3 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter. During the past two weeks the school has completed much planning to set us up for the coming year. It is important that we share our plans and initiatives for 2017 as we continue to raise our students and overall school results. Below is our explicit improvement agenda, and I encourage feedback from the community. We have also commenced reviewing our school vision and I look forward to presenting a reviewed vision for community input.

Last week we had our Year 8s out at Kinchant Dam to participate in a great outdoor education program. We also hosted a group of Japanese High School students from Ichinoseki Japan. Again it really was a rewarding event and thankyou to all our parents who hosted our visitors.

This week the focus is again on students and their study, yes, we love our students participating and gaining selection in Central Highland representative sports teams, but our top focus is on our students gaining the best results they can at the start of the year in their subjects.

Coming Up:

1. Tuesday 7th March – 5.00 -6.30 pm – Meet the teachers – BBQ and School Tours
2. Monday 13th March Year 11&12 block exams commence
3. Tuesday 14th March – Twilight Session on literacy and writing

Special Mentions:

• Ms Comallatti for organising the hosting of the Japanese students
• Mr Gardiner and Mr Ryan for running the Year 8 outdoor education program
• Mrs Wilcox and the musical team for their preparations so far … yes we have a musical this year new the end of term 2.

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.”
James Dent

Have a cool weekend,

Ray Clarke
Principal

From the Deputy Principal – Senior School

I have been encouraged by the work our senior leaders have started this year – induction, Valentine ’s Day and the way they welcomed our Japanese visitors to our school. Most students are now settled in their subjects and engaged in assessment tasks.

Support Services

The school is very lucky to have a number of support services available to students and parents to assist them in the areas of academic, emotional and personal issues.

Students have access to the School Based Youth Health Nurse, Guidance Officer and Chaplain through Support Worx. Students can also access the Heads of Departments with any queries regarding their curriculum studies.

Assessment

All students have now received a copy of their assessment calendars. These must be used to plan effectively their time outside of school. Students should put this up somewhere visible. It gives an overall view of the extra busy times so they can organise and prioritise around them. At a minimum, students should be at least reading over their notes from their work that completed that day. I am currently in the process of creating the term 1 exam block timetable. This timetable should be out to students in week 7. Students in years 11 to 12 will only be expected to attend school during the times they have their exams.

OP predictions

I have now met with most of our year 12s looking to gain an OP. At the meeting we are reviewing university prerequisites and past OP scores. Students are given their OP prediction within a 4 point range. From there we are looking at what subjects are contributing to their OP and what would happen if students improve in certain subjects. After term 1 data has been collated I will recalculate the OP predictions for each student. If you would like information regarding this please let me know.

My Year 12 Life

The ABC is currently showing a documentary of the life of a year 12 student. \The program follows 14 students in year 12 in NSW. The program documents the pressures year 12 students face. As someone who completed year 12 too many years ago and in a very different era/environment it has been an education. It has also been a conversation starter between myself and my son at home. I encourage you to watch an episode.

Regards,
Tanya Shaw
Deputy Principal – Senior School (Acting)

From the Head of Department – Humanities

Hey all, this semester in History years 7-9 we are studying the following:

Year 7 – Introduction to History
Year 8 – The Plague
Year 9 – Australian History

Years 7 and 8 will have an exam in the next two weeks – this should see your child studying from their workbooks and textbooks in preparation. Following this we will be beginning research units – it would be great if children could bring their devices. Year 9 students have begun their research task and it will be due before the end of the term.

I have visited many of our History classrooms in the last week and have seen some very industrious students engaged in a range of activities. Our focus in History this semester is reading. Please take the opportunity to ask your students about their reading in class.

Thanks,
Ben Van Hees
Head of Department – Humanities

From the Head of Department – Vocational Education & Training

This year is off to a flying start in the VET department and I am excited about the many opportunities our students experience through their Certificate courses. Every year 10 student is currently enrolled in Certificate II Workplace Practices. This certificate prepares students for work and includes topics such as workplace health and safety, resume writing and business communication. It is a requirement of this certificate that students complete 80 hours of work experience. These hours may be logged using a part time job, traineeship or work experience during week 9 of terms 1, 2 and 3. Planning for this term’s round of work experience is well underway with many students now receiving final paperwork and looking forward to their placements during week 9. Please talk to your year 10 student about how they will complete their 80 hours of work placement so they have a plan to have it completed before the end of the year.

This year we have an enthusiastic group of Year 11 and 12 students enrolled in several different certificates at CQ University Emerald through the Vet in Schools programme. These students attend the CQ University Emerald Campus one day per week. It is important that students are keeping up to date with any school subject work they miss while away.

