7 June 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

TRIVIA NIGHT

I continue to be so impressed with the support and assistance that the Charleville community gives to Charleville State High School and to our wonderful students. On Friday night, the hard working teachers and staff members of Charleville State High School coordinated the annual trivia night and what an amazing night it was! It was incredible to see so many in the community come and support their efforts and help in raising money to assist the students for their sporting tours.

It was an incredible effort with so many of the Charleville staff members working on the night in some capacity or being part of teams on the night in support of the night. It was also inspiring to see how many students were also involved in the night, helping out in numerous ways, working enthusiastically and efficiently. Parents, you should be very proud of every one of your students and the way they presented themselves on the night.

And to the parents, friends, and other community members who came along on the evening, thank you so much for your support and generous contributions to the evening. Thirty teams of eight were involved on the night, supporting the students through their attendance and then through their generous investments on the night. A special mention must go to John Nicholson, for his incredible work as Quiz Master throughout the evening, and to Virginia Mc Donald and her team for their work in the kitchen providing the delicious meals for everyone; the behind the scenes work that is so essential for such a night and we are so thankful for all of their efforts.

I am sure everyone had a great evening and I am already looking forward to next year’s event! Congratulations to the winning team for their decisive win over the distinguished field that was gathered on the night.

INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY MEETING

On Thursday evening, staff of both the Primary School and the High School met with Indigenous community members to discuss ways to move forward around Indigenous student education. The evening was filled with robust discussion around this topic, and again I was so impressed with the passion and desire of parents and community members to want to work with the schools in improving educational outcomes for students. Issues such as attendance, engagement, suspension rates and achievement levels were all vigorously discussed and a commitment to work on all of these areas was made.

To assure that the momentum built from these meetings will continue and result in actions and positive outcomes for students, it was decided that a Community Indigenous Education Action Meeting would be held once a month, one for the Primary school, and one for the High School. The High School meeting will be held at the school each second Tuesday of the month at 3.30pm. The first of such meetings will take place on Tuesday 13 June in the Trade Training Centre at the school. All interested parents and community members are welcome to attend.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

Our students continue to do amazing things in a variety of fields.

One of our talented Year 12 students, Oliver Aiken, recently attended the Rugby League State Championships representing the South West Region. The team did very well, finishing 7th out of 12 teams and knocking off one of the top teams, Metropolitan East 22-16. By all accounts, Oliver had a great carnival and was awarded player of the match in the game against Capricornia. Oliver certainly gained a lot of experience in playing in these high level games, probably against many NRL stars of the future. Congratulations Oliver, and good luck with your future football endeavours.

Our very first teams ever competed in the All Schools Volleyball competition held in Toowoomba last week, with three teams travelling away to contest this event. All teams had a great week, learning more about the game of volleyball and improving as the competition progressed. The girls U15 team did an amazing job and finished 3rd in their division, coming home with a bronze medal in their first ever official competition – an awesome effort. Thank you to Ms Lauren Butler for organising this event for our students. Ms Butler will give a more in depth report on the Volleyball tour later in the newsletter.

A group of very enthusiastic Agriculture students also travelled away last week to Bundaberg, where they were involved in learning about cattle handling, showing and judging. The students were involved in all facets of showing cattle, and were in high demand from the cattle owners due to their enthusiasm and willingness to assist, to listen and to learn. One of the students, Hayley Molkentien, impressed so much that she was voted third as the best Judge at the show! Congratulations Hayley!

Thank you to Mrs Dawn Collier for her organisation and initiative in getting this tour for the students going. Mrs Collier will provide a full report of the excursion later in the newsletter.

The School also ran the School Cross Country on Friday May 26, with a colour run combined with this event for the very first time. It was a tremendous afternoon, with the students having a ball being covered in colours by the staff of Charleville State High School. It certainly added a fun element to the cross country and contributed to improved participation and enthusiasm in the event.

NATIONAL SORRY DAY

Friday 26 May was also National Sorry Day. This was acknowledged at the school with an assembly, where the story of why we acknowledge this day was told. The students were played an audio recording of an interview with one of our community members, Mrs Loretta Edwards, where she spoke about her memories of this time, and of the effects these laws had on her family.

It was a very powerful interview, and I was so impressed with the respectful way that the students listened and took in the story being told. I am hopeful that each one of them walked away with a little more understanding of just how much previous laws and policies have affected so many indigenous families.

Thank you to Mrs Edwards for sharing her story, and thank you to Mrs Jolene Russell for the respectful way in which she presented this to the students. Thank you also to Jewsontae O’Neil for his Didgeridoo playing during the assembly.

