29 Apirl 2016

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Our school commemorated ANZAC Day with a ceremony where students and staff respectfully recognized the contribution of our Servicemen and women at conflicts over 2 centuries. Mable Quakawoot, the first Indigenous woman to join the Airforce, addressed the school assembly, sharing some of her experiences. Hannah Vella gave a presentation on the contribution of Australian Women to the war effort. Several of our students, part of the local Cadet units played a key role as our Honor Guard. I sincerely thank Mr Alan Macaulay, former Science Head and leader in 122nd Cadet Unit who attended, allowing the cadets to be involved. Special thanks to Mrs Jacqui Gibson, who did an outstanding job in making the program move so smoothly.

The ANZAC Day March on Monday saw ever increasing numbers of students and staff, representing the schools of Mackay and our School Captains presented a special wreath from our Mackay SHS community. Thank you to the many families who brought our students to participate in the special activity.

Hannah Vella and Harrison Arnold attended a special ANZAC ceremony at the Highfields Aged Care Home on Friday. Our School Captains were invited to add some formality to the ceremony on Friday for the residents and they were very proud to be asked and involved.

In recent weeks the nominees for Junior Secondary Leaders, have been reviewed and interviews held. The students appointed for 2016 to have a very important Leadership responsibility are Disha Rabari 7F1, Kristie Carlton 7C2, Cameron Archer 7C2, Shanita Whirisky 7D2, Maddison Davidson 7F1, Mackenzie Carey 8F1, Lillian Wilkinson 8M3, Courtney Trace 8C2, Ashleigh Cairns 8C1, Bronti Whitmore 8D1, Kara Boys 8M3, Courtney Jones 9D2, Jessie-Mae Modra 9D2 and Alex Murray 9F2. I look forward to working very closely with these young people to develop their leadership traits and work with their ideas to further improve our great school.

On assembly at start of Term 2 I congratulated students on the improvements that they had shown in Achievement ratings during Term 1. In the Table below are the percentages of A-C ratings compared to the results at this time in 2015. These are displayed for Whole School and Year level cohort. I have also included the high level of students gaining either A or B ratings as well, showing the growth in these students at High Levels. This will give students and staff a high level with which to launch towards End of Semester results. We all need to strive to higher performance.

This week our school celebrates Harmony Day, recognizing the importance of the diversity in our school and the richness that it brings to our school. We will have more details from Mrs McGuire next Newsletter.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

ACADEMIC ACADEMY

As the academic excellence academy we strive to achieve and gain the best of our abilities in all subjects. Maths, is one of the most crucial components needed in high school.

The AEA is currently studying and focusing on indices and index laws.

In class the AEA is cooperating and participating in group activities to enhance and boost the knowledge of indices.

Maintaining cooperative skills is another skill the AEA is focusing on E.g. Doing daily brainstorming activities and answering mathematical related questions in a fun, cooperative way using online programs.

AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT NEWS

In the newsletter from the 21st March, our Year 10 Agricultural Skills class had just planted a little under 2000 Rosella (Hibiscus sabdariffa) seeds. Of those planted, 580 seeds germinated. These were planted two to a pot and over the holidays have grown to near 30 cm tall. In the coming week the Rosella's will be planted into the ground and in a few months' time will be ready for harvesting.

At present our Year 8, 9 and 10 agriculture classes are running hot with our first 'Paddock to Plate' initiative well under way. We've spent the last week harvesting a plethora of peanuts from the ground, allowing them to start the drying process in the warmth of the greenhouse before students pick them all off! With nearly 20 buckets of nuts so far, we're not even ¼ of the way through! Lots more to come!

Also a big thanks to the Year 8A Ag Science class for doing such a phenomenal job cleaning up the greenhouse and nursery areas. You guys rock!

Timothy Temple-Watts
Agricultural Science Teacher

Yr 12 Chemistry New Additions to the Agricultural Department

The year 12 Chemistry class were lucky enough to be the first class to welcome the batch of day old chicks which arrived on Tuesday 19th April during period 4.

