13 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES

Charleville State High School continually strives to provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of extra-curricular activities and experiences. Over the last couple of weeks we have been extremely privileged to have had some very famous sports stars visiting our school to work with our students.

Hot on the heels of Vicki Wilson and the Bangarra dance company we have had into the school Petro Civoniceva, Scott Prince, Justin Hodges (rugby league), Darryl White (AFL), Kelly McKellar (softball), Brian Kerle and Cameron Leonard (Basketball).

Petro came to the school as part of the Deadly Choices team, who came to speak to all students about the importance of making healthy and smart choices in life. Petro visited almost every class within the school to introduce himself and give this message to the students. He was joined by the Deadly Choices team of Lloyd and Sam, who assisted in getting this very important message to the students.

Our special thanks to Deadly Choices and CWAATCICH for organising this visit by this very humble champion!

Last week we had two days of visits by Darryl White, Kelly McKellar, Brian Kerle and Cameron Leonard. These champions of their sports spent time working with students on their skills in AFL, Softball and Basketball, while also giving them advice from their experiences on how to be successful in life, no matter what you choose to do.

The students were fantastic in working with these stars, and in a very short time, you could see the improvement in the skills of the students who worked with these champions.

Our very sincere thanks once again to the HOPE foundation for their support and organisation in obtaining these amazing opportunities for our students.

BEYOND BRONCOS

Beyond Broncos for 2018 kicked off since our last newsletter with a visit from Scott Prince and Justin Hodges. The Beyond Broncos team met with our registered indigenous girls, discussing and determining goals for them all in 2018, and the strategies on how to help the students reach these around attendance, engagement and achievement.

Courtney Burns did a great job in organising the day. I would also like to thank any of the visitors who came along on the day for the commencement of the program for 2018.

Unfortunately Courtney will be leaving us at the end of the term, and so the Beyond Broncos team will be looking for a replacement for Courtney. If you are interested, please contact Gail Stephenson, Program Manager – Indigenous Girls Academy via email at gail.stephenson@broncos.com.au.

INFORMATION EVENING

Thank you to all of the parents of Year 10 students who came along to the information evening to listen to the information about the changes to Year 11 and 12 in 2019. There are some quite significant changes happening to Senior Schooling across Queensland next year. This will include things such as external exams for our students as they complete their senior studies as of 2019, and the OP scoring system being replaced with the ATAR system.

If you missed this evening but would still like information to have a look at, please contact the school and we will email the information that was presented on the night for your perusal.

QUEENS BATON RELAY

As most of you will all know, the Queens Baton relay made its way through Charleville last Thursday. It was great to see that a number of Charleville State High School students were involved in this potentially once in a lifetime opportunity.

Sophie Saffy, Anastasia O’Neil, Rhianna Webb all shared the experience of being part of this exciting event through Charleville. They were also joined by Michaela Walker one of our 2017 seniors, Kipp Singleton and Ryan Henry in year 8 had the honour of running the baton in Augathella on Friday.

The students were certainly buzzing after the experience, and we are all very proud of the way they represented their town and their school on the day – I am sure they have memories of this event that they will never forget!

Have a great fortnight everyone,
Matt Samson
Principal

Deputy Principal Senior Schooling Report

Queen’s Baton Relay

Last Thursday 9th March 2018, Charleville hosted the Queen’s Baton Relay for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, being held at the Gold Coast from 4th April to 15th April. A number of our students and former students were privileged enough to be nominated and selected as Baton Bearers; Ryan Henry (Augathella), Kipp Singleton (Augathella), Rhianna Webb, Anastasia O’Neil, Sophie Saffy and Michaela Walker (Charleville).

COMMUNITY PLANTING DAY

Help plant 750 wetland plants along the riverbank in just one morning. The revegetation of the bank will help reduce erosion, improve water quality and sustain the biodiversity of this valuable natural asset. The day will include:

• a talk on the environmental values of the waterhole
• the launch of the Plan of Management
• a sausage sizzle provided by the Charleville Fishing and Restocking Club

The community planting day will occur on Sunday 29 April 2018 from 10am. No RSVP required – just turn up with water, sun protection, gardening gloves, old enclosed shoes (as you may get muddy) and lots of enthusiasm for enhancing the waterhole.