The next two weeks are generally the busiest and sometimes most stressful weeks in a semester for students. The work that has been occurring in classes culminates at this time in assessments for each subject either in the form of exams, assignments or practical work. Teachers will also be working hard with students to ensure they receive and achieve the best results they can for the end of the Semester.

Attendance at school during these times is even more essential than usual so that students don’t miss vital assessment and risk affecting their final results for the semester. If you have any concerns regarding your student over this time, please do not hesitate to contact the school to discuss.

The Sky’s the Limit for the students of Charleville State High School!

Matt Samson
Principal

Deputy Principal Senior Schooling Report

Year 10 SET Plan Interviews

To support our Year 10 student’s transition to Year 11 and 12, on Wednesday the 31st of May we conducted Senior Education and Training Plan (SET Plan) interviews.

The aims of the interviews are to ensure that students and parents are aware of the requirements of senior subjects, OP and QCE eligibility, and to answer any questions that parents or students may have about their senior studies. By the end of the interview students will have made an initial subject selection for 2018, which will be reviewed in Pastoral Care during terms 3 and 4.

If you have not completed a SET Plan Interview for your student, please contact the school to arrange a suitable time to do so.

For further information about the activity, please contact Vanessa Moller on 07 4656 8888.

2017 Next Step survey

The Queensland Government is conducting its annual state-wide survey of all students who completed Year 12 in 2016. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12.

Between March and June, all our students who completed Year 12 last year can expect to receive instructions to complete a web-based survey or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office to complete the survey. Please encourage them to take part. If their contact details have changed, please assist the interviewer with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate.

Thank you for your support of the Next Step survey in 2017.

Further information on Next Step is available online at or on toll free telephone 1800 068 587.

Deadly Recruits Camp 2017

The camp is a collaboration between St. George, Cunnamulla and Charleville schools, the HOPE Project, Cunnamulla Council and reflects our community’s genuine desire to provide every opportunity to our young people.

The camp will run this year from Sunday 16th July to Friday 21st July. The camp is open to both males and females, from Year 10 – Year 12. These students will spend a week camping at Tinnenburra and undertaking various army activities, such as using night vision, orienteering hikes and standing and marching military style.

If you are interested in this camp, please see Jenny, Jolene or myself.

VET News

In 2018, the school will be offering a brand new certificate course to our Year 11 students. The Certificate III in Sport and Recreation is a comprehensive certificate that gains the student up to 12 QCE points, their First Aid qualification and a coach’s qualification in their chosen sport. While the course costs $260, most students will be able to access VETis funding to cover this amount. The course is being provided to the school by Binnacle Training, by training our own teachers to provide the course. Some of the skills the students will gain are:

• Officiating games or competitions
• Coaching beginner participants to develop fundamental skills
• Communication and customer service in sport
• Critical and creative thinking
• Facilitating groups
• Using social media tools for participant engagement

For more information, parents can access the Binnacle website at:

Or download the following documents:

Traineeships

We have a number of traineeships and apprenticeships available at the moment, including Certificate III Hospitality and Meat Processing. Please see Ange Vetter for more information on how to apply.

Thank you to all our local businesses that support our students with Work Experience, Traineeships and Apprenticeships. You offer our students valuable time and experiences within the workplace.

Cheers

Vanessa Moller

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL JUNIOR SCHOOLING AND STUDENT SERVICES NEWS

WELCOME TO WEEK 8

It is amazing how quickly term 2 has passed. A large number of opportunities have been offered to the junior school this term. The cross country, volleyball tour, fund raising activities for the year nine camp are just a few extra curricula activities that give the student the capacity to learn in a non-traditional environment. Currently, your junior student would no doubt be under pressure to complete formal assessment.

Assessment

How can you help your student through the school year, learning and assessment?

As a parent:

• Know when their assessment due dates are and help plan
• Ensure they are getting quality sleep
• Ensure they are eating well
• Ensure they have some ‘down time’ – some weeks may have more than others
• Discuss the four learning objectives they have written for the four lessons they have each day. In 7,8 & 9 they are called the WALT’s (We Are Learning To)
• Ensure that homework is attempted –e.g. going over class notes and ideas each day
• Ensure they are asking staff for help if they are struggling at home
• Contact the school if you have any concerns

Who can support your student at CSHS?

There are many people who can help your student if they need it. Below is a list of some options should students not know who to see for help.

Class Teachers

Have a list of emails to be able to contact staff or ring the school to have a chat or organise a meeting.

Head of Departments

Science/ Maths/Ag/Senior Secondary – Mr Sebastian Kohli
HPE/Junior Secondary – Mrs Sabrina Goodingham
Technology/ VET – Mr Bernie Matthews
English/ Humanities/LOTE/Art/Reading - - Mrs Cassandra Kohli

Year Level Coordinators

Yr 10-12 - Mr Leighton Webb and Miss Jemma Day
Yr 7-9 – Mr Sam Barrow and Miss Katherine Goult

Guidance Officer – Mr John Anderssen
Youth Support Coordinator - Mrs Jenny Peacock
CEC – Jolene Russell
School Based Youth Health Nurse – Jen Sellin
Chaplain - Mr Les Penrose (Chappy)

Deputy Principals

Senior Schooling – Ms Vanessa Moller
Junior Schooling and Students Services – Mrs Narelle Webb

Principal -Mr Matt Samson

Reading Program

In term three we will welcome back to our teaching staff, Mrs Angela Stirton who has been on family leave. Angela will join Miss Lauren Butler in delivering the LLI program at the school. We are focusing on students significantly under the Regional reading benchmark. It is essential that if your child is part of this program that they fulfil all the criteria of the program- otherwise their progress will not be reflective of what could be achieved. The criteria include 100% attendance (except for extenuating circumstances) and the completion of the set homework. If you have any concerns or questions regarding the program please don’t hesitate to contact Miss Lauren Butler at the school. There is a long waiting list to enter the program and therefore students who fail to meet the criteria will be exited so as to ensure the best results for the students.

The third level of intervention is another commercial program known as MultiLit (Making Up for Lost Time in Literacy). If your child is part of LLI and/or MultiLit you will be notified.

Student Services

Behaviour at Charleville SHS
PBL Rewards Trip

Early in Term 3, students who reach the criteria for positive behaviour will be offered a subsidised trip away from the school. Surveys are still being collating and we will announce the destination in the near future. Criteria for students participating include, Starbucks cards, attendance and behaviour.

Bullying in any form is not tolerated at school. However, it can be difficult to monitor as at times it is not reported until the “victim”, has retaliated. Please urge your student to talk to a teacher, Year level coordinator or Head of Department should they feel they are being bullied in any form. I would also like to remind our school community that students are available to make anonymous reports via the stymie website to report any such issues.

Racist actions and comments will also not be tolerated. Please ensure that you have conversations with your student on treating every human with respect. Young people at times do not realise that their actions and or words may be viewed as offensive. I will be personally addressing every junior student on showing resilience when they are not treated with respect as well as the correct use of Standard Australian English (SAE) which is the language that is used in Queensland schools.

Recently, I was encouraged to hear that students in the junior school made it very clear to a peer when inappropriate language was used towards a friend. I will build on their actions to address the rest of the junior school.

Immunisation

Immunization Clinics for Years 7. Most year seven students have received their second immunizations last week. If your child was absent that day then they will be given their immunizations at a later date. Our School Based Youth Health Nurse, Jen Sellin did an excellent job in organizing this essential service for our students. I would like to congratulate all of the year seven students on their excellent behaviour whilst the immunizations took place. The Queensland Health workers said they were the best group they had ever immunized.

Immunization for Meningococcal (Year Ten students) We have been informed that with the recent increase in the number of meningococcal cases in Queensland that year ten students will be immunized. Forms have been be sent out to every year ten student. Please ensure the forms are returned to the school as soon as possible.

Speech Language Pathologist

Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) - Natalya Kajewski visits our school on a regular basis. Natalya has also been a frequent attendee at our fortnightly Student Support Committee (SSC) meetings

Vollyball Trip

Last week a number of junior school students travelled to Toowoomba to compete in the volleyball competition. I would like to publically acknowledge that the accompanying teachers, Miss Butler, Miss Andeatta, Mr Wastie and Mr Jensen dedicated a huge amount of their own time to train and then travel with the students to ensure that they have this wonderful opportunity.

Year Nine Camp

Students, parents and teachers are working hard to fund raise to reduce the cost of the year nine camp to Moreton Island towards the end of the year. It is very important that every family contribute in some form to the fund raising if you wish your student to benefit from the massive fund raising effort that has been conducted. If you have not been contributing and wish to please contact Miss Katherine Goult at the school (46568888). I would like to congratulate Miss Katherine Goult and her team for the amount of time and effort that has been put into ensuring that the cost of this wonderful trip has been reduced considerably. Please ensure that you hand in your permission forms and deposit by the end of week 9.

Until next time,

Narelle Webb
Deputy Principal
Junior Schooling/Student Services

Queensland Schools Cup Volleyball

On Thursday morning May 25th, 20 enthusiastic volleyball players boarded the bus and headed to Toowoomba to participate in the Volleyball Queensland Intermediate Schools Cup Tournament. The tournament is catered for students in years 9 and 10. This year 52 schools and over 2000 students from across Queensland came together to play in the three-day tournament. Charleville SHS was fortunate enough to enter three teams; Year 9 girls division 3 coached by Miss Jenna Andreatta, Year 9 boys division 3 coached by Mr Barry Wastie and year 10 girls division 3 coached by Miss Lauren Butler. A big thank you also goes to our number 1 supporter and bus driver Mr Josh Jensen.

Over the course of the three days, the students played many games of volleyball, as well as going out to Sizzler for dinner, spending the evening at the bowling alley and arcade and of course spending some time at the newly developed Grand Central shopping centre. All students represented Charleville SHS with pride as they were easily recognizable in their team shirts and hoodies, kindly subsidized by the Charleville SHS P&C Association. It was warming to hear from a member of the Toowoomba community that the students from Charleville SHS are a respectful, friendly and well-mannered bunch as they played together at Queens Park in between games.

It was also wonderful to see the students have success on the volleyball court. A highlight of the weekend was Miss Butler’s year 10 Girls team winning a bronze medal. Ryley, Destiny, Renee, Aaliyah, Tarlie, Nicole and Bena played some nail-biting volleyball over the course of the weekend and to come away with a medal after their first tournament is something to be extremely proud of. The boys’ team improved with every game and ended the weekend with smiles on their faces. The boys placed 10th out of 14. And whilst Miss Andreatta’s year 9 Girls team didn’t manage to win a game, their persistence and good sportsmanship was brilliant to watch. We look forward to watching these students grow and improve their skills and hopefully get more students at Charleville SHS to love the game of volleyball!

Lauren Butler

PBL

Resilience

When young people are resilient, they cope better with difficult situations. They ‘bounce back’ when things go wrong. Young people need resilience to navigate life’s ups and downs, so building resilience is an important part of adolescent development.

Resilience is the ability to ‘bounce back’ after a tough situation or difficult time and then get back to feeling just about as good as you felt before. It’s also the ability to adapt to difficult circumstances that you can’t change, and keep on thriving. In school and in the workplace being resilient, you can learn from difficult or challenging situations and get stronger.

Teenager need the personal skills and attitudes to help her bounce back from everyday challenges such as making mistakes, falling out with friends, moving to a new school or losing an important sporting match. Teenagers might also face more serious challenges such as family breakdown, adapting to a stepfamily, the illness or death of a family member or bullying.

Parents can help your child build the ability to bounce back from difficult situations by giving him the opportunity to learn and practice important values and skills such as:

• self-respect and other personal values and attitudes
• social skills
• helpful and optimistic thinking
• skills for getting things done.

As a parent you can’t stop your child from experiencing problems or tough times. But you can play a big role in helping your child to be more resilient. And the earlier you start, the more likely it is your child will develop skills for resilience.

In the school environment teenagers need resilience can be used through the day when communicating with peers, working through difficult questions in class and completing assessment. Sometimes resilience is not doing work by yourself but making a plan to try and complete the work with the help of others instead of giving up on something because they don’t understand.

At Charleville SHS resilience is one of our key values as it is something all students will need in the future for their social, work and personal lives when problematic situations present themselves. By teaching this value through school and at home our teenagers will be better equipped for the future.

Charleville Shines at Bundaberg Cattle Show

Ag Students were thrown in the deep end when they were asked if they wanted to attend a Cattle Show, preparing and leading cattle at the Bundaberg Show this Term. Students were literally told on the bus what to expect and what was expected of them. New Workplace Health and Safety laws prevented our students from leading Bos Indicus breeds (Brahman etc.) as it was a pre-requisite they had previous experience in the show ring on controlling these animals. It did not dampen their enthusiasm as the first instruction after an 11-hour bus trip was out of bed at six, put on old clothes and straight to the cattle stalls, present to the exhibitor and start preparing cattle for showing. Breakfast came later.

Leahnie Loom

Meet and Greet

The evening before saw students mingling with the Stud Owners at the Cattleman’s Dinner and were able to ask many questions on how to prepare and lead the cattle. The nose ring is a requirement in controlling the animal and students soon learnt which lead to tug on to move the animal in the right direction. Cattle preparation includes, removing cattle from a dirty stall, washing and blow drying, brushing and grooming and taking the cattle to the watering points. While this was happening other students saw to raking out the cattle beds and putting a whole new lot of sawdust bedding down which had to be laid perfectly with no lumps or bumps. Throughout the day the Stud Owner matched animal to student and students were allowed to work to their confidence level when handling the animals and leading them in the ring.

