15 September 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Comments…

It is now time for students and tutors to take a break from the home classrooms. I know that this will differ from family to family and some will simply change one job (of tutoring) for another (perhaps working in the family business). This is, however, a time when a break from tutoring should occur so that both learner and tutor have time to regroup and return in a few weeks time mentally refreshed.

In the last DIRT, I indicated that over the next few weeks the recommendations of the external review of the school would be shared with our broader community. The executive summary of the review report may be downloaded from our school website. The executive summary provides a broad overview of the review's findings. As a school we were happy with the review and its recommendations; external reviews are always of value as this approach removes 'group think' and allows a differing perspective on what has become routine for us. The findings of the review highlighted the many 'positives' within our school, the commitment of staff and families and the additional work that our staff do in adapting courses and content to address the needs of students and tutors.

The review covers nine domains or areas of investigation. The final report recognised the good work occurring and reinforced the directions of the school. While there were four major recommendations from the review, these main areas were underpinned by a number of recommendations spread across nine domains. The majority of these recommendations support either the current actions and directions of the school or its planned initiatives. The full set of recommendations, by domain, are detailed below:

An explicit improvement agenda

• Collaboratively develop a clear and consistent strategic planning process to be communicated to the school community.
• Clarify the school's brand which responds to the new and emerging priorities.
• Review and re-develop protocols and strategies regarding attendance and engagement in scheduled lessons ensuring expectations and consequences for non-engagement are communicated to the school community.
• Establish a policy regarding the expectations for the alternate learning centre to move towards scheduled lessons.

Analysis and discussion of data

• Communicate expectations regarding the refined assessment schedule to ensure it is fully understood and implemented by all staff members.
• Monitor the agreed processes and timelines for follow up on student engagement in online scheduled lessons.
• Provide differentiated Professional Development (PD) for teachers in the administration, analysis and interpretation of tests.
• Consider the development of student feedback strategies.

Improvement strategies

• Develop a range of strategies to enhance the capacity and engagement of home tutors.
• Provide regular opportunities for all teachers to participate in cycles of professional discussion, reflection and peer to peer lesson observation and feedback.
• Ensure communication and decision making is inclusive of all staff members and staff member wellbeing continues to be a priority.

Targeted use of school resources

• Ensure the process for assigning financial and human resources is integrated within the explicit school strategic planning process.

An expert teaching team

• Clarify the role of school leaders in instructional leadership and provide multiple opportunities to support leadership development.
• Ensure all staff members develop PDP supported through coaching, observation and feedback processes.
• Revise the professional learning plan to align with the EIA and identified needs of staff members.

Systematic curriculum delivery

• Develop and implement a whole-school literacy plan within which evidence-based teaching practices are embedded.
• Continue to refine and align units of work with the AC in all subject areas.
• Develop staff members' skills in curriculum planning and delivery through PD and regular cycles of collaborative planning and reflection.

Differentiated teaching and learning

• Ensure consistent practices in the monitoring and documentation of adjustments for learning.
• Collaboratively develop a whole-school approach for high achieving students.

Effective pedagogical practices

• Design and develop a researched site-specific pedagogical framework which guides teaching practices and instructional leadership and enhances student engagement.
• Provide PD for teaching staff members and home tutors to ensure consistent use of signature teaching practices.
• Continue to develop a resource bank of e-learning student engagement strategies encompassing creative and critical thinking tasks.
• Develop the capacity for student feedback to lesson delivery and unit design.

School-community partnerships

• Explore the feasibility of expanding the alternative learning centre two-day workshop for partners and centres to encourage stronger understandings of knowledge, skills and resources from community partnerships, to enhance student outcomes.
• Investigate further opportunities for students to utilise the facilities and services of the Dalrymple Trade Training Centre, to maximise return of the school's annual investment.
• Further develop the processes for monitoring and supporting positive student transitions back to mainstream settings.
• Further explore and develop professional working relationships with surrounding schools to allow staff members the opportunity to undertake visits to support their PD and develop support networks.

These recommendations coupled with the imperatives of ensuring our students receive appropriate learning materials and access to courses will influence our next strategic plan (2017 – 2020) which is currently in development. Each recommendation will be addressed in some way over the next four year period.

With the mid-semester vacation occurring over the next two weeks, please try and find some time for yourself so that you are able to return to the challenges of distance education and the role tutors' do at home/or in centres.

Regards

John Clark
Principal

Deputy Principal's Comments

Charters Towers 2016 Eisteddfod Music Success

Haddon Mossley a music teacher from the Charters Towers State High School was excited to report to us the success of two of our students in the Music section at the recently held Eisteddfod.

