11 May 2023

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report.

Dear Friends of Emerald High,

Almost halfway through the term already!

Our musical has been a real highlight of the term.

For any of you who have been involved in musicals, you will now that they are fantastic, amazing, sensational experiences – but they are also exhausting and frequently traumatic. Tears flow, teddies get thrown out of cots – they are emotional volcanos.

I am so proud of Kayla Franklin and the musical team of students and staff who produced something truly outstanding and life-changing for those involved. I was delighted with the wrap-around teamwork from so many people who supported each other through the highs and the lows. Teamwork is what makes our school great and it was again evident in bucketloads during the musical.

Some great student news with some super district selections:

• Riley James - Touch football
• Caitlin Edwards - Touch football
• Sarah Ellerton - Touch football

Well won to all of these talented students!

We have also had some great results in Rugby League. My thanks to Mr Cox for his great sports reporting.

Year 7/8 Boys:

• Won 4 from 4 games in convincing wins.

Year 9/10 Boys:

• Beat Marist in Game 1.
• Narrowly lost game 2 (3-2) and 3 (2-0) against a very high-quality Marist team. Some of the most exceptional football the Year 9/10 boys have played at school in their 4 years here.

Year 11/12:

• 2 wins 2 losses. Incredible character displayed to play with minimal reserves. Fought through fatigue and injury.

Honourable mentions go to the Year 10 students of age who played back-to-back games to help the seniors out.

Astronomy Night is on this week for the very first time and we are very excited to invite our community to the school to explore the heavens. See our Facebook site for details!

“I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

Jim Carrey

Have a fantastic fortnight
Mr. Sean Maher
Principal

From the Head of Year 9.

Our Year 9 leaders have a few leadership conferences coming up over the next couple of weeks. Firstly, next Tuesday 16th May, our leaders have been invited to the Mayoral Summit. This involves the School Captains, Vice Captains and SRC President and Vice President. The summit has been running since 2010 and has seen more than 2000 students participate. Students are able to present their ideas based on a theme to council. This year’s theme is “Imagine your community in 2043, what do you wish for?”

The other opportunity that all junior leaders will have to participate in is the Altitude Leadership Day. Students who attend come away with new skills, new perspectives and new ideas for making a positive contribution as a leader. Students also gain advice on how to make good choices, build their confidence and make a difference from three inspiring guest speakers, all whilst forming a strong network of peers from schools across the region.

Uniform:

Just a reminder that as the weather is cooling down, please ensure that the jumpers that are worn by students meet uniform expectations, please see below:

If you have any questions please let me know.

Regards
Mr. Leon Coromandel
HOY – Year 9

From the Head of Year 10.

We have had an extremely positive start to the term. It has been great to see students engaged and following our key values of polite, prepared and participate. During Week 3, the Year 10 cohort participated in work experience and I have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback from both students and businesses who participated in the week. A massive well done to all our students for demonstrating maturity while in the workplace.

With the cooler weather setting in, I would like to provide a reminder about the uniform expectations at ESHS. Our PBL focus for the next few weeks is wear your uniform with pride and I would like to remind all parents and carers about the importance of wearing the correct uniform and the processes at school to support students to follow our uniform policy.

Finally, it was great to see a number of parents and carers attend our recent parent teacher interview session. These opportunities provide a great opportunity for parents and carers to discuss their child’s progress with their class teachers. This is one of the best ways for parents to get insight into how their child is progressing and what parents/carers can do to continue to support their child to have success with their learning.

Regards
Mrs. Rickilee Venardos
HOY – Year 10

From the Guidance Officer.

School Refusal

At times for young people, thoughts related to going to school may cause high levels of anxiety and distress leading to refusal to attend. A range of underlying individual, school, family and community factors may be contributing to students feeling that they won’t be able to cope at school, despite having encouragement and support from friends and/or family. The factors differ for each person and differ from regular truancy. Consequences can be serious and impact academic learning, family interactions, mental well-being and social skills. It is also important to try and find the reason the student is refusing to attend school by talking with them, their friends, school staff and if it is severe, a General Practitioner (GP) or other mental health professionals e.g., psychologist.

ReachOut Australia (online mental health service for young people) offer the following supportive strategies that parents may consider when dealing with school refusal:

• Take each day as it comes. Dealing with school refusal can be unpredictable: your teen may be willing to attend school one day and then the next day refuse to go. Try to take each day as it comes and to manage the issues as they arise.
• Establish a morning and evening routine. Having a routine in place can help give your teen a sense of stability. Sit down with them and work out everything that needs to be done and schedule it into a planner. Consider including relaxation techniques into your routine to help reduce stress or anxiety, such as breathing exercises or meditation. You could also try out this template to see if it helps you and your teen to create a routine.
• Focus on mental health, rather than enforcing school attendance. This can create an opportunity for you to problem solve together with your teen around their mental health and to address the issues that underlie their school refusal.
• Encourage open conversation. You can learn more about how to have open and effective communication with your teen here.
• Acknowledge what is and is not in your control. It can be helpful to help you focus on the things that are within your control and begin to let go of those that aren’t. A mental health professional can be helpful to help you manage this.
• Research alternative pathways of learning. Your teen may be better suited to other types of learning. These could include an apprenticeship, traineeship, distance education and alternate schools. It may relieve their stress just to know that there are different options and pathways available to them.
• Work with your teen’s school on management plans. Inform your teen’s school about what’s happening and work together with them to find solutions.

The not-for-profit organisation Generation Next also provides useful parent information regarding school refusal and steps that may help in the following link:

Regards
ESHS Guidance Officer

From the Maths team.

After being well-rested over the holiday break, members of the Maths department, and students, have hit the ground running for Term 2. The Year 7 mathematicians are currently practicing their number laws and dealing with those nasty negative numbers for their first topic. Year 8s have been exploring index laws and are beginning their unit on algebra, where they are working towards their first exam for the term. It’s all statistics and probability for Year 10, who are currently learning about two-way tables, tree diagrams and the chances of their favourite teams winning, as they approach their NRL Assignment in Week 5. Year 11 students are getting stuck into the tail-end of the Unit 1 assessment items across Essential, General, Methods and Specialist. Finally, the Year 12 group are also working away at their third-last term of schooling before they head out into the big, wide world.

Regards
Mr. Michael Lemura
Teacher

From the HPE team.

Term 2 is off to a flying start. There have been a number of CH and Capricornia trials for many sports and we have had many ESHS students representing the school at both levels. Our touch football teams currently playing in the local competition, are developing in their respected divisions and there has also been some success from our Rugby League teams. The 7/8 team finished the CH Schoolboys cup undefeated, our 9/10s and opens played competitively and managed to secure wins over Marist and Blackwater (opens only). All students represented the school extremely well and did us proud off the field. Special thanks to Mr. Cox and Mr. Blunt for coaching their respective sides. Our Rugby League girls will get the exciting opportunity to showcase their skills when they travel to Rockhampton to compete in the Karyn Murphy Shield. The competition is extremely competitive, with the traditional favourites being schools from Rockhampton. However, the girls have been training incredibly hard and they will undoubtedly shake things up this year. Currently, our Vikki Wilson netball teams were out on Monday at Yeppoon and returned on Tuesday.

It is that time in the school term and Touch Football and Volleyball teams are training, ahead of their respective Regional and State competitions. All teams involved are training hard and are excited to have the opportunity to showcase their abilities on a larger scale.

Yet again, we wanted to give a big thank you to all students who have been bringing their hats and water bottles to class. Sun safety is very important and it is promoted in all our lessons. Despite the cloudy weather and cooler temperatures, UV rays are still equally harmful. Please continue to support the school with sun safety and remind students to have a hat and water bottle with them.

Our school athletics carnival will be running before the end of term, so please keep an eye and ear out for notices about arrangements for this day.

Well done and congratulations to all students who are giving 100% effort in HPE.

Regards
Mr. Brandon Armgardt
Teacher

From the LOTE team.

Konnichiwa Minna-san! Welcome to Term 2.

We trust you had an amazingly long and eventful holiday as always! This term, Languages classes will be back as per usual. Make sure you are always following the 3Ps and be sure to come to class with all your necessary equipment and be on time for every class!

The Languages program this term has students studying a variety of topics across Years 7 – 12. These include:

Year 7 – “Yuru-kyara”

In this unit, students will be investigating the ‘yuru-kyara’ of Japan. ‘Yuru-kyara means mascot in Japanese and they are usually quite big, cute and overly awkward. The students will then use this information to create and design their own mascot that represents themselves or the community. Additionally, they will also be continuing their practice of the Japanese alphabet (Hiragana and Kanji).

Year 8 – “What’s for dinner”

This term in Japanese, we will be covering the unit of ‘What’s for dinner’ and focusing on discussing the different types of food that they eat in Japan. Students will then compare Japanese food and culture to Australian food and create a recipe in Japanese for their assessment.

We have also introduced the Hiragana belt system, where students will be completing pages of their new Hiragana booklets and quizzes to move up to different levels. All students start on a White Belt and the highest level you can achieve is the Black Belt.

Year 9 and 10 - “What is the best job in the world”.

In this unit, students will:

• Plan and promote a job at a career fair
• Explore youth employment in Japan
• Create bilingual job advertisements.

The students will then conduct a multimodal presentation for their assessment, which will be handed out to them in Week 7 and due in Week 9 of Term 2.

The best way to improve achievement is short, but regular, review of vocabulary. It is recommended that you also use your spare time to learn Japanese writing symbols and new vocabulary. Additionally, book work is as important as always! Neat handwriting and well organised notes are the greatest way to best achieve desirable outcomes.

Ganabtte! Have a great term – we look forward to seeing everyone back in class!

Regards
Miss. Abbi McClean
Teacher

From the Humanities team.

After a well-rested holiday, humanities classes have been busy learning and exploring various topics. In Geography, our Year 7s are exploring place and liveability, Year 8s have just finished their landscapes and landforms unit, Year 9 are studying for their interconnections exam and Year 10 are analysing the formation of mega cities. In Civics and Citizenship, a new rotation of Year 7s and Year 8s have just started their unit this week. In History, Year 7s are exploring the world of ancient China, Year 8s, the black death, Year 9s are exploring WW1 and Year 10s are diving into WW2. Senior Modern History are just starting their assessment on the cold war and Russian revolution. Senior Ancient History have just started with their new teacher Mr Neil, as Miss Watkin is going on maternity leave in two weeks’ time. We wish her all the best!

Regards
Mr. Pierce Leahy
Teacher

From the Interact Club.

Interact is the teenage branch of Rotary and Emerald State High School is the only school in the region to have its own Interact club.

We currently have 26 members and this group has already had a busy year.

At the end of Term 1, the students ran a car wash to raise money for the proposed Emerald Men’s Shed. After only 4 hours, the students managed to raise $500 with the help of the community. who brought their cars down. It was non-stop, with students running from car to car in order to get the ones that were still parked, washed and dried.

This term, the students were asked to run the Rotary BBQ at the Festival of the Bands. Although the day started off slowly, by the time the sausages were cooking, the crowd was non-stop again and our students were a well-organised group, working in set shifts. Students often stayed beyond their allocated time or when they knew their shift was ending, to help locate and train their replacement. This level of responsibility made the job for myself and Miss McClean much easier.

Next term, the school’s Interact club will be running the annual Christmas in July markets and light display at the Sunrise Hall by the BMX track. Students are raising money for June’s Wildlife Service; another great local charity. It will start at 6pm.

Abbi McClean will be coordinating the group while I am on leave next semester and is already bustling with ideas for the Haunted House in October. I can’t wait to see the photographs and hear the stories.

Any students, from any year, who are interested in joining Interact can come to the meetings in C8 on every odd week, on Wednesdays, during First Break.

Regards
Mrs. Leanne Ross
Club Coordinator

From the Learning Support/EALD team.

Regards
Mrs. Lauren Jarvis
Club Coordinator

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 3 and 4 of this term.

Behaviour Focus

Our current behaviour focus is “Wear your uniform with pride.”

Student of the Week

Week 3

Year 7: Georgia Kinnon For putting in 100% effort to all tasks and contributing constructively to class discussions.
Year 8: Caleb Hema-Taana For outstanding effort and participation in his classes. He is always a polite and prepared student who participates in all activities.
Year 9: Cooper Serotzki For always coming to class with a smile, following the 3ps at all times and putting effort into every task.
Year 11: Bailey Fielder For always demonstrating a polite and respectful attitude towards staff and students. Bailey is a true leader within the school community.
Year 12: Annalise Hewitt For always giving 100% in maths, attempting every question and helping others when they are struggling.

Week 4

Year 7: Chelsea Barry For the polite manner in which she interacts with both students and teachers. She also has a very high standard of work.
Year 8: Fletcher Dockerty For consistently being polite and prepared, and for being an active participant in every lesson.
Year 9: Madeline Clarricoats For always showing a positive attitude towards content taught and assisting others with their learning.
Year 10: Shelby Sommerville For giving 100% and participation in learning activities in the classroom.
Year 11: Lillia Renwick For always having a smile on her face and going above and beyond to support her peers. Lillia is a role model for the school.
Year 12: Oscar Reynolds For always seeking feedback and implementing when completing assessments.

Community Notices