In this issue—

2-40 Chickiba Drive,

East Ballina NSW 2478

T 02 6681 0300 F 02 6681 0499

E sthcrossc-d.school@det.nsw.edu.au

W sthcrossc-d.schools.nsw.edu.au

Principal’s Message Focus on English Premier’s Reading Challenge School/Community Events

Student calendar

Our school stands proudly on Bundjalung land

Principal’s Message

I would like to thank everyone for their efforts and time across this term. It has been particularly busy and I do hope everyone enjoyed the Easter break. As we approach the school break, please ensure that learning materials are up to date, completed and returned for marking whether electronically or via mail. The Staff are looking forward to next term and would like this to start with all our students on track.

School Camp will be on next term as advertised. This has limited places and each application will be considered on merit, so if you are interested, make sure your notes and money are in.

It has been great to catch up with some of the students in the learning hubs and those visiting our campus. Great to see you all and to hear that you are enjoying our Distance Education model of learning.

As we head into Term 2, I would like to say a big Hello and Welcome to our new Casino Campus. The amalgamation of this campus sees us go to a K to 12 school and we welcome the Students and their parents/caregivers as well as the staff from the Casino campus.

We will endeavour to ensure that there is no disruption to the teaching and learning process as the staff get used to our systems and routines. If there are any issues, please do not hesitate to contact your teacher to let them know. Alternately, contact the executive staff at the Southern Cross School of Distance Education and we will do our best to assist or find someone who can. Welcome all.

As usual, if you have an inquiry or would like to talk, please contact the school to discuss your learning, or that of your child, with our teachers. Yours in Education

Danny Henman

Issue 5

4 April 2018

Student Newsletter

Opportunity * Wellbeing * Engagement

Congratulations Mitika Mitika Ryan was awarded TAFE NSW Casino

Campus 2017 Excellence Award for TVET Student of the Year Early Childhood Education and Care.

Mitika undertook this course as part of her

school based traineeship with the Jumbunna Community Pre-school.

Mitika’s teacher said: Mitika has demonstrated

consistent commitment and passion in her studies. She has achieved excellent results in all her studies

and within the workplace. She always shared her knowledge and understandings within the class. By

Jeannie Kuwert Mitika’s TVET teacher

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Focus on English

This cartoon cracks us up every time…but we is English

teachers – sorry! We ARE English teachers.

There are so many grammar and punctuation rules that

sometimes don’t make sense. Before the printing press was

invented, language was a fluid phenomena and people

spelled words however they sounded.

Did you know that William Shakespeare signed his name

FIVE different ways?

A common error is the apostrophe, used for showing

ownership.

POSSESSIVE APOSTROPHES

Peter owns a hat.

The way to show this is Peter’s hat. Simple.

But, what if James owns a hat too?

Then the correct possessive apostrophe is James’s hat. You

can use James’ hat, but this has come from American

usage and it really irks English teachers.

Putting the apostrophe after the ess – s’, is usually used to

show plural possession – more than one person.

For example: the teacher’s hat for singular (one teacher) or

the teachers’ hats for plural, or more than one teacher.

It’s all about how the words sound.

ZOMBIES WEARING HATS

Imagine if the zombies all got hats? You would write that it’s

the zombie’s hat.

But what if there were a lot of zombies and they were all

wearing hats? It would sound weird to say ‘the zombies’s

hats’! Try saying that aloud. So you would write: the

zombies’ hats.

Of course, if you are being approached by a pack of

zombies, whether

they are wearing

hats or not, and you

are thinking about

apostrophe use

rather than running

away screaming,

then maybe you

should consider

becoming an English

teacher?

More fascinating, fun

grammar next time,

when we explain the

meaning of the word

‘oxymoronic’. That

is, if we can escape

the zombies…

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Focus on English

4

Focus on English

5

Excerpt from a longer story by

Belle Smith, Year 11

“Millie, …please darlin’ I know you’re there.”

The way the lady’s voice drawled made me cringe. Did she think me so short-minded to forget every time she yelled, pinched her nails into the tender skin of my ear, or wacked the back of my hand until I thought the skin would peel right off with the spoon.

“She’s quite tame,” the mistress was saying now. “Can get her chin up a bit, but a little spark never did no body no harm.”

“Well she’ll learn to behave right quick with us, don’t you care none ‘bout that.” Another lady’s voice unfamiliar to me, joined the conversation.

The musty smell of long pent up air and boards burnt my nostrils and I thought my lungs would burst if they didn’t cough up all the dust sitting on them. I sometimes imagine that my lungs could do with a

Focus on English

The secret ingredient: drafting

This is a very interesting article, written by

Jessica as a piece of extension work to use her

travel experience in her Year 8 English course.

The story is fantastic, combining reportage with

travel information, starting with the moving

anecdote of the string of pearls.

But for those of you saying ‘I could never write

this’ I would like to point out that Jessica’s

polished final piece is thanks to her hard work re-

drafting, as much as her lovely writing style.

Jessica asked for and accepted constructive

criticism from her teacher, from which she

reworked this article not once, not twice, but three

times.

What it shows is the importance of submitting

drafts to your teacher for feedback and then

applying the feedback to your work. All the best

writers write and re-write. No one gets it perfect

first go, so don’t put the burden of that

expectation on yourselves.

Ask for feedback from your teacher, then draft

and re-draft.

Well done, Jessica!

Zacharey Jane (English Teacher)

good cleanin’. I’m right good at cleanin’ too, done enough of it I reckon. I’d sparkle them up nice and shiny, with polish and buff an’ not a cough or niggle would escape them. I don’t mind the dust much though. It’s excitin’ behind the boards. Like I’m free in me own world, me own kingdom, that not a soul’s found… ’cept me of course. It’s dark, an’ right cosy like, but most of all… it’s safe.

“Millie!” It was the mistress again and she was right close this time. “You list’n hear girl. Come out this minute or… or I’ll…” She paused a minute as if catching herself. I could almost imagine her casting a weary glance at the visitors. Her tone changed in an instant as she let out a nervous little laugh. “Sweetie? Millie darlin’.” I wish she’d cut off with the darlin’s. Who does she think she’s foolin’? “Please come out, I got bickies…”

Sure you do Ma’am, bickies and a big wooden spoon sitting right behind your back.

“Listen Mrs Patterson, I’m sorry but the child won’t do.” It was a man’s voice now. I’d seen his face, right before I ran, and I tell ya, if you’da seen ‘im you’d have run too. Eyes… hard as the pots I polish and the face! Ha! You’d be sure it was carved straight out of stone!

“I need a workin’ girl ya see, we don’t take no silliness, which this little mite seems to have in loads.” It was the woman again.

“Too right, she does.” The man again. “You have any more we can look at, surely there are other children... A boy perha..?”

“No David! We been through all that already, it’s a girl we be needin’ or you men ‘ll have to cook ya own food and sew ya own shir…”

“Woah. Don’t get ya a dander up Ma’am. We be wantin’ a girl then Mrs Patterson. A right strong one if ya have her.”

“Oh… yes, I suppose we do, but this one be right fine for ya…. Millie! Come out this minute! She really isn’t so bad. Millie!”

“No. No thank-ya kindly. What other children do ya have?”

I smiled, letting my back slide down the boards behind me until I touched the floor and hugged my legs in close. I closed my eyes and let my breath escape slowly, watching the vapour carve a way through the dust. I’d wait a few hours before confronting my sure punishment. A few hours of pure bliss.

6

Textiles workshop at Maclean

High School by Angela Carroll

Northern Rivers Green

Innovation Awards 2018

We are pleased to be able to invite you to participate in the 2018 Green Innovation Awards. This is a new award that will be run for the first time in Term 1 2018, recognising Innovation, Team Work, Business Planning and Environmental Science.

The aim of the awards is two fold:

To encourage students to innovate in a 'green' way and for them to carry this passion throughout their lives.

For students to be acknowledged in a way that shows that their contribution is valuable; and to educate them that we all have a part to play in looking after our world.

The awards are open to any age group but will be judged in two categories: Primary School and Secondary School.

Create a new innovation or build on an existing one

Students will be asked to demonstrate innovation in one of four categories and can build something to present, or they can create a detailed plan of their idea.

The four categories are:

Waterways management

Waste management

Green products or recycling used in building or packaging

Biofuels/renewable energy

We encourage you to be creative, to conduct thorough research and reach out to companies within the industry for further understanding of current practices if needed.

Students can work as a class or a small group and can present as a group or individual.

Facebook page where we will be sharing ideas and inspiration:

Green Innovation Awards Northern Rivers

How you choose to implement the awards in your classroom is open to your interpretation.

We want you to teach in whatever way best suits your students and your classroom environment.

Entries will be due Wednesday 11th April 2018

Entries should be submitted as a 5 minute video sent via Dropbox to:

greeninnovationnr@hotmail.com

In MPEG, MP4 or AVI format

We will send a return email confirming that your entry has been received.

