2 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome to this week’s newsletter. It has been a good start to this term and we hope your son or daughter has embraced new goals for their studies and personal life. Semester 2 usually sees us focus heavily on our exiting year 12s. Our goal is for every full-time year 12 student to pass their subjects and consequently be awarded a Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). We have achieved this the last two years and it is by no means a simple task. Many difficult and draining conversations occur, however the end result does justify the effort our teachers and students put in. At the same time our OP students are working very hard to improve their OP scores and we wish them all the best in their upcoming Core Skills Tests (CST).

At the moment some of our teachers are out commencing training to implement the new senior school syllabuses of 2019. The changeover from the Queensland OP system to the ATAR national system for university entrance is a most significant change, and there is much more to come about this in the next two years. In the meantime, our students enjoyed the motivational media provided last Thursday. It was a little cool that day and it is pleasant knowing that the undercover area will soon be transformed into a hall.

Congratulations to our Human Powered Vehicle team who raced around Emerald last Saturday. They put in a great effort and ended the race as the victors!

Coming up

• This week is our Musical “Battle of The Bands” which promises to be a wonderful production that we have been looking forward to all year. Make sure you get your tickets for this special bi-annual event that is being presented this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Emerald Town Hall.
• Year 11 Geography Camp to Brisbane
• Interschool sport at Blackwater - 7th August
• Year 6 Enrolment evening – 10th August

Special Mentions

• Mr Norman, Mr Platell and Mr Shannon for leading the Human Powered Vehicle team.
• Mrs Weatherley for coaching our Rugby league Girls team and taking them to new heights.
• Mr Currington for being the “Goto” person of sport in the Emerald school community. A fantastic effort!
• To all Year 12 students who are working hard to achieve their dreams.

2017 Early School Leavers survey

The Queensland Government is conducting its annual state-wide survey of students who left school in Years 10, 11 and prior to completing Year 12 during 2016. The Early School Leavers survey is a short, confidential survey that collects information about what young people are doing the year after leaving school. Between July and August, students who left school in Years 10, 11 and prior to completing Year 12 last year can expect to receive an invitation to complete a web-based survey or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office to complete the survey. Please encourage them to take part. For more information, visit the link below or telephone toll free on 1800 068 587.

Ray

Ray Clarke
Principal

From the Deputy Principal – Senior School

Learner Profile

Welcome back to term 3. Already this term our students in Years 11 and 12 have received their Learner Profile detailing their results and predictions of their OP and if they are on track to attaining their Queensland Certificate of Education. I have been impressed with the maturity of our Year 11 and 12 students in unpacking this data and how many of them have actively sought me out to clarify any questions and determine what their goals should be for this term. I would encourage all parents to sit down and unpack this Learning Profile with your students.

Attendance is Key

At Emerald State High School, we strongly believe that attendance at school is the key to a quality education and that every second counts. We expect our senior students to model this expectation by being at school above 92% of the time. If this expectation is not met, then the student will likely lose their right to attend end of year celebrations and the Year 12 Formal.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Our school wide positive behaviour focus at the moment is improving the compliance of students within a classroom environment. Students can expect all their teacher to explicitly teach them what compliance in their classroom looks like, feels like and sounds like in respect to:

• Following instructions in a reasonable timeframe
• Completing classwork to a high standard
• Completing homework
• Taking responsibility and completing the consequences when they do fail to follow the classroom rules

School Opinion Survey

The 2017 School Opinion Survey – Parent survey information has been sent home with students. This survey has three components being; parents, students and the staff. The information that is gather is entirely confidential and occurs in every state school. The results are then provided to the school who then use this rich information to inform where our future focus is. Traditionally the response rate to this is low and therefore the value is diminished. I encourage all parents to ask their children about the information around this and give us the feedback we need to improve.

Powering the Future

I had the privilege of spending Saturday this week with a team of Year 9 Students competing in the first Emerald Human Powered Vehicle Challenge. These students pedalled a tricycle for 5 hours and over 100 km against other schools. I was proud of the team spirit these students displayed, the gratitude that they displayed to our sponsors and the fact that we managed the most laps in our category of tricycle. Well done all and I look forward to the 24-hour challenge in Maryborough in September.

Brendan Shannon
Deputy Principal – Senior School

From the Head of Department –Vocational Education & Training

The VET or Vocational Education and Training department encompasses many of the Certificate courses offered here at Emerald State High School. Certificate courses are nationally accredited and recognised. Employers value the skills and knowledge students gain completing Certificate courses as they align with industry practice. Many of the learning experiences and assessments that students gain the most from either take place in an industry setting or a simulated industry environment. In fact, for many of the Certificate courses it is a requirement of the training package and or unit of competency for students to demonstrate skills in an industry setting. At school we form many community connections and work hard to provide opportunities for VET students. This term, students from Business Communication and Technologies are visiting Gemfest to investigate events management, Certificate II Hospitality students are visiting Explorers Inn to investigate the day to day operations of hospitality business in our region and Early Childhood Studies students will visit C&K Emerald South Community Pre-Schooling Centre as part of their learning trough play unit. These great learning opportunities along with projects, folios and catering events are all extensions of the classroom learning.

For all year 10 students the completion of the Certificate II in Workplace Practices is of high importance. This term is the third and final opportunity for these students to complete work experience and log their hours towards the courses 80-hour requirement. Students can also log hours completed at their part time job or work experience completed outside school hours. It is important to note that in previous years students have been able to complete these requirements during year 11 and 12. This is NOT the case this year as this training package is no longer available and completion is required before the end of the year. If your student requires help to meet the 80-hour course requirement they should see myself or Ms Wills in Support Worx as a matter of urgency.

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

From the Head of Year – Year 8

We are four weeks into the start of term 3 and it is flying by. Well done to the year 8s on finishing term 2 strongly. Their hard work paid off as we saw them achieve excellent results across the board. The term finished off with our school athletics carnival and it was a pleasure to see the number of year 8 students attend the day and participate in the various activities put on by the staff. As a result, many of our students will be taking part in Central Highland trials for various events.

As a school we have been working extremely hard on our Positive Behaviour for Learning framework this year. The year 8s should be proud that we have seen as a cohort their behaviour improve immensely. Their teachers have been commenting on how many of the students have grown in their ability to be polite to their teachers and peers. This is excellent feedback to hear as the positive interactions we have with our students make our days at school all the more enjoyable.

Our students are regularly reminded of the new service that is available to them that allows students to report any incidents that they see or hear about that they think a teacher should know about. STYMIE is an online website where students can anonymously report on events that should be known to teachers without having their name attached to the report. It is easy to lodge a report and our students are encouraged to make use of this service. They just need to log on to the link below and follow the instructions there.

Andrew Gardiner
Head of Year 8

From the Head of Year – Year 12

As the year 12s move into their final semester of school there is lots of positive events and hard work to come. The QCS test will be held on the 29th and 30th of August in our school library. Students sitting the QCS test are invited to attend the QCS breakfast in the school restaurant, times to be advised closer to the date. The breakfast is free and is a great way for the kids to come together with their teachers and relax before sitting their tests.

Fundraising for formal will continue to occur over the term and students are encouraged to participate fully in these fundraisers as it is a responsibility of the whole cohort not just a select few. We have already had a cupcake stall this term that was very successful raising approximately $350. The fundraising is designed to offset the cost of the hall, decorations and seat covers all of which are quite costly and if added to the cost of the meal per person can make the night quite expensive. So it is important that we try and keep costs reasonable for what is a busy and expensive time of year for parents and students.

Student attendance is again becoming an issue and students are reminded that their attendance can and will affect their eligibility for end of year festivities such as formal, alternative program days and the fun day after the formal. All students who have been flagged or had notes sent home about their attendance falling below 92% are required this term to meet the target of 95% attendance (this is for the term only). Those students who were on track at the end of last term on 92% will need to maintain this. Any questions regarding attendance please contact the Deputy Principal, Mr Shannon, or myself.

Regards,
Kaz Van Hees
Head of Year 12

Arts News

We are very busy this time of the year preparing for the musical, Battle of the Bands. There are still tickets available but be quick as they are selling fast.

The Showcase evening is happening in week 8 on Thursday the 31st of August at 5pm in the Drama room. Our hospitality students will also have the opportunity to practice their skills in catering. There will be roaming platters starting at 5:15 pm with light refreshments for purchase. The Visual Arts Students will have a market stall on the night displaying and selling their handmade jewellery.

On the same night Ms Felhaber and Mrs Jones will be involved in the Central Highlands Eisteddfod at the Town Hall.

Science News

Curriculum News

The grade 7s are currently working on their balloon powered car assignment as part of the unit on Forces. The grade 8 students are studying Energy, while in year 9 students are studying body systems. In the senior school, both the grade 11 and 12 Science in Practice students are working on their assessments: the 11s are building water rockets, and the 12s are studying Sound and Light. The Year 11 Biology students are commencing their EEIs on plants. In Physics the year 12s are studying Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity while the students in grade 11 Physics are studying Ancient Weapons. Year 11 Chemistry are working on their EEI on Water, while the Year 12s are studying Forensic Chemistry.

Robocup Junior Robotics Competition

On the 21st of July, a group of 14 Year 9 students attended the Central Queensland Robocup Junior competition, hosted by CQ University. The team was selected from the Robotics and Coding course, who have been learning to build and program robots using the Lego Mindstorms EV3 system. The students had a great time, working under difficult time constraints and with little previous experience. They competed in the ‘Rescue’ category, needing to navigate a series of obstacles and follow a given path to rescue the victim from a simulated chemical spill. The experience the students gained will help them to develop complex problem solving skills in real world issues.

Richard Evans
Robotics and Science Teacher

Library News

ICAS

Earlier in the year, 4 students from Years 7, 8 & 9 chose to participate in the Digital Technologies ICAS. This multiple choice quiz tested their knowledge of general digital technology skills, word processing, graphics/multimedia, internet/email, spreadsheet/database, and programming. Their results and certificates have arrived and were presented to them at our whole school assembly. Of special mention is Annabelle, who received the Principal’s Award as well as her certificate for achieving the highest score out of those from our school. Congratulations to these 4 students for their participation!

Word Mania

All students in Years 7-9 have been registered for Word Mania 2017. Word Mania is a free online competition that challenges students to race against the clock to build as many words as possible in three minutes using a board of 15 letters. To participate, students simply log on (passwords will be distributed at school) to their Literacy Planet account at the link below or they can download the free app, Word Mania 2017, available for iOS and Android. Students will receive a certificate for participating and are in the running for prizes. The dates for Word Mania are:

• Round 1: July 31st – August 4th
• Round 2: August 7th – August 11th
• Final Round: August 16th – August 18th

Students can play as many times as they like and are encouraged to do so as prizes are based on numbers of words created, number of games played & scores achieved. If students have any questions, they should see Mrs Galea in the library.

Sports News

Congratulations to all students that competed in the CH Trials for Track and Field. Capricornia trials are being held in Emerald this year so it will be great to see all students that were selected at the trial on the 21st and 22nd of August.

Interschool sport is here once again with games on the 7th and 24th of August with the date for the finals in Clermont still to be set. It will be great to see participation from as many students as possible to help us bring home the trophies this year.

With all CH sport trials now done for the year, congratulations to all those students that were selected to represent our school at a Central Highlands, Capricornia and State Level.

ESHS athletics carnival results:

1st Zircon, 2nd Topaz, 3rd Garnet, 4th Sapphire

Age champions:

U12 – Jade Morgan, Jett Williams
U13 – Grace McKay, Nathan Milham
U14 – Olivia Cave, Daniel Putarakkit
U15 – Mikaela Long, Eddie Cunning
U16 – Brooklyn Schulz, Josh Watt
U17/18 – Serena Stanley, Paul Cavanagh

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face” – Mike Tyson.

School Opinion Survey

Attention ALL Parents/Caregivers

2017 Annual School Opinion Survey

The Parent/Caregiver Survey form with your online access codes were handed out to the eldest student of your family in the week commencing 31st July 2017 to bring home to you. Parents/Carers from year 7 to year 12 are invited to have a say about what ESHS does well and how we can improve.

Online Survey opens Monday 31st July and Closes Friday 25th August.

If you do not have online access at home, you are most welcome to complete the survey on an ESHS school computer. Survey queries, requests for translations and requests for access to school computers can be directed to Gai Van Hees on 4988 2222. If you have not received a blue form, please contact the school.

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