Charleville State High School
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Corner of Partridge and Hunter Streets
Charleville QLD 4470
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Email: admin@charlevilleshs.eq.edu.au
Phone: 07 4656 8888
Fax: 07 4656 8800

9 June 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Note

Welcome to week 8 of Term 2, definitely accelerating quickly now as we head towards the end of Semester 1. The PBL focus for the next week or so very much reflects the time of Term; Be Responsible – Complete assessment tasks to the best of your ability. For each student our expectations are consistent, do your best and basically “have a go”, from this starting point we then seek to support them in being able to access the work and complete the tasks successfully.

A key indicator is to improve the percentage of students achieving in the A to C range, passing in other words. This is reflective of us providing appropriate supports and also engaging students in the learning process. There can be many complicating factors with this so it is not necessarily a linear progression and it is an important piece of achievement information that helps us to understand how we are progressing.

School Visit

In week 7 we had the pleasure of hosting Leanne Wright (Regional Director for Darling Downs and South West) and Regan Neumann (Assistant Director General – Rural, Remote and International) for a school visit. While they were on site we visited class rooms, reviewed data walls and generally discussed our progress over the last 12 months or so.

I was particularly proud of the work that was on display in classes and improvements in our data, both Leanne and Regan expressed how impressed they were during the visit. We also discussed that the journey was around continual improvement and unpacked our strategies to support this. The opportunity to showcase the great things that are regularly happening in our school was one that I thoroughly enjoyed and look forward to repeating in the future.

Walk throughs

Each Term we conduct formal walk throughs to help gauge how classes are performing in aspects such as engagement and implementation of the Charleville State High School Top 5 Pedagogical Practices (key strategies to provide consistency and promote quality learning outcomes). I was thoroughly impressed with the classes that I visited, seeing some fantastic work in Maths, ITD, Drama and English to name just a few.

One of the key measures is around the level of engagement in each class with the data indicating that over 85% of classes have a sound to excellent level of student interaction with the learning activities. This has been a significant area of improvement for the school and I believe is reflective of the quality learning activities, including direct instruction by teachers, being delivered. When I asked students what is the learning objective of the lesson every one could tell me and they could also indicate how they were doing in their learning by utilising success criteria. This provides great clarity for both students and staff, everyone knows what they are learning and how they are progressing.

In one class I couldn’t see the Learning Objective or Success Criteria so I asked a student. She informed me they had the same ones as last lesson, written in their book, as they were working on an assignment and “don’t worry Sir, we always have them!”. The student clearly knew what they were learning, why and also how they were going, providing an absolutely first-class platform for learning.

Attendance

I have left this section in from last time as it is so important. We have had a slight improvement and still a long way to go so please encourage attending school every day your child possibly can.

There are many positive data sets that I have shared through the newsletter and attendance has certainly been one of these with 2020 (85.6%) proving to be our best year for some time. Unfortunately, this has not been replicated thus far in 2021 with our attendance dropping to below 83% which is well short of the target set for 2021 of 87%. Regular attendance is absolutely crucial to achieving quality learning outcomes for students and we also understand that there are a range of factors that can impact this.

Please contact us if you have any challenges with getting your child to school and we will do our best to support families. Sometimes it as simple as letting us know of planned absences for family reasons and we can work together on ensuring students can access materials to maintain their learning. Your support with this is incredibly valued and provides our children with the best opportunities for positive learning outcomes.

In closing

As we draw closer to the end of the first Semester for 2021 I am eagerly anticipating the reporting process to be finalised and an opportunity to reflect on achievement levels. It will also provide a fantastic chance to speak with your child about their progress and celebrate success.

Students sometimes tell me they have nothing to celebrate and focus on negatives. I tell them there is almost always something positive, might just need to look more deeply into the outcomes. By finding a positive we can then explore the things they did to achieve this and see if we can encourage these aspects to promote success in other subjects or aspects of life. I look forward to sharing the reports with you at the end of week 10.

