9 May 2019

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Deputy Principal’s Report

Last week, a significant number of our staff along with representatives of our parent community were fortunate to attend the international distance education conference in Hobart.

As such a small sector of education compared to mainstream schools, it is a great opportunity to get together with others involved in distance education from within Australia and overseas and learn about what is happening across the country and overseas.

One of the challenges of such a small sector, is that schools working in isolation are often unaware of the innovations, strategies, technologies and practices that are happening outside of our own sphere.

The conference is an opportunity for staff to not only hear about these practices but to assess this knowledge, pick elements that can be easily adopted to extend students’ educational experiences and trial them in our own context.

It is also an opportunity to meet with and talk to other educators about these practices and how these can further student horizons and build ongoing relationships over distance.

One of the key learnings that our participants took away from the event is that distance educators are passionate about what they do.

As a rapidly growing and evolving education sector, in many ways distance education is at the forefront of education at an international level. It is interesting in this regard to see the innovations and changes that are shaping this form of education and how these methodologies are moving from an often misunderstood sector into becoming mainstream.

Another key observation from this activity is the vast differences that have evolved in the methods of operation between schools, states and on an international level. These differences in many respects are a direct response to meeting unique student needs and once again this diversity is in direct parallel to what we see in mainstream schools.

As a unique sector, the needs of distance education and distance education students are often misunderstood by individuals and even at a system level. This often results in attempts to constrain the sector.

What I can confidently say, is that distance education is rapidly emerging from the fog to become a very powerful mode of student learning that is at the forefront of education. Those who fail to see the potential are either in denial or seek to limit the potential through lack of understanding or perhaps a fear of the unknown future potential.

I’m certain that all those who attended the conference left with not only some great ideas, strategies and professional contacts but indeed a renewed sense of purpose and positivity about distance education as a key part of shaping education into the future.

Mr Smith
Deputy Principal

Lesley Griffin

Clermont ICPA Sports Camp

The 2019 Clermont ICPA Sports Camp will be held from 25 - 30 August and preparations are well under way.

The Clermont ICPA branch would like to extend an invitation to those students who are in years 4 to 7. The Registration Package is attached to this email.

The enrolment package is fully digital and can be emailed to parents to save on photocopying. All forms can be completed digitally and returned via email. Due to the capped number of positions at the Sports Camp it is advisable for all parents to return forms via email. It is the parents’ responsibility to return forms not the school so please don’t collect forms at school and send in one bundle. We are expecting positions to fill very quickly so the sooner parents return forms the better.

Just a reminder that all families need to be a current financial member of an ICPA branch to attend the camp. The sports camp committee will not be chasing families for ICPA membership. Children will not be able to attend Sports Camp if families are not current financial members.

No late registrations will be accepted. All forms must be returned to clermonticpasportscamp@gmail.com by Friday 21 June. Forms will not be processed until payment has been received.

Yours sincerely,
Amanda Clark

Quilt Raffle

Woolworths Earn & Learn

We are excited to be taking part in the 2019 Woolworths Earn & Learn program.

During the previous campaign, we were able to purchase some great resources with the points we earned, thanks to you.

From now until June 25th 2019, you can collect stickers at Woolworths that go towards Earn & Learn points. For every $10 you spend at Woolworths (excluding the purchase of tobacco, liquor and gift cards), you will receive a sticker. These stickers can then be given to your children to collect on a special sticker sheet. Once it is completed, they can simply bring it back here to school or you can drop them into your local Woolworths collection box.

The more points we earn, the more we can redeem from a choice of over 10,000 educational resources including mathematics and English resources, art & crafts materials and much, much more!

We are grateful for your support and look forward to a successful program. If you have any questions, please ask at the Distance Ed Office.

Mrs Purdie
Primary Teacher

Country Music Parade

We had a wonderful time at the Country Music Parade on Friday evening! Thank you to all of those who contributed to decorating our ‘Royal Flying Doctors’ float and those who participated in the actual event itself. Our float consisted of a typical outback setting with an old house, water tank, outhouse, farm animals and campfire. An injured patient lay nearby being tended to by nurses while they waited for the Royal Flying Doctors Service, which flew overhead on a pulley system. A very special thank you goes to our wonderful librarian Jenny Currin, for her genius cardboard creations. Students and teachers dressed up as nurses and country folk – there was even a kangaroo! Our float was accompanied by the song ‘We are one’ which was very fitting as all of our hard work resulted in coming 2nd place amongst the school entries. Well done everyone! Can’t wait for next year!!!

Miss Hardy and Miss Steenson
The Country Music Committee

Partners in Learning

A Reminder - Partners in Learning Program at NAPLAN In-Reach

Our final module for Partners in Learning will be presented on the 16th May 2019 at the Charters Towers Regional Council – Beef Room (12 Mosman Street, Charters Towers). Our program will commence at 11:30am through to 3:00pm, with lunch provided.

Vanessa Kennedy from The Reading Centre in Brisbane, will be attending this day to answer any questions you have and to present some of the final module.

As this program builds on knowledge learnt in each module, you will need to have attended the first three modules, to participate in the last.

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 again!

Mrs Flanagan
Partners in Learning Teacher

Cross Country

Distance Ed Runners Take to the Track

On Wednesday 1st May here in Charters Towers, 6 of our superstar runners came in for the annual Interschool Cross Country. Our younger students had a 2km run where our older students had the 3km run, but wow did they make it look like a walk in the park! All our runners ran their own race and paced themselves before sprinting their way over the finish line where they were greeted with a refreshing piece of ice.

9 year old boys:

• Travis M – 4th

9 year old girls:

• Josie B – 13th

10 year old boys:

• Steve S – 10th

10 year old girls:

• Charlotte M – 1st (Age Champion)

11 year old boys:

• Charley M – 3rd

12 year old girls:

• Sally B – 2nd

Distance Education Superstar Runners

Out of our six students, we have three that were chosen into the Charters Towers Cross Country team who will now run at the Regional Cross Country event in Townsville. We would like to congratulate Charlotte, Charley and Sally on this achievement. We wish you all the best!

Charley, Charlotte and Sally with their ribbons and paperwork for Regionals.

It was an absolute privilege to attend this event and watch our students strive in an event they are so passionate about. They have all made Distance Education very proud. A massive congratulations to all our superstars on their hard work!

Miss Hardy
Primary Teacher

Year 11

Our year 11 Mathematical Methods masters have had a massive term 1. Our committed mathematicians have been investigating modelling the movement of water through the air.

For years, crowds at community events like New Year’s celebrations, “Riverfire” and so on have been amazed by the increasingly spectacular use of fireworks, with the flashes of light and thunderous sound combining to create unforgettable experiences. Unfortunately, these wondrous displays do have some adverse impacts.

The components that give fireworks their bright colours are metals such as copper, strontium, lithium, and barium. As well as this, there are potassium and aluminium, and perchlorates used as propellants. Many of these metals, elements and compounds will remain as airborne pollution and linger in cities for days. Also, as the saying goes – what goes up must come down – a lot of the pollutants can also make their way into water bodies. Unfortunately, this can mean adverse effects on ecosystems as well as humans, with various health impacts being noticed around the world.

The easiest way to reduce the negative impacts of fireworks would be to stop using them; however it is a difficult thing to do – as mentioned earlier, they’re extraordinarily memorable. One possible replacement has been seen popping up in cities recently though, especially those situated on rivers. Rather than fireworks, we have seen a rise in the use of lighting and water effects to dazzle crowds. These performances combine water jets, lighting effects, and musical cues to amaze, and to tell stories.

You may be wondering where the maths is in all of this… The answer, of course, is everywhere! Before any water and light show can be made, the way water moves through the air must be understood. So, the year 11 Mathematical Methods students were asked to assist a ‘Musical Fountain’ company in creating a water show for an upcoming public event. To do this, they would need to find a mathematical model that would accurately mimic the movement of water through the air so the company could use technology to plan out the positioning of the jets, the intensity, their angles, the lighting, and so on.

I’m proud to say that they were problem-solving champions – finding ways to obtain data with which they could create a model. From there, they investigated various polynomial equations, both created by hand and using programs such as graphmatica.

Personally, I am very much looking forward to watching the show that they would make, as they were meticulous in identifying strengths and limitations of models, and aspects of the models that would impact on the show. One day soon, there may be a musical fountain created by a CTSDE Maths student heading your way, so keep your eye out!

Miss Chan
Secondary Teacher

Year 12

Ancient History

This is Sparta (and Athens, and Corinth, and a range of other Hellenic city-states).

This term, Grade 12 Ancient History students are inquiring into the causes of the Peloponnesian War: a conflict in the 5th Century BC which the historian Thucydides set out to record because he felt it was going to be incredible. He wasn’t wrong. In the (pick a colour, any colour) corner: an alliance led by Athens, a culturally rich, economically energetic state. In the (let’s say red) corner, an alliance led by Sparta, a society concentrated on the production of warriors. It’s very easy to set Athens and Sparta up as opposites, in a Mediterranean (plus bits of Asia) that wasn’t big enough for the both of them; I’ve just started to slip towards doing it now. There are, however, important considerations and surprises to bear in mind (Athens’ wonderful democracy was built on the backs of slaves; Sparta’s growling attitude masked the fear that its own slaves would overrun it). What Grade 12 are setting out to do is use a detailed understanding of the relationship between Sparta and Athens to make an argument about what brought them into a long, grim, damaging war. Sparta won, too. After all this time, I don’t think it counts as a spoiler. After all that glorious defeat at the hands of the Persians, this army of unsmiling personal trainers managed to rustle up a victory.

Mr Newman
Year 12 Ancient History teacher

FLIQ

As part of the requirements of 10 Core English, students are asked to write a poem. The following is an example of a poem written by a student. This particular poem draws inspiration from William Blake’s, ‘The Tyger’ -1794.

Given the interesting quality of this poem, we decided to showcase it for the student, school and community. We hope it will bring a smile.

Mr Taylor
FLIQ Team

Athletics Carnival

Close Competition at the Annual Athletics Carnival

On Thursday the 4th and Friday the 5th of April, many of our students made the trip to Charters Towers to compete in the annual Athletics Carnival. Students from both Shelton and Traeger turned up dressed in an assortment of green and red clothing, zinc and paint to represent their house.

The carnival started with Miss Chan’s enthusiastic warm up followed by students proudly chanting their team’s war cries. Students were then ready to sprint into action and start earning points for their teams. Everyone waited eagerly for point updates during the day as it was down to single digits on deciding who would take out the win. At one stage Shelton was ahead by only 1 point, it was extremely close throughout the entire day! The day consisted of a variety of track events, followed by field rotations. Congratulations to all students for trying their best and for displaying great sportsmanship throughout the day.

Amazing Action Shots

Two of our dedicated and determined students broke three records on the day, some that were set back in 1996! Well done to Kelsey and Georgie on their achievements.

Shot Put

Kelsey: 8m 90cm (previous record 8m 36cm set in 1996)

High Jump

Georgie: 125cm (previous record 123cm set in 2010)

400m

Kelsey: 1min 25secs (previous record 1min 28secs set in 2017)

It was excellent to see so many students, teachers and parents dressed in red and green to support their house. This lead to a difficult decision for our Student Council to hand out prizes to the best dressed (there were just too many!)

After a day full of fierce competition and endless cheering, the Carnival resulted in Traegar taking out the win with 879.50 points and Shelton closely followed on 872.50 points. What a way to finish an awesome carnival!

Winners

Congratulations to all students who received Age Champion or Runners up. You should all be very proud of your achievements.

Thank you to all the families that made the trip out, the carnival would not have been as successful without you all. We cannot wait for our 2020 carnival!

Sports Committee
Miss Hardy & Miss Macdonald

AADES Conference

Recently a selection of staff and P&C members attended the biannual AADES conference (Australasian Association of Distance Education School) in Hobart, Tasmania. Across the two-day conference, participants integrated with other Educational professionals from across the world. On behalf of our school, two presentations were delivered. Stacey Johnson, Akira Goto and Kym Nelson presented a hands-on workshop showcasing our school’s innovative 2018 robotic trial. Fan Zeng presented an insightful presentation on how task-based language teaching can be used to improve interpersonal communication skills of beginning Chinese students. An interesting and valuable experience was had by all!

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