10 June 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Friends of Emerald High,

Athletics Carnival is on this week and we are looking forward to a super day of competition and participation. My thanks to Maggie Pembroke for the enormous amount of work that she is doing in preparation for this. It will be amazing!

In assemblies this week, I talked about personal quality of 'Compassion' and the need for all of us to be caring and considerate of one another, particularly if we know that individuals are undergoing tough times. Fortunately, this is a quality I see many members of our school community displaying regularly, as we all supporting each other to be happy and successful.

Some super student achievements to announce. I would like to congratulate Kurt Jordan, Vicky Linnell, Charmaine Rangi-Taana, Ashley Leeson and Xisco Manales, whose art works were all awarded prizes at the Emerald Show. Well done students - we are very proud of you! My very sincere thanks also to Kate Myers who set up the school display at the show, displaying many items of amazing work that our young people complete at school.

I would also like to congratulate Josh Russell in Year 10, who has competed recently at national level shooting completion, achieving 15th place out of 38 from across the nation and Eden Catip in Year 7, who has recently been selected in the Queensland Schools Basketball Team. We have some talent at Emerald High!!

Last week our leaders attended the Mayoral Summit at Springsure, where they had the opportunity to work with the leaders from a number of other local schools in considering a variety of issues relevant to young people our region. Thank you to Jacinda Stefaniuk for coordinating this opportunity for our leaders.

A very important matter regarding the health and wellbeing of our staff and students. We have a number of students and staff who have severe medical reactions to aerosol sprays and can become very ill if they are exposed to aerosol sprays. Aerosol sprays are banned at the school and I would ask for the support of parents in reinforcing this message with students as we are doing through assemblies. Roll-on and pump sprays are fine but aerosols are not.

My sincere thanks again to all parents who are ensuring that students are in correct uniform, particularly as we head into the cooler weather. A reminder that a plain black jumper with no logos or hood is acceptable as part of our dress code.

Thank you also to everyone for your ongoing support of our amazing school.

"Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb."

- Pythagoras

Have a fantastic fortnight
Mr. Sean Maher
Principal

From the HOD – Student Services

In Week 10 of this term, students in will be asked to take part in the Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing (QEW) Survey.

We know that wellbeing and engagement are important parts of your child’s life at school. The department and your school are looking at ways to collect information on these important areas, so we can support our students in the best way possible.

The QEW Survey is designed to measure how state school students view their wellbeing and engagement. Results from this survey will tell us about students’ levels of wellbeing and engagement. This information will allow us to better support our students and meet their needs.

The QEW survey will be completed in Week 10, so that it does not interfere with peak assessment times. If you do not wish for your student to respond to this survey please email Deanne Lucht on dluch4@eq.edu.au

If you have any questions, please contact Deanne Lucht on dluch4@eq.edu.au or phone 4988 2222.

Regards
Mrs. Deanne Lucht
Head of Department – Student Services

From the Head of Year 9

It is hard to believe we are nearly half-way through the year and semester one is almost finished. It has been great to see our Year 9 student leaders getting involved with a number of extra-curricular activities, including the annual Mayoral Summit and CQ Pet Rescue food drive. A reminder to all parents and carers that our food drive will run into Term 3, so please continue to send in food items including dog and cat food, pet toys, clean blankets and towels.

Report cards will be emailed to parents and carers at the end of Term 2. Please take the time to discuss your child’s results with them and make goals in relation to how to improve in semester two. See the SMART goal framework in relation to how to set goals moving forward.

Our PBL focus for Week 7 and 8 has been “Follow adult instructions, promptly”. The focus this fortnight has been supported by presentations to students from the PBL team. In order to ensure we have environments that support learning, it is important students follow the instructions of staff, promptly. In addition, the PBL team are working to deliver a Restorative Justice magnet to parents, that will be supported by parent information sessions, in order to support the positive relationship between home, school and within the community.

Please also ensure your child is following the school uniform policy and presenting in the correct uniform.

If you are going away over the holidays I hope you have a safe and relaxing break!

Regards
Mr. Peter Sanson
HOY – 9

From the Maths team

As we are getting towards the end of Term 2, many of the Maths classes will be completing their assessments this week. This is a very important time for assessment, as it is the last opportunity to improve results for the Semester 1 reporting.

The Year 7s are spending this week revising for their exam, which will occur in the last two lessons of next week. By allowing multiple lessons for revision, students are able to consolidate their knowledge and understand upon the unit of work, so they can achieve a solid mark which reflects their hard work. Their exam will be assessing students on; rational numbers, fractions and mixed numbers.

As I teach two classes of Year 8s, I shall inform you about what is occurring in my classroom. The Year 8s took their exam for Term 2, last week. The exam was assessing students’ abilities in expanding and factorising, collecting like terms, index laws, completing a table with a formula and plotting on the Cartesian Plane. Since we have completed the assessment now, we are moving on to new content. This week my students will be focusing on Converting Units and Perimeter.

The Year 9s are spending this week revising for their exam which will be taking place in the last two lessons for next week. The exam for Year 9 this term, will consist of; the distributive law, Pythagoras Theorem and using the ratios for a given angle in right-angle triangles.

What a wonderful variety of Maths we have occurring at this school to educate our minds of the future.

Regards
Mr. Matt Sweetnam
Teacher

From the HPE team

During Term 2, we have seen the weather cool down, however it is still important to remember sun safety and we continue to encourage students to bring and wear hats during our HPE practical lessons. We also take this opportunity to encourage water bottles, although the weather is cooler, water bottles are still important to maintain hydration.

The junior grades (7-9) have been participating in Touch Football as the curriculum sport in practical lessons for Term 2. The focus is on ball skills, knowing the rules of the game and game play. In theory lessons, the theme for Years 7-9 has been on alcohol and drugs (covering topics such as caffeine to cigarettes to alcohol) and the external factors that may influence adolescent choices. Assessment will be during Week 8 and Week 9 of the term.

Senior HPE and Rec classes have been covering a wide range of topics, including lawn bowls, biomechanics, event management and integrity in mixed sports.

Friday of Week 8 (11th June) will be our whole school athletics carnival. Congratulations to those students who have already participated in some events that are being run prior to the day.

Our school has also been involved in a number of competitions outside of school, these include the Vicki Wilson Netball, which was played in Rockhampton last, week and the interschool rugby league match against Marist recently. Western 7s is also starting up and the students have been signing up during the last week. ESHS has a volleyball competition and touch football competition coming up and they are committed to their training and working well. Cricket is also training for an interschool match later this term. Well done to the staff and students who are involved in all these sporting opportunities.

As the end of the term approaches and assessment looms, we ask that if your child will be absent for any length of time to please contact your child’s teacher.

Regards
Mrs. Christine Wilson
Teacher

From the Humanities team

With only three weeks of school remaining in Term 2, students are now well into their assessment tasks for humanities.

Year 7 Geography is currently completing their surveys on ‘Liveability’ around the school, focusing on litter and traffic, and developing action plans to deal with their chosen issue. The assessment for this will be completed over the course of Weeks 5 to 9. A short response exam is also being completed this week for Year 7 History, with a focus on ‘Ancient China’.

Year 8 Geography is currently completing an exciting task, where they investigate an earthquake, and design, test and evaluate a building to withstand such quakes, using known technologies. In year 8 History, students are completing a significant Japanese individual research biography as their assessment.

9 Geography is currently focusing on E-waste and consumption and have their exam in their third lesson of Week 8. Year 9 History will also be completing part of their assessment this week, evaluating sources on the impact the White Australia Policy had on the nation after Federation.

This term in Year 10 Geography, students are completing a report on air pollution and its impacts on their chosen location, with the drafts for this due this week. Year 10 History this term has a focus on Indigenous Rights and students are currently revising for their exam, which will be held in Week 9.

Senior Humanities students who do Legal Studies, Geography, Ancient and Modern History are also gearing up for their big tour in Term 3, which promises to be an excellent and insightful learning experience.

Regards
Miss. Jessica Whybird
Teacher

From the Chess Club

Once again, the ESHS chess club is experiencing a surge of young people attending this term! The club undertakes casual meetings on Wednesdays, at second break in the library and has seen growth week on week.

Chess is a fantastic sport which develops the grey matter, rather than the muscle matter. Played by millions of people worldwide, chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. Play involves no hidden information, with the objective being to checkmate the opponent's king, by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a player's pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces, while supporting one another.

Studies conducted over decades, by Harvard and Brainscape have shown that aside from being a fun sport to play, chess also has real-world health benefits for players, including:

1. It can raise your IQ.
2. It helps prevent Alzheimer's.
3. It exercises both sides of the brain.
4. It increases your creativity.
5. It improves your memory.
6. It increases problem-solving skills.
7. It improves reading skills.
8. It improves concentration.
9. It grows Dendrites (the neural pathways and connections in the brain).
10. It teaches planning and foresight.

As such, I would encourage everyone interested in developing their chess skills to come along, to see what all the fuss is about, regardless of your skill levels, beginners and masters are welcome alike! The chess club will meet at second break in the Library every Wednesday.

Regards
Mr. Graham Fandrich
Club Supervisor

From the Technology Club

Design and Technologies prides itself on enabling students to adapt design thinking processes to allow innovation, diverse thinking and deep client understanding, to create solutions that efficiently address any design problem. Students are challenged to create designs which improve and enhance experiences for clients. In all of our technology subjects’ students implement the Design Process. This allows them to investigate ideas and designs, create their own version, produce their product and then evaluate its effectiveness. Throughout the process students collaborate with others and learn to manage their time.

The Technology faculty creates units that go beyond basic manual training and moves towards identifying deeper thinking and habits of mind which cut across disciplinary boundaries and allow for greater creativity. Units that focuses more explicitly on developing the cognitive ‘tools’ needed to ‘Future Proof’ our students. The cognitive tools of ICT, critical/creative thinking, ethical understanding, inter-cultural understanding, literacy, numeracy, along with personal and social capabilities that have been identified in the Australia Curriculum and internationally, as the skills students need to prepare for higher education, work and engagement in a complex and rapidly changing world.

During Technology Club students have the opportunity to design and create projects during their breaks with Miss Weis and Mr Olivier. Our department encourages the recycling of waste material to create mini-projects such as redesigned 'tech deck', spinner tops, key rings and personalised bookmarks. We also get a few students coming in to catch up on their projects.

The first and most important benefit of wood recycling is saving the trees. Wood recycling also helps reduce environmental impacts by preventing less trash from ending up in the landfills, which in turn means reduced air and water pollution. Wood recycling is an ideal technique for ensuring that the environment is maintained in its natural state. Wood recycling provides new opportunities that keep up with changing customer demand for recycled products, such as pallet recyclers.

Early next term, Round 3 of the Qld PPX Super Series HPV championships will be happening at the Emerald Karting Track (Capricorn Highway Emerald) on the 17th and 18th of July. Emerald State High School senior boy team permission notes have been handed out for the 16-hour race (over Saturday and Sunday). Camping will be available Friday and Saturday nights. Canteen facilities will be available for a limited time so students are encouraged to source their own snacks and energy food. Emerald State High School will be accessing pizzas Friday night and BBQing Saturday night with a Sunday morning fry up.

Regards
Mr. Noel Cavanagh
Club Supervisor

From the Positive Behaviour for Learning Team

At Emerald State High School we are:

• Polite,
• Prepared, and we
• Participate.

Please see the attached power point of the lesson taught on parade and throughout Weeks 7 and 8 of this term.

Behaviour Focus

Our current behaviour focus is “Follow adult instructions, promptly”.

Student of the Week

Week 7

Trae Tarei 7E For being an enthusiastic member of the class and always completing set tasks.

Lucy Gardiner 8F For always displaying a polite and courteous attitude. Lucy is kind and considerate of her peers.

Gabriel Pretorious For his polite and respectful attitude in class and enthusiasm toward curriculum tasks.

Phoebe Dein For working exceptionally hard and being an active learner in class.

Skye Whittaker For always being polite and working hard every lesson. She is/You are a delight to teach.

Brandt Richardson For always working diligently in class, helping others around him and asking questions to clarify his learning.

Week 8

Xisco Manales 7A For always being polite in class and giving everything a go.

Sophia Wright For being a diligent learner and completing her assessments to a high standard.

Mia Campbell For her positive ‘give it a go attitude’. She always completes set tasks to the best of her ability.

Nat Mackay For trying exceptionally hard and engaging actively in all lessons.

Cera Riley For coming into class with a positive attitude and always being courteous to everyone.

Nathan Milham For participating and being polite on parade, he is the student who answers questions loudly.

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