28 October 2016

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Term 4 is moving through very quickly and very soon our Year 12 students will be transitioning to their new pathways. On the 2nd November, we celebrate our 2016 Awards Night, where we recognise and reward the students from Year 7-12 who have been the highest performers in the Year level, subject or faculty. The evening highlights the great performances of the students of Mackay State High School, guided by our outstanding staff. Our guest speaker this year is Cr Greg Williamson, former student at Mackay SHS and he is an excellent speaker, sharing some of the life experiences in his lifetime. I am confident that he will have some very poignant messages especially for our older students.

One of the most anticipated moments at our Awards Night is the announcing of the 2016 Dux and soon after the 2017 School Captains and Vice Captains. Our 2017 Prefects were announced last week, after each made verbal presentations to the Year 11 cohort and earlier to the staff, prior to voting. Our 2017 Prefects are Thrisha Bajamundi, Mitchell Barnard, Grace Baynton, Sophie Baynton, Kathryn Brown, Siobhan Healy, Gwendolyn Lee, Simone Muirhead, Douglas Pridmore, Haard Shah, Mason Thorpe and Mitchell Wells. These students were treated to a transition meeting with our current Prefects, to share their experiences.

Assembly this week had many awards presented to students. Several Indigenous students in Year 9 & 10 received Certificates for completion of their AIME program activities at CQU, including Communication, Leadership and Teamwork. Harley Baggow, Jordon Chapman and Ryan Schill received their graduation certificates from the QATSIF Scholarships, supporting their education for Year 10-12.

Our Senior Chemistry students performed at a very high standard this year and the RACI written test, they again shone. Several students in our Year 11 & 12 students were placed in the top 25% when pitted against the top 10 000 students across Australia. Michael Hains was actually placed as a High Distinction – top 10% - well done.

At the Senior Rugby League Dinner last Friday evening, the efforts of the players this year was recognised with the final task on the evening to name the new Open Team Captains for 2017. Congratulations Tom Irelandes and Hayden Swain, who will take on the responsibility in 2017 to lead and set the standard for our Senior 13 players.

Congratulations to the first two Duke of Edinburgh Bridge Awards recipients – Aleisha Wright, Ashleigh Cairns. Well done young ladies and you may now move on to Bronze Medallion Awards.

On behalf of Mackay District School Sport, the students and staff wish to thank Magpies Sports Club for their strong commitment and support for all school sport. Magpies Sports Club provide substantial cash sponsorship for children each year. Magpies also allow staff to host the Management and Executive meetings during the year, while also making > their quality sporting fields and facilities available for our School, Mackay District and at times, CAP and State selection trials. Staff and students across our region express our deep thanks and appreciation to the Magpies Board, as well as their hard-working staff. We look forward to another successful year in Sport.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHEMISTRY QUIZ (ANCQ)

The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) held the Australian National Chemistry Quiz in July this year.

Our senior 11 and 12 chemistry students participated in the quiz.

We are pleased to announce the following results:

Year 11

Distinction: Joshua HANSEN and
Anden LINDENBERG
Credit: Haard SHAH

Year 12

HIGH Distinction: Michael HAINS
Distinction: Praise CHABATA

A big congratulations to these students:

High Distinctions are awarded to the top 10% of the state
Distinctions are awarded to the top 10-25% of the state.
Credits are awarded to the top 25-45% of the state.
(There was 2239 Year 11 entrants and 1683 Year 12 entrants in Qld)

RUN 4 MI LIFE

Well done to all those who braved it in the early hours for Run 4 MI Life on Sunday 16th. It was great to see the large representation of students, staff and families on the day. We had 82 sign up to the school team raising a total of $2100 put towards improving mental health specifically in Mackay. Well done to all participants who walked or ran 3km, 5km or 10km. It was extremely impressive to see so many people getting together talking, exercising and creating awareness in the community.

