17 October 2018

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Welcome to term 4 everyone.

As we speed towards the end of the school year, organisation is well under way for the upcoming awards night celebrations on Thursday 8 November. Many of the bursaries and major prizes on offer have been decided and Mr Kohli is currently gathering the data on student achievement to determine other prize recipients for the evening. Invitations will be sent out shortly to the award recipients and their families. I hope we see as many of you there on the evening as possible to help us celebrate the success of our incredible students.

Prior to the holidays, many of the High School students were involved in the Charleville performing arts festival. Our student’s did an amazing job, collecting awards in a multitude of categories. The awards winners were outlined in the latest newsletter at the end of last term. Congratulations to all of the award recipients, and special thanks to our instrumental teachers, Mr Stewart Sloan and Mr Vincent Kwan for their work in preparing the students for the event.

In week 1 of this term, a group of our students headed to Brisbane for the All Schools Touch Football competition. The students did an incredible job, learning lots, giving their all in every game, and improving every time they stepped onto the field. The students had an excellent win on day 2, reward for the hard work they had been putting in all term in training and throughout the first day of competition.

Unfortunately, the weather in Brisbane wasn’t great, and the event was cancelled on the Saturday, with the team unable to play their allocated games on the Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to Mrs Eileen Lindsay and Mr Dan Baeck for their time given to train and take these students to this event.

This week, our very lucky Year 9 students headed off to camp, which this year is being held at the Noosa North Shore. Again, the weather was not looking good at the start of the week down in the South East corner, but I am sure that the students will have an incredible time no matter what the weather brings. They will undoubtedly come away from the camp with life long memories of the fantastic activities on offer. Thanks to Mrs Kate Jackson for all of her hard work in organising and fundraising for this event, and to Kate, Mr Paul Hunter and Ms Ashleigh Harding for attending the camp over the week with the students.

On Tuesday 16 October, our year 7 students were involved in a practice test for the new online NAPLAN tests. The tests went for 1 hour, and gave our students the opportunity to see what the tests are like, while also giving the school the opportunity to test our IT infrastructure to ensure we have the capability to run the test in this fashion in 2019 if required.

All went well in regards to the tests, with our computers and internet working well. Consensus from the student feedback appeared to be that the students certainly felt more engaged doing the test on computers. Decisions in the department are still being finalized for next year, but it will more than likely be that testing for NAPLAN will occur this way in 2019.

Last Thursday, the Murweh Shire Council held their monthly council meeting at the school. The council offered to do this, and I accepted this generous offer to enable students have the opportunity to watch a council meeting in action and to gain a greater insight into how decisions about their town are made.

Our Year 7 and 8 students had the opportunity to listen and watch as the council debated and made decisions about various aspects of the town and shire. I was very proud of the students and the way they listened and engaged with the process on the day.

A reminder to all parents of Year 6 students in our feeder Primary schools that in week 3 on Tuesday 23 October, we will be holding the second and final of our Year 6 transition days. The Primary schools will have information about the day to pass on to you, with students from our feeder schools engaging in High school activities at Charleville State High School on the day. This is to help ensure that all students have a smooth and seamless transition from Primary school to High school in 2019. If you have any concerns or questions regarding this, please contact our Junior Secondary Head of Department, Mrs Sabrina Goodingham.

Take care,
Matt Samson
Principal

Deputy Principal Senior Schooling Report

The Final Countdown

Our Year 12 students are in the final weeks of their secondary schooling. We are impressing upon our Year 12’s that they must maintain focus through to the end, even though this can be challenging, when they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Preparations are well underway for the Awards Night, Formal and Graduation, so students are reminded to listen to notices for important announcements. If parents have any queries or concerns, please contact the school.

Key events for Term 4 2018

2019 Student Leadership Process

Congratulations to the Year 11 students who have put their hand up and nominated for a leadership position in 2018.

The first step in the process is the presentation of a speech. All students will present a speech to the entire school body at our full school parade.

The second part of the process will take place with the school community voting for our 2018 Student Leaders.

The final part of the process sees all nominees being interview, by our current 2017 School Captains and Vice Captains, Principal, Deputy Principal and Year Level Coordinator.

Staff will also submit their votes and the 2018 leaders will be announced at Awards Night on the 8th of November. Good luck to all of our nominees.

Year 12 Formal

Our Year 12’s are counting down the days until their Year 12 Formal on Saturday 10th November. The evening will kick off at the Racecourse, with arrivals occurring from 5pm – 6pm. The official proceedings will begin at 6:30pm.

