23 May 2019

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Principal’s Comments

This issue of our newsletter has an article about student well-being and how this influences academic achievement. It seems logical that a young person will achieve better when they are happy and feel safe, but we often overlook this vital connection in our busy lives.

The issue of student well-being and its associated elements (e.g. mental health, resilience, sense of safety and even down to physical elements as enough sleep, appropriate diet and exercise) is one where parents and care-givers play an essential role. Did you know that some of our young people have less than four hours sleep each night after their interactions with television, computer games and even work? For some young people, the idea that vegetables form part of a meal is a novelty. Some boys and young men have never been told by their fathers that they are loved – that’s a conversation we only have with the other gender.

It is time for the reality to overcome the challenge of being a parent. Each young person under sixteen should be able to…

…have a diet that is nutritious and balanced;
…receive between 7 and 8 hours of sleep each night;
…have time to socialise and ‘play’ in safe environments;
…be told that they are valued and even loved; and,
…encouraged to have a go and do their best – and then be acknowledged positively when this occurs regardless of whether they were successful the first time.

Simple things that should occur as a matter of routine. Perhaps we should check that the foundations of well-being for all of young people are in place at our homes and form part of our everyday lives.

Enjoy this DIRT

Mr John Clark
Principal

Student Wellbeing and Academic Achievement are Inseparable

Too often, mental health and academic outcomes are siloed off as separate issues, or even treated as conflicting priorities. So how can school leaders and educators promote a holistic approach to learning and wellbeing?

Schools have come a long way towards being nurturing environments for learning since days gone past. No longer is it common to speak, as George Orwell once did, of the merciless rules, “irrational terrors and lunatic misunderstandings” of one’s school years.

In spite of educators’ persistent efforts though, many Australian students still struggle with mental health, bullying, and isolation, and educators often feel a tension between their duties to manage classrooms, to help students perform academically, and to look after their wellbeing.

Associate Professor Andrea Reupert is Director of Professional Psychology programs in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. She is presently writing a book – ‘Supporting mental health and academic learning in schools’ – and her research suggests these issues must be addressed in tandem.

“Children spend an inordinate amount of time at school, making schools more influential on children’s development than any other social institution, besides their family,” she says.

“It’s relatively normal for young people to experience some form of mental distress. One US study found that by 21 years of age, 82.5% of 1,420 participants had met criteria for a psychiatric disorder.

“However, we also know that only around a third of these young people receive any form of formal support. Students with mental health problems are present in every school, regardless of their socio-economic background.”

While schools and teachers cannot do everything for their students, Associate Professor Reupert emphasises that schools’ universality puts them in a unique position to address students’ mental health needs without stigmatising them.

“Schools are an ideal place to identify children who may present with mental health difficulties but also to support children more broadly,” she says.

“Schools can either promote wellbeing or, in some cases, neglect students’ health or even actively harm it through excessive learning demands, repeated academic failure or by exposing children to bullying or isolation.”

In her view, part of what makes it difficult for schools to promote wellbeing is the idea that mental health and academic achievement are conflicting priorities.

“Schools often feel that they have to decide between supporting young people’s mental health or academic learning but the two domains are inseparable,” she says.

“We know that children with greater wellbeing and lower levels of mental health problems achieve higher achievement scores, better attendance, and drop out of school less often.”

She says that “a program for problem approach” to such issues – such as separate programs for bullying, for healthy eating, for respectful relationships, for literacy and so on are not the answer, and often place unnecessary pressure on educators.

“This can be overwhelming and time consuming, and is, in the end, not very efficient. We need a unified, holistic approach for supporting children’s needs”

With this in mind, she suggests measures that can be taken in a holistic approach:

• A comprehensive, quality curriculum that is engaging, relevant and where children are challenged but also experience success;
• Accommodations made as required to make instruction accessible to all students;
• Strong and evidence-based instructional strategies;
• Teachers and tutors caring for students and knowing something about them, but also establishing clear boundaries and guidelines for behaviour;
• Non-stigmatising strategies for identifying and supporting young people who are experiencing academic, behavioural and/or social and emotional difficulties;
• Dedicated lessons on mental health issues so children learn about the signs of mental health, and what to do if they or others experience these; and
• Opportunities for children to learn various social and emotional skills – including but not limited to problem solving, conflict resolution, perseverance, how to manage stress, how to make friends, asking for help and so on. These skills help students get on with others but are also applicable for academic learning. All tutors and teachers can do this, regardless of what year level or subject area they are involved in.
• Meeting the basic needs of a young person in terms of diet, sleep, and emotional support.

