1 September 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Comments….

Every four years public schools undergo an external review of their services and performance prior to preparing their next four year strategic plan. Our school went through the review two weeks ago. The purpose of this review process is to provide the school with an external, departmentally aligned perspective of its activities; to find its strengths and challenges so it can use or address these in the next four year cycle.

During the review parents, students, teachers and support staff were involved. As a school we also identified where we believed we were strong and where we believed our improvement agenda was taking us.

I am happy with the resulting report. It provides us with clear directions on where we can go and what to work on. In truth, we had already either identified these or had started work in the challenge areas. It was also good to receive acknowledgement for the hard work of our teachers, tutors and students.

The executive summary of the School Review can be downloaded from our school’s website.

Over the next few weeks, I will share the range of recommendations and our school’s actions with you.

Regards

John Clark
Principal

UNSW Global Australia - Educational Assessment Australia Competitions

Congratulations to the following students who participated in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools and were awarded the following certificates:

2016 Groovy Gumboots Competition

On behalf of AgForce Queensland, I would like to thank you and your students for entering the 2016 Groovy Gumboots Competition.

We received many excellent entries from 26 schools around Queensland including yours. The following students from your school were awarded Highly Commended:

Lochie Appleton – Year 2
Felix Leeson – Year 3
Charlize Appleton – Year 6

Tanya Nagle
AgForce Queensland
School to Industry Liaison Officer

Deputy Principal’s Comments….

Resilience is the ability to cope with unexpected changes and challenges in life. It is not always possible to prevent these stressful situations from occurring; however, if you know that you have the capacity to cope with adversity, this will give you the confidence to get through tough situations as they arise.

While everyone is different, some strategies for coping with challenges are:

• Taking some time out to relax and reflect
• Exercise
• Breaking a challenge down into small achievable goals
• Celebrating when you achieve these goals
• Keeping a journal
• Thinking about the big picture
• Knowing and acknowledging your strengths
• Asking for help or talking to someone
• Building healthy relationships
• Having confidence in your abilities

Interestingly, these strategies are reflected in the ways that young people have responded when asked to describe what resilience means to them:

• “giving things a go or trying your best”
• “being strong inside”
• “being able to cope with what life throws at you and shrugging it off”

The important thing to remember is that ups and downs are a normal part of life. Different people respond in different ways to these ups and downs. Dealing with them positively in a supportive environment can promote resilience and build up emotional reserves for the future.

Cameron Burke
Deputy Principal

After Hours Mail Drop off

If you are returning school resources outside school hours please take note of the new drop off location situated outside the front office entrance.

P & C News

P & C cookbooks are available for sale through the office. Below is a sample of one of the many new recipes taken from the Another Helping of Generations of Bush Cooking cookbook.

Junior Secondary

Year 7 Science!

Recently, the Year 7 Science students created Balloon-Powered vehicles for their assessment task. They needed to create a vehicle that:

• ran along the ground
• be powered by only one balloon
• be built during their science lessons

Once their vehicles had filled this criterion, they tested their vehicles. Some extra modifications needed to be made as some vehicles did not work.

As in any fair test, we had to have an independent variable. The students got to pick what they were going to change to their vehicle. Many students picked the vehicles while others decided to change the specifications to the body. Once again, they had to test their adjusted prototype vehicle and write a scientific report.

After many lessons of creativity and hard work, the students had created and tested their prototype as well as their adjusted prototype vehicle. Enjoy the images below.

Rachel Quigley
Year 7 Science

Out and about @ Outreaches

Ewan Outreach

The Ewan racecourse was once again a hive of activity for our Term 3 Outreach with students and teachers enjoying the different lessons and activities.

Miss Johnson interviewed the Ewan students on their opinions of the outreach.

Q: What have you learned at this outreach?

Steph (Yr 6): Descriptive writing

Maddy (Yr 4): Reading information books and finding information about lungs

Will (Yr 2): I have learnt that the Olympic Games started in Greece.

