14 February 2019
Newsletter Articles
Principal’s Report
Welcome everyone to the 2019 School Year. Whether you are returning or new to the school, you will have the realisation that our school is one that provides not only a quality education, but also one that considers everyone’s wellbeing in the pursuit of achieving educational outcomes.
John Clark is on leave for Term 1 so I have the privilege of filling in for him during this time. I’ve lived in Townsville for the last 19 years after living in Mount Isa and formerly northern NSW. I have had experience as Acting Principal in both Townsville and Ingham and am looking forward to learning more about distance education, and also about the school itself. During the first week of school I engaged with a number of you during the Tutor Development Program and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during the upcoming Home Tutor School.
As a newcomer to the school, I have been impressed with the diligence shown by the staff to offer support to students, parents, tutors and each other in the development and delivery of distance education. The last few weeks have been busy with new enrolments to the school, teachers creating engaging lessons, parents and tutors accessing support, and students starting their learning journey for this year.
As an educational provider, we also work closely with external organisations to ensure that we keep updated with new and emerging technologies, advances in the approaches to teaching and learning and also frameworks to ensure compliance. We pride ourselves on being lifelong learners and it is this quality that we aim to also instil in our learners.
Next week is our annual Home Tutor School, where we have our first opportunity to spend face to face time with both our students and tutors. It will be a week to learn, and to also build and develop relationships with one another. We look forward to seeing those who are able to attend.
The most recent weather event has brought new challenges for our students, families, tutors and even our own staff. We send our thoughts and prayers out to those affected and aim to work with our school community in whatever capacity we are able to. We may never know how another person is affected, or how to help, but the article below provides some suggestions for how to support our students.
Helping Children after a Natural Disaster: Tips for Parents and Educators
This year has already thrown up some challenges but I encourage you all to seek help, look for solutions and work together in the 2019 learning journey. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions or require assistance along the way.
Mrs Mladenovic
Principal (Acting)
Lesley Griffin – Parent Liaison Officer
Important Notice:
Please be aware that our school’s domain has been successfully changed to charterstowerssde.eq.edu.au.
Our school’s old domain chartowesde.eq.edu.au has been on redirect for the last 12 months, and is now inactive.
Calendar Change
Please note that there has been a change in the Athletics Carnival dates on the school calendar.
The Athletics Carnival is now on the 4th & 5th April.
Library News
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Exciting news – our new library search site is working. You will now be able to search and reserve books online.
Please follow these directions for our New Library site:
- Go to the link below or click on the link on our school page
- Your ID - ___________________ (MIS ID –example - achil02)
- password – CTSDELIBRARY (The password is case sensitive, so I recommend typing the logon and then pressing caps lock to type the password, as shown.)
- Search for – Title or Author or Series
https://chartowesde.concordinfiniti.com/
Find a book you like and click on the reserve button. I will send reserved books when I have your library bag.
OR
Enter State Digital Library with the OVERDRIVE tab on CTSDE library page to search for digital versions
- Easy to use - available 24/7 - eBooks for all age groups
- Read online using OverDrive
- Read offline using the OverDrive app or Adobe Digital Editions
- Start reading eBooks in 4 easy steps:
- Go to the link below (or enter with the OVERDRIVE tab on CTSDE library page)
- Enter your MIS ID/Corporate Login
- Search or browse for eBooks
- Sample before you borrow
- Borrow and download
Search & Sample Borrow & Download READ!
http://educationqld.lib.overdrive.com/
School Psychologist
Hello to the wonderful CTSDE community,
For those of you who do not yet know me, my name is Pim Crothers and I work as the School Psychologist here at Charters Towers School of Distance Education. This year I will be taking up a regular space in the D.I.R.T. newsletters, and hopefully discussing topics that are of interest to you and your family.
As we start the New Year, I’d like to throw out a challenge to you all. This challenge involves gratitude. Gratitude is feeling thankful for someone, something, or a moment in time – being able to pinpoint what we are grateful for can help ground us and remind us of the good things in our lives. Practicing gratitude can not only make us feel good, but it can also have seriously positive impacts on our wellbeing and happiness. Research has shown a strong link between practicing gratitude and wellbeing, both psychological and physical. Even more exciting, adolescents practicing gratitude have reported higher satisfaction with their school experience, in addition to the higher reports of wellbeing.
This brings us back to my challenge for all of you – this is to consciously practice gratitude every day. It can easily be included in your daily life, perhaps at dinner time or before bed; and all it takes is to ask the question “What are you grateful for today?”
Remember gratitude comes in all shapes and sizes, it can be as simple as your delicious morning coffee or for the kids it can be talking to their friends or having their favourite song come on the radio. I encourage the whole family to do this together and for parents to model what being grateful look likes. Gratitude does not mean we ignore or forget problems, it just helps us balance the scales so we can start remembering all the good things too.
For those of you willing to take on the gratitude challenge, give it a go for 3 weeks and let me know how it all went: pcrot9@eq.edu.au.
Hopefully I will meet you all soon, and see some of your faces at our Home Tutor Week. Until then warmest regards, Pim.
Further Reading and Research References
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(2), 377.
Froh, J. J., Sefick, W. J., & Emmons, R. A. (2008). Counting blessings in early adolescents: An experimental study of gratitude and subjective well-being. Journal of school psychology, 46(2), 213-233.
Ms Crothers
School Psychologist (Provisional)
Home Tutor School
Book Character Dress Up Day!
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Visit by Registered Nurse for Prep Vision Screening
Good vision is important for a child’s educational, physical and social development. Vision screening is therefore vital in early childhood, particularly for conditions such as ‘lazy eye’, which if not detected early can lead to blindness.
A Registered Nurse will be visiting the school in 2019 to commence vision screening for all Prep Year children. If you wish to have your child participate in this vision screening program, please complete and sign the consent form sent home with your child and return this to your child’s class teacher as soon as possible. You will be advised in writing of the outcome of your child’s screening.
Please note that if your child has had a vision assessment in the past 12 months it is not necessary for him/her to participate in this screening program. If this is the case, please complete the consent form and indicate that you do not wish for your child to participate, and ensure that you follow the schedule of reviews recommended by your eye health professional.
Partners in Learning
At Home Tutor School
The Queensland Government, in consultation with The Reading Centre, have developed a reading program for Distance Education home tutors and students, in remote and rural locations. The program is aimed at supporting home tutors in the teaching of explicit reading strategies, to students in Prep – Year 2.
I will present the start of this program, over 3 whole days of Home Tutor School. After the Home Tutor School presentation, I will continue to support home tutors by liaising with classroom teachers, developing specific reading goals for each student and providing additional reading resources. A further day will be provided during the NAPLAN inreach week (14th – 16th May).
As this program builds on knowledge learnt in each module, you will need to be available to attend all 4 days of training.
If you have any further questions about the program, please do not hesitate to contact me at eflan16@eq.edu.au or on (07) 4754 6925.
I look forward to working with you!
Learning to read
Mrs Flanagan
Partners in Learning Coach
Education Support
Welcome to 2019. We are very excited this year as we are introducing the new programs of ASDAN in the Years 10, 11 and 12 and MacqLit reading intervention in our primary cohort. Let me introduce you to our awesome team of teachers.
Mrs Skowronski
I’m Emili Skowronski. I have been with CTSDE for 6 years now and this year I am teaching Primary School students in the Education Support Program. I have two daughters (one in grade 9 and the other, graduated last year), a dog and a couple of chooks. In my spare time you will find me at the beach or reading, or reading at the beach.
I love coffee, old Holdens & lasagne.
Mrs Hunt
My name is Mrs Jennie Hunt and I teach the Years 7, 8 and 9 Education Support students. We are doing Maths, English and Science.
It has been a very long time since I have taught Science so am really excited to have a go. I have a brand new class this year and am looking forward to getting to know everyone.
Hello to my students from last year. I miss you but know you are in good hands with Mrs Shaw.
Mr Sinden
My name is Kieren Sinden and I teach in the CTSDE Education Support Team. This year I will be working alongside Mrs Shaw in a new area of curriculum being offered from Years 10 to 12 - called ASDAN.
ASDAN is considered a new and effective way of learning through increased student engagement. I am responsible for the ASDAN English and ASDAN Preparing for Adulthood (PFA) programs of work.
In my spare time at Charters Towers I enjoy going to the gym, cardio, playing the guitar and fishing.
When I am not teaching in Charters Towers, I go to the Gold Coast for the holidays. I was born in England and I am looking forward to going back there soon for a holiday to see my extended relatives in England, Ireland, France and Russia.
Mrs Shaw
My name is Chloe Shaw and I teach in the Education Support Team. This year I am very excited to be working with the Year 10, 11 and 12’s on the ASDAN programmes. I am teaching Maths and the Personal Development Programme – Bronze Award.
I have three kids, and enjoy spending my free time with them. As a family we enjoy all things outdoors and we all love fishing, although I definitely am not the best in my family! I am STILL, after 13 years here, yet to catch any fish beside Tilapia in the Burdekin. If you have any tips, I am all ears!
Mrs Smith
Head of Special Education Services
FLIQ
The year started out smoothly with FLIQ running introductory, Collaborate sessions to facilitate a strong working connection with the centres our students work at. Workshops were conducted on, Collaborate, data retention, methods of assessment, available resources, subject selection and more. All involved were able to discuss our collective processes and compare notes.
We had shared successes last year to talk about, and investigate, in order to understand what might have contributed to said success. Conversely, the team members in FLIQ are always looking for ways to improve. Centres were able to give us some enlightening feedback, which helps us in the ongoing streamlining of what we do. To meet in this way informs all participants of the ways our centres function and allows the centres an insight into our procedures. Communication of this type is extremely valuable and creates an ongoing situation where both parties communicate effectively.
Ultimately, this helps both centres and FLIQ; facilitating better assistance to students in their learning.
Mr Taylor
FLIQ Teacher