Alkanoic acids were on the agenda after alkanol oxidation reaction mechanisms, however the little balls of yellow fluff provided a distraction to the class. Alkanoic acids will be revisited…

The chicks are to be part of the senior agricultural science extended investigations whereby students will conduct growth trials throughout the term. These trials will manipulate variables to ascertain the most efficient feeding conditions and make evaluations to justify projected recommendations on an industrial scale

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

Over the Easter holidays our school hosted a science professional development session over the course of 2 days (7th & 8th April) led by Dissection Connection. This event attracted teachers, science officers, science heads of departments as well as principals from the district as well as from a far (Brisbane, Rockhampton and Cairns). Over 30 people were involved in this 2 day event.

This event was designed to showcase good practices within the classroom, open up digital opportunities in the classroom and introduce new software and hardware to be used in the science classroom. Activities and sessions included; Our school farm tour, virtual excursions, virtual experts, 3D printers, wireless data loggers, piglet dissections, toad euthanasia, bovine reproduction dissections, microfossils and faraminifera, the science of light, kitchen chemistry.

It was a wonderful way to network with science like-minded people.

3D printer in action

HOME ECONOMICS

YOUNG CHEFS COMPETITION

The Rotary Club of Port of Mackay have once again organise a Young Chef Competition for local schools in the area for 2016.

The preliminary heats at MSHS took place on the 18th April 2016 and we are once again proud to announce that we have 2 senior teams and 1 junior team who will compete against other schools in the district at Tafe on the 21st May 2016.

The winning team of the Juniors are Tyshanna Leijen and Jordan Plath from Year 7. These two young ladies have made a Chicken & Herb dish with roast vegetables.

Our senior teams are Mariah Anderson and Brianna Skinner from Year 11 first up with their winning recipe of Crumbed Asparagus Chicken and runner-up Cody Ainslie and Kayla Walz from Year 12 who made a beautiful Chicken Puff Pastry dish.

Well done guys!! You are very proud of you We wish you all the best for the 21st May when you will be competing against winners from other local schools.

Mrs Chambers

SPORTING HERO AWARD

At only 15 years of age and getting selected to play at the U21 nationals is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me throughout my hockey career. Hi my name is Tina Manumu'a and am in grade 11, I have just recently came back from competing in the Un 21 hockey Nationals held in Sydney.

One afternoon I received a phone call from Hockey Qld informing me that I had been selected as a shadow for the Under 21 Qld Hockey team. My past achievements of being named goal keeper of the tournament in both Un 15 and Un 18 state championships in the same year had impressed the selectors. Within a few days of getting that news I received another call telling me I am actually going away to compete as Northern Territory pulled out of the Australian National competition, Hockey Australia then asked 2 of the strongest states Hockey QLD and Hockey NSW to form a combined team of all their shadows calling us East Coast Venom.

The Championships were held in Sydney at the Olympic Hockey centre from 10th April to 17th April. When I arrived and met my team I realised that I was the youngest player in the team and the thought of getting the opportunity to play amongst the best UN21 hockey players in Australia was very exciting and a little nerve racking. As a goalie it adds that little more pressure because if you make a mistake a goal is scored.

East Coast Venom finished 7th in the tournament which was a good achievement considering we were all shadows from 2 different states competing in one of the toughest hockey competitions in Australia. During the championships I felt like I played well, made some really good saves and was happy with my performance, my coach told me she was very surprised with how I played considering I was so young. I learned a lot from my experience and now know what I have to do to play at that level. My next trip is in July playing for the Un 18 QLD number 2 side in Launceston, Tasmania.

TRY A TRADE

BPOINT

MATHS TUTORING

NAPLAN is just around the corner …. (for Year 7 and Year 9 students)

With NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) testing happening soon, we would like your child to have the best opportunity to excel. One way to do well is to be prepared with all of the correct and essential equipment. To this end we are putting in place a process to make this easier. From this week onwards we would like you to send to school with your child the following:

• 2 x 2B pencils
• an eraser
• a sharpener; and
• a calculator (a basic one if your child is in year 7, and a scientific one if your child is in year 9).

These will be collected and stored in a named bag until it is needed, and afterwards returned to you. If you have difficulty getting these items together, please contact me on 4957 9159.

