23 August 2016

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Recent weeks have been focused on speaking with our students in primary schools, preparing them for transition to Year 7 in 2017. Accompanied by some former students, teacher and myself, have visited each of the state primary schools in our catchment area to do a brief presentation and invite them to the Information Evening held on 17th August. You could feel the anticipation and readiness of the students at that evening, as they were ready to explore the opportunities of High School. The students and parents walked through the school, talking to teachers about the different subject areas. Many parents also booked interviews for the following week. Between 22nd – 25th August, between 2:30pm and 6pm, we hope to interview all of the students seeking to attend Mackay State High in 2017. If you have not made an interview time at this stage, please contact the Office and book in now. Sincere thanks to staff who made themselves available for this important event and the P&C for donating the items for the sausage sizzle.

Mackay Orchestra and Bands competition was convened on the weekend, with Instrumental groups performing from nearly all schools in our area. Our students and staff performed outstandingly well, rewarded for their many hours of practice. Our relatively new Percussion group were awarded Gold, as was our Senior Concert Band, later on Saturday evening. Our Junior Concert Band made up of many of our less experienced players was awarded Silver. On Sunday our Strings Ensemble was excellent in their performance and were also awarded Gold. This is wonderful recognition of the talent and commitment of our students, the quality teaching they receive and the great support of their Mums and Dads.

Year 7 Scholarship winners for 2017 were announced on our visits to the schools. With great support from our Parents & Citizens Association, these students were selected from over 35 applications this year. Each student receives $500 value for their initial year of High school. Congratulations to

The new Gym is expected to be handed over to the school by 24th August 2016. The gym equipment will be transferred into this new large open space, for the students to use. The structure also includes a large Staffroom facility as well, while the old gym room, will be transitioned back to two classroom spaces.

On Monday 15th August 2015 our School Captains attended the VP 50 commemoration at Jubilee Park, remembering the 71st anniversary of the end of the Pacific conflict of World War 2. Kate Brown in Year 11, was honoured to be asked to play “Last Post” and “Reveille” at the ceremony, doing so very capably.

Science Week is celebrated in the week 15th – 20th Aug this year. Each day there have been special activities available for students to participate in including experiments at lunch, Scienmas to view, quizzes and culminating on Friday with the regional Titration competitions. Several students were involved in visits to Chelona and Dundula State Schools to assist and judge their Science Week activities. Our two Titration teams will compete against teams from nearly all of the High Schools, State and private, here in Mackay.

Just a reminder that the 2016 QCS Test will be sat by Year 12s on 30 & 31st August to assist in their awarding of OPs for University entry.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

JUNIOR SECONDARY NEWS

General News

This week we have again recognised students in Junior Secondary who have achieved a rating on report cards of excellent or very good for BOTH effort and behaviour for ALL their subjects for semester 1. This is a great achievement for those awardees, representing a desire to always do the best for themselves, even when the challenge in class is difficult. The desire to do your best and show pride in yourself spans all academic and social levels.

We recognised the work of 51 year 7, 40 year 8 and 23 year 9 students. An equal number of students missed out on an award by only one or 2 subjects. It's a great reminder of the self-pride that most students show on such a regular basis.

I recently supplied Pizza to 7D2 as a reward for being the winning dodgeball team in our recent competition. About 25 students devoured 12 full size pizzas in about 7 minutes flat. No crumbs left!

What's On Soon

Last week a number of staff visited our main primary schools as part of our annual "Roadshow" and spoke to year 6 students about the huge array of opportunities that exist at Mackay High, and the support students receive on their journey to adult life.

Have you heard the expression "You get out of life what you put into it"? You also only get out of school what you put into it. This was also a key message delivered to the year 6 students we visited.

This week saw our Information Evening for students considering enrolling into year 7 at Mackay High in 2017. Many thanks to all who attended and visited the subject displays on offer. Enrolment interviews were open to be booked for the following week, to be held in our auditorium.