Finalists will then be selected from the entries received and finalists will be notified by the beginning of Term 2. They will then be invited to attend the presentation day held at:

Trinity Catholic College, Champagnant Centre, Wednesday 30th May

2018

Finalists will be asked to make a live 10 minute presentation in front of a panel of judges consisting of environmental scientists, business leaders and traditional elders.

The winner will receive prize money of $300 and a perpetual trophy to display at their school for the next 12 months.

The awards are sponsored by Rous Water and Goonellabah Family Chiropractic and will be attended by local mayors, members of parliament and local business leaders.

We wish you all the best and can’t wait to see your entries!

Kind Regards

Dr Bridie Cullinane

Chiropractor

Background to the Awards

The Green Innovation Awards were born out of a desire for myself and my practice members to be involved in moving to a more sustainable way of living.

We were looking for a way that we could make a difference and came up with the idea of initiating and sponsoring an award that encouraged children to think about caring for their environment.

We are fortunate to have a large patient base of people who have a broad range of skills and passions, including many Teachers, University Lecturers, Environmental Scientists and Aboriginal Elders.

Together, and with the support of local industry and Trinity Catholic College, we have been able to make Green Innovation Awards a reality.

We hope that the awards will be a great success and will continue for many years into the future!

Textiles workshop at Maclean HS last week

Year 11 and 12 students travelled from Woodlawn, Tweed

Valley Adventist School and Maclean, Alstonville and

Bellingen High Schools to participate in the machine

embroidery and fabric surface decoration techniques. The

students explored the possibilities of making an

underwater scene from fabric and thread. They will use the

skills that they have learnt to create future textile projects. It

was very inspiring to see that the students were willing to

take the journey all the way from outlying areas to

participate.

April Rose Lilyman, Makela Moran, Domonique Gubby,

Milana Haupt, Breanna McBride Brooke Jeffery, Jessica

Scmich, Ashleigh Levi.

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Premier’s Reading Challenge

Enter the Premier’s

Reading Challenge 2018

and win a lifetime of great

book memories!

Last year, Southern Cross

School of Distance

Education student Joshua

Osborne was one of only

480 students in the whole of

New South Wales to win

the Premier’s Reading

Challenge Medal for

successful participation in

the Premier’s Reading

Challenge (PRC) every

year from Year 3 to Year 9.

Along the way, Joshua also

collected certificates for

every year he successfully

completed his reading

challenge, and he enjoyed

over one hundred really

good books.

The PRC aims to

encourage a love of reading

for leisure and pleasure in

students, and to

enable them to experience

quality literature. It is not a

competition but a challenge

to each student to read, to

read more and to read more

widely.

The 2018 Challenge kicks

off Monday 5 March and

closes Friday 31 August (midnight). Booklists of recommended readings for all ages are

available on the Challenge website. To be awarded a certificate or medal, students must

read the minimum number of books for their year, including a minimum number of books

from the PRC booklist. K-2 must read at least 30 books, 25 from the PRC list, while

students in Years 3-9 must read 20 books minimum, 15 from the PRC list.

Interested? Check out the details on the Premier’s Reading Challenge website for the reading list and entry details. Search for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, or go to https://www.premiersreadingchallenge.nsw.edu.au, or contact the Southern Cross Distance Ed PRC coordinator Kerri Browne at kerri.browne3@det.nsw.edu.au. Happy reading!

Josh Osborne proudly receiving his Medal for seven years participation in the Premier's Reading Challenge.

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Two HSC Photography, Video and Digital Imaging students Brody Filmer and Jacinta Thomas will be exhibiting their stop-motion animation works at LOUD in the Gallery, a celebration of

senior students' work from the Northern Rivers. 2017 Visual Arts student Jewel Boyers' Body of Work

will also be on display.

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Student Calendar 2018

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

Week 11

April

9 10 11 12 13 LAST DAY OF TERM 1

School Holidays (14—29 April 2018)

Term 2

Week 1

April/May

30

School Development Day

1 2 3 4

Week 2

May

7 8

Camp

9

Camp

10 Camp

11 Camp

Week 3

May

14 15

NAPLAN

16

NAPLAN

17 NAPLAN

18

Week 4

May

21

Tweed—TAS Textiles

Coffs—English

22

Tweed—PDHPE

Woolgoolga—English

Coffs—Science

(not at centre)

23

Pottsville—PDHPE

Yamba/Iluka—English

Grafton—Science

(not at centre)

24 Grafton—TAS Textiles/Timber

25 Lismore SCU—Science

Mini schools for full time students are in blue text.