56 Milner Road
Alice Springs NT 0870
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6 November 2015
Principal’s Note
Dear Parents and Caregivers
As you may be aware, Centralian Middle School currently has
two programs supporting our young women; the Girls
Academy, sponsored by Role Models and Leaders Australia,
and Girls @ the Centre, sponsored by The Smith Family. From
the end of this year the Girls @ the Centre program will cease
to operate at Centralian Middle School and I wish to outline
the arrangements we are putting in place to ensure the young
women at our school have access to a support program that
meets their social, emotional and educational needs.
The school has enjoyed a long and successful involvement
with the Girls @ the Centre program and its sponsors, The
Smith Family. The NT Government had offered to continue
funding The Smith Family for the next two years to continue
working with the students currently engaged in the program
until they complete their studies at CMS. Although The Smith
Family has chosen not to accept the funding and to cease their
involvement with Centralian Middle School from the end of this
year, I am grateful that they have committed to work with the
school to develop a transition process to allow students in their
program to access the Girls Academy program.
The successful Girls Academy program will be reshaped to
incorporate components of the Girls @ the Centre program. I
have attached a preliminary list of activities throughout Term 4
that have been jointly created by the school and the staff of the
Girls @ the Centre and Girls Academy programs. You can see
that plans are well underway to ensure all young women have
a support program that meets their needs. I am committed to
providing the resources to cater for the needs of all our young
women and seek your support to encourage your child to take
advantage of the program.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 08 8950 2500
Fax: 08 8952 6614
I look forward to working with you to ensure our young women
continue to have support for their social, emotional and
educational needs. Please do not hesitate to contact me should
you have any queries or concerns.
Yours sincerely
Eddie Fabijan
Girls Onsite Program Transition
Transition to the reshaped program led by Role
Models and Leaders Australia
• All activities will focus on Year 7’s & 8’s as the Year
9’s already have a transition plan to Centralian Senior
College (CSC) and the Girls Academy at that site.
• Girls @ the Centre have invited staff of the Girls
Academy to their ‘Breakfast with a Mentor’ which will
be open to ALL girls from both programs to attend.
This will occur in Week 4 – Thursday 29 October.
• Jodi will contact Petra at CSC to arrange joint
contact times with the Year 10 students, which the
Year 9 students can participate in, and also to meet
and greet with Petra and the Girls Academy teacher.
Joint activities together, during lunch time and
after school starting Week 3 Term 4
• On Tuesdays there will be Indoor Beach Volleyball
and/or Bowling.
• On Thursdays the girls will produce a joint mural for
the school.
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Joint activities, during onsite program learning
time starting Week 5 Term 4
All students are currently offered lesson time to engage in
learning with their girls’ program. These lesson times will
combine and girls will participate in lesson activities around
wellbeing development, health, nutrition and personal
development.
At this time there are planned sleepovers (camps) for each year
level, with current consideration being:
• Week 5 (6 November) for Year 7’s
• Week 7 (20 November) for Year 8’s.
Joint activities together, starting Week 9 Term 4
• Combined Christmas event for students, teachers
and families.
Wellbeing team support
The Wellbeing team will work with both programs to
• Conduct a General Staff meeting to discuss the
needs of our girls. The desire is to develop an
understanding of particular concerns, looking at the
issue/s, what has already been put in place, what
discussions have occurred with their families etc.
• Provide ongoing monitoring of students during the
transition phase.
Programming into 2016
• The weekly program will cater for the needs of all girls
in the school in 2016. Later this term, the Girls
Academy will publish a 2016 calendar of activities.
Strategic Plan
Follow the link for our department's new Strategic Plan for 2016
and beyond. We will look at this to promote alignment between
what the system wants and what we are doing.
Given these targets and the work of our community, the
interesting challenge for us to consider is to dream what our
school will look like by 2018?
Upcoming Events
The onsite programs are looking forward to an exciting Week 6.
