13 October 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Comments…

Dear parents and tutors,

Evidence shows that in our school, there is a direct correlation between student attendance at regular lessons and student outcomes. This simply means that students who regularly attend schedules lessons achieve better results overall than those who do not regularly attend lessons.

With this in mind, we as a school have decided to make this a key focus for the next 12 months. A range of strategies will be trialled with the aim of enhancing student participation in scheduled lessons.

Among these initiatives, our school will be implementing a new SMS communication system to alert parents of key issues relevant to student attendance and participation. From the beginning of this term, all teachers have been required to undertake a daily roll marking for lesson attendance. This will be used to identify student who have unexplained absences and SMS messages will be sent to home tutors to keep them informed of non-attendances. These will be followed up with telephone calls where necessary.

Where circumstances exist that prevent students from participating in scheduled lessons, it is imperative that teachers are informed prior to the absence or as soon as possible afterwards. This will prevent the sending of unnecessary SMS messages. Students who are unable to attend are expected to watch recordings and to contact the teacher immediately if they have any questions or require curriculum support.

The SMS system will potentially be extended to include notifications for overdue draft and final assessment items as well as alerts for key events and upcoming deadlines. Further information regarding the specifics of this initiative will be sent out following the trial of the system later this term.

Another initiative currently underway in our school with a focus on student engagement is the creation of a Head of Curriculum (HOC) position with a focus on student engagement. This role will focus on enhancing student attendance, following up students with outstanding work, implementing truancy processes and managing initiatives which are focussed on lesson attendance and return of work. An Expression of Interest has been called for this position and applications will be considered this week.

On a different note, there is only one more week to Mini-School. We would like to encourage as many students as possible to come to this event. It is an excellent opportunity to work with the teachers, have some fun and participate in a range of important learning activities. Take care if travelling in and we will see you in a week's time.

Andrew Smith
Acting Principal

Deputy Principal's Comments

Research confirms a strong link between attendance and student outcomes. While some student absences are unavoidable and understandable due to illness and the like, many are not. These could be unexplained or unauthorised absences. Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. This relationship between attendance and achievement may appear early in a child's school career.

In the Distance Education context, students should be attending Collaborate lessons where possible as they offer an opportunity for teachers to provide further explanation of unit work and assessment tasks and for you to ask questions for clarification. If students miss a lesson, please contact the teacher prior to the lesson or as soon as practical afterwards to explain the absence and then watch the recording of the lesson.

Those students who will regularly miss lessons for an extended period (E.g. prolonged illness, family commitments, technology issues, school based apprenticeships, etc.) should email their teachers as soon as possible to notify them of the circumstances.

The school will shortly be implementing an SMS system to notify parents and caregivers of any unexplained absences from Collaborate lessons. Promoting the value of lesson attendance and supporting students and families to deal with barriers where possible are key elements in helping to improve student attendance and achievement.

This term we welcome two new teachers to our teaching staff. Sharon McLauchlan will be teaching Year 4 and Nina Devenish will be teaching Japanese – LOTE.

Cameron Burke
Deputy Principal

Parent Liaison Officer

Hi everyone,

A reminder that 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.

Also another reminder that 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.

Lesley Griffin
Parent Liaison Officer

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

TOASTED PINE NUT AND SWEET POTATO SALAD

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
4 roma tomatoes – halved
Olive oil
Sea salt and cracked pepper
½ cup pine nuts,
150gm baby spinach leaves
1 avocado, sliced

Dressing

3 tbls honey
2 tabls balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 tabls olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

Place sweet potato and tomato in a baking dish and toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for approximately 20 – 30 minutes or until potato is golden and soft. Sprinkle over pine nuts and bake for a few more minutes.

To serve, place the spinach and avocados on plates and top with potato, tomatoes and pine nuts. Pour dressing over the top.

Enjoy!

