9 June 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

With the semester one nearly closed, students are preparing for final exams and submitting assignments. The Year 11/12 students will have an exam block at the start of Week 10, prior to Show holiday. It is pleasing to see attendances at after school tutoring for English, Maths and EALD students being well supported as students build their study. The raised attendances impress the staff who give their time to assist students every Monday and Wednesday afternoon.

Under the guidance and direction of Mr Sam Neill, a small group of students performed HOODS to a number of audience groups between Thursday and Saturday evenings. The performance was outstanding and certainly reflected the many weekends of practising in Term 1 & 2. Congratulations to the student performers, support crew and the staff who assisted with the associated aspects of such a performance. The Q&A after the performance showed the confidence, ability and professionalism of these young performers. Very proud of their efforts.

In Term 3, Mr Hurley returns to his role as Deputy Principal at Walkerston SS after making a valuable contribution to our school over three terms. Ms Lisa Veney has been confirmed as our Deputy Principal, commencing in July. In addition Ms Christine Adams commences 12 months Long Service Leave and she will be replaced in her role by Ms Kylie Stanger. I am very pleased with the quality and commitment of our new members of our Leadership Team.

In late May, several of our students played in the Regional Table Tennis Schools Finals. Caitlyn Milner & Ashleigh Cairns won the Junior Secondary Girls trophy, while Kimberly & Amber Glover were the Junior Secondary Girls Silver Medal winners. Sarah Glover & Alexandra Cairns were the Senior Secondary Girls Silver Medal winners.

In recent weeks, there have been several students excelling in sporting pursuits. Four of our 9 Netball teams advanced to the semi-finals with two to compete in the Grand-final next week. Netball players are reminded to return the Netball dresses to Ms Proctor before the end of this term. Garrett Smith gained selection into the Qld Schools Open Rugby League team, with Thomas Irelandes and Mason Thorpe also in the CAP team at State Championships. Our Division 1 teams competed in local finals against Mercy College and the Open division against St Patricks College last week. After holding the three trophies for twelve months, our boys played very well, with all games played with excellent effort and skill, the trophies were won by the opposition teams this year.

A vacancy exists for a School-based Health Nurse as Fiona Bohn has been appointed to another position in Health. If you know of a qualified Nurse interested in such a role at 0.5FTE, then contact the school or Base hospital, for a start in July.

Our Tuckshop, after a number of weeks trialling new food options for our students and staff, now provide a range of healthy options, cooked on the same day and very reasonably priced as well. Currently in addition to the burgers, rolls, wraps and curry dishes, students can choose Chilli con carne (Mexican beef with rice) $4.50, Chicken Pumpkin Frittata $3.00 (100% chicken breast) and Ham Cheese scroll $1.50. If any parents or grandparents are interested in volunteering in Tuckshop, call on 49579127.

As the P&C major fundraiser, it is very disappointing when there are a small number of parents who deliver fast-food take-away foods to their children at lunch to school. There is a varied and healthy options at Tuckshop, so please support this quality service.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

FROM THE DESK OF A DEPUTY

Semester 1 Report Cards

Report Cards for all year levels will be distributed to students on Tuesday the 11th July – which is our second day back at school.

Parents and Carers for Year 7 students will also be sent their student’s Report Card via email. For our Term 3 Report cards we will move to emails alone – with the exception of those parents without an address.

Our Semester reports cards include achievement, effort, behaviour and homework ratings, along with comments relevant to the student.

We have placed our second 2017 Parent Teacher Evening in to Term 4 and so if you have any questions in relation to your student’s Semester Report Card then please do not hesitate to contact the school or specific teachers directly.

Semester 2 Timetables & Assessment Planners

All students will be issued a Semester 2 timetable when they return on the 10th July.

Changes:

• Students in Years 7 -10 will all change from studying History (HIS) over to Geography (GEG) – generally with the same teacher.
• Year 7 students will drop Information Technology for You (ITF) and commence either a term long study in Cool Millionaires (CMI) or Symbolic Journey – The Arts (SJA).
• Year 8 students will swap between their semester of Information Technology & Design and Home Economics.

Assessment Planners for Semester 2 will likely be distributed by the end of the second week, next term.

During Term 3 all students in Years 7 – 10 will commence the subject selection process for studies in 2018. Year 10 students will participate in the SET Plan interviews as part of this process.

Tania Cheers
Deputy Principal (Years 7 & 11)

THE ARTS

IGNITE!17 ARTS TOUR

Fundraising

• Pastizzi Drive is a huge success however deliveries have been held up. We are hoping to have these out before the holidays and will be calling on parents to help. Thank you to Mary Muirhead for offering to coordinate this and to the whole school community for your valued support.

• Sausage Sizzles
  - Bunnings Paget Sunday 25 June
  - Porters Sunday 23 July
  - We are still seeking student and parent helpers for each of these events. Please contact Perry Hobdell phobd2@eq.edu.au if you can assist.

Tour payment

• A reminder that next payments are due on 10 June – $300 (minimum of $820 paid to date).
• Please note: if your family owes resource scheme fees for participating students, you will be asked to clear these before tour payments will be accepted. Please refer queries to Troy Twomey (Business Services Manager) bsm@mackayshs.eq.edu.au
• Thank you for your timely payments allowing us to process deposits as they fall due for Sydney events and activities.

HOODS PRODUCTION

Congratulations to Mr Sam Neill, Director and the cast and crew of HOODS on three stellar performances in the Box Theatre on June 1, 2 and 3. Although confronting in its messages, the portrayal by our students under Sam’s guidance connected the audiences to the powerful portrayal of the story of three kids left in a car. The maturity and focus of each of the students and their connection as a strong theatre ensemble was clear.

Some audience reviews or comments follow.

Well done to all! We look forward to many future productions that continue to showcase the creative talents and dedication of our arts students and staff.

“HOODS is an innovative play that teaches the audience how to watch it. That makes it sounds like it should be challenging, but because of the brilliance both actors and the director the play was an overwhelming success. The narrative structure alone is brilliant: episodic, stories within stories, a Greek-like chorus, word rhyme and the fourth wall. But it’s through the plot and the characters that the play shines. Not for the faint of heart because it shows a confronting picture of entrenched poverty, violence and abuse.” ~ CHRISTOPHER MILNE

“Congratulations To the fantastic cast and crew for a great opening night of "Hoods"!

I was blown away by the experience and recommend you go along to Mackay High for the Friday or Saturday performances. Bravo!!!” ~ MATTHEW JOHNSTON

“I went along to the HOODS Drama production last night.

It was fantastic! Truly inspiring in showcasing student talent and school staff capabilities.

Congratulations to Sam, the cast and crew, Glenda and the entire Arts Team, who support each other so enthusiastically on every venture.” ~ TANIA CHEERS

Director
Sam Neill

Producer
Glenda Hobdell

Cast
Kyle
Kate Brown
Jessie
Simone Muirhead
Hoods
Marnie Bugeja
Julian Beavis
Kiahni Gaffney
Michael West
Mikaela Fair
Olivia Keyssecker

Crew
Sets / Lighting
Perry Hobdell
Tech (AV)
Michelle Ribot
Brett Casey
Sam Neill
Makeup
Skye Rodgers
Backstage
Catherine Hodby

CONGRATULATIONS to three of our Instrumental Music students, on their selection for the Middle School State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP) held in Mackay in August.

Cameron Archer – Year 8,
Charley Lee – Year 7
Hamish Macdonald – Year 7

YOUNG AUSTRALIA WORKSHOP

Beating around the Bush

On Monday 22 May, visiting percussionist, Mark Stewart, presented an outstanding performance, Beating around the Bush, for our Year 8 and 12 Music and Instrumental Percussionists.

Mark spoke to the students and played an array of percussion instruments, addressing the history of both non-traditional and traditional percussion. The students thoroughly enjoyed the performance and it left a lasting impression on each them, especially those who were invited to play.

