SCHOOL CAMP: Our 2008 camp departs for a week in the Townsville area on Monday morning.

Students received the last edition of their camp newsletter yesterday which contained all contact phone numbers and last minute reminders.

We’re all looking forward to a week of new experiences and will come back with many tales to tell, I’m sure!

In my absence Bronwyn Wiseman will assume the role of “acting principal.”

WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY: Thank-you for the many expressions of best wishes and thanks members of our staff received last Friday.

World Teachers Day was inaugurated in 1993 to focus attention on the extraordinary contributions and achievements of teachers around the world.

Hampden is fortunate to have a staff of experienced, talented and dedicated teachers who deliver quality educational opportunities to our children.

CONGRATULATIONS: Thank-you to those parents (and former parents who still read this newsletter!) for meeting my request for information concerning the successes of our past students at high school Awards Nights.

What a range eof varied achievements there is to report from Mirani High, including some truly outstanding performances such as Lacey Mackenzie’s 7VHAs in Year 8 and Tamlyn Crozier’s 6 VHAs in Year 11 (students in years 11 and 12 only study 6 subjects!) A list of all awardees from Mirani is printed in the “school news” section. Congratulations to all listed!

Congratulations also go to Dylan Proctor who was presented with an Academic Achievement Award at Pioneer High’s Awards Night for very high achievement across all academic subjects, and to Michael Volker who was also awarded an Academic Award at North Mackay High last night. Michael’s award is given for year 8’s who have received a minimum of 5VHAs.

Our primary students inevitably move on from Hampden but they’re not forgotten, and all our staff still get a buzz from hearing of their successes in academic, cultural and sporting areas of secondary school.

Best wishes for continued success, everyone.

Howard Frost

Principal.

SCHOOL NEWS

DISCO DATE CHANGE: On November’s calendar the date for the Student Council’s Term 4 Disco is shown as Friday 28 November.

This has now had to be changed and will now be a week earlier, i.e. Friday 21 November.

BOOKCLUB: We are giving the students one more chance to order from Bookclub this year by sending home the last edition – the Christmas Edition.

As usual there is no compulsion to purchase anything, however those who do wish to place an order should have their forms back to school by Wednesday 19^th November.

BUDGET PRIORITIES: Please try to find a few spare minutes to complete the budget priorities sheet which was inserted into last week’s newsletter. Your views and suggestions are important to help shape Hampden’s future direction.

MIRANI STATE HIGH SCHOOL AWARDS

Year 8 Excellence in Academic Achievement Awards – 7 VHAs Lacey Mackenzie.

Year 8 Subject Award - Mitchell Perna – Graphics Art & Design 2; Junior Construction Semester 2

Year 11 Subject Awards - Anthony Anger – Economics. Nadine Barratt – Pre Vocational mathematics. Tamlyn Crozier – Senior Mathematics B; Biological Science; Physical Education; English. Year 11 Excellence in Academic Achievement Awards – 6VHAs Tamlyn Crozier – English; Senior Mathematics B; Chemistry; Biological Science; Physical Education; Visual Art. Sports Awards – Bronze – Athletics – Nadine Barratt, Ellise Burston. Soccer – Emma Crozier, Tamlyn Crozier, Renae Keast. Softball – Nadine Barratt. Sports Awards – Silver – Cross Country – Tamlyn Crozier. Soccer 19 yrs – Nadine Keast. Cultural Awards – Gold – Year 11 – Tamlyn Crozier. Citizenship Award – Bronze – Year 11 – Susan Adamczyk, Ann-Marie Duggan. Citizenship Award – Silver – Year 9 – Emma Crozier. Year 12 – Colleen McFarlane.

Citizenship Awards – Gold – Year 11 – Tamlyn Crozier.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. – Henri Bergson

EEC NEWS

First make your horse…

High drama at the Hampden Cup this week. Trainers were called back to discuss reports that some jockeys ran rather than galloped their horses to the finish line. The issue could not be resolved but the owner/trainers agreed to support the judge’s final decision.

Officials promised to make changes before next year’s race and include more place judges in next years line-up as Mrs Medway couldn’t keep her eye on all the horses at once (how does the race caller do it?)

Here are the results:

First place getter – Warden, ridden by Adam Perna, trained by Samara Mitchell.

Second place getter – Red lord, ridden by Jordan Watkins, trained by Joel Ashcroft.

Third place getter – Master O’Rielly, ridden by Joshua Baines, trained by Jack McLeod.

Race goers wore their finest from our dress-up box making it impossible to choose a winner from the fashion stakes.

Horses and jockeys had to pass rigorous scrutiny from officials before reaching the starting gate.

Owner/trainers from Year One assisted the Prep jockeys to ready themselves for the big race. Jockey’s colours, helmets, goggles, saddles and bridles were the order of the day. A unanimous decision was made to ban whips. Horses could not race without head, tail, mane, eyes and ears. Happily all made it to the finish line without mishap and a great day was had by all.

WEEKLY CLASS AWARDS

Year 6/7: ORAL LANGUAGE AWARD – for Rock-Pop-Mime thank-you speeches: Jordan Proctor, Andrea Perna, Laura Thompson, Jaimee-Leigh Grov, Kimberley Wales, Jordan Perna, Cody Morrison, Tiffaney Wales, Ben Wales, Chelsea Perna.

Year 4/5: Letter Report Awards for their presentations to the school on parade – Nick Perna, Alyce Volker, Abbey Medway, Jayde Mellross, Darcie Cahill, Madelaine Burley, Lachlan Thompson, Hapi Anaru.

Year 2/3: Mikaela Gee, Joesphine Faltinsky, Riley Cruickshanks, Harley Proctor, Mikeely Morrison – Oral Language Speaking Award. Kade Starrett, Shelby Mackelvie, Riley Cruickshanks – Authors of the Week.

Prep/Year One: Great Reading Progress – Joel Ashcroft, Jack McLeod, Rowan Leahy. Handwriting Award – Jack McLeod. Progress in Writing and composing – Dale Richards, Zoe Hall, Jordan Watkins.

It has been quite a while since we had seven Milestone Award winners to announce in one week. And just as impressive is the level of achievement of these. Congratulations and keep up the great work!

Dylan Edmonds (35 awards) AWESOME ACHIEVER, Lillyann Burgess (135 awards) FUTURISTIC CHALLENGER, Andrea Perna (180 awards) GALACTIC GENIUS, Tiffaney Wales (230 awards) SCINTILLATING STUDENT, Kimberley Wales (230 awards) SCINTILLATING STUDENT, Jordan Perna (230 awards) SCINTILLATING STUDENT, Ben Wales (250 awards) SCHOOL CITIZENSHIP CITATION.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Every day counts at our school

Our school encourages all parents and members of our community to support the new State Government initiative to improve student attendance.

The new program – Every Day Counts – has four key messages:

all children should be enrolled and attend school on every school day
schools should monitor and create ways to improve attendance in schools
attendance is the responsibility of everyone in the community
children may find themselves in unsafe situations if they choose not to attend or skip school

While most students attend school consistently, there is a small number of students who are absent from school without an acceptable reason and this may harm their education.

Going shopping, visiting family, staying up late and being tired or extending school holidays are not acceptable reasons to be away from school.

Research shows that if your child has a record of good attendance, they are more likely to achieve high results in the future.

If your child is away, yo need to let the school know the reasons beforehand, or within two days of returning to school.

For more information or if you need support regarding your child’s attendance, see our school principal and download the guide for parents at: www.education.qld.gov.au/everydaycounts/

CLASSROOM ROUND-UP

Last Thursday the Year 4/5 class made a visit to the Mackay Regional Council’s Recycling Centre and Botanic Gardens. Some of the children from the class share their experiences with you in the following recounts.

Recycling Centre by Jayde Mellross

The Recycling Centre is a place that collects unwanted items like milk bottles, cans, glass bottles and paper.

The Recycling Centre has lots of conveyor belts and heavy machinery. They also have a few magnets to separate the cans from the plastic and paper. The Recycling Centre started in 2005. I also saw a bone on one of the conveyor belts. Ha!!

The Recycling Centre is in the suburb of Paget. Look for the big blue and white shed. The Recycling Centre is a big help for the environment. It is very cool!!! So reduce, reuse and recycle.

Saving the Environment! By Abbey Medway

The Recycling Plant: The lady that helped us through all the steps of the recycling process was exactly the same lady that helped us at the Sustainable Home. The process was like this … Weighing the trucks, tipping the rubbish in, sorting, and crushing! Fiona was really nice!

The Botanic Gardens: We did heaps of cool stuff. The three plants we learnt about were the water lilly, water hyacinth and water lettuce! The water hyacinth and the water lettuce are terrible weeds that block up our water ways! On one sheet we saw a horrid image. It was a picture of a big goanna in water full of rubbish! How bad! Some of the birds my class mates and I saw were pelicans, black swans and magpie geese.

The Botanic Garden by Shannon Leahy

On the 30^th October the 4/5 at Hampden State School went to the Botanic Gardens.

We learnt about birds, plants, how water gets polluted and how plants float on water. Even though we were walking very long I did enjoy it.

After walking through the paths up and down, finally we got to the play ground. It’s a shame we didn’t stay long because I was enjoying it. Then we went back to school.

Issue no.36, 6th November 2008

Issue no.36, 6^th November 2008