She says it is important to provide persons working with young people with:

• Development opportunities (including induction) to understand and effectively implement a wide range of strategies (how to teach and relationship building strategies);
• An environment which promotes their own wellbeing; and
• Being an active, engaged, and supportive leader.

The learning environment, whether at home or at a school, should aspire to the following:

• A physically safe environment that promotes respect for diversity and inclusion;
• An environment that encourages and supports positive relationships between a range of stakeholders;
• Positive, supportive and prevention-based systems and strategies for managing student (mis)behaviour, that aim to promote motivation and engagement rather than punish or isolate students;
• Connections are made with other families and the wider community including specialist services; and
• A data-driven approach to assess student, class and school needs, identify appropriate interventions or programs at the different levels and monitor progress.

You can find further resources on dovetailing student wellbeing and academic learning here:

Andrea Reupert & Stuart Woodcock. ‘Creating engaging and motivating learning environments.’ Ed. Jeanne Allen and Simone White. Learning to teach in a new era, Cambridge University Press 2018.

Deputy Principal’s Report

This term is always a busy one. Between ANZAC Day, Country Music Parade, Outreaches, NAPLAN and reporting it is not hard to see where all the weeks go.

Last week once again focussed on the 2019 NAPLAN Inreach. It was great to see the number of students in each of the Year 3 and 5 juncture years who travelled in to join their class members and complete the test at school. Equally pleasing was how many of their siblings and students from other year levels also took advantage of the opportunity to work with their class-mates and teachers over the three days.

While NAPLAN was clearly a focus, it was also broken up with some great activities such as the Pet Show in the P-2 area of the school as well as a visit by a team from the Confucious Institute on the Tuesday. The team took the time to provide a Chinese Dance lesson to students after morning tea. All who participated had a great time and the lesson culminated with students putting on traditional Chinese vests to performing the steps that they had been taught to music. The Confucious team then participated in some language classes before departing for Townsville in the afternoon.

In the same week, on the Friday, we hosted the first-ever speech contest held at Charters Towers School of Distance Education. Parents, carers and supervisors of the students competing all enjoyed the event and gave great feedback. A big thank-you to the Organising Committee and the entire Languages Team for the teamwork that made the contest so successful. Thanks also go to the Taiko Drumming Group who put on a very entertaining demonstration during a break in the proceedings.

Please see place results of the competition below. Congratulations to all who competed.

Japanese:

Year 5:

1st: Peyton Camm - CTSDE

Year 6:

1st: Zarah Moller - CTSDE
3rd: Sally Broad – CTSDE

Chinese:

Year 5/6:

1st: Stella Duckett - CTSDE

Year 7/8:

1st: Tyler Freeman – CTSDE

Mr Burke
Deputy Principal

Parent Liaison Officer

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 for 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,
Mrs 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 Prize:

Achieving 2nd Place

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.

Questacon Science Circus

The Circus is Coming!

Not your average kind of circus, the Shell Questacon Science Circus is a great opportunity for parents and children to share, discover and explore science together. You can encourage a fascination and enjoyment of science by exploring hands-on exhibits. Come along and spin like an ice-skater, discover how fast you can throw a ball, freeze your shadow on a wall or test your reflexes.

This pop-up science centre will be in Charters Towers from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm, Tuesday 11 June and is a fantastic opportunity if you can make it in. If not, they may be visiting near you – see the link below for other locations including Mackay and Townsville.

Admission - 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm, Tuesday 11 June, 2019, 101 Mosman Street, Charters Towers

• Adult - $6
• Students/Concession - $5
• Family - $18
• Children under 5 and Q Club Members - FREE.

Children under 12 MUST be accompanied by an adult.

Prep

Wow! We cannot believe we are half way through Term 2! Our class has done a tremendous job in their transition into Prep. This year has been very busy with school events like our Inreaches, Outreaches, and Athletics Carnival, as well as community events like ANZAC Day.

We were lucky enough to meet most of our students during Home Tutor School week and what an amazing time it was! We went on a wild jungle adventure during that time and got messy with our wet play. The students jumped into the kitchen where we made fruit kebabs and iced dinosaur biscuits; we explored the beach-themed library where we got to surf on a surfboard. Then on Friday, we all dressed up as someone from our favourite beach themed book. Of course, we still did our English and Mathematics work. We were very impressed with the students counting abilities.

During NAPLAN week, we had the opportunity to see nine of our students. We had the pleasure of joining Year 2 to encounter some interesting animals; a snake was one of them! The students had a visit from Miss Cheng—one of the language teachers—who read them a traditional Chinese story. They learnt all about zodiac signs and the Chinese names for these animals. Mr Jackson and Mrs Popham visited the entire Primary cohort where we practiced our school song. This was the first time some of our Prep students have heard this song before. They were very excited and loved to do the actions! Students learnt about sequencing and the i_e sound. To reinforce this, ice-cream sundaes were made. Before they were allowed to eat any ice cream, they had to sequence the instructions first. They did an excellent job!

We look forward to seeing our students again during the Outreaches in Week 5 and Week 9.

Miss Ralph and Mrs Gilligan
Prep Teachers

Year 4

Term 2 has been a very busy term already for Year 4. Already this term students have had the opportunity to participate in the Charters Towers Country Music Parade, represent the school at the ANZAC Day Dawn Service and March, as well as participate in a Hughenden Outreach and NAPLAN Inreach. Some Year 4 students also represented the school at the Charters Towers Interschool Cross Country.

At the NAPLAN Inreach, a number of the students joined Miss O’Brien and Mr Purdie at the school where they worked through their Maths, English and Health and Physical Education subjects. The students worked extremely hard and definitely enjoyed the break times where they caught up and played with their peers. The Year 4 students also were lucky enough to be involved in a session where a visitor taught them a Chinese dance. The dance required the students to learn a number of steps; however, all students mastered them quite well.

Within the next few weeks the Year 4 students will complete their studies in Health and Physical Education, and current Maths and English units. The students will then move onto studying Science and new Maths and English units, as well as continuing on with their reading, spelling and learning of their times tables. The next few weeks also sees the opportunity for the students to participate in Outreaches in Clermont, Ewan and Cape River. The remainder of Term 2 looks to be just as busy as the weeks which have flown by so far!

Joseph, Steve, Preston, Emmerson, Temperance and Jet at the NAPLAN Inreach

Mr Purdie and Miss O’Brien
Year 4 Teachers

Year 6

The first half of term 2 has been action packed for year 6! It began with 6B welcoming Miss Taylor into their class.

In English, we have been continuing our ‘interpreting literacy texts’ unit by exploring letter writing. For their assessment, the Year 6s are writing letters to students in the future, detailing what life is like in 2019. For some fun, the students have also been imagining that they live in 2059, and wrote a letter to a futuristic student at Distance Ed., explaining their interests, family life and technology, etc. It has been great to see the students using their literacy knowledge to create such interesting pieces of writing.

Science has been electric, learning all about what electricity is, and how it is produced. Through this unit, the students have been learning about all kinds of renewable energy sources, and how these are beneficial to individuals and communities.

The teachers have enjoyed seeing some of the Year 6 students this term at various outreaches and inreaches. More recently, we had five students attend the NAPLAN inreach. We did a number of literacy and numeracy lessons, as well as some hands on art and science activities.

Year 6 students are lucky enough to also get the chance to purchase a seniors shirt to celebrate their last year of primary schooling. Have a look at this year’s design, modelled by Stella, Zarah, Kelly, Sally and Alanie.

Students can wear this shirt for school events throughout the year and then keep it as a memento as they move onto high school and boarding school next year.

Miss Ruthenberg
Year 6 Teacher

Year 9

Making history FUN!

But… Can you answer this one?

Question: What is the official name given to the 1901 law restricting entry of non-European people into Australia?

