Gateway Learning Communityc/o Balmoral State High SchoolThynne Road, Morningside, Qld 4170P.O.Box 120, Morningside, Qld 4170Phone & Fax: 07 3399 6821

GLC website: www.learningplace.com.au/sc/gbr/glc

Science Sparks an interestA Queensland Government initiative called ‘Science Sparks’, designed to improve confidence, capacity and results in the teaching of science in primary schools, is being implemented by the

GLC in 2011.

An across-school coordinating team isleading a team of classroom teacherswho are involved in writing and triallingcommon Science-based work unitsduring 2011.

Specialist science teachers from BalmoralSHS are offering professional development opportunities to supportthe content and skills being taught,whilst Regional Office Science Advisors,Valmai Nolan and Susan Kennedy Smith,link teachers to best practice in Science curriculum writing.

The GLC Newsletter will follow the‘Sparks’ in future editions this year!

GLC AngelsThe Business Service Managers (BSMs) of the GLC have been meeting as a network since 2005building an ‘only one phone call away’ support service for each school’s office.

A school office is one of the busiest office environments around with reception, finance, HR, facilitiesmaintenance, medical emergency and secretarial just some of the roles staff are involved with, often

all at the same time!!!!

As well, there have been manychanges in the EducationQueensland’s computer andcommunication systems in recentyears, which have involved thecomplete retraining of all officestaff in new software programs.

The ability to call on informalhelp and advice can make ahuge difference in solvingproblems and ensuring thebest solutions and options arefound and implemented.

At the recent meeting on 23March, the group expressedtheir satisfaction in being able

to meet with colleagues and share efficiencies, tips and advice. “These ladies are my angels”, expressed one, to general agreement. “It is excellent to be involved with this group and everyone isa great support”.

Three bays fullThe Rotary Club of Balmoral, the GLC and CannonHill SS benefited from the construction of athree bay shed on the grounds of Cannon Hill SS,and a BBQ trailer fully kitted out for cooking andserving.

The shed and trailer are being proudly funded by theQueensland Government's Gambling CommunityBenefit Fund. Although there are still a few finishingtouches to put on the $34,000 project, the respective groups have been able to moveequipment into their bays.

At a recent GLC network meeting, several GLC groundsmen kindly started moving co-owned Gateway Learning Community gear into this central storage place. Once the shed is fully complete, joint borrowing arrangements between Rotary, the GLC schoolsand with the wider community, for the equipment stored there, will be established.

The Gateway Learning Community is Balmoral State High School, Bulimba State School,Cannon Hill State School, Morningside State School, Murarrie State School, Norman Park State School and Seven Hills State School.

I SSUE 29 APR IL 2011

Right - The GLC Proportional Reasoning Project, a 3 year professional development program for GLC teachers focussing on Numeracy, held its first workshop at Bulimba SS in February 2011.

Above - The 2011 Gifted andTalented Project will again stagethe hugely successful ‘Rock DaHouse’ which will see studentrock bands put together a repertoire and tour the schoolsin Term 3.

Left - 2011 Youth PerformanceProject Common Thread “The Pursuit of Happiness” inrehearsal at Balmoral SHS.

Left - The Yr 6 GLC Band in rehearsal at Balmoral SHS as part of the 2011 GLC CombinedBands Program.

Far left - The 2011 GLC Continuityof Learning Project nurtures linksbetween Balmoral SHS and theGLC primary schools in teacherprofessional development andacross school programs. Picturedhere is the Maths competitionwhich was the culmination of aFinancial Literacy program.

Left - The 2011 GLC Early Phase of Learning Project brings five GLCschools together on 26 May to celebrate Under 8’s Week in a specialday of outdoor learning at Seven Hills SS.

Below - The annual Cannon Hill Bushland Day is a much looked forward to combined schools environmental activity which is

part of the Sustainable GLC Project.

Below - The GLC Primary schools have the opportunityto visit Balmoral SHS during the year to see what highschool has to offer.

901 Wynnum Rd, Cannon Hill, Qld, 4170

Ph (07) 3399 9492Fax: (07) 3399 6457Facebook: Di Farmer MpEmail: bulimba@parliament.qld.gov.au

Member for Bulimba

Australian Curriculum for Senior Secondary courses andin Prep to Yr 10 for Geography, The Arts, Languages andother learning areas, are currently in draft form and areunlikely to be implemented in Queensland before 2014.

On 8 December 2010, Australian education ministers endorsed the content for an Australian Curriculum in English,Mathematics, Science and History, from the ‘Foundation Year’- Prep in Qld- to Year 10. Qld educators have agreed on astaged approach to the implementation of the Prep to Yr 10Australian Curriculum up to 2013 as follows:

2011- All Qld schools will familiarize themselves with, and insome instances implement, the Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in English, Mathematics and Science.

2012- All Qld schools will implement the Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in English, Mathematics and Scienceand familiarize themselves with Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in History, whilst maintaining a ‘Queensland’Curriculum for all other learning areas

2013- All Qld schools will implement the Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in History, whilst maintaining a‘Queensland’ Curriculum for the remaining learning areas.

Australian Curriculum for Senior Secondary courses and inPrep to Yr 10 for Geography, The Arts, Languages and otherlearning areas, are currently in draft form and are unlikely tobe implemented in Queensland before 2014.

For the GLC this timeline provides opportunities for engagingwith targeted professional development for the purpose ofauditing and reviewing of current programs, and developingnew courses of study that meet the requirements of theAustralian Curriculum.

Over the past nine years seven state schools, located between the Bulimba reach of the Brisbane River and the Gateway bridges, have consciously committed to work together and with the wider community. Under the banner of the ‘Gateway Learning Community’ (GLC), they have built their collective capacity to improve educational opportunities for their, now, 2700 students.

These GLC schools realized that to be a vibrant and viable local hub of learning in the 21st century they needed to break down traditional ’school fence’ boundaries, work smarter and utilize the power of community interconnectedness. To achieve this the GLC has worked hard to develop its own codes of practice enunciating ways of being and interacting.

At the beginning of each year an agreed upon ‘portfolio of projects’ is developed and endorsed by each school’s leadership team, as a blueprint to guide the various teams and networks as they turn great ideas into reality.

This GLC newsletter is published four times a year to celebrate the progress and outcomes of GLC activities. It is sponsored fully by business advertisers in its pages and compiled by John Harrison and Jackie Cann, the dynamic duo from Make Art Work, all of whom we thank for their generous support.

We hope you enjoy reading this and all 2011 issues of the GLC Newsletter.

Businesses interested in supporting local state schools this year through advertising in this newsletter, or with financial or other support for our projects, are invited to give the Editor or Make Art Work a call. See page 4 for contact details.

Kevin Rudd MPFederal Member for Griffith

630 Wynnum Rd Morningside PO Box 476 Morningside Q 4170Phone:3899 4031 Fax: 3899 5755Email: Griffith.EO@aph.gov.auTwitter: @KRuddMP Facebook: kevinruddmp

Shayne SuttonCouncillor for MorningsideMORNINGSIDE WARD OFFICE63 Oxford Street, Bulimba, Q 4171Ph 3407 8200 Fax 3407 8205Email: morningside.ward@ecn.net.au

COUNCIL CONTACT CENTRE24HRS 7DAYS 3403 8888

Working for you in Morningside Ward

Above - A GLC school leadership team recently met to plan the GLC’s Science Sparks activities for2011. Members pictured here from left- Mardi Seccombe and Sheryl Kennedy from Bulimba SS; Chris Meagher and Allison Crane from Balmoral SHS; Susan Kennedy Smith, Regional Manager Science; Sue Butler from Cannon Hill SS and Valmai Nolan, Primary Science Facilitator, from Morningside SS.

Above - GLC Groundsmen helped move gear into the new GLC Shed. Pictured from left Dennis Fitzgerald from Morningside SS,Ross Stokes from Cannon Hill SS, Brian Saboa from Murarrie SS and Fred Collishaw from Bulimba SS.

GLC NEWSLETTEREditor: Cherry Van RytEmail: cvanr5@eq.edu.auPhone/Fax: 3399 6821or 0407 972 242

Three new GLC focus projects have been designed specifically to meet some of these objectives.

The first, ‘Continuity of Learning’, will provide opportunitiesfor dialogue between GLC stakeholders. Both principals andteachers will share best practice to align and refine teachingmethodology, to ‘smooth the junctures’ in delivering the new curriculum as students move through the middle school years (between Yr 6 and Yr 9).

The second project, ‘Moderation’, aims to ensure that there is consistency of teacher marking and judgement by comparing and developing exemplars of student work from across GLC schools.

Thirdly, ‘Proportional Reasoning’ targets one of the learning areas- Mathematics- in particular. Proportional reasoning is a major aspect of numeracy and is an essential, foundational skill for life. Explicit teaching accelerates the development of students’ proportional reasoning skills.

This professional development project will lead to enhancedteacher knowledge and the ability to identify instructional opportunities for proportional reasoning across the curriculum. Read more on Page 2.

The progress and outcomes of these new GLC projects, as well as the several other continuing GLC projects, will be celebrated in the pages of this newsletter over the course ofthe year.

Copies of the GLC 2011 AOP are available for viewing in schools and on the GLC website: www.learningplace.com.au/sc/gbr/glc Look under the Menu item.

GLC schools link to deliver new national curriculum

Bulimba • Morningside • Norman Park

Dr Daxter Yeo, MDSc (Qld) BDSc(Hons)

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Above - Danielle Thomas- Norman Parks SS, Sonia Welch -Cannon Hill SS, Loretta Da Costa-Murarrie SS, Sandy Dalzell -Bulimba SS, Julia Eggmolese- Seven Hills SS and Gayle Harris -Morningside SS compare notes at the recent GLC BSM’s Network meeting.

GLC website: www.learningplace.com.au/sc/gbr/glc

Bands tune up for 2011The GLC Combined Bands Program involves five of the GLC schools- Balmoral SHS, Bulimba SS,Morningside SS, Murarrie SS and Cannon Hill SS- rehearsing and performing not as individualschools but as combined year level bands, under the stewardship of Mr. Dean Simmons, Instrumental Music Teacher at theses five schools.

Based at Balmoral SHS the Yr 5 to Yr 12 students are challenged and supported in their musical development by playing in large and small ensembles, and are able to take full advantage of thepurpose built rehearsal space and range of equipment available at the high school.

The other two GLC schools, NormanPark SS and Seven Hills SS maintainseparate music programs which suit their locales.

Rehearsals have begun one morninga week for the Yr 6 GLC, Yr 7 GLC andBalmoral SHS Bands, and will start in Term 3 for the Yr 5 Band.

Right - The percussion section of the GLC Yr 6 Bandfrom left- Connor from Morningside SS, Tom fromCannon Hill SS, Josh and Kaiden from Bulimba SSand Holly from Morningside SS.

For more information about the Australian Curriculum visit www.qsa.qld.edu.au

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In a major new project for the GLC, forty teachers haveattended their first workshop to explore a vital area ofnumeracy education that often goes under recognised,and consequently can be under valued in educationalcircles.

Facilitated by University of Queensland numeracy experts,Professor Merrilyn Goos, Dr. Shelley Dole, Dr. Mia O'Brien,Dr. Geoff Hilton and Dr. Annette Hilton, the half dayworkshop introduced the GLC teachers, drawn from boththe six primary schools and Balmoral State High School,to the research they had been conducting into this areaof numeracy called ‘Proportional Reasoning’.

Proportional Reasoning has been acknowledged by numeracy experts world-wide as a fundamental cornerstone of mathematics knowledge and one of themost commonly applied mathematics concepts in the

real world. Proportional Reasoning is all about the ability to understand situations ofcomparison. Things all of us do every day like comparing prices and value of goods,interpreting scales and maps, determining chances and calculating risks are examplesof Proportional Reasoning. Shelley Dole explains further. "For many people, proportionalreasoning invokes thoughts of ratio and proportion. But this is only part of the picture.Proportional reasoning has its foundations in fractions and decimals, and is underpinnedby multiplication and division,” as the box at left explains.

Audits of international and national tests, like the Australia-wide NAPLAN test, revealthat many of the questions require some level of Proportional Reasoning to answer.

The mastery of Proportional Reasoning does not automatically come easily to everyonehowever. Some lucky people, about 20% of us, pick it up intuitively as we grow through

childhood, but for the other 80 % Proportional Reasoning needs to be explicitly taught,and because it is so important to everyday living and academic success, this needs tooccur across all year levels, starting in the early years, and across the whole curriculum,not just in Maths. The improved teaching of Proportional Reasoning has been the focusof a large research project undertaken by The University of Queensland from 2007 to2010. The research has focussed on developing models of targeted teacher professionaldevelopment that enhance teacher knowledge and the ability to identify instructionalopportunities for proportional reasoning across the curriculum.

Now in 2011, and for the next three yea rs forty GLC Teachers are joining with theUniversity of Queensland in the next phase of research.

This ‘ARC Linkage Project’ is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), in conjunction with Education Queensland and SA Department of Education and Children's Services. The ARC funding totals $290,000 over the course of the project,with each school cluster involved also contributing with cash and in-kind support.

The project is called “Proportional Reasoning As A Key To Numeracy Across The Curriculum” and its aim is to enhance student mastery of proportional reasoningthrough educational technology applications. The GLC teachers involved will attendworkshops and trial curriculum that integrates Proportional Reasoning and ICTs(information and communication technologies) in student learning activities.

Shelley hopes that teachers will “see (many) opportunities for promoting proportional reasoning within the context of their own school environments” and“share with other teachers in order to create a rich resource base of approaches,activities and tasks." The university researchers involved have strong backgrounds in educational research, curriculum design, teacher professional development, and all have extensive teaching experience in primary and secondary classroomsacross the key learning areas.

The GLC Newsletter will follow the progress of the project over its course and publish, what is hoped to be, great results from the trials within our schools. We wish all participants and our UQ partners all the best in this endeavour.

Seventy eight students from Yr 6 to Yr 12, from five of the GLC schools, have signedup to a five month community project hosted by Balmoral SHS called ‘Common Thread’.

In 2011 ‘Common Thread’ is taking the theme ‘the pursuit of happiness’ as the startingpremise for a creative process that begins in February with story telling and idea generation and culminates on 17 and 18 June with three public performances in which thebest of the ideas are brought to life in a huge multi-media theatrical production.

‘Common Thread’ is not new to the GLC. This original, student-devised, multi-mediaproduction was staged for five years from 2004 to 2008. Overwhelming community,school and student support for the project saw it refreshed and reorganised for 2011.

‘Common Thread’ is not to be confused with a school drama production. ‘Common Thread’is contemporary theatre. Its extraordinary originality and power comes from the fact that thewhole production is written, designed, performed, stage managed and marketed by studentsthemselves, with the support and facilitation of teachers and numerous Arts professionalswho are engaged to work with students on the many technical and theoretical aspects of theprocess. It provides a high quality educational experience for studentsusing the performing arts as the medium through which exploration, higher order thinking and expression takes place.

A previous review by Jo Wise, then President of Drama Queensland, observed that, “respect for and inclusion of culture, young people's

visions and celebration of youngpeople’s capacity to be artists inall these moments have againmade ‘Common Thread’ stand out from so many other youngpeople’s performances I've attended.”

A first for Common Thread 2011are regional partnerships thathave been created between the GLC, the Qld Theatre Company and Pioneer SHS in Mackay, Chinchilla SHS andGood Shepherd Catholic College in Mt Isa.

The project is being led by Allison Crane at Balmoral SHS on behalf of the GLC. We arefortunate to have been able to engage the services of Drama educator, Balmoral SHSparent and one of the original Common Thread producers, Sally Schmidt. Sally is fulfillingthe Production Manager role working closely with Robin Francis, Drama teacher at Balmoral SHS as the Artistic Director, with the support of a team of Arts teachers, primary teachers and admin staff fromacross the schools.

You can follow the progress of ‘CommonThread - The Pursuit of Happiness’ on its dedicated websitewww.commonthread.com.au

It stands to reason… The Common Threadsof HAPPINESS

Above - University of Queensland numeracy experts Dr. Shelley Dole, Dr. Mia O'Brien and Dr. Geoff Hilton at the first Proportional ReasoningWorkshop at Bulimba SS on 22 February.

Far right - Workshop facilitators, Dr. Geoff Hilton and Dr. Mia O'Brien, explain their research findings to GLC staff at the first Proportional Reasoning Project Workshop of 2011.

Left - GLC Principals Andrew Walker from Norman Park SS and Allison Crane from Balmoral SHS join GLCteachers in professional development activities that illustrate ways to explicitly teach proportional reasoningin classrooms.

Chaplain GaryNow in his second year as chaplain at Balmoral SHS, Gary Cazzulino, an

ex-Balmoral student himself, says “it’s great being back here involved in

school life.” A chaplain’s calendar is always full and incredibly varied with both ongoing

and new programs, which Gary hopes will provide many students with

valuable support, learning and personal growth opportunities.‘Brekky Club’ operates twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings

from 7:30am in front of the tuckshop. The whole school community is

welcome to come along and enjoy a hearty meal. The breakfast items are

provided for free thanks to Food Bank. Food Bank has been a great support

for Balmoral SHS and deserves huge thanks for also supplying snacks for

Balmoral’s after school study program called ‘BASE’. ‘Sail Away’, an adventure based program, in which selected students learn

how to sail a 45ft yacht around Moreton Bay, is continuing to run strongly in

2011. It's a challenging program that really brings out the best in people.Another adventure based activity that Gary is offering students is the

‘Outbreak Intense’ camp, to be held during the September holidays. More information will be published about this camp in the coming months. Gary is also trialling the use of The Gap SHS’s Leadership Training Centre.

He takes students across to experience their purpose built high-ropes and

indoor rock climbing facilities.Not all the Chaplaincy activities are adventure based though. One group of

Balmoral SHS students, are working on World Vision Projects through out the

year and a new program called ‘Wild at Heart’ is getting ready to be launched soon.Gary works at Balmoral SHS five days a week, and is available as a listening ear to parents, students and staff. As Gary says and does, “I'm here to help!”

Filmfox- Emerging young film making partnership betweenSuzannah O’Brien, Samantha Mills, and Sasha Holland alreadywith 4 QNFA Awards between them. 2009 graduates of GriffithFilm School. Filmfox specialises in creative, corporate, specialevent videography and community arts projects. Suzannah and Samantha, having graduated from Balmoral SHS in 2006and participated in the first years of Common Thread, return asvaluable mentors to share their passion for theatre and film.

Euan Gray - Song writer, musician and music educator withextensive performance experience as the lead singer and prolificsongwriter for Brisbane band ‘The Rooftops’. Euan studied atthe Qld Conservatorium of Music and also teaches music in avariety of educational community settings. He was involved inCommon Thread in 2008.

Elizabeth Ross - Actor, singer and teacher with special interestin Cabaret performance. Seen by Brisbane audiences last yearin La Boite’s ‘Kitchen Diva’.

Zoe Houghton - Zoe is a 2002 NIDA graduate and has appearedregularly on stage for a number of major Australian Theatre companies, including QTC, as well as Film and TV roles.

Anna Yen -Director, movement teacher andperformer. Anna’s work spans theatre, contemporary circus, physical theatre, streettheatre and film. Her acclaimed 2006 one-woman show “Chinese Take Away” won aMatilda Award Special Commendation and aBest Actor (Female) Qld Short Film Festival forits film adaptation. She has also performed inshows with many performing arts companies including La Boite Theatre Co. and Zen Zen Zo.

In late 2010 senior Balmoral students had numerous meetings to devise a theme for this year’s Common Thread performance. The ideaof ‘The Pursuit for Happiness’ was chosen as the most suitable andimaginative idea to be taken from the page to the stage.

Balmoral student representatives travelled to the surrounding primaryschools to recruit talent.

In the weeks prior to the professional artists joining us, students wereable to get a taste of the multiple forms of expression which will be usedto explore our theme. Four storytellers - Mark from Vision Australia, ZoeHoughton, Gary Cazzulino and Anne Hamilton- joined us to share their own‘Pursuit for Happiness’. Their stories helped us to grasp ideas of thethemes of happiness which were further explored. In later weeks, numerousforms of multi-media stimulus were used to further develop these ideas.

With the professional artists now joining us, the production is really starting to take shape.Although many long hours are still ahead of us, you can rest assured that our performanceson Friday 17th June and Saturday 18th June will be really worth seeing.

Megan Thomas, Common Thread Team Member

Above - The ability to express emotion and ideas onlythrough the placement of the body is called physical theatre. Here students experiment with, and gain confidence in, the complementary arts of movement and stillness.

Below - Ideas can be combined and mixed up to take them in different and more interesting directions at Common Thread.

International Women’s Day (IWD) 2011 was celebrated with aspecial breakfast hosted by Balmoral SHS for the girls andwomen of the Balmoral SHS school community and invited girlschool leaders as ambassadors from GLC schools.

First celebrated in the US on 19 March 1911, 2011 is the centenary year for IWD, a day which has become a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements ofwomen past, present, and future. Now held annually on 8 March,thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspirewomen and celebrate achievements, ranging from political rallies,business conferences, government activities and networking eventsthrough to local women's craft markets, theatre performances,fashion parades and our own breakfast here at Balmoral SHS.

Balmoral SHS teacher, Robin Francis, with the support of colleagues and students set a lovely breakfast onlong tables in the hall. Commemorative purple and green ribbons were worn and music students playedand sung as accompaniment creating a wonderful atmosphere of camaraderie and positivity. With thetheme of women in science, three inspirational guest speakers spoke of the many pathways that areavailable to girls to reach their potential and fulfil their dreams.

Balmoral SHS Principal, Allison Crane, explained how her early career as a scientist took her around theworld working in many laboratories, and taught her leadership skills which she was able to transfer into hersecond career of choice, as a teacher and now Principal of a high school. Alex Lacaze, a young medicalstudent was able to give the girls plenty of encouragement to aim high, take chances and seek new experiences, as she spoke of her studies and travels, especially her time as a volunteer working in ahospital in Ireland.

Leigh Cleave, a representative from UN Women Australia - www.unwomen.org.au- gave the audience sageadvice that although the new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in bothwomen's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation, the ‘battles’ have not yet allbeen won. She emphasised the importance of women actively participating and engaging in politicalprocesses as key drivers in change.