On an entertaining note, students will be able to nominate for a number of upcoming competitions. There will be a speedball competition for each junior secondary year level, and an art competition for those who prefer more artistic challenge

Thoughts of the Newsletter

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.

Napoleon Hill

Did you know?

Helen Keller, at the age of 19 months, became deaf and blind. But that didn’t stop her. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Always remember:

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE ACADEMY CADET PROGRAM

The year is flying by and the Academic Excellence Cadet program is now in full swing. The most recent Cadet visit saw the program extend to the inclusion of thirty eager year 5 students. The Academic Excellence Cadets visit Mackay State High School from a range of local primary schools, twice per term, to participate in programs designed to challenge them scholastically. The purpose of the Cadet program is to help prepare students for the more challenging and complex studies they will encounter in secondary school.

Recent visits have involved an ICT session with Mrs Adams where they were taught Visual Programming using Scratch. Scratch is a program allowing users to create interactive stories, games and animations. The students had loads of fun and it was hard to drag them away for afternoon tea when the session was over. Additionally, they have participated in sessions focussed around English and Literacy, Art and Social Science.

The next Cadet visit will take place on Thursday the 1st September and students will participate in sessions with the Agriculture and Drama faculties. Please note that the deadline for applications for students wishing to apply for a position within the Academic Excellence Academy in 2017 is 3.30pm on Thursday the 1st September and that Academic Excellence Testing will commence at 4.00pm on this date. Please contact me here at school if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about our Academic Excellence Academy.

Kellie Bryan
Academic Excellence Co-Ordinator

SCIENCE WEEK 2016

Science week kicked off with an exciting demonstration of the experiment Elephant’s Toothpaste. Mr Clegg’s explanation attracted quite a crowd before the final eruption.

Tuesday had the students turning out for a laser light show accompanied by a smoke machine and music. Several students showcased their impressive dance skills, lit by the techno lights.

Wednesday gave the students a chance to showcase their creativity and knowledge at the Science Week Comedy Festival. Our winners were:

Gold: Patrick O’Brien
Silver: Megan Antcliff
Bronze: Michael Hains

To cap off the science experiments, some students helped Ms Masserano give new meaning to the term blowing bubbles by creating bubbles of hydrogen to explode!

Congratulations to the Year 10 students that helped Ms Atkins and Mr Mather show the primary school students from Dundula State School and Chelona State School the wonder of science.

A big thank you to everyone that helped out and joined in the festivities to make this science week a blast!

DISSECTION OF A SHEEP’S BRAIN

On the 3rd of August 2016 Mrs. Burns’ year 9 Science class performed an experiment. They dissected a sheep’s brain. The purpose of the activity was to familiarise the students with the parts of the brain. Before dissecting the sheep’s brain, the teacher checked if the students were equipped for the dissection. After that the students were divided into six groups.

To dissect a sheep’s brain, the things that were needed were: safety glasses, a sheep’s brain, scalpel, cutting board, disposable gloves and newspaper. The objective of this activity was for the students to be able to identify the parts of the brain and describe their colour and appearance. The students also separated the two hemispheres using a scalpel. They identified and labelled where each part was located. This activity helped the students to improve their knowledge about the structure, texture and parts of the brain.

By Ariane Tolentino (9E Science)

SPORTS REPORT

Week 6 Term 3

Over the past five weeks, the grade 7 student’s practical lessons have been focusing on the ‘Master of Control’. This has involved two external presenters providing Yoga and Body Balance classes. These classes have challenged students to do something different and out of their comfort zones. The benefits that these classes have provided students are; improved flexibility and balance, helps focus, relaxes the body and mind and allows students to connect with their body. A favourite part of the Yoga, was the relaxation techniques where students responded well to tuning into concentrating only on slowing their breathing and reducing tension with in their bodies. This is a skill that should be utilised in the future to reduce stress of the digital world we live in.

