Welcome back to our PBC community for 2022 - with particular warmth to our new Year 10 students and parents, joining Senior Secondary, and with it brand new challenges and adventures. Although this has been another disjointed start to the year, it has been a joy to welcome our students back on campus last week and it was pleasing to see our Year 11 and Year 12 students engage as best they could with online learning in Week 1.

This year we are again privileged to have a team of educators with a wealth of experience supporting our Senior students in their every endeavour. Located in Y Block (Senior Seocndary Office) are the following staff whose job it is to assist students with their every need:

• Principal Senior School - Peter Hughes
• Deputy Principal Year 11/12 - Mitch Kennedy
• Deputy Principal Year 10 - Loren Skyring
• HOD Senior Schooling - Mick McDougall
• HOD Student Engagement - Brad Dixon
• Guidance Officer - Steve Jones
• Head of Year 12 - Jarrod Wells
• Head of Year 11 - Ryan Jesser
• Head of Year 10 - Krista I'Anson
• Inclusion Coordinator - Luana Giacomantonio
• Pathways Centre - Sonia Shreeve

Uniform Expectations

With the start of a new school year, students are expected to be compliant with our existing uniform processes and policies. Our Heads of Year have worked hard, in consultation with our P&C to finetune our uniform and communication to our families. 

All students are encouraged to come to Y Block for assistance if they are having any concerns with the existing uniform policy. Any student who is out of uniform should be bringing a note from a parent/caregiver to their Head of Year prior to the commencement of school that day. 

Growing Good Humans

As a school we are once again very proud to be offering our students an opportunity to engage in our Growing Good Humans workshops and explore what it means to be a better Human.

This Tuesday Year 12 students will spend all day engaging in 3 workshops:-  One of which will be Growing Good Women and Men workshops delivered by Tom Herschell, Anna Wyatt and Paul Bullpitt. Many thanks again to Tom from Find Your Feet who regularly gives us his time and expertise for free. 

Students will also have a chance to think about Road Safety when they listen to Melissa McGuiness from You Choose. YOU CHOOSE engages schools around Australia, sharing highly relatable, lived experiences with tens of thousands of students, teachers and parents. The program extends beyond a cautionary tale, by positively uplifting young drivers and passengers to protect their families and their communities from the wholly preventable tragedy of youth road trauma. Messages are focused on love, family, and the empowerment of choice. For more information please visit  http://youchooseyrs.org.au/ 

Finally students will work on being 'Party Safe' in a session delivered by our very own School Based Youth Health Nurses. This session looks to expand on content delivered last year around Communication and Sexual Consent. We also thank the wonderful Nursing team who provide a range of vital education to all our PBC cohorts. 

Our Year 10 students on the next 2 days will have their chance to be a part of the Growing Good Men and Women workshops also. Student feedback from these sessions has been overwhelmingly positive and the general take away messages for students is one of Empathy and compassion.

Senior Assessment

It certainly has been an interesting start to 2022. This year will no doubt present a variety of challenges for the school community and as in previous years the PBC community will again arise to these challenges.

It is important to note that despite the delayed start to the year that the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) intends to maintain it’s timelines for 2022. This means that assessment timelines will remain the same, however in Year 10 and 11 the assessment task will have been adjusted to reflect the teaching timelines.

Assessment Calendars for Years 10, 11 and 12 will soon be uploaded to the school website. Click on the Curriculum tab and then under Testing and Assessment. Students can also download this information from the K drive on the school’s network. This information will be useful for parents and students when planning their study timetable. 

Subject changes for Year 10 and 11 have now been finalised. Students will have the opportunity to change classes at the end of the semester or Unit.

Useful websites

The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority has website specifically for students and parents. (https://myqce.qcaa.qld.edu.au/index.html). This is a great source of information on the new Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), Senior Education Training (SET) Plan, future pathways, subjects and assessment.

Year 11 and 12 students have been emailed details on how to register for the Student Portal on the myQCE website. This is the portal where they can access their results and QCE.

All Year 11 and 12 students should be in the process of completing an online QCAA Academic Integrity course via this student portal (htttps://myqce.qcaa.qld.edu.au/). 

Year 10 students

Year 10 students are reminded that their results in Semester 1 will determine their pathway and subject availability in Years 11 and 12. To study an ATAR pathway students need to be achieving at least a B level in English and Maths. If students wish to study Senior Science subjects they also need to be achieving at least a B level in Year 10 Science. 

Year 10s are also reminded that they can commence School based apprenticeships and traineeships (SATS) in Year 10. These courses provide students with paid employment and work skills and a Certificate 3 qualification which may provide tertiary options. 

Year 11

Year 11 students will need to have very good time management in 2022 as the units for each subject are only 7 weeks in length including assessment.

In the QCE unit credits are banked into each student’s learning account at the end of each unit The implication for this is that students who are not engaged in learning and perform poorly in a number of subjects could find themselves ineligible for the QCE as early as Week 5 Term 2 (20 May). Students have been reminded of this and will need to ensure that they are actively engaged in all classes at all times. 

Year 12

Year 12 students have completed their first summative assessment item from Unit 3 at the end of last term (excluding Maths, which is due in the coming weeks).

This is a very important term for Year 12s; by the end of this term they will have completed 50% of their Unit 3 and 4 assessment in all subjects except Maths and Sciences so it is important that they are prioritising their time appropriately.

All students need to be eligible to for a Queensland Certificate of Education to remain enrolled in Senior Schooling. For students in Year 11 and 12 this means they must be passing at least 5 of their 6 subjects (regardless of whether or not they are completing a traineeship). All students who are doing VET subjects must be up to date at the end of each term. Time will be allocated during shutdown to ensure that these students are up to date. Students who do not complete their competencies will have their enrolment reviewed. 

Senior Study Skills

This year as part of the Study Skills program to support senior students, Griffith University are presenting online sessions on a Monday afternoon from 2:15- 3:00pm.

The sessions will be for Year 11 and 12 students and will have different content on various weeks to help support students to achieve their best in their final years of schooling. Students are highly encouraged to attend by accessing the sessions via a link that will be emailed to them.

Session 1: Thrive and Survive Senior school

When: Monday 14 February

Who: All Year 11 and 12 students

Session 2: Study Skills and Time management

When: Monday 21 February

Who: All Year 11 and 12 students

Session 3: Resilience

When: Monday 28 February

Who: All Year 11 students only