BURRA COMMUNITY SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Principal: Susan Hart-Lamont

7 Bridge Terrace, BURRA 5417

Phone 8892 2007 Fax 8892 2047

www.burracs.sa.edu.au Email: dl.1432_info@schools.sa.edu.au

‘Quality Teaching - Quality Schooling’

TERM 3 NO. 12 DATE: 31 August 2017

DIARY DATES September 1 Start of Royal Adelaide Show 2-3 Exeat weekend 4 STUDENT FREE DAY 7 SCHOOL CLOSURE 15 Primary Assembly (R-6)

9.00am in the Drama Room 19 SACE Information Evening 21 Storytime in Library 9.30am 26 Knitting Workshop in Library 10.30 - 11.30am 25-28 Year 10 Rural Reconnect

Camp in Adelaide 29 End of Term 3 October 14 Term 4 commences November 6-16 Year 12 Exams 17 School Formal for Years 7-12

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

The other day, I read a great little article about ‘determination and making good choices’. When I re-read it, I thought “This is a good one for ‘having a growth mindset’! See what you think… “I hopped in a taxi. The driver and I started chatting, as you do. She asked what I do for work. I told her that I’m a writer. Her eyes lit up. “That’s so cool! My son wants to be an author.” “Oh yeah? What does he like to write about?” I asked. She explained that her son is 12 years old. He has declared that he will finish his first novel by his 13th birthday. It’s a story about twin siblings - a brother and a sister - with supernatural powers. He works on it every single day. Any chance he gets.

Respect

Honesty

Responsibility

Attendance Weeks 4 & 5

90.8%

TERM DATES 2018

Term 1 29/1/18 - 13/4/18 Term 2 30/4/18 - 6/7/18 Term 3 23/7/18 - 28/9/18 Term 4 15/10/18 - 14/12/18

Recently, he got in trouble during science class because he was writing story ideas in his notebook instead of paying attention to the teacher.

Another time, a relative scolded him and said, “Kids don’t write books.” (Can you imagine?) But none of that has stopped him.

“We don’t have a computer at home,” his mum explained. “It broke a long time ago.” Totally dead. Won’t even turn on. Sizzled black screen. She’s saving money to buy a new one. But it hasn’t happened yet.

But for her son? That’s no problem. He goes to the school computer pod during lunch - and then again after school - and that’s when he types out his novel. Every day, he pushes himself to finish his homework as quickly as possible so that he can work on his novel. He’s been doing this for months.

We arrived at my apartment. I scribbled my contact info and a publishing resource on a scrap of paper and handed it to her. I said goodbye and told her, “You’re an amazing mum, and you’ve got an amazing son.”

I’ve been thinking about this kid ever since.

No computer? No problem. Unsupportive people around him? Not an issue. Tonne of homework? No sweat. Already finished. This kid is unstoppable. I predict he’ll have a trilogy of books - and a movie deal - by the time he graduates from high school.

May we all pursue our dreams with the relentless, undaunted passion of this 12-year-old kid.

If we applied even one-quarter of his determination to our work, we’d all create miracles.

“Oh but my Internet connection is really slow.” “So-and-so hasn’t gotten back to me yet.” “My teacher is on vacation.” “My parents won’t let me.”

When those voices arise, when you feel like stalling, when the work feels too hard and overwhelming … remember that somewhere in Oregon there’s a 12-year-old boy working his butt off at the junior high school computer lab. He’s figuring out how to move forward with his goals in spite of every obstacle.

You can make excuses or you can make yourself proud.

You can make excuses or you can make progress.

You can make excuses or you can make art.

Every day, it’s your choice !!

Yours in Learning,

Susan

FROM THE DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

YEAR 12 STUDENTS With only 4 weeks left of Term 3 and two weeks of “formal lessons” for many subjects in Term 4, the final external examinations are fast approaching! Most of our Year 12 cohort have at least one or two exams; two students have three! Most teachers negotiate a revision session time in the October holidays, however it is not always easy or possible to find a time that suits everyone given individual student and staff commitments. Various companies offer revision courses that run from 1 to 5 days. I have included some website addresses below, however the list is not exhaustive. The school has not received any promotional material to date so the following links were found by performing a Google search. SOUTH AUSTRALIA SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION Science Examination exam preparation http://www.sasta.asn.au/student_activities/exam_prep_seminars

DATES TO REMEMBER

STUDENT FREE DAY Monday 4th September

SCHOOL CLOSURE Thursday 7th September

ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY Stage 2 Revision Courses https://www.adelaide.edu.au/pce/year-12-holiday-tuition-revision/ ADELAIDE TUITION CENTRE Holiday Seminars for Year 12 subjects https://adelaidetuition.com.au/holiday-seminars/ ACHPER – The Australian Council for Health Physical Education and Recreation HPE resources including revision day - 3 October 2017 http://www.achpersa.com.au/wb/pages/resources/year-12-pe-resources.php All students are currently working on, or have recently completed, investigations for their subjects that do not have an external examination. These include Visual Art Studies, Workplace Practices, Digital Photography, Agriculture, Community Studies, Research Project, English and Food and Hospitality. These are sent to the SACE Board for independent marking and count for 30% of a subject’s grade (equivalent to examination weighting). Students must be mindful of due dates for their investigations – these will vary between subjects, however final submission of results and the collection of investigations is non-negotiable (dictated by the SACE Board). Applications through SATAC for tertiary course admission in 2018, is another priority for Year 12 students. Online applications opened on Monday 7 August and for most undergraduate courses, the closing date is 29 September for “equal consideration”. Visit the following link for all key dates:

http://www.satac.edu.au/undergraduate-clarify-2018-key-dates UniSA has produced a video which details the application process. For students and families who wish to view this, the link is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aemb_q3bz6I Once students have made an application and paid the registration fee of $35, they have until 3 January to change and add to their preferences (for most courses). A late fee of $130.00 applies if you miss the 29th September closing date! It is free to apply for TAFE courses – applications open 19 September and close 30 November for equal consideration for competitive course preferences.

SACE EVENING AND SENIOR CURRICULUM BOOK This week, all Year 10 and 11 students will receive their own copy of the 2018 Burra Community School Senior School Curriculum Booklet and a personalised subject selection sheet. This sheet provides an overview of student progress and includes recommendations for study (subject selections) in 2018. On Tuesday 19 September Term 3, (Week 9) we will be holding our annual SACE Information Evening. After a brief presentation about SACE, parents and students will be able to discuss subject options with individual teachers. Year 10 and 11 students and their parents/caregivers are encouraged to attend.

KIM SCOTT, DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

CANTEEN ROSTER September 4 STUDENT FREE DAY 5 Jayde Thamm 6 7 SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY 8 Rebecca Clark-Dollman 11 Laura Wedding 12 13 14 Jess Tiver 15 Andrea Higgs & Trish Parsons

PRIMARY [R-6] ASSEMBLIES 9.00am Drama Room

Term 3 Friday 15th September

Term 4 Thursday 9th November

SAPSASA Congratulations to all of the students who were selected to compete in the Mid North SAPSASA Carnival on Monday 28th August. All students were excellent representatives of our school with many winning their events. Overall we were very successful taking out second position in the Championship points. Congratulations!

COME AND TRY BASKETBALL FOR NEW PLAYERS

Aged 8-14 years inclusive of 1st February 2017

Burra School Gymnasium September 12th and 19th at 4.15pm

If you have played in Burra before, please

put $20 in an envelope with: a) name b) date of birth c) phone number d) same team as siblings e) any requests f) willing to umpire or coach (we pay student umpires) and place in box in the school’s front office before the AGM. Any adults wiling to umpire or coach please contact Mel Cooper 8892 2706 or 0427 806 263

AGM

Tuesday 19th September

5.30pm

School Gymnasium

BURRA PLAYGROUP

FRIDAY 9:30am–11:30am

BURRA SUPPORTED PLAYGROUP TUESDAY 9:30am-11am

HALLETT/MT BRYAN PLAYCENTRE

Wednesday 9:30am-11:30am Please call or email Sarah or Sandy

for more information or just pop along for

some fun with your children.

Ph. 88922373

dl.6661.leaders@schools.sa.edu.au

Monday 18th - Friday 22 September Parents in Education week promotes and highlights the importance of parents being

engaged in their child’s learning and education from birth through school. This is a joint initiative across government, independent and Catholic

preschool and school sectors For a full program of events please go to:

https://www.decd.sa.gov.au/pieweek

Year 5/ 6 Illawonga Camp

On Wednesday 23 rd August, the Year 5 / 6

students boarded a bus and took a 2 hour trip to

Illawonga Camp, just outside of Swan Reach.

We participated in many activities throughout the

camp and had an absolute blast. Misty, the

camp dog, was very clever and kept us

entertained.

One of the

activities

was caving.

We went

250m into

a dark cave

and got to

search for

fossils which we got to keep. Many of us chose

to go the “challenging” ways back out the cave,

which involved crawling on our tummies.

Another activity we

loved was archery.

There was a

competition to see

which group could

shoot the most

amount of points.

Montana,

Jarad and Flick even

managed to get a

bullseye!

The Sheep show was another a highlight of the

camp. The man showed us many different types

of sheep, but they all came out painted in funny

colours with crazy haircuts! We also participated

in a sheep auction and sheep race and got to

crack a whip.

The Gym/ Foam- Pit was a huge hit. We got to

do lots of gymnastics activities, and play

Gladiator as well as Hide and Seek under all the

foam.

There were many other activities including the

Swan Reach Museum, a tour around the

Almond Grove and Murray Aquaculture yabbies,

tepee building, safari trailer ride, camp fire, boat

ride and karaoke.

The camp really challenged us to step outside

our comfort zones and challenge ourselves by

doing things we have never done before. When

we arrived back at camp on Friday afternoon, all

the students ( and the teachers) were very tired

and worn out. Thanks to Mr Redden who joined

us on camp, you were fun to hang out with!

And thanks to the Illawonga Camp staff for

having us, we’ll be back!

SHOW TEAM PARADE Tuesday 29th August