Mrs Glenda Hobdell
HOD The Arts

GENERAL NEWS

The Year 7 Dodgeball competition recently drew to a close with a team of 10 students from 7M2 being crowned the overall winners. They challenged the teachers to a game, but unfortunately the teachers piked!! Again, I commend the year 7 students on their enthusiasm and commitment to school.

The Student Council is busy planning 3 school projects and some effective fundraising ideas. If the projects are given the go-ahead, I'll report in some detail what they plan and how they will count on the school community for support.

Year 7 PDC class recently discussed the topic "My glass is half empty". It is a topic about positive thoughts versus negative thoughts, being thankful for all the good things rather than focussing on small, negative things. We watch some videos about a person named Nick Vujicic (I suggest you do a YouTube search). You might want to discuss the following with your children:

• You were not given money for "tuckshop" today, but have a lunchbox with good food in it. You whinge to your friends that you wanted to buy a burger. This is the glass half empty. Your friend has no lunch and sees a good packed lunch as a positive.
• Optimism is a person becoming paralysed from the waist down realizing that he still has his hands and can still do many things.
• Instead of being dejected when her scholarship application was denied, she focused on the other applications she had out there and knew one would come through for her.
• Mum took my mobile phone just because I was late home.
• Dad didn't allowing me to stay over at my friend's house.
• I don't have a computer at home.

Students had the opportunity to also research others in the world who made a success after difficulties, rather than give up. Check up on Helen Keller and Stephen Hawking to name but 2.

Good News Stories

This week we have presented certificates to students who received either "Excellent" or "Very Good" ratings for ALL their subjects on their mid-semester reports. As I say each year, respect is gained from your attitude to your endeavours. I'd rather work with someone with average ability but is committed and enthusiastic, than someone who might have potential but is unreliable and whines about their task. Over one third of year 7 students received a certificate. This dipped to 1 in 5 in year 8, but was a healthier 1 in 4 in year 9.

There were an equal number of students in each year level who just missed out, and can easily qualify with just a bit extra commitment in some classes.

Remember the old sayings - "No pain no gain" and "You only get out of life what you put into it".

Congratulations to all students recently involved in the school production "Hoods" and to a young year 7 star, Olivia Keyssecker, for her talented performance.

Thought of the Newsletter

When life's path is steep, keep your mind even. -- Horace (65-8 BC)

MASTER TEACHER

Parents of Year 8 Students

Greetings! As part of my role as Master Teacher, I am tasked with conducting an Action Research Project which investigates an area of Literacy or Numeracy in order to build teacher capability and to work out strategies that work to improve results for students.

I am currently investigating a variety of techniques that could be used to build staff capability in the delivery of a consistent and common reading comprehension strategy to Year 8 students and, in turn, to improve student reading outcomes.

In order to gauge the current beliefs and understandings of parents, please fill out the quick survey below by Friday 25th June. Just click on the link: it is only 5 questions and will only take 2 or 3 minutes to complete.

Any queries, please contact me. Thanks for your help. Di Watt (Master Teacher)

Dianne Watt
Master Teacher

INTERACT CLUB

On Tuesday 6th of June The Interact Club President Gwen Lee attended the Rotary Club of Mackay to officially present the proceeds from their fundraising bake sale held at school in Term 1. The Rotary Club board had decided to reward the initiative of the Interact students by combining the contribution to bring the total to $1830 for Bowel Cancer Australia. This is the speech delivered by Gwen to the Rotary Club meeting.

"Good evening, my name is Gwen Lee and I am the President of the Mackay State High School Interact club. Firstly, I would like to thank Rotary Club of Mackay very much for the wonderful badges you have given us, we received them on parade during term one and sit very proudly on our ties.

On Thursday the 23rd of March, the Interact Club held a Bake Sale. It was held in honour of one of our teacher’s mother’s, Shelley Rodgers, who passed away earlier this year. The Bake Sale was named ‘Shelley’s Bakery’ in memoriam of her. As her daughter, Mrs Rovelli, is a beloved teacher at our school, Interact decided that all proceeds raised were to be donated to Bowel Cancer Australia. At the Bakery, we served a range of sweet and savoury treats, including cupcakes, cookies, popcorn, savoury muffins, party pies, chocolate mousse and quiche. To advertise for this event, Interact members visited year level parades, it was advertised in the daily notices which are read out every morning and Shelley’s bakery was even announced over the loud speaker. Much to our dismay, the day brought miserable weather and heavy hearts, only hoping that the rain would not deter our customers away. Thankfully, much to our surprise, by the end of the 25 minute lunch time break, we had sold everything! With assistance from Mrs Rovelli’s family who donated $300 to our funds, Interact raised $632.60 for Bowel Cancer Australia, and it is my pleasure to hand it over to Rotary club tonight. It was a wonderful experience raising these funds for such a great cause, and I know every cent will be accepted open heartedly by those fighting the Bowel cancer battle and their family and friends. We hope to conduct a Talent Show within our school next term, hopefully it will be even more successful than our last fundraiser. I would like to thank you very much for having me here tonight. I look forward to my next visit".

Gwen Lee
President Interact Club – Mackay State High School

Thanks to the enthusiasm and commitment of the student members the Interact Club at Mackay SHS is going from strength to strength. The Interact Club wishes to acknowledge the continued support and encouragement of our sponsor club, the Rotary Club of Mackay.

Rotary Club of Mackay President Thomas Block, Rotary Club Secretary and Mackay SHS Interact Coordinator Andrea Pozza, Interact Club President Gwen Lee and Treasurer Norm Henry.

BLUE CARD WINNER

WEEK 7.

Damien BEAR was nominated by Mrs White, for making a cup of tea. Congratulations Damien - $10 Tuckshop voucher.

Week 8

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Jeneshia Beveridge was nominated by Miss Fitzpatrick, for helping after class. Congratulations Jeneshia - $10 Tuckshop voucher.

SENIOR SCHOOL

Jessie-Mae MODRA was nominated by MR LEE , for providing floppy disk for his class.. Congratulations Jessie - $10 Tuckshop voucher.

SPORTS REPORT

Students in the spotlight

In the last term we have had many of our student represent their state and region in various sports. Talking to the students, all of them have gained valuable experience and made some new friendships along the way. It is always a great opportunity to travel and compete at the next level in their chosen sporting fields. The following information has been collaborated by the students themselves, providing us with an insight to their experiences.

Hockey

I have just recently come back from Hobart, Tasmania where I competed in the Under 18 Australian National Championships playing for the Queensland's second side. The competition was held between April 19th to 29th where I had the opportunity to compete against the best of the best in my age group across Australia. Our team played well together and finished 7th overall.

I had an awesome time competing and thoroughly enjoyed being away, I learned a lot as a goal keeper. During this time, I was extremely happy with my performance and would say it was one of my best tournaments to date. I have grown as a player and have brought back to my club games here in Mackay this experience. I have also taken on board the feedback given to me by my coach on how to improve my game.

I have been rewarded for my performance at the U18 Nationals by being selected as Shadow Goal Keeper for the U21 Qld side and am hoping I will be called up to compete at the U21 National champs in Wollongong in July.

Tina Manumu’a

Netball

As part of Queensland School Sport’s Student Officials program, Lawren Samson and Charni Bloxsom were selected to umpire at the U13-19 State Netball Championships hosted at the State Netball Centre in Brisbane between the 4th and 7th of May. Over the four days, we had the opportunity to umpire with 25 other student officials from around the state and umpire Queensland’s top netballers from the 12 school sport regions. Umpiring the Under 15 age group, we were able to receive feedback from Netball Queensland’s highly accredited umpire coaches that we could take back to our home association games and will eventually help us progress to our next level of accreditation. At the conclusion of the carnival, Lawren and I umpired two highly competitive playoff games in the finals that were challenging and consisted of a quantity of the Queensland side that was selected. The championships were a great opportunity to umpire quality players in high level games as well as meeting and making friends with other umpires that we will be sure to see at the next association representative carnival.

Charni Bloxsom

I recently represented Capricornia in the U19’s netball team. This team travelled to Mt Gravatt in Brisbane and played at the Hibiscus Sports Stadium. Over the week we versed Metropolitan and Regional teams where we finished up 6th out of 12 teams. At the beginning of the week the girls first few games were scrappy, however we pulled through and played strong games against challenging teams. In the finals, our team played the Sunshine Coast to play off for 5th and 6th. The game was extremely tough and we all fought hard but unfortunately, came out with a loss by 10, which placed us in 6th position. Every girl in the team performed as best as they could, we learnt a lot and have been able to return to our clubs and put our refined skills into practice.

Emma Watts

The 2017 state netball trials for U15s and U19s were held in Brisbane. I found the experience challenging but enjoyable as girls from my club team were there with me. Another great thing about playing in the Capricornia team was the great friendships that were developed and the ones that I still keep in touch with. In all the games that we played everyone fought hard which paid off in the finals when we came 5th. Overall the experience was one to remember and I look forward to seeing the girls in the near future and hopefully playing at another state championships.

Gabrielle Wotherspoon

Rugby League

Garret Smith, Mason Thorpe and Tom Irelandes were selected in the under 18’s Capricornia Rugby League team, to play in the 16-18 Queensland State Titles from the 25-28th of May. The team started the carnival with a good win over Widebay 52-0 which put the boy’s team in a great position for the rest of the carnival. The following two games resulted in a win and a loss therefore; the Capricornia team was playing off for fifth place on the final day. This was a successful win over Metropolitan West 26-6. This resulted in the team finishing 5th overall, which is an outstanding result. A huge congratulations to the boys for playing some excellent Rugby League over the four days, this has developed their execution of skills on the playing field at an advanced level.

Garrett Smith was named as a member of the Queensland team who will compete in Sydney later in the year, this is an outstanding achievement for Garrett. You should be commended on your performance and dedication to achieve this in your chosen sport.

SCIENCE

Questacon Professional Development

On Tuesday 7th June our school hosted a professional development session conducted by Questacon. Over 25 primary and secondary teachers from the district attended the session. The session highlighted the need to utilise an enquiry based approach to strengthen and engage student curiosities along with conducting a hands on approach to engage students of all levels.

STEM PROGRAM

ASSET PROGRAM

APPRENTICESHIP INTAKE

ACCESS CENTRE

As is always the case, it has been a hive of activity in F Block! Offering a diverse range of programs and support options for students, including those with Special Educational needs, learning difficulties and social Issues keeps things hopping. Here are just a few of the activities that have been keeping us busy of late

Year 7 students have been making dioramas for History.

Vikki- Kane
Teacher - Special Education

UNIFORM SHOP

P & C COMMITTEE

WE NEED YOU!

The Mackay State High School P & C is a collective group of parents, staff and community members interested in working to support student activities and curriculum initiatives at the school.

We currently have vacancies within the P & C Executive and there is always space for more members on our team. Were you involved with your child’s P & C at Primary School? Are you interested in being involved but not sure what is required or how to join?

P & C Meetings are held on the 4th Monday of each month in the staff common room in the Administration Block commencing at 6pm.

If you would like some additional information please contact us via email pandc@mackayshs.eq.edu.au

Tuckshop Menu

Greetings from the MSHS Tuckshop. We have started work on improving the menu and moving away from processed foods to cooking and baking our own meals on site. We are going to trial three new dishes in two week blocks to give everybody the opportunity to taste these meals and give feedback.

The following dishes are available every day starting on 5th June until 16th June.

• Mexican Chilli Beef with rice (Chilli con carne)
• Chicken Pumpkin frittata
• Ham-Cheese scroll

We are cutting back on the supply of burgers and gradually swapping them with healthier options.

We like getting feedback from you on these trials as we design the new menu. Please email any feedback to mshstuckshop@hotmail.com. We appreciate it and take on board everyone’s opinions.

Thank you for supporting the MSHS Tuckshop.

Mella Partmaa & Sharyn Sephton
Retail Managers
Mackay State High School P&C Tuckshop

MATHS TUTORING

ENGLISH TUTORING

COMMUNITY NOTICES