Sophia Lyons – Highly Commended - Piano Solo Grade 4-6
Connor Lyons – First Place - Stringed Instrument Solo - Primary School
Connor Lyons - Third Place - Woodwind Solo – Grade 6

What a fantastic achievement for the two young musicians.

On top of all that – recently, Connor Lyons travelled to Townsville to complete his Grade 2 AMEB Violin exam (there is some difficult stuff in this examination). Connor received an A = Honours on this exam. This is a wonderful example of his hard work and dedication, on top of his school and I am sure station work.

Thank you to Charters Towers State High School Music teacher Haddon Mossley, for his assistance in helping our students achieve success.

Andrew Smith
Deputy Principal

Parent Liaison Officer

Hi everyone,

The P&C will hold an informal get together (morning tea) on the first day of mini school Monday 24 October at 9:00am followed by a meeting. We would love to see you all there for a cuppa and a chat.

The Planning Workshop will be held here in Charters Towers on Tuesday October 25 (second day of camp). Each outreach area sends one representative who brings input from their outreaches, dates for outreaches and other ideas for the school to consider. Thank you to the home tutors who have agreed to be their outreach representative. Your rep will give you feedback from the workshop.

Celebration Day is on Thursday 1 December. This is a great day and it would be fantastic to see as many of you here as possible. The day begins at 3:00pm with the awards ceremony at the World Theatre and then we move to the school for dinner and fun. All students will have the opportunity to be part of the ceremony by singing Advance Australia Fair on stage at the beginning of the ceremony. The children will have a little practice at camp. However, it isn't meant to be a polished performance. I will send more information about this next term.

I hope you have a well-earned relaxing break and look forward to seeing you all next term.

Lesley Griffin
Parent Liaison Officer

Please enjoy the following recipe found in our "Another Helping of Generations of Bush Cooking" Cookbook:

JO'S THAI CHICKEN

Ingredients

500g chicken mince
¼ cup (60ml) oyster sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tab self-raising flour
1 tab fish sauce
½ cup finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
2⁄3 cup (160 ml) coconut milk
Soy sauce and sliced chillies or
sweet chilli sauce, for serving

Method

Preheat the oven to moderately hot (200/180 degrees celsius fan-forced). Grease two 12-hole mini muffins pans. Combine chicken mince, oyster sauce, garlic, flour, fish sauce, coriander and coconut milk in a large bowl. Place rounded tablespoons of mixture into prepared pans. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about 15 minutes or until cooked through. Turn out and serve hot with combined soy sauce and chilli or sweet chilli sauce.

Serves 4

Townsville School Dental Service - Hughenden

The Townsville School Dental Service will be offering an examination and treatment (if required) to students in the Hughenden/Richmond area. The dental van will commence its visit on 11 October 2016 in Hughenden.

For any enquires please contact Emma Odgaard the Oral Health Therapist on mobile number 042 790 8711.

Student Council at Celebration Day!

The Student Council is excited to announce that we are mixing things up at our Celebration Day dinner. We will still have our Student Council stall which will sell the amazing home-made, home grown goodies as well as some knickknacks; however, we are going to have different activities running for students and parents. Just to give you an idea of what we will be doing, one of our activities will be a photo booth!

Father's Day Raffle Winner

Congratulations to the winner of our Father's Day Raffle, Rachel Weston.

Ms Rachel Quigley
Junior Secondary Teacher

The DIRT on Year 2

From the beginning of the year to the end Year 2 is packed with constant activity!

Home Tutor School

Our students ventured into "THE JUNGLE" at Home Tutor School writing about specific animals and making artistic masterpieces about the jungle itself (stocking vines) and the fascinating creatures we studied that week.

We took on the waves of the town pool as the students showed their skills in the watery depth and the down the foam mat waterfall-type slide!

The Year 2's dodged each other as they played Rugby League burning all their energy as if running away from being chased by a creature through the trees of the jungle!

What an amazing week! Our units lead us into hilarious poetry and imaginative retells. The student's made their own lunchboxes demonstrating their designs to Mr Clark who was very impressed!

Term 2

We blasted into learning about SPACE and made our own ROCKETS!

Term 3:

Our focus at Outreaches was on the Rio Olympics, sportsmanship and creating our own AUSSIE GAMES!

Stay tuned for our Term 4 round up

Lyn Simatis
Year 2 Teacher

Year 6 Students Write to the Future

What did they say?

Recently, Year Six has been writing letters to the CTSDE students of the future, trying to give them an insight into what life is like in 2016. One of our students, Charlie Pemble, wrote the following letter:

Dear student of the future,

Hello, my name is Charlie Pemble and I am currently a Year Six student at Charters Towers School of Distance Education (CTSDE). I'm writing this letter through to the future in hope that someone will find it and will appreciate my life in 2016.

