16 September 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Note

Welcome to week 10 with another term nearly over already! It has been a very successful period for so many members of our school community and has most certainly been very busy as well. As you read this the majority of students will have finished their assessment requirements for the Term and are entering in to a period of reflecting on their progress and in some instances starting new units of work.

Celebrations of Success

There are a number of good news stories that I would like to share in this newsletter that demonstrate how our students are achieving positive outcomes and experiences. There will also be some other articles in this newsletter outlining the tremendous things our staff and students are currently involved with.

Peter Doherty Award

It gives me great pleasure to share the news that one of our Year 12 students, Amber Hinz, has received the Peter Doherty Award for Outstanding Senior STEM student. This is a highly prestigious award that is run state-wide and Amber’s efforts to be the recipient are a source of great pride for herself, her family and the school, well done Amber! I would also like to point out the fantastic work that staff have produced in supporting Amber, notably Ms Amy Roughan and Mr Sebastian Kohli, a great effort and truly going above and beyond to help our students.

Amber was acknowledged at an online ceremony on Friday the 11th of September and is pictured below with the Assistant Regional Director, Reid Thompson, Ms. Amy Roughan and Mr. Sebastian Kohli.

Beyond Broncos Camp

Four of our students have been successful in their application to attend the Beyond Broncos leadership camp in Brisbane over the school holidays. Congratulations to Olivia Burke, Nikita Chadderton, Peta Russell and Jasmin Woodman who I know will represent their culture and the school with pride and benefit greatly from the opportunities the camp will bring.

Young Achievers Program

Three of our students have been accepted into the Young Achiever’s Program which is a partnership with the University of Queensland to support students in their aspirations of tertiary study. Well done to Analyse Russell, Shakeira Proctor and Josiah Bursle as they pursue their career goals. Again, I am incredibly confident they will represent themselves and the school with great pride and purpose.

As is mentioned earlier there is so much taking place to be proud of. A little further on you will read about Aspire2 Health, a visit by elite cricketers, active volunteering, girl’s rugby league and our awesome colour run last Friday, enjoy!

Senior School Organisational Details Term 4

Please be aware that for Term 4 there will be a range of adjustments required for seniors to navigate the exam period and particularly so for Year 12’s. Please check the Senior School section for further details.

Formal – Entrance Arrangements

With the restrictions currently in place around Covid-19 we are required to have a range of safeguards to allow the formal to proceed. As part of our Covid-safe plan we are requesting that anyone who is not attending the event who would like to watch the student entrances to please observe social distancing and if possible watch from a safe distance. The school is very keen to keep arrangements as close to normal as possible so we would love to see people there supporting our amazing Year 12’s, just need to be aware of the health requirements.

For parents and guests it is absolutely ok for group photos to proceed and to enter the venue together. Again it is more about following the standard health advice and working within it to have a really successful evening. I am very much looking forward to seeing the students in all their glory and enjoying a special time with the students and their families and friends.

In closing

There are so many thoroughly positive things taking place every day at our school and I am very much looking forward to reviewing the Term 3 academic results to see how we are progressing. The resilience shown by the students and the school community in what has been an unprecedented (don’t we hear that word used a lot!) year in so many ways is truly inspirational.

Term 4 will likely be exceptionally busy as we work towards a strong finish to 2020 and set the foundations for continued improvement in 2021. As I say so often your support is invaluable and so very much appreciated.

All the best,

Barry Wallett

Senior School

Term 4 – Events and Exam Block

So far 2020 has had a number of disruptions for our senior students and with that in mind, some discussions have taken place around how best to organise term 4 to ensure students are prepared for assessment and able to achieve their best. The information outlined here has been communicated to students on year level assemblies at school in week 10 and students will be reminded of this information on return to school in term 4.

Congratulations

A big congratulations to our 3 year 10 students who applied for and were accepted into the UQ Young Achievers program for 2021. Once the process is finalised these students will be formally accepted into the program and hopefully this will be announced at our award’s night.

This is a great opportunity for the students and their families offering financial assistance for their senior studies and support in the transition to university after year 12.

Year 12 Students – Formal

We look forward to celebrating with our year 12’s this week as they finally arrive at their formal. It has been a long road to get here and while not everything is as the year 12’s may have imagined prior to COVID, hopefully it will be a night that they, and their families, remember fondly.

For those who wish to join the students in celebrating this event, please be aware that social distancing needs to be observed outside of the racecourse as students arrive for their entrance. Areas will be marked out so that people can enjoy the event safely.

Leadership Nomination for 2021 - Update

There is a small change to the leadership structure from the previous newsletter. There will be two School Captains and one Vice-Captain, one Indigenous Ambassador, and one leader for each of the sporting houses. Nomination booklets are due in this week and students are encouraged to apply for a role.

Year 11 Students at Risk

While many of our year 11 students have done an excellent job of overcoming some unexpected challenges in 2020, some are finding senior schooling to be difficult. At the beginning of term 4, parents/carers of students who may be struggling at school will be contacted and invited to make an appointment with the school to discuss supportive measures that can assist their student getting back on track.

What assistance is available for all students?

• Email classroom teacher with questions/concerns around content.
• Feedback on drafts, classroom work and homework tasks.
• Meet with classroom teacher after class, during break, before school for extra assistance.
• Homework club on Thursday afternoon (organise with teacher to be supported)
• Email or speak to Head of Department with questions.
• Email or speak to Year Level Coordinator with questions.
• Make an appointment to speak with a member of the support staff at the school including Guidance Officer and Youth Support Coordinator.

Students are encouraged to take advantage of all of the opportunities for support particularly if they are having challenges in one or more of their subjects. The earlier they ask for help, the better the chance of success when assessment comes around.

Year 10 Students – Subject Selection

Year 10 students are now being asked to make their final decisions around subjects for next year. This selection will be completed on OneSchool (students to access on their laptops).

Instructions on how to access subject selections has been given to students at school and a copy should have been received by parents through email. If you have not received this and your student is having difficulties, they can come to see Mrs Kohli for assistance. Students can save a report of their subject selections or print a copy should they wish to save a copy.

Students are asked to pick one subject on each line even if they are planning to not return to school for year 11 or plan to be completing a school based traineeship or a subject through distance education. The reason for this is that students will still need to be placed in a class for the final weeks of year 10 to trial a subject.

Students who are intending to take on a subject through distance education or have organised a school based traineeship or apprenticeship need to ensure that after they complete the subject selection they come and see Mrs Kohli to discuss year 11. Enrolment forms for distance education will need to be completed and submitted to ensure students receive a place in their chosen subjects.

Students are reminded about pre-requisites for their chosen subjects (particularly if they are choosing General subjects and are planning on an ATAR pathway). They should know their grade for this term in their classes or can check with their teachers if they are unsure about their current level of achievement. Students who are not currently achieving the pre-requisite for their selection will need to meet with Mrs Kohli prior to their subject selection being approved.

Cassandra Kohli
Deputy Principal

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!

Contact Details

Are your contact details up to date at the school? Please call Sue 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.

Congratulations to our HoD of Junior School, Amy Roughan for presenting to the future Charleville State High School at St Mary’s School and Charleville State School last week. Amy also held an informative Parent Information session at St Mary’s School. In term 4 there will be another parent information session.

Year Six Transition day

The first transition day was held on Tuesday 15th September. Our future year students had the opportunity to experience lessons at Charleville State High School, sample the tuckshop and meet potential teachers.

The second transition day is in Term 4. We look forward to having all the year six students continue on their transition from primary schooling to high school. The transitions days are only part of our program to connect with our potential students. We also liaise with the Principals of our feeder schools and students are visited to have an information session in their own environment. Parents are also invited to the information sessions we have in preparation for their child coming to Charleville State High School. Information and enrolment packs are now available at the High School’s office. An appointment must be made for an enrolment interview prior to commencing at Charleville SHS.

Timetables

There will be slight or no changes to the timetable for the first 5 weeks of term 4. Year seven and eight students will be alternating their elective subject. Year seven students will be swapping Art and HPE. Year eight students will be swapping The ARTS (Media) with ITD. At the beginning of week 6, students in years 7 to 11 will receive a new timetable for the remaining 3 weeks.

Uniforms

It is pleasing to see the majority of our students wear the correct uniform. You may refer to the back page of the student diary for details on the correct school uniform. Please support the P&C and us by ensuring your student has correct uniform every day. If your student comes to school out of uniform more than three times you will be contacted.

Who can support your student at CSHS?

Parents are the most important educators in their child’s life. Know their timetable. Make regular positive contact with Teachers. Know their assessment calendar. Encourage them to go to Homework Club every Thursday afternoon.

Many people at school can help your student if they need it. Have a list of emails to be able to contact staff or ring the school to have a chat or organise a meeting.

Reading

Reading is our focus! 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 - Sue McDermott.
3. Multilit reading program, which is a one on 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%. Letters are sent to individual families whose child’s attendance in the junior school is less than 80%. If you receive 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. If this process is not successful then we have no other option than to start the prosecution process.

Teenagers and the use of Electronic devices

I read an interesting article 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?

In recent times there has been concern that students may have had the opportunity to view inappropriate material on their devices. As committed parents, please be aware of everything your child accesses and receives. The Adopt-a–Cop program is eager to take a whole school assembly in term 4 to address this real life situation. If you wish to discuss further please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Mobile Phones at Charleville SHS

Our Mobile phone policy is very clearly written in the Student diaries. Year seven, eight and nine students are not permitted to have a mobile phone at school. If there is evidence that a student in years 10 to 12 has used their phone inappropriately at school, then the student will be prevented from bringing their phone to school. It is the parents and/or carers’ responsibility to ensure that the student is receiving and sending legal and only age appropriate material.

There is currently a lot of political and media attention on the use of mobile phones at school. Since bringing our policy into effect at the beginning of 2018 the misuse of phones has dropped dramatically. The policy will expand next year to address the advancing technology such as Smart watches

Outside of School Hours on School Grounds

Dedicated staff are often at school outside of school hours. It is concerning the number of students on school grounds out of school hours. It is essential that children be adequately supervised at all times.

Stymie

Our school uses the services of the Stymie team. This organisation allows students to report anonymously any harm/bullying that they may witness or may be occurring to them. The process the school takes is as follows:

1. A stymie notification is received.
2. Investigation occurs immediately to confirm validity.
3. Parents of the accused may be contacted within 24 hours and asked to work as a team to address the situation with their student.
4. Upon the advice of the parent, the accused student is given an explanation of the concern that is reported and they are given the right of reply.
5. Continued monitoring to assure that both the accused and receiver of harm is supported.

Please note that this process does not apply to physical harm. Physical harm or intent, is taken extremely seriously at Charleville State High School and will not be tolerated.

Immunisation - Year Seven Students

The immunisation program for year seven students was conducted this term. We do not give actual dates for the program to avoid high absenteeism on the immunisation day. Another reason is to prevent any anxiety that the thought of needles may incur.

Until term 4,

Narelle Webb
Deputy Principal
Junior Schooling/Student Services

Aspire2Health Expo

Last Thursday saw six girls from Charleville High combined with students from Roma State College and St John’s, Roma in a day showcasing the opportunities in health. The day was organised by Aspire2Health to offer an insight into the varied occupations that are encompassed in the health sector.

Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, Queensland Rural Medical Education (QRME), Griffith University, University of Queensland Rural Clinical School Toowoomba and University of Southern Queensland, along with Southern Queensland Rural Health (SQRH), have partnered to deliver a series of “Aspire2Health” workshops across the Darling Downs and South West. The collaboration has also had support from the Western QLD PHN in Charleville.

The workshop gives regional, rural and remote high school students the opportunity to experience some aspects of healthcare delivery in a practical sense. The students participate in clinical skills stations on plastering, suturing, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and various allied health skills.

The day started with a simulated heart attack. This activity required the students to assist in recovery and stabilisation of the patient to allow them to be flown to Brisbane for further recovery. Using this one scenario allowed the organisers to show all of the different health care professionals working as a team to assist in the recovery of a patient. Following this activity, the students were able to undertake a more hands on approach. The group was broken down into smaller groups and worked through a rotation of all of the occupations on display.

Sessions that the students rotated through included: rehabilitation activities, setting broken arms in plaster, suturing bad cuts, and paramedic emergency responses. There was even the option to experience life as a pregnant lady. This involved putting on a suit to simulate pregnancy. With the suit on, the students had to try and undertake tasks that are normally considered simple in everyday life. I think this one scared a few off pregnancy for a while.

The girls finished the day with a better understanding of the different components of the health care profession. It also filled them with a new enthusiasm to explore the many options available to them after school. With the possibility of the day happening next year, the girls cannot wait to try it again; surely a good sign that they enjoyed it.

Aspire2Health Activities

Active Volunteering

On Friday, 28 August, it was not just the artistic people that congregated at the racecourse for the Performing Arts Festival, some of our senior school students were there to help.

This year, the Year 11 VET pathways students and the Year 10’s have been completing a Cert II in Active Volunteering. As part of this course, the students must complete 20 hours of volunteer work. Some of our students offered to assist in the successful running of the Performing Arts Festival.

The students’ tasks revolved around ensuring the event’s Covid safe plan was followed. They had to periodically sanitise the wash basins and seats, organise the Primary school acts and ensure that the areas did not exceed their Covid safe participant numbers. These were not exciting jobs, but they were necessary, and the students undertook them with enthusiasm and good humour. The students were praised for their efforts by the organising committee as it freed them to undertake other activities.

If there are any other volunteering opportunities coming up in the community, can you please let the school know.

Colour Run

The Colour Run was held last Friday afternoon in Period 4. Check out the photos below…

Charleville SHS Annual Colour Run

Footy Comes to Charleville

On Tuesday, 1stof September, not only was it the first day of spring, but football sprung back into life at Charleville High. A thing called rugby league was played on the high school oval; something that had not happened in a long time.

On the Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, a group of girls from Wilsonton SHS travelled to Charleville to play a couple of games against our girls. The Wilsonton team consisted of 19 players from their development program embarking on a short western tour to play some games of rugby league. Due to some scheduling issues, the school asked if they could play two games here in Charleville. After checking the numbers of interested students, we agreed.

The Charleville girls trained through all of third term, with former student Kyle O’Toole assisting with the training sessions. To be able to play, the girls had to ensure that their behaviour remained acceptable and all of their assessment was up to date. Come the day of the first game, we were down to thirteen players. Wilsonton loaned Charleville a few players to ensure that the games went ahead.

Both games were played in tremendous spirit. There were good runs and hard hits from both sides. At the end of Tuesday’s game, Charleville, although close a couple of times, were unable to cross the line. This however did not deter them, and they willingly returned for the second match after school on Wednesday.

With a game under their belts, the Charleville girls played a more confident game; running hard and tackling strongly. As a result, the team were able to score two tries in the second game.

This was a fantastic effort on the girls’ behalf. For some, this was their first game of rugby league. This effort was recognised and praised by the staff from Wilsonton SHS. They noted that there were some good players, and with practise, should develop in great football players.

The Wednesday game ended with a barbeque to allow the students from both schools to interact and relax after a couple of good games. A big thanks to Chatter and Jay for cooking while the girls were playing.

There is even talk of the girls now wanting to travel to Toowoomba for a return match. We will keep you posted on this development.

HOWZAT!!!

Two former Australian fast bowlers came to Charleville to work with our students.

During Period 4 on Wednesday, 9 September, a number of students had the opportunity to get in some cricket practice before the season starts. As an added bonus, they were able to get a few tips from Michael Kasprowicz and Jeff Thompson down at the school cricket nets.

Michael and Jeff offered the boys and girls a few tips with their bowling and batting. They asked the bowlers to focus on a high arm action and thinking about bringing their non-bowling arm down. For the batting, it was to get the foot forward and meet the ball. If they were only blocking the ball, there was no need to hit it with power. Save your energy for the big shots.

All students enjoyed the day with a few tips taken away to be worked on. A thank you must go out to the Bulls Masters and CNW for organising the event. It was enjoyed by students and adults alike.

RUOK

In week 9, CSHS recognised and celebrated R U OK Day - a National Day of Action to empower each other to meaningfully check in and connect with those around us. This year, the theme was 'There's more to say after R U OK' - encouraging action and follow up using a simple 4-step process

Girls' Group was first in on the action, helping YSC Katie McLeod and CEC Jolene Russell decorate the school on Tuesday afternoon. The girls learnt about ways to check in with their friends, and had fun creating some "R U OK" promotional material with the help of Donna Enders from Far West Indigenous Family Violence Service and Bec Horton from the Charleville Neighbourhood Centre. Thank you very much to these ladies for their help and support - and also thank you to Jenny Peacock from the HOPE Program for the props, banners and signs, and her continued support.

Some of the Tradies' Club guys checked out the R U OK Banner

on Wednesday afternoon, and then had a chilled last session for the term battling it out on the arcade games in C Block. (PS: Keep an eye out in the next newsletter for more pics and details of Tradies' and Girls' Group awesomeness from Term 3!)

On R U OK Day's National Day of Action, Thursday 10th September, The Student Support Team made sure to connect with both staff and student bodies. There was coffee and care packs for all staffrooms

and wristbands and cupcakes for students

Huge thanks to Tammie Rose and her yr 10, 11 & 12 hospitality students for the amazing cupcakes, and also special thanks to Nicole Rivera for her supreme barista skills!

The C Block team organised painting and puzzles for students at break times, promoting mindful ways to calm and relax when needing some time out

We also challenged staff and students with a "Pay it Forward" kindness challenge

Remember - every day is a good day to start a conversation with anyone who you think may be struggling with life - you don't need to be an expert to reach out, just a good listener. R U OK?