13 September 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

REPORTS

The end of the term is upon us. Term 3 is an extremely important term for students, as interim reports at this time will give a clear indication of where students are in relation to their studies for each of their curriculum areas, and their readiness for the step up to the following year, which is now only 1 term away. Subject selection forms for 2018 will be posted out with Report cards for parents and students to discuss over the holidays. These will need to be returned with a parent signature during the first week in Term 4.

Report cards will be sent out on the last day of term. Please discuss these results with your student and do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher in regards to these in Term 4.

RE-DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR PRECINCT

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, the final works plan for the re-development of the Junior Secondary Precinct has now been completed. This will entail new drainage, new concreted area, a 21m x 12m covered area, an astro-turfed area, and the provision of seating for the students. It will also leave some provision of funds for beautification of the area once the major construction is completed. There will be a start-up meeting with the builder this week regarding the works commencing. The works will commence at the start of the September holidays and will be completed mid-term in Term 4, ready for the hottest part of the Charleville summer at the end of Term 4 and the start of the year in 2018.

This will give students a much needed outdoor covered area where they will be able to sit and play, protected from the heat of the Charleville summer sun.

BEYOND BRONCOS

As mentioned in the last newsletter, it has been confirmed that the program “Beyond Broncos” will commence in the school in Term 4 2017. This involves support staff coming out once a term to present to our Indigenous female students, to set goals with them, and to reward those that have met their goals around attendance and engagement.

It will also involve a support person employed by the Broncos, working with the students within the school two days each week. An advertisement for this position did go out across our community. Unfortunately, at present there have not been any applicants in Charleville. If you know of anyone who may be interested in filling this position for two days a week at the High School, please contact “Beyond Broncos” Program Manager, Gail Stephenson, on either 07 3858 9165 or 0437 690 740. They are very willing to provide training for anyone thinking they may not have the skills to do this, but are interested in learning skills and supporting the students of Charleville State High School.

DENTAL VAN

A final reminder that the Dental Van will continue to be situated on the school grounds at Charleville State High School over the September holidays. It is situated towards the back of the school and can be accessed by taking the Partridge St entrance closest to the Ag plot, and then following the road around to the back of the Library.

RUOK DAY

This week the school will celebrate RUOK? day on Thursday 14th September. Students are requested to wear yellow in support of this day.

The mission of the RUOK? is to inspire and empower everyone to meaningfully connect with people around them, and to support anyone struggling with life.

The goals are to:

1. Boost our confidence to meaningfully connect and ask about life's ups and downs.
2. Nurture our sense of responsibility to regularly connect and support others.
3. Strengthen our sense of belonging because we know people are there for us.
4. Be relevant, strong and dynamic.

Students will be involved in a number of activities during the week, including a touch AFL competition with the final on Thursday followed by a free BBQ for any student wearing their yellow shirt in support of the day.

Student Council also ran a fundraiser for childhood cancer during the week, where students and staff wore their footy colours on Monday and donated a gold coin to this very worthy cause.

The week will also culminate in a house challenge rewards trip for the winning house of the term. Kokoda students will be travelling to the bowls club for a try at barefoot bowls on Friday morning.

HUMAN POWERED VEHICLE – 24 HOUR RACE

Last week, a group of very fit and committed students, travelled to Maryborough for the HPV 24 hour challenge. This entails the students working as a team to pedal a HPV continuously for 24 hours, with the winning team being the team to travel furthest in that time. The students did an amazing job, starting at midday on Saturday and pedalling throughout the night to finish at midday on Sunday. They did an incredible job finishing 10th in their category of 40 teams, and 22nd overall from the 147 teams competing. They had to deal with cold, dark, mechanical issues, and it was reported by our staff present that they were committed, co-operated well, and extremely resilient throughout the course of the race. Thank you to Mr Barry Wastie and Mrs Ange Vetter for going away with the students and providing them with this amazing opportunity.

At Charleville State High School we strive to provide students with opportunities to experience different things. Students have continued to have a number of opportunities to be involved in a variety of activities, and I have been very proud of the number who continue to get involved and have a go.

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable two weeks of school holidays. School will resume on Tuesday 3rd October for Term 4 of 2018.

Take care

Matt Samson
Principal

Deputy Principal Senior Schooling Report

QTAC

The Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) operates a centralised tertiary application service for:

• publicly-funded Queensland universities
• Bond University Medicine
• TAFE Queensland
• Australian Maritime College
• some courses at publicly-funded universities in Northern New South Wales
• some private tertiary education providers.

These institutions have complete control in determining their own entry requirements.

QTAC assess applications using these entry requirements and then make offers to successful applicants during the offer rounds.

As well as managing applications for the above institutions, QTAC publish course information for some institutions that accept their own applications directly.

QTAC Applications open on the 3rd August 2017 and close on the 26th September 2017. The application fee cost is below.