SPORTS REPORT

The HPE department have had a busy start to Term 4; the main annual events have included the Swimming Carnival, Sports Awards and the Brisbane trip. The Sports Award night showcases the exceptional young athletes representing our school throughout the year. Sports persons of the year is one of the highest accolades a student can be recognised for. These awards are the most valued sporting awards at Mackay State High School. Congratulations to all students who were nominated for these awards. All students nominated have excelled in their chosen sport or sports within our school community. They have also shown a willingness to participate, and displayed all the qualities of future sporting great. In previous years our Junior and Senior Sports Person of the year has been announced at our Academic Awards Night, it has been decided that it would be more fitting that the winners be announced at our annual Sports Award Night.

Junior Sportsperson nominees

Ella Anderson - Age Champion – Athletics, Mackay District Representative Basketball, Capricornia Representative Softball and Cricket

Taine Hona – Capricornia Representative Athletics, Queensland Representative Athletics (2015)

Emma Keeler - Age Champion – Cross Country, Mackay District Representative Cross Country and Athletics

William Morgan - Age Champion – Cross Country and Athletics, Mackay District Representative Tennis, Capricornia Representative Cross Country and Athletics

Ryleigh Wotherspoon - Capricornia Representative Softball, Touch Football and Cricket, Queensland Representative Football

Senior Sportsperson nominees

Rayden Burns – QLD Representative Rugby League

Thomas Dearden – AUS Representative Rugby League

Lauren Morgan - Age Champion – Cross Country and Athletics, Capricornia Representative Cross Country and Athletics

Rhys Neale - Mackay District Representative Rugby League, Capricornia Representative Athletics

Emma Watts – QLD Representative Netball

It is with great pleasure to congratulate the Junior Sports Person for 2016 as Ryleigh Wotherspoon and MSHS Senior Sports Person for 2016 is Lauren Morgan. Well done!

Academy Brisbane Tour

The 17th of October saw the year 7 & 8 rugby league academy team, the combined football academy team and the combined netball academy team travel down to the Queensland capital to test their skills against some quality Brisbane competition. But before competition was faced, the excited boys and girls of Mackay State High School amongst the debatably more excited teachers made their way to Dreamworld and white water world for some fun in the sun. A solid start to the campaign.

The next day saw the teams begin their first lot of games at Redbank plains where the academies were waiting eagerly for MSHS's arrival. The rugby league academy team were sensational with a whopping 42-8 win over the year 7 & 8 rugby league academy team. Multiple boys from around the park were worthy of receiving man of the match but none more worthy than Henri Stocks who was presented with a bit of Redbank memorabilia after the game for his efforts. After a relaxing afternoon, the Mackay State High team took a trip to Bounce Inc. where they enjoyed a fun filled evening of wall bounding, trampoline slam dunks and trampoline dodgeball to finish off the day.

The final day consisted of all teams travelling to Sandgate District State High School. Being the last game of the tour, the senior boys in the group were eager to go out with a bang. As suggested by the score line of 62-10 it was safe to say that the boys did just that. The boys efforts overall have cemented the title of being undefeated for the entire year of the school rugby league. Well done boys!

CERTIFICATE III FITNESS

Students have an extremely busy term trying to finalise their course work for the year while learning about weightlifting technique and programming. A big highlight this term has been having Olympic Lifter Damon Kelly come to the school to run a weight lifting session, sharing his expertise with the students. It was great to see all the students getting involved in the session learning from the best in the business.

In week 2 students were able to gain access to all the new gym facility has to offer including new equipment, increased space and storage facilities and overall a more professional learning space to work in.

Teachers have had their first opportunity to trial the new gym with sessions continuing through to week 7 this term. It has been great to see the development of students throughout the year. They have all improved their knowledge of fitness and weightlifting, health and fitness testing, body systems as well as their ability to plan and deliver fun and challenging sessions. I have seen so much development in their confidence when leading others.

Lastly the record board – this most recent one has been dominated by the Fitness B class, last time the classes were even. One final board to determine the more dominant Fitness class.

RUGBY LEAGUE ACADEMY

The Inaugural "SENIOR RUGBY LEAGUE DINNER"

Held last Friday night and saw the Year 11 & 12 Rugby League Cohort celebrate their successful year of rugby league. The First XIII Players were presented with their Jerseys and said 'Goodbye' to our graduating Year 12's.

