21 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Welcome to Semester 2 and I trust that all families had an enjoyable and relaxing break. Our first week has been a very busy one with our NAIDOC Assembly and the Interhouse Athletics carnival convened in the first week. The attendance of our students and the level of involvement was certainly the highest that I have seen in my time here. We welcome also several new families and students this term as well as a number of new staff. Ms Lisa Veney commences as the Deputy Principal responsible for Year 8 and Year 12, while Ms Kylie Stanger is the A/Head of Department for Business and Information Technology for the next 12 months. Ms Natalie Triggs joins our Arts faculty replacing Mrs Pritchard who gave birth to her new son over the holidays.

Our NAIDOC Assembly celebrates and recognises the contribution and importance of our Indigenous heritage and the many families in our school community. I thank Gordon Quakawoot for his work in organising the special assembly and the Indigenous Careers Expo, as well as Mrs Veronica Ahwang and Mrs Samantha Bliss who gave presentations to our school community that day. Several organisations and businesses attended to speak to our Indigenous students as well as some from other local High Schools promoting the career opportunities available to them.

Our school is hosting eight students from Castleford Academy School and Outwood Grange in England, as part of our strong link through our Rugby League Academy, staying for 6 weeks. The boys participated in the League game on NAIDOC day against the Indigenous All Stars team. This week, a further 17 students from Castleford Academy arrived for a stay for one week. I want to sincerely thank the families who have agreed to billet these lads in their homes over their stay.

Report Cards were issued in Week 1. Below is the Level of Achievement graph for the whole school Semester 1 results and shows that 83.2 % of our students’ ratings are in A – C. This is the highest performance level for our school over the last 8 years and we look to further improve this as the year progresses.

In recent weeks a number of our teachers have received nominations for their teaching. Nicole De Brueys has been nominated for the ARIA Music Teacher 2017, while Skye Rodgers, Christopher Milne, Nicole Althaus and Glenda Hobdell are nominated for various levels of the Excellence in Teaching Awards for 2017.

Reminder letters for School Resource Scheme payments have been distributed by mail recently. Thank you to those families who have now paid or set up payment plans. As the term progresses, students will be looking to undertake subject selection for next year and students with outstanding payments, not covered under a payment plan, will be limited in subject able to be selected.

Our Open Girls Football side were successful in the Grand final of the interschool competition. The girls played very well in a close game against St Pats, ending 3 – 3 at fulltime. In the extra time, our girls scored, taking the final 4 -3. Mrs Radunz was very proud of the young ladies coming from Year 7 – 12.

Five of our Rugby League Academy students in Year7 were in the winning team of the U12 Mackay Magpies who won the Jason Hetherington Cup on the holidays in Gladstone. They went through undefeated the whole carnival and won 3 tries -2 tries in the grand final. Congratulations to Oscar Filmer, Liam Doherty, Harry and Henry Thorpe and Damon Lock.

School Opinion Survey details will be distributed in coming weeks. All staff, students in Years 9 and 11 as well as a random sample of approximately 60 parents are asked to complete surveys on the performance of our school and its programs, teaching and feedback. If you receive a survey, please take the time to complete it and submit. Thank you in anticipation.

Senior Schooling Forum was held in Week 1, presenting to our Year 10 students and their parents the range of pathways and opportunities available and the key factors as they move towards the subjects to be studied in Year 11/12. Students in Year 10 and their parents are required to undertake a SET Planning interview booked in on 24-26th July. Parents are asked to book an appointment on-line, choosing the staff member to meet and discuss the options.

Central Queensland University are holding their Mackay Open Day in the near future. Students intending to pursue a University pathway are recommended to attend and look at the quality local choices available Date: Saturday 12 August, 9 am – 1 pm, Location: Sydney Street, Mackay

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

DEPUTY’S REPORT

Hello to all Mackay High families,

My name is Lisa Veney and I am very proud to become a permanent member of the Mackay High staff as a Deputy Principal.

I have a long history with Mackay High, having been a student here myself, graduating in 1990 (no need to do the age calculations!), and teaching here for various periods of time over the last twenty years. I left Mackay High most recently in 2010 to take up a Head of Department position at Longreach State High School which was a wonderful experience of outback Australia and something very different from coastal life. After four years, I headed back into Mackay and have been the acting Deputy Principal of Mackay North High for the last three years. I live in Mackay with my husband and three teenage kids and love the lifestyle of walking the dogs on the beach, camping on weekends, and living close to family again.

As an English teacher, I am most passionate about literacy and reading, and as a DP, I have seen clear correlations between literacy levels and behaviour, effort and attendance, and my goal for all students is to be in our classrooms every day, to achieve at their very best level, with support from their school community.

My year levels for the rest of this year are Year 8 and 12, and I look forward to working with students, parents and teachers in those year levels, as well as being a part of whole school events including the sports and academic award nights where we celebrate our students and their achievements.

One of my first jobs is to administer the annual school opinion survey which is due to open on July 31. This survey is your chance to have your say and I encourage you to take the 10 minute survey. More information to come out on this survey or you can visit the website at the link below.

Have a great term!
Ms Lisa Veney
Deputy Principal

SPORTS REPORT

Athletics Carnival

Wow, what a start to Term 3! The HPE crew hit the ground running with the annual Interhouse Athletics Carnival being held in the first week back. We trialled a new format this year which resulted in major changes to the athletics program. First the carnival was split into a track and then a field day of activities. Track day Tuesday, kicked off the carnival. The house captains fired up their house teams with team chants to create some spirit amongst the school community. Students then had the opportunity to compete in the 800, 200, 100 and 400 to gain valuable house points. An intense battle of tug-of-war was showcased before the prestigious MSHS 100m gift. This race highlights the fastest 100m runners across all age groups within the school. Each competitor is given a ‘handy cap’ bases on their time from their 100m age group race. Both the boys and girls finished very close with Zeb Irvine being the fastest boy and Amber-Lee Davidson being the fastest girl in the school.

Thursday saw competitors throw & jump to new heights. Each age group had a 45 minute set time block to compete all six field events. These included; High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Discus, Javelin and Shot put. A lot of participation points were accumulated on Thursday. New records were made in the following events, congratulations to the following students

Students who placed 1st and 2nd in each event will be provided with a nomination form to compete at the MDSS Inter School Athletics Carnival which OUR school is conducting and hosting on the 3rd & 4th of August. This is an excellent opportunity for students and what better way to represent our school with pride. A meeting will take place at the end of the week where paper work will be distributed. It is essential for students to return this ASAP to ensure their place on the team. If students do not wish to represent the school they need to pass on this information to Miss Russell so that other students have the opportunity to fill that position. We hope to have one of the largest school teams at this interschool carnival and we hope to put up some strong competition against the 11 other schools in this district.

The Age champions, these students need to be commended on their superb efforts exhibited over the two day carnival. Well done, all students will receive recognition at the annual sports awards night to be held early term four.

The final element of the carnival was the overall winning house and the tally of points. Well done to all the Houses Captain, the house spirit was felt by all who attended. Thank you to all of the staff, days like this cannot take place without the support of you, your flexibility and willingness to help does not go unnoticed.

Congratulations Houses

4th Forgan 1384
3rd Denniss 1537
2nd Mackay 1668
1st Chataway 2141

Winning House Captains Ikey Mooka and Skye Bettridge with Year 12 Coordinator Mr Gercken

Southern Suburbs U12 Athletics

A big day of athletics for the MSHS students who attended this year’s South Suburban Junior Athletics Carnival. Out of the 18 that participated, 6 students managed to qualify for the Mackay District trials being held next Friday. These 6 students were Harry Thorpe (100m, 200m), Henry Thorpe (100m, Shot put), Jack Windsor (Discus, Shot put), Jeneshia Beverage (Long jump, Shot put), Zephyr Patterson (High jump) and Matthew Watts (High Jump). Special Mention to Amber-Lee Davidson who managed to secure 5th place in the 12 years girls 100m final and Damon Lock who secured 4th in the 12 years boys 200m final. Overall the day was very successful and a lot of fun was had by all of the competitors involved. A big thanks to the parents who came along to support the students during events, it was great to have you all there to cheer on not only your own children but the rest of the mighty Mackay High team.

NEW ARRIVALS TO MACKAY STATE HIGH SCHOOL AG DEPARTMENT

Year 8 Ag has recently got a bunch of baby chickens to look after. We have also been introduced to them and we are all very happy to have them. They’re currently being housed away from the other chickens in a warm and comfortable environment. We are keeping these chickens so we can learn how to take care of them and make sure that they’re nice and healthy. We are looking forward to seeing them grow.

Written by Tamika Mietzel, Anne Ryan and Gracie Jordan

MSHS Show Cattle Team

The MSHS Show Cattle team this year had some new students join their ranks this year with the inclusion of Joshua Teale, Kaileigh Teale and Chloe Price.

It will be sad to see the finishing of our Year 12 student Doug Pridmore as he has been a major part of the team for years and his knowledge on showing cattle and Judging will be sorely missed next year. Good luck to Doug in his future endeavours.

We had not much time to prepare the cattle as we received new stock at the start of Term 2 leaving us 8 weeks to train from scratch, 4 animals from 2 different cattle studs. We would like to thank Vaucraft Braford Stud and WVP Brahman Stud for the loan of their cattle this year.

The students handled themselves with maturity and calmness around the animals and they were all ready by the time the shows came around.

Mackay Show

We had very stiff competition at Mackay in the stud cattle section, but came away with a couple of places. Garnet (Braford heifer came 1st in her age class led by Emily Shepherd).

Again in the Junior Stud Cattle Judging our team did well against some very stiff competition against Mackay Christian College, School from Proserpine and two Rockhampton Schools.

In the Stud Judging we did well

• Joshua Teale Under 15’s 3rd place
• Charlotte Milner Under 16’s 4th place

In the Commercial Steer Judging we had several placings:

• Kaileigh Teale Under 14’s, 4th place
• Joshua Teale Under 15’s, 3rd place
• Brