05 February 2025

From the Principal

2025 Improvement Plan for CSHS

The above is a visual summary of our 2025 Improvement Agenda.

• Focus 1: Strengthening whole school moderation
• Focus 2: Enhancing attendance and a culture for learning

You will note that there are sub-elements that further detail some of the work that we will be focussing on to ensure that every student at Charleville State High School has the opportunity to achieve improvement. 

This Improvement Agenda will be discussed in further detail at our upcoming P&C with specific data goals also published to monitor our progress throughout the year.  I encourage parents to attend to participate in this consultation. 

As part of our commitment to our 2025 Improvement Agenda, our staff spent time during our Student Free Days, building our collective knowledge of specific pedagogical approaches that are trauma informed and culturally appropriate, this included the 8-ways pedagogies.  This part of our SFD Agenda was presented by Jocelyn Haylock.  We will continue working with Jocelyn throughout 2025 to continue deepening our knowledge of this approach.

In addition to this work, we also revisited our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) expectations and how we will work to further educate our students about the behaviour expectations required at Charleville State High School.  Throughout 2025, we will be seeking a parent representative to be part of our PBL Team and provide us with parent perspectives about rewards, events and consequences.  I hope to see you there.

New Team Members

It is with great excited that I introduce our newest team members to you. 

• Mr Jarlath Scannell – Deputy Principal
• Miss Brodie Hogan - Teacher
• Mr Dave Thomson - Teacher
• Mrs Fiona Scannell – Head of Department (part-time)

Please see further details in the newsletter below.

Rural Health Commissioner

Jenny May, the National Rural Health Commissioner visited our school last week. She was very impressed with how our school catered for the health of our students ie: Wellbeing Centre, GP Clinic and other programs that we have in place to support our students.

Junior School News

Introduction

This is another opportunity to introduce myself as the permanent Deputy Principal of Junior Secondary. It is humbling and exciting to take on the role and I appreciate the warm welcome I have received from the teaching staff at school as well as parents, carers and the wider community.

Thank you to every Junior Secondary parent and carer for ensuring that your young person attended school this week. An old Irish saying ‘Tus maith, leath na h-oibre’ (roughly pronounced as toos mah, lah nah hib-ra) translates as ‘a good start is half the work’ and I am confident that we have made that a good start based on the classes I have attended this week as well as my interactions with our junior students in the playground.

I am especially impressed with and pleased for our year 7 2025 class, who are completing their final phase of the transition to Charleville State High School. In particular, I want to thank Amy Roughan and Dani Stickler for the immense work they did in leading this transition.

Be Safe

One of our core values is Be Safe, and there are two rule reminders I would like to share as the term gets underway:

• Staying in bounds on school grounds. It is important that we attend every lesson on time and that students stay in designated areas during playground times. There is a dedicated shaded Junior lunch area beside B Block. It is close to the canteen and a great place to eat lunch, play handball and fill our water bottle ready for the next lesson of the day.
• Hands-off. We always keep our hands to ourselves in school uniform, regardless of whether it is on school grounds or not.

Upcoming Dates

Friday, 7th February: Swimming Carnival

I cannot think of a better way to spend Friday of the second week at school than participating at the swimming carnival, supporting your peers and gaining house points for Alamein, Kokoda or Tobruk. 

Thursday, 20th February: School Photos

Your young person received a School Photo Parent pack at whole school parade last Monday, 3^rd February, giving you the possibility of purchasing school photos for 2025. You can pay online and in cash; if you are paying in cash, please make sure the envelopes go to school with your young person on Thursday 20^th February where they will be given directly to MSP, the company who are taking our school photos.

NAPLAN

Wednesday March 12^th 2025: the beginning of NAPLAN assessment for Year 7 and 9 students.

I want to be especially clear on our shared school beliefs regarding NAPLAN:

• I encourage every young person to complete NAPLAN assessment to the best of their ability, the same as I encourage every young person to attend school every day. I will never ask anyone to do anything more than their best.
• Every young person will have the necessary supports to access the assessment.
• We will not publish any young person’s NAPLAN results to our local community.
• We will not teach to the test at the cost of teaching the Australian Curriculum but I am committed to every student being familiar with and prepared for the type of NAPLAN assessments they will complete.

Jarlath Scannell
Junior Deputy

Senior School News

Hello all senior school families, and welcome to 2025! I am looking forward to working with the senior students again this year to help prepare them for their futures. It was fantastic to see the seniors in their uniforms last week! I am hoping that we can keep it up in the coming weeks!

Year 10 and Year 12 parents, below is some information for you relating to the next few weeks.

Year 10:

• Please ensure that your student has identification documents (birth certificate/medicare card) at school – we will be using this to set up their Unique Student Identifier number (USI) in preparation for their certificate work they will be starting in the coming weeks.

Year 12:

• A note will be going home in the coming days for the senior jersey. At the end of last year the students completed a very quick round of fundraising, and so each jersey will be discounted for all students.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

Welcome to our new and returning families to Charleville SHS. Here at CSHS, we are a PBL school. PBL is the behaviour framework that focuses on students following the expectations, and encourages others to do the same thing – with the school hosting celebration days regularly to celebrate our students. There are a few key elements to PBL that I wanted to make you aware of at the start of the new year. The behaviour Matrix, these are 4 expectations that we as a school have developed to ensure students are safe, responsible and respectful learners. We have included the ways we expect students to demonstrate these qualities. Classroom teachers create their expectations based off of these school wide expectations.

We also have our Starbucks cards where students receive signatures from their teachers/teachers aides or other school staff for following the expectations above. By handing in Starbucks cards, students will receive certificates and vouchers/points for houses but the students points also help to determine who is eligible for the celebration trips, and are converted into “Starbucks Dollars” where students can bid on auction items at the end of the year.

Over the coming weeks, students will be informed of the first rewards trip, this will include notes being sent home for you to sign and return. We will also update the School Facebook page with information regarding the rewards trip too.

We look forward to seeing the success in your students’ behaviours over the 2025 school year.

2025 Term 1 Family Calendar

School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI)

On behalf of the Australian Government, we are delighted to share that the duration of the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) will be extended until Friday 30 June 2028 for all new and existing qualifying families and carers who activate the SSBI service with a participating internet provider before the 30,000 cap of SSBI services connected is reached.

This news was announced yesterday by the Hon Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland MP.

This Australian Government program assists families and carers who look after school age children and are struggling to pay bills.

To apply:

1. Contact the National Referral Centre on 1800 954 610 Monday – Friday, 10am-6pm (AEDT) or visit Anglicare.org.au/student-internet
2. They’ll ask you some questions to see if this offer is right for you
3. If you qualify, you’ll get a voucher
4. Use the voucher to connect through your chosen participating internet provider. Use your voucher before the 30,000 places are taken.

The best part is:

• Free home internet until 30 June, 2028
• The Wi-Fi router is free and you can keep it
• There is no lock-in contract
• Assistance provided by the National Referral Centre
• Callback, webchat and interpreting are available.

2025 School Photos

Welcome to Charleville State High School

Jarlath Scannell

I am excited to introduce myself to you as the new Deputy Principal of Junior Secondary at Charleville State High School.

I am a proud Irishman who was born in Dublin and lived on the Cavan-Fermanagh border for eight years before moving further west, living in Sligo before going to university in Galway. I began my teaching career in Dagenham, East London, in 2003 as an English teacher, where I spent five years and met my Australian wife, Fiona, who is also joining Charleville State High as a Head of Department.

After moving to Australia in 2008, I have taught on the Gold Coast at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School and an English and Humanities teacher, Year Coordinator and Dean of Students and Southport State High as a Head of Department for English and Senior Schooling. Last year I had the privilege of being the Deputy Principal for Senior Schooling at Elanora State High School.

I am passionate about knowing students, tracking progress, providing supports where necessary and celebrating success for every student, knowing that success can be very different for every young person.

Working and living inland was a goal for my family and I, and it was humbling to be offered the position at the end of the school year last December.

I look forward to getting to know and work for your young people.

Brodie Hogan

My name is Brodie Hogan, and I’m thrilled to be joining Charleville as a teacher of Health and Physical Education and Humanities. I’m only just starting my career in teaching the course of my teaching journey, I’ve had the privilege of completing placements in the Sunshine Coast, Cairns, and Charleville, with Charleville being a particularly memorable highlight for me.