Both Clontarf and Girls at the Centre will be holding their End of
Year Awards on Thursday 12th November and Centralian Girls
Academy, on Friday 13th November.
RSVP is requested if you are able to attend. Please refer to
invitations for further details.
Colour Splash
• Discuss what external agencies they’ve been using
for their program and whether or not they
recommend we use them going forward. We will also
discuss particular support (eg. Headspace) for
specific students.
SRC are running a CMS Colour Smash in
Week 9 to raise funds for our School
Leadership Camp in 2016 and to continue
supporting Acacia Hill School with their Blue
Earth Active Program.
• Girls Academy staff will begin participating in
meetings that may arise, such as; case meetings,
re-entry, and truancy meetings that involve students
in the Girls @ the Centre program.
Cost is $10 per student which will
include a white t-shirt and a barbeque lunch.
• Make necessary adjustment to the transition program
so as to maximize student wellbeing.
• Meet regularly with the students to provide effective
communication and to monitor any concerns.
Program location and employment opportunity
• For 2016, the school has provided the upstairs C
Block to house the program. The space is extremely
large and will provide the flexibility they need. During
Weeks 8, 9 and 10 of Term 4 both programs will
work collaboratively to move resources and create a
harmonious environment. Wall space will be utilised
to recognise both programs by displaying photos
and other items so that the history of Girls @ the
Centre and Girls Academy is not lost.
• The Girls Academy has commenced an advertising
process (this Friday’s Centralian Advocate) to appoint
additional staff to the Academy.
All students are encouraged to get involved.
Welcome Science
Welcome Science with Mr. Nolan.
By Bert Yamma
Today in welcome science we saw a snake and I held a
bearded dragon.
We were trying to work out the difference between a blue flame
and a yellow flame on the Bunsen burner. We found out the
blue flame is hotter because the blue flame melted the piece of
glass quicker. But the yellow flame was brighter.
The yellow flame left a black mark on the water filled balloon,
but the blue flame didn’t leave any mark at all.
We also learnt that you cannot pop a balloon full of water over
a Bunsen burner.
I really liked how the water filled balloon didn’t pop when we put
it over the Bunsen burner.
Welcome Science with Mr. Nolan.
By Jonathan Doolan
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We were trying to work out which flame was hotter; the yellow
flame or the blue flame.
We put 100 ml of water into a glass flask. We lit the Bunsen
burner with the yellow flame. We used the stop watch to time
how long it took the water to boil. We lit the Bunsen burner with
the blue flame. We used the stop watch to time how long it took
the water to boil.
Small Groups
Miss Pinto’s Class Visits the Reptile Centre
In Week 3 some very brave SGC students visited the Alice
Springs Reptile Centre.
We learned that the blue flame was hotter because the water
boiled faster with the blue flame.
I really liked learning about the Bunsen burner.
SGC 2016 Camp
Small Group students visited Adelaide in Week 3. It was a busy
week with visits including Adelaide Zoo, Glenelg Beach and
Rundle Mall.
Jim, Sunita, Tatiana and Renee wrote about their highlight of
the Adelaide Trip.
It was more than just hot, it was boiling!
Maths and Science School of Excellence
Workshop
Ms Parker reported our first Maths and Science workshop
was a great success with 14 students attending from various
primary schools. Students were keen, keen, keen and a credit
to their schools.
Thank you for all your support.
As we were driving along the long road home, we suddenly
heard a noise, it went BANG, BANG!
Mr. G pulled over on the side of the road and we all jumped
off of the bus because the tyre was flat. We thought to
ourselves “We’ll never get home!”
We waited and waited in the boiling heat, sitting in the
dust on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. All
around me I could hear yelling, whistling and screaming.
As I lay there waiting I watched the white clouds move in
the sky, my mouth was as dry as the desert. It seemed to
take forever but finally an old friendly couple pulled over
and helped us change the tyre. If they hadn’t stopped we
would have still been stuck there! Luckily there are still nice
enough people that will stop and help you when you’re in
trouble.
