School News

From the principal’s desk

2021 has been a busy and successful year at NICS. I would like to again extend my appreciation to parents and the community for their support throughout the year.

I would also like to acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our staff at NICS. The teachers continually go above and beyond to ensure that each student has the opportunity to succeed. We have a number of staff departing. I wish you all well in your new schools, and I hope you reflect on your time at NICS fondly. To the support staff and office staff, a genuine thank you for your efforts this year.

I wish you all a happy and safe festive season.

Russell Moore

Acting Principal

Enviro-NICS news

On December 5, 2021, Norfolk Island Central School’s environmental group, ‘Enviro NICS’, held a beach clean which included all beaches around Norfolk. Within the time period of two hours collecting beach pollution, we filled 23 chicken-feed bags. The collection included plastic bottles, glass bottles, styrofoam, shoes, hair ties, cans, bottle caps, micro-plastics, hard plastics and cigarettes which were all spread along the shores of Norfolk. It was shocking as a young Norfolk Islander to see the amount of waste on our beaches.

While we were separating and sorting the plastics, we found that there were many cigarette butts, as well as bottle caps and styrofoam. After we separated the plastics, we were left with two medium-sized containers filled with cigarettes; one chicken-feed bag filled with Styrofoam; 52 bottle caps that were donated to our ‘lids for kids’ foundation; 31 aluminium cans; three bags of hard plastics; one container of micro plastics; one bag of plastic bags; half a bag of ropes and cardboard; one and a half bags of plastic bottles and glass bottles; half a bag of wood and shoes, including thongs; and five hair ties and non-ecofriendly scrunchies.

Did you know

• cigarette filters are made of a plastic fibre called cellulose acetate that takes up to ten years to decompose.
• Traditional scrunchies and headbands may be dyed with harsh chemicals or made from non-recyclable fibres. Many hair combs, clips, and styling sticks contain non-biodegradable plastic parts, which add to the planet's waste problem once they are eventually discarded.
• It takes 200 – 500 years for aluminium to decompose.
• If styrofoam is to decompose, it releases harsh chemicals that contaminate the water. This happens occasionally.
• Rope was one of the main materials that were found in Slaughter and on the pier. Rope is recyclable.

Norfolk Island is the gem of the Pacific, and let’s not let pollution get the best of us.

From Elliana Henderson

Start date for 2022

I now have confirmation that the 2022 school year for students will commence on Thursday, 3^rd , 2022. This is a variation on both the NSW and QLD start dates to allow for additional collaboration time for new staff induction and professional learning to occur. I can also confirm that the final date for all students in 2022 is Friday, 9^th December.

New QLD enrolments forms for 2022

New enrolment forms have been sent home in family packs for all students. This will allow for the school to capture the latest information from your family and provide specific information to be entered into the new QLD system. Please return the forms to the front office. This will allow for the forms to be entered into the system before the commencement of 2022. If you have any questions, please phone the front office.