National Self-Detection Program for Scoliosis (NSDP)

Scoliosis (spinal curvature) is an important health problem for adolescent girls and 25 per thousand are at risk of developing a significant curve. Three girls per thousand require active treatment (spinal brace or surgery). Because in the early stages the condition is most often asymptomatic, screening in the age range 11-13 years is a sound preventative health measure. When school screening for scoliosis was abandoned we introduced the self-Detection Program as a practical alternative. Our policy on the matter is fully explained on the website.

The Alternate Learning Initiatives Department

Through the school's department of Alternate Learning Initiatives we provide educational pathways to over 120 disengaged secondary school students and more than 200 adult prisoners.

The disengaged school age students are students who have left mainstream schooling for one reason or another and now wish to re-engage in a program to complete their education. Typically they focus mainly on English and Maths. These students enrol with us through one of our 27 Partnership Learning Centres which are scattered throughout the state.

The prisoners enrol in our courses to gain an education in Maths and English in order to be more employable when they are released back into the community. We currently have prisoners enrolled from 13 of our State Correctional Centres.

Partnership Learning centres:

• Anglicare Central Queensland: Emerald and Biloela
• Career Employment Australia: Arundel, Miami, Kippa-Ring, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Gatton, Mossman, Maroochydore
• Churches of Christ: Mt Ommaney
• Intercept Youth Justice: Morayfield
• PCYC- Upper Ross, Doomadgee, Mareeba
• Redcliffe Area Youth Space (RAYS)- Redcliffe
• Roseberry Community Services (RCS)- Gladstone
• Salvation Army Youth Outreach Service- Caloundra, Maroochydore, Goodna
• Townsville ATSI Health Service(TAIHS) Volatile Substance Misuse Program- Townsville
• Mackay Regional Council: Sarina Youth Centre (SYC)
• Yuibera Aboriginal Corporation (YAC): Mackay.
• Vocational Partnerships Group Inc- Atherton, Cairns.
• Young People Ahead (YPA): Mt Isa
• United Synergies

Correctional Centres:

• Brisbane Correctional Centre
• Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre
• Capricornia Correctional Centre
• Helana Jones Correctional Centre
• Lotus Glenn Correctional Centre
• Lotus Glenn Correctional Centre Farm
• Maryborough Correctional Centre
• Numinbah Correctional Centre
• Palen Creek Correctional Centre
• Townsville Men's Correctional Centre
• Townsville Women's Correctional Centre
• Wolston Correctional Centre
• Woodford Correctional Centre

Mr Richard Heard
Head of Department: Alternate Learning Initiatives.

Locations of Partnership Centres

Whole School Literacy Program

Beginning in Week 2 of this term (10 October), our school will be implementing a Whole School Literacy Program. The program that will be available to support the learning needs of all of our students across all curriculum areas.

The aim of this program is to develop the literacy skills that all students require to successfully participate in all curriculum areas. During Term 4, the program will focus on building the comprehension skills that our students require in to be successful readers.

Next year, we will be adding Writing skills to the program. This will be focussed on developing core writing skills to ensure greater capacity to achieve across the curriculum.

There are a number of benefits to our students which include:

• Students working at their individual levels through streamed classes.
• Supports the Australian Curriculum.
• Lessons at a sustained period; focussed on developing core Literacy.
• No Send-ins Sheets. All tasks will be completed on our on-line lessons with the teacher.
• All students will have the opportunity to be involved.

Furthermore, elements of the Students Achieving Success (SAS) program that was previously offered has been integrated into our Literacy program so that all students are now able to benefit from focussed literacy skills development on a weekly basis. The SAS program will no longer run as a separate program.

Your teachers will be contacting you with the timetabling details later this week.

Cindy Milanovic
Acting Head of Curriculum

The DIRT on Year 3

It has been such a busy year in Year 3 but luckily students and teachers have held their own and are still going strong in Term 4.

Year 3 students entered handwriting and artworks into the Charters Towers show. Although all entries were quite good we had a few stand out of the crowd with Libby M received 1st place and William W achieved runner up for their handwriting. Also, Georgie S received 1st place and William W once again received the runners up award for their artworks depicting before and after a drought. Well done to all who entered.

