9 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

Deputy Principals Comments

As the end of the year rapidly approaches and we reflect on the complex responsibility we share for the education of our children, it is important to remember that the job we do is critical in providing options and building for their future.

Many students will be moving into another year level next year, while others into employment apprenticeships, or tertiary education. The “end goal” or “the next phase” are important big milestones in planning future directions and measuring success; however, it is also important to remember that along the way many wonderful “little” achievements and realisations occur that can be just as powerful.

Often, as the saying goes, the journey can be just as important as the destination. This came to mind recently when I read the account of a student who, through tears of joy celebrated a success and the fact that, “I understand that I am more than capable of being able to do anything I put my mind too.”

As parents, tutor and teachers, never forget that it is the accumulation of all the little things that provide the confidence and support for our children to achieve big things.

Cameron Burke
Deputy Principal

Photographic Approvals

The parent/guardian of a student provides either approval for the student’s image to be used in school promotions, celebrations and publications or indicates that the student’s photographic image is not to be used.

This arrangement is simple: an image can be used or it cannot be used.

Parents/guardians may change this decision at any time by completing the necessary form and submitting the form to the school office. It generally takes fourteen days for the approval status to be confirmed and the ‘new’ arrangement to be activated.

The photographic approval form is available from the school office.

7 – 12 Mini School

As the co-ordinator of the 7-12 mini-school this year I would like to start by thanking students, parents, guest presenters, CTSDE support staff and our teaching team for all their efforts to make sure this year’s mini-school was a success.

On behalf of the students and teachers involved, I want to offer a special thank you to our event partners and guest presenters. Genine Jackson worked with our students to create some amazing artwork. Sergeant Paul Ansell, Karly Smith and the PCYC team helped our students to build their communication, teamwork, emotional intelligence and problem solving skills. Troy Barath guided our students to new heights on the high ropes course at Millchester State School. Shauna McCormack and Blackheath Thornburgh College opened up their observatory and allowed our students to look deep into the cosmos. All Souls St Gabriels welcomed our students to their cattle club. Columba Catholic College shared their Mt Carmel campus pool and oval with our students. Constable Jayde Warren, our school’s adopt a cop, shared his wisdom and experience with students in a question and answer session. He also volunteered his off duty time to give our students access to the blue light trailer as an evening activity.

7 – 12 Mini School Coordinators

High ropes

Year 2

Year 2 were hooked in at Mini-school…

The Year 2 students packed their snorkels and flippers and dived head first into a breathtaking mini-school “Under the Sea.” Upon their arrival, the students were surprised to be greeted by several familiar characters such as Dory, Nemo and Bruce. Dory and her friends kept a watchful eye over our Year 2 students who had a swimmingly good time.

Year 2 Students Excited to be at Mini School

In English, the students were a little bit tongue-tied learning tongue twisters, sea poetry, sea songs and sharing sea stories and facts they found in the sea books. Our school of students also shared some information they had researched on interesting sea creatures. In Maths, we skip counted our way to the water where we baited our lines and took a chance at fishing. Each group tallied up their catch to record and graph which group were the better anglers. Let’s just say it was impossible for Dory to decide! At the end of our deep sea diving into knowledge each day, we chilled out in our coral reef and completed some jaw dropping artwork. Looking out of our porthole windows we watched our seahorses float past us as we dreamed what it would be like to be a mermaid or merman.

Joseph, Haley and Emmerson tallying up their catch!

The Year 2 students also had the opportunity to experience some different activities throughout the week with some very valuable teachers with some hidden talents. Ms Geisel came and introduced us to some Drama where the students acted out a scene from Shakespeare. We decided we didn’t know how to speak whale as such but we were able to recite some Shakespeare. We danced like jellyfish at our Student Council Dance-a-thon! Matt from Rugby Union helped us practise our crab scuttle and unfortunately for Miss Micallef and Ms Simatis they took the bait and ended up trapped in the net. Once the teachers were back on their feet, Year 2 went for a trip to the Library to visit Mrs Currin. To much of our surprise she was not the Mrs Currin we remembered; she was a jungle tour guide surrounded by a dense jungle with lots of interesting and dangerous creatures; yet she assured us if we blended in we’d be safe like her! We took Mrs Currin’s advice and with the help of Mrs Milanovic, the Year 2s turned into snakes and butterflies. Once Miss Micallef recovered from the shock that half the class were snakes and it was safe to leave the jungle we swam back to our classroom.

By the end of the week, the Year 2 students were ready to hang up their flippers, rinse out their snorkels and head off back home. We as teachers had such a wonderful time with our students and we hope you all enjoyed your last Early Years mini-school.

Chantel Micallef and Lyn Simatis
Year 2 Teachers

Year Three

This past term, Year 3 students working hard were easy to be found,
From inside the classrooms to out in the playground.
Mini School kept us busy as we managed to do quite a lot,
From measuring, cooking, and sleeping-over to swimming when it got hot.
We have been mapping and multiplying in our Maths lessons online,
And our rhyming skills in English are coming along just fine.
The teachers are very proud of what we have achieved this year,
As the end of our time together approaches very near.
Mrs Purdie, Miss Nelson and Miss D have all had a blast,
As this year there have been some amazing students in our class.
We know the year is ending and this makes us a little sad,
But looking back we can see that a lot of fun together we have had.
As we reflect on the work and the many photos we can reminisce,
On all our shared learning and the wonderful students who we will miss!

Colleen Purdie, Kym Nelson and Che’ D’Amant
Year 3 Teachers

Click here to listen to Mackinley’s Mountian Rangers Reading

Mini School photos

Year 3s enjoying their art session

Students enjoyed having their face painted while they visited the library

Education Support Program

Students have been able to spend time with their teachers at our recent mini school if they were able to travel to the school. The primary aged children worked in their own classrooms with Ms D’Amant and Mrs Skowronski as well as taking part in other school activities such as swimming and the drumming workshop. Ms D’Amant’s students created their own puppet stories. Ms Skowronski was able to have one of her class join them on Collaborate and Nicole was able to participate in the first session with the other students.

The Secondary students were based at the Cricket Centre and their Education Support Teachers were able to visit them there around the lessons they were still delivering to students who were not attending. The visits also had to work around all the activities the students were participating in such as high ropes.

The end of the school year is drawing to a close and we have a number of students who will be eligible for an award from the Kookaburra Cash catalogue. Congratulations to all our students who are seeing the result of their efforts in 2017.

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work- Colin Powell

Karen Smith
HOSE

eKindy News – Term 4

We were very pleased to welcome 15 children to the Charters Towers October Activity Days, hosted by C&K Charters Towers Community Kindergarten. Although an unfamiliar venue, it was extremely satisfying to observe the eKindy children entering the space with independence and confidence. They followed established routines from previous Activity Days, such as putting away belongings in baskets, signing themselves in, and writing name labels for their morning snack. It was great to observe children adapt quickly to new play spaces, interact positively with both familiar and unfamiliar adults and children, and separate comfortably from their parents and carers. To us, this clearly demonstrated the children’s increasing self-confidence – a belief in their strengths and abilities, and resilience – the ability to manage new situations. Very important indicators for a successful transition to Prep!

The children were invited to join in with a centre visit from local dentist Georgia (Tooth care – We care), and assistant, Melody (dressed as the tooth fairy) who provided an extremely engaging presentation on dental care and oral health.

The eKindy families joined CTSDE community for the wonderful Under 8’s Day on Friday. Teachers, children and families thoroughly enjoyed participating in the wide range of interesting activities – a lovely way to finish the week!

It is always such a joy to see the children come together and how much they have grown and developed throughout the year. Thank you to our wonderful families who make such an effort getting into Charters Towers for the activity days. It has been a pleasure to work with you and your children this year.

For any families still wanting to register for eKindy in 2018 please go to the link below:

Megan Duigan, Kerry Denman & Emma Flanagan
eKindy Teachers

Prep

What a week we had at Mini school, 18 students working altogether as a class, sharing, laughing and completing learning activities in English, Maths and Science. The students worked on addition, days of the week, and number names to 10, sight words, story sequencing and independent writing and made the ever-popular Grassy Heads in Science.