I’ve always had a passion for sports and the outdoors, which has inspired my teaching approach. When I’m not in the classroom, you’ll often find me at the gym, hiking, or enjoying any activity that gets me outside and moving. I look forward to bringing this enthusiasm into my lessons and helping students explore their potential both in and out of the classroom.

I’m excited to connect with your children and support their learning journeys. 

Dave Thomson

I have lived in Charleville for 6 years and have been teaching at Charleville School of Distance Education. I have had the opportunity to work with a broad range of students from rural and remote areas as well as from a wide diversity of backgrounds across the state and the country. While at CSDE I have remained active in school sports assisting with District trials as well as being Team Manager for SW Regional 18ys boys Rugby League team for the last five years.

I’ve taught at Benowa SHS on the Gold Coast – in the Social Sciences department. I was the Sports Co-ordinator as well as overseeing the representative school sport department.

Outside of school I am involved in a number of community sports including Cricket, Swimming and Rugby League. I enjoy playing golf and love to get back in the saltwater and surf whenever I am back on the coast.

Power Within

After the summer holidays students have returned to school to learn and progress academically, and similar to adults, to learn and grow continuously in a multitude of relationships. Relationships are never static, we change and the people we are in relationships with change, and there is always more to learn and practice. How we interact with others significantly shapes our lives, whether through friendship, a family bond, a partner or workplace collegiality. Ultimately, the quality of our relationships and connections with others, subjectively and profoundly impacts our overall wellbeing.

Often people believe, "If only the other person would change, things would be better."  While, we cannot control or change other people, we can have impact on our relationships through our own behaviour. Essentially, the emphasis is on the power within ourselves to influence a relationship. It is easy to view our relations and associations with others from a distance, pointing out what's wrong with the other person. But the truth is, we are co-creators in every relationship. The way we show up—our energy, words, and actions—significantly shapes these connections. Whether it's a long-term relationship with established patterns or a new one full of possibilities, we have the power to influence its direction. Even longstanding relationships can change and grow when we approach them with awareness and intention.

As students return to school to learn and grow, we, too, are continuously practicing and evolving, in a multiplicity of social relations and associations. Relationships don't just happen to us; we co-create them every day. Notably, decades of quantitative and qualitative data both agree; the continual commitment to enhancing the quality of connections with others in the school of life - influences the quality of our relationships – and in turn our quality of life.

K.Pheby
Guidance Officer

Thank you to the P&C

The wonderful people of the P&C gave a little plant for every staff member to say welcome/welcome back. This will give them something to gaze upon and to breathe in the extra oxygen, creating a harmonious working environment.

They also supplied platters for staff to enjoy after school to finish Week 1 of Term 1.

Charleville State High School GP Clinic

We know how important it is to support our students’ physical and mental health, which is why our school is proud to be participating in the GPs in State Schools Program.

Dr Katie Chang and Dr Paul Chang joined the program at Charleville State High School in 2023. Students can see our GP’s for any physical, mental, or sexual and reproductive health concerns. Our school’s GP clinic is open every Tuesday during term time between 8.30am and 2.30pm.

Students are encouraged to talk to School Administration staff or Acacia Country Practice for more information.

To make an appointment:

• Go toacaciacp.com.au and book online through Hot Docs link
• Phone Clinic on 4599 7658
• Phone School Office on 4656 8888
• Email admin@charlevilleshs.eq.edu.au or
• Do a walk-in on the day.

Charleville Girl Guides & Scouts

Charleville State High School P&C Association

CSHS P&C Executive:

President – Kelly Shearwin
Vice President – Tegan Russell
Secretary – Julie Frousheger
Treasurer – Lana Holley

Notice of next P&C Meeting

A reminder text will be sent to all families when meetings are scheduled. The P&C General Meetings are held at 5.30pm in the Administration building – new members are very welcome!

Uniform Shop

Uniform items can be purchased from the School Uniform Shop.  The Uniform Price list can be found on the school website by clicking on the following link:

Canteen Menu

The Canteen Menu can be found on the school website by clicking on the following link:

P&C’s QLD

If you would like any general information about P&C Associations please go to: