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- From the Principal
- Steampunk sculptures from the Art Room
- Year 9 & 10 Cadet Camp
- P&C Hot Cross Bun Fundraiser
- Swimming Carnival 2020
- NAPLAN 2020
- GRIP Leadership Day
- Corona Virus information
- UWA Visits Bridgetown High School Students
- OLNA Update
- Connecting Education
- 2020 Year 7 Orientation Days
- Be Kind
- Blackwood Environment Society
Hello Everyone,
We are already more than half way through Term 1 2020 and the time is flying by with many good things happening at the school.
Many thanks to those parents who took the time to attend the “Meet and Greet” on the 26th February. It was lovely to meet so many of you. I would also like to thank and welcome Janine Pierre, Awhina Rose, Caroline Morling and Cath Szathmary as new P & C members to join the stalwarts already on the committee – Kylie Tizard, Mel Waters, Kellie Grigg and Peta McGhie. Acknowledgement should also be given to Wendy Maddams for her wonderful work as retiring Treasurer of the P & C. This week is a busy one for the committee as they have planned, prepped and are ready to provide student lunches at the Swimming Carnival on Friday and then have a fund raiser organised to cater at the Bridgetown Trots on Sunday. If anyone has any time to spare, I know that the Committee would be very happy to have you on board to help.
This Friday sees us enjoying the annual inter faction Swimming Carnival. The emphasis on the day is having fun and competing and so we look forward to seeing all student attend and giving their best effort on the day. Parents and community members are most welcome to attend and support our students at the pool.
I would like to commend the students for the maturity they have shown when accepting the new mobile phone policy of “Off and Away” during the school day. We have seen very few infringements of the policy which is a credit to the student body.
I am in the process of calling for expressions of interest for those local businesses who may be interested in providing a lunch service for students one day per week. P & C have provided this service in the past, but are no longer able to do so but it would be wonderful if students could have the option of “shop” lunch once a week, especially the option of having a hot lunch/snack in the cooler weather. More news to follow!
Speaking of cooler weather, I am also hoping to install some heating in the Student Common Room before winter. I see this as something that is really needed for the comfort of our students and so again, more news to follow on this one.
Having made the difficult decision to cancel the Japan Study Tour, I would like to thank parents for their support and understanding. I do not like having to disappoint students/parents, or make decisions that have the potential to cause families to be out of pocket, but overall, the health of our students, staff, parents and the wider community must come first. I would also like to acknowledge the work both towards the camp and also in working with parents following the cancellation of camp, by John Tonai Moore – thank you John.
Until next time,
Warm Regards
Mrs Thorsby
Steampunk sculptures from the Art Room
Year 8 Recycled steampunk sculptures. These are all works in progress. They will end up painted and rubbed back with silver and gold.
Shout out to local businesses who let me take some of their scraps, Bridgetown computers, HC Jones & Co and The Right Stuff.
Mel Jones - Art Teacher
The first cadet camp of the year is always fun. After everyone has settled into their new classes and the first round of assessments have been completed in most classes everyone is ready for a break.
Our group of year 9 and 10 cadets gathered at school on Wednesday morning and everyone checked with their friends that they had packed the essentials. We did have to find a couple of water bottles and a couple of pieces of uniform before we could depart.
On that first day, the year 9 cadets got to do their first real abseil on what seemed to be a very high and scary rock face. Even though the techniques had been practiced at school and everyone was familiar with the gear it was still a huge challenge. Leaning back and trusting the rope and then taking the first step over the edge was scary for everyone. One of the exercises done at school was to suspend a cadet from an old abseiling rope and then slowly cut the rope. So, even though we knew that only a few strands of the rope would support our weight most of us were gripping everything we had with white knuckles.
While the year 9s were doing their first abseil the year 10 cadets were Rock Slide Rafting with Peter White from Dwellingup Adventures. The year 10s had an awesome time and after learning how to actually paddle in a straight line they managed to go down one rapid forwards, backwards, sideways and every other way imaginable.
On Thursday, we all went to the old quarry next to Wellington Dam and spent the whole day examining the rock wall very closely. The year 9s found out that the wall they abseiled on the previous day was not so high after all. Everyone had a very tough challenge trying to climb the rock face that seemed to have some parts with no hand or foot holds. Quite a few people managed to get to the top but none faster than Jirra, who climbed so fast he had to stop and wait for the person on his safety line to take up the excess slack rope he created. As well as abseiling and rock climbing everyone got to do a short climb on a wire caving ladder and to also practice prusiking up a rope.
It must be remembered that not only did the cadets have a challenging and fun time they also learnt important rescue skills used by our local SES volunteers involved in vertical rescue. These are the volunteers that are tasked with rescuing members of the public that may be lost or injured at the base of cliffs or inside vertical access only caves. Our cadets may one day be filling some of those volunteer roles that help keep us all safe.
We would all like to say a big thank you to Ms Gardiner who filled in at the last minute because Lee was unable to attend and also to Alan, an SES volunteer who gave up three days to help with supervision.
The Bridgetown High School P&C are organising a magnificent fundraiser, thanks to the amazing Mike, who will be baking hundreds of Hot Cross Buns. School staff and students know how awesome these freshly made buns are, so you are all invited to order some as part of the fundraiser.
Please find attached an order form. Students will also bring an order form home on Monday 16th March.
By placing an order, you will not only help raise funds to better resource the school, but also be able to enjoy the delights of these treats.
Orders must be in with full payment by Friday March 20th.
It's that time of the year again and it is looking like the weather is going ot be pretty kind to evryone for the big day tomorrow.
Come along to support your children at the carnival, it is going ot be a fun-filled day.
Here is the program for the event.
NAPLAN 2020 will be here before we know it! The NAPLAN online assessment window is open from Tuesday 12 May till Friday 22 May 2020.
Want to know more? Check out the attached sheet which has plenty of information. If you would like to know anything else, please call the school on 08 9761 0100.
Bridgetown High School was pleased to send our student leadership group to the annual GRIP Leadership Day in Bunbury on Wednesday March 11.
This year Sophie Boswell won the raffled $50 gift card sponsored by ECU. Lex went up on stage to dance. Tessa decided to compete against another student from another school and Lex came second in a rock-paper-sciccors!
Check out the photos!
Here at Bridgetown High School, we are looking forward to a safe and healthy year.
To make sure this happens, we are keen to share as much information as possible to students and families regarding any health issues.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by a new virus. Please find below some information about this virus from the Department of Education, that you may find useful.
UWA Visits Bridgetown High School Students
Angel & Brendon from University of WA visited Bridgetown High School Students to outline the amazing opportunities available through their OUTREACH Program. For more information please use the link below.
http://www.sis.uwa.edu.au/outreach
Follow the Dream is an aspirational program designed to help Aboriginal students to reach their career potential by graduating from high school and achieving university entrance. The program is currently being delivered to more than 600 students in 10 metropolitan and 15 regional centres. It is not an alternative to school, nor is it a school-based retention and participation program. Participants attend school as normal. The program is complementary to existing educational activities for Aboriginal students.
Here at Bridgetown High School, we have a number of students who are eligible to participate in this program. These students were lucky enough to meet with some of the staff and ex-students who have benefited from this program in the past.
Over the past two weeks some of our Year 10s have been sitting the OLNA, in an effort to reach competency in the areas of literacy and numeracy and therefore contribute to achieving WACE at the end of Year 12.
The Writing test was scheduled to be taken within a three day window in the first week of testing and most of the students who were required to sit the test managed to complete it. However, if students did not complete the Writing test or were absent during the three days, they will be required to re-sit the test in the second round, which occurs in late August/early September.
This week, students have tackled the Numeracy and Reading tests. Students who were absent on the scheduled days of testing for these tests still have an opportunity to complete them in “catch-up” sessions, which will take place over the course of the next week.
It is hoped that all of the Year 10s who have sat the tests in Round One have done their absolute best work, to try and avoid having to re-sit the OLNA in Semester Two; however, if they have not achieved as well as they had hoped, then they do at least get another chance to try again.
Well done to all of our wonderful Year 10s who have tackled the OLNA this round!
If you have any questions about the OLNA, its purpose or its importance in achieving WACE, please do not hesitate to contact me here at school.
Bec Hardey
OLNA Coordinator
I am pleased to announce that Connect is now being implemented AT Bridgetown High School. Connect is a learning, support and communications platform developed by the Department of Education WA for staff, students and parents in public schools. Check out the short video clip on Connect at https://vimeo.com/connectwa/welcome
How will parents access Connect?
Each parent will be given their own secure login to Connect. Connect is totally free and, because it is provided by the Department of Education, very safe. As well as being able to log into Connect on any internet-connected device, you may also receive notices from Connect that will be sent to you as either an email or a notification on your phone. A free app called Connect Now can be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple App Store and will let you receive Connect notices as push notifications.
If you have multiple children, you only need one login – even if your children attend different public schools.
When you log into Connect you will be able to see information specific to your own child/ren.
Examples of what information you can access in Connect:
- Class events
- Classroom learning activities
- Notifications from individual teachers
- Attendance records
- Assessments and marks
To register for Connect you will receive an email with your login details in the near future.
We hope that you enjoy the Connect experience and see it as an exciting new way for you to stay in touch with your child’s school journey.
This one happened a while ago, but we still want to share and welcome our awesome year 7 students to Bridgetown High School. What a fantastic group of kids they are!!
The Year 7 Orientation Program was held during week one of the term and it is pretty obvious that everyone had an awesome time.
Welcome to BIG school year 7's, we all hope you have a magnificent time her with us for the next four years.
The Blackwood Environment Society is a not for profit organisation. The members are people who enjoy protecting natural areas of the Blackwood Valley for future generations.
The Blackwood Environment Society Community Nursery has been situated at the Bridgetown High School for many years, therefore easily accessed for work experience. Teens find themselves welcomed by the volunteers and enjoy helping with the propagation of native plant species.
Thank you to the wonderful volunteers who support this program, we really appreciate it!