The students have been working hard to prepare their choreographed dance and all the decorations for the night. The lads have been finding creative ways to ask their partners to the Formal, including the gifts of turnips and donuts.

It is looking to be a magnificent night, when all of our fine young people celebrate the end of their secondary schooling.

Bandana Day – Friday 26th October 2018

The school has nominated to celebrate Bandana Day on Friday 26th October this year.

National Bandanna Day is the major fundraising and awareness campaign for CanTeen Australia. This powerful campaign has generated over $30 million to support young people affected by cancer. In the last three years alone, the National Bandanna Day message reached 20 million Australians and 1.2 million of them supported the campaign by purchasing merchandise.

CanTeen helps young people cope with cancer in their family. Through CanTeen, they learn to explore and deal with their feelings about cancer, connect with other young people in the same boat and – if they’ve been diagnosed themselves, we provide specialist youth-specific treatment teams.

The acknowledgement of this day is driven by Ashtyn Shearwin (Yr. 9). Ashtyn is speaking on assemblies to promote the event and bandanas are for sale through the front office, for $5 each. Everyone is encouraged to buy a bandana and are free to add a donation at the front office.

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 High 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.

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.

Below are a number of forms for students to complete, for the Educational Access Scheme. This scheme is to ensure that students who have had any issues that have affected their education acknowledged and reflected in the OP score that they receive. Students have been working on these applications in Pastoral Care.

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). If any students need to change subjects to help them toward getting their QCE, they need to see me. 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.

VET News

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

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

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL JUNIOR SCHOOLING AND STUDENT SERVICES NEWS

Junior School

Welcome to Term 4. I hope everyone had a well-deserved rest over the break.

Timetable

Term 4 sees minor changes to the timetable.

2019 Timetable. Students in years 7, 8 and 9 received letters last term concerning their elective subjects for 2019. In 2019, most years 8, 9 and 10 students will be able to study two electives. Others will be given the opportunity to have further learning support as an elective. They will be contacted if identified as one who would benefit from extra learning support. Students have been given a range of electives to choose, however due to student numbers not all electives will be available to run. Students who did 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/Dee 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

The second transition day for year six students in term 4 is on Tuesday 23rd October. We look forward to working with our future year 7 students. The enrolment process includes filling out the enrolment forms and making an interview time through the office.

Junior Certificate Presentation

On Tuesday 4th December the year nine students who have attained their Junior Certificate of Education will be presented at 2:00pm. Parents and the community are invited to attend this ceremony.

NAPLAN online

To transition to administering NAPLAN online will begin with all year seven students sitting a practice activity on Tuesday 16th October. It is a practice that will give us information on a various number of issues.

1. Does the school have the technology to administer to approximately 60 students NAPLAN online?
2. How do the students cope with the different test environment?
3. What do we need to do to ensure the test is administered effectively and equitably?

Wilful Disobedience

Charleville State High School have wonderful students, the majority of whom are very RESPECTFUL and COOPERATIVE. Unfortunately, a small number of students have been refusing to follow staff instructions. At Charleville State High School this is referred to as “Wilful Disobedience”. Our staff are very considerate and often give students the opportunity to correct a minor incident. However, if they persist, the student will be placed on a monitoring card. I urge all parents to support the school by signing the monitoring cards every night and discuss the behaviour that requires modifying if the student is to be a positive, highly functioning member of the school and wider community.

Student Services

Mobile Phones at Charleville SHS

The inappropriate use of mobile phones reported to the school, happen the majority of time 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.

Use of Technology at home.

Research indicates that parents should carefully monitor the use of online/technology games etc at home especially during the school week. Students’ sleep patterns can be greatly affected if they are spending more than one hour a day online using high adrenalin producing games. The use of these games should be ceased at least one hour before the designated time to go to bed. It is recommended that the technology devices not be located in the bedrooms, including phones.

The following is an excerpt from an article from REACHOUT.com, a website that has some very useful information on raising teenagers.

Good sleep

Poor sleep often accompanies stressful times. Teenagers experiencing stress might lie awake worrying at night and be too tired to function well the next day. This can set up a poor sleep pattern. The Sleep Health Foundation recommends these tips to help your child establish healthy sleeping patterns:

• Avoid screen time an hour before bed and encourage reading or listening to relaxing music instead to help wind down. Make a rule that all screens are turned off and kept out of bedrooms.
• Support your child to establish a routine around bed and wake-up times. Encourage them to stick to it, even on the weekends. This might not be easy, but explaining why it’s important (and forgiving the occasional breach in the schedule) might help.
• Encourage them to get around 7.5 hours of sleep per night, which is the optimum amount of time for teenagers.
• To sleep well, their bedroom should be a cool 22 degrees, dark and have fresh air circulating.

