2 February 2017
Newsletter Articles
From the Principal
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2017. First the news about last year. Special congratulations go to our seniors Chris Szpiegla, OP1, Sasha Kimber OP2, Keeley Chambers OP2, and Isabella Gurney OP3 for achieving these outstanding results. Keeley was also one of only 908 students in the state who achieved straight VHAs in years 11&12.
Our first day back was a very positive one and the whole school was back to learning by period 2. We welcomed a significant number of new students (including our new Year 7s) while we understand there was a movement of families out of the Emerald area. So at this stage it looks as if we will come very close to the same enrolment as last year which was just above 760 students.
Senior Leaders for 2017
This year our improvement agenda will be the same. We will focus on good behaviour standards especially in the classroom and 5 visible classroom teaching standards. I encourage you to meet up with our teachers and support staff to make 2017 a landmark year for your child and this school.
Putting a family of students back to school is no easy feat, as parents we all enter this phase in our lives and it becomes a budgeting exercise. An identified strength of this school is its huge array of practical and innovative subjects. Some of them require fees, especially the electives, to be able to operate as they are not normally funded for materials etc. Hence it important for the school to sustain these offerings that all subject fees are paid. I would ask that if it is not financially viable to for you to pay them in one payment that you ring our office staff or BSM and discuss a payment plan which will achieve the same result over time.
Coming Up Soon
- Swimming Carnival Friday 3rd February
- Student Leader Induction Tuesday 7th February, 8.45 am
- Year 8 Camp at Kinchant Dam 20-24th February
Special Mentions
- A genuine welcome to all the new staff who commenced last week at Emerald SHS
- Mr Hayden Ryan who receives an Australia Day Award for his services with the Rural Fire Brigade.
“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.” – Mortimer Adler
Have a relaxing weekend,
Ray Clarke
Principal
From the Deputy – Junior School
Welcome back to an exciting year. It has been great to see how effortlessly our Year 7 students have made their way into the High School. Visiting their classes I am seeing a number of smiling faces and engaged learners. Both the Year7 and year 8 student have a camp this term. Year 8 will visit Kinchant Dam in Mackay and the Year 7 students will attend camp Fairburn. Please keep an eye out for notes, deposit due dates and final payment dates to ensure your child can gain the most from these experiences.
School Sport
Emerald State High School teachers volunteer an enormous amount of time inside and outside of school supporting representative school sport. Some of our staff last year attended and supported more than five different sports over more than ten days of school each. While we highly value sport at Emerald High, we also recognise that it is important for our teachers to be in front of their classes as much as is possible to maximise their students learning. I have asked our teachers to nominate for a maximum of three sports this year to achieve the best of both outcomes. For the past few years we have contributed significantly more staff for School Sport than any other school in the Central Highlands. We will continue to support school sport in 2017 and into the future and look forward to seeing the success of our student this year.
Hayden Ryan
Deputy Principal – Years 7 & 8
From the Deputy – Middle School
Welcome to 2017 a year of exciting possibilities and events that are going to occur. For those of you that I haven’t yet had the pleasure to meet I am Brendan Shannon, Deputy Principal of Years 9 and 10. Whilst looking after the wellbeing of students I also work with the Mathematics and Technology Departments to ensure that highest quality education is continuing to be delivered. I am enthusiastic about meeting and working with parents, students and the community to create future citizens that all of the Central Highlands region will be proud of.
At Emerald State High School we have three simple expectations of students; they are hat we are prepared, polite and participate in all aspects of school life. Whilst these expectations are general, every teacher has a display as to what these expectations look like in their classes. A fantastic example of this is Mrs Blignaut’s expectations of her students in Art.
Each term we focus on one key expectation and this term it is that all students are prepared. This is the logical starting point; the explicit instruction of behaviour expectations as a fundamental level of preparation is required to learn anything within a class. Every lesson all students are expected to bring their pencil case, workbook and diary to along with specialist equipment and be in two straight lines waiting for the teacher to welcome them into the class.
In order to assist the students be prepared and plan their workloads for assessment all students have been given a course planner that indicates when assessments will be handed out and when they are due. We strongly encourage all students to use this information to develop a term planner detailing when they are committing to do homework each week and when they plan to be working on their assessment at home. Parents can also access this information through the QParent app which can be accessed at https://qparents.qld.edu.au. If you have any question regarding QParents please contact me on 49882222 or bshan39@eq.edu.au.
I look forward to a wonderful 2017 and hope to meet you
Brendan Shannon
Deputy Principal – Years 9 & 10
From the Deputy – Senior School
I would like to welcome parents of our new to Emerald State High School parents of students into the Senior School.
Following is a list of the Heads of Year (Previously referred to as Year Manger) assigned to each year level in the Senior School. The Head of Year will work closely with the Pastoral Care teacher to oversee student wellbeing and attendance.
Head of Year |
|
Year 12 |
Mrs Kaz Van Hees |
Year 11 |
Mr Jesse Bowcock |
Along with these key people, a number of other staff may be of assistance to your child; namely the Guidance Officer, Mrs Valda Fitzgerald, the Youth Support Coordinator, Mrs Kelly Parter and the school Chaplains, Ross and Averal. The contact details for each of these people can be found on the website or by contacting the office.
Congratulations
I would like to congratulate our Year 12 Students of 2016 who achieved excellent academic results in their Overall Positions (OPs) and the Core Skills Test last year. 100% of our full time enrolment students received a Queensland Certificate of Education, an outcome of their strong academic commitment, fine scholarship and successful working partnerships with the school’s exceptional teaching staff. 96% of students who applied to QTAC received an offer. The school would like to congratulate Chris Szpiegla our 2016 Dux who received an OP1 and Keeley Chambers and Sasha Kimber who received an OP2.
Student Leadership
Next week we formally acknowledge and induct our Student Leaders into the School. Student leadership is a role of great importance at Emerald State High School, as students accept responsibility for representing their peers in all aspects of school life, and embrace the duties and challenges their roles expect of them. Leadership is about giving service to the school, being role models, setting standards for others to emulate, and providing inspiration for their fellow students to work together as a team. Student leaders also provide a bridge between staff and the student body. Please join us for the Leadership Induction Ceremony on Tuesday morning at 8.45am.
Senior School Subject Changes
Any student in Years 11 or 12 wishing to make an application to change Authority subjects must submit their application before the end of Week 3, Friday 10 February. After this date, no general changes to students’ academic programs will be considered until the end of Semester 1.
Regards
Tanya Shaw
Deputy Principal – Years 11 & 12 (Acting)
From the Library
Textbooks
We’ve had a very busy start of the year, ensuring that students in all year levels that have paid their fees have received their textbooks. If your child’s fees were paid after their year level collected their books, students are welcome to come to the library to collect their books outside of class time. Students will need to present their receipt for this. When students receive their textbooks, there are 2 stickers that they need to complete:
- In each textbook, there is a sticker where they record their name.
- Students are given a sticker to put in their diary to record which copy of each textbook they have received. Students will bring this sticker back when they return their textbooks for me to sign it off.
This process should reduce problems at the end of the year, as students can be sure that they are returning their copy of a textbook and which items they still need to return. Please check with your child that they have completed this process.
Another thing to check with your child is that they have returned all items that they borrowed in previous years. If your child is unsure whether they have outstanding items, they need to check this at the library.
Mrs Galea
Teacher-Librarian
School Fee Payments
The school office now has access to Centrepay online. If you are interested in having your school fees deducted directly from your Centrelink payments, collect a form from the office.
Sport Sign-ons
Community Events