 11 and 12 students will undertake remote learning for one week until the revised formal start of the school year on 7 February.

We are reducing the number of staff on our school site to minimise transmission and further protect the health and safety of our school community.

School staff will supervise any students who attend school. We will not be providing teaching activities during this time, nor are you expected to supervise remote learning for students who remain at home.

However, if you would like to support your child’s learning during this time you can access the Department of Education’s learning@home website. This site contains a range of student learning material and links to other high-quality education websites.

I realise these latest developments may create challenges for families; please be assured these decisions have been taken as a necessary response to the evolving COVID-19 situation.

The Department of Education will continue to keep all principals up-to-date with any further changes to schooling over the coming weeks and I will continue to provide parents with this information as it becomes available. Further information for parents has been developed including frequently asked questions.

I encourage you to stay informed of the latest developments relating to COVID-19 by regularly visiting the Queensland Government website.

Thank you for your understanding as we continue to work together during this difficult and unprecedented time.

Yours sincerely

Stacy Wilmore

Acting Principal

Reopening of school after lockdown - 08 August 2021

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Thank you for your support for our school community during the latest lockdown.

The work that we have done together over the past week, minimising movement, returning to remote learning, wearing masks, and getting tested has meant that the Chief Health Officer has lifted the lockdown in the 11 Local Government Areas.

This is great news and from Monday 9 August 2021 our school will welcome back all students and staff.

Whilst this is welcome news, we will need to implement additional restrictions to minimise transmission and further protect the health and safety of our school community. These additional restrictions will include wearing of masks on school sites for all adults and children in Year 7 upwards and limiting parents, carers and other visitors on school sites unless absolutely necessary.

I realise that having parents and carers on our school site is part of our school routine and this restriction will be challenging, especially for our youngest students. However, these restrictions are necessary so our students can return to their classrooms from Monday in the safest way possible.

Restrictions on having parents/carers and visitors on school sites have been in place in the past, particularly during last year and our school will be reinstating our previous arrangements to ensure students enter and leave schools safely.

If for any reason a parent or carer must be on school grounds, you are reminded that you must wear a mask at all times while visiting the school.

The Department of Education has also asked us to implement the following additional restrictions until otherwise advised:

assemblies and other large group activities including instrumental music groups, choirs, performances, extra curricula sporting activities, and dancing will not be permitted
interschool sport and excursions will not be permitted.

I realise the latest developments may create challenges for families, but please be assured these decisions have been taken as a necessary response to the evolving COVID-19 situation.

The Department of Education will continue to keep me and all principals up-to-date with any further required changes to school arrangements over the coming days and I will continue to provide parents with this information as soon as it becomes available. Further information for parents is available in the Department of Education’s frequently asked questions.

I encourage you to stay informed of the latest developments regarding COVID-19 by regularly visiting the Queensland Government’s COVID-19 website

Thank you for your understanding as we continue to work together during these difficult times.

Yours sincerely

Brett Burgess

Principal

Noosa District State High School

Noosa District SHS Message from the Principal - 6 August 2021

Noosa District State High School

6^th August, 2021

Parent/Caregiver Update - COVID-19

I trust that you are all safe and well. I am once again so very proud of all students, caregivers and school staff for how we have all adapted this past week to the current remote learning challenge.

At this stage the lockdown is planned to end on Sunday 8^th August at 4 pm. If this does occur, we will continue to enact the advice and directives provided by Queensland Health. I am not aware of these at present but will communicate how this looks for our community as soon as I am advised. This will most likely be on Sunday via email to parents and students and on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Based on our current knowledge our plan for Year 12 assessment continues to reflect advice from the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority which is carefully watching the Queensland Health situation and looking to ensure opportunity and equity for all Queensland Year 12s.

Assessment deadlines for assignments in General subjects which are due next week (Week 5) remain as scheduled. Teachers have been and remain available for contact and advice.

We were scheduled to have a mini Exam Block (Maths Methods, Economics, Specialist Maths and Drama) on Tuesday and Wednesday of Week 5. During this time students who were not up to date are also expected to attend for VET catch up. We will wait on advice from Qld Health for our return to face-to-face learning to alter to these dates slightly.

As per the email to parents on August 2, our continuity of student learning plan remains in place should the lockdown be extended and all students will continue to have lessons provided by our online platforms. Paper copies for students without internet access will also still be available for pick up at the appropriate campus (please call the school first to let them know you are coming).

Our priority is and will always be the safety and wellbeing of our students and our broader school community. Our teachers will continue to engage and check in with our students. Our Guidance Officers are in contact with our most vulnerable students, however, all students are encouraged to contact their teacher or year level coordinator directly if they have any wellbeing or other issues of concern.

I am sorry that I am unable to provide further details at present but I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone for their support and patience during this time. If required, please don’t hesitate to contact me or the school for assistance.

Regards,
Brett Burgess
Principal

COVID-19 Update – A special message from the Principal for Parents and Caregivers as at 02/08/2021

The Queensland Government has decided that, in order to slow the spread of COVID-19, state school students will move to a home-based learning model from 3 August 2021 until at least 8 August 2021.

All parents are asked to complete the online survey to notify the school of student attendance intentions and access to online platforms.

NDSHS Parent Remote Learning Survey

During this period, all students who are able to be supervised and learn from home are to stay home, except for vulnerable students and children of essential workers. Students who attend school will participate in the same home-based learning activities that have been set by their regular classroom teachers.

Assessment:

At this point all assessment due dates remain as per student assessment calendars and exam timetables that were emailed to all students on Tuesday July 27^th and can also be located on our school website https://noosadistrictshs.eq.edu.au/curriculum/subjects-and-programs/assessment-calendars. We will update students and parents should this change.

Transport to and from School

Transport arrangements, as an essential service, will continue to operate for vulnerable students and students of essential workers. All students and staff on site must wear a mask at all times. Social distancing and mask wearing guidelines will be followed on school buses, at bus interchange locations, and at other shared transport services.

Learning from Home

Teachers and school staff have been working hard to plan for home based learning and have developed learning programs that best suit the students at our school. Your child’s teacher will be in contact with students from Tuesday August 3 to let students know what to work on and where to access learning materials and instructions.

Additionally, parents and students may wish to explore the Department of Education’s range of learning at home resources online at the learning@home website.

To support parents and carers, some tips have been put together to make the transition to learning at home easier:

Treat the first day as a ‘starting school’ or orientation type of week. Not everything will go to plan, and it might take a while to work out how to find and use the right resources and understand what’s best for you and your child. The ‘how to’ will come first, and then the learning.
Remember that your child's teacher usually divides their attention between up to 28 students who all work at different paces and need different levels of support. Try using a range of other activities to keep children engaged and stimulated without becoming overwhelmed.
This situation presents an opportunity for students to find out more about themselves as learners and to become more confident in self-directing their learning. Encourage your child to take responsibility for not only learning but also for staying in touch with their teacher, their class and their friends and community.
If your child is finding a task difficult, make suggestions and answer questions, but try to let them figure things out for themselves as much as possible. Give them opportunities, where appropriate, to take control of their own learning.

Further information on supporting your child, maintaining healthy learning routines and setting up a learning space at home can be found at learning@home—Wellbeing of students page.

Teachers will make contact with the students in their classes from Tuesday August 3 and outlining the specifics of how they will continue to facilitate teaching and learning in their classes. The NDSHS Continuity of Student Learning plan is outlined below for your information.

At Noosa District SHS we have adopted a range of platforms for teachers and students to continue their work together in a more flexible/remote manner. It is important for both parents and students to understand that both teachers and students should only communicate using the approved NDSHS and Education Department platforms. Students should only contact their teachers using their official EQ school email address otherwise teachers will not respond.

What online and flexible delivery platform options are utilised by NDSHS?

https://noosadistrictshs.eq.edu.au/curriculum/subjects-and-programs/remote-learning

What online and flexible delivery platform options are utilised by NDSHS?

Moodle – Virtual Library:

https://ndshs.qld.edu.au/

Teachers may have created an online learning course for their subject and students are able access the majority of their learning via this online course.

Class Notebooks – individual or faculty based OneNote:

Teachers and Faculties may have created a Class Notebook for their subject and students are able to access the majority of their learning via OneDrive from home.

eMail:

Teachers may email information to the students directly for them to work on. Instructions regarding class activities, learning experiences, links to other resources would be provided for students to work through at home.

The Learning Place:

https://learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/items/6f953822-eb08-473b-9f36-f5637af98019/0/index.html

Staff may select appropriate course materials and point students in the right direction and ensure they can access.

Learning at Home website:

Learning Place units have also been made available in a parent version via learning@home website.

Hard Copies and Student Workbooks:

For students who are unable to engage in online platforms at their home NDSHS Staff will have hard copies of email communications and work for students to complete. Please complete the online survey (NDSHS Parent Remote Learning Survey) or contact school via phone to request work. We will contact parents to collect this work directly from the school when it is ready.

What does flexible/remote delivery of curriculum look like at NDSHS?

As a general guide both Teachers and Students should follow their normal school timetable for learning while off campus ie if Period 2 on Wednesday is Maths then work on that if Thursday Period 1 is Design then work on that subject. However, flexible and remote delivery of curriculum looks quite different to face to face instruction and therefore slight modifications to a weekly timetable is necessary. In order for teachers to continue to develop resources and learning courses and for students to have some flexibility for independent learning opportunity, NDSHS is expecting the following.