(a) Illegal Entry Act
(b) Immigration Restriction Act
(c) The ‘White Australia Policy’

Last Friday, Mr Jackson and Mr Twigg’s Year 9 History class had a great deal of fun participating in the ‘Making of a Nation’ game, online during our Collaborate lessons. The classes were combined and then divided into three random teams. The students battled it out in games that ran simultaneously during the lesson, allowing the lesson book activity to leap to life from the page. Mr Twigg gave out ‘ideas’ cards, while Mr Jackson closely moderated each game. ‘It was great to see so many smiling faces in our chat window during the lesson’ said Mr Twigg.

This was the first time Year 9 History had played the game interactively over the Collaborate system, and it was wonderful to see our students solidifying their history knowledge and language before our exam next week. ‘It’s these sorts of collaborative and visually engaging strategies that make our pedagogy so engaging and allows concepts to be recapped in a fun and educational way’ Mr Jackson said.

Mr Jackson and Mr Twigg
Secondary Teachers

Answer: (b) ‘Immigration Restriction Act’

Hughenden Outreach

On Tuesday the 29th of April eager teachers and many enthusiastic students attended the Hughenden outreach. It was 3 great days of fun and learning!

The prep to year 2 students turned into little dinosaurs! Throughout the 3 days, they used the theme of ‘dinosaurs’ to make learning an adventure. The students read many books about dinosaurs, and used these books to write their own sentences about dinosaurs. The students even got to hatch their own dinosaur, and examine the type of dinosaurs and even give it a name. The prep-year 2 students had a great time being junior palaeontologists. A big thank you to Mrs Simatis and Mrs Cottle for all of the effort that went into a great 3 days!

In years 3-7 we worked hard for the 3 days, with just a bit of fun! On any given day you could see the year 3s working hard to create the best sentences they could, as well as the year 4-7s completing their workbooks. Our ‘Just dance’ sessions before morning tea had us all dancing (even the teachers!). Miss O’Brien helped us create a beautiful 3D artwork. We got dramatic with Miss Taylor and practised all of our drama skills, from mime to improvisation.

All of the students, parents and teachers enjoyed a great Pizza night by the river… who knew that Hughenden had the best pizza in Queensland? On Tuesday afternoon, we enjoyed a great session of netball skills, hosted by the Hughenden Netball Association. Throughout the week, the students created beautiful wind chimes for Mother’s Day.

On behalf of Miss O’Brien, Mrs Simatis, Mrs Cottle and Miss Taylor, I would like thank all of the students and home tutors that attended Hughenden outreach. We are already looking forward to next time!

Miss Taylor
Hughenden Outreach Representative

Languages

Welcome!

Konnichiwa! (Hello). My name is Yumi Enright. I was born and grew up in Tokyo, Japan. I came to Charters Towers at the beginning of this year with my husband and our dog. I like craft (making cards, sewing etc), baking and travelling. I have visited some Asian countries, USA and New Zealand and I have great memories of each country. I have been teaching Japanese for more than 10 years in Australia. I have taught in South Australia and the Northern Territory before I came to Charters Towers. I am passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience about Japanese language and culture. I have already had a great time at CTSDE with students, teachers and staff. I am looking forward to adding more good experiences while I am here. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu! (Pleased to meet you!).

This is where I came from.

Mrs Enright
Language Teacher

Local Language Speech Competition

The 2019 Languages Speech Contest was held at CTSDE on 17th May during NAPLAN / Inreach Week. We were excited to have Chinese language as a part of the competition for the first time this year. A total number of 29 students from three schools participated in the event. Amongst these schools, Columba Catholic College participated in the local Speech competition for the first time, sending seven students to deliver their Chinese speech this year. We are delighted to involve more schools in this event in order to promote cultural awareness and languages competency amongst students in the Charters Towers community.

The number of participants from our school doubled compared to last year and we had six participants across multiple year levels and two languages this year. We were very proud of CTSDE participants in the Contest.

Peyton, Zarah and Tyler gained first place in their Year level division of the contest. They received a medallion and a Certificate. Sally and Lochie received Participation Certificates.

In the morning tea period, a Japanese drumming (Taiko) performance was conducted by a group of CTSDE teachers. A crowd of students, parents and teachers thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Winners were as follows:

Japanese:

Year 5:

1st - Peyton Camm (CTSDE)
2nd - D. Waitere (BTC)
3rd - D. Waitere (BTC)

Year 6:

1st - Zarah Moller (CTSDE)
2nd - B. Evans (BTC)
3rd - Sally Broad (CTSDE)

Year 7:

1st - T. Burt (BTC)

Year 8:

1st - F. Caddy (BTC)

Year 9:

1st - L. Inner (BTC)

Chinese:

Year 5/6:

1st - Stella Duckett (CTSDE)
2nd - Name withheld (CCC)
3rd - M. Williamson (CCC)

Year 7/8:

1st - Tyler Freeman (CTSDE)
2nd - J. Rose (CCC)
3rd - A. Ford (CCC)

Language teachers would further encourage students to participate in the up-coming Townsville and District Annual Japanese Speech Competition which will be held at Ryan Catholic College in Townsville on 9th August in Term 3. More details will be provided by your Japanese teacher. It is not just a chance to use Japanese language for a purpose, but a wonderful opportunity to hone public speaking skills and to meet with peers from other schools.

Congratulations to Peyton, Zarah, Sally, Stella and Tyler who made us all very proud.

Primary Division certificate recipients

Japanese drumming (Taiko) performance was conducted by a group of CTSDE teachers.

Mr Moritake
Language Teacher

ICAS Competitions

Each year, our students in grades 2 to 6 have the opportunity to complete ICAS Assessments through the University of New South Wales (UNSW). ICAS Assessments are designed to recognise and reward academic excellence in subject areas such as Digital Technologies, Science, Writing, Spelling, English & Maths. These assessments are based on the curriculum for the student’s current year level. Each student who participates receives a certificate and students with the top score in each subject and each year level, receive a medal.

This year, the UNSW has changed how these assessments can be delivered. In the past, we had access to paper copies for students to complete. This year, the majority of the assessments must be completed online and are only “open” on particular days.

If you would like your child to participate in these assessments this year, please see the table below for the dates these tests will be held and the costs per student. Please note students will be required to come into the school to complete the assessments.

*Offline Assessments are available for Years 3 & 4 writing only. These assessments must be completed at school and supervised by a registered teacher.

If you would like your child to sit one of the above assessments, and your child is able to come into the school on the above dates to participate, please email Tash Weston at nwest26@eq.edu.au before Thursday 1st August so the school can register.

Miss Weston
Primary Teacher

School Song Competition

Distance is no Barrier –Performance at ICPA State Conference 2019

There are two ways students can get involved in our showcase presentation at the Isolated Parents’ and Citizens State Conference...

1. Send in a photo or video that relates to, or shows students singing the school song; and/or
2. Come along and sing with us on Thursday 6 June 2019 at the Arthur Titley Centre.

The song lyrics and backing track (with and without the lead vocals) can be downloaded anytime from the CTSDE website:

Photo/Video Competition

• Open to families P – 12.
• Depicted students must have full media permission (to appear on our website) to enter.
• Complete the entry form below.
• Entries close: 24 May 2019 (Or let Mr Jackson know to expect your entry.)
• Send entries directly to Mr David Jackson djack25@eq.edu.au ASAP.
• The finalised video clip will be shown on Thursday 6 June 2019 at the ICPA conference.

See this early submission from Year 9 B. Spurdle:

Performance at ICPA Conference

Rehearsals (P-12):

• 29 May, 3:00 PM, Home Tutor Induction Collaborate room, The Learning Place.
• 31 May, 3:00 PM, Home Tutor Induction Collaborate room, The Learning Place.
• 3 June, 3:00 PM, Home Tutor Induction Collaborate room, The Learning Place.
• 5 June, 3:00 PM, (Rehearsal and final plans for the performance) as above.

Performance:

• 6 June, 12:30 PM (Approx) Performance Arthur Titley Centre, Mosman Street, Charters Towers
• Dress: Full school uniform with closed-in shoes. Please also bring your hats and a water bottle.

For more information about the project, or to register your availability to perform, please contact Mr Jackson directly on djack25@eq.edu.au or telephone 47546923. We encourage as many families to get involved in this wonderful opportunity to showcase our talented students’ musical abilities and enthusiasm for their school.

Mr Jackson
Senior Teacher

Library

Jim Callcott presenting his book ‘A Generation of Pioneers 1862-1932’ to Our Librarian Mrs Currin.

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