Without sleep, we can’t function properly – especially young people, who are still growing and whose brain is still developing. Pay attention to your child’s sleep patterns as an early indication of stress.

Immunization – Year Seven students

Year Seven students will receive their final immunization for the year, soon. I would like to commend the year seven students in the mature approach they took for this process throughout the year. Well Done!

Attendance

At Charleville State High School, our goal is for all students to attend school 92%. Every term letters are 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.

Mental Health Week

Last week Charleville had a range of opportunities to be involved in as part of Mental Health Week. One of these activities was on Wednesday afternoon when our Tradies’ club visited the Men’s Shed for afternoon tea. It was a great opportunity for our students. Special thanks must go to Tegan Russell, Jenny Peacock and Katie McLeod for ensuring our students are always supported.

Year Nine Camp

As I write this newsletter students and teachers are preparing for the Year Nine Camp to Noosa North Shore. I am sure they will have a wonderful time under the expert supervision of Mrs Kate Jackson, Mr Paul Hunter and Ms Ashleigh Harding.

Until next time,

Narelle Webb
Deputy Principal
Junior Schooling/Student Services

Junior Secondary Update

Welcome back everyone to the final weeks of the school year. Term 4 is our shortest term for the year, but don’t let that trick you, it is also our busiest term of the year!

This term we have many exciting things occurring in Junior Secondary:

Year 9 Camp

As you read this, our Year 9 Students are currently enjoying all the wonderful experiences that Noosa North Shore has to offer. To celebrate their achievements in Junior Secondary and better prepare them for the education in Senior, students will be completing a number of new activities, individually and in groups. Students with the guidance of Year Level Co-ordinator Kate Jackson, and teachers Paul Hunter and Ashleigh Harding will complete stand up paddle boarding, surfing and rope course to name a few. Keep an eye out on future newsletters to see photos. Students and their teachers are to be congratulated on the awesome effort they made fundraising over $3500 to help reduce their overall individual prices.

NAPLAN Online Practice

This Tuesday, Year 7 students have the opportunity to test out the new NAPLAN online format. This online format is the way of the future in terms of NAPLAN, and is made to suit the ability of each individual user. The information gained from our trial will help ensure improvement for the rollout next year.

Year 6 Transition Day Two

We are looking forward to meeting our 60 future Year 7 students for 2019, for one final Transition Day this coming Tuesday 23rd October. Students will rotate through a range of subjects during the day including, HPE, Maths, Humanities, Science and ITD. Students will also participate in a range of teambuilding activities to make our students from our three feeder schools one unit in preparation for 2019.

Enrolment Interviews

Enrolment interviews for future Year 7 students commence their second and third rounds this term. Parents of future students are requested to return their enrolment packs as soon as possible and make an appointment for their 30 minute enrolment interview. Enrolment interviews will be completed with a member of the Junior Secondary team for 2019. These enrolment interviews are a perfect starting point to build wonderful rapport with the Junior Secondary Staff, and allow you to provide some much needed information on how we can best cater to your student’s needs.

Junior Certificate of Education

This term is the culmination of the first year of students achieving their Junior Certificate of Education. Students have been working very hard all year to gain their 12 points to achieve their JCE. To receive their JCE Year 9 students must complete the following:

Students in Year 9 who have achieved their JCE will be invited, along with their parents and families to attend the inaugural JCE Award Ceremony on 4th December 2018, from 2pm to recognise their wonderful achievements.

Year 9 students who did not gain their 12 points, will still proceed to Year 10 next year, however they will be ineligible to participate in this ceremony. Letters of explanation and then invitations will be sent out to relevant families shortly.

Year 8 students are also currently working towards their JCE, with the majority of students currently on track to receive their JCE. Year 8 students will similarly, participate in a JCE Award Ceremony at the end of 2019, once they have met the following requirements of their JCE.

This year’s current Year 7 students will start to work towards earning their JCE in 2019, and there will be a parent information session on this early in the year.

If there are any questions or concerns, surrounding any of this information please feel free to contact Head of Department – Junior Secondary, Sabrina Goodingham.

Fraser Coast Technology Challenge

Thursday the 13th September 17 Students, 3 teachers, 2 bikes, spare parts, clothes, tent, helmets oh and do not forget the baked goods to eat on the way. We began to make the trek to Maryborough for the annual Fraser Coast Technology Challenge HPV Race. With an overnight stay in Chinchilla and arriving at about 10 o’clock the next day in Maryborough ,first on the agenda was scrutineering. This is when all bikes are checked that they are safe and meet the regulations. Both bikes failing this on small technicalities but after a few minor changes we did finally get them through.

Saturday morning brought us to time trials this is when you get a feel of the track and obtain your grid position. An excellent effort was made by the Open Boys team starting in the top 20. This was our best starting position ever.

A few minor adjustments we line up for the start of the race. Unfortunately, on the warm up lap the open boys get a flat tyre. So into the pits and a quick change with Sam King lucky enough to get out of the pits quick enough to keep his starting position. With a few spills, rollovers and collisions both bikes managed to finish the race with no major incidents.

Results

Mustangs – Open Boys
36th out of 142 teams overall
16th out of 39 teams in the open boys division
Best Lap Sam King – 2minutes 13 Seconds

Brumby’s – Open Mixed
139th Overall
28th in the open mixed category
Best Lap – 4 Minutes 13 Seconds

Our Team

Open Boys, Mustang – Sam King, Rueben Vaggs, Blair Shearwin, Andrew Mackie, Harry Springall, Jack Andrews-Torrens, Jack Knight, Harry Aspinall

Open Mixed, Brumby’s - Skye Burey, Keenan Burns, Natalya Dingle, Fynn Moller-Cole, Callie Percival, Abbi Gallegos, Ashtyn Shearwin, Matilda Vaggs

Pit Crew – Nikita Chadderton

A big thankyou goes out to Matt Samson for driving us there and back safely and Kate Womersley for assisting us during our time away. I would also like to thank all our supporters who made the effort to attend the event.

This trip, or rather experience, would not have been possible without the kind sponsorships from, Mulga Tools, Charleville RSL, Charleville Self Storage, Warrego Signs and the Cosmos Country Motor Inn. Also thankyou to all who brought tickets, chocolates, donated time to sell tickets and support us throughout this entire event.

Barry Wastie
HPV Co-Ordinator

Year 9 English

Year 9 English students have started Term 4 enthusiastically, by showing willingness to engage and by demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of language, literature and literacy during class activities. This term students are expanding their narrative writing skills and examining the influence of Shakespeare in modern times through studying his unique comedies. Throughout the term, students will be guided through reading and analysing either ‘Taming of the Shrew’ or ‘Twelfth Night’. The compelling characters, hilarious plots and influential themes will be studied as students learn to analyse and evaluate literary texts. As the term progresses, students will adopt their own unique views of the themes within the play and use these as inspiration to create their own engaging narrative. At the end of the term, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge, concepts and skills they have gained and reflect on their learning in preparation for Year 10.

Thank you.
Crystal Dingle
English and Science Teacher

Year 7 English

Welcome back everyone to the final weeks of the school year. This term Year 7 English students have started off the term with a bang, learning all about the different social issues that are affecting us globally, regionally and locally. Students are enthusiastically debating the issues surrounding animal cruelty, racism, bullying, obesity and fast food, and homelessness. It is quite empowering to see the values that our growing citizens hold, and the passion behind their beliefs. This term students will communicate their beliefs, mixed with facts in a reflective essay.

In addition, we continue to develop our reading, writing and spelling skills each lesson. Students really enjoy using the individual whiteboards to share their answers, and enjoy working outside to complete their spelling words – even using throwing balls to spell out the correct word.

Mrs Goodingham

11/12 BCT

This term students are learning about Event Management and are exploring how to develop a portfolio for a formal. This past week students have begun developing their plans of what their ideal formal would be and have been gathering ideas on locations, menus, design and many other things. Students have been learning about the significance of a budget and justifying choices they have been making. As the term progresses students will continue to grow their knowledge and understanding of Event Management through their learning about event logistics and organisation.

The High School P&C needs your help.

We are raising money for our great school by holding a Xmas Wheelbarrow Raffle. We are asking if each family can donate a couple of items toward this awesome raffle to help us give back to your Students. We are happy for anything you choose to donate however if you are looking for some suggestions you could donate:

Plastic plates, cutlery, cups, serviettes, soft drinks, chips, lollies, chocolates, cordial, canned goods, rice, pasta, Bon Bon’s, Xmas paper, pretty well anything you think people would use for Christmas/New Year.

All donations can be dropped off to the school office, Cosmos Country Motor Inn or you can contact me and I am happy to collect from you if that is more convenient.

With Thanks
Kelly Shearwin
0432129469