Traineeships

We have a number of traineeships and apprenticeships available at the moment, including Certificate III Hospitality. 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

Junior School

Welcome to Week 10. I hope everyone has a well-deserved rest in the following two weeks. Enjoy your time with your teenagers! I am looking forward to two of my three children coming home for a break.

Timetable

Term 4 will see the return of a number of staff who have been on leave this term. The minor changes to the timetable will necessary for students returning to their original teachers.

2018 Timetable. This week students in years 7, 8 and 9 will be receiving letters concerning their elective subjects for 2018. In 2018 all years 8, 9 and 10 students will be able to choose two electives. I urge parents and students to choose wisely as the electives are for the entire year and students will find it difficult to change electives after the first two weeks. Although students will be given a range of electives to choose from only the three most popular electives will be able to run. Students who do not return their forms will be placed in an elective.

Contact Details

Are your contact details up to date at the school? Please call Nadonna at the office or send a note if you have had a change in address or phone number. It is important that we are able to contact you at all times.

Year Six Transition day

On Tuesday 22nd August, year six students from St Mary’s School, Charleville State School, Augathella State School, Morven State school and Charleville School of Distance Education joined us for the first of two transition days. The second transition day is in Term 4 on Thursday 26th October. We look forward to working with our future Year 7 students.

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. Please note that there are a number of staff on leave in Term 3.

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 (HOD)

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

Year Level Coordinators

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

Guidance Officer – Mr John Anderssen
Youth Support Coordinator(YSC) - Mrs Jenny Peacock
Community Education Officer (CEC) – Jolene Russell
School Based Youth Health Nurse (SBYHN) – 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

Student Services

Teenagers and the use of Electronic devices.

I read an interesting article in the Sunday Mail this week, urging parents to be aware of how and the amount of time teenagers are using electronic devices. I encourage all parents and carers to do their own research on this topic, as it is important for several reasons:

1. Are the students communicating with people you do not know?
2. Are students getting enough sleep?
3. Is the use of electronic devices replacing valuable reading time?

Mobile Phones at Charleville SHS

The inappropriate use of a mobile phone at times reported to the school, however the majority of times the mobile phone is used outside of school hours. If there is evidence that a student has used their phone inappropriately at school, then the student is not to have their phone at school. It is the parents and carers’ responsibility to ensure that the student is receiving and sending legal and only age appropriate material.

Immunization for Meningococcal (15 to 19 year olds)

The majority of year ten students were immunized for meningococcal disease this term. If your child is aged between 15 and 19 then the immunization is free this year. The service offered at the school for year 10 students only. If your student is in a different class or was unable to have the immunization on the two days the nurses were at school then you may take your child to the clinics run by the Murweh shire council. Please call them to confirm dates. We are working hard to get permission for the nurses to immunize other students aged between 15 and 19 at the school; however, there is no guarantee this will be granted this year.

Reading

At Charleville State High School, we have an excellent three-tiered reading plan/focus.

1. In all subjects and classrooms, reading is taught with Directed Reading and Thinking Activities (DRTA).
2. For those students whose reading age is not within 6 months of their chronological age we have a program called Levelled Literacy Intervention run by Mrs Ange Stirton and Miss Lauren Butler.
3. Multilit reading program, which is a one: one reading and sight words program.
   The above three levels of reading at school must have students attendance above 90%. Too often students have difficulties with reading because they have interrupted attendance at school.

As parents, you can help your students in many aspects:

1. Model reading to them. Read interesting articles to them and take the time to discuss and value each other’s opinions.
2. Encourage students regardless of age to read for at least 20 minutes every day.

Attendance

At Charleville State High School, our goal is for all students to attend school 92%. Last week letters sent to individual families whose child’s attendance in the junior school was less than 80%. If you received a letter, please ensure that your child attends school every day unless there is a valid reason. If attendance does not improve then the next step in the process of reaching the goal of 92% is to send an official Education Queensland letter requesting an interview to discuss why attendance is at such a level.

Student Support Centre

We are very excited to have our Student Support Centre established in term 4. C block will now house our CEC, Mrs Jolene Russell, our YSC, Mrs Jenny Peacock, our SBYHN, Miss Jen Sellin, our Chaplain, Mr Les Penrose as well as our yet to be appointed Beyond Broncos staff member. Students will have a large, welcoming area to access the support offered at Charleville State High School.

Year Nine Camp

Students, parents and teachers are working towards the organizing of the Year Nine Camp to Moreton Island that takes place in Term 4, Week 2. Final payment was due last week. If you intend your student to participate, please ensure final payment is made as soon as possible. Students are getting quite excited about the wonderful opportunity organized for them.

Until next time,

Narelle Webb
Deputy Principal
Junior Schooling/Student Services

Renovations and Upgrades Music Department

Over the last term, the Charleville State High School Music Department has received a great deal of financial assistance. This support has been necessary to undertake some essential upgrades to the music space and to improve our resources.