This piece of paper is valuable because the words I'm writing on its surface hold an insight into the life I live in 2016. I could be your Grandmother, Teacher, Doctor or the person who lives next door. I could have helped you or one of your loved ones in some way or another. We could be connected in more ways than you think through relationship, family or friends. So read each word carefully, while I tell you about me and my life.

For my whole life I have lived on a property 80 km west of Charters Towers. I live here with my family and my Grandparents. We own a cattle grazing property which is 133000 acres and runs 5500 head of cattle. It has been a rough couple of years as there was a drought. That means that we hadn't had very much rain, all our dams went bone dry and there was very little grass left for the cattle to eat. We had to put out hay and lick every day. This was very difficult financially and heart breaking as we lost many of our cattle. We had to put in bores for water which are very expensive. All over the state the cattle numbers went down and their price went up. So it was very difficult to buy more to replace the ones we had lost. We were very lucky to receive a good amount of rain this year.

My house is at least 45 years old and is the house that my Grandfather lived in when he was a young boy. It is made of fibro with polished floors and five bedrooms, but one is our school room. We also have an open plan living area, kitchen, toilet and bathroom. I love our house. It is crazy that my Grandfather walked the same halls I walk today! I find it interesting that he lived here and if I ever need to ask anything about the house I can just ask my Grandfather.

My family is very noisy. There are five of us: three children and two adults. There is myself, Charlie, I'm 11; Ava she is 5; Lilee is only 1; and then there is Mum and Dad. When we have finished school, Dad takes us riding on the horses. Every month on a certain date we all go to horse sports. It is sooooo much fun because I get to see all my friends and ride my horse all day. We do jumps, barrels, flags, and pole bending, just to name a few.

When I am not riding my horse I like to watch TV. Do you watch TV in 2059?My favourite TV series is called 'Heartland' it is about a girl called Amy who trains horses after they have had a bad accident and breaks them in. I also like the TV series called 'Home and Away'. It is really good because it always has a good story line. Over all Heartland is my Favourite by far. Isn't that crazy when I am not riding my horse I am watching them!

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my life and what I do. I hope that in the future we meet and that this letter has inspired you to write one of your own. Remember, we're connected in many ways.

Much love,
Charlie Pemble.

Mrs Armit and Miss Johnson
Year Six teachers

Year 6 student Charlie with her sisters, Ava and Lilee.

SAS: Students Achieving Success

Due to data indicating improved results in literacy over the previous years the SAS program continued in our school into 2016 and was offered across various year levels. Numeracy has also been included into the course this year. This Semester Years 4, 7 and 8 have participated in lessons.

Primary students are offered three lessons per week while Secondary participate in two lessons. The lessons focus on reading comprehension, writing and numeracy. We study the types of questioning that can take place in different contexts. As our educational system moves into external test based assessment in the Senior Secondary years becoming test aware from a young age will prove beneficial to our students.

Reading lessons are based on reading for meaning with learning to infer a major focus. While most students are excellent oral readers, testing indicates that many of them struggle to understand the implied meaning of the texts. Most tests such as NAPLAN use this type of questioning for up to 85% of the test, so it is vital we give students the skills to address this. The students also get the opportunity to break texts up using a reading guide to look at author's intent, text structure and so on. The study of this has had the added bonus of improving their writing skills.

Writing sessions use the '7 Steps to Writing Success' as the foundation of the lessons. This program breaks writing into seven main techniques which the children practise and master. It simplifies tasks into easier more manageable chunks. So far our lessons have covered 'Sizzling Starts' and 'Tightening Tension'. Some student examples have been included below.

Finally our Numeracy lessons are driven on a needs basis. As an area of concern is noted the class will be provided with extra instruction and activities within this area. Some Semester 1 student feedback and writing samples have been included below.

Year 4

"Help!" yelled Jessica. It was the first day of her adventure and already she was lost. How did this happen? She promised Kane she wouldn't get lost. Finally she jumped on her two year old appaloosa filly Echo and decided to find her way home. "Will I survive this journey she asked herself?"

The bellowing wind rushed through the trees with their long shadows stretching over the flat, dry land. CRACK! A branch landed with a thud just missing my head. "Where am I?" I sobbed to myself. I had gone for a walk and now found myself lost in the woods. I saw a shooting star, it lit up my heart but not for long. It was soon gone and all my horrible thoughts drifted slowly back into my mind.

CRASH! Suddenly she woke. Quickly fear flooded in. Chloe was in a dark, secret forest. Strange noise sprang from everywhere. Chloe shivered, she only wore a t-shirt and pants and it was cool and moist here. Suddenly the thought of being lost in here made her courageous heart fade within short moments. "Where am I?" she whispered. She heard voices and footsteps and quivered looking around desperately for a dark place to hide.

