15 May 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

This week saw the start of the very first NAPLAN tests to be held online at Charleville State High School. This year is still a trial year for this across Queensland, but will be mandatory across all schools next year in 2020. Students have previously been involved in practice tests online and the feedback from most students has been that they do prefer the online version of the tests over the paper based version.

The tests are also able to be spread out over two weeks, so due to our show holiday on this Friday, some of the tests will be still occurring next week.

The timetable for the tests is as follows:

Tuesday 14 May – Year 7 Writing test and Year 9 Writing test
Wednesday 15 May – Year 7 Reading test and Year 9 Reading test
Thursday 16 May – Year 7 Language test and Year 7 Numeracy test
Monday 20 May – Catch up tests (for students who have been absent)
Tuesday 21 May – Year 9 Language test and Year 9 Numeracy test
Wednesday 22 May – Catch up tests (for students who have been absent)
Thursday 23 May - Catch up tests (for students who have been absent)

Any students who are away from school on any of the tests days will be required to catch up the missed tests on the day they return to school.

If your child is feeling stressed or concerned about the tests, please reinforce with them that there is no need to put pressure on themselves, all we expect is that they give the tests their best attempt and try their hardest.

Good luck to all our Year 7 and Year 9 students involved in the tests over the next two weeks.

STAFF NEWS

Mr William Kok is taking two weeks leave which commenced on Monday 13 May. While he is gone, he will be replaced by Mr Jake Clarke who will be joining the Maths/Science faculty over this time. Welcome Mr Clarke, I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy the next two weeks at Charleville State High School.

SHOW HOLIDAY

The show holiday is Friday 17 May. This again means that we will be having a 4 day week this week, which means that every other day becomes even more important. If parents could please ensure that all students are here for other days, this will mean teachers can maximise the teaching time available to them and students can remain on track and organised with their work.

In saying that, students and the school will be involved in a number of aspects at the show on the weekend and your support of these will be greatly appreciated.

The Year 9 students will be selling raffle tickets for a mountain bike to raise money for their Year 9 camp, if you could support them please by purchasing a ticket or two that would be appreciated. They will be situated near the front gate.

The P&C will also be involved in fundraising on the Friday afternoon/evening, and will be manning the bar at the show. Thank you to all of the parents who have volunteered to help out at the bar for an hour or two on the Friday. We have a great, supportive P&C, who use the funds they raise to help support the students of Charleville State High School, so your support of them is greatly appreciated. If you would still like to help on the evening and haven’t nominated yet, if you could contact Kelly Shearwin, I am sure she would appreciate another extra pair of hands helping out.

Good luck also to all of the students who will be involved in all of the activities on offer during the days of the show. Our very talented students will be involved in most aspects of the show, including the cooking and art work competitions, show jumping, and rodeo to name a few.

YEAR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE

Just a reminder that all Year 10 students will be involved in work experience during the last week of this term (Monday 24 June – Friday 28 June). Ideally, if you can support your student in speaking to businesses regarding this, then Deborah Robinson, our work placement officer, will co-ordinate with the business to ensure this is locked in for that week. This way, all students are more likely to be involved in a work experience that they are interested in, that may be something they may wish to pursue at the completion of their schooling.

At a minimum, students need to come and speak to Ms Robinson with at least an idea of what type of occupation they would like to try over the week, so that Ms Robinson can try to organise a suitable placement of them.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please contact Ms Deborah Robinson at the school.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Monday 13 May to Friday 24 May – NAPLAN Online
• Friday 17 May – Show holiday
• Friday 24 May – School Colour Run
• Tuesday 28 May – Maroon Fan Day Shire Holiday

Matt Samson
Principal

Deputy Principal Senior Schooling Report

Year 10 Parent Information Evening

On Thursday 16th May at 5pm, there will be a parent information evening being held (Office, Professional Library). We invite all Year 10 parents and their students to attend. The following information will be provided:

Year 11 Subject Selections

Prerequisites
Australian Tertiary Admission Rank—ATAR
Queensland Certificate of Education—QCE

During the session, parents and students will have the opportunity to ask questions and will be able to get a Subject Selection Guide. The session is designed to provide information that will assist students’ senior schooling decision making and SET Planning.

Year 10 SET Plan Interviews

Year 10 SET (Senior Education and Training) Plan Interviews will be held on Thursday 23rd May 2019, from 8am – 6pm. Parents will book interviews through the SOB’s system, using the link below:

Letters will also be sent home regarding the SET Plan Interviews.

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.

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 on the Tuesday prior to meeting day.

QCE Tracking

Mr Wastie and I are 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 before the end of Week 2. 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

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 10). 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 24th June to Friday 28th June, please contact Deb Robinson at the school on 4656 8888.

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 Deb Robinson 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 Deb Robinson on 4656 8888.

Cheers
Vanessa Moller

Junior Secondary Update

Student Progress

Term two is an incredibly busy term with a number of public holidays and events. It is important to know that your student is on track with their school work and that if they are struggling they are asking for help from their teacher.

Please take a moment to ask your student what they studied in each of their lessons and whether they understood it. If you have concerns please contact their teacher at school.

Remember, students are able to see their teachers before school, during their lunch breaks, or can organise to attend homework club on Thursday afternoon. They just need to speak with their teacher at the end of a lesson in order to get the help they may need or they can speak with the HOD of the subject.

As assessment will start being handed out, it is important students have a plan for tackling their assignments. Do they know when they will complete study at home? Do they have somewhere quiet to study? Assessment calendars have been sent home with students but if they have lost it they can collect a new one.

NAPLAN

It’s a busy week for juniors as our year 7 and 9 students begin to take their NAPLAN tests This year they are sitting them online and the exams will take place over two weeks.

For those who have not received it here is a copy of the NAPLAN schedule.

Students will not be required to bring any equipment for the online testing, as all equipment will be supplied.

We wish our students the best of luck and hope that they try their hardest during these exams as the results provide valuable information to the school and the parents about how students are progressing in their literacy and numeracy.

MOBILE PHONES AND INTERNET USE

Just a reminder about Charleville State High School’s mobile phone policy. Year seven and eight students are not allowed to have a phone at school. Years 9 to 12 students are allowed to have a phone in their possession but not use it in school hours. A teacher may give permission for a student to use their phone within the teachers’ supervision. Strictly, no social media is allowed during school hours.

The inappropriate use of mobile phones is occasionally reported to the school. As the mobile phone is used outside of school hours, we recommend that you contact the police if you have concerns.

As responsible adults, please carefully consider your young persons’ best interest and the amount of time they use digital media. I urge all parents to know what your student has stored on their phone/electronic devices, what they receive and what they send.

Cassandra Kohli
A/Deputy Principal Junior

PBL – Starbucks galore

This year we have seen a record number of Starbucks given in by students at our school. It is great to see that students are embracing Starbucks and looking forward to the possible rewards that can be received. Collecting these Starbucks means that students are following the schools expectations and value (the 4be’s and 4v’s). Following the schools expectation means that students are allowing themselves and others to learn and creating a safe school environment. By allowing oneself and others to learn this creates an environment which allows for easier access to the content, increased results and respectful relationships while at school.

This year we will continue to have a big rewards trip at the end of semester 1. Last year students and teachers travelled to the Gold Coast to attend Movie World for the day. This year we are looking at doing something very similar. This year we hope to take a wider range of students from each cohort. To be eligible to attend this trip students must have collected enough Starbucks, have above 85% attendance, completed or up to date with assessment and follow our schools responsible behaviour plan for students.

Students picked to go on the trip must be within the top few within their grade to go, there is not a set number, so students need to keep collecting Starbucks to secure their spot.

Charleville Library EZ-Robots

The Charleville Library will be holding a challenge with the robots on Friday the 24th of May after school. The Library would love if you could let students know about our challenge.

Lyndy Steer, Charleville Library. Ph.4654 1296

Performing Arts Festival

This year the performing arts festival will be from the 29th August- 31st August. If you have any questions or inquiries, please contact charlevilleperformingarts@gmail.com.

Further information will follow in regards to entry soon.

Charleville Billy Cart Derby

The inaugural Charleville Billy Cart Derby will be held on Saturday 7 September 2019, on the St Mary’s school hill on Parry Street. This is a great opportunity for families and friends to come together to enjoy a good old fashioned family friendly day out.

We encourage families, local schools, community and sporting groups to get together and put their skills to the test and build their own carts. Prizes are up for grabs for the fastest cart, best themed team, best decorated cart and more!

This is a drug and alcohol-free event, proudly funded by the Local Drug Action Team (LDAT).

For further information please email day.leanne@police.qld.gov.au or phone 4650 5511 (business hours).