10 November 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report.

Dear Friends of Emerald High,

Only 5 weeks to go in the term! The weather is heating up and hopefully there will be some more rain on the way!!

Our Year 11 Biology camp was held at North Keppel Island last week and was a huge success. The students had a fantastic time and learnt a bit about biology along the way. Thank you to Ms Wyatt, Ms Whybird and Ms Ryan for leading this amazing experience.

Our Year 12s have almost finished their external exams and next week will be their last week with us before they head out into the big wide world. Next Tuesday we also celebrate the many of achievements of our students at our annual Awards Night. Next week will be a huge week!

Last Friday we celebrated "World Teachers' Day" which at Emerald High we celebrate as "World Educators Day" to acknowledge that all members of our staff in any role play a pivotal role in supporting our young people to become the very best they can be. The work we do in schools is as important as any there is - our young people are precious and are our future and deserve the very best nurturing, guidance and access to quality learning. I am enormously proud of our staff and the work they do in often challenging situations. Thank you to all of our staff for everything you do! You are amazing people!!

Earlier this year I communicated in the school newsletter 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.

How can parents help students succeed at school?

Parents can help students to succeed at school by communicating high expectations for academic success at school.

A few years ago, a gentleman called John Hattie conducted some very important educational research. He examined a very large number of other educational research projects to try and find the things that make the greatest difference to student learning, and to try and measure the degree to which they make a difference.

From a home perspective, Hattie found that of all the hundreds of factors that affect a student's achievement, the most important was that parents held aspirations and high expectations of their children, and communicated these factors to them regularly.

This is about encouraging our students to aspire to be their best and to set goals, and then expecting that they will achieve these goals.

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

- William B. Sprague

Have a fantastic fortnight

Mr. Sean Maher
Principal

From the Deputy Principal – Middle School.

PBL Focus

Our current focus is “Respect the learning environment of others”. It was pleasing to see that many students have entered their SMART goals for Term 4 on their own account in OneSchool. During this process, they have been able to see their Report Card grades and have set targets to work towards over the remainder of the term.

Positive Postcards

This is just a courtesy to let you know that we have exhausted our supply of postcards and are awaiting new ones to be printed.

2021 Awards Ceremony

Tuesday 16 November, 2021 at the Emerald Town Hall will be the place for these ceremonies this year. Due to COVID and the number of people the Town Hall is able to hold at any one time, this year’s awards ceremony will be over three separate ceremonies:

• 5:30pm Years 7 & 8
• 6:30pm Years 9 & 10
• 7:30pm Years 11 & 12.

Parents and invited guests will be required to sign in using the COVID app. There are app signs both inside and outside the town hall. Should you not have a smart phone, there will be provision made for this at the front entrance. At the conclusion of each ceremony there will be a short interchange (15mins) to allow the previous recipients and their families to exit and the next lot to enter. In the last newsletter I advised that students were to check on the student noticeboard for their names for Gold, Silver and Bronze awards, alongside the criteria. Thank you to the parents who did contact me and we were able to rectify some omissions. The program goes to print on Wednesday 10/11/21.

Ripple Effect Awards

This initiative of the Student Council has been well received and students can nominate their peers for following the 3Ps here at school. These are given out fortnightly by the student leaders on year level assemblies.

VIVO

Part of our positive reward system is our VIVO program. Each time a student gets a VIVO from a staff member, they are in fact receiving 5 points. Once the student has accrued 250 points – this equates to $5. So, 500 points = $10. Students can “save” this for senior rewards, such as putting towards the cost of their senior jersey or formal, or can purchase vouchers that they can redeem from local businesses as well as ESHS bites or from the VIVO store. I have given PC teachers a printout of the number of points each student has (or they can check their own accounts).

2022 Subject Selection

All continuing students should have completed their 2022 subject selection using OneSchool. If students wish to change, or parents wish them to change, please ask them to come and speak directly with either Mrs Saunders, Ms Lucht or Mrs Shaw.

Year 12 Scholarships

These scholarships will be automatically assessed for students commencing their studies in Semester 1, 2022 having either graduated in 2021 or been on a gap year since graduating in 2020.

JCU Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship:

Awarded to applicants who achieve a minimum ATAR of 97.00:

• Award value: $40,000 awarded for up to 4 years of study ($10,000 per year)
• Study areas: Any study area excluding Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science
• Eligibility: Be commencing full-time study at JCU in any bachelor’s degree in Semester 1, 2022. (excluding Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science)
• Includes: Development and enrichment opportunities including an exclusive mentoring program and Continuing Professional Development.

JCU Deans’ Scholarship

Awarded to applicants who achieve a minimum ATAR of 95.00:

• Award value: $20,000 awarded for up to 4 years of study ($5,000 per year)
• Study areas: Any study area excluding Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science
• Eligibility: Be commencing full-time study at JCU in any bachelor’s degree in Semester 1, 2022. (excluding Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science)
• Includes: Development and enrichment opportunities including a mentoring program and Continuing Professional Development.

Regards

Mrs. Gaye Saunders
Deputy Principal – Middle School

From the Head of Year 11.

As we are nearing the end of Term 4 this means we are edging closer to our students being in their final year of schooling. A scary, yet exciting thought.

I would like to say a massive congratulations to our current Year 11s, who have put themselves out of their comfort zone and applied for Leadership positions for next year. We are currently in the process of counting votes and finalising our positions to be announced at Awards Night. These students have already submitted a written application, undertake an interview and have presented their speeches to staff and Year 9, 10 & 11 students. I am really proud of the high number of students who have applied for positions and are offering to be leaders at ESHS next year. What a great year it will be.

As we draw closer to the end of 2021 and the Year 11s complete Unit 2 of the subjects they are enrolled in, it is important for students to continue to stay focused and uphold the school values. Please encourage students to stay prepared and seek assistance from their teachers where needed.

If you should have any questions, myself (cprio0@eq.edu.au) or Tanya Shaw (tshaw20@eq.edu.au) can be contacted via email or by phoning the school on 4988 2222.

Regards

Miss. Chloe Prior
HOY – Year 11

From the Head of Year 12.

It is with pleasure that I can announce our seniors are performing brilliantly through their exams. Each week the students arrive relaxed and happy, with all of the necessary equipment. We are currently half way through all of the external exams with Chemistry, Modern History, Business and Physics occurring in Week 6.

I would like to give a huge thank you to the Year 11 hospitality team, along with Jacinda Stefanuik and Kathleen Ross who put on a free, delicious, hot breakfast on the first day of exams.

Normal classes for our seniors will resume on the 15th November for Monday, Tuesday and Period 1 Wednesday. This is in order for our staff of individual classes to say goodbye to their students and vice versa. For the rest of Wednesday and Thursday alternate activities will be run for the students at school such as arts & crafts, sporting events, trivia, resume writing classes and emergency services talks.

On Friday of Week 7 the ESHS graduation ceremony will be held over two separate ceremonies. The first ceremony will be held on our new and improved basketball court for all of our students to celebrate the senior’s success. After which the seniors will then head into the UCA around 9:40am for a ceremony designed for parents and family guests. If you wish to attend the ceremony please email your RSVP to tshaw20@eq.edu.au and please be seating in the UCA by 9:30am.

It has been a pleasure supporting these students in their schooling endeavours and I truly wish them the best in the future.

Regards

Mr. Jaksen Brose
HOY – Year 12

From the Cooee Corner.

We are already half way through Term 4 of 2021. The year has gone fast! We have had a busy start to the term, with visits from the primary school for the students getting ready to start Year 7 in 2022. At the end of last term, with the help of the students, Mrs Somerville and Miss Zygadlo cleaned up the gardens and planted new plants. This term we have enjoyed watching the plants grow and students have picked beans and tomatoes.

In Science last term, the students planted Sunflower plants, which have now grown into beautiful flowers. This term in Science with Miss Zygadlo, the students are learning about physical science and exploring movement, sound and light. For their assessment later in the term, they will be constructing a toy that has these three elements. In Maths with Ms Johnson at Cooee Corner, we have been looking at measurements. Students have enjoyed estimating and measure the length, mass and capacity of objects. They have used scales to find the mass of objects and used balancing scales to determine which objects are heavier and lighter. In English with Mrs Somerville, the students have been reading Kumiko The Dragon and completing character descriptions. In Geography with Mrs Te Amo, the students are learning about important places in Emerald (e.g. Ambulance, Police, Hospital and school) and where to find them on a map of Emerald. In Food Specialisations with Mrs Ross and Ms Johnson, the Year 9s have been preparing a variety of sliders for Mrs Somerville and Miss Zygadlo to try. So far, they have made pulled pork and coleslaw sliders, beef paddy and salad slider and a crumbed chicken breast and salad slider.

Regards

Ms. Jemima Johnson
Teacher

From the Science team.

Senior Astronomy

13 students have enrolled in this program at Emerald SHS. Senior Astronomy is a rigorous, high-end course that challenges the students, while giving them an experience of what university level STEM education looks like. If the students treat this course as a normal school subject (3 x 70 min lessons per week), they will be able to finish the course in 40 weeks (a full-school year). However, it is not necessary to complete it in this time. They can study it over a longer period of time if they wish, but they must finish the course by the time they graduate from Emerald SHS to qualify for 2 QCE points.

The course is recognised by the QCAA, which means that students will acquire 2 QCE credit points for their senior Learning Account on successful completion of the course, and they will receive an endorsed ‘Certificate of Completion’ by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). The course is designed for independent, self-paced learning, so students will do assessments when they are ready, and not by a set time.

Students study 8 units as part of the course as outlined below:

All 13 students in this the Senior Astronomy course have been sponsored, courtesy of BMA Bright Minds funds. To further provide students the opportunity to undertake the practical aspects relating to this Astronomy course, and Emerald SHS has invested in a high end Celestron EdgeHD 925 OTA (CGE) telescope. This telescope and accessories cater for both planetary and deep sky viewing and astrophotography. The purchase of the telescope and accessories is also funded by the BMA Bright Minds funds.

Year 11 Biology Camp Reflection:

The Year 11 Biology students had an incredible time at North Keppel Island Environmental Education Centre collecting data for their IA2 – Student Experiment assessment piece. We left Emerald SHS Monday afternoon and arrived into Yeppoon to stay at our Caravan Accommodation for the night before the bright and early start at the Roslyn Bay Marina on Tuesday. The students partook in a jampacked program over the four days, including data collection and assessment. Tuesday saw the students get straight into the water and complete their first snorkel at Sloping Reef to collect data on the coral species present. The students were completing a sampling technique called a Belt Transect, where they ran a 25m measuring tape along the reef, and placed a quadrat every 5m to take a photo of. This allowed the students to determine how does the amount and type of species change in different locations amongst the Keppel Bay Islands.

On Wednesday, the students snorkelled their second site, Reef Beach which was known to be a more disturbed environment and it was interesting to see how the abundance and the species present had changed. That night the students walked along Maize Bay where they learnt about the history of the Woppaburra people and saw many sea anemones, snails and crabs. Thursday was a huge day on the bay where we headed out to Great Keppel Island and completed three snorkels amongst the islands. We visited Wreck Beach, Monkey Reef and Miall Island. The students collected a massive amount of data to come back and analyse for their assessment. On Friday, the students worked on their assessment before then heading back to Emerald SHS.

It was fantastic to see our students engaging in every session to their best of their ability. They worked with each other to collect the data and identify the coral species, as well as engaged with each other in free time activities such as playing volleyball, table tennis and card games. Each of us as teachers were very impressed with the work they put in, with so many of the students having done a large chunk of their assessment whilst on the Island. A massive thankyou goes to the Parents/Caregivers of our Year 11 Biology students who have supported them throughout the year, the ESHS Science Department, the NKIEEC Team for their hospitality and of course to our Biology students who were fantastic whilst on the camp. The students certainly made Emerald SHS proud and we cannot wait for our 2022 Year 11 Biology cohort to have the same experiences as our 2021 cohort has.

Regards

Mr. Aneel Dewan & Bridget Ryan, Jess Whybird and Annabel Paul
HOD and Teachers

From the English team.

Junior, General and Essential English

Halfway through Term 4, and English students are busy beginning assessments and revision for the subject.

Year 7 English students have been busy sourcing arguments about the notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly. Students have been creating presentations, analysing exemplars and practising their persuasive techniques in preparation for their exam in Week 8.

Year 8 English students have just started their drafting of their editorials on the Disney film, Wall-E and the novel Trash. Students are discussing the social issues of poverty, pollution, sustainability and corruption and why they’re important for young people to learn. Students draft editorials are due at the end of Week 7.

Year 10 English students are busy revising for their upcoming exam in Week 7. They have been analysing the film posters and screenshots of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet as well as Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies for language features and text structures. Students will be completing a short response exam, detailing how these devices are used to communicate themes and messages to the audience.

In Year 11 Essential English, students are already well into Unit 3. Students are experiencing the start of Year 12, with a focus on social issues for youth.

Literature

Recently, the Year 11 Literature class has begun their Unit 3 study of the interconnections between literary works, society and culture. In this Unit, our students are studying two texts, beginning with Art, a Tony Award winning play by Yasmina Reza, which tells the story of three friends who argue of the value of a postmodernist artwork and its place in French culture. In this way, the student began their study of the value societies place upon their artistic cultural heritage (and consequently the dollar value), by creating works of art they think they could sell for $100,000, the dollar value of the fictional artwork in the play, which itself is a blank white canvas.

Regards

Miss. Kayla Franklin & Mr. Graham Fandrich
Teachers

From the Hospitality & VET team.

What a great year!

This year, our Year 11 and Year 12 students enrolled in the subject Early Childhood Studies, have done an excellent job. Some areas of focus have been: healthy eating, safety, numeracy and play-based learning for young children.

The Year 11 students have been on a number of excursions to the kindergarten. This term they were required to deliver a play-based learning activity that supported the children’s numeracy skills. The girls did an amazing job. Workers at the kindy commented on how well the students were interacting with the children and how great their numeracy activities were. Well Done Year 11s! Below are some photos of the students delivering their activities to the children at the kindy.

Our Year 10 students taking Early Childhood class this year have been given the amazing opportunity of completing a Certificate 111 in Early Childhood Studies. By the end of Year 12, these students will be eligible to enter straight into a paid position in the early childhood industry. The girls taking this class have vision and purpose and are working extremely hard to fulfil all the requirements of the course. Well done Year 10s!

Regards

Ms. Deborah Gellatly
Teacher

From the ITD team.

The end of the year is fast approaching and there is a lot to be done to assure our students have every chance to excel. The ITD department is running as best as it can with what is at hand. All Year 12 students have completed their assessments and have been working well under Miss Weis’s leadership in Engineering.

Mr Olivier’s Year 12 furnishing class have completed an Esky box and a number of wood-turning projects that will hone their wood turning skills.

Mr Leaver’s Year 11 furnishing class have put their time into designing a parts boxes that will house many articles and a Chess Board.

Year 10 TMT have been introduced to metalwork for the first time and one of their first assessments was to design a garden ornament prior to embarking on manufacturing a metal carry-all. They have been introduced to hand tools and equipment associated with sheet metal.

My Year 9 class have been busy designing a foot stool and you can see from the pictures below that they have come up with some of the best designs that I have seen throughout my teaching career.

Year 8 have had two teachers this term and Mr Leaver and myself have been working with them to manufacture a timber holding box that will give them the knowledge of hand tools and timber joining, such as a finger joint. Miss Weis has a Year 7 DAT and they have also manufactured a Holding Box.

Regards

Mr. Ed Hansen
Teacher

From the Sports Master.

And that’s a wrap (on nearly) all things sport for 2021. On Thursday the 15th of October we were able to celebrate all the great sporting achievements of our students in 2021. It was so lovely to share a barbecue with families before the awards and hear stories of how much our students enjoyed their year back in sporting action.

Below is a list (and photos) of our sporting excellence award winners for 2021.

Coach of the Year – Jaksen Brose & Jordan Grenfell

SPIRIT OF RUGBY AWARD - Olivia Cave

SPIRIT OF SPORT AWARD - Charli Ryan

WAYNE PARSONS MEMORIAL - Eden Catip

SENIOR SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR - Douglas Bennett

JUNIOR SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR - Eden Catip

On a personal note I would like to thank all parents, carers and volunteers who have assisted ESHS this year, whether that be through umpiring, coaching, scoring or managing to help give our students sporting opportunities. I have thoroughly enjoyed engaging with our sporting community over the past few years.

Regards

Miss. Maggie Pembroke
Sports Coordinator

From the Indigenous Education team.

Our Indigenous students in Years 7-11 were invited to engage in the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) Program as part of our Indigenous Education Program in Week 5 of this term at ESHS. The aims of this program are to encourage students to complete high school and support them to access their desired post school pathways of university, employment, traineeships or apprenticeships. The AIME Program covers the following content:

• building confidence
• understanding themselves
• goal setting
• cultural identity
• removing shame
• service to others - kindness, thank you letter, community first etc.

The 22 students who participated in the program found it worthwhile, rewarding and enjoyable. We look forward to offering the AIME Mentoring Program again next year.

We are pleased to welcome Mrs Pillay and Miss Mckeon to the Indigenous Education Faculty this term to provide extra support for respective students in Years 7-10 in regards to English and Maths. The in-class support is working well and the respective students are benefitting from their assistance. Mrs Pillay is here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Miss Mckeon is here on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Regards

Ms. Lucy Ferrara
HOD

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 5 and 6 of this term.

Behaviour Focus

Our current behaviour focus is “Respect the learning environment of others”.

Student of the Week

Week 4

Jady Gladman For consistent efforts in being polite, prepared in participating in every lesson. Their hard work is definitely noticed by their teachers.

Rosie Koroheke Rosie is a delightful students who makes great contributions to classroom discussions and gives her best effort in all tasks.

Ky Broughton For consistently singing the national anthem with pride each week on parade. It is inspiring to see such patriotism.

Tegan Sprought For consistent participation in all class work, completing all tasks to a high standard and always being extremely polite in class.

Rian Pout For participating in class and being a positive presence in class.

Week 5

Jada Roberts Jada is a polite and courteous student who makes valuable contributions to classroom discussions.

Melrover Recto For always being polite and giving everything a go. He is always in class and completing all set tasks.

Grace Rudling For completing her work to the best of her ability and keeping a positive attitude.

Damon Weber For his perseverance with mathematics, giving it a go and achieving his goals.

Community Notices