19 May 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Report

Welcome to edition three of the newsletter. In the past fortnight, we have fun some very successful events including our annual Trivia night and also the Café 10 trials.

Trivia Night

This annual event was held on the 6th of May. As you may be aware, this event raises funds for our students to offset some of the costs of students participating in the Rugby League or All Schools Touch tours. Even though this event was held a little earlier than in previous years it was still a very successful evening. I would like to thank all the businesses that donated goods, services and/ or cash to make the evening a success. Over $2600 was raised through our auction items. Thank you to the QRL, Kelly Shearwin and Leighton Webb for the donation of these items. The funds raised will help our students ensure that they receive similar opportunities students at larger high schools closer to the coast.

Café 10

As part of our Vocational Education and Training (VET) our Year 10 Hospitality students have run a successful trial of their new Café venture. The Café venture operates in conjunction with the Charleville School of Distance Education tours and offers both a great tour and some café refreshments made and served by our students. We would like to thank Healthy Aging for their assistance in helping us run a successful trial. The feedback that we received has certainly helped us to refine the dining experience for our future customers.

NAPLAN

As you may be aware last week our Year 7 and Year 9 students participated in their NAPLAN testing. Students completed three mornings of testing which were focused on the five strands of Spelling, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Punctuation and Numeracy (both calculator and non-calculator). Our students certainly gave these tests their best efforts and were offered breakfast each morning to start each day of testing. NAPLAN tests provide a point in time assessment of a student's ability against the five strands. NAPLAN is one of the data sets that we consult when planning improved outcomes for our students. NAPLAN results will be sent to the school later in the year and will be forwarded to parents and carers shortly after.

Defensive Driving

Last week at the P and C meeting I was able to present a generous offer from the charity Hand, Heart, Pocket. This charity has offered to fully fund our students from Year 11 and Year 12 to complete a defensive driving course which will provide our students with driving skills that may help them in their driving future. The P and C agreed with me and thought this was a very generous offer.

The defensive driving course consists of two parts - a theory and practical component. The theory will occur in a three (3) hour block of time at school, and the practical three (3) hour session will occur on a weekend. Permission forms have been sent home for the Year 12s to participate in the program this term. Our Year 11 cohort will be provided with the same opportunity later this year.

Once again on behalf of our students I would like to thank Hand, Heart, Pocket for funding this opportunity for our students.

Fanfare

It is very pleasing to see that our instrumental students, along with Mr Sloan and Mr Kwan, are going to participate in the upcoming Fanfare competition being held in Roma on the 24th of May.

Fanfare is a biennial state-wide festival of bands and orchestras from Queensland State Schools. It showcases the exciting music making that occurs in school-based ensembles across the state. The emphasis for Fanfare is on improving the quality of ensembles, promoting the highest possible standard of performance, striving for excellence and encouraging participation.

To my knowledge, it has been a considerable time since our school has participated in this event. I encourage your students, if they are not already doing so, to consider learning an instrument as part of our ever growing instrumental program.

Attendance

I am very pleased to be able to inform you that over the last two weeks we have had an attendance rate of 92% and also 90.5% which has been very much improved from the start of the term. Once again on assembly I have been reminding students of the importance of being at school each and every day and in particular the importance of finishing their week strong and making sure that our students especially make their Friday's count. Our Fridays over the last two weeks have shown this improvement, and I look forward to seeing continued improvement.

Community Partnership Meeting

The postponed community partnerships meeting will be held this Thursday at 5.30 pm at the resource centre at the primary school beginning at 5.30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

It is important to us that every day, in every classroom, every student is learning and achieving. Charleville State High School thanks you for your support in this partnership

Teaching and Learning @ CSHS

Spotlight on teaching at Charleville State High School

High Order Thinking (HOTS)

As teachers we are always striving to look at ways to help our students. There is no teacher or school leader who is not aware of the importance of teaching high order thinking skills to prepare our students to live successfully in the 21st Century. One area we as school have identified as a key focus for 2016 is the development of higher order thinking skills (HOTS). But what is this? How will it help your student?

HOT involves the learning of complex judgemental skills (critical thinking and problem solving), not just learning facts and concepts. HOTS require students to be able to go beyond remembering knowledge and comprehending (understanding) it, to being able to apply ideas and skills taught to analysis, synthesis (evaluate) and be creative to put ideas together in a new way and create something new through problem solving and critical thinking.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

Focus on….creativity

The very act of generating solutions to problems requires the creative process of going beyond previously learned concepts and rules. Creativity involves divergent and convergent thinking to produce new ideas (Crowl et al., 1997).

The major features of creativity are:

• the consistent use of basic rules or principles in new situations
• the discovery and solving of problems using innovative approaches to situations
• the selection of relevant aspects of a problem and putting pieces together into a coherent system that integrates the new information with what a person already knows
• enhanced by supportive environments and deteriorate with fears, insecurities and low self-esteem

Teaching….creativity

To develop the ability to be creative we structure lessons and learning opportunities that:

• focus on clarity of communication and instruction
• provide modelling of applied thinking and creativity
• create a safe environment to trial different outcomes
• allow students to rehearse, elaborate, organise and apply basic ideas to new situations
• clear and effective feedback that is immediate

What is coming up within the curriculum at CSHS?

It is essential to note that learning comes in all shapes and forms. At CSHS we continue to offer a range of experiences to students. As you can see from the following examples, our students are provided with many experiences.

Agriculture: Our Year 10 Certificate I Agrifoods students will be visiting local businesses to see just how they handle various chemicals, as this is an essential part of the industry and the certificate being studied. This is another opportunity for CSHS students to put theory into action.

Deadly Ways - Our Ways Indigenous Secondary School Student Mentoring Program: Our indigenous Year 10 students will begin the Our Ways Program, the second tier of the Deadly Ways Mentoring Program through USQ. Our Ways focuses at Year 10 and provides our students with important cultural knowledge for developing leadership abilities. Our Ways engages Elders, important Community Members and University students as mentors to help our students develop these skills and abilities.

How can all students help to achieve their best results and focus on the finer details?

• Attend school and classes regularly (must be a minimum of 92% - unexplained absences will incur 2 points per absence as a part of the SSAP, and possibly lead to a cancelation of the enrolment due to a lack of engagement with the educational processes provided and course coverage)

• Plan ahead - use the assessment dates and planner given out each semester to help organise your time for the rest of the term and map out when you will need to work on assessment
• Attempt all work, at school and home, set by staff
• Seek feedback and ask questions about all tasks – see your teachers before or after school, during lunch breaks or in class if there are opportunities to do so
• Submit full drafts when required
• Submit all tasks on time – including sitting exams and presenting oral tasks
• Talk to staff if there are any concerns well before the due date
• Attend study / homework club for further help (need to have submitted a permission form – collect one from Mr Kohli if you want to participate)
• Apply for an extension (at least a week before the due date) if there is evidence to support the application. See Mr Kohli, Head of Department Senior Schooling, if you need to request this option.

Tuesday Afternoon Study Club

One way for all students to help their studies is to attend the Study Club on a Tuesday afternoon. Between 3:15-4:15pm all students can access each member of staff in D3 and D4 for additional help with their studies. How can students access this opportunity? All students need to do is collect a letter from the Office or Mr Kohli (E Block) and returned the consent form attached to the letter. Students can then speak to their teachers and ask if they can access extra assistance from them at the Study Club.

It is important to remember that students are not limited to Study Club to access their teachers, they can work with their teachers at other times during the school day. All they need to do is ask.

Support networks (apart from the classroom)

There are many avenues to support students at Charleville State High School including:

Guidance Officer: Kate Trulson

Heads of Department -

Sebastian Kohli (Maths/ Science)
Cassandra Kohli (English/ Humanities)
Sabrina Goodingham (Junior Secondary/ HPE/ LOTE/ The Arts)
Bernie Matthews (Technology/ VET)

Year level coordinators:

Year 7 – 9 Katherine Goult and Sam Barrow
Year 10-12 Leighton Webb and Jemma Day

Careers/ Transition advice: Sue McDonald

Youth Support coordinator: Jenny Peacock

School based Youth Health Nurse: Jen Sellin

Chaplain: Les Penrose

Thank you for your continued support of your student, the school and the educational process. If you would like any further information regarding the topics above please don't hesitate to contact the school. Together we can make a difference in the lives of our future leaders.

Regards
Donna

STUDENT SERVICES- UPCOMING EVENTS

TRANSITIONING FROM SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES- Cheryl Auchter has advised eligible Year 12 students about an information session for them and their family to discuss post school options. This will occur at the High School on a date to be advised.

MICHAEL YOUNG- OPTOMETRIST- Michael Young will attend Charleville State High School for an additional visit on Monday 23rd May for vision screeners.

Year 7 Camp

After a busy week last week with NAPLAN our Year 7 students and three staff, Mr Barrow, Miss Maritan and Miss Kelly headed off to Emu Gully, Helidon, for their annual camp.

The activities at Helidon are purpose built for developing teamwork and leadership qualities and are typically based around epic ANZAC events. These values mirror what the school expects of students in our 4Bs and 4Vs. The low ropes and core ANZAC activities support and challenge students to reflect on their goals, what is important to them and inner strength. As many students before them from across the state, our Year 7s will thoroughly enjoy the experience and have many adventures to retell on their return at the end of the week. We are looking forward to lots of stories and pictures in the next newsletter.

