5 May 2016

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter. The past two weeks have been short weeks with Monday holidays. Whilst we all love our long weekends I have been communicating to our students the importance of good attendance and catching up on missed work if away. It is at this time of the year that students can fall behind in their work and become disengaged. Good study plans combined with regular attendance are the best habits to overcome this potential problem. Now would be an opportune time to discuss your child’s study plan and term goals before the term progresses too far.

On the 25th of April we celebrated ANZAC Day and I wish to thank all those parents who helped arrange transport for their child to attend either the Dawn Service or the 11.00am March. Our school’s presence signifies our strong link to the whole Emerald community and its history. Thank you also to all the parents who turned up to our parent teacher interviews last Wednesday evening, I trust it was a worthwhile evening for all who attended.

Last week we also launched the QParents app. This app allows you to check bill payments, make payments via your smartphone, check your child’s academic, attendance and behaviour reports as well as pull up their timetable. It really is worth the effort to set up your account on this app. Thank you to Mrs Elsden for running two presentations at our parent teacher evening last Wednesday. You can follow this link to start setting up your account

Last week we also promoted STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education with the visit of the Assistance Federal Minister for Science, Karen Andrews, addressing some of our students about the importance of STEM Education. This year we have had a STEM focus through establishing a robotics class, running significant Maths Professional development for our Maths Teachers and promoting engineering careers through our mines and energy association. It is proposed that all schools have programming as a subject by 2020, so we have commenced investigations into this curriculum provision.

Special Mentions:

• Special thanks to Leanne Ross who organised our wonderful ANZAC Day ceremony, our service attendance then backed up on Thursday night to run the Student Council Dance with other teachers. We appreciate your efforts!
• Thank you to Mr Dewan and Mr Horsfall for organising and running the Science experiments for the Science Minister’s visit last Friday.
• Thank you to Mrs Carter who organised lunches for all the Year 10 Students who achieved 100% attendance. Well done all!
• Thank you to all the staff and students who attended our ANZAC Day ceremonies.

“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.” Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

Have a safe and happy weekend,

Ray Clarke
Principal

From the Deputy

As the 2016 progresses our thoughts turn to 2017 for all students but in particular Year 10. In preparation for years 11 and 12, students must attain at least a “C” in English to do most Authority Subjects. The direct route to university is for students to at least five Authority Subjects to gain an OP and most university degrees require a “C” in English for student to be eligible for that university course.

Currently, we offer the following Authority Subjects, while our pre-requisites may change for 2017. You can see the pre-requisites in 2016 Senior Subject Information Handbook found on our website under curriculum. This handbook details the current subjects we offered in 2016 including vocational pathways.

English
Physical Education
Ancient History
Modern History
Geography
Mathematics A
Mathematics B
Mathematics C
Chemistry
Biology
Physics
Business Communication and Technologies
Information Technology Systems
Graphics
Drama
Music
Art
Legal Studies

Regards,

Rob Tuppack
Deputy Principal – Years 9 & 10

Year 8 News

Welcome back to Term 2. It has been a wonderful start.

ANZAC DAY

I would like to firstly acknowledge the impeccable behaviour of our students during our school service, Dawn Service and during the march. The students showed great respect as we acknowledge the sacrifices made for us. I felt very proud standing next to such a wonderful bunch of kids as they represented the school admirably. I would also like to acknowledge all of the students in the Symphonic Band, Drum Line and the Choir for sharing their talents with our school community. A lot of time, effort, rehearsals and energy attributed to such a brilliant service, so thank you.

DISCO

The School Disco was also a huge success. Thank you to the SRC for providing such wonderful opportunities for students to be involved, as well as supporting great causes around our community. All proceeds of the Disco will be donated to the Relay For Life teams.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

It was lovely seeing familiar faces once again at the interviews last week. The interviews are a wonderful opportunity to track your child’s progress as well as check in to see how you can support their learning. If you were unable to attend but would like to get in contact your child’s teachers for information, clarification or progress, please do not hesitate.

ATTENDANCE

Our attendance goal for all students is 90%. If your child is not at school, they are not accessing the education required to find success within their subject areas. At the current time, the year 8 attendance is at 88.6% so would be wonderful to see an increase in that number. Remember, every day counts.

When your child is absent from school for whatever reason, please inform the school on 4988 2222. If your child brings a blue note home, this means that there is an unexplained absence. If you could please write the reason for why the student was absent and sign the note and return to school the next day. We appreciate your cooperation.

Debating

Congratulations to those students involved in the Interschool Debating competition. It is a wonderful opportunity to develop their skills and improve their confidence in public speaking. There are a couple more rounds of debates coming up, so if it is something your child may be interested next year, feel free to go along and support our teams’ battle it out.

KEY DATES

There are a few key dates to remember:

• NAPLAN (year s7 & 9) – 10th – 12th May
• Athletics Day – 16th June
• Religion (years 7 & 8) – 19th May

Claire Prior
Year 8 Manager

From the Head of Department: Technologies

By the end of Year 10, students explain how people working in design and technologies occupations consider decisions and the technologies they use to produce products, services and environments. This term we have seen two new units for Home Economics and Digital Technologies introduced for our year 9 students.

In Home Economics, one class has started studying textiles with Mrs Sharman. Each Year 9 Home Economics class will have a term where they study textiles and develop some very handy skills for the future. The skills include – machine stitching, hand stitching, basic mending skills like sewing a button and hemming a pair of pants. They will also learn how to iron clothing and if time permits, they have been issued a challenge to transform a piece of clothing that Mrs Sharman will wear for a day at the end of term. Students were really interested to view the future of fashion and textiles and the possibilities of combining technologies like 3D printing to create garments. See our Home Economics Textiles class hard at work here:

Miss Royal is bringing her film and television expertise to the Year 9 ICT class and has them creating a short animation film. Students have been really engaged in the whole process and have now moved from the planning and storyboarding stage to the production stage of creating their sets.

We have spent some significant time with the teachers to develop our technology areas to really enhance the experiences of students to show what the possibilities for their future could be. We are also working on a new year 8 Digital Technology unit that students can select for semester two if they wish.

Stay tuned for more impressive student work as they continue in the production phase.

Health & Physical Education News

In HPE this term, our junior school students are participating in a range of sports. The year 7 students are enjoying playing AFL and the year 8 students are participating in Invasion games. The year 9s are participating in modified bat and ball games. Our year 10 students are also developing their skills in athletics for their practical component. The events include; long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot put, javelin and sprinting events. Our year 11 and 12 students are enjoying learning about and playing the sport of Netball through a constraints led approach.

For the theoretical component, the year 7s are learning about alcohol and drugs and examining the laws and health concerns in aim to promote wellbeing in their school community. The year 8s are also studying this topic and learning how to manage adolescent changes to make informed decisions. Class discussions are an integral part of this process. The Year 9s are looking at the physiology of the human body and making decisions to promote health. Our year 10 students are looking at the reasons behind why athletes use performance enhancing drugs in sport and how this affects equity in competition. Both the year 11 and 12 students are studying training programs, in particular the different energy systems and components of fitness required for various sports. On a final note, for our many students putting in their best efforts every day I’ll leave you with this quote: “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom” George Washington Carver

Special Education News

We would like to welcome all our SEP students and their families back to term two. We also welcome back Deanne Lucht as Head of Special Education. A huge thankyou to Martine Shelton for fulfilling this role while Deanne was off on her maternity leave.

Over the first two weeks of this term we have seen our vegetable gardens flourish with growth. We will continue to nurture these for our entries into the Emerald Show. The students have enjoyed their time watering and weeding these daily.

This term we have started our visits to the local PCYC which has provided us with some fun and fitness, our personal trainer Jess works with us in these sessions twice a week during the winter months.

In science we are looking at the observable features of living and non-living watching our seeds grow in cotton wool.

Social skills and life skills we are looking at are the functional manners used in situations around meal times such as place setting, using manners while at the table and serving, maintaining a safe kitchen and other areas around our homes.

News from the Library

School website page turned on!

The Library page of our school website is now live! From this page, students can search the library catalogue from wherever they have internet access. Students can see which resources they have and also search for more. Instructions on how to do so and other researching tips are on the page.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier's Reading Challenge is an annual state-wide initiative for students up to Year 9. The Premier's Reading Challenge is not a competition but aims to improve literacy and encourage children to engage in reading for pleasure and learning. Students that complete the challenge to read 15 books between 16 May - 26 August will receive a certificate. To register, students should see Mrs Galea in the library.

Competitions

Permission forms are now available for students wanting to complete the Writing ICAS on June 17th. It will only take 1 lesson and assesses students’ writing skills demonstrating ability regarding language choices that enhance writing, spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar, text purpose and structure. From this, each student will receive a certificate along with an explanation of their results. If your student is interested, they need to collect a permission letter from Mrs Galea in the library and ensure that it is returned to her along with the $18.70 to the office by May 12th.

There are also a number of writing competitions currently open, most with cash prizes:

Students should see Mrs Galea in the library for more details & to submit entries. Entering into these competitions earns students vivo points.

The BILBY (Book I Love BEST Yearly) Awards shortlist has been announced at the link below. It is suggested that students read through the shortlist and then cast their vote for their favourite by June 17th. Happy reading!

CQ Pet Rescue Garden Party

Twilight Markets

Miss Showgirl

Rural Ambassador

Junior Rugby Union

The Rugby Union season is fast approaching and the Nogoa Redclaws are having their sign-on day for U8, 10's and 12's on Friday May 6th at Morton Park, Emerald. If possible please register before. Please see informational document attached with more information about the upcoming season. The Nogoa Redclaws have kindly asked if you could pass on this information to any student interested at your school.

For more information don’t hesitate to contact Nogoa Redclaws Vice President, Jim Fabish, on 0408 944 944 or jim@jlmining.com.au or CHJRU Secretary, Sharvarn O'Sullivan, chjuniorrugbyunion@gmail.com or Lincoln Job, 0404083438, lincolnandlisa@marellan.com.au

Movie Fundraiser Premier

Rocky River Run