The renovations to the Donga have included the installation of quality acoustic deadening panels. As the contemporary strand of the Brass, Woodwind and Percussion program continues to grow, the need to protect the hearing of these stereotypically ‘loud’ instrumentalists, is paramount. The other aspect of our sound containment project, has been laying carpet, in this previously vinyl-filled space. This has not only improved the look of the room, but will ensure the longevity of our student’s hearing, which is undoubtedly the most important sense for any musician.

In addition to this work to the classroom, we are thrilled to have collaborated with Mr. Barry Wastie and his students from the ITD department, to help restore our Piano. After the installation of new wheels, a bit of gluing and a lot of sanding, we are now able to provide accompaniment for a wind students. Playing with Piano accompaniment is an essential component of learning any linear instrument. Our students certainly reaped the rewards of this, being more prepared than ever for their performances at the Charleville Performing Arts Festival. The Piano will also be utilised when a number of our students undertake AMEB exams at the end of Term 4.

Finally, we are happy to inform you that we are continuing to upgrade our equipment to provide the best outcomes for the CSHS music students. We continue to add to our collection of Brass and Woodwind instruments, having replaced another Alto Saxophone and a Trombone. We have also invested in more live audio equipment to assist with the performance outcomes of the school’s Rock Bands. You may be wondering, ‘what good are all of these instruments if the students don’t have any music to play?’ Well this has also been taken care of, with the addition of ten new Jazz Ensemble charts and fifteen new pieces for our Concert Band. To complement our new repertoire, we have also been able to purchase a new performance uniform for our Concert Band. I would particularly like to thank everybody who has contributed by participating in the ‘instrument tender’ that we held earlier in the year. These contributions have assisted us to purchase thirty new performance shirts.

All in all, it has been an extremely productive term and we thank you for your continued support.

Stewart Sloan (Brass, Woodwind and Percussion).

Maryborough Technology Challenge

On the morning of the 7th September 10 CSHS students and 2 Teachers headed of on a both challenging and exciting adventure. After 11 hours of driving, we arrived at Hervey Bay to spend the night relaxing and finalising sponsor stickers. Friday we headed for a relaxing stroll on the beach, and a tour of one of the factories of one our sponsors Synforce Oils.

Lunchtime Friday we arrived at Maryborough to compete in the Maryborough Technology Challenge. As we unpacked and set up our pits, students are keen to get through scrutineering and begin racing. With the bike passing all inspections around 7:30 pm, we began our time trials. Students needed to get used to the 1.6km track and the bike with the new modifications made. With a successful 2 hours of practice and no damage obtained to the bike, Mr Wastie had his first ‘happy’ moment of the weekend. Friday morning we were up bright early modifying windscreens to maximise airflow and reduce wear from riders. 7 am saw the start of the second time trials and practice. An excellent effort by all involved saw us starting on the grid in 20th position in front schools from all over Queensland.

12 o’clock, the canon is fired and we are off and racing for a gruelling 24 hours. Harrison Alick advancing to a position of 13th overall by the end of second lap. Riders raced for around 20 minutes then would complete a change in the pits. The best stint was 21 laps with just over an hour of riding. With a few spills, collisions and rollovers by around 2 o’clock in the morning we were in 7th position in the open boys division. Sam King completing laps in an amazing time of 2 minutes 40 Seconds, with an average for all riders of around the 3 minute mark. Throughout the night, we battled for our position only a few laps away from 6th place. In the early hours of the morning, the radio crackles with the sound of a voice saying ‘I am pitting the bike has no steering!’ We had broken a steering arm. With the use of duct tape and zippy ties, the bike is back on the track with only the use of one steering arm. We had lost three positions in the time the bike was rode into the pits to the time it had exited the pits.

Statistics

• Track length is 1.4km
• Completed laps 396
• Best Time Lap 1 @ 2.27 (Harrison Alick)
• Best Speed 34.115 km/h
• Total KM Rode 554 (This is equivalent to riding from Charleville to nearly Dalby)

Final Positions were 10th out of 41 in the open boys and 22nd out of 147 for the entire field.

Our Team

Riders – Harrisson Alick, Jabyn McDonald, Luke Vetter, Ian Mackie, Rueben Vaggs, Andrew Mackie, Blair Shearwin, Sam King,
Pit Crew – Matilda Vaggs, Ashtyn Shearwin

A big thankyou goes out to Ange Vetter who drove the bus, organised food, organised the back pit area, became our resource manager and organised us.

This trip, or rather experience, would not have been possible without the kind sponsorships from, Mulga Tools, Eko Park, Rotary, Switched on Electrical, Charleville Self Storage, Synforce Lubricants, and the Cosmos Country Motor Inn. Also thankyou to all who brought tickets, donated time to sell tickets and support us throughout this entire event.