23 November 2021

Newsletter Articles

Important dates

Wednesday 24 November – Stars Awards Night
Friday 26 November – Swimming Carnival
Wednesday 1 December – Centralian Senior College Awards Night
Thursday 2 December – Rescheduled & final council meeting
Friday 10 December – CMS End of Year Assembly & Awards
Tuesday 14 December – Year 9 End of the Year Celebration

From the Principal

Hello – Werte!

We have had an interesting few weeks with the weather and COVID. Our school community was very responsive to the mask mandate and the ever-changing advice to respond to the COVID situation. Thanks to families for supporting us and our students through this time – we understand that changing advice can be stressful for everyone. We are forced to cancel events at the last minute which can be quite disappointing. This included our Year 6 transition event. This event relies on a range of staff being available and due the timing this won’t be rescheduled this year. We will continue to work with the primary schools to ensure that our new Year 7’s successfully transition over to us in 2022.

Term 4 is a reporting term - this is an incredibly important time for students to be completing their assessments for end of year reporting. I would encourage students to check in with their teachers to make sure that they are up to date. Students NAPLAN results will be sent home with reports this year – apologies in the delay for getting these results out to you all, there was a printing error in the first distribution from the national assessment body. You may also notice that the end of year reports might look slightly different this Semester. Ms Montgomery has worked on developing a new reporting template with some changes. Feedback is welcome!

We are however still planning to celebrate the end of the year where we can - following the advice of the Chief Health Officer and the Department of Education. We will have our swimming carnival this Friday which is always a well organised and enjoyable day where students can show off their many talents!

Cassie O’Bree
Principal

School news and updates

In preparation for the 2022 school year our principal, Cassie O’Bree, is extending an invitation to parents/carers for one on one tours.

If you are interested in enrolling your young person at CMS, call the Front Office on 8955 2333 to book in a tour.

Year 9 - VET

In Week 6, all Year 9 students again had the opportunity to ‘taste’ a VET course at CDU. Students enjoyed exploring plumbing, sheet metal, barista, cooking, retail, business, music and media courses; learning new skills and immersing themselves in an adult learning environment. Thanks to CDU for hosting our Year 9s and helping to prepare them for the transition into Year 10.

Year 7

We are so proud of our extremely talented young drummer Jack Butcher.

Jack lives in Alice Springs but he comes from a long line of Papunya musicians.

Jack wants to grow up and be in a rock group, just like his grandfather, Sammy Butcher, an original member of the Warumpi Band.

Halloween disco

What an excellent time we had at our Halloween Disco.

A massive THANK YOU to OhhSnap Photobooth for their wonderful service, check out how they captured our fun moments below!

Thank you to everyone joined us, enjoy the photos!

Utnenge

It has been a complicated few weeks in Utnenge. Georgie has been taking our year 9 students to visit Alice Outcomes, Centralian Senior College and Yirrara College. We also have extra students who have returned to school. As well as doing our regular Wellbeing, Maths, Science, English and Humanities lessons, we have been painting, cooking and watching the garden grow.

Stars Foundation

Our young women from Stars visited McDonald's for a work experience visit. They got to see how the restaurant operates, meet the staff and even got to try their hand at making a famous Cheeseburger!

Every single one of them represented themselves, CMS and Stars with respect and pride and got glowing feedback from the owners of McDonald's. The experience encouraged the girls to pursue casual employment and they are excited to enter the working world.

STAR PROGRAM END OF YEAR CELEBRATION NIGHT

Stars Foundation wishes to invite all families of students in the Stars Program to our End of Year Celebration Night this Wednesday 24th November. Come and support our young women as we celebrate the great year that 2021 was for our students and our program. We will present award winners for the year and farewell our graduating Year 9 students. Hope to see you there!

* Any changes that may occur due to COVID-19 will be advised accordingly*

Clontarf Corner

Term 4 is going from strength to strength, and the fellas are kicking goals!

MORNING TRAINING

21 of our students from Clontarf woke up early for a healthy walk up Anzac Hill, with our fellow students from CSC Clontarf Academy. The sheer sense of achievement for one of our students was truly heart-warming, who mentioned;

"Wow, I haven't been up here in years, it's so beautiful!"

Beauty - it's certainly in the eye of the beholder!

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

The health and wellbeing of our students has been at the forefront again this term. Several students have been active in the gym on Thursdays, with a combination of body weight, core, and strengthening exercises. All students are encouraged to join.

Keep up the great work!

YEAR 7 / 8 WELLBEING & LEADERSHIP CAMP

The camp started with an amazing race type set up, which was ran by the amazing team at the Alice Springs Desert Park, the fellas broke up in to two groups, the first group was led by Malakai LeRossignol, while his leadership in getting his team moving around the park was excellent it wasn’t enough just falling short to team two. Team two was led by Junior Walker, Junior blazed through the course with his team managing to get all the questions filled in before the others. once we were finished at the park we made our way back to the academy room where we had a bit of free time in the academy room and Gym before setting up for dinner, the three chefs were Malakai, Jack Butcher and Jahkye Furber, these three fellas put on a very flavorful Chicken Curry, the night was capped off with a movie played on the gym projector while getting ready for bed.

The following morning the fellas had breakfast then climbed into the vehicles to begin our day two of camp. While we were on the road we came across an elderly couple traveling the same way we were and had stopped to check if a flooded road was safe to drive through, all of the fellas asked if they could get out and check for them but were unable to do so for safety reasons. It was extremely heartwarming to know that our fellas were willing help a couple of strangers. The elderly couple asked if we were at the Desert Park the day before and mentioned that they had seen us there and complemented the group on their behavior and manners at the park. We traveled to the beautiful Ormiston Gorge and this is where we did the Ghost gum lookout walk and what a sight that was after a full day of rain. Once we got back to town we finished the camp with a well-earned swim at the MacDonnell Range holiday park.