Thanks to everybody who helped with set up, to the Balmoral SHS musicians and singing group, and to all who came and shared this memorable morning.

“Women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce50 % of the food, but earn 10 % of the income and own 1% of property.”

UN Women Australia “Kit for Secondary Schools 2011”Downtown Toyota will donate $100 to GLC Chaplaincy for each new or used car purchased from Downtown Toyota on presentation of a signed authorisation certificate at time of delivery. This offer is available to all parents and friends associated with the Gateway Learning Community (GLC).

This offer expires 31 December 2011. Certificates are available from GLC school offices.

As you can read, from the brief overviews on this page of the activitiesof Gary and Melissa, the chaplains provide a much valued service thatincludes:

Curriculum Support including the Peer Support Program, sportscoaching, school leadership program, camps and in class activities

School activities including school parades, lunchtime activities and programs, special needs team, sports day and other school community activities including pastoralcare, meeting with parents, staff and community

The Chaplaincy program is managed by an across schoolcommunity of interested school and community members,and is funded in three ways -by the Commonwealth Government through Scripture Union Australia; by fundraising efforts organised by the committee and the schools and with business sponsorship.

The GLC thanks Nick Pappas’ Downtown Toyota for continuing this year as our major business sponsor.

Left - Tiana, Yr 12 student from Balmoral SHS, leads an ideageneration session with her fellow Common Threaders

Some of the amazing artistsworking with students inCommon Thread 2011

Celebrating 100 Years of IWD

If you were born prior to the 90’s, you would no doubt remember the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when a young, strapping Queenslander called Kieren Perkinsblew the opposition out of the water with a blistering record-breaking swim to winthe 1500 metres freestyle event. Then, at the1996 Atlanta Olympics, Kieren proved his longevity, persistence and sheer brilliance when he unexpectedly again won1500 metre gold from Lane 8. His successes have made him a legend in Australian Swimming, earned him a Medal of the Order of Australia (OA) and a place as an Australian Living Treasure.

Kieren Perkins will be the guest speaker at the annual GLC Chaplaincy Mother’sDay High Tea on 6 May, this year being held on campus at Bulimba SS in theMichael Zeuschner Community Hall.

Set this date aside, get together a groupof friends (maximum tables of 8) andenjoy the wonderful high tea as Kierenentertains us with his stories and wisdom from a career which spans morethan 20 years. The GLC hopes Kieren’spresence at the Mother’s Day High Teawill break yet another record, that of thehighest number ever attending theevent!

The Mother’s Day High Tea is theflagship fundraiser for the GLC Chaplaincy Program that currently operates in three of our GLC schools- Bulimba SS, Norman Park SS and Balmoral SHS.

The two primary schools share a chaplain, Chaplain Melissa Gregory, while Balmoral SHS has the one, Gary Cazzulino.

Kieren, our guest for GLC Chaplaincy

Chaplain Melissa

Working with students at Bulimba and Norman Park SSs is prov

ing very

rewarding for chaplain Melissa Gregory. “So

far this term I have had a wonderful

time in both schools. I have been working with students individu

ally and in groups,

talking about issues such as bullying,

teamwork and leadership. Hanging out with

the students at lunch breaks is always heaps of fun an

d I have the privilege of

doing that every day!”

Melissa has also been fortunate to at

tend the National Young Leaders Day

Conference which, in Melissa’s own w

ords, was “brilliant!”

Over the next few months Melissa will be going on both the Yr 6 and 7 cam

ps

with Bulimba SS , the Yr 6’s to Bornhoffen and the

Yr 7’s to Kindilan, and at

Norman Park SS will be involved with the school‘s Term 2 WACE (Wednesday

Afternoon Curriculum Extension) program

.

As part of WACE, Melissa and Norman Park SS teacher, Adam Mead, will run a

special program in conjunction with World Vision and Radio Lollipop. The foc

us

will be about raising awareness for those in

need locally, nationally and

internationally and how anyone at any age

can help change lives.

The school will be raising

money for families living in

poverty, supporting children

in our own 'backyard' who

are going through traumatic

experiences, and practically

helping those in need.

Melissa is thoroughly

enjoying the challenges of

her role at her two GLC

primary schools.

Above - Artist Zoe Houghton is performing dual rolesfor Common Thread. She took part in the first Workshopas a story teller and then since has taken on the role ofmentor to lead students in drama workshops.

Below - Autumn and Domi from Norman Park SS with Chaplain Melissa

Below - A line to which girls could peg wishes they had written on coloured ribbons was the basis of an art workdevised by Balmoral SHS art students to celebrate International Women’s Day. Pictured here adding to the art workfrom left- Ella from Norman Park SS, Megan from Murarrie SS, Leigh Cleave from UN Women Australia, Abby fromBulimba SS, Megan from Balmoral SHS, Amelia and Kristy Lee from Norman Park SS, Jenny from Balmoral SHS, Amandafrom Murarrie SS, Allison Crane, Principal from Balmoral SHS, Mirai from Bulimba SS and guest speaker Alex Lacaze.

Right - Nelson, Rose and Tiana from Balmoral SHS strike a pose during aCommon Thread Workshop

From Page to Stage

Mother’s Day High Tea

In aid of Chaplaincy for the GLC Schools

Friday, 6 May9.15am for 9.30am

Michael Zeuschner Community Hall at

Bulimba State School Oxford Street, Bulimba

Guest Speaker: Mr. Kieren Perkins

Former Olympic Gold Medalist and

professional swimmer.

Tickets: $26 eachTables of 8RSVP: 29 April

Bookings and Enquiries:

Norman Park State

School on 3900 5888Left - Abby, Mirai, Melissa, Isaac, Jarrodfrom Bulimba SS with Chaplain Melissa

Above - Kieren Perkins wins 1500m freestyle Gold at the 1996 Atlanta OIympics.

Below - Vicki, Talisa, Sarah and Jack share a joke with Balmoral SHS Chaplain Gary Cazzulino

Common Thread Trivia Night21 May, Bulimba SS Hall

Look out for booking details via GLC schools early Term 2.

All funds raised go towards Common Thread 2011 workshops and staging.

From + to X- the theory

behind Proportional

Reasoning

The development of propo

rtional reasoning is

a gradual process, under

pinned by increasingly

sophisticated multiplicative

thinking and the ability

to compare two quantities in relative (m

ultiplicative),

rather than absolute (add

itive) terms.

The essence of proportio

nal reasoning is on

understanding the multiplicative

structures inherent

in proportion situations. C

hildren’s intuitive strategi

es

for solving proportion pro

blems are typically additive.

The teacher’s role, theref

ore, is to build on studen

ts’

intuitive additive strategi

es and guide them towards

building multiplicative structures.

From “Making connections to the big ideas in

mathematics: Promoting proportional reasoning”

Shelley Dole. Senior lecturer in mathematics

education. The University of Queensland

Above - Physical Theatre artist, Anna Yen, facilitating a Common Thread workshop.

Common Thread ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’Performance SeasonBalmoral SHS Hall

Friday 17 June 7 pmSaturday 18 June 2 pmSaturday 18 June 7 pm

A not to be missed original and innovative youth theatre production in our local community“Affirming, warm, intelligent, inclusive, funny, poignant”“Awesome and amazing”

Look out for booking details via GLC schools mid Term 2

In a major new project for the GLC, forty teachers haveattended their first workshop to explore a vital area ofnumeracy education that often goes under recognised,and consequently can be under valued in educationalcircles.

Facilitated by University of Queensland numeracy experts,Professor Merrilyn Goos, Dr. Shelley Dole, Dr. Mia O'Brien,Dr. Geoff Hilton and Dr. Annette Hilton, the half dayworkshop introduced the GLC teachers, drawn from boththe six primary schools and Balmoral State High School,to the research they had been conducting into this areaof numeracy called ‘Proportional Reasoning’.

Proportional Reasoning has been acknowledged by numeracy experts world-wide as a fundamental cornerstone of mathematics knowledge and one of themost commonly applied mathematics concepts in the

real world. Proportional Reasoning is all about the ability to understand situations ofcomparison. Things all of us do every day like comparing prices and value of goods,interpreting scales and maps, determining chances and calculating risks are examplesof Proportional Reasoning. Shelley Dole explains further. "For many people, proportionalreasoning invokes thoughts of ratio and proportion. But this is only part of the picture.Proportional reasoning has its foundations in fractions and decimals, and is underpinnedby multiplication and division,” as the box at left explains.

Audits of international and national tests, like the Australia-wide NAPLAN test, revealthat many of the questions require some level of Proportional Reasoning to answer.

The mastery of Proportional Reasoning does not automatically come easily to everyonehowever. Some lucky people, about 20% of us, pick it up intuitively as we grow through

childhood, but for the other 80 % Proportional Reasoning needs to be explicitly taught,and because it is so important to everyday living and academic success, this needs tooccur across all year levels, starting in the early years, and across the whole curriculum,not just in Maths. The improved teaching of Proportional Reasoning has been the focusof a large research project undertaken by The University of Queensland from 2007 to2010. The research has focussed on developing models of targeted teacher professionaldevelopment that enhance teacher knowledge and the ability to identify instructionalopportunities for proportional reasoning across the curriculum.

Now in 2011, and for the next three yea rs forty GLC Teachers are joining with theUniversity of Queensland in the next phase of research.

This ‘ARC Linkage Project’ is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), in conjunction with Education Queensland and SA Department of Education and Children's Services. The ARC funding totals $290,000 over the course of the project,with each school cluster involved also contributing with cash and in-kind support.

The project is called “Proportional Reasoning As A Key To Numeracy Across The Curriculum” and its aim is to enhance student mastery of proportional reasoningthrough educational technology applications. The GLC teachers involved will attendworkshops and trial curriculum that integrates Proportional Reasoning and ICTs(information and communication technologies) in student learning activities.

Shelley hopes that teachers will “see (many) opportunities for promoting proportional reasoning within the context of their own school environments” and“share with other teachers in order to create a rich resource base of approaches,activities and tasks." The university researchers involved have strong backgrounds in educational research, curriculum design, teacher professional development, and all have extensive teaching experience in primary and secondary classroomsacross the key learning areas.

The GLC Newsletter will follow the progress of the project over its course and publish, what is hoped to be, great results from the trials within our schools. We wish all participants and our UQ partners all the best in this endeavour.

Seventy eight students from Yr 6 to Yr 12, from five of the GLC schools, have signedup to a five month community project hosted by Balmoral SHS called ‘Common Thread’.

In 2011 ‘Common Thread’ is taking the theme ‘the pursuit of happiness’ as the startingpremise for a creative process that begins in February with story telling and idea generation and culminates on 17 and 18 June with three public performances in which thebest of the ideas are brought to life in a huge multi-media theatrical production.

‘Common Thread’ is not new to the GLC. This original, student-devised, multi-mediaproduction was staged for five years from 2004 to 2008. Overwhelming community,school and student support for the project saw it refreshed and reorganised for 2011.

‘Common Thread’ is not to be confused with a school drama production. ‘Common Thread’is contemporary theatre. Its extraordinary originality and power comes from the fact that thewhole production is written, designed, performed, stage managed and marketed by studentsthemselves, with the support and facilitation of teachers and numerous Arts professionalswho are engaged to work with students on the many technical and theoretical aspects of theprocess. It provides a high quality educational experience for studentsusing the performing arts as the medium through which exploration, higher order thinking and expression takes place.

A previous review by Jo Wise, then President of Drama Queensland, observed that, “respect for and inclusion of culture, young people's

visions and celebration of youngpeople’s capacity to be artists inall these moments have againmade ‘Common Thread’ stand out from so many other youngpeople’s performances I've attended.”

A first for Common Thread 2011are regional partnerships thathave been created between the GLC, the Qld Theatre Company and Pioneer SHS in Mackay, Chinchilla SHS andGood Shepherd Catholic College in Mt Isa.

The project is being led by Allison Crane at Balmoral SHS on behalf of the GLC. We arefortunate to have been able to engage the services of Drama educator, Balmoral SHSparent and one of the original Common Thread producers, Sally Schmidt. Sally is fulfillingthe Production Manager role working closely with Robin Francis, Drama teacher at Balmoral SHS as the Artistic Director, with the support of a team of Arts teachers, primary teachers and admin staff fromacross the schools.

You can follow the progress of ‘CommonThread - The Pursuit of Happiness’ on its dedicated websitewww.commonthread.com.au

It stands to reason… The Common Threadsof HAPPINESS

Above - University of Queensland numeracy experts Dr. Shelley Dole, Dr. Mia O'Brien and Dr. Geoff Hilton at the first Proportional ReasoningWorkshop at Bulimba SS on 22 February.

Far right - Workshop facilitators, Dr. Geoff Hilton and Dr. Mia O'Brien, explain their research findings to GLC staff at the first Proportional Reasoning Project Workshop of 2011.

Left - GLC Principals Andrew Walker from Norman Park SS and Allison Crane from Balmoral SHS join GLCteachers in professional development activities that illustrate ways to explicitly teach proportional reasoningin classrooms.

Chaplain GaryNow in his second year as chaplain at Balmoral SHS, Gary Cazzulino, an

ex-Balmoral student himself, says “it’s great being back here involved in

school life.” A chaplain’s calendar is always full and incredibly varied with both ongoing

and new programs, which Gary hopes will provide many students with

valuable support, learning and personal growth opportunities.‘Brekky Club’ operates twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings

from 7:30am in front of the tuckshop. The whole school community is

welcome to come along and enjoy a hearty meal. The breakfast items are

provided for free thanks to Food Bank. Food Bank has been a great support

for Balmoral SHS and deserves huge thanks for also supplying snacks for

Balmoral’s after school study program called ‘BASE’. ‘Sail Away’, an adventure based program, in which selected students learn

how to sail a 45ft yacht around Moreton Bay, is continuing to run strongly in

2011. It's a challenging program that really brings out the best in people.Another adventure based activity that Gary is offering students is the

‘Outbreak Intense’ camp, to be held during the September holidays. More information will be published about this camp in the coming months. Gary is also trialling the use of The Gap SHS’s Leadership Training Centre.

He takes students across to experience their purpose built high-ropes and

indoor rock climbing facilities.Not all the Chaplaincy activities are adventure based though. One group of

Balmoral SHS students, are working on World Vision Projects through out the

year and a new program called ‘Wild at Heart’ is getting ready to be launched soon.Gary works at Balmoral SHS five days a week, and is available as a listening ear to parents, students and staff. As Gary says and does, “I'm here to help!”

Filmfox- Emerging young film making partnership betweenSuzannah O’Brien, Samantha Mills, and Sasha Holland alreadywith 4 QNFA Awards between them. 2009 graduates of GriffithFilm School. Filmfox specialises in creative, corporate, specialevent videography and community arts projects. Suzannah and Samantha, having graduated from Balmoral SHS in 2006and participated in the first years of Common Thread, return asvaluable mentors to share their passion for theatre and film.

Euan Gray - Song writer, musician and music educator withextensive performance experience as the lead singer and prolificsongwriter for Brisbane band ‘The Rooftops’. Euan studied atthe Qld Conservatorium of Music and also teaches music in avariety of educational community settings. He was involved inCommon Thread in 2008.

Elizabeth Ross - Actor, singer and teacher with special interestin Cabaret performance. Seen by Brisbane audiences last yearin La Boite’s ‘Kitchen Diva’.

Zoe Houghton - Zoe is a 2002 NIDA graduate and has appearedregularly on stage for a number of major Australian Theatre companies, including QTC, as well as Film and TV roles.

Anna Yen -Director, movement teacher andperformer. Anna’s work spans theatre, contemporary circus, physical theatre, streettheatre and film. Her acclaimed 2006 one-woman show “Chinese Take Away” won aMatilda Award Special Commendation and aBest Actor (Female) Qld Short Film Festival forits film adaptation. She has also performed inshows with many performing arts companies including La Boite Theatre Co. and Zen Zen Zo.

In late 2010 senior Balmoral students had numerous meetings to devise a theme for this year’s Common Thread performance. The ideaof ‘The Pursuit for Happiness’ was chosen as the most suitable andimaginative idea to be taken from the page to the stage.

Balmoral student representatives travelled to the surrounding primaryschools to recruit talent.

In the weeks prior to the professional artists joining us, students wereable to get a taste of the multiple forms of expression which will be usedto explore our theme. Four storytellers - Mark from Vision Australia, ZoeHoughton, Gary Cazzulino and Anne Hamilton- joined us to share their own‘Pursuit for Happiness’. Their stories helped us to grasp ideas of thethemes of happiness which were further explored. In later weeks, numerousforms of multi-media stimulus were used to further develop these ideas.

With the professional artists now joining us, the production is really starting to take shape.Although many long hours are still ahead of us, you can rest assured that our performanceson Friday 17th June and Saturday 18th June will be really worth seeing.

Megan Thomas, Common Thread Team Member

Above - The ability to express emotion and ideas onlythrough the placement of the body is called physical theatre. Here students experiment with, and gain confidence in, the complementary arts of movement and stillness.

Below - Ideas can be combined and mixed up to take them in different and more interesting directions at Common Thread.

International Women’s Day (IWD) 2011 was celebrated with aspecial breakfast hosted by Balmoral SHS for the girls andwomen of the Balmoral SHS school community and invited girlschool leaders as ambassadors from GLC schools.

First celebrated in the US on 19 March 1911, 2011 is the centenary year for IWD, a day which has become a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements ofwomen past, present, and future. Now held annually on 8 March,thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspirewomen and celebrate achievements, ranging from political rallies,business conferences, government activities and networking eventsthrough to local women's craft markets, theatre performances,fashion parades and our own breakfast here at Balmoral SHS.

Balmoral SHS teacher, Robin Francis, with the support of colleagues and students set a lovely breakfast onlong tables in the hall. Commemorative purple and green ribbons were worn and music students playedand sung as accompaniment creating a wonderful atmosphere of camaraderie and positivity. With thetheme of women in science, three inspirational guest speakers spoke of the many pathways that areavailable to girls to reach their potential and fulfil their dreams.

Balmoral SHS Principal, Allison Crane, explained how her early career as a scientist took her around theworld working in many laboratories, and taught her leadership skills which she was able to transfer into hersecond career of choice, as a teacher and now Principal of a high school. Alex Lacaze, a young medicalstudent was able to give the girls plenty of encouragement to aim high, take chances and seek new experiences, as she spoke of her studies and travels, especially her time as a volunteer working in ahospital in Ireland.

Leigh Cleave, a representative from UN Women Australia - www.unwomen.org.au- gave the audience sageadvice that although the new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in bothwomen's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation, the ‘battles’ have not yet allbeen won. She emphasised the importance of women actively participating and engaging in politicalprocesses as key drivers in change.

Thanks to everybody who helped with set up, to the Balmoral SHS musicians and singing group, and to all who came and shared this memorable morning.

“Women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce50 % of the food, but earn 10 % of the income and own 1% of property.”

UN Women Australia “Kit for Secondary Schools 2011”Downtown Toyota will donate $100 to GLC Chaplaincy for each new or used car purchased from Downtown Toyota on presentation of a signed authorisation certificate at time of delivery. This offer is available to all parents and friends associated with the Gateway Learning Community (GLC).

This offer expires 31 December 2011. Certificates are available from GLC school offices.

As you can read, from the brief overviews on this page of the activitiesof Gary and Melissa, the chaplains provide a much valued service thatincludes:

Curriculum Support including the Peer Support Program, sportscoaching, school leadership program, camps and in class activities

School activities including school parades, lunchtime activities and programs, special needs team, sports day and other school community activities including pastoralcare, meeting with parents, staff and community

The Chaplaincy program is managed by an across schoolcommunity of interested school and community members,and is funded in three ways -by the Commonwealth Government through Scripture Union Australia; by fundraising efforts organised by the committee and the schools and with business sponsorship.

The GLC thanks Nick Pappas’ Downtown Toyota for continuing this year as our major business sponsor.

Left - Tiana, Yr 12 student from Balmoral SHS, leads an ideageneration session with her fellow Common Threaders

Some of the amazing artistsworking with students inCommon Thread 2011

Celebrating 100 Years of IWD

If you were born prior to the 90’s, you would no doubt remember the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when a young, strapping Queenslander called Kieren Perkinsblew the opposition out of the water with a blistering record-breaking swim to winthe 1500 metres freestyle event. Then, at the1996 Atlanta Olympics, Kieren proved his longevity, persistence and sheer brilliance when he unexpectedly again won1500 metre gold from Lane 8. His successes have made him a legend in Australian Swimming, earned him a Medal of the Order of Australia (OA) and a place as an Australian Living Treasure.

Kieren Perkins will be the guest speaker at the annual GLC Chaplaincy Mother’sDay High Tea on 6 May, this year being held on campus at Bulimba SS in theMichael Zeuschner Community Hall.

Set this date aside, get together a groupof friends (maximum tables of 8) andenjoy the wonderful high tea as Kierenentertains us with his stories and wisdom from a career which spans morethan 20 years. The GLC hopes Kieren’spresence at the Mother’s Day High Teawill break yet another record, that of thehighest number ever attending theevent!

The Mother’s Day High Tea is theflagship fundraiser for the GLC Chaplaincy Program that currently operates in three of our GLC schools- Bulimba SS, Norman Park SS and Balmoral SHS.

The two primary schools share a chaplain, Chaplain Melissa Gregory, while Balmoral SHS has the one, Gary Cazzulino.

Kieren, our guest for GLC Chaplaincy

Chaplain Melissa

Working with students at Bulimba and Norman Park SSs is prov

ing very

rewarding for chaplain Melissa Gregory. “So

far this term I have had a wonderful

time in both schools. I have been working with students individu

ally and in groups,

talking about issues such as bullying,

teamwork and leadership. Hanging out with

the students at lunch breaks is always heaps of fun an

d I have the privilege of

doing that every day!”

Melissa has also been fortunate to at

tend the National Young Leaders Day

Conference which, in Melissa’s own w

ords, was “brilliant!”

Over the next few months Melissa will be going on both the Yr 6 and 7 cam

ps

with Bulimba SS , the Yr 6’s to Bornhoffen and the

Yr 7’s to Kindilan, and at

Norman Park SS will be involved with the school‘s Term 2 WACE (Wednesday

Afternoon Curriculum Extension) program

.

As part of WACE, Melissa and Norman Park SS teacher, Adam Mead, will run a

special program in conjunction with World Vision and Radio Lollipop. The foc

us

will be about raising awareness for those in

need locally, nationally and

internationally and how anyone at any age

can help change lives.

The school will be raising

money for families living in

poverty, supporting children

in our own 'backyard' who

are going through traumatic

experiences, and practically

helping those in need.

Melissa is thoroughly

enjoying the challenges of

her role at her two GLC

primary schools.

Above - Artist Zoe Houghton is performing dual rolesfor Common Thread. She took part in the first Workshopas a story teller and then since has taken on the role ofmentor to lead students in drama workshops.

Below - Autumn and Domi from Norman Park SS with Chaplain Melissa

Below - A line to which girls could peg wishes they had written on coloured ribbons was the basis of an art workdevised by Balmoral SHS art students to celebrate International Women’s Day. Pictured here adding to the art workfrom left- Ella from Norman Park SS, Megan from Murarrie SS, Leigh Cleave from UN Women Australia, Abby fromBulimba SS, Megan from Balmoral SHS, Amelia and Kristy Lee from Norman Park SS, Jenny from Balmoral SHS, Amandafrom Murarrie SS, Allison Crane, Principal from Balmoral SHS, Mirai from Bulimba SS and guest speaker Alex Lacaze.

Right - Nelson, Rose and Tiana from Balmoral SHS strike a pose during aCommon Thread Workshop

From Page to Stage

Mother’s Day High Tea

In aid of Chaplaincy for the GLC Schools

Friday, 6 May9.15am for 9.30am

Michael Zeuschner Community Hall at

Bulimba State School Oxford Street, Bulimba

Guest Speaker: Mr. Kieren Perkins

Former Olympic Gold Medalist and

professional swimmer.

Tickets: $26 eachTables of 8RSVP: 29 April

Bookings and Enquiries:

Norman Park State

School on 3900 5888Left - Abby, Mirai, Melissa, Isaac, Jarrodfrom Bulimba SS with Chaplain Melissa

Above - Kieren Perkins wins 1500m freestyle Gold at the 1996 Atlanta OIympics.

Below - Vicki, Talisa, Sarah and Jack share a joke with Balmoral SHS Chaplain Gary Cazzulino

Common Thread Trivia Night21 May, Bulimba SS Hall

Look out for booking details via GLC schools early Term 2.

All funds raised go towards Common Thread 2011 workshops and staging.

From + to X- the theory

behind Proportional

Reasoning

The development of propo

rtional reasoning is

a gradual process, under

pinned by increasingly

sophisticated multiplicative

thinking and the ability

to compare two quantities in relative (m

ultiplicative),

rather than absolute (add

itive) terms.

The essence of proportio

nal reasoning is on

understanding the multiplicative

structures inherent

in proportion situations. C

hildren’s intuitive strategi

es

for solving proportion pro

blems are typically additive.

The teacher’s role, theref

ore, is to build on studen

ts’

intuitive additive strategi

es and guide them towards

building multiplicative structures.

From “Making connections to the big ideas in

mathematics: Promoting proportional reasoning”

Shelley Dole. Senior lecturer in mathematics

education. The University of Queensland

Above - Physical Theatre artist, Anna Yen, facilitating a Common Thread workshop.

Common Thread ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’Performance SeasonBalmoral SHS Hall

Friday 17 June 7 pmSaturday 18 June 2 pmSaturday 18 June 7 pm

A not to be missed original and innovative youth theatre production in our local community“Affirming, warm, intelligent, inclusive, funny, poignant”“Awesome and amazing”

Look out for booking details via GLC schools mid Term 2

Gateway Learning Communityc/o Balmoral State High SchoolThynne Road, Morningside, Qld 4170P.O.Box 120, Morningside, Qld 4170Phone & Fax: 07 3399 6821

GLC website: www.learningplace.com.au/sc/gbr/glc

Science Sparks an interestA Queensland Government initiative called ‘Science Sparks’, designed to improve confidence, capacity and results in the teaching of science in primary schools, is being implemented by the

GLC in 2011.

An across-school coordinating team isleading a team of classroom teacherswho are involved in writing and triallingcommon Science-based work unitsduring 2011.

Specialist science teachers from BalmoralSHS are offering professional development opportunities to supportthe content and skills being taught,whilst Regional Office Science Advisors,Valmai Nolan and Susan Kennedy Smith,link teachers to best practice in Science curriculum writing.

The GLC Newsletter will follow the‘Sparks’ in future editions this year!

GLC AngelsThe Business Service Managers (BSMs) of the GLC have been meeting as a network since 2005building an ‘only one phone call away’ support service for each school’s office.

A school office is one of the busiest office environments around with reception, finance, HR, facilitiesmaintenance, medical emergency and secretarial just some of the roles staff are involved with, often

all at the same time!!!!

As well, there have been manychanges in the EducationQueensland’s computer andcommunication systems in recentyears, which have involved thecomplete retraining of all officestaff in new software programs.

The ability to call on informalhelp and advice can make ahuge difference in solvingproblems and ensuring thebest solutions and options arefound and implemented.

At the recent meeting on 23March, the group expressedtheir satisfaction in being able

to meet with colleagues and share efficiencies, tips and advice. “These ladies are my angels”, expressed one, to general agreement. “It is excellent to be involved with this group and everyone isa great support”.

Three bays fullThe Rotary Club of Balmoral, the GLC and CannonHill SS benefited from the construction of athree bay shed on the grounds of Cannon Hill SS,and a BBQ trailer fully kitted out for cooking andserving.

The shed and trailer are being proudly funded by theQueensland Government's Gambling CommunityBenefit Fund. Although there are still a few finishingtouches to put on the $34,000 project, the respective groups have been able to moveequipment into their bays.

At a recent GLC network meeting, several GLC groundsmen kindly started moving co-owned Gateway Learning Community gear into this central storage place. Once the shed is fully complete, joint borrowing arrangements between Rotary, the GLC schoolsand with the wider community, for the equipment stored there, will be established.

The Gateway Learning Community is Balmoral State High School, Bulimba State School,Cannon Hill State School, Morningside State School, Murarrie State School, Norman Park State School and Seven Hills State School.

I SSUE 29 APR IL 2011

Right - The GLC Proportional Reasoning Project, a 3 year professional development program for GLC teachers focussing on Numeracy, held its first workshop at Bulimba SS in February 2011.

Above - The 2011 Gifted andTalented Project will again stagethe hugely successful ‘Rock DaHouse’ which will see studentrock bands put together a repertoire and tour the schoolsin Term 3.

Left - 2011 Youth PerformanceProject Common Thread “The Pursuit of Happiness” inrehearsal at Balmoral SHS.

Left - The Yr 6 GLC Band in rehearsal at Balmoral SHS as part of the 2011 GLC CombinedBands Program.

Far left - The 2011 GLC Continuityof Learning Project nurtures linksbetween Balmoral SHS and theGLC primary schools in teacherprofessional development andacross school programs. Picturedhere is the Maths competitionwhich was the culmination of aFinancial Literacy program.

Left - The 2011 GLC Early Phase of Learning Project brings five GLCschools together on 26 May to celebrate Under 8’s Week in a specialday of outdoor learning at Seven Hills SS.

Below - The annual Cannon Hill Bushland Day is a much looked forward to combined schools environmental activity which is

part of the Sustainable GLC Project.