Aaron (Yr 1): The Olympic Games. Australia won a gold medal in the shooting.

Ruby (Yr 1): The swimming at the Olympics. A girl won a record for being the fastest swimmer.

Zander (Yr 1): About the Rio Olympics

Lucy (Prep): Wind chimes. The wind is going to blow and make a sound. I found out that some materials will last in the rain and sun.

Lucy working hard in Prep

Q: If you could ask Mr Clark for ANYTHING for Ewan outreach, what would it be?

Sally (Yr 6): A bus to take kids to lunch.

Steph (Yr 6): To make the outreach last longer.

Tom (Yr 3): To be allowed to bring our bikes to ride.

Mikayla (Yr 3): To be able to do school work in an air-conditioned room instead of outside.

Willis (Yr 3): To have more games to play with in the afternoon after school.

Joseph (Yr 1): I would love a big swimming pool.

Claire (Yr 2): To have longer outreaches.

Will (Yr 2): A swimming pool to cool down because we have to walk so far for lunch.

Ruby (Yr 1): A pet unicorn or a big lolly station.

Zander (Yr 1): An aeroplane to bring us out to outreach and to take us to lunch each day.

Lucy (Prep): To be allowed to bring my bantams and dog to outreach with me.

“Nutbush city limits” dance at concert

Q: What was your favourite part of Ewan outreach?

Lindsay (Yr 5): The concert because you learn different songs.

Maddy (Yr 4): Learning about the respiratory system.

Tom (Yr 3): Learning about the respiratory system.

Mikayla (Yr 3): Learning about the diaphragm.

Willis (Yr 3): The concert because I liked watching all the different acts.

Joseph (Yr 1): Painting and making an Olympic torch.

Claire (Yr 2): Painting on a canvas using electric tape.

Aaron (Yr 1): Learning about the Olympic Games, making torches and painting onto canvas frames.

Lucy (Prep): I love everything about this outreach.

Miss Colleen Bredden
Outreach Teacher Coordinator

Cape River Outreach

The final Cape River Outreach for the school year was a blast out at Wambiana Station. For some teachers it was their very first time to attend the Wambiana Station outreach, as well as, to have spent time on a property!

All students worked hard with their teachers during the day learning information from the Olympics, creating their own Aussie game to teach to their mates, as well as, learning about how we breathe. All students participated in after school activities which involved the different class groups to plan and create a performance of their choice. These well- formed and very creative performances were presented on the second evening to families and home tutors resulting in laughter and tear-welling eyes from our senior students.

Some Year 6 students attended their final outreach and were recognised with a graduation celebratory lunch with their mates. The celebrations and cakes continued to flow with Emma celebrating her birthday on the last day.

The outreach concluded with a property walk to explore the surroundings and to give a bit of an insight into the history of the property. This was great for our teachers as we were able to see and understand what our families’ lives are like on properties.

A special thanks to the Lyon’s family for allowing us to attend their property and to all the parents and home tutors for the lovely meals and many other things you did for us during our stay.

Chantel Micallef
Outreach Teacher Coordinator

Group

Year 1

Year 1 at the Olympics - TAKE YOUR MARKS. GET SET. GO! The Year 1 students were off and racing to learn all about the 2016 Rio Olympic Games while attending the recent Outreaches this term. Students had a great time creating their own countries, flags and torches for the Olympics. They learnt about how the Olympic rings represent the different continents, as well as the Australian Team, the importance of rules and good sportsmanship. One of the highlights was the students designing their own Australian Game that needed to use a thong, esky or wooden spoon to play the game. The students really enjoyed this activity and created some very unique games using these Aussie icons. Everyone had a great time at Outreach and the Olympic theme was without a doubt a gold medal winner.

Mrs Alanna Price and Mrs Elizabeth Miller
Year 1 Teachers

Small Talk With Mrs Talbot

Mrs Talbot’s students keep her entertained with their honest answers to questions. Below are a few interesting memorable moments as told by Mrs Talbot.