All the best,

Barry Wallett

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL JUNIOR SCHOOLING AND STUDENT SERVICES NEWS

WELCOME TO WEEK 8

It is amazing how quickly term 2 has passed. A large number of opportunities have been offered to the junior school this term. I would like to take the opportunity to remind parents that participation in the extra curricula activities depend on a number of factors, which include that students are up to date with their school work and assessment, attendance at regular classes exceed 85% and behaviour is of a very high standard. Currently, your junior student would no doubt be under pressure to complete formal assessment.

Assessment

How can you help your student through the school year, learning and assessment?

As a parent:

Know when their assessment due dates are and help plan
Ensure they are getting quality sleep
Ensure they are eating well
Ensure they have some ‘down time’ – some weeks may have more than others
Discuss the four learning objectives they have written for the four lessons they have each day.
Ensure that homework is attempted –e.g. going over class notes and ideas each day
Ensure they are asking staff for help if they are struggling at home
Contact the school if you have any concerns

Who can support your student at CSHS?

There are many people who 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.

PBL Rewards Trip

At the end of Term 2, students who reach the criteria for positive behaviour will be offered a reward activity. Criteria for students participating include, Starbucks cards, attendance and behaviour. Year 11 & 12 students will be travelling to Roma in week 10 for the day to experience the benefits of a larger centre. Year 10 students will have a pizza party at school in week 9 as they will be off campus with work experience in week 10. Years 7, 8 & 9 students will be travelling to the COSMOS centre on Friday 25th June which is the last day of term 2.

Mobile Phones at Charleville State High School

The inappropriate use of a mobile phone at times is 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. Recently, it has been brought to our attention that the use of social media apps have been used as a form of targeting students. Apps such as “SNAPCHAT” are used with the participants believing that their comments are private and will disappear. However, some individuals are screen-shotting conversations and adjusting the comments to appear that the other participants is “out of line”. This has been reported to the school on many different occasions with students from a wide range of year levels. Once again, I urge all parents to know what your student is sending and receiving on their mobile phone. It is not an invasion of privacy. It is good parenting. Until the student is legal age, the parent is responsible for all content on mobile phones.

STYMIE

Bullying in any form is not tolerated at school. However, it can be difficult to monitor as at times it is not reported until the “victim” has retaliated. Please urge your student to talk to a teacher, Year Level Coordinator or Head of Department should they feel they are being bullied in any form. I would also like to remind our school community that students are available to make anonymous reports via the stymie website (www.stymie.com.au) to report any such issues.

Racist actions and comments will also not be tolerated. Please ensure that you have conversations with your student on treating every human with respect and kindness. Young people at times do not realise that their actions and or words may be viewed as offensive. Recently, I was encouraged to hear that students in the junior school made it very clear to a peer when inappropriate language was used towards a friend. I will build on their actions to address the rest of the junior school.

Immunisation Clinics for Year 7

Our School Based Youth Health Nurse, does an excellent job in organising this essential service for our students. I would like to congratulate all of the year seven students on their excellent behaviour whilst the immunisations took place. The Queensland Health workers said they were the best group they had ever immunised. The next round of immunisations for year seven will occur in term 3.

NAIDOC Week

Charleville State High School is proud to support NAIDOC week and the activities throughout the week. Our Gundanoo dancers will be performing at a number of events including the opening ceremony. As in the past, the entire student body will be transported to the assembly area where they will begin to march to the Charleville State School. The entire community is welcome to join us for the opening ceremony which will be hosted by Charleville State High School students.

Until next time,

Narelle Webb
Deputy Principal
Junior Schooling/Student Services

Art – Water Colour Workshop

Some of our students were involved in an Art Workshop, which most thoroughly enjoyed.

Our Students being creative

News from the Guidance Officer

Time Management = Priorities + Planning - Myths

A significant number of students have made appointments with me lately for support with managing their time more effectively. Although I very much welcome these appointments, I also thought it might be useful to run through with you the general advice that I give to these young people. The first step is to dispel some of the more prevalent myths around time management.

Myths

Time management isn’t an instinct, or a gift we receive on our 13th birthday: it is a set of skills that must be learned! People who recognise the benefits of managing their commitments effectively from an early age might look like they are sailing through their secondary schooling without a care in the world, in the same way that experienced drivers rarely have to white-knuckle the steering wheel or slam on the brakes. It is all a matter of developing the skills and then putting them into practice.

