26 April 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome to this week’s newsletter. It was good to see all the students back for the start of school and we moved quickly into the learning the first day back. This term our staff commenced on the Student Free Day working on the High Performing teams model. We have many teams in the school and for any team to perform at a high level there needs to be a strong culture set by the leaders and some basic ground rules on simple behaviours and methods of communication. It sounds simple; however, it is one of our greatest challenges. A high performing team has clear communication and clear roles. When it meets, there is high trust and a willingness to put the team first, individual agendas are secondary to the team vision and key actions.

Our goal is to have all school teams operating at a moderate level according to the ratings scale in 2018 and at a high level in 2019. There is much training and upskilling to be undertaken. The end result, however, should provide greater opportunity for our students and better learning in the classrooms.

Coming Up

• Mayoral Youth Summit – 27th April
• CH Cross Country - 30th April
• Emerald Shines – 4th May
• Forensic Science Workshop – 4th May
• Biology Camp – 8th -11th May

Special Mentions

• Congratulations for Jacob Firth, for receiving the 2018 TJ Ryan Memorial Merit Award.
• Congratulations to all the students and staff who participated in the ANZAC Day Dawn Service and March.
• Special thankyou to all the teachers who are coaching teams this year; they keep sport strong in the Emerald area.
• Huge thank you to your P&C president, Renee who mulched and created a new garden in front of the library this weekend.

Have Your Say on Cyberbullying

Many parents and teachers are concerned about cyberbullying. It is a serious problem that can hurt young people, families and school communities. Cyberbullying is also a complex problem that is often invisible to parents and teachers. In February, the Premier appointed a group of Queenslanders who are passionate about stopping cyberbullying of young people. The Queensland Anti-Cyberbullying Taskforce is chaired by well-known author and commentator, Madonna King, and includes members with knowledge and expertise in education, youth health and wellbeing, law, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, disability and families. The taskforce needs your help to develop a framework for Queensland to help reduce cyberbullying of young people. They want to hear from parents, carers, students, teachers and other experts in schools. In particular, the taskforce wants to hear about your ideas to:

• prevent or reduce cyberbullying
• support people affected by cyberbullying of young people.

How to have your say:

• Email the taskforce at antibullyingtaskforce@premiers.qld.gov.au
• Upload your ideas s a submission on the taskforce website https://qld.gov.au/cyberbullyingtaskforce
• Come to a public forum in 12 Queensland locations including Brisbane, Cairns, Rockhampton and Charleville. For information about forums visit https://qld.gov.au/cyberbullyingtaskforce

Everyone can be part of the stand against cyberbullying. Ms King and the Taskforce members look forward to hearing from you.

“Texting while driving results in longer response times than even drunken driving. While an unimpaired driver can respond quickly to changes in traffic and begin braking within half a second, a legally drunk driver needs four additional feet to begin braking—and a driver who's texting needs 70.” Virginia Tech Transportation

Have a great weekend,

Ray

Ray Clarke
Principal

From the Deputy Principal – Senior School

Is It True Sexual Health, Lifestyles and Relationship Program

In June, Year 11 and 12 students will have the opportunity to take part in Is it True, an education, information and testing program developed for senior secondary school students to provide them with simple, age-appropriate facts about sexually transmitted infections (STIs). As part of the program, students will have the opportunity to be screened for STIs. Is it True will be delivered by female doctors, nurses and educators from True, a leading Queensland provider of clinical services and community education with over 40 years of experience in this field. Parents /carers of year 11 and 12 students should look out for the parental consent form, which will need to be completed for any student under 16 who wishes to take part in the program. There is no cost to participate in the program. Funding is supported from Central Queensland, Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast PHN. For any questions please contact True Relationships and Reproductive Health, Central QLD Office by phone (07) 4921 3655 or email cqeducation@true.org.au.

Debbie Lawson
Deputy Principal – Senior School (Acting)

Year 7 News

Year 7 Camp

There was rain, thunder, lightning and wet tents, which resulted in all of the boys sleeping in the activity hall, but the year 7 students adjusted well to these unpredictable events to participate fully in camp activities. Although some activities were cancelled, students threw themselves into plan B with great enthusiasm and used this time to get to know their peers and work together. The focus of this camp was building resilience and teamwork skills and it is already evident that the year 7s have taken that focus on board in the school environment.

This term is a busy term with ANZAC Day, Emerald Shines and Spirit Week, NAPLAN and the Athletics Carnival all occurring. On the 24th of April, students attended the school ANZAC Day service. Week 3 is Spirit Week. In the lead up to this, students will be participating in activities run by student leaders in their PC classes. Spirit Week is a week for the school to participate in activities at lunchtimes to show school spirit. This culminates in Emerald Shines on Friday the 4th of May. This is an event where students and teachers showcase their talents on stage in front of an audience. Another event where students are encouraged to show their skills is the Athletics Carnival. This will be held in week 5 and is a fun event for students to have a go in a range of events.

By now, students will have received an interim report of student achievement. Parents have an opportunity to attend interviews with teachers to discuss student progress. Another assessment of student achievement is the NAPLAN testing which will be in week 5. This is a national assessment of educational achievement in literacy and numeracy. It is an opportunity to identify student strengths and weaknesses. This helps teachers focus on areas that need improvement.

Lastly, it is timely to be reminded of our school values as we reflect on our Australian values on ANZAC day. Values shape who we are and what we stand for. At Emerald State High School, we are POLITE, we are PREPARED, and we PARTICIPATE. The focus for this term is on those who are non-compliant with these values. Students who follow the 3Ps ensure our school is a positive and safe environment to learn and grow.

Kate Deighton
Head of Year 7

Year 12 News

Year 12 students of Emerald State High School are starting another important and busy term. Many of our senior leaders are involved in the upcoming Spirit Week in week 3, putting on and participating in activities such as daily games, trivia and culminating in the Shines Talent Show. Our year 12 students are demonstrating exceptional leadership and participation as role models for younger students. In academic matters, term 2 is an important term for developing skills and practicing for the QCS test. They need to continue to give their best effort in all of their classes to achieve their potential and the best possible results for the end of the year.

Callum Tyack
Head of Year 12

From the Head of Department – Mathematics

Welcome to our biggest term!

With 11 weeks up our sleeve this term, we are excited about the opportunity an extra week has created. Our teachers have adjusted the term plans across all Maths subjects to have extra lessons in which students will be able to catch-up on concepts that may pose more difficulty. The year 7 and 9 classes will be taking part in NAPLAN. The dates set out are:

• Tuesday 15th May – Language Conventions and Writing
• Wednesday 16th May – Reading
• Thursday 17th May – Numeracy

A term’s worth of data is now available to the teachers. We have now analysed our data to create action plans via which the students will receive targeted teaching. Targeted teaching focuses on improving individual student’s weaker areas in Maths.

Most of our Maths classes will be completing assignments this term. Generally, 4-6 weeks has been allocated for students to complete these assignments. Senior classes (Years 11 and 12) will have exams at the end of the term as well.

The Maths department is also busy planning for 2019 implementation of the new QCE syllabuses, commonly known as SATE. Our preparatory courses have been very well received by our year 10s. The students’ high level of engagement has led to their improved results. We foresee continued trends in 2019 when our current year 10s engage with the new curriculum.

Term 2 is a time in our curriculum when we go through a lot in terms of content. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight factors, which influence a student’s outcome, particularly that relate to parents/carers. John Hattie, (a Laureate Professor and the Director of Melbourne Education Research Institute, Melbourne Graduate School of Education), is a highly regarded researcher in the education field. Hattie has carried out hundreds of studies from which, he has compiled evidence of factors that influence student outcome. An article out of the UK has a good summary of what a parent can practically do to have impact on their child’s outcome at school. The following link will take you to the research. It is an easy read of approximately eight pages. I would encourage you to spend a few minutes of your time on this valuable resource. If you are pressed for time, you may like to go straight to page seven, titled “Practical Ideas for Parents”. This page expands on six practical things a parent/carer might like to do. Snippets of the research are below:

• “Parent engagement in the educational development of their children improves attainment.”
• “Perhaps the most interesting finding was the fact that the more parents and children talk to each other, the better students achieve.”
• “Recent research has shown how important it is to praise children for what they specifically do (especially where evident effort is involved) rather than simply for being ‘smart’.”

With your continued support, we at Emerald State High strongly believe we can continue to produce strong performance and get the best outcome for our students.

As always, please feel free to contact us if you have any queries/questions or just to reach out and say hello.

Here’s to a productive Term 2.

Nahroon Nazim
Head of Department – Mathematics

Science News

The Science Department have many exciting events happening in the first few weeks of Term 2. On the Friday of Week 2, selected Year 9 and 10 students will be participating in the Moranbah Engineering Challenge Day, an event that has been running for 17 years that coordinates fun and exciting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs that help students understand more about certain career pathways, as well as encourage creativity, problem solving and teamwork. This program is designed to inspire tomorrow’s innovators and prepare young people for future employment. On Friday of Week 3 Emerald State High School will be holding a Forensic Science Day that will introduce a variety of science students to exploring the safety of social networks, the dangers of drink spiking and the consequences of taking risks. The Year 12 Biology Camp will be off in Week 4 to North Keppel Island to undertake field studies around the water quality of the Nogoa to the Great Barrier Reef. They will be using technology to sample water quality at various sites whilst also experiencing life on the island right next to the Great Barrier Reef through snorkelling, canoeing and with a plankton trawl.

Library News

ICAS

Students are now able to collect information letters from Mrs Galea about this year’s Science, Spelling and Writing ICAS tests. The ICAS tests are created by University of NSW and test various areas with a subject to give students personalised feedback on how they are achieving in the subject. Each of these will only take students 1 lesson to complete and they will receive a certificate and explanation of their results. Below are the dates and costs involved.

From Central Highlands Regional Council Library

At CHRC Libraries we have access to a free app called BorrowBox which can be downloaded to a device or used online. BorrowBox is available to all library users and has a huge selection of both audiobooks and eBooks available for customers. There are a large selection of children’s, teen, and adult books, as well as, non-fiction offerings. If there is something specific that you would like to read/listen to, library staff can place a request for that item through Bolinda Digital. All you need to be able to use BorrowBox is a current CHRC library membership.

Another app that Library users can access is Press Reader which provides access to newspapers and magazines world-wide. Press Reader can be accessed from most tablets and smartphones.

For community members who are researching specific topics we recommend joining State Libraries Qld through their online membership. SLQ members can access online resources, as well as request books be sent out to them.

National Library of Australia also offers a number of e-resources which are particularly useful for those conducting research. Memberships can be applied for online

I hope this information has been of use to your school. At the library we are keen to share our resources with as many people as possible within our region.

Community Events

St Patrick’s Catholic Church Sacrament Dates

Confirmation – Information Session, 30th May at 3.30pm or 6pm
First Holy Communion – Information Session, 3.30pm or 6pm
For more information contact Mrs Francie Hartley, 49821066 or stpatsem@bigpond.com.

We are Hiring!

Woolies Emerald East (Big W center) is looking for 5 keen and enthusiastic students to join our team. We have a variety of positions vacant including fresh produce, bakery, replenishment, Service deli and checkouts.

For all enquirers please contact Petina Sarnadsky on 0749867705, email 2082emeraldeast@woolworths.com.au or bring your resume in store.