Year 7

The race was the biggest of my life. I had to win. As I stepped up to the blocks my heart was pounding adrenalin pumping. I was ready, the crowd was chanting. I knew what I had to do. BEEP! The starting siren went. I dived into the cold, cool water hoping for a victory.

Year 8

As I stand on top of the diving board I can hear the roar of the crowd. SPLASH! We were off like a bullet. The freezing water took my breath away but there was not time to notice. "Go, Go, Go!" I could hear the crowd yelling as I thrashed through the water in the freestyle race. I glanced to my left and saw that Fred was just in front. I could still win!

Tightening Tension

Year 7

The water filled my bathers and clogged my ears. I held onto the side of the pool and waited with determination. BANG! The sound of the cap gun echoed. I let go of the pool edge and pumped my arms and legs. My sweat mixed with the pool water and my arms began to ache, my legs felt eerie and my blood was nearly frozen. I kept pumping my arms and propelling myself through the water. Just as I thought I was going to sink like a pebble the cap gun fired and I lifted my head to see…

"Mary? Mary? Hello? Never mind." She won't answer calls, messages or emails. I wonder if she has gotten into any trouble… After my dinner with Paul I head home to watch 'The Matrix' again with Mary, she loves that movie. The streets are dead, the vendors are closed, lights are turning off and shadows are moving. I start to walk…

The flames grew, the heat would be more than enough for the T Rex to find her. Tourmaline ran as fast as her legs could carry her, but no matter where she ran the fire was blocking all exits. To make things worse Tourmaline's guide was gone, lost in this terrible bush fire. She was nearly out of ideas. "So much for going to survival camp," she mumbled to herself.

The thundering blow of the night sky, the wind howling and the ground is beginning to flood. Here I am curled up in bed, unable to sleep. I simply count the rain droplets hitting my small arc window. As my head begins to nod I see it. Staring at me. I stare back. It seems to mimic the thundering blows in the sky as it roars. Am I imagining this scaly beast outside the tiny window and is the roar really just thunder.

The waves smashed into the side of my boat, pushing it closer and closer to the rocks on the shore. It was as if the ocean was a child, carelessly tossing the boat about like a toy. It wouldn't be long before the boat gave in to the ocean's mighty power. SWOOSH, SPLASH the waves struck again and again. Salt water stung my eyes, but it didn't stop the image of the rocks…

Year 8

Trees were burning, the air was warm and my sweat was boiling. I ran for my life jumping over burning logs and leaves. The burning ashes got into my mouth each time I inhaled. They tasted like dry lava or burning stones. My lips and tongue become parched and weak as I started to lose feeling

The smoke was becoming unbearable. More and more trees were falling down, blocking all of the possible ways out of the burning forest. Alex had decided to make a run for it between two large, fallen trees when he heard a big SNAP! He looked up just in time to see the branch plummeting down on top of him. He tried to run but he was too late, the branch wedged into his calf.

Pssssssssshhhhhhhh, water filled the boat. "We're going down!' yelled the crew as I made my way below deck. I grabbed a bucket and started scooping water out of the boat. I could feel the cold, icy water rising up my legs. One of the crew members came below deck and grabbed me shouting, "We have to abandon ship!" I went up, I could taste the salty air and feel the breeze on my back. I was terrified. I didn't know what was in the water and worst of all I couldn't swim. I could hear the splashes of the water as some of the crew started jumping off into the ocean. Next it was my turn I couldn't stop shaking. As I jumped off, I closed my eyes….

SAS Student Feedback:

We also do heaps of reading not only fun and interesting text but ones that challenge us to improve and we are continually improving our reading skills as a class.

• I have become a better reader and I now know some techniques for reading.
• It helped with understanding the text more instead of just reading it.
• The writing and reading also the part where we had boxes of text and we had to read it and then answer some questions they were fun and got my brain working, it also helped with comprehension
• Sizzling Starts

Deb Oss
SAS Teacher

Library News

Thank you to all students who participated in the Premiers Reading Challenge and returned their completed reading record sheet. Congratulations goes to Peyton Camm - Year 2 for winning the Premier's Reading Challenge library prize pack.

Our Theme for the October Camp Bookfair, will be 'Are we there yet?' by Alison Lester. (keeping with the theme Australia! Story Country)

I am calling on the creative skills of all students in assisting me to create an impressive Bookfair display in our library by making something from your favourite place in Australia.

Make sure your name is on the back and maybe write on the front why it is your favourite place.

Size is to be no bigger than A4 so I can display them. I look forward to receiving and displaying your artwork.

Jenny Currin
Library

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