Year 5

This term, Year 5 students have been spending time catching up with their teachers and showing off their talents at outreach.

The Year 5 students at Clermont Outreach kept Mrs Smith on her toes while they learnt about exercise plans, division and the Eureka Stockade. The Students also enjoyed showing of their artistic talents in their art lesson.

At the Ewan outreach students worked hard to come up with an exercise plan that would help Life-Be-In-Its’ Norm lose weight and better manage his diabetes.

Smiles all the way around at Ewan

Star Athletes

Congratulations to our talented Year 5 athletes who competed at the Primary Interschool Athletics Carnival recently. You all showed excellent sportsmanship and commendably represented our school on the day.

Our gifted line-up of athletes included:

• Dempsie Moller
• Ryan Grant
• Logan Scott and
• Jimmy McClelland

We wish Dempsie, Logan and Ryan the best of luck as they go on to compete at the North Queensland trials later this year.

Kate Ruthenberg and Karen Smith
Year 5 Teachers

Pictures:

NAPLAN

The 2016 Year 5 NAPLAN test results have been released and student summaries have been sent home. This year, students have done really well in their writing and reading tasks in particular. Well done to all of the students who completed the tests.

VET News

At the start of this semester, I returned to CTSDE in the new role of Vocational Education and Training (VET) Head of Department (HOD). A role created due to the ever increasing student numbers in senior school and the VET sector. The VET area has been through some very marked changes since the 1st of January this year. With more accountability and stricter guidelines in place on our teachers, trainers and our students.

Our school aims for every student in the senior area to achieve at least one VET qualification before they graduate. Not only are VET certificates counted towards QCE credits, they are a qualification in themselves and can be used to increase employability in the workforce.

Within our VET sector of the school, we currently offer the following qualifications:

• Certificate I IDMT
• Certificate II IDMT
• Certificate I Business
• Certificate II Business
• Certificate III Business
• Certificate II WPP
• Certificate II Agriculture
• Certificate III Education Support

In 2017 we plan on introducing Certificate II in Visual Arts through our partnership with TAFE North.

These qualifications are open to both school age students (Year 10 and above) and adult learners.

Lou Bode
VET HOD

Up Coming Events

4 – 10 September - Year 6 Brisbane Trip
6 – 7 September - ICPA Conference
12 – 16 September - Work Placement Years 10 – 12
19 – 3 October - School Holidays
3 October - Queens Birthday Public Holiday
4 October - Term 4 Commences

Languages

Off to Japan, thanks to CTSDE Languages program!

This year for the first time, students from Mirani State High School joined our Japanese program in the elective years (9 & 10). This has seen a number of exciting opportunities open up for these students, who would not be able to continue their Japanese studies without access to our program. As a result of the dedication and hard work of both schools, and Ms Yukari Doi, who designed the Year 10 program, one of those students, Scarlett Penshorn, is now off to Japan, after winning a highly competitive STEM and Languages combined scholarship through the Department of Education and Training.

Scarlett will be one of a select group of students, selected on the basis of their achievements in both STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Japanese language subjects. Scarlett will travel to Kyoto, Tokyo and a range of other areas of Japan, and take part in experiences designed to enhance both her STEM knowledge and abilities, and her proficiency in Japanese.

Scarlett’s achievement is particularly notable, given that she was competing for a place against students across the state, most of who benefit from a face-to-face Japanese teacher. Congratulations, Scarlett, and thank you to Ms Doi for your on-going hard work and dedication to your students.

Miss Jade McKay
HOD Teaching and Learning

Junior Secondary

Year 8 Students Art Portfolio Tasks

In Art last term the Year 8 students studied watercolour painting techniques and produced some effective pieces of their own.

Other activities throughout the unit included hints on how to draw people in proportion, drawing symbols and painting to different styles of music. We also looked at Monet’s technique of painting the same object at different times of the day, noting how the colours changed with the varying light.

Here are some samples of the Year 8s artwork.

Marnie Niemi
Year 8 Art Teacher

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