FIRST XIII (Absent Korban Lawson, Lachlan Bell, Calvin Coulahan)

Graduating Grade 12''s (Absent Calvin Coulahan)

The Rugby League Academy Captains for 2017 were also announced. Thomas Irelandes & Hayden Swain will do a wonderful job to represent the academy with the utmost pride.

2017 Rugby League Academy Captains – Hayden Swain and Thomas Irelandes

A great night was enjoyed by Players, Family & Staff.

ARTS NEWS

STRINGS MASTERCLASS

Our Strings ensembles led by Ms Kristen Boyd were recently treated to a Masterclass presented by accomplished conductor, Dr Rob McWilliams.

After more than 20 years of professional experience in post-graduate study, university teaching, and all kinds of performance experiences on trumpet and keyboards with jazz groups large and small, Broadway musicals, and symphony orchestras, Dr McWilliams relocated from the USA back to Australia in January 2015. In January 2016 he took up a newly created position with Yamaha Music Australia as an Educational Outreach Clinician supporting improvement in the quality and participation in instrumental music across Australia and also actively works as a freelance musician, educator, conductor, and composer/arranger.

The Masterclass, which was also attended by district Instrumental Music teachers, focused on ensemble conducting and development of listening skills and ensemble cohesion. It was an excellent learning experience for all involved and we thank Dr McWilliams for providing us with his expertise and knowledge.

VERVE ART EXHIBITION

The school community is invited to attend the first major exhibition of our Visual Arts students' work to be held at Paxton's Warehouse on Thursday 3 November 2016. Please find an invitation attached. The event is open to the public for one night only and not to be missed.

VERVE•2016 aims to showcase the emerging talents of senior students of the Visual Arts – Visual Art, Film TV and New Media, Visual Arts in Practice, Arts in Practice Media Arts and Multiarts. The show is being curated by the VAP students and will feature site-specific installations by Year 11 Visual Art students, performance and new media works by Year 12 Visual Arts.

The goal of the exhibition is to:

• highlight the emergence of contemporary arts practice at Mackay SHS
• communicate the multidisciplinary nature of the Visual Arts programs
• blur boundaries of practice
• focus on conceptual artmaking practices
• feature a wide range of media forms
• introduce students to curatorial processes
• extend students' knowledge of gallery practice by allowing them to plan and collaboratively present a major exhibition

As Paxtons is a public venue, VERVE•2016 seeks to attract the school community as well as a broader reaching audience. Target groups include current students, staff, parents, other schools and the Mackay arts community.

We look forward to seeing you there for the official opening at 6pm on November 3!

PAXTONS PORTRAIT PRIZE

Congratulations to six of our Visual Art students and two staff members for their entries in the 2016 Paxtons Portrait Prize. Entered works were:

Fennerora Olivia Emery
3 Versions Joshua De Guzman
Hemingway Bailey Gambie
Ladylike Sherizza Dela Cruz
InSANEty Sherizza Dela Cruz
Disappear Here Sherizza Dela Cruz
I'm Tired of Everything Part 1 Nicka Mateo
I'm Tired of Everything Part 2 Nicka Mateo
Motion Blur Ms Catherine Hodby
Tarcisio Anita Mrs Anita Pritchard

Special congratulations to award winners:

Open Drawing Award Motion Blur Catherine Hodby
Emerging Artist Award Ladylike Sherizza Dela Cruz
Emerging Artist Highly Commended I'm Tired of Everything Part 2 Nicka Mateo

It is wonderful to see our staff and students participating in community arts events such as this. The Paxton's Portrait Prize presents a unique opportunity to be part of a celebration of portraiture which links local contemporary artists with Mackay's historic past as the works are exhibited in the heritage listed Paxton's Warehouse building.

INDO POP

Our students have had fantastic exposure to contemporary art from Indonesia this week.

A selection of works drawn from the 7th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT7) held at Brisbane's Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) opened on Friday 21 October at Artspace Mackay. Our Youth Ambassadors were assisting on the night.

APT7 featured the Triennial's largest representation to date of artists from Indonesia. Indo Pop showcases a diverse group of works in a variety of styles and media. The regional tour of Indo Pop includes video and digital works from artist collective Tromarama, together with the explosively coloured painting, The Journey (2011) by Uji Handoko Eko Saputro (Hahan).

