People who know me through my professional or personal relationships know that I proudly tell everyone I meet that I am proud and honoured to be the Principal of an incredible school that is achieving great things and providing great opportunities for the students of the Northern Gold Coast.

When I describe our school I speak about our focus on kindness, on inclusivity, on respect, and on high expectations. I talk about our wonderful students who every day demonstrate integrity and perseverance, and I acknowledge that we continue to support a small number of students who are learning and growing in their ability to regulate their emotions and their behaviours. 

When I describe our staff I speak of the incredible professionalism, dedication and teamwork that I observe each and every day. I truly can say I have never seen teachers and staff who work so relentlessly to provide opportunities, support and challenges to students.

I speak about our parents being engaged and supportive, and that they too have the same high expectations that I do around behaviour, respect, uniform, technology use/misuse, and the completion of school and home work. It really is a privilege to be part of a school community that is doing all it can to provide a world of opportunities for our children.

Communication between school and home

As you are aware we take the safety and wellbeing of our students very seriously and do all we can to ensure their continued safety in all areas. We can only act on incidents that we are aware of and urge our students and parents to report any incidents to the school immediately. We assure you that we then respond as soon as possible to investigate and address any issues. Our students know that they can report incidents to school staff, to Student Services or via the new QR Code.

Parents – we need you to report concerns to the school and not to social media or parent pages. Posting and commenting there does nothing to help us support your child or respond to issues. Of course we will not censor your appropriate comments on social media pages, if we have not responded appropriately, but it is very disappointing to hear about an incident for the first time via a social media post. To report any concerns, please contact the Head of Year – Year 7 – Mr Ruge or Year 8 Mrs Bullock, the Year 7 Deputy Principal, Ms Schroeder or Year 8 Deputy Principal, Ms Dianne Nicolas, or feel free to contact me directly.

At times due to the privacy of our students, parents, or staff members, we cannot disclose detailed information about incidents or consequences. Please understand that staff can inform you whether an incident has been investigated and if consequences have been imposed. They are unlikely to be able to disclose the specifics. Please be assured that we do act on breaches of the Code of Conduct immediately and according to our policies. If you have any concerns in this space, please feel free to contact me.

Perserverance

We are now entering a period where a large number of final assessment pieces are due to be submitted. Students have received feedback throughout their units to support them in preparing for these assessment tasks. Please be sure to keep updated on what is happening in this space for your child and support them with their time management and organisation so that their best work can be submitted by the due date. I wish them well as they persevere to present their very best work and achieve the best outcomes in all subject areas.

Foxwell recognised as a School designed to support student wellbeing

Until next time

Mrs Kym Amor

Principal

Foxwell State Secondary College

On the 6th of December, to celebrate the fantastic year of learning, growth and development of our Year 7s at Foxwell State Secondary College, we would like to reward them and recognise all of their hard work and determination throughout this year of transition.

[Previously this day was advertised as the 8^th of December. This has since been amended to Monday the 6^th of December to better align with school and theme park operations].

Students will have the option of organising their own transport and/or using a school organised bus service at a small cost. Park entry fees are reduced for school groups with tickets priced at $38. If students have a valid pass already, they are more than welcome to use it on the day.

Parallel to this day will be an alternative program of school based supervision for those students not attending the Celebration Day.

If you haven’t already, please complete this form as an expression of interest to help us plan this day of celebration!

Please take note of school communication for important information regarding permission forms and payment which will be available shortly.

Year 7 – Mr Braiden Ruge – bruge3@eq.edu.au

Year 7s aren’t the only ones celebrating, and on Monday December 6th the Year 8s will also head off campus for our end of year excursion. This year the  Year 8s will get active and outdoors “in and on the green” with an orienteering and golf experience.

Permission forms including key event details and any associated costs will be sent out by email in the coming week.

While we would encourage all students to join these end of year celebrations with their peers, please contact the relevant Head of Year if you are planning for your student to be absent on this day:

Year 8 – Mrs Elle Bullock – emgil0@eq.edu.au

Information and permission slips for Transition Day have been emailed to all enrolled families of 2022 Year 7 students.  Please check your junk mail folders, particularly if you have a Gmail or Hotmail email account.