A special mention should also go to those students who participated in the UNSW Global Australia - Educational Assessment Australia Competitions. Year 3 students achieved some excellent results:

Students in Year 3 also participated in various outreaches where they learned about the respiratory system and how we breathe. Students (and teachers) also put on a few concert items to entertain the adults and other students alike.

We are very much looking forward to Term 4 and all it brings, including Mini School and the infamous Year 3 sleepover.

Colleen Purdie and Kym Nelson
Year 3 Teachers

Year 6 Brisbane Trip, 2016

In week nine of Term Three, ten brave Year Six students from SDE joined with forty-three other students from the state schools in Charters Towers on a week-long adventure down to Brisbane for the purpose of getting to know their future high-school classmates.

With timid smiles and wide eyes, they boarded the buses to Townsville airport. Then, holding on tightly and desperately sucking on lollies, they flew, some for the first time, down to Brisbane. Clinging tightly to their friends, they quickly set off to explore the Queen Street Mall and the other sights in the City Centre before heading tiredly to the accommodation provided by the QRA.

Interspersed with phoning parents and making new friends, the students quickly settled in. Despite the cooler, and much wetter weather, plenty of fun was had as the students investigated the Science Centre, Qld Museum, the Lego Centre, Parliament House, Mt Cootha and Suncorp Stadium.

Highlights of the trip included visits to:

• Kindilan Outdoor Education Centre - where students kayaked, rafted and abseiled the afternoon away,
• Australia Zoo – where students indulged their love of animals on the anniversary of Steve Irwin's death and
• Sea World – where the dolphin, seal and jet-ski shows thrilled students and the rides left many on a high

When Friday rolled around, students expertly cleaned up, packed their bags – struggling to fit in all their souvenirs, recorded their new friends contact details and excitedly boarded the bus, 'Lochy', one last time. Now feeling like seasoned travellers, students casually took their seats on the plane and reminisced about their favourite memories as the kilometres flew past. One final bus trip and, with tired eyes and happy smiles, the students finally got back to Charters and fell into their parents arms as the sun set.

Miss Kate Ruthenberg
Year 6 Teacher

Year 8 Science

In Term 3, the Year 8 students created and modified a Rube Goldberg Hurler Machine as part of their assessment task. A Rube Goldberg machine is a creation which involves the use of household items in order to create the most complex machine possible to accomplish a simple task. The task of this machine was to launch a ping pong ball into a waste paper basket. Whilst building this machine, students used a variety of household items including balls, string, toy cars, pulleys, books and recycled items.

As part of this task students were required to:

• Construct the original Hurler design provided to them.
• Analyse the energy transfers and transformations.
• Create their own modification to the machine to improve the operation of the machine.
• Analyse the changes to energy transfers and transformations to discuss the improvements to the machine.

Due to a Rube Goldberg design being created using household items students were challenged during the building stage when deciding the most appropriate materials to use for each section of the design. During the design and trial process students also found that some of the materials they used were not suitable and were required to make some changes to allow the machine to operate correctly.

After creating and adjusting the original machine to ensure that it worked correctly students were then allowed to use their own creativity to make modifications to the machine to improve the outcome. During this section of the task there were many wonderful ideas being implemented, as well as some fantastic and successful machines being created. Enjoy the images and video clips of these creations below.

Click here to watch a short video of A Rube Goldberg machine

Learning Support

Sharks and dinosaurs galore!

Last term our year 6 English class explored news reports in the media focusing on sharks – are they the predator or prey of humans? We explored how the media can use language in a positive or negative manner to inform or scare people. Students became news reporters themselves at the end of term to report on an event they had participated in. Our Year 5 English class focused on a combined poetry unit, reading and analysing children's poems and retelling The Dinosaur's Dinner into our own wild narratives about a destructive, bathtub-swallowing, school-eating dinosaur!