EMPLOYMENT

On Saturday October 30th October, students from Yirara, Centralian Senior and Middle Academies had the chance to earn some money again by manning the carpark at the Alice Springs Turf Club's Derby Day event

This involves greeting the patrons as they enter Pioneer Park then directing them to the appropriate parking position to ensure a constant and orderly flow of traffic. The event was well attended by the good people of Alice Springs so the fellas had a constant flow of traffic throughout the day to look after, which they did exceptionally well. Greeting people on entry, directing vehicles and parking them in a neat and orderly fashion. In addition to the guys in the carpark from the three academies, it was brilliant to see some of our Central Region alumni employed by the Turf Club and working during the day. Jahmal and Eddie, pictured with the carpark crew, have been working casually before, on and after racedays. We look forward to the next event and thank the Turf Club for their continued support.

RIGHT TRACKS LEADERSHIP SESSION

Our Year 8 lads had a great session with the Right Tracks program, with Darren Talbot and Ian McAdam running the fellas through some activities designed to encourage their leadership and communication abilities. This session was thoroughly enjoyed by the lads and we can’t wait to have the Right Tracks team in again!

BUNNINGS WORK SITE VISIT

Earlier in the term Centralian Middle School students from Clontarf visited one of the Foundations partners, Bunnings, for an employment site visit. These aspirational students are eyeing off casual work in the future.

Tye Tuthil, Operations Manager, provided an on-site tour for students, meeting various staff to explain their roles and responsibilities. The visit concluded with a session at the DIY workshop to make tool boxes.

Wonderful work by everyone involved!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Next Week

• End of Year Camp
• Centralian Middle Academy Clontarf Awards Lunch (Thursday 25/11)
• School Swimming Carnival (26/11)

STAFF CONTACT DETAILS

• Tom Clements (Academy Director) 0419 345 619
• Damien Hall (Operations) 0408 716 252
• Cheyne Miles (Operations) 0437 164 533
• Will Carlile (Operations) 0477 995 417

CMS School Policy - Reminders

Phone Policy

Centralian Middle School wants to ensure that electronic devices are used responsibly within the school environment. This policy outlines the responsibility of students and families to ensure the acceptable usage of electronic devices at school.

All devices including phones, earphones and speakers must be out of sight between 8:30 am and 3:00 pm unless directed by a staff member.

It is the student’s responsibility to keep the device somewhere secure to prevent damage or theft e.g., in the front office. The school accepts no responsibility for replacing lost, stolen or damaged mobile phones and personal devices.

Devices cannot be used to take photographs or videos of others without consent and approval by staff

Students using electronic devices to bully other students will face disciplinary actions as sanctioned by the principal and/or could be referred to the police. It should be noted that it is a criminal offence to use an electronic device to menace, harass or offend another person including photographing, filming or recording images or events and forwarding, receiving or posting these to public forums.

Failure to comply with the policy will result in the student being directed to take device to the Front Office, where it will be stored for the remainder of the school day. The device will be available to be picked up after school is finished. If the student refuses to collaborate the device will be confiscated and parents will be contacted to meet with staff and collect the device.

Social Media Advice

Social media should not be accessed during the school day. Student should have private account settings and not accept requests from people they do not know.

Students can screenshot, block and report any bullying or inappropriate media content that they notice online that could be considered harmful or inappropriate to members of our school community.

Food Policy – Healthy Eating

CMS implements the Department of Education’s School Nutrition and Healthy Eating Policy. As such, the following items are not to be consumed or dropped off to students during school hours. Students will be asked to store items in the front office. Confiscated items can be collected by family members after school hours. We appreciate your support.

Soft drinks or items high in sugar

Energy/sports drinks or items containing caffeine and/or guarana

Take away/fast food

Here’s a quick guide for healthy eating, and how much sugar is in your favourite drinks.

Community Announcements

Mental Health Association Central Australia

If you're needing some strategies to support parenting teenagers in your care come to the free Parenting Teens Workshop 5.30pm-6.30pm Wednesday 24 November at MHACA, 14 Lindsay Avenue, East Side.

There will be presentations from headspace Alice Springs on understanding the key periods of teen development and from Holyoake Alice Springs Inc who will explore teens use of alcohol, drugs or other harmful/addictive behaviours.

Hear from other parents and learn about supports in our local community.

This workshop is facilitated by MHACA and is free, but please RSVP to info@mhaca.org.au or call 89504600.

Please note: This event has been rescheduled to this date after being postponed on November 10 due to weather. Note the change of venue to MHACA.

Administration Vacancy / Pathways Coordinator

Alice Springs 2021 Christmas Carnival

Come along to the 2021 Alice Springs Christmas Carnival!

The event will be held from 5-9pm on Friday the 3rd of December 2021 in Todd Mall and council Lawns with fireworks at 7.45pm! See you there!

YO! Alice

YO! Alice is a youth space for young people aged 12-18 years. The Youth space is split into 4 zones; study zone, chill zone, screen zone and game zone, which gives something for everyone! It's a great place to meet others, catch up on homework or hang out with mates!

The goal is to provide a safe and inclusive place where youth can go after school, on weekends and during the holidays. In 2022 we will also be launching our monthly calendar which will be full of events, programs and workshops aimed at a variety of areas – some of which include; foosball, air hockey and Mario Kart tournaments, exercise and nutrition workshops, book club, life skills workshops and more!

Darwin Community Legal services 25th Annual Rights on Show Art Awards and Exhibition.

Entry to Rights on Show 2021 is free and open to anyone in the NT community.

Diabetes in Youth Program.

Diabetes in Youth program will be next held on November 25th at the YMCA, have a look at the poster below for more details.

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