Congratulations to our Excellent Staff
We are pleased to announce two of our staff members were
nominated for World Teachers Day Awards. Ms Rachel Fata
was nominated for Teacher of the Year and Ms Vicky Goude
was for Support Staff of the Year.
Online Bully
https://esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/esafety-issues/
cyberbullying%5d
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Warm Regards,
Clontarf Academy
Welcome
Tom Clements | Director
CMS Clontarf Academy
Centralian Middle School
Girls @ Centre
We hope you can make it to the Girls at Centre
Awards Night on Thursday 12th November
Hello to all CMS parents from Girls at the
Centre!
We have a really busy term coming up, but
we wanted to let you know about two very
exciting events happening in town!
The year 7 Girls at the Centre girls have been taking part in
some community service this term and a component of this is
holding two bake sales in the Todd Mall, just across from the
John Flynn Church. The dates for these sales are Wednesday
November 11th and Wednesday November 25th.
Please find a fantastic link below for a recent article published
by Erwin Chandler from the Alice Springs News. The theme of
the article is ‘Careers and the Current Employment Prospects’
for our young men. Congratulations to all staff involved in being
a part of their journey. These fellas, no doubt, have incredible
futures ahead of them.
If you see these students around campus please feel free to can
congratulate them on their achievements.
http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2015/10/16/
grabbing-opportunities-with-both-hands/
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The money raised from the bake sales will be donated to two
organisations as voted by the girls. These organisations are the
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne and the UNICEF
Nepal Earthquake Relief. The money raised will ensure that
all those seeking asylum in Australia have their human rights
upheld and receive the support and opportunities they need
to live independently. It will also assist UNICEF in delivering
clean water, sanitation and shelter to families sleeping rough,
keeping children safe and setting up temporary hospitals as well
as providing nutritional support, helping kids get back to school
and giving them the psychosocial support they need to cope
and recover.
The girls are really passionate about raising money for these
charities and they would love your help! Below are a couple of
ways you can show your support!
The first way you can help is by coming along to one (or both!)
of the bake sales and purchasing some baked goods! Not only
will you get to eat some yummy treats but you also get to do it
guilt free because it’s for charity. It’s a win/win!
The second way that you can support the girls is by donating
some baked goods on one (or both!) of the days! If you have
some spare time to bake some cupcakes, biscuits or a slice etc
we would love to take them off your hands and put them into
those of the people of Alice Springs! If you would like to donate
any baked goods please bring them to the front office either
the day before or on the day of the event where we will collect
them for sale. We would like to request that baked goods do
not contain nuts due to the frequency and severity of allergies
associated with them.
We would really appreciate your support for both our girls and
the charities they have chosen to raise money for.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter,
Yours sincerely,
Girls at the Centre students and coaches.
Amanda Freestone Coach, Shelly Bestmann Program
Manager, Jenna Browne Coach
Jodi Lennox, Acting Program Manager
Girls Academy
Samarra Schwarz – Nicolette ‘Sissy’ Dunn –
Program Manager Development Officer
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Community Announcements
Carols by Candlelight Colouring Competition
Lift the Load Off Lisa
Healthy Teeth
Alice Springs Mosque Open Day
The Department of Health (DoH) provides a
FREE dental service to all children attending
primary and secondary school. If your child/
children require a check-up or treatment,
please contact Flynn Drive Dental Centre on
89516713. A parent or guardian MUST attend with their child/
children
Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP)
Are you a migrant who wants to learn English?
The AMEP offers free English classes to eligible students. Day,
evening and distance learning classes are available in Alice
Springs. Free childcare is available during day classes.
English courses are also available for people not eligible for the
AMEP.
For more information or to enrol:
T: 08 8946 6578 or free call 1800 019 119
Or at Alice Springs campus: P: (08) 8959 5254
E: [email protected] or
E: [email protected]
The Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) is funded by the
Australian Government Department of Education and Training.
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