The day worked through the program of different classes of cattle and different breeds. Students were busy from 8.30am to 3.30 pm with flexible meal and rest breaks when their class of cattle was not being shown. Students then walked cattle in the Grand Parade at the end of the Show Day in the main arena.

Cattle Judging

From 3.30 to 4.30pm students entered the Junior Handlers Competition and the Junior Judges Competition. This was the largest group of students the Show had seen and some age groups were broken into two classes. Other Schools attending the Show were Hervey Bay High, Isis High, Bundaberg Christian College just to name a few. Our students were extremely nervous and not wanting to participate but with some gentle coaxing they were glad they did. It is a big congratulation to all of our students participating and to three of our students making it into the finals of the Cattle Judging Competition – Olivia Burke, Savannah Brayley and Hayley Molkentien. The students matched the Judges opinion on the cattle being judged (large breeds) and Hayley Molkentien was the closest and came third overall in a 40 plus student line up of entrants. Well done Hayley!

Hayley Molkentien receiving ribbon and prize money.

Compliments started coming early on Wednesday evening on the politeness and good manners of our students. It was commented on how conversant they were in speaking to Stud Owners and the good manners they displayed throughout the camp. One Stud owner came back to the bus just before leaving and thanked them once again as did three other representatives and said they ‘hoped to see the students again next year’. We can all be very proud of the hard work and excellent behaviour every student displayed.

Small Business

As a curriculum activity, involving Students with Disabilities. Saw an enthusiastic duo, engaged in designing and marketing a small business called ‘Tasty Treats’. They gathered information about the small business, to understand some of the issues involved in working and running a small business. A few challenges were set, such as, evaluating costs, record keeping, customer relations and handling money. The students learnt the value of cooking and maintaining a safe kitchen and the safe standards required in a school setting. The duo was pleased to see the increase in profits, growth and returns through a variety of strategies and business activities. The business was a short term plan and may consider a long-term plan for the future.

Behaviour is Communication

Much in the same way that a smile can communicate pleasure or happiness, and a frown can communicate sadness or displeasure, behaviour is a powerful means of communication. Often when children don’t understand what they are feeling or don’t know how to express themselves in words, their ACTIONS become their language. Behaviour is a way of expressing what’s happening on the inside.

Keeping this in mind often helps us find effective ways of responding to inappropriate behaviour. In order to respond appropriately to inappropriate behaviour we need to realise that:

• We are all different. We have different personalities, and differing views on what is important in life. So we all respond differently.
• Inappropriate behaviours are illustrations of distress.
• We don’t always know the deeper reasons why we behave the way we do but all behaviour is purposeful.
• The underlying causes of the behaviour need to be assessed.

Children may “act -out” (be difficult or aggressive) or “act- in” (in the form of depression, self harm, or withdrawal), but both forms of behaviour have one thing in common: they are responses to what is causing pain and distress, but the child may be as unaware as the adult of the meaning of the behaviour. When asking a `why’ question often does not necessarily lead to an appropriate reason. The child’s explanation may have no connection with the behaviour, so the answer “I don’t know” is often true!

For effective parenting, as well as giving unconditional love, keeping your child safe, and being there for your child, try these principles:

1. Be consistent
2. Be united and have one set of rules
3. Be in charge – you are the parent, you are the adult
4. Be appropriately involved in your child’s growth (the right balance between hanging on and letting go)
5. Balance different roles (social, work, family activities)
6. Be realistic and have realistic (age appropriate) expectations
7. Give encouragement but also permission to fail/make mistakes

Trivia Night 2017

Last Friday saw the completion of another successful Trivia Night in what was a memorable night for many locals. With a record breaking 30 teams, there is no denying that Charleville SHS was the place to be with teams of 8 competing over 6 rounds for the title of Trivia Night champions. However, at the end of the night, only one team could be triumphant. Congratulations to team Encyclopaedia, who took out first place and our very own administration staff coming in a close second. The purpose of the night was to raise funds for the school’s sporting trips occurring this year (Volleyball School’s Cup, Netball Tour and All School’s touch trip). A big thankyou needs to go out to all the local businesses, who generously donated prizes which were given away on the night. Also shout out to the staff, parent helpers and students which made the night run so smoothly. I think we can all admit that next year can only be bigger and better.