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Firstly, I would like to welcome a number of new students and parents who have joined our school community in recent weeks. It is always a pleasure to have new families join our school community and I look forward to working with you both now and well into the future. This year, has seen a number of "firsts" for our school, and Term 2 has been no exception. The advent of learning from home and social distancing restrictions have not been without their challenges, but as a school I have been extremely proud of your response to these challenges. In particular, your ongoing support, patience and encouragement for the staff, school and your child's learning during this time has been exceptional. Without your support and understanding we would not have come through this situation as well as what we have. So once again, thank you!
At this stage, the government plans for all students to resume schooling on Monday 25th May. As a school we are looking forward to the return of normal schooling but have updated a range of school practices to ensure that high levels of hygiene and safety precautions have been implemented to minimise the risks associated with COVID-19. In particular, additional cleaning will be conducted during school hours in "high touch" and traffic areas and hand sanitizer available in all learning spaces. We will continue to monitor departmental and health recommendations over the coming weeks to ensure that all staff and students are afforded the best in both hygiene and education.
On Friday 1st May, the final buildings of our Stage 1 works were handed over by WATPAC. The Sports Hall and underground car park are now complete and students will enjoy using these new facilities throughout this term. When restrictions are lifted in the future I plan to invite the school community to view this great facility that I hope will be used by sport and community groups in the future. To provide some perspective of this magnificent resource, the indoor sports hall could accommodate 77 council buses end to end and side by side, with approximately 1 1/2 acres of court space with the combined inside and outside sport courts. This combined with over 280 car spaces will make a school and community resource that will serve the Ripley community well into the future.
On Wednesday 22nd April, our school held our first ANZAC day ceremony with the service live streamed on our Facebook page. This solemn ceremony included the planting of a Lone Pine tree from the P & C Association in our front garden and a plaque has been arranged to mark this significant event in our school's history. As part of our school's commitment to the ANZAC tradition we are looking to dedicate a large portion of land at the front of our school as a school and community ANZAC Place. A masterplan has been created for the re-development of this area to include a cenotaph, sculptures and seat of remembrance to honour the service and sacrifice of our defence service men and women. A copy of the proposed ANZAC Place plan is available in this newsletter and on our school's website. I encourage any feedback and comments on this initiative and welcome any financial or in-kind support that may assist us in realising this masterplan.
As school, work and and life slowly returns to "normal" we are already planning for the 2021 school year. This term we have contacted local primary schools to let them know families can enrol for the 2021 school year now. We already have a growing waiting list of people wanting to enrol in our school for next year and by having these forms in early it assists us in our planning and transition programs which we hope to roll out in the second half of this year. If you have a child who you are planning to enrol at Ripley Valley State Secondary College in 2021 I would encourage you to complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) form located on our website and return to our administration office as soon as possible. The below link will provide you with the necessary information and if you require further information please contact the school office via email at admin@ripleyvaleyssc.eq.edu.au or phone 3819 5333.
https://ripleyvalleyssc.eq.edu.au/enrolments
Once again, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support and partnership with us as a school and I look forward to continuing to work with you into the future.
Brendan Krueger
Foundation Principal
- Term 1 Face-to-Face Learning
- Term 2 Learning@Home Program
- expected Term 2 Face-to-Face Learning (Weeks 6-10)
Our Term 2 Assessment Program for all subject areas has been modified to ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to achieve whether they are learning remotely or at school. Our teachers are also currently planning for the expected return of Years 7 and 8 students in Week 6 and are implementing appropriate modifications for the remainder of Term 2. If you have any concerns about the Term 2 Learning and Assessment Program, please contact your child's teacher.
At Ripley Valley SSC, integrating technologies in the classroom is part of our regular classroom practices. You can expect that after the conclusion of the remote and flexible learning arrangements, students will still be able to access their learning through Daymap. This is a great way for any sick or absent students to be able to independently catch up on missed learning. Teachers will also continue to allocate homework tasks through their Daymap Lesson Schedules and these will continue to be available to parents through the Daymap Parent Connect Portal. If you have been unable to register for a Parent Portal account, please contact tech@ripleyvalleyssc.eq.edu.au for assistance.
