My teaching career as a Manual Arts teacher began on the Sunshine Coast at Coolum State High School. I then completed my first stint of country service at Charleville State High School, where I developed my love of rugby league. After 4 years I returned to Coolum SHS and remained for 11 years. From Coolum I applied to move to Weipa, with my family in 2002. Over this 18-year span I have had periods of leave, becoming a Licensee of a Hotel/Motel, house dad for a year looking after our newborn daughter, Auto Parts Salesman and a concrete labourer. My wife Vicki, sons Mark (Yr 9), Garry (Yr 6) and daughter Talia (Yr 3) along with myself love the life style Weipa has to offer.

As Head Of Curriculum 4,5,6 I am accountable for

• The delivery of suite 2 of the New Basics Curriculum.
• Ensuring a safe learning environment for all students in Yrs 4,5,6
• Monitoring attendance of students in the Middle School Yrs 4-9

With the College in its fourth year of New Basics implementation, my current curriculum focus is to ensure that the statewide moderation of Rich Tasks results in an increase in the number of A's and a decrease in ungraded results.

The completion of "state of the art" classrooms for the Yrs 5 & 6 (stage 1 of the Master Plan) this year will provide the optimum opportunity to increase the focus on transition of students from year 6 to year 7.

Attendance will remain a priority and I will continue to monitor all students in the 4-9 cohort with regular reviews of attendance procedures. I wish to increase the communities' awareness of the issues regarding to absences from school, as the middle terms of the year historically have shown a drop in attendance.