Levy letters are currently being issued across many VET subjects. Payment can be organised for these levies at the school office. Subject levies cover the extra consumables used in many practical subjects such as ingredients in Hospitality and Home Economics.

If you require any further information regarding what has been discussed, please do not hesitate to contact me through my email: acart163@eq.edu.au or phone: 4988 2222.

Kind regards,

Annette Carter
Head of Department – Vocational Education & Training (Acting)

From the Head of Department – Indigenous Education

Each year our year 10 and 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are eligible to apply for a QATSIF grant to receive financial assistance towards the completion of Year 12. This grant supports students to pay for school fees, textbooks, uniforms and any other QCE related expenses. To be eligible for this grant, students must be passing all of their subjects and have at least 85% attendance. This year, four of our senior students were successful in their applications. Congratulations to Nebraska Poke, Emmi Nixon, Marvin Huet and Malyce McKeon. Students are to see Miss Wilcox for any payments that are required.

Rachelle Wilcox
Head of Department – Indigenous Education

From the Head of Year – Year 8

Welcome to 2017 to all year 8 students and of course the whole community at Emerald State High School. For those who aren’t aware, my name is Andrew Gardiner and I am the new Head of Year 8. What a great cohort to be in charge of!

We have already had the year 8 camp to Kinchant Dam where it was wonderful to see the strength and resilience of students grow and shine. The kids gave a range of activities a go including windsurfing which was very popular. By the end of the week long camp they were ready to come home but I have no doubt the experience has brought the year 8s much closer together and we hope to keep that cohesion going right through till year 12.

The positive behaviour for learning focus for term 1 at Emerald State High School is prepared. What we would like to see from the year 8s is that they are turning up to all classes on time, with all their pens, pencils, books and diaries ready to go for their lessons. It has been excellent to see the number of students in year 8 who are consistently being prepared for school and I hope to see that continue to improve.

Regards,
Andrew Gardiner
Head of Year 8

From the Head of Year – Year 11

It’s been a great start to the year for the Grade 11 cohort. They’ve had their first taste of senior school over the last 6 weeks and have been introduced to many new experiences. All of the students are currently hard at work on multiple pieces of assessment – whether that be projects, assignments or studying for their upcoming exam block, in week 8 & 9.

I would like to raise a few key strategies that could assist all year 11s in preparation for their exams, as well as their finalisation of their assessments. These include:

• Study Club – This great school initiative enables students to receive focused support from specific classroom teachers and enable them to better comprehend information and content learned in lessons. This also a great opportunity to receive help on particular assessments. Study Club is run every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00-4:00pm. I recommend students pre-arrange a meeting with their teacher at Study Club.
• Study from home – This is still an integral aspect of achievement for any student. It is recommended that students in Year 11 complete a minimum of 6 hours per week of study at home. This includes general homework and work on assessment. I would like to encourage parents to encourage their students to meet this expectation to help improve their overall achievement.

I’m really enjoying working with the Year 11s this year and I’m always available via email if any parent/carer would like to get in contact about their student’s wellbeing at school. Please do not hesitate to contact me on jmbow1@eq.edu.au.

Good luck on your assessments Year 11!

Regards,

Jesse Bowcock
Head of Year 11

ICT News

BYO Devices

In 2015, the department endorsed technical solution for managing “bring your own” devices, and this is still available for general implementation in schools in Queensland. While there has been some wait, students have been accessing their Pearson text books from their iPads and laptops in the meantime. The up-front cost to our school was around $30 000 for the switch with an ongoing user cost per user yearly license fee. However, this is an exciting opportunity for our school building on the great work done by Mr Kowald-Dawson and other staff, to embed ICT’s in previous years. Regardless which subjects you will be doing, here are a few things to consider before you purchase your device:

• Battery Life: Your device should have enough battery life to last a whole school day, generally speaking this means at least 5 hours on a single charge.
• It needs to be able to output through a VGA port to a projector, this may mean on some devices you need to purchase an adaptor, if a VGA port is not built in.
• Currently the school BYOD program only supports Microsoft Windows (7 and later) and Mac OSX. No Chrome OS or Linux support at present.
• It is recommended that you budget for a carry bag and an external hard drive for backup purposes

Once your child has the device, they need to make sure they have a current account at the school. Students have been updating their passwords during class in the school labs and we have been checking any students that have had their account disabled over the holidays.

The first step is to connect their device to the school’s Wi-Fi network. The instructions can be found when chatting to our new Technician Assistant Charles New whose staffroom is B6. He is always happy to talk to anyone who needs assistance.

Science News

This term the Junior Secondary Science classes have gone off with a musical bang! The year 9 students have been designing and testing stringed instruments with the Honours class experimenting with other types of musical instruments. They were testing the sound and how the sound waves can be amplified by adjusting various parts of the instrument.

In year 8 the students have learnt about the elements of the periodic table; focussing on the structure of an atom, the differences between an element, a compound and a mixture and also the states of matter. They learnt that there are more than the three main types of matter (solid, liquid and gas). Ask them if they can tell you at least two of the others.

In year 7 the students have been looking at separating mixtures. Recently they conducted an experiment with filter papers, felt tip pens and water. They created patterns on the filter paper with the felt tip pens and then folded the filter paper into quarters; then using a paper clip attached the paper to a paddle pop stick and had the tip of the paper just touching the water. They then had to wait a few minutes for the paper to soak up the water and voila! a beautiful pattern was created.

Maths News

It has been great to see such great participation in Mathematics classes since the beginning of the year. Students have been participating very well in Maths classes by seeking help in their own time and completing their work to the best of their ability. It is great to see our students engaged in Mathematics and being able to see the value in strong Mathematical skills. Teachers from all departments have been working together to develop whole-school strategies for improving numeracy skills across all year levels. Students from year 7 to year 9 will be practicing mental mathematics in other subject areas to reinforce the idea that mathematical skills can be applied to a range of situations. In QCS classes, students have been practicing core mathematical skills as well as problem solving skills in order to prepare them for their QCS exams.

In order for students to achieve their best in Mathematics it is important that they are coming prepared to lessons with all necessary equipment. As a minimum, students are expected to have pens, pencils, a ruler, a calculator and a notebook that is solely used for Mathematics. Students also need to ensure that they are prepared by completing set homework and assessments on time. It has been great to see students attending Study Club to receive extra assistance from their teachers. Study club is now Monday and Wednesday afternoons at the library (3-4pm). Coming prepared to lessons allows students to feel successful from the beginning of the lesson and allows them to achieve their best.

One final piece of advice from myself as a Mathematics teacher, is to practice timetables. Students will be amazed at how much easier they will understand mathematical concepts when they practice basic arithmetic skills. From all of us in the Maths Department, we look forward to the year ahead and working hard with both students and parents to achieve great results.

A joke that I showed my year 7 class is below…Enjoy!

Katelyn Carter
Teacher – Mathematics, Science and Biology

Special Education Program News

Welcome to 2017! We are excited about this year and happy to welcome on board Samantha Hokins who will be working in Special Education this year.

Congratulations to Ann Jay who has received a 12 months Reflex Math Grant to use their Maths program to enhance maths facts fluency and will be working with students around this throughout the year.

Case managers for 2017 are:

Martine Shelton mshel13@eq.edu.au Year 10 and 11
Ann- Jay Sibley axsib0@eq.edu.au Year 7 and Year 12
Sarah Somerville ssome17@eq.edu.au Year 8 and 9
Samantha Hokins shoki4@eq.edu.au Year 8 and 9

Information sessions for NDIS

NDIS Information sessions are occurring in Emerald and Blackwater during March, April, May and June. Please see attached flyers for each session and general information regarding workshop.

Please contact each organisation direct for information and how to register for sessions as follows:

Community Resource Unit (CRU)

Emerald event details

• Tuesday 14th March 2017.
• The first workshop “The NDIS – Getting Informed” runs from 9:15 AM to 11:45 AM.
• The second workshop “The NDIS – Sharing Practical Strategies” runs from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM.

Contact Community Resource Unit Inc.
Phone: 07 3844 2211
Tickets for Emerald can be booked via our Eventbrite page:

Parent2Parent - Emerald

Borilla Kindergarten 178 Borilla Street
9:30 am – 12:30 pm: 22nd March, 24th May
11:00 am – 2:00 pm: 19th June
Contact Pearl Rahme
Parent to Parent Association Queensland
Gladstone Community Hub
07 4979 2777 / 0468 313 870

Workshops are being held to provide information on the NDIS. Find further information on the NDIS website.

Qld Disability Network (QDN) /Central Family Support

Central Family Support is working with Queenslanders with a disability network to provide NDIS information to people with disabilities in our region. This workshop is free and open to all people with disability, their parents and/or carers.

Further to this session we are working with QDN to facilitate individual planning sessions for people who are NDIS eligible. These personalised sessions will be delivered in mid-June and aim to assist people to be very clear about what they would like to be included in their first plan. For more information about, or to register for these sessions, people can contact Central Family Support on 49877933.

Please contact each organisation direct for information and how to register.

From the Library

Electronic Textbooks

All students in Years 7 to 9 that have collected their Pearson textbooks from the library now also have access to them online. This will enable students to access their textbooks on their device at home and school. Students that haven’t got their textbooks yet will need to have their fees paid or a payment plan set up & then bring their receipt to the library.

Positive Behaviour for Learning News

At Emerald State High School, we are Polite, we are Prepared and we Participate.

The Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) team would like to thank the ESHS community for their support regarding the process of behaviour management within our school. We would like to take this time and opportunity to clarify the process as stated in our Responsible Behaviour Plan.

Rewarding Positive Behaviour

There are many ways students can be rewarded for following the ESHS 3Ps and making good choices whilst at school and participating in extra-curricular events.

VIVOs – The VIVO Rewards Scheme has been proving popular with a large number of our students. Students are able to purchase a number of different prizes/rewards ranging from key chains and handballs to more extravagant prizes like iPads, even to school specific vouchers (tuckshop vouchers, money off formal tickets and senior jerseys). Staff members are able to reward students when they see them making great choices around our school. The year level that has received the most amount of VIVOs this year already are our year 7s with over 10,000 being awarded to the year level. Great job year 7s as there must be some great examples of students following the 3Ps! If you are interested in seeing how your child is travelling along the VIVO train or would like to see the reasons why they may have received VIVOs, I would encourage you to ask your child to show you their profile and have a look. There is some great information on there. Also, if your child hasn’t logged on or is having trouble logging on, please encourage them to see their PC teacher.

Product of the week – Guitar picks

There are a range of great products available in the shop. This week’s product of the week is some great metal guitar picks. They are very trendy and may save a few fingernails. If you have any ideas or suggestions for prizes to add to our VIVO shop, we would love to hear them.

Student of the Week – Students are nominated by ESHS staff when they see students who comply with the 3Ps consistently. From those nominations, a student is selected from each year level as Student of the Week. These awards are recognised on Full School Assembly every week. Each recipient receives a “jump to the front of the queue” voucher to the school’s tuckshop for that week, and goes in the draw to win a weekly prize – a $5 Tuckshop voucher. Each SOTW winner receives a bonus 400 VIVOs.

Emerald SHS Positive Postcards – Staff members can complete a Positive Postcard to be delivered by mail to the student’s address to acknowledge their positive contributions to the life of the school.

Other – Teachers and support staff may wish to communicate with parents by other modes, for example a positive phone call or positive email.

PBL Focus for the term - PREPARED

This term, our focus for the students is being PREPARED. At Emerald State High School, we expect that all students will be prepared for their learning which means bringing their diary, subject specific notepad as well as a pencil case with all the required equipment (Blue, black and red pens, pencils, eraser, sharpener, ruler, highlighter, glue and scissors). Some subjects may require further equipment for students to bring to ensure they can access the learning appropriately (for example, steel cap boots for Engineering, or a hat for HPE). As parents or guardians, you can support your child by having conversations in the morning or the night before and reminding them what may need to go in their bags to be prepared for their school day. If you are having trouble accessing any of these bits of equipment, please talk to your child’s subject teacher or Head of Year.

P & C News

The tuckshop now has EFTPOS for the purchase of uniforms only.

P&C Annual General Meeting

All parents and supporters are welcome to attend our AGM that will be held on Tuesday, the 14th of March at 5:30pm in the school's resource centre. We would like to encourage and welcome any new members to our group. We meet on the second Tuesday of every month and are always looking for ways to support the students and the school. Our major fundraiser is the Oktoberfest however we are looking for more ideas for fundraising activities. Nominations will be taken on the night for the following positions:

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Fundraising Officer.

If you have any questions, please contact the current P&C committee via the email PandC@emeraldshs.eq.edu.au. We hope to see you there.

50th Jubilee of Emerald State High School

The very first students attended Emerald State High School on the 28th of January, 1969. This means in 2019, we will be celebrating 50 years of Emerald State High School. Enthusiastic members of the community are invited to attend a meeting to elect a steering committee to plan the jubilee celebrations. This first meeting will be held after the P&C AGM, 5:30pm on Tuesday the 14th of March in the school library.

All committee members elected to the jubilee committee, a subsidiary of the Emerald SHS P & C Assn. must be members of the P&C Assn. There is no cost involved, just an application form to be filled out. We are looking for interested people to take on the following roles -

• Chair
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Historian
• Merchandise Officer

Everybody is welcome to attend, whether they be a past student, presently have children attending ESHS, their parents may have attended the school, or past teachers, teacher aides, principals, admin & all other staff or any interest whatsoever at Emerald SHS. Please contact Samantha Elsden by phoning 0417715663 & leave a message if there are any questions.

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

Positions Vacant

Emerald PCYC are seeking 2 x Casual Branch Support Officers 2-15 hours/week. Hours are evenings only primarily after 5pm and the successful applicants must have a Drivers licence. Applications can only be accepted online by following the link available on the Emerald PCYC Facebook page.