CWAATSICH HEALTH MUSTERS- 19th and 20th May

The musters will go ahead this Thurrsday and Friday.

If you have not returned your forms and would like your child to be seen by a variety of health care providers please get them back to the office as soon as possible. It is not too late to be included regardless of what year level you are in- we will make sure every student who has returned a form has an appointment. If you would like another permission form, or want to check if your child has returned their forms, please contact Mrs Jenni Peters.

FROM THE CLASSROOMS…

SPOTLIGHT ON… LES PENROSE- SCHOOL CHAPLAIN

How long have you been a Chaplain for? Since 2002
What is your favourite food? Red Thai Curry
What is the best part of your job? Being able to help people
What is your greatest achievement? Having ex-students who ring me for advice even though they finished school over 8 years ago.

Also last newsletter the picture printed to go with the Spotlight on Miss Jennifer Sellin was in correct- here is a picture of Miss Sellin.

Until next time,
Jenni
Deputy Principal- Student Services

Never a dull moment in Year 7!

Last week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the Year 7 students all sat down and gave their very best in the NAPLAN tests. It was great to see so many students continue to preserve across the three mornings and give it their all. It is debatable that, for some, the best part of these three days was the hot breakfasts that were put on each morning before school for all Year 7 and 9 students. These both helped to ease some nerves and ensured everyone had some brain food before walking into the tests. They were also enjoyed by the supervising teachers too!

This week the Year 7's are going on their highly anticipated camp! This year's camp is at Emu Gully, just outside of Toowoomba. The camp will be action packed, with activities based on developing teamwork and leadership skills. These activities will be sure to encourage students to challenge themselves and have fun along the way. Camp is a great chance to create new friendships and strengthen old ones. It is sure to be a great time and will no doubt be a highlight of the school year for the Year 7 cohort.

Jacinta Maritan
Year 7 Teacher

Parachute Investigation

Our Year 7 students have been putting their inventing skills to work, whilst exploring the effects of force and gravity. Students were asked to work in teams to design a parachute out of plastic bags and everyday household items. The aim of the investigation was to design a parachute which would create the most amount air resistance and result in the longest descent time. Students have been learning about the importance of collecting reliable data, performing 3 trials on their prototype design. After initial testing, students were then able to make one change to their design to see if the adjustment proved effective.

This was a fantastic learning experience for the students as it leads into their assessment task, which involves them creating a balloon-powered vehicle. Can't wait to see what they can create when they put their minds to it.

Parachute investigation diagram

Caf̩ Experience РTheory into Practice

Bringing the customer to the school – "A small business enterprise"

Working with Charleville School of Distance Education, the goal is to have our students cooking, baking and serving morning tea to visitors to Charleville who take the tour of CSDE each week during tourist season. Not only is the intent to have students work on their culinary and customer service skills, but also develop business skills through the development of menu design, budgeting and marketing of the project.

As the café project is in its infancy students have been working towards developing their culinary skills, as well as customer service. They began with testing different recipes and asking for feedback from staff and students. Then the café project saw a trial of student skills on Wednesday 4th May when a group of our local senior citizens visited CSDE and the café. Thank you to Healthy Ageing and our senior citizens for participating in the tour and morning tea, providing essential feedback to ensure that students can refine their skills and provide a service to tourists paying for the tour in the future.

Café Experience Trial with invited Senior Citizens

The next stage of the development of the Café project was a second trial held on Tuesday 17th May. Local council members, a range of business identities, and even tourists, participated in the CSDE tour followed by a morning tea on our Trade Training Centre deck, overlooking our wonderful Harmony Garden. Once again the invaluable business and tourism insight provided to our project development by such a group of visitors will our students continually improve and hone their skills.

News coverage of the initial trial:

Bernie Matthews
HOD Technology and VET

Year 10 Hospitality News

The Grade 10 Certificate I Hospitality students are keeping very busy. With two Café 10 events under their belt, students are honing with their customer service skills. Five students were engaged in further customer service skills through a Café trial that involved tourists entering our school after their tour from the SDE campus. Students cooked scones and made plenty of coffees in order to keep these out of towners happy and relaxed after their tour.

The students are delighted to be a part of the Certificate I course. Here is what they had to say about the subject:

I have learnt so many things. It has expanded my knowledge in the cooking industry – Chelsea Shorten
I am more confident when serving customers – Sophia Caricato
I love the practical side of the subject because I love to cook. – Blair Shearwin
I am getting better with my cooking each week – Breanna Short
It is great that we get to do real life stuff and know exactly what this line of work is about – Makayla Smith
The students are always eager to try new things in the kitchen and they really get in and help each other out – Miss Sellin

Reading Corner

Summarising:

What is it?

