Newsletter Issue 4

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Unity & Diversity This is an exciting time for us as we enter into the next phase of development as an unique and truly authentic international school. This term we have begun work on improving the international look of the school with plans in place for a Reception Area facelift. We have in production large photographic banners highlighting the many activities (including international) that our students are involved in. Once we have the necessary photos, these banners will start to appear around the school. Our student data reveals 61 different cultural background, in every continent except Antarctica, something we are very proud of. Information sessions for staff on Chinese, Korean and African cultures will occur soon. In one of the sessions on our student free day staff will begin discussions on developing a common understanding of our international mindedness and how we would like our school to develop with this in mind. Parents and students will be given a similar opportunity shortly after. This will inform us when we start work on our new Middle School International Thinking curriculum in preparation for next year. Preparations for International Day on Thursday 29 October have begun. A particular focus this year is to involve parents and other members of different community and cultural groups in working with individual Home Groups in learning about an aspect of another culture and presenting something on International Day. For example this could involve learning how to cook food and holding a stall, or learning a dance and performing it on the day, painting an international mural or redeveloping our Japanese garden. If any parents are able to assist or if you know of anyone we could contact, please email Lyn Hayano at lyn.hayano@gihs.sa.edu.au or on 8379 5629. One of the actions for this year is to analyse the achievement, support and pathways for our International Students. To date we are providing extra support for students studying Maths and Business Studies as these were identified as areas of need. The first of our guest speakers from the South Australian Institute of Business and Technology (Uni SA) will provide information to both international and local students in Week 3. A similar session will be delivered by Flinders University. The study by Uni SA PhD student Mr Joe Zhou of how Chinese international students develop and cope with the changes they face is almost complete. We await his findings to see how we might develop any new support strategies. A complementary study by Adelaide University, in which GIHS is one participant, is awaiting final approval before beginning soon. Another Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classes (TESMC) course is planned for Terms 3 and 4 this year, with staff able to access an introductory on-line T&D course in the meantime. Lyn Hayano Assistant Principal/International Student Program Chair Unity & Diversity Music Night! The Music students will be presenting a concert to their parents and friends on Thursday 18 June 2009. The whole school community is invited to come along and support our young musicians. It will be held at 7.00 pm at the Uniting Church 23 Bevington Road Glenunga - which is across the street from the school. The groups participating will be the Year 9 class band, Year 10 ensembles and piano duets; flute ensemble, string ensemble, African drumming group, Year 9 rock band, and Concert Band. In the following week the Year 11 and 12 students will be performing to an invited audience. The marks for this performance will be summative marks sent to SSABSA. Parents of piano students are invited to a piano recital on Wednesday 24 May 2009 to be held in the Music Room at 12.10pm. Ari Cox Music Teacher Yr 12 Drama Production! The Year 12 Drama production of Margery Forde’s powerful play X-STACY will be performed in the PAC on Tuesday 12, Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 May. Performances start at 7pm and tickets are available at the door or in the foyer during lunchtimes. Adult tickets are $12 and concession $8. Come along and support the Year 12 Drama class and have an enjoyable night out! Geoff Kemp Drama Teacher Welcome to Facebook Glenunga! As some of you may already know, the prefects and student forum have come together and created a facebook profile called Glenunga Voice. We found that we needed more ideas and contributions from the students to help us improve the school and decided that a facebook page would hopefully get the most response. It has been extremely successful with many new ideas being proposed each day. We are steadily adding Glenunga students to the friends list, but if you have not been added and wish to be, search us on the site! In the near future we also hope to create individual groups (such as a blood donors group/year level committee groups) that will have regular notifications and updates about events. We will also start advertising a reward system for students who are regular contributors! We hope to hear from you soon on the site. Cristina Valero and Hannah Hill on behalf of Prefects and Student Forum - 4 -
Yr 12 Committee Update The Year 12 committee has been very busy lately organising the formal. We have had a number of fundraisers so far and we especially thank you for your support in the Easter raffle – we sold over 200 tickets! Thank you to all committee members who have helped at our fundraisers. We ask that if you are on the committee, come to the meetings (Thursdays in the seminar room) as we need your contributions! The formal has been booked at the Hilton for the second to last week in term 3. Hannah Hill and Cristina Valero (co-presidents) Red Cross Donations On Tuesday week 10 of term 1 a group of students plucked up the courage to donate blood at the Red Cross Centre on Currie Street. In total we had 14 donors. This is a fantastic number for our first group Photos from the raffle Glenunga Science Club In term 1 this year we set up a Science Club at Glenunga. Our main focus was encouraging and promoting primary school Science. We decided that a fantastic way to do this would be create a program where the Year 7’s from Glen Osmond Primary came to our school once a week for Science classes run by Glenunga Students. We had our first (and very successful!) Science lesson in week 8 of term 1. We had over 30 Glen Osmond students come and experience a high-school Science practical lesson run by senior students. The feedback from both parties has been great and we plan to hold our next class in the coming weeks. If you are interested in participating, it’s a lot of fun (and gets you CAS hours), so come to our meetings in M24 every Friday lunchtime. Stella Crawford and Cristina Valero (co-presidents) Photos of Glen Osmond Primary students - future scientist! donation, but we always need more! I am planning to organise another group donation in the next four weeks, so email me if you are interested or come to one of our meetings (dates to be advised). In week 7 there was also a half day seminar for Youth Ambassadors for the Red Cross. This year we have a total of 8 ambassadors – a new record for Glenunga! Congratulations! Cristina Valero (club president) Careers & VET UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test ) All students who will be applying for either Medicine, Dentistry or Health Sciences courses in 2010 will need to sit for the UMAT. It is a 2 1 / 2 hour multiple-choice test used specifically to select students into medicine and health science degree programs. Students will need to register for the UMAT and this can only be done online at http://umat.acer.edu.au. Registration must be completed by Friday 5 June 2009 which is in Week 6 of Term 2. The test date for the UMAT is Wednesday 29 July 2009. The UMAT website has a downloadable information booklet and a number of UMAT practice materials which can help to prepare students for the test. Students who sit the UMAT will also have to apply for the university course of their choice during Term 3 as well as other courses using the SATAC (South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre) process. If you have any questions about applying for UMAT or need some assistance please contact either Mr Croft or Ms Shane the school counsellors. Young Achievement Australia (YAA) YAA gives students the opportunity to learn business skills by establishing and running a real business while being mentored by business and industry professionals from the business world. Students work as a team to: - 5 -
Page 1 and 2: [Glenunga news] Contents Principal
Page 3: Directions: Environment, Our Commun
Page 7 and 8: Our Girls Team was also entered in
Page 9 and 10: Friendship Games in Japan - Ice Hoc

Newsletter Issue 4

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