Below - The GLC Primary schools have the opportunityto visit Balmoral SHS during the year to see what highschool has to offer.

901 Wynnum Rd, Cannon Hill, Qld, 4170

Ph (07) 3399 9492Fax: (07) 3399 6457Facebook: Di Farmer MpEmail: bulimba@parliament.qld.gov.au

Member for Bulimba

Australian Curriculum for Senior Secondary courses andin Prep to Yr 10 for Geography, The Arts, Languages andother learning areas, are currently in draft form and areunlikely to be implemented in Queensland before 2014.

On 8 December 2010, Australian education ministers endorsed the content for an Australian Curriculum in English,Mathematics, Science and History, from the ‘Foundation Year’- Prep in Qld- to Year 10. Qld educators have agreed on astaged approach to the implementation of the Prep to Yr 10Australian Curriculum up to 2013 as follows:

2011- All Qld schools will familiarize themselves with, and insome instances implement, the Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in English, Mathematics and Science.

2012- All Qld schools will implement the Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in English, Mathematics and Scienceand familiarize themselves with Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in History, whilst maintaining a ‘Queensland’Curriculum for all other learning areas

2013- All Qld schools will implement the Prep to Yr 10 Australian Curriculum in History, whilst maintaining a‘Queensland’ Curriculum for the remaining learning areas.

Australian Curriculum for Senior Secondary courses and inPrep to Yr 10 for Geography, The Arts, Languages and otherlearning areas, are currently in draft form and are unlikely tobe implemented in Queensland before 2014.

For the GLC this timeline provides opportunities for engagingwith targeted professional development for the purpose ofauditing and reviewing of current programs, and developingnew courses of study that meet the requirements of theAustralian Curriculum.

Over the past nine years seven state schools, located between the Bulimba reach of the Brisbane River and the Gateway bridges, have consciously committed to work together and with the wider community. Under the banner of the ‘Gateway Learning Community’ (GLC), they have built their collective capacity to improve educational opportunities for their, now, 2700 students.

These GLC schools realized that to be a vibrant and viable local hub of learning in the 21st century they needed to break down traditional ’school fence’ boundaries, work smarter and utilize the power of community interconnectedness. To achieve this the GLC has worked hard to develop its own codes of practice enunciating ways of being and interacting.

At the beginning of each year an agreed upon ‘portfolio of projects’ is developed and endorsed by each school’s leadership team, as a blueprint to guide the various teams and networks as they turn great ideas into reality.

This GLC newsletter is published four times a year to celebrate the progress and outcomes of GLC activities. It is sponsored fully by business advertisers in its pages and compiled by John Harrison and Jackie Cann, the dynamic duo from Make Art Work, all of whom we thank for their generous support.

We hope you enjoy reading this and all 2011 issues of the GLC Newsletter.

Businesses interested in supporting local state schools this year through advertising in this newsletter, or with financial or other support for our projects, are invited to give the Editor or Make Art Work a call. See page 4 for contact details.

Kevin Rudd MPFederal Member for Griffith

630 Wynnum Rd Morningside PO Box 476 Morningside Q 4170Phone:3899 4031 Fax: 3899 5755Email: Griffith.EO@aph.gov.auTwitter: @KRuddMP Facebook: kevinruddmp

Shayne SuttonCouncillor for MorningsideMORNINGSIDE WARD OFFICE63 Oxford Street, Bulimba, Q 4171Ph 3407 8200 Fax 3407 8205Email: morningside.ward@ecn.net.au

COUNCIL CONTACT CENTRE24HRS 7DAYS 3403 8888

Working for you in Morningside Ward

Above - A GLC school leadership team recently met to plan the GLC’s Science Sparks activities for2011. Members pictured here from left- Mardi Seccombe and Sheryl Kennedy from Bulimba SS; Chris Meagher and Allison Crane from Balmoral SHS; Susan Kennedy Smith, Regional Manager Science; Sue Butler from Cannon Hill SS and Valmai Nolan, Primary Science Facilitator, from Morningside SS.

Above - GLC Groundsmen helped move gear into the new GLC Shed. Pictured from left Dennis Fitzgerald from Morningside SS,Ross Stokes from Cannon Hill SS, Brian Saboa from Murarrie SS and Fred Collishaw from Bulimba SS.

GLC NEWSLETTEREditor: Cherry Van RytEmail: cvanr5@eq.edu.auPhone/Fax: 3399 6821or 0407 972 242

Three new GLC focus projects have been designed specifically to meet some of these objectives.

The first, ‘Continuity of Learning’, will provide opportunitiesfor dialogue between GLC stakeholders. Both principals andteachers will share best practice to align and refine teachingmethodology, to ‘smooth the junctures’ in delivering the new curriculum as students move through the middle school years (between Yr 6 and Yr 9).

The second project, ‘Moderation’, aims to ensure that there is consistency of teacher marking and judgement by comparing and developing exemplars of student work from across GLC schools.

Thirdly, ‘Proportional Reasoning’ targets one of the learning areas- Mathematics- in particular. Proportional reasoning is a major aspect of numeracy and is an essential, foundational skill for life. Explicit teaching accelerates the development of students’ proportional reasoning skills.

This professional development project will lead to enhancedteacher knowledge and the ability to identify instructional opportunities for proportional reasoning across the curriculum. Read more on Page 2.

The progress and outcomes of these new GLC projects, as well as the several other continuing GLC projects, will be celebrated in the pages of this newsletter over the course ofthe year.

Copies of the GLC 2011 AOP are available for viewing in schools and on the GLC website: www.learningplace.com.au/sc/gbr/glc Look under the Menu item.

GLC schools link to deliver new national curriculum

Bulimba • Morningside • Norman Park

Dr Daxter Yeo, MDSc (Qld) BDSc(Hons)

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Above - Danielle Thomas- Norman Parks SS, Sonia Welch -Cannon Hill SS, Loretta Da Costa-Murarrie SS, Sandy Dalzell -Bulimba SS, Julia Eggmolese- Seven Hills SS and Gayle Harris -Morningside SS compare notes at the recent GLC BSM’s Network meeting.

GLC website: www.learningplace.com.au/sc/gbr/glc

Bands tune up for 2011The GLC Combined Bands Program involves five of the GLC schools- Balmoral SHS, Bulimba SS,Morningside SS, Murarrie SS and Cannon Hill SS- rehearsing and performing not as individualschools but as combined year level bands, under the stewardship of Mr. Dean Simmons, Instrumental Music Teacher at theses five schools.

Based at Balmoral SHS the Yr 5 to Yr 12 students are challenged and supported in their musical development by playing in large and small ensembles, and are able to take full advantage of thepurpose built rehearsal space and range of equipment available at the high school.

The other two GLC schools, NormanPark SS and Seven Hills SS maintainseparate music programs which suit their locales.

Rehearsals have begun one morninga week for the Yr 6 GLC, Yr 7 GLC andBalmoral SHS Bands, and will start in Term 3 for the Yr 5 Band.

Right - The percussion section of the GLC Yr 6 Bandfrom left- Connor from Morningside SS, Tom fromCannon Hill SS, Josh and Kaiden from Bulimba SSand Holly from Morningside SS.

For more information about the Australian Curriculum visit www.qsa.qld.edu.au

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STANDING UP FOR THE SOUTHSIDE

Hawthorne now has its own lingerie boutique filled with international designer labels.

Jet’aime caters for most sizes (8A – 24G) including the gorgeous Hot Milk Maternity range.

Prices start at $24.95 for a beautifully gift wrapped set for Mother’s Day

Crn Riding Road and Pashen Street.Ph: 3399 4999

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