DRIPSTONE MIDDLE SCHOOL - territorystories.nt… · The new process and format for reporting to ... Principal Dripstone Middle School ... Both areas will be graded according to the

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DRIPSTONE MIDDLE SCHOOLDelamere Street, Tiwi NT 0810, PO Box 41370, Casuarina NT 0811e: [email protected] p: (08) 8920 2299 f: (08) 8920 2298www.dripstonemiddle.nt.edu.au

September, 2012 ISSUE 9 F R O M T H E P R I N C I PA L

Page 2 Dripstone Day

Crop & Colour

Page 3 School Term Dates

Mulching at Dripstone

Tournament of Minds Page 4 AFL NT Northern States Cup

Australian Curriculum Plan

NAPLAN ASSESSMENTSDuring the mid semester break we will be sending out to all parents in years 7 and 9 the NAPLAN assessments for their child.The student report is a common national report and represents student performance on a scale from Band 1-10, across Years 3-9 in English and Mathematics. The assessments are completed at Year levels 3, 5, 7 and 9.I encourage parents to read the information pamphlet that comes with the NAPLAN assessments.Parents are reminded that these results were obtained from a limited testing situation back in Maythis year and therefore provides a ‘snapshot’ of the child’s achievement. They do not replace the moreextensive, informative and on-going classroom assessment made by the classroom teachers.

Staff Professional Development DaySchool Council has endorsed an application for Friday November 9th to be a Staff Professional Development Day. I will be seeking department approval for this date. This is a prior notice that students may not be required to attend school on this day.

Reporting to ParentsThe back page of this newsletter contains information for parents regarding the reports of students’ progress for semester two 2012. The new process and format for reporting to parents is being implemented across the North-ern Territory. I encourage parents/carers to read this information and we will provide supplementary information during term four 2012.

Year 7 CampThe year 7 Adventure Bound Camp was held last week and was a great success. My thanks to Ms Andreou for coordinating the camp and Ms Kawiuk, Mr Trouw and Mr Eakins for attending the camp. I visited the students for dinner during their time away and it was clear they were having a great educational experience. A full picto-rial report of Adventure Bound Camp will be in the next newsletter.

I wish all students and teachers a good semester break.

Brian Collins - Dripstone Middle School Principal

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Dripstone Day 2012

On Friday 14th September, Dripstone Middle School celebrated its annual fair. Staff and students organised a wide range of food stalls and activities throughout the school. The morning kicked off with the annual football game between Dripstone Middle School and Kormilda College. Dripstone won the match with a two point lead. By recess, the Mall was buzzing with excitement and activity. Students were busy selling international foods and beverages, as well as the favourite Aussie sausage sizzle. There were a number of fun activities ranging from face painting, quoits to ‘Guess the Baby Photo’ and the Judo competition.Many staff and students supported the annual, fund raising Crop n’ Colour event. Our participants worked hard to gather support and sponsorship for this worthy cause. Apart from sporting new, sophisticated hair-cuts, they raised over $4,000.00 for charity. Our thanks goes to Mr Cilento for his continued organisation, support and enthusiasm.Dripstone was once again dazzled by the outstanding performances of our students in the annual Dripstone Talent Quest. In the footsteps of our previous winner and X Factor finalist, Shiane Hawke, our students entertained us with music, song and dance. We thank Ms Carnegie, Mrs Cantrill, Mr Holt and Mr Parsons for their tireless efforts to organise such a big production. Thanks also to Mr Cantrill and the technical crew for all their hard work and excellent collaboration with the lighting and sound on stage. We must also thank our judges Mr Papalii, Mr Vallejo, and dancer, Michael Trikillis. Finally, we would like to thank all the wonder-ful staff, students and parents for their efforts to make Dripstone Day 2012 a great success.

Chrissie Battalis

CROP & COLOUR

On Dripstone Day the annual ‘Crop & Colour’ was held. About 60 students and some staff cropped and coloured their hair. A total of $4500.00 was raised which was a fantastic effort. Proceeds this year go to the Leukemia Foundation. Students who raised $100 or more were:

1. Joseline Ntacobakwimvuna $284.35 STAFF: Bekele Melconen-Rabo $105.452. Nomiki Melas $263.603. Maria Cameirao $210.554. Ioannis Panatos $165.455. Darcy Sorensen $148.006. Jayden Lewfatt $139.207. Rebecca Pearce $135.208. Mackenzie Moore $120.009. Kristin Sardellis $110.2510. Nikitas Gerakios $103.40

Thank you to all who raised money and to those who donated by sponsoring somebody. Much appreciated. A big thank you to sponsors of the event: Priceline, Sparty's at Spotlight and to our hairdresser's Maria and Polly from Cut Above Salon.