Subjects with 140 mins of Contact per week (2 x Lessons)
- First lesson of the week will be curriculum delivery - Green
- Second Lesson of the week will be independent student work – Pink

Subjects with 210-280mins of Contact per week (3-4 Lessons)
- First Lesson of the week will be curriculum delivery - Green
- Second Lesson of the week will be a Tutorial style lesson - Orange
- Third – Fourth Lessons of the week will be independent student work - Pink

Therefore, students will (in effect) have approximately half to two thirds of a weekly timetable working with teachers and the remainder on independent learning tasks. Below is a typical student timetable from the Pomona Campus (left and Cooroy Campus (right) and how this might look for a student in a week.

Lesson 1 – Curriculum Delivery

The use of eMail, Class Notebook Collaborative Spaces, Moodle etc may facilitate this initial contact with students where the teacher provides the outline of the week, instructions for the completion of activities and tasks. Teaching vignettes in the form of sound files or videos may be provided to students. The teacher would also be able to directly respond to any questions that students may have during this lesson time via email in within these learning platforms.

Lesson 2 – Tutorials

Available for students that require further clarification regarding Lesson 1. Some students may simply get on with the Independent Student Work that has been set by the teacher. The use of eMail, Class Notebook Collaborative Spaces, Moodle etc could facilitate this session for teachers and students where the teacher is able to answer direct questions from individuals, clarify expectations, provide further examples and feedback to the class or individuals on progress made so far.

Lesson 2 to 4 – Independent Student Work

Teachers may provide self-directed student learning during this period of time using both online and off-line means. Should students be working independently and have questions teachers, students would simply use eMail and the platform chosen for curriculum delivery to interact in the usual timeframes ie the next lesson or roughly 24 hours.

Student Engagement in Learning from Home

Teachers will keep records of those students that are engaging and interacting with the flexible/remote delivery of curriculum. This may be done in a number of ways –

Students might be submitting Drafts, Quizzes and other Assessment to the teacher
Students are asking questions and providing responses and feedback through the online curriculum platform
Students are visibly online (logging in) and interacting with the teacher during the scheduled times

Subject teachers will make contact with parents using eMail and make them aware that their students are not engaging with the learning materials.

Student Attendance

At this stage, all students will be recorded as learning from home, unless they are in attendance on site at school. If your child is sick, please contact the school to advise so that they are recorded as such. This arrangement may change and will be communicated as soon as we become aware.

Student Wellbeing

Our Year Level Teams and SWAT will be doing some check ins with students they support. Home Group Teachers will still play a very important role during flexible/remote learning as they will be the first port of call for parents and students regarding anything other than subject specific questions and concerns. Your student’s Home Group Teacher would then direct your concerns to the appropriate person within the SWAT, Year Level Team or Administration for follow up.

If students need a copy of their weekly timetable they simply follow the steps outlined below.

For Windows computers open your Internet Explorer browser; Apple computers open Safari
or
Enter the address “oslp.eq.edu.au” into the address bar and press enter
Enter your school username and password into the fields provided on the initial page
Select “Student Timetable – Weekly” from the drop-down menu (as below)
A new tab will open with your timetable

I will continue to update you as further information becomes available, and I thank you for your patience, understanding and support during these challenging times.

Regards,
Brett Burgess
Principal

THREE DAY LOCKDOWN UPDATE - 31/07/2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

As you would be aware, the Premier has announced the following local government areas will be entering a three-day lockdown, from 4pm Saturday 31 July 2021 until 4pm Tuesday 3 August 2021.

City of Brisbane
City of Gold Coast
City of Ipswich
Lockyer Valley Regional Council
Logan City
Moreton Bay Region
Noosa Shire Council
Redland City
Scenic Rim Regional Council
Somerset Regional Council
Sunshine Coast Regional Council.

Anyone who has been in these local government areas is expected to stay at home unless for an essential purpose. This includes people who have travelled to these areas from other locations. The Queensland Government website will be updated with further information on the lockdown, including all restrictions and maps of the affected areas. I encourage you to monitor these links as they will continue to be updated over the coming days.

Students of essential workers or vulnerable children can attend Noosa District State High School during the lockdown period, and arrangements will be made for those of our students learning from home to commence remote learning from Tuesday 3 August. You will receive more detailed communication about learning from home and processes for vulnerable children and children of essential workers attending onsite in the very near future. Should you wish to supplement Noosa District State High School’s learn from home arrangements, parents and carers can also make use of the learning@home website.

During this time all on-site sports and extracurricular activities will be postponed. Your child’s teacher will be your main point of contact during this home learning period and email is the ideal way to communicate with them. Staff email contacts are available on our website at https://noosadistrictshs.eq.edu.au/our-school/our-staff .