11 Recreation Studies

This term our Year 11 Recreation students are designing a sporting tournament that they will run with various aged classes. Students have been working together in groups to develop an appropriate tournament to be run during a 70 minute lesson. This project provides great opportunity for our students to develop team building and management skills while also learning important teaching and coaching skills.

Grade 9 students

This Term the year 9 students have been learning new skills based around orienteering. Each student has learnt fundamental skills of how to operate a compass. Orienteering relates to every academic discipline, from math to history to environmental awareness and it does so in new and interesting ways. Students have learnt how to count paces and convert these to metre measurements. They have had to use logical thinking to follow bearings to create different shapes and now will progress to completing courses mapped out around the school grounds.

ARTS NEWS

Arts Under the Stars

If you attended Arts Under the Stars can you please take the time to complete a survey by clicking on the following link.

Instrumental Music success

65 Instrumental students impressed the judges when they performed at the annual Mackay Orchestras and Bands Competition at Mackay Christian College on the weekend of 13 and 14 August. The following results are further testimony to the excellent outcomes of the Music program at our school.

Gold Award – Percussion Ensemble conducted by Nicole de Brueys
Gold Award – Senior School Concert Band conducted by Matt
Gold Award – String Ensemble conducted by Kristen Boyd
Silver Award – Middle School Concert Band conducted by Yvonne Bell

The judge commented on the excellent presentation and focus of our groups on stage. Of special mention is the Percussion Ensemble whose Gold performance was an original composition, performed on junk objects that they gathered and decorated.

We would like to thank the Archer family for supplying the 44 gallon drums for the percussion ensemble, the Blines family for transporting them to and from MOB and Perry Hobdell for helping build some of the percussion instruments. Also many thankyou’s to the Taylor family for their recent donation of two cellos.

Mrs Glenda Hobdell
HOD The Arts

BRIDGE AWARDS

Bridge Award – Level 1 Adventurous Journey

On Sunday 14th August, five students who are completing their Bridge Award completed their adventurous journey around the Bluewater Trail. The walk started from the school grounds and saw the students taking on leadership roles to ensure the group made it to Illawong Beach in the quickest and most easiest way. From there, the students walked along the beach to Iluka Park and around the Sandfly Creek Environmental Reserve where they gained valuable knowledge about the importance of the area. Next stop on the journey was to see the murals along River Street. The students created their own timelines where they noted down significant events in Mackay’s history. The last stretch of the journey was a large walk from the Bluewater Quay to the Botanic Gardens. A great day had by all students involved. Well done Hannah Walz, Charlotte Milner, Taylor Pamenter, Ashleigh Cairns and Aleisha Wright on completing your Level 1 Bridge Award Adventurous Journey.

F1 IN SCHOOLS REGIONAL FINAL

F1 in schools is a competition organised by Re-engineering Australia (REA) and sponsored by the Australian defence force. Students are tasked to design and manufacture model F1 cars using Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) and manufactured using Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM). The cars are then raced down a 20 metre track, powered by a CO2 canister which can reach speeds of up to 80km/hour.

On Friday the 12th of August the F1 in schools regional final was held at St Patrick’s College. As part of the Advanced Manufacturing and Design subject Mackay SHS had nine teams, five Year 8 teams and four Year 9 teams entered in the Cadet class. The day started with each team having two races where the cars are started automatically to see how fast they can go and then two races where the team members manually started their cars testing the reaction speed of the team members. Once all the formal racing was over it was time for some fun Sudden Death races with one of our Year 8 students, Austin Macrae, holding the title for a number of races with a reaction time of approximately 0.166 of a second.

In what was the largest regional final in the country with over 60 teams entered from five different schools in the region. Mackay SHS had two teams selected to move forward to go to the State Finals in Toowoomba and one team receive an encouragement award. Congratulations to team RESA (Marlon Zabini and John Ranola) and team MSN (William Coady and Reilly Sehmish) for being selected to go the state finals and team Bumble Bee (Jarrod Moore and Jayden Bell) for receiving an encouragement award. Overall it was a very worthwhile day where the students learned a lot and had fun.