This project is supported by South West NRM through funding from the Queensland Government's Queensland Regional Natural Resource Management Investment Program.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT SOUTH WEST NRM 07 4656 8500

Next step Survey

Next Step is a state wide post-school destination survey of all students who completed Year 12 last year in Queensland.

Insights gained from Next Step assists schools to review and plan their services for students, and school system personnel to evaluate education policies as they affect the transition from school to further study and employment.

This year’s survey of 2017 Year 12 completers will commence in March 2018 and the school seeks your support in once again promoting participation in the survey. If you have a child that completed Year 12 last year, they can follow the following links to find out more about the survey.

Indigenous Education Community Meetings

Charleville State High School holds an Indigenous Education Community Meeting once a month. This Committee provides a link for our indigenous community/family to share knowledge, celebrate and be involved in the education of the children enrolled at Charleville State School. If you have a child/grandchild attending Charleville State High School who identifies as ATSI or you are interested in the education of ATSI children in our community then we welcome and encourage you to attend our meetings.

In 2018, these meetings will be held in the school Professional Library, situated in the school office, and will occur on the second Thursday of each month. If you wish to discuss a particular topic please forward your agenda item to jruss336@eq.edu.au prior to meeting day.

QCE Tracking

Mr Kohli and I are busy closely monitoring our senior students, to ensure they are on a pathway to successfully gain their Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). We will also be organising parent/student interviews with those students who are ‘at risk’ of not gaining their QCE, so we can form an action plan.

Year 10 Work Experience

Beginning in 2018, all Year 10 students will be completing a week of Work Experience, to align with their Certificate II in Foundation Skills for Work (CERT II FSK), which they complete during their Pastoral Care classes. This course teaches students basic literacy and numeracy skills, as well as the skills required to study certificate courses. The course will also give students points toward their QCE.

Work Experience will occur in the last week of school in Term 2 (Week 11). It would involve sourcing over 50 positions for students for 5 days straight, for 6 hours each day. Working hours/times will be negotiated with the employer. These positions do not have to be in this town. Through negotiations with us, students could go anywhere in QLD. They might have relatives in Brisbane or a family property in Emerald, that they could go to for a week of work experience.

Students will be allocated a prospective employer, according to their preferences and then be able to ‘apply’ for this job. They will have to write a letter of introduction and a resume (all done through the Cert II FSK in Pastoral Care), which will be sent to the business. Student will have to present to the business before the work experience for an interview, giving the employer an opportunity to outline their expectations.

If there are any employers who are interested in having a work experience student for a week, from Monday 25th June to Friday 29th June, please contact Ange Vetter at the school on 4656 8888.

VET News

We have a number of traineeships and apprenticeship opportunities coming up.

• Certificate III Retail (IGA)
• Certificate III Business Administration (RESQ)
• Certificate III Business Administration (BAS)
• Certificate III Tourism/Business Administration
  ( Cosmos Centre, full time, 2 positions)

If your student is looking for the opportunity to be involved, please contact Ange Vetter at the school on 4656 8888.

Thank you to all the businesses that support our students and our school. If you have an opportunity within your business to employ a school based trainee or apprentice, please contact Ange Vetter on 4656 8888.

Cheers
Vanessa Moller

7/8 MESH Science

Over the last couple of weeks the year 7/8 MESH class has been developing an infographic to convince their readers of the positive effects of Genetically Modified Organisms. We have been busy making posters using electronic platforms like MS Publisher. However, last Tuesday we had a treat, a web conference visit from two students from the Queensland Academy of Science, Maths and Technology in Brisbane. These two students, Jasmine and Patrick have recently returned from an excursion to present their infographics at an international convention. Patrick and Jasmine spoke to the 7/8 MESH class about how they went about constructing their infographics and our students were able to ask them about why they choose their topics and why they were at a science school. It was terrific to see our Charleville students excitedly engaged in these stories and asking about the best ways to build their own infographics. We are planning to extend the links with the Queensland Academy of Science, Maths and Technology, calling on some of their other students and teachers to share their knowledge and experience with us.