In order to participate in this very important event, families must return a completed permission slip to admin@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au by Wednesday 1 December.

Students that have not completed an enrolment package, booked an enrolment interview and returned their permission slips by Wednesday 1 December, will not be able to attend this very imporant event that will prepare your students for their first year at high school.  If you have not received this important information and permission slip, please contact the Administration Office to have it resent.

The final day for payments through the finance window for Term 4 will be the 19th of November 2021. 

All invoices are now overdue. Please make payment as soon as possible for any outstanding Student Resource Scheme invoices or Excellence Program invoices. 

Statements will be sent fortnightly to families. 

Do you receive Family Tax Benefit A or B from Centrelink? If so, you can nominate a fixed amount to be paid form your Family Tax Benefit directly to the School to cover your child's education costs. Please see link to a CentrePay Application form. You can submit this form directly to the Finance Department via email at finance@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au

2022 Year 7 information evening

It was lovely to see some familiar faces and to meet some new families at the information evening on Tuesday night. The P&C look forward to welcoming new families to our committee.

P and C meeting

The final P&C meeting of the year will take place on Tuesday the 9^th of November in the Learning Hub at 6PM. If there is a change to this, we will notify families via a Facebook post on the Foxwell school page.  All are welcome to attend and take part in discussions with other families and school staff.

Recycling

We have a container for change account C10256140 if you have bottles/cans or poppers that you would like to donate either at the centre or to school

The Athletes Foot Helensvale

This store donates $5.00 to school every time you purchase a pair of shoes. Please ask for this to go to Foxwell State Secondary College P&C when you next purchase. Thank you, this is appreciated.

Best wishes

Roz Rowe

P&C President

pandc@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au

Uniform and Incorrect Uniform Procedure

In the Week 3 newsletter, we revisited uniform expectations, specifically around shoes, socks and prohibited items. This week we would like to draw attention to our expectations around the wearing of sports vs formal uniforms. Each student has been informed of their sports uniform day, with all other days requiring the formal uniform. To ensure we can maintain our high standard of uniform into the end of the year, the days on which each student is required to wear their sports uniform is listed below. Please note, sports uniform includes sports hat and there should be no mixing and matching of sport and formal uniform items.

In the instance that the uniform policy cannot be followed, students should present with a note from home explaining the detail, reason and expected date to rectify the issue. Students not in possession of a note, or who have persistent uniform breaches, will be issued with a lunchtime detention which can be completed on a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday main break with our Heads of Students.

Sports Uniform Days by Day of the Week

Last week, the Gold Coast Public Health visited FSSC to administer the second round of HPV vaccination [NOT COVID] for our Year 7 students. Our Year 7's put on some brave faces and did very well.

Human Papilloma Virus, or HPV, is a common virus that affects both males and females. The vaccine protects against 9 types of HPV that are the most common causes of cervical cancer and genital warts in Australia.

If your child missed their school HPV immunisation, The Gold Coast Public Health unit will be in contact with you with information. If needing to follow up, they can be contacted here:

Gold Coast Public Health Unit

T: 1800 940 750

E: admin.immunisegc@health.qld.gov.au

W: www.health.qld.gov.au/immuniseGC

Alternate means of catching up the HPV vaccination include:

• at a free community immunisation clinic (if offered by your local council or immunisation service provider)
• by your doctor - Year 7 will be eligible for catch-up vaccinations before they turn 20 years of age. After this time, vaccines need to be purchased via private prescription.

The vaccine will be free, however you may be charged a consultation fee by your doctor or immunisation provider. It is important to have your child vaccinated in the same year the vaccine is offered in the school program.

Mathematics In the World

This week in Mathematics, both Year 7 and 8 students started their studies in statistics by investigating the question “Poverty – is it a real issue world wide?”  Students investigated the concept of poverty and the levels it exists in a range of countries around the world.  They used their mathematical knowledge to determine that on average 28 million people live in poverty in a range of countries.  From these investigations, students realised how powerful maths can be in exploring some of the world’s big issues and how we, as a community, can start looking at these issues to effect change globally by thinking and acting locally.

We are proud to announce the results for Foxwell State Secondary College's inaugural Japanese Art Competition.

The Year 7 students created an artwork inspired by Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic piece, The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1831). 

Here are the winners for the Year 7 Division.

Year 7 SPIRIT Award: Lacey Ellis (7E)

Year 7 Student Choice Award: Jett Murray (7A)

Year 7 Staff Choice Award: Amritha Ravipati (7D)

The Year 8 students created artwork inspired by one of the world’s most famous female artists, Yayoi Kusama. Kusama’s work explores infinity patterns, bold colours, and self-portraits.

Here are the three winners from the Year 8 Division.

Year 8 SPIRIT Award: Brianna Johnstone (8C)

Year 8 Student Choice Award: Ellieana Frazer (8C)        

Year 8 Staff Choice Award: Chaddian Mansfield (8F) 

FLOURISH

Foxwell is a proud Japanese language school not only due to the economic, cultural, and geographical partnerships with Japan, but because of the kindness which is at the core of its language and culture. Each Bulletin, we will celebrate our young language learners who demonstrate the school’s SPIRIT values.

Today, join us to recognise Ryan Huang (7D) who has flourished this term. Ryan is always there to support his peers (Service) and has embraced the extension program to challenge himself every lesson (Perseverance, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility).

Ryan applied kaizen to produce work beyond his year level. Here is a snapshot of his self-introduction. 

We hope our flourish students will help inspire the hundreds of language students across Foxwell to achieve their goals.

Thank you.

FINALLY! G STEM students had an opportunity to go to camp. An earlier attempt had been thwarted by inclement weather.

The girls had a great opportunity to experience learning a variety of skills such as collecting and examining specimens as well as developing their social skills by spending time together.

There was hard work but overall this camp really was fun and games.

A great BIG thank you to Ms McClymont and Mrs Moraes who worked really hard to help make this camp an astounding success!

Back at school…

Students are currently designing a robot delivery service. The girls are programming the robots to follow a pathway to deliver goods. The robots will be programmed to perform pre-designed moves and then scuttle back to their charging station. This is in the preliminary stage so we will update you when these have been completed.

Year 8 have been able to take time out to do a few fun, smaller experiments this term. The pictures below are taken of the students mixing magnesium metal with hydrochloric acid and producing a ‘POP’ when they light the captured hydrogen gas in the test tube. It’s obviously not possible to show the ‘POP” and many of the photos were blurred when the photographer jumped with every loud explosion.

FUN FACT

Hydrogen is believed to be one of the 3 elements produced in the Big Bang. It is the most abundant element in the universe and can exist without neutrons. Hydrogen is also getting a lot of attention at the moment as the production of green hydrogen gas is becoming cheaper and because it is so abundant, cheap and clean-burning then it is considered the fuel of the future to replace fossil fuels.

The G-STEM Up & Atom Fair in Term 3 was an opportunity for our G-STEM students to pursue any STEM passion project in which they were interested. In association with PhD students from Universities around Australia, and with our partner program The Wonder of Science, our students questioned, researched, and explored their passion projects. They stepped out of their comfort zones, and presented this to their peers as well as a wider community audience, to share their knowledge and to inspire others to join their conversations. The audience, including students, teachers, parents, scientists and researchers voted for five People’s Choice Awards, which were recognised with a certificate, a medal, and a Foxwell SSC canteen voucher. The winners of the People’s Choice Awards are:

Chayla Ngatupuna, Year 7: Chayla investigated whether thimerosal, which is a chemical found in vaccines, could actually lead to autism in young children.

Summer Taylor, Year 7: Summer designed an underwater rover that can collect microplastics in the ocean which would otherwise harm marine life.

Alexie Paza, Year 7: Alexie’s inquiry was about the long-term impacts of using 3D printed bone implants instead of natural bone grafts in the medical field.

Amritha Ravipati, Year 7: Amritha investigated the harmful effects of NOVA ultra-processed foods, such as chips, on the chemical imbalances in our brain.

Haylie Martin, Year 8: Haylie researched Congenital Heart Disease, a heart abnormality that develops before birth. Specifically, she investigated the effects of the disease in children and adolescents

One student in each of Year 7 and Year 8 was selected to receive the SPIRIT of STEM Award, based on their thorough understanding of the STEM inquiry process, their project’s reflection of the global competency of Citizenship, as well as their unwavering display of the College’s SPIRIT values. The recipient of this award received the spirit of STEM inaugural trophy, medal, certificate, and a $50 Westfield voucher sponsored by Westfield Coomera. The winners of the SPIRIT of STEM Award are:

Mia Szkoruda, Year 7: Mia investigated the extent to which people would like her home-made cookies that reduced environmental impact by replacing wheat, palm oil and cocoa beans with more sustainable ingredients. She showed exemplary Perseverance as she worked through what for her were overwhelming challenges digitally, socially, and emotionally, to create an extraordinary presentation in front of a crowd. She showed Integrity in the quality of her STEM understanding and Responsibility in her care for the environment. Well done Mia.

Kailah Young, Year 8: Kailah investigated how personality traits can affect memory retention when learning in different environments. She tested a range of adults to see if they displayed more introverted or extroverted characteristics. She then had them complete memory tests in loud and quiet environments to see if this effected their memory. Kailah displayed all SPIRIT values throughout her investigation. In particular, Kailah was Inclusive and Respectful when supporting her participants in tests that, at times, could be nerve-racking.  She was non-judgemental and professional, an important skill when conducting social experiments. Well done, Kailah.

QLD Athetics All Schools Competition

Over the weekend, Sporting Minds student, Mitchell Goodman, attended an athletics meet. Mitchell took the initiative to register himself and our school to compete in the QLD Athletics All Schools competition

Mitchell competed in the Under 14 age group. In the 100m he finished 2nd in his heat with time of 12.68; a new PB which placed him 8th overall. And in the 200m he finished in his heat with a time of 26.59 (and he was 9th overall).

Both performances put him in the top 10 in his age group

Congratulations, Mitchell!

The Southport School Transition Swim Meet.

Sporting Minds student, Montana Atkinson, competed on the weekend at the TSS Transition meet at Gold Coast Aquatic Pool. She had an amazing day and completed all races, mostly long distance. Montana set 5 new QLD Records and her very first 4 Australian Records & 5 Gold Medals. Not only that, she was able to personally catch up with Swimmer S14 Maddie McTernan Silver Medallist at Tokyo Paralympics which Montana was lucky enough to hold the silver medal and place around her neck.

Results as follows:

200 IM Time 2.52.20 & New PB -6.10 QLD record + Gold Medal

200 Free Time 2.23.13 & New PB -3.64 QLD record & Australian Record  + Gold Medal

400 Free Time 4.58.07 & New PB -15.13 QLD record & Australian Record  + Gold Medal

50 Free Time 31.50 & New PB -0.61 QLD record  + Gold Medal

200 Back Time 2.50.83 & New PB -5.57 QLD record & Australian Record + Gold Medal

100 Backstroke Time 1.19.91 & New PB -4.58 QLD Record & Australian Record

Great work, Montana. Some amazing results and moments for you.

A DAY IN THE LIFE EXPERIENCE

On Tuesday the 26^th of October 35 of our Year 8 students who are keen on exploring a future in the Construction field had the opportunity to experience a Day in the Life.

Partnering with Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) and FKG Group, our students participated in a site induction, trade discussion panel, and a site tour of stage two of our school.  Students had the opportunity to ask questions and listen to demonstrations from a range of trades. By participating in events like this one, students are introduced to a variety of industries, and a great conversation starter regarding future career interests and goals. 

We look forward to working with CSQ, FKG and other partners to provide our students with a World of Opportunities in the future.

Melissa-Lee Furtado

Industry Liaison Officer

HAVE YOU SUBMITTED YOUR ENROLMENT APPLICATION FOR 2022?

Our 2022 Year 7 cohort is quickly filling up!

A reminder to our families with Year 6 children who wish to join their older siblings at Foxwell SSC in 2022, that enrolment applications need to be completed as soon as possible.  

If you, or anyone you know that intends to enrol a Year 7 student for 2022, has not yet submitted your enrolment application or attended your enrolment interview with the Principal, Mrs Kym Amor, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible. Enrolment packages can be found here.

We don't want you to miss out on attending important transition events!