YEAR 11 FITNESS

The year 11 Certificate 3 Fitness Students have been doing a marvellous job running circuits, games based activities, weights and even boxing sessions for the MSHS staff. Under supervision they are to plan, implement and run a 1 hour group session as part of their assessment.

Great reports from the teachers regarding the choice of exercises as well as the mannerism of the students towards their clients. Teachers are reporting better moods, feeling fitter and even progressive weight loss since participating. Great to see so many staff coming along to support the students.

So far of the students who have been Kyle Vella has been voted favourite trainer due to being knowledgeable while pushing his clients to their limits with a kind and polite manner. Georgia Sharp and Shauna Windsor had their session voted crowd favourite winning everyone over with the tabata/ boxing style session.

Keep up the great work!

A MESSAGE FROM THE OFFICE

2016 MAGAZINE

At the end of this term we will tally who has paid their Magazine invoices and then order the appropriate number to be printed. IF you are on a payment plan please come and see me to ensure your “MagazIne” invoice is not deleted before being included in the order.

The annual magazine is a wonderful keepsake

2017 SUBJECT SELECTION

Some subjects for 2017 will be difficult for your student to choose if you still have outstanding fees. We understand that some families are experiencing financial hardship so please advise the office if you wish to discuss a payment plan.

Yr12 FORMAL TICKETS

Yr12 students – remember you MUST have all your fees cleared if you wish to purchase a Formal ticket at the end of the year. Please speak to me ASAP so that we can clear any outstanding fees NOW!!! You will be amazed how quickly the debt reduces when there is a regular contribution.

Yr11 LEADERSHIP CAMP

Yr11 students – if you wish to attend the Leadership Camp at the end of this year – you must have your 2016 fees fully paid.

DIRECT DEBITS

“Name of Mackay SHS student” needs to be Reference information for any direct debit into Mackay SHS’s bank account.

BPOINT

If you view the bottom left hand side of your invoice or statement it explains the process – go to the link below - you will require information from your invoice or statement eg your Customer Reference Number, students’ name and invoice number.

Enter YOUR email address for the receipt/confirmation of payment. (I receive a report from the bank showing me all payments and/or if there were errors during entry).

STATEMENTS

How’s the monthly emailed statements – around 15th of each month

If you are NOT receiving invoices/credit adjustments and statements via email please contact us at admin@mackayshs.eq.edu.au – we would prefer to provide you with up to date information. By the time we print and post statements to you it is quite often out of date

REFUNDS/CREDITS

If/when you request the reversal (credit adjustment) of an invoice please be aware that we require a written request (we do have a standard form) and then the approval of the appropriate Head of Department or Excursion Coordinator. Quite often there is a non-refundable deposit because the school is required to pay a deposit to guarantee our booking which is non-refundable to us!

KEEPING IN TOUCH

If any of your details change: address, contact names and numbers etc please let us now ASAP.

Should you wish to query anything please, phone 4957 9179, email admin@mackayshs.eq.edu.au or drop in for a visit (8am – 3.45pm) Monday to Friday.

Thanks everyone.
Regards
Marg Brown

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.

MIND MATTERS COMMITTEE

THANKYOU TO MACKAY MEN’S SHED

The Mind Matters Action Team would like to thank Mackay Men’s Shed for constructing three beautiful suggestion boxes for the school. The Men’s Shed members donated their time to make the boxes which will now be placed at locations around the school including reception.

Mackay High School values input from our community and would like to encourage students, staff and parents to jot down any positive suggestions and ideas they may have and place them in the box. All suggestions will be considered by the action team for implementing into the school.