Miss Erin Watherston
Year 5/6 Learning Support Teacher

Poetry and Advertisments

And in a flash it is nearly all over, one great term after the next. Term 3 produced some lovely work from all the Year 3 and 4 SWD students. The Year 3 students explored Poetry. They investigated the structure of Poems and wrote some very imaginative poetry on topics that were of special interests to them. Kealy J came up with an especially delicious line that went like this, "Yummy, sweet, juicy, seedy strawberry juice".

Year 4 students investigated Advertising. They pulled apart advertisements and then built them up again, making sure they could identify the persuasive techniques used that would spur us on and get us, the audience, to run out and purchase, purchase, purchase! They were also given the opportunity to come up with their own persuasive advertisements. Joshua got the monster truck enthusiasts, excited with this line, "The BIG MONSTER Truck. It's cool. POWERFUL with big, strong tyres that will go anywhere", while William appealed more to the animal lovers by describing his horse for sale, "Lightning Flash, she's smart, has a nice nature, has long black hair and moves like lightning".

Great work everyone!

Miss Ché D'Amant
Year 3 and 4 Learning Support teacher

Certificate II in Agriculture Training Camp

Certificate II in Agriculture students gathered in Charters Towers during the final week of Term 3 to participate in a hands-on Agricultural Training Camp. During the week, students completed many activities including drafting, inoculating, branding and loading cattle, considering nutritional requirements of livestock in order to provide appropriate feed, monitoring water for livestock, cleaning out troughs, treating weeds, inspecting and cleaning vehicles for animal and plant material, and using hand and power tools to build a chicken coop.

These tasks formed part of their Practical Assessment, allowing teachers an opportunity to assess the skill level of the students face to face. The group attended the weekly prime and store sale at the Dalrymple Saleyards, where Queensland Rural's Shaun Flanagan explained the general operations of the saleyards and set challenges for the students to estimate weights of cattle in several pens… which may have led to a few healthy debates about the 'best' breeds of cattle! The final day saw Dalrymple Landcare's Bob Shepherd provide students with information about the different career pathways available in the industry, as well as perform a demonstration on pasture management.

Overall, it was a fantastic week. Students were pleased with the new knowledge and skills they had gained from the week, although somewhat concerned that their parents would get hold of the photographic evidence and put them to more work at home (particularly spraying weeds!). And some are already planning for next year's Training Camp!

Mrs Sarah Jenkins & Miss Louise Bode
Heads of Department

Work Placement

Work placement is an integral part of the learning experiences of students who undertake a VET Certificate course here at CTSDE. The placements are of one, two or more weeks depending on the level of the course involved. Students learn to interact with others in the workforce and are able to demonstrate many of the skills they are currently learning.

Student Reflections

Julianne C enjoyed her time with Harvey Norman in Townsville. She reported that the best part of the experience was "Being able to work in my favourite shop, learning everything about the shop and IT, working with great people who loved that I was hardworking and the boss wanting to hire me as I was extremely hardworking and good at what I did." Cert I IDMT

Bridget C spent time at the Proserpine Town Library and learnt "how to set up for visiting guests/speakers – Queensland State Library WW1 artefacts; Writers Workshop". She particularly liked it when "the regular borrowers brought in chocolates for the staff" and found "the workers in the Library were so helpful, friendly and understanding". Cert I IDMT

James P went to Landmark in Dalby and learnt how to mix fertilizer, how to use a fire extinguisher and how to setup a spreadsheet and enter data. His highlight: "I went to the Dalby saleyards on Wednesday for the cattle sale and got to stand up with the auctioneers while they were selling." Cert II WPP and Cert I IDMT

Jake B worked with Kawana Auto Service where he completed car services and "changed the oil and put on a new oil filter, pump up the tyres to the same level, spray the battery, check for missing things or damages." Cert II WPP

Mrs Ailsa Leach and Mr Dan O'Connor
Senior School Teachers

Jake hard at work at Kawana Auto Service

ICPA Sports Camp

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