30 October 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear friends of Emerald High,

Term 4 is well underway and has already seen a wide range of exciting activities and outstanding achievements by our students.

Our Symphonic Band were awarded a Platinum Award at the ‘Music Fest’ in Brisbane in Week 2, competing alongside quality bands from all over Queensland. To get this in perspective, of the 400—500 performances during the event, there would have been fewer than 10 Platinum Awards presented.

This is a truly outstanding achievement. A huge well done to Dana Jones and Jacinda Fehlhaber for their leadership of a high quality band, and to the parents who attended the trip to assist.

Our school's touch football team travelled to Brisbane to play in the ‘All Schools Touch’ carnival. Our students played brilliantly and were unlucky to miss out on a place in the final after chalking up a number of wins and draws. Thanks to Kate Deighton and Jaksen Brose for their work in leading this opportunity.

Our Sports Awards evening was also held in Week 2, celebrating the many high level sporting achievements in our school. We do indeed have an outstanding number of sporting successes for a school of our size. Thank you to Tim Deffner and his team for leading this activity and to everyone in our community – staff, students and parents - who work tirelessly to support opportunities for our students.

Another piece of very exciting news. Our tuckshop has been nominated for state awards in the ‘Best Tuckshop of the Year’ and ‘Best Recipes’ categories. This is a fantastic achievement, although none of us would be the least bit surprised. A huge well done to out fantastic tuckshop team: Ruth, Bec, Megan, Raelene and Jodie, who provide a tuckshop experience that most schools could only dream about.

One final celebration; Ella Job in Year 7 has been invited to the Australian Mathematics Olympiad Committee’s summer program from now until February. Ella was one of only 37 new students this year invited to the program based on her results in the Australian Maths Competition and the UQ/QAMT Problem Solving Competition. This is an amazing achievement - well done, Ella!

SET Plan meetings have been held for our Year 10s. SET Planning provides students with an opportunity to reflect on and plan for possible pathways for the future, and to record these plans in discussion with teachers and parents. They are an important part of the career planning process, and in preparing our students for worthwhile and meaningful futures. Thank you to all staff, students and parents involved in this process.

Next week sees our Annual Awards Night in which we recognise and celebrate the very many achievements of our students. This is always a great event, which again showcases the amazing quality of our fantastic young people.

Have a fantastic fortnight
Mr. Sean Maher
Principal

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.

Orison Swett Marden

From the Deputy Principal – Senior School

2019 Awards Night

One week to go. Our Awards Night is on Monday 4th November starting at 6pm. To ensure our evening flows smoothly and quickly, we ask that all families attending RSVP by Thursday 31st October, by registering through trybooking.com on our Facebook page, to accept the invitation and indicate how many people will be attending. If you do not RSVP, we will presume that your child will NOT be attending and will NOT be included in the running sheet for the presentation. They will receive their award at a later date.

2019 Graduation

In three weeks’ time we will be farewelling our Year 12 cohort at their graduation ceremony. Parents, families and friends of Year 12 students are inviting to this ceremony, starting at 8:50am and concluding with a morning tea at 10:00am. Students will bring home an invite this week. For catering and setup purposes, we ask that you RSVP for this event.

Year 11: Units 3 and 4

Our Year 11 students have started to move onto their Unit 3 studies. It is important to note that Units 3 and 4 go to together as a pair. This means that there will be no more subject changes at the completion of 2019. Students will be locked into their studies in 2020. I have communicated this with the students at their year level parade, and have reminded them that if they do want to make subject changes it is best to do this sooner rather than later (ideally by the end of Week 5).

Regards
Mrs. Tanya Shaw
Deputy Principal – Senior School

From the Deputy Principal – Middle School

General News

Friday 25th October saw students don RED in recognition of “Day for Daniel” day. Students were able to make a voluntary contribution to the Daniel Morecombe Foundation, helping raise awareness and funds for this vital charity.

On Friday November 8, Emerald State High School will show support for Headspace by:

• Liaising with ESHS Bites tuckshop to have green cupcakes/treats/food items for purchase.
• Promoting ‘odd socks’ with their school uniform.
• “ESHS supports Headspace” canvas style with signatures, similar to the art piece done for the Anti-Bullying campaign. The SRC had thoughts of donating the signed canvas pieces to the organisation for display in their office space so that community and young people can see the support from ESHS community whilst accessing services at Headspace.
• Promoting the CH goes Green community event – see the flyer attached to this article.

Year 10

Thank you to all the parents, the 132 Year 10 students, our nine Head of Departments, our Guidance Officer and Mrs Shaw, for assisting me in the mammoth task of completing Year 10 Senior Education & Training Plans. The feedback from students and parents was very positive and students now have goals and strategies on how to achieve these goals.

Students will re-select their subjects after some tweaking was required for the 2020 timetable. This will occur in VFS/CES class on Thursday 31st October.

Year 9 & Years 7-8

Students will select their subjects for 2020 next week. These selections will all be done online using OneSchool platform. Students can show their parents what they select at home, by logging into OneSchool at home. (Google oslp – and this is the first entry that comes up – students then enter their school username and password).

Regards
Mrs. Gaye Saunders
Deputy Principal – Middle School

From the Head of Year 12

The Year 12s are currently entering their final chapter of schooling at Emerald State High School. An exciting, challenging and sometimes daunting time in their lives, where the future is tantalisingly close. As I write this, students only have nineteen days of school left, including their final week! As this term is short for Year 12 students, time frames for assessment will appear to be reduced. This can be a difficult time to stay motivated at school and at home, as students start to look towards the future and the significant changes to their lives which are about to take place. It is important that students stay focused on current tasks so they can achieve highly in their final assessment items.

In Week 2, invitations were handed out for the ESHS Senior Formal, which will be held at the Emerald Town Hall on Wednesday November 13th. Each student may bring two parents with them to celebrate their time at Emerald SHS.

In the week leading up the formal, students will have alternate activities on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They will help pack up the Town Hall on Thursday morning if possible, and will have a graduation ceremony on Friday morning, beginning at 9:00am, in the UCA at Emerald State High School.

I would like to finish on a personal note. I have been the Head of Year for this cohort of students for the last three years. This has probably been my most cherished role at Emerald State High School, as I have been a small part of these students’ journeys. I have been able observe their growth and maturation into young adults. This has been the most rewarding and wonderful part of being a teacher. I am a very proud Head of Year and wish my Year 12s all the best in their future endeavours.

Regards
Mr. Adam Heath
HOY – 12

From the Head SRC

The SRC calendar for Term 4 is a busy one, despite the year winding down!

The SRC successfully raised over $420.00 for the Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia and Ronald McDonald House in Week 2. These are two charities, with which many of our student body have interacted personally or through friends and relatives. Friday 25th October was ‘Day for Daniel’, where staff and students were encouraged to wear red with their uniform, to support this important campaign about child safety awareness. Later in Term 4, the SRC will lead a campaign entitled ‘Go Green for Mental Health’, which brings attention and awareness to the upcoming Headspace organisation soon establishing themselves in the region.

We recently received our delivery of ‘goodies’ raised from the Woolworths ‘Earn and Learn’ program. We would like to graciously thank all persons who took the time to donate their stickers to our school’s campaign. An assortment of games for the SEP department and Resource Centre will be utilised by students during lunch times and sensory days as a result of your generosity. We were also able to acquire some lovely seat and floor cushions that have imagery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks and local Australian flora, fauna and landscapes, for our newly refurbished Resource Centre.

Thank you all again for your support of the Student Representative Council in 2019. We look forward to working with the student body and community again in 2020.

Regards
Mrs. Debbie Cognet
Head of SRC

From the Head of Department - English

This year seems to have gone past so quickly, and we cannot believe all of the content and skills we have covered this year. I have been inspired by the hard work of so many students. I am also impressed with how widely read some of our students are. One student borrowed a novel from me, and returned it read the very next day!

The Year 7, 8 and 9 students are currently engaged in a novel study- Percy Jackson, Wonder and The Hunger Games, respectively. The Year 7 and 8s will respond creatively to their text, while the Year 9 students will complete an analytical essay.

Most Year 10 students have completed their SET plan interviews in the past few weeks. At first glance, it seems like they are very aware of their capabilities and their future plans. I will be in touch soon with a guide to their curriculum choices, so you are aware of the texts they will be studying in 2020. They are well prepared for this thanks to the hard work of their English teachers.

Year 11 students are now starting their Unit 3 work! It is inspiring to see the improvements they have made since the start of the year. General English students will begin studying The Great Gatsby, while Essential English students will focus their attention to important issues, and will view and analyse a range of different media texts.

And finally we say goodbye to our Year 12 students. They have worked so hard this year to achieve some excellent results. I know your teachers- Mrs Hume, Mr Sanson, Ms Brunetto and Mrs Galea will dearly miss you.

Regards
Mrs. Gabrielle Hunt
HOD – English

From the Head of Department - Maths

Welcome to Term 4!

It is that time of the year again, when we start to get ready to farewell our Year 12s. They are only a few weeks away from completing all their assessments. The Year 12 students are scheduled to complete their final exam for Maths in Week 5. We encourage these students to keep pushing through, as the exam coming up is equally important as any other assessment done this year.

I would also take this opportunity to congratulate all Year 12s on their massive effort this year and wish them well for their future.

The Year 11 cohort has now completed almost a year of the new QCE system. Our students have shown a lot of progress over the year. In the not too distant future, the Year 11s will, for the first time, sit their external exams. The external exam for Maths (General subjects) will account for 50% of their grade in Year 12. Our students are already well into preparations for their coming assessments in Year 12.

I would like to reiterate the importance of frequent, consistent study sessions going into Year 12. We recommend a minimum of 3x30minute sessions per week for every Maths subject that the student is studying.

The Year 10 students completed their SET plans successfully last week. It is anticipated that all students will to be in the subject of their choice by the end of Week 4 this term.

The junior Maths classes will also have an exam at the end of this term. Again, consistency is the key to achieving success in the upcoming assessments.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents and students alike for your continued support and encouragement towards the school. We have made a lot of progress this year and believe we will make significant headway in the future.

Regards
Mr. Nahroon Nazim
HOD – Maths

From the Science team

Term 4 is always a busy time for all subjects with Years 10, 11 & 12 working on tight timelines as they have a shorter term.

Year 7 – The Year 7 students are looking at classification systems, dichotomous keys and food webs/chains. This term they will be having two pieces of assessment – approximately Week 5 and Week 9.
Year 8 – This term, the classes will be studying plant and animal cells, comparing cells, components and reproduction processes.
Year 9 – The Year 9 students have a chemistry focus this term, covering acids, bases and chemical reactions.

Assessment and timelines are important every term. Please remind your students to hand in both drafts and final pieces of assessment on time. Every assessment piece whether it is a research task, report or exam has a communication component. The use of scientific language and representations is vital to receiving a competent mark for communication.

Regards
Mrs. Christine Wilson
Teacher – Science

From the Languages team

The Languages programs this term sees students studying a variety of topics across Years 7 – 9. These include: “What Is Community?” in Year 7, which has students reflecting upon what makes a community and the important places in communities that are significant, or help bring communities together.

“How Do We Celebrate Festivals?” in Year 8, gives students the opportunity to reflect on the ways in which festivals and celebrations are important to community, and national identities. This unit also examines how festivals promote cultural and community identity, alongside the celebrations of other cultures, traditions, customs and beliefs.

Year 9 students are currently studying global connections, and the importance of developing intercultural understanding for communication and an appreciation of the cultural components of language and communication. The Year 9 unit will culminate in students creating and performing their own Japanese style sketches.

In the junior years, the best way to improve achievement is short, but regular, review of vocabulary. Short bursts of regular review, will always be more effective than last minute cramming! 10 – 15 minutes, three or four times week, is an excellent start.

Regards
Mr. Reilly Neil
Teacher – LOTE.

From the Positive Behaviour for Learning Team

Behaviour Focus

Our current behaviour focus is “Build respectful relationships”.

Student of the Week

Week 3

Daniel Hayne 7D For outstanding effort towards curriculum tasks.
Hayden 8E For always following the ESHS 3 Ps. Thank you for being so consistent.
Ella Quinlan 9E For being always participating to the best of her ability.
Hailee Hertsch 11 For confidently participating in class, applying herself and displaying great effort.

Student of the Week

Week 4

Kurtis Allen 7E For always inquisitive and participating fully in class activities.
Dakota Iles 8F For consistently following the 3 Ps, always looking out for others and showing helpfulness.
Daret McFadzen 9D For applying himself to the best of his ability in classes.
Monique Hughes 10 Demonstrating maturity and a polite manner every day. She puts incredible effort into her work and demonstrates true tenacity.
Alexa Miller 11C For demonstrating initiative and teamwork in class. She consistently applies feedback to better herself.
Troy McPhail 12D For always displaying a polite attitude and being committed to your learning.

Community Notices