Emily Prenzler
Our College has a positive culture that promotes student wellbeing; instilling a sense of pride in our students. This is reinforced through our House system that establishes opportunities for all students to contribute to College and community life. The House structure is at the heart of our school culture and forms an integral part of how we maintain a supportive and inclusive environment.
College Spirit
I would like to take this opportunity to present our new House and Ripley Raptors Sports logo. This logo will be proudly displayed when students are competing against sporting teams from other schools. At the start of this year students collaborated within their House to select mascots and write their war cries during the House Day. Over the next 6 months we will be working with students and the P&C to design House shirts for staff and students to continue to promote House spirit.
We look forward to the return of all of our students in the not too distant future.
Student Resource Scheme Payments
Thank you to those families that have paid the Term 2 instalment.
The Term 2 instalment of $168.75 was due on Friday 1 May 2020 and payment would be appreciated as soon as possible if you have not yet made the payment.
Payment via BPOINT is appreciated. To make you payment via BPOINT you will need your invoice number and CRN (Client Reference Number) from your statement or invoice.
Telephone payments are also available - Call the school 3819 5333, select option 2 and have your invoice number and CRN handy.
If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please contact Michelle Mills - Business Manager via Email - bsm@ripleyvalleyssc.eq.edu.au or Phone (07)3819 5333 to arrange an appointment to discuss payment plan options. Any iformation that you provide will be confidential.
Michelle Mills
Business Manager
eSports
Angela Waugh
HOD - Digital Technologies | English | Humanities
Angela Waugh
Email: awaug24@eq.edu.au
Student Support Services (SSS) Committee
The Student Support Services Committee has now been formally established. Our committee works together across services to support students with significant needs. Below is a graphic to help illustrate the different levels of supports for students.
Students are referred to the Committee when their support needs require assistance outside of the general classroom environment. Sometimes students may need different levels of support at different times so what this triangle shows is that we start with Quality Instruction and the further support around this is added to help the student, based on their level of need.
The Student Support Services Committee members are:
- Head of Inclusion (Chair)
- Guidance Officer (Secretary)
- Deputy Principals
- House Coordinators
- Speech and Language Pathologist
- Defence Mentor
- Queensland Youth and Families Support Service
Our aim as a Committee is to provide support to students that meets their individual needs. We work collaboratively from our different roles to share strategies and case manage students with significant needs. From this, we are able to offer support that works across our school and external services to ensure we share a common goal of support. We also review practices and strategies in place to make sure that what is planned is working in the best interest of the student, that it is tailored to their individual needs, and incorporates the student's voice in the planning of their support.
Support for students is documented through Personalised Learning Plans and/or Support Provisions. Teachers and the Committee work together in collecting data on students so everyone is on the same page in what support is needed and how the student is going. If our strategies stop working, the Committee discuss and plan alternative strategies. For example, students grow out of their uniforms and we have to replace them and the same applies for their Support Plans. This means that we are constantly reviewing our data to make sure what we plan with the students is still what fits for them.
In addition to individual support, we also support the whole school with student engagement and wellbeing. Recent examples of this has been the Wellbeing lessons each week for students and our transition programs.
As Students move back to school, it is important to keep to a routine at home. Your child will have all the tips and suggestions presented through the Wellbeing lessons that they can use if and when they need to. A great way to ease their transition back to school is to continue practicing mindfulness.
This helps students recognise how they are feeling and what is making them feel a certain way. If they can recognise this, they can use the suggested strategies to help them feel better and always have a chat with our staff in Student Services.
We are very much looking forward to having everyone back!
Rhiannon Kemp
Head of Inclusion
Rhiannon Kemp
Phone: 3819 5319
Email: rxtoo0@eq.edu.au
Returning to School
While some students are feeling excited about returning to school, others may be experiencing anxiety about the return to "the new normal". The past few months has been a period of uncertainty and stress for many of us and it is natural for us all to need some time to adjust.
We will be working with students to transition them back to learning at school through Wellbeing lessons, lunch-time activities and support programs. There are also some things that can be done at home to help prepare students for week 6, which include:
-Asking your child how they are feeling about returning to school. If they are concerned, come up with some strategies to make the transition easier.
-Easing back into the school routine by keeping lunch breaks the same and adopting some of the school expectations at home around electronic devices etc.
-Helping your child identify who they can turn to for support.
-Communicating any concerns to the school wellbeing team.
If further support is required, Kids Helpline has some great resources for parents and young people: www.kidshelpline.com.au.
Support Programs
Over the next few weeks, support staff will be in touch with parents regarding support programs and groups at school. These programs include Rock & Water, Seasons for Growth, BRAVE, Join the Dots and Girls Group. Students will be invited to take part in these programs by the support team or through parent/teacher referral. If you would like more information about these, please feel free to email me on llodw1@eq.edu.au.
Take care
Lisa Henderson
Guidance Officer
Due the necessity of online learning, the English and Humanities department decided to ask a few of the students about their experiences working with this new dynamic. Responses came from students both physically at school as well as at home.
What aspects of online learning have you enjoyed?
What I have enjoyed about online learning is that we get more time to work through the tasks and complete it to the best of our abilities.
I have enjoyed not having to get super ready for school in my uniform; I have also enjoyed how much spare time I have to do other jobs.
Which aspects of online learning have been a challenge?
Some challenging parts are not being able to have full conversations with your teacher about the work and it can be hard when the teacher is not standing in front of you and explaining. This can also help us to be more independent and solve our own problems because half the time, the answers are in plain sight.
Learning the online lesson ways and trying to communicate with friends and teachers.
How has it affected your ability to learn?
I think online learning is more difficult than normal school because I cannot interact with my teachers and get more resources to do the activity. I also think online schooling is harder because it pushes you a lot more and can get a little challenging to complete all the work. At the same time, I think the change is also very good, because it has helped me to solve many questions on my own and it is a way to show responsibility when submitting tasks. This has definitely affected my learning positively though there are drawbacks.
It has been a little bit harder as I can’t ask the teacher questions as easy.
We hope students have enjoyed the online learning experience and look forward to having them back in class from week 6, hopefully.
Over the past few weeks it has been wonderful receiving stories from Design and Technology, Dance and Music students that have been engaging and continuing their learning from far and wide. We would like to say a huge thank you to the parents and carers for the support you have provided students so far this term and we look forward to seeing them all soon.
On returning to school, Music students will continue to develop their guitar skills with a final performance assessment at the end of the term. Dance students will work to complete their choreographed performance task. Design and Technology students will work on completing their Pinball machine and design folio. We understand returning to school will be a transition for all students and will support them so that they all have the opportunity to succeed in completing their learning.
Lorinda Stiles
HoD Creative Industries
lstil21@eq.edu.au
Since the appointment of the House Coordinator Role, Jess and I have been working with our Access Leaders and House Captains to further build House Culture, Student Engagement and Wellbeing at lunch time. Currently, we have our House Captains working on a plan that will see them host a number of lunch time activities over the coming weeks, where students can participate in order to receive individual and house rewards. The Student Representative Council are working on their vision statement which will be delivered in the coming weeks.
As House Coordinators, our role mainly consists of the following:
- Leading the Student Representative Council (SRC)
- Leading the Ripley Rewards Program for students and staff
- Leading and implementing PBL for respective Houses and
- Leading House Spirit activities, organising year level events and camps
Both Jess and I are extremely grateful and ecstatic to start our new roles as House Coordinators at Ripley Valley SSC.
James Dunn
House & Sports Coordinator (Goolman and Perry)
Jessica Starkey
House Coordinator (Blaine and Flinders)