Prioritise

Think about all of the activities you have on your to-do list, and try to triage them by importance and urgency. It is important to be clear about your main focus, so that you can decide which activities to prioritise, and which ones to delay (read a great book) or even delete (take my 124th food pic for the week). Once you know what is important to you, look at what is most urgent, and work your way through your list in order. If you have trouble working out what to do first (because EVERYTHING is important and urgent) try the Idea Sandbox Prioritizer (also available as an app).

http://www.idea-sandbox.com/innovation-tools/prioritizer/

This site allows you to write a list of things to do (I suggest writing in the task and its deadline), then compare just two items on the list at a time, asking you to “click on the item that is more important” until it can present you with a list of priorities based on your responses. This can help give you direction when you’re too stressed to think through your priorities. That way if you run out of time, at least you know you have made your effort count.

Planning

If you are going to manage your time effectively, you need a plan. Actually, you need two, and one for each assignment. Sound complicated? Let me break it down for you.

Compile a weekly time frame:

Complete a weekly time frame starting from when you wake up through to when you go to bed, Monday to Sunday. Every Sunday night fill in your following week’s commitments (use the list above as a guide). You should be allocating a reasonable number of hours EVERY week to study plus extra time for set homework. When assignments are due and it is exam week/s, you will need to allocate more study hours.

NOTE: You need to allocate one or two hours for emergencies (an extra shift at work, extra session of training). And remember, happy people are successful people, so you need to make sure that you have a balance in your life EVERY week – time for study, family, friends, yourself and work (if appropriate).

Plan your assignments:

Break every assignment down into the steps you need to successfully complete it. That is:

Compile your term/semester plan: Your weekly plan will support your term/semester plan.

  • Good time management is about getting more things done. Actually, it is about getting the important things done to a high standard in a timely manner.
  • I am studying for hours every day already, so I can’t do any more: What you can do is look at how productive you are, and what strategies you could try to yield more out of the same amount of – or possibly less – time.
  • I work best under pressure. This is simply an excuse for putting yourself under pressure, and does not address the need to clarify task requirements; the importance of timely feedback from teachers; the value of reflection and revision time; and the detrimental impact of stress on performance.
  • Other people seem to have a lot more time to get things done than I do. Before you go searching these ‘other people’ for time-turners (a la Hermione in Harry Potter), take a moment to consider your study habits. It is far more likely that the people you are comparing yourself to simply have good planning and follow-through practices.
  • Analyse the question
  • Talk to others about what they think the question is asking you to do
  • Check with your teacher to be sure you are on the right track
  • Dot point key issues you need to address or cover in the assignment
  • Check these with your teacher
  • Do your research on each of the dot points
  • Arrange the dot points into a logical sequence that will answer the question
  • Write your first draft
  • Ask your teacher to read it through and provide any suggestions
  • Re-work your assignment to include any changes
  • Ask someone to proof read your assignment (you cannot proof read your own work!)
  • Print your assignment
  • Hand well-crafted and completed assignment in on the due by date
  • Don’t just put your due in dates on your term/semester plan – this tells you when your assignments are due and nothing about how to get them completed.
  • Every assignment you have planned (above steps) you need to put it on your semester time plan so you know when you are going to complete each step (HINT: work backwards … start from due on this date, print on this date, proof read on this date, rework assignment on this date, etc. Then you will see what date you need to START each assignment).
  • When you are putting together your weekly time management plan you need to refer to your term/semester plan to know what has to be completed in any specific week … the two plans work together … they support each other.

So now you know how to manage your time, all that is left to do is put your prioritising and planning into action. I can help with developing follow-through as well…but that is a topic for another edition of the newsletter!

Acknowledgement: Options Career Information: The How-To of Time Management

If I can help you or you need to talk about anything, contact the Charleville State High School support team by phone on 4656 8888.

Sharon Grosskopf, Guidance Officer
email: sgros15@eq.edu.au

South West Girls U15 Rugby League Team

Girls Rugby League team competing in Cairns