Paul Hunter

ITD

Industrial Technology Classes have been poking along well this term and each year level is now completing the final stages of their projects.

The year 9 are completing a large BBQ tray couple of pics below,

Mr Matt Jackson

Brass, Woodwind and Percussion update

It is extremely rewarding to witness students of all ages and backgrounds collaborating and celebrating the most addictive art form, music. 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 an ‘uncool’ stigma, so we need to ensure that the content is engaging, not only the music students, but their pupils. This is being achieved through relevant, contemporary and relatable performances by the CSHS Concert Band and Rock Bands. As much as our school would like to provide as many modern and engaging activities to all students, we must keep in mind that music in the Charleville cluster is funded by the region, and our job as Music Teachers is to implement a curriculum that has an emphasis on orchestral instruments. This encompasses reading music notation, collaboration with others through listening as well as all of the technical aspects that go along with playing a wind instrument. Doing all of this simultaneously is a proven formula for cognitive development and the positive effects on a child’s academics can be visible after just two years of playing. Check out this ted talk, highlighting the research about the effects of playing music, on the brain:

As positive as the science of brain development is, it is fantastic when all of this can culminate into the very reason we musicians put in all of the hard work. Performances! FANFARE is the state’s foremost music competition occurring every two years. The contest boasts more than 900 ensembles who will compete for a chance to perform in the grand finale at QPAC. Although we intend on improving on our bronze commendation from 2016, my strings colleague Mr. Vincent Kwan and myself certainly know what it takes to reach the big stage. I had the pleasure of competing in the finals as a student, with the Harristown State High School music program during my school years and Vincent took his Benowa State High School String Ensemble to the finals during his time teaching on the Gold Coast. We will be travelling to Roma in June to compete in the first regional heat. We hope to be awarded at least silver commendation this time around. The CSHS Concert Band is growing in numbers and we are beginning to achieve a very balanced sound. It may be optimistic, but I would love to take us to stage 2 which is the heat in Toowoomba.

We will be presenting our repertoire for the community in a short concert, before we depart to compete. Stay posted for a date and a time. In the meantime, please continue to support your child’s tuition, helping them arrive punctually for ensemble rehearsals and enabling them to practice as much a possible.

Yours faithfully,
Stewart Sloan.

CEC News

On Friday 2nd of February Charleville State High school students kick started the Youth Radio Program at 4RR FM Bidjarra Media and Broadcasting Company. Our first students Aiden Webb and Destiny Holley did a tremendous job. A big thank you to Karen Russell for inviting our students to learn new skills in the exciting area of Media and Broadcasting.

Jolene Russell

TEACHER AIDE POSITION – Temporary Part Time

Position end date: 7th December 2018
15 hours per week (minimum) 25 hours per week (maximum)
Salary $24.88/hour

KEY DUTIES: Contribute to the provision of a quality educational service by assisting and supporting teachers in the classroom with the preparation/enhancement of learning materials and associated activities.

Applications for this position will remain current for 12 months.

REQUIREMENT FOR POSITION: Prospective employees must make application for, and be able to obtain, a suitability card from the Working with Children Check (Queensland’s Blue Card system).

Application packages will be available from the School Office between 8am and 4pm.

Contact: Jillian Bussell
Ph: 4656 8888
Email: jbuss1@eq.edu.au

CLOSING DATE is Friday 16th March 2018

CLEANER – CASUAL

If you are interested in casual cleaning please contact Jillian Bussell on 4656 8888. You must have or be able to obtain a Suitability Card from Working with Children (Queensland’s Blue Card system).

KEY DUTIES: Contribute to the efficient and effective operation and environment of the school by providing a high level of cleaning support.