Welcome to the July edition of our “newsletter", and our first for Term 3. Thank you for taking the time to connect with our school through our website, social media accounts, and in person through our P&C, LCEB, or other opportunities for parent and community voice. Our connection to the Urangan community is an important part of us working together to learn; working alongside, with, and through our community to support student growth and development. Thank you, for the role that you play in supporting us to support your young people.
School Review
Thank you to our community – parents, students, and staff – for their engagement in our four-yearly school review process last term. The final report is in, with some significant positives to celebrate and some clarity to help guide our next four years' worth of strategic school improvement. You can read the Executive Summary of our review – which highlights the key commendations and recommendations – on our website, and see an even briefer overview in the infographic that accompanies it.
Key amongst the commendations, was broad recognition of the expertise, care, and skill of our staff – both teaching staff, and support staff. The recognition from our community of the work that our people put in every day to support students is greatly appreciated, and affirming.
From here, our team is working hard on our next strategic plan which will carry us through until the end of 2027. Guided by our School Council, our first focus is on defining the school that we want to be part of – what it is that we want to enable for our students, what our students and community need from us, and how we can go about delivering this. Simon Sinek calls this a Just cause – a vision for the future of Urangan SHS in our community that can ensure we continue to enable high quality opportunities for “what comes next" for our students. Please stay tuned for ways that you can have your say in what that cause should be, and the things that we can look at to better align with that cause.
School Opinion Survey
Speaking of having your say – all parents should have recently received an email from the Department seeking your input via the annual School Opinion Survey (SOS). The SOS is the primary way that all schools collate information on the things we do well, and things that we can look to improve upon. I encourage all parents to please take the five minutes to complete the survey, via the link in the email from the Department. If you are unable to locate your individualised invitation, please check your junk folder before requesting a new survey from the SOS team via email: schoolopinionsurvey@qed.qld.gov.au. Further information is available via the FAQ website.
Sports Centre Update
Exciting times ahead, with the commencement of site works for our ~$15Million Sports Centre build from Monday 7th August. The new facility will be a much-needed boost for our school, with two full sized indoor courts, large stage and presentation space, kinesiology lab, and both indoor and outdoor classroom spaces.
While the final outcome will be amazing, there are always some challenges and disruptions to deal with during these big builds. Please check out our website for details of some changes to parking throughout the build, and keep in touch with developments via our social media channels. We thank our community, in advance, for your understanding and support throughout this much needed enhancement to our facilities.
Mobile Phones
You may have heard the news over the school holidays, that the Education Minister has announced a full ban on mobile phones and wearable devices in all Queensland State Schools in 2024. Throughout the remainder of the year, we will continue work with our students, staff, community, and the Department on what this will mean for us in terms of implementation. There remain many questions to sort through, as we look to balance the appropriate classroom use of devices in practical subjects such as Dance, with the undoubted benefits for social interaction that the ban aims to achieve. The Department is seeking input from the community into the questions and considerations that Departmental resources for implementation should look at, and I would encourage anyone with an interest to submit your queries and feedback via mobilephones@qed.qld.gov.au.
In the meantime, and for the remainder of 2023, our policy on mobile devices remains unchanged – mobile phones should be off and out of sight during class time, unless appropriate classroom use is directed and supervised by staff.
Thank you, once again, for your ongoing support of our school. As always, if we can assist you in any way, please continue to contact us. To keep up with all of our school events and see details of student success, you can follow us on Facebook (@UranganSHS), on Compass (https://uranganshs-qld.compass.education/), on our website (https://uranganshs.eq.edu.au/), and now too on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/uranganstatehighschool/).
Many thanks
Tony McCormack
Principal