The Prep students also had the opportunity to experience some different activities throughout the week. Miss Geisel came and practised the National Anthem on Monday. Matthew Rauch from Townsville and Districts Rugby Union helped us practise our try making skills and played a fun game of ‘Stuck in the Mud’. The Preps went for a walk down to the bottom of the school to watch a Japanese Drumming Concert where Doi Sensei was playing the drums. On Thursday we visited the Library to visit Dora the Explorer aka Mrs Currin to immerse themselves in the rainforest and have their faces painted by Mrs Milanovic and Ms Simshauser. We came out looking like slithering snakes and beautiful butterflies. To finish off our busy week we had a visit from the Charters Towers Firefighters where we learnt about fire safety, climbed through the fire truck and had a turn at holding the big fire hose.

By the end of the week, the Prep students were ready to dress up and enjoy the amazing Under 8’s morning. We as teachers had such a wonderful time with our students and we hope you all enjoyed mini-school.

Leean Shepherd and Di Luxton
Prep Teachers

Being with our friends is always fun!

Student Council and What We’ve Been Up To.

What a very busy few months it has been for Student Council…

As a school we raised 15720 Earn and Learn points. The money from the stickers raised has purchased two Robot mice, to assist with students learning computer coding. Also purchased was sporting equipment and a game for our Preps. Student Council is grateful for your support in collecting and collating the stickers.

Robot mouse.

The Governor and Mrs de Jersey visited our school on the 21st August and the Student Council were involved in writing the questions that were asked of our visitors, as well as being part of the live presentation that the school hosted.

Governor de Jersey talking with some of our students.

Student Council leaders organised lunchtime activities for fellow students during Outreaches and the Athletics Carnival. Some of our leaders showed great initiative and organised their own fundraising activities at their outreaches by selling a variety of goods.

Our Student Council leaders running Cape River Outreach lunch time activities.

Our annual Mini School was held in week 4 and the Student Council organised and ran the P-Year 3 Primary Dance-a-thon and the Year 4 – 12 Fun Run. After running, a dip in the pool was thoroughly enjoyed by all, on a hot afternoon. Well done to the students for organising sponsors for the event. Student leaders also assisted with the running of activities during our fantastic Under 8’s Day.

Two Student Council leaders (and their families) kindly donated a handmade quilt and an embroidered tea towel. The raffle will be drawn during the festivities during the Celebration Day dinner. Remember to buy your tickets at our stall for $2 each.

Celebration day quilt raffle

Voting for the 2018 Student Council is underway. Remember to have your say in the student body that will represent our school, and return your voting forms to Mrs Warren by 3:00pm on Friday 17th November. Mrs Lesley Griffin has sent out voting information to all families via email. The 2018 Student Council leaders will be announced during the Awards Ceremony on Celebration Day.

Coming up….

We will be holding a Remembrance Day Commemoration Service on Friday 10th November at 10:40am. An email will be sent out soon, with a link, if you would like to attend.

Celebration Day is looming and we are very excited to reveal our lovely new Student Council formal uniforms at the Awards Ceremony. Student Council are again running a stall during the evening dinner and a disco for kids. If you would like to contribute, we are sending a little request for homemade or baked goodies, to be sold on the night. Please remember to clearly label all ingredients used in baked goods. As time is needed to set up the stall, it would be appreciated if goods could be dropped off at school, prior to the Awards Ceremony.

As always, contributions to the Student Council by our school community are greatly appreciated, as all money raised benefits our students.

Kaye Warren and Allyson Fuller
Student Council Teachers

Townsville Outreach

Townsville Outreach on the 13th October was attended by Junior Secondary students and teachers including, Mrs Hunt, Mrs Oss, Mr Venter, Mrs Coffison and Ms Fuller.

Getting down to work at Townsville Outreach (Pimlico TAFE).

During the morning session, students (with their teachers) worked on: English, Maths, Science, Visual Art and Geography.

A special treat was provided for the students during this Outreach and students enjoyed pizza during break time. After lunch the whole group of students enjoyed a science activity, which required them to identify objects under microscopes. A very productive and enjoyable day was had by all who attended.

Allyson Fuller
Junior Secondary Teacher

Clermont ICPA Sport Camp

2017 Clermont ICPA Sport Camp Photo

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