To inform their design of the upcoming VERVE exhibition, our Year 11 Visual Arts in Practice students attended a curatorial floortalk on Tuesday 25 October. This talk was particularly informative as it focused on exhibition design and selection of artworks.

Mrs Glenda Hobdell
HOD The Arts

ARTISTIC FLAIR IN THE ACCESS CENTRE

A group of students' in the ACCESS Centre have shown their artistic flair by creating their own portraits on the famous Aussie legend Red Dog! Inspired by the book this creation linked to their year 7 English assessment. The students' learnt a lot about designing, layering, mixing colours and putting the final touches on an art work. Ben Hoey commented "I really enjoyed the process and can't wait to take my painting home and show my family". These masterpieces will be displayed in MSHS library for two weeks!

YEAR 12 FORMAL

A MESSAGE FROM THE OFFICE

Year 12 Formal

Year 12 students – if you are attending the Formal on 16 November – you MUST have your school fees fully paid

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.

STATEMENTS

Are you receiving your statement? – usually emailed 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!

Thanks everyone.

Regards

Mrs Marg Brown
Business Services Manager

MATHS DEPARTMENT

World Maths Teachers Day – Celebrated at Mackay High

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our mathematics teachers and say thank you for the significant contributions they make in our classrooms and communities. To celebrate the day, on Friday 9 September, some of us decided to 'dress up as math's teachers', rocking the old-style look that math's teachers of yore used to go for!

I appreciate every effort made by our teachers to help our students learn the everyday applications of mathematics, as well as the intricacies. Thank you!

Clayton Campbell
HOD Mathematics

STEM FAIR

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.

GUIDANCE OFFICER

Parenting Ideas – Michael Grose

The language of resilient families – continued.

3. Let's take a break

STRATEGY: Distraction

GOOD FOR: kids experience stressful situations; kids who think too much; kids with busy lives.

When kids are troubles by events or spend too much time brooding it helps to do something to get their minds off things for a time. Playing games, spending time together, watching some TV, going out – are all good distractors for worried, anxious or stressed kids. Self-distraction is healthy, providing some welcome perspective. It also prevents kids from replaying awful experiences in their heads, blowing them out of proportion.

4. Who have you spoken to about this?

STRATEGY: seeking help

GOOD FOR: kids who experience bullying and social problems; handling all types of personal worries.

Resilient people seek solace in the company of others when they experience difficulty. That's why social connections is such a strong preventative strategy for young people. The promotion of help-seeking behaviours is one of the best coping strategies of all. Even if kids don't overtly talk about what's bothering them, it can be immensely reassuring to spend time around others who are empathetic, understanding and willing to listen.

You cab join Michael's NEW Parentingideas Club at

Lindsay Hains
Guidance Officer

Message from the School Nurse

October 11 – 21 was National Nutrition Week but anytime is a good time to think about what we eat. Many people think that eating healthy is more expensive and as a result buy pre-packaged, highly processed and take away foods. Some fresh fruit and vegetables might seem costly but with a bit of planning and a little effort you can eat well and stay within a reasonable budget.

Frozen and canned foods can be almost as healthy as fresh produce but be sure to choose those that have no added salt or sugar. Choose fresh produce that is in season as it will be cheaper. Freeze leftover food for a quick meal at a later date. Grow some of your own vegetables. Use legumes instead of meat in some meals. Make your own salad rather than buying premixed. Plan your meals for the week ahead as it avoids waste, worry and money. Easiest of all is to drink water because it is free and contains no sugar or other nasties that are not good for you.

Switching a meat pie (2300 kj) for a meat & salad wrap (1600 kj) or a large burger meal for a homemade roast chicken meal are healthier options. It takes 106 minutes of light walking to burn the meat pie!

If you find yourself or others saying "What's for tea tonight?" or "My lunches are boring" go to: (link below) this website has lots of quick, inexpensive and easy to prepare healthy meals. You are what you eat is not a myth. Choose tasty healthy options!

Trixie Mills
School Based Youth Health Nurse

SCHOOL DENTAL

UNIFORM SHOP NEWS

DIAL A DOCTOR

COMMUNITY NOTICES