Casual Dress - Friday 31 March

The JS council have organised a Casual Dress Day on Friday for year 7,8 and 9 students. It will be a gold coin donation to the schools charity, Albatross Nippers. There will also be a barbeque hosted by the tuckshop for students. So hopefully you can be here Week 10 to enjoy what we’ve organised. The theme is summertime/ Hawaiian.

Year 7-9 Report Cards 

Our Junior Secondary students have been working hard over the last couple of weeks, completing assessments.  It has been wonderful to see our students' commitment to applying their knowledge in classrooms. Thank you to our parents who have supported our students through the assessment period, by checking progress against the assessment calendars and encouraging students to put in the extra effort at home. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. 

The Term 1 Interim Report Card will be emailed home to parents on the last day of Term 1. This report summarises your child's academic progress and effort and behaviour for the first term of the year.  At PBC a major focus is being a learner. Hence, we value effort and behaviour ratings on report cards. As a school, we are using the Effort and Behaviour Reporting Matrix to ensure consistency in these ratings across the school. You can find this Matrix on our school website at: Effort & Behaviour Reporting Matrix.

If you have any questions about the report card, please contact your student's class teacher.  Please note that Parent Teacher Interviews will also be available in Term 2 – 9–11 May. Class teachers value partnerships with parents and are happy to work collaboratively to support each student. 

NAPLAN

Done and dusted for another year. Last week NAPLAN testing was finished for Years 7 and 9. The students completed digital tests in reading, writing, numeracy, spelling and grammar and punctuation. Participation levels were very typical of a normal school day attendance and we look forward to results to see how students have progressed since two years ago. Staff administering tests were very proud of how engaged students were with the questions. Well done also to Mrs Sharon Hillcoat who does an amazing job co-ordinating the testing for such a big school as ours.   

OPTIMA Rewards  

OPTIMA rewards are the foundation of our positive behaviour reinforcement process at PBC. Class teachers reinforce our expected behaviours with OPTIMA Slips.  Students then take these slips to our wonderful Miss Tegan in Junior Secondary Services in A block. Miss Tegan keeps a tally for each child. When students have accrued a certain number of slips they can access rewards from ice blocks, $5 tuckshop vouchers or movie tickets and much more.   

Our Junior Secondary Students have been displaying wonderful behaviour in Term 1. Around 90% of students are being respectful, responsible and working hard in class, resulting in well over 1000 OPTIMA slips being awarded. Congratulations to all students who have been rewarded with an OPTIMA slip in Term 1. 

Year 7 Immunisations  

Reminder Year 7 Immunisations are on Tuesday 28 March 2023. 

Fight for Youth  

Due to the success of the inaugural Fight for Youth - Inside Out program in Term 4 last year we were excited to continue the partnership with Fight 4 Youth (F4Y) again in 2023. In Term 1, several Year 9 students successfully engaged in the program based at Currumbin every Tuesday and Thursday for eight weeks.   

We thank Leisa Logan for providing the weekly practical boxing program which our students participated in with vigour and learnt many skills whilst experiencing a variety of guest speakers as part of the mentor program. Some of the key topics discussed with our Junior Secondary students included life skills, self-regulation, understanding consequences and enhancing respect for self and others.   

Our Fight for Youth students also successfully finished the ‘Raw Challenge’ in the picturesque Numinbah Valley, NSW.  The obstacle course tested students over 9 kilometres with 70 challenging obstacles along the way.   

Congratulations to our successful program graduates Phoebe, Harper, Georgie, Billy, Jayden, Bryson, Lachlan, Ziggy, Lucas and Darcy . 

Headspace Webinars 

Please see attached Webinars during the School Holidays from Headspace.  

Attendance Focus 

Text message is the easiest and preferred way to notify PBC of an absence. For a full day absence please send the text message to 0426 305 728. Your text should include your child’s name, year level, date and reason for absence. An example text message is “John Smith Y8 03/06/22 Sick”. 

Please don’t text any attachments such as medical certificates/photos as our text system cannot accept photos or images and the text will fail. 

If texting is not possible, you can email – absences@pbc-shs.eq.edu.au with the same message as above.     

Holidays During School Time 

What should I do if our family is going on a holiday in school time? 

Regular school attendance will mean that your child has a better chance of school success. Parents/Caregivers are encouraged not to schedule holidays during school time. If your family circumstances dictate that your child must attend a holiday during school time, please let the Attendance Officer know the absence dates at least 2 weeks prior to the holiday (when possible) using the contact details below.

When deciding on holidays, parent/caregivers should consider the PBC assessment policy and calendars, which are on the PBC website, to prevent potential impact on their child’s assessment. It is also important for parent/caregivers to be aware that teaching staff are not required to supply school work to students taking holidays during the school term. 

How do I notify the school? 

TEXT MESSAGE – 0426 305 728 or EMAIL – absences@pbc-shs.eq.edu.au

Please provide student name, year level, dates absent (first day to last day), reason (HOLIDAY).