There is now a requirement that all staff at Noosa District State High School and students in secondary schools wear face masks. While this is a new requirement in school settings, all people over the age of 12 should already be wearing masks when out in the general population. Staff and students are required to bring their own masks as the school has very limited supplies. I thank our parents and carers for also wearing a mask should you need to enter the school grounds.

In the current climate, I would like to reassure our families that the health and wellbeing of Noosa District State High School students is paramount and as a result, our current priorities are to:

Minimise the risk of children and staff becoming unwell
Minimise levels of fear and anxiety within our school community and specifically for children.

Please be assured that the Department of Education is working closely with Queensland Health, and Principals are currently receiving daily information regarding a coordinated approach across South-East Queensland state schools. I am committed to sharing information with our school community promptly as it comes to hand around this rapidly changing situation.

I would like to sincerely thank our school community for again supporting a learning from home model and urge you to please stay COVID safe.

I wish all of our school community well.

Kind regards,
Brett Burgess
Principal

THREE DAY LOCKDOWN UPDATE - 31/07/2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

As you would be aware, the Premier has announced the following local government areas will be entering a three-day lockdown, from 4pm Saturday 31 July 2021 until 4pm Tuesday 3 August 2021.

City of Brisbane
City of Gold Coast
City of Ipswich
Lockyer Valley Regional Council
Logan City
Moreton Bay Region
Noosa Shire Council
Redland City
Scenic Rim Regional Council
Somerset Regional Council
Sunshine Coast Regional Council.

In the current climate, I would like to reassure our families that the health and wellbeing of Noosa District State High School students is paramount and as a result, our current priorities are to:

Minimise the risk of children and staff becoming unwell
Minimise levels of fear and anxiety within our school community and specifically for children.

I would like to sincerely thank our school community for again supporting a learning from home model and urge you to please stay COVID safe.

I wish all of our school community well.

Kind regards,
Brett Burgess
Principal

COMMUNICATION IN RELATION TO THE CURRENT COVID SITUATION

Dear parents and carers,

As you are likely aware there has been a positive COVID-19 case identified in the Caloundra area. A list of all the close contact sites are available on the Qld Government Health site – see below link. Should you or a member of your family have been to one of the identified sites at the nominated time they should follow the advice below.

immediately travel by private transport directly to your home or accommodation and quarantine
get tested at your earliest opportunity
complete the online contact tracing form by clicking on the name for the relevant location in the table below. A pop up window will appear with specific advice for that location and a link to the form.
If you are unable to complete the contact tracing form please call 134 COVID (134 268).

Please refer to the COVID contact tracing to keep abreast of additions to the list of identified sites.

COVID-19 Update 30 March 2021

Dear parents, caregivers

Thank you for your support of our school community over the last two days during the 3 day lock down in Greater Brisbane.

I am pleased to confirm following advice from Queensland Health, our school will be open to students from tomorrow Wednesday 31 March 2021 as all school staff are considered essential workers.

Please be assured that all staff will continue to take the necessary precautions to ensure the health safety and well-being of students, staff and the broader school community.

We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide you with further updates should the health information change.

Parents who have been in the Greater Brisbane area since March 20, are not permitted on school sites and should comply with Queensland Heath Directions in relation to Greater Brisbane Lockdowns.

Please regularly monitor the Queensland Health website for affected locations. If you or your family have been to any of the listed locations you should refer to the online self-assessment, get tested, isolate immediately and contact 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) if you have any questions.

I would also encourage you to continue to refer to general information as provided on the Queensland Health website and check the frequently asked questions. It is important that we all continue to focus on our own wellbeing and mental health and there are some great resources and information tools available on this website.

For assistance in languages other than English, please refer to the National Translating and Interpreting Service, and the Translated Australian COVID-19 information and resources.

Yours sincerely

Brett Burgess

Principal

COVID-19 Update 29 March 2021

Good Afternoon Parents/Caregivers

Today the Premier has announced that Greater Brisbane will go into lockdown for three days from 5pm today, Monday 29 March to 5pm Thursday 1 April, to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Those living in the local government areas of Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands and Logan will be required to stay at home except for the following reasons:

shopping for essentials, food and necessary supplies
medical or healthcare needs, including compassionate requirements
exercise with no more than one other person, unless all from the same household
providing care or assistance to an immediate family member
work, or volunteering, or study if it is not reasonably practicable to work or learn remotely
child custody arrangements
legal obligations
visit for end of life
attend funeral or wedding in line with restrictions
emergency situations, to escape harm
exemption from the Chief Health Officer.

As a parent/caregiver of a student of Noosa District State High School please note that anyone who was in Greater Brisbane on, or since Saturday 20 March, but has since left must follow the same lockdown rules as for Greater Brisbane.

As the Department releases further updates, this will be communicated to parents/caregivers via email and Facebook.

Best Regards

Brett Burgess

Principal