Nhill College Newsletter

Our School Values:

• Respect
• Honesty
• Teamwork
• Confidence
• Excellence
• Endeavour
  

The School Wide Positive Behaviour Support program is designed to bring together school communities to develop positive, safe and supportive learning cultures by helping to foster an environment that assists schools to improve social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for children.  As part of the SWPBS program, a rewards system has been developed to encourage students to always:

• Be Safe
• Be Respectful
• Be a Learner

The final day of our School Review was held today with all members of the external panel returning to Nhill College to help determine the goals and targets that will feature in our next strategic plan.  The panel made a point of congratulating the students, staff and parents involved in the review for their openness and willingness to provide constructive feedback throughout the process.  They were especially impressed with the articulate, considered and perceptive manner in which our students conveyed themselves in their interviews, which left the panel with an overwhelmingly positive impression of our school.  I would like to thank all students, staff and parents for their assistance in what has been a very thorough review process.   I would especially like to acknowledge and thank our School Council President, Mrs Michelle Marshall, who gave up almost 3 days of her own time to be involved in all aspects of the review.  I look forward to sharing the results of the review with our wider school community once the final report is made available.

The end of Term 3 is fast approaching, so it is now time to start preparing for the next round of Parent Teacher Interviews.  This term, primary interviews will occur on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th September.  Secondary interviews will occur on Monday 16th September.  Parents will be able to use Compass to book their interviews with staff, with the Compass booking portal opening on Monday morning.  It has been noticeable that the numbers of parents involved in these interviews has diminished in recent times, and we would like to encourage as many parents as possible to take advantage of this opportunity to engage in a discussion with staff about the progress of their children.  Any parents who experience difficulty with the booking process through Compass are also encouraged to seek assistance by contacting the school. 

Our school grounds took the next step in it's transformation from a school yard to a playground this week with the addition of some new items.  A table tennis table has been added to the undercover area for secondary students to use during recess and lunch times.  Primary students have also benefited from the recent arrival of a bench and some utensils in the Maths Garden sandpit, while some big games (scrabble, snakes & ladders, chess pieces) have been added to provide extra stimulation in the primary section kindly on loan from the Hindmarsh Shire Council.  Thanks to Mrs Magrath and Mrs Kerber for their assistance in providing these additional resources for our students.

Later this month works will begin to conduct a Fire Hydrant System Upgrade throughout the school.  As part of the upgrade, two water tanks and a diesel pump station will be installed along the Queen Street fence line to increase the capacity of the fire system.  Work is scheduled to commence very soon and it is hoped that the project will be completed by mid October.  Wormald - the contractors completing the project for the Meinhardt Group - will complete the works in sections so that students can be safely cordoned away from any works in progress.  It is anticipated that there will be no disruption to classes or student learning programs throughout the upgrade.  

See below some action shots of our female students enjoying some group activities at this wonderful event organised by Wimmera Regional Sports Assembly.  Well done to Miss Tink and Miss Foulds who accompanied the girls on this excursion.

Piano tuner Phil Cockerill will be visiting Nhill from Monday 2nd to Thursday 5th September.  Standard piano tuning is approximately $200, with pianolas and grand pianos costing around $220.  If there are going to be any repairs which will force the cost higher, Phil will let the client know before he starts work.  If you would like to make use of Phil’s skills, please contact Miss Catherine Bates at school by Friday 30th August.

Do we have a future George Soros, Richard Fish or Scott Farquhar about to emerge from a classroom at Nhill College? Certainly Miss Foulds and Mrs Cole, Year 10 Humanities teachers, hope so! The Year 10 classes are participating in the ASX Sharemarket Game for 2019, where they will learn about the operation of the sharemarket as well as financial concepts such as risk and reward.

Students receive a virtual $50,000 they can invest over a 10 week period, in 220 companies listed on the ASX. The prices students buy and sell at are the same prices as they would get in the live market so this is as close to real life share trading as you can get.

 As a result of playing the Game students will:

·         Develop their knowledge of the sharemarket

·         Learn how to research companies

·         Discover the importance of wise investment decisions

·         Gain a greater knowledge of economic and world events

·         Begin to learn more about investing (not just in shares) which is beneficial for their future.

Students have enthusiastically begun their sharemarket trading and we will keep you updated on their progress over the next ten weeks. 

Parent/Teacher interview bookings can be completed using Compass and will open from Monday, 26th August.

P-6 interviews are on Monday, 9th September and Tuesday, 10th September.

7-12 interviews are on Monday, 16th September.

If parents login to Compass using a computer, you can click on the Community (people) icon and select Conferences.  If you are logged in via the app, press the menu up the top left, select Conferences, and then follow the prompts.  In both cases, you should see a list of teachers, as well as their available times.

If you have difficulty making a booking, please contact the College for assistance.

Room H1                Mrs J. Kube               

Room H2                Mrs. R. Clark              

Room H3                Miss C. Foulds            

Room H4                Miss A. King

Room H5                Miss V. Bonnell   

Room H6                Miss C. Bates     

Room H8                Miss B. Schneider

Room H10              Mrs L. Coughlan

Room H11              Mr W. Pilgrim

Room H12              Miss K. Hamilton

Room H13              Mr F. Cunningham       

Room H15              Mrs C. Trenery   

Front Office            Mrs A. Toet

Front Office            Mr J. Shrive

Front Office            Mrs S. Hedt

Principal’s Office    Mr M. Zimmermann

A.P. Office               Mrs K. Magrath

Room W3           Miss L. McCartney

Room W1           Mrs K. Kerber

Room W7           Miss S. Smith

Room W8           Mr P. McDonald

Room W4           Miss O. Jones             

Room W5           Mrs T. Crouch

• Please be aware that Mrs Cole, Miss Roantree, Miss Tink, Mr Hedt & Mr Jokantas are unavailable.
• Miss McCartney is only available for F/1K & 1/2S Primary Maths interviews.

Regular attendance at school is extremely important to the social and academic development of all children.  It is a Department requirement that parents contact the school each day their child is absent.  Any unauthorised absences currently trigger an SMS via Compass at 9.45am each morning to notify parents that their child is not at school.  If a parent receives such an SMS, it is requested that they contact the school as soon as possible to provide a reason for their child’s absence.  This can be done by entering an explanation directly onto Compass via the app installed on your phone, or by calling the College on 53912111.  (Please note that the Skoolbag app is no longer being used by the school to communicate messages.)  In an effort to further reduce the rate of unauthorised absences being recorded at Nhill College, office staff will follow up with a phone call if a response to the SMS has not been received by 10.45am on the day of each absence.