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2012 and 2013 School Year Term Dates – URBAN SCHOOLS

This year, our school will be finishing classes a day earlier - on Thursday 13 December. This will allow teachers to return to work a day earlier to prepare for classes to start on Tuesday 29 January next year as the 28th is the Australia Day Public Holiday. Therefore: - The last day of school will be Thursday 13 December 2012. - Teachers will return to school on Friday 25 January 2013 for their usual professional development day - Students will return to school on Tuesday 29 January 2013. The earlier completion and start dates will help ensure a more settled start to 2013. These dates apply to urban schools only.If you have any concerns or queries please contact the office on 89202299. Further details can be found on the Department of Education website: www.det.nt.gov.au

Principal Dripstone Middle School

Mulching at Dripstone Middle School

TOURNAMENT OF MINDS

The TOMS team recently competed at the TOMS Regional Finals. The students chose Language/Literature and worked on a problem at school for six weeks. They then presented their response to the problem in a play format at Charles Darwin University. The students were very creative in their response and their performance at the finals was excellent. The team was awarded honours and gained second place out of nine teams. Congratulations to: Nathaniel Kelly, Marissa Lockhart, Emily Thompson, Anne Byrne, Katie Tien, Paul Barrett and Lotus Kelly.

Marg McphersonTOMS Co-ordinator

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AFL NT NORTHERN STATES CUP

On September the 20th to 23rd, 23 Dripstone boys travelled to Brisbane to play against three other schools for the Northern States Cup. They went to Sydney last year and finished third in the same event, winning two and losing two games. This year they didn’t fare as well, losing all four games. The boys played well for most of the games, competing hard for the contested ball, putting pressure on the opposi-tion but they couldn’t sustain it for all the games they played. The boys were very well behaved on and off the field and were the best presented team in terms of appearance. They looked like a professional sporting team wherever they travelled and many people commented on this. There were two other teams from Queensland and one from Albury, and as mentioned previously they were too strong for our team. Thank you to Mr. Carter and Mr. Liebich for their hard work on the trip and Mr. Collins for his support behind the scenes. A big thank you to A-Mart All Sports for their sponsorship of the Adidas dress shoes, The Cricket and Football Shop for supplying the uniforms. Sponsors for the playing trip were Beat Bad Energy and Danco Painters. We sincerely thank them for their financial support of the Dripstone Eagles AFL Team.The best three players were Gavin Greenoff (MVP), Denny Musgrove and Zachary Swinburne. All play-ers gained valuable experience on the trip and hopefully they will continue to develop their football skills.

Greg Cilento : PE Teacher/ Coach

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING Australian Curriculum

This semester all Northern Territory schools will begin using Australian Curriculum English, Mathematics while some schools will be using Science and History curricula to plan, teach and assess student learning. Eventually all schools around Australia will be us-ing a common curriculum for all learning areas. The Australian Curriculum sets out the core knowledge, understandings and skills needed by students for active participation in the Australian community. New A to E grades will be used to describe the quality of your child’s learning. These new grades differ from and cannot be compared to previous A to E grades.In this new system a ‘C’ means the student is achieving at the expected level. The grades are chosen from the following descriptions:A = Evidence of learning demonstrates outstanding achievementB = Evidence of learning demonstrates high achievementC = Evidence of learning demonstrates sound achievementD = Evidence of learning demonstrates limited achievement E = Evidence of learning demonstrates very limited achievement.

This semester, Dripstone Middle School teachers will report on your child’s progress against the Australian Curriculum achievement standards for English and Mathematics, Science and History. For electives, students will be assessed and reported on using Northern Territory achievement standards. Both areas will be graded according to the A – E descriptors. Therefore, your child’s report will show his or her achievement in relation to their year level rather than a band level as was done previously. The report will have a more streamlined look while still communicating your child’s progress with a grade and a teacher comment for each of the subject areas studied during this semester. For more information you can: - Go to the ACARA website at www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Home - Contact Gail Barwick : [email protected]