Summarising is identifying the main points and ideas of a text and then putting them into your own words. A summary is shorter than the text that has been read as it sums up the key message.

How does it support reading comprehension?

The first step to summarising is being able to retell the story. If a reader is able to retell what they have read in their own words then this indicates that they have understood what they have read. The second part is being able to include the main ideas and points and ensuring that the summary is structurally similar to the original text.

Example Questions/Statements:

• The most important thing to know about…….is………
• The main point that the author is making is………
• In my own words, the story is about……….
• The main idea of the text is…………
• If I had to explain this to someone else I would say…….

Strategies/Activities that you can use at home to support your readers:

• Students highlight keywords and main ideas and place them on post-it notes. After reading the text, close the book and use the post-it notes to write a summary in your own words including the main ideas.

Happy reading,
Ange Stirton

Brass, Woodwind and Percussion

Simply defined, music is organised sound. With a packed schedule for the Brass, Woodwind and Percussion program in 2016 our music students have certainly exemplified one of our most important school values - organisation. Nearly 30 students flock to the music room of a Tuesday to learn with Mr. Sloan to develop into budding musicians.

The key objective of Instrumental music at CSHS is to provide as many students as possible with an ensemble outcome. This is being achieved through collaboration in lessons but also with the students giving up their breaks to come together and make music.

There are currently four ensembles preparing for performances, with the schools RnB Band displaying their resilience as they prepare for FANFARE. FANFARE is the state's foremost music competition occurring every two years. The contest boasts more than 500 ensembles who will compete for a chance to perform in the grand finale at QPAC. We will be travelling to Roma on the 24th of May to compete in the first regionally heat. We hope to be awarded a silver commendation this time around. This will set us on the right path to being selected for the Toowoomba semi-final in 2018 and the coveted Brisbane grand final by 2020. This can only be achieved through regular home practice (at least 20 minutes a day, five days a week) and with the support of the Charleville community.

Having gained an insight into the culture and history of music throughout Murweh Shire during my first four months here, it is obvious that music has no boundaries. It is extremely rewarding to witness students of all ages and all backgrounds collaborating and celebrating the most addictive art form. As the school continues to expand the program, it is our job to adjust the negative connotations that music can stereotypically carry. Often music conveys a 'nerdy' stigma so it is my job to ensure that I am engaging, not only the music students, but their pupils with relevant, contemporary and relatable performances.

The other area where we will undoubtedly yield results is in the accumulation of resources. Talking with the community, it is apparent that the PCAP program is sorely missed, not just in the music department. As bewildered as parents and caregivers were to see the initiative abandoned, I am extremely lucky to work with a very dedicated Principal and Head of Department. Marcus Jones and Sabrina Goodingham, have worked tirelessly for music in 2016.

We have already been gifted five new Bass Guitars, five Amps, an Electric Cello and a Baritone Saxophone. In addition, students playing wind instruments have been provided with all of their miscellaneous components such as reeds, straps and valve oil. The next upgrade on the agenda involves the integration of technology. This will provide students with a more interactive experience and appeal to the diversity of each students learning style. It will also broaden performance outcomes providing students and parents with recorded performances and even provide a new dynamic to assessment.

Keep your eyes open for upcoming performances at the Performing Arts Festival, Charleville's Got Talent and at our lunch time jams. We would like to thanks everyone for their continued support of music at CSHS. The students have been working hard and we can't wait to show everybody what we have been up to in The Donga.

Charleville State High School District Careers Market and Expo 2016, Tuesday 31st May

Charleville State High school will welcome over 20 exhibitors from across Queensland for the biennial Careers Market and Expo on the 31st of May. Charleville students and parents will be joined by students from Quilpie, Cunnamulla and the School of Distance Education to take advantage of this opportunity to gain insight into an array of career and course opportunities that will be on display.

The day will be officially opened at 11:00 am in the Assembly Hall by guest speaker Junior Finau. Activities will then move to the Trade Training Centre precinct, where students and parents can attend information sessions and speak to representatives from a range of exhibits. Exhibitors will include the University of Queensland (UQ), the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT); TAFE South West, SWQ Training, Defence Force Recruiting, Queensland Health, Queensland Police Service and Ergon Energy .

New School-Based Trainees

Congratulations to the following students and business that have joined a School Based Traineeship partnership with Charleville High School.

Request from Chappy - Kids Club June School Holidays

As part of preparation for the Kids Club to be held in the upcoming June Holidays, Chappy needs as many cardboard rolls that are left over from finishing off your paper towel roll at home. The aim is make models of the Starship Enterprise as one of the activities to be undertaken.

Paper rolls needed for rocket making

If you have any cardboard rolls left over can you please drop them off to Charleville SHS at the main office.