LIBRARY NEWS

NEW BOOKS

Illuminae: the Illuminae Files_01 by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Book Review by Kathryn Brown

Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman’s science fiction/thriller/romance novel, invents its own style that enraptures audiences. A compilation of hacked records would not often make up the guts of a book to sufficiently tell the story, yet Kaufman and Kristoff managed to execute and impress with the first instalment of the Illuminae Files. The audience will follow mesmerised through Kady’s testing adventure in a wicked spaceship on the run for its life, with twists and turns you may never see coming. Surprisingly daunting, entertainingly witty and with a challenging romance served on the side; Illuminae comes with high recommendations from me and a huge community of fans.

BOOK TRAILER

Illuminae: A Message from Ezra

Join Andy and Terry in their spectacular new 78-storey treehouse. They've added 13 new levels including a drive-thru car wash, a combining machine, a scribbletorium, an ALL-BALL sports stadium, Andyland, Terrytown, a high-security potato chip storage facility and an open-air movie theatre. Just released and available for loan NOW.

Classics

What should be on your list of ‘books to read before you die’? This was part of the interesting discussions that we have been having in the library over the past couple of weeks.

With the introduction of Academic Excellence Academy classes and the need to extend our better readers in senior classes, we decided to create a new ‘Classics’ collection which has been officially opened this week.

The ‘Classics Collection’ is a collection of books that many people believe meet the criteria of ‘Classic’ and the Library and English staff have trawled through the ‘top books you must read before you die’ lists and the canonical texts that form the basis of much of our cultural capital.

Books by authors such as: Austen, Dickens, Hemingway, Dostoevsky, even LM Montgomery (of the Anne of Green Gables fame) and many more are to be found in the collection.

It is aimed at those students who are looking to read novels that expand and extend their vocabulary and to explore their experiences of the world’s great literary texts.

These books are available for borrowing by all students from Year 7 to Year 12.

While we will be continually updating the collection, if there are novels you believe should be added, just let the library staff know!

Geraldine Moylan (Teacher-Librarian) & Dianne Watt (Master Teacher)

STUDENT VACCINATIONS

If your child has been away from school and missed any School Immunisation so far from 1st round 16th March Year 7 & 23rd March Year 8 HPV dose 1 & Boostrix. We have also visited on the 25th May for Year 7 & 8th June for Year 8 for HPV dose 2 & Chickenpox. If your child has only had 1st round or have had none so far please, contact School Immunisation Program for an appointment on 30963310, we are now located at 40 Carlyle Street across from the MET Hotel.

Trixie Mills
School Based Youth Health Nurse

SCHOOL DENTAL

MESSAGE FROM THE NURSE& YOUTH SUPPORT COORDINATOR

RUOK ? DAY is Thursday 8th September. It is a national day of action and a reminder to regularly connect with the people around you. It is important to support anyone who is struggling with life’s problems.

The key message for 2016 is: We’re stronger together and to make time for the people who matter to you, family, friends and workmates. Ask, listen without judgement, encourage action to seek help and check back. If someone brushes off your concerns, don’t be scared to dig a little deeper.

Headspace will be visiting the school at 1st break on the 8th of September. The lunch time theme will be: Better together, A Festival of Friends. There will be a chance for students to speak with workers from Headspace or participate with friends in a range of games and activities.

Trixie Mills
School Based Youth Health Nurse

CHAPLAIN UPDATE

Thank you for your support.

We had huge support from the school community this year. We also had great support from the community and a few businesses.

It was a beautiful day and was a blessing to see families grab a bargain.

Special thanks to staff, parents, students for donations and your efforts before and on the day.

We will be continuing our fundraising efforts with our big ticket items which didn’t sell.

We still have the two jerseys and picnic tables, so please contact me if you have any buyers, offers or ideas.

On behalf of the School Chaplaincy Group

Phil Hall
School Chaplain

BREAKFAST CLUB

Would like to thank all the wonderful people who have helped us out with donations. We have had a fantastic response. Without your help we would not be able to provide the students with the opportunity to start the day with breakfast and chat

COMMUNITY NOTICES