Jim Laidlaw
Acting HOD Mathematics

ENGLISH TUTORING

Tutoring

Every Monday 3- 4pm in A08

Students can get help with assignments, exam preparation, oral presentations etc.

EALD

ARE YOU AN EALD – Is English and additional language or dialect for you??

Student Who Needs Some Extra Help with Assignments? You are eligible for:

What: Extra FREE tutoring for EALD students
WHEN: Every Wednesday 3pm to 4pm
WHERE: D05 classroom
WHO with: Mrs McGuire and Mrs Baxter

Bring along your assignments or homework for help with grammar and vocabulary; or to understand the task requirements.

SPORTS REPORT

Congratulations to the Chattaway sports house for taking first place in Mackay State High School's Cross Country Carnival. The schools cross country was the first whole school sporting event held this year and I am pleased to say that it was a successful day for all the participants; junior and senior. At 11:20, years 7, 8 and 9's were escorted into the hall for a war cry battle between the four sports houses; Chattaway, Mackay, Dennis and Forgan. The juniors were then led to the starting point for their 3 km race. Not long after, Chattaway representatives triumphantly ran through the finish line. Later on in the day Harry Arnold from Mackay house took first place in the opens event, but the overwhelming amount of yellow in the competitors helped Chattaway win the overall school cross country event. On behalf of all Chattaway members Isaiah and I would like to congratulate our fellow sporting opponents for such a competitive event. Thank you to all the participants, supervisors and the sports captains for creating such a great atmosphere for the races.

Jessica Green, Isaiah Tass
Chattaway House Captains, 2016

Congratulations to the age group winners for the 2016 Cross Country:

To encourage house spirit, the house captains brainstormed a range of ways to motivate students to participate in this carnival. It is not expected for students to run the whole distance, however if they choose to this is fantastic. It is a great time for students to foster pride in their house and contribute by enjoying a walk, jog or sprint (for some) and gain participation points. With the additional lucky door prizes, meetings and team chants there seemed to be a buzz amongst the students who attended on the day. This is a carnival that can ultimately be won on participation. This is very clear from the results below. Thank you to all of the students who made this a wonderful day, the teachers who completed a specific role and finally to Miss Dick and Miss Nutt who worked behind the scenes to make this whole school event run smoothly on the day. Congratulations!

Academy Uniform

All old Mackay State High School Academy shirts (BLK Brand) are no longer accepted as part of the school uniform. In the agreement with our new supplier ISC as well as the school's P & C, the only academy shirts as part of the day to day school uniform are to be the new ISC shirts.

If any student wears the old Academy shirts to school and there has been no contact between home and school, they will front the judiciary in the coming weeks where a note will be sent home for parents to sign.

YEAR 11 FITNESS

Both year 11 Fitness classes have been busy over the past few months between learning about Workplace Health & Safety Practices and Risk Management in the Gym environment to partaking in group fitness sessions and planning outdoor sessions for younger clients.

This term they are learning about the benefits of warmups and cooldowns as well as some basic anatomy and physiology. They are also partaking in lessons to maintain equipment in the fitness industry (we have some photographic evidence of some of boys hard at work!)

The students are beginning to test their personal training skills by taking a peer client for a one on one session. So far they have done a fantastic job of this showing their potential in the future as fantastic trainers. Students have also been coming in early in the morning to run through a training session which is of particular interest to them.

On the 15th March the year 11 Fitness students had the opportunity to participate in our first ever bench press competition. I could not have been any more proud of every single entrant for their courage, their excellent behaviour and support for one another as well as their outstanding results.

We had several extremely nervous girls who were almost not going to enter but stepped out of their comfort zone and put their strength to the test to surprise even themselves with their great results. Also impressed with the boys who all stepped up to give it their best shot at testing themselves.

We had some guest appearances from community members and powerlifters Dean Illguth and Tristan LeBherz who worked hard loading the bars, spotting and refereeing for the competitors as well as running a workshop on squats, deadlifts and bench press. Dean currently holds the Australian record for his weight division with a 230kg bench press as a national competitor and Tristan was recently invited to compete in the QLD titles.

The superstars of the day were Ryan Molloy with a final lift of 95kg during competition taking it out for the males and Raquel Baliero smashing it in the ladies division with a 45.5kg lift. Unfortunately for James Lister he decided after the competition to try a 100kg bench and cleared it which would have won him the competition and Jasmine Fuhlbohm was the unofficial winner with a 50kg bench though only fitness students were allowed to take home the prizes.

At the end of the year two students in the subject will be selected based on their theoretical application, knowledge, attitude, behaviour and aptitude as an up and coming trainer. For this we are putting together a prize pack which so far consists of $40 voucher from On-point Nutrition as well as an autographed shirt from Odell Manuel (Australia's strongest lifter) supplied by ASN. Good luck to all!

BRIDGE AWARD

Two students Ashleigh Cairns and Aleesha Wright – Year 8 who are participating in the Bridge Award completed 2 hours of community service in the Northern Beaches area over the weekend. They helped plant some native species of trees along Little McCreadys Creek. The planting of these trees will help in stopping erosion of these banks in the storm season.

BACKING OUR YOUTH LAUNCH

The new regional school chaplaincy initiative, Backing Our Youth, launched in February and it's now full steam ahead on this exciting campaign.

The Vanderfield team took the chance to join with Mackay High students to launch its Backing Our Youth initiative (BOY) which will see a percentage from every tractor sold across Queensland, in the next six months, supporting programs and projects that build resilience in young Queenslanders.

Vanderfield co-owner, Bruce Vandersee, says years of drought and negative rhetoric around economic conditions and social issues – such as substance abuse – have sapped confidence, particularly in young people.

This Backing Our Youth initiative is about reminding young people that there were plenty of reasons to be hopeful.

"Every day we deal with great people in the bush, people who want to serve our communities and make a difference," Mr Vandersee said.

"In our experience when you resource these people to serve our young people they have a big impact. There is so much potential in our young people but we all need to step up and do our bit to resource this potential".

The Vanderfield proceeds will be channeled into a fund, run by the Artesian Foundation, with SU QLD chaplains able to apply for grants to resource efforts to engage and empower young people.

Bruce Vandersee, said the Backing Our Youth initiative, was a great way for companies to support young people in the bush, because it created a sustainable revenue stream for regional projects.

"For most companies philanthropy looks like this – we get asked to a dinner, or receive a letter and we write a cheque. Backing Our Youth means giving back to local communities is linked to our core business. It also involves our clients – every time they buy a tractor, they are investing in the young people in their community," Mr Vandersee said.

So far, the BOY initiative has supported a brekky club in the Lockyer, providing a healthy start for more than 400 students a week and will help fund grounds care equipment for Mackay High students as part of their 'Strength' program building their confidence through workplace mentoring.

Mr Vandersee is calling on other companies to join BOY and invest in the next generation.

"Young people receive a lot of bad press but they face unprecedented hurdles. Our experience is the right investment of people and financial resources goes a long way to build hope and resilience. And the more we invest, the more we benefit as a community and a business."

Mackay cane grower, George Williams – a long time Vanderfield client – said BOY gave him another reason to buy Vanderfield.

"John Deere is our brand of tractor but now I've seen the impact these chaplains have in shepherding our kids through tough times."

To get behind this exciting initiative for regional school chaplaincy, visit the website

CHAPLAIN UPDATE

Coffee's for Chappy

The Ugly duckling Cafe, which is a work education program that normally serves delicious hot beverages to the teachers, did a wonderful job catering to the parent and teacher interviews night to practice their barista skills and raise money for the chaplaincy committee and in particular our own Chappy Phil.

Thanks to Mr Hood and his students.

WINTERMOON FESTIVAL

Wintermoon is the ideal opportunity for motivated young local musicians to not only absorb some great music but also to perform on the blackboard stage and in the Musicians' Circle and to participate in the free music workshops run by festival musicians. The Wintermoon Festival experience is not limited to music. Dance, magic, poetry and circus acts also have a place on the jam-packed program. Add the colourful market stalls, the tasty food stalls, craft, yoga and circus workshops and children's activities to the mix and there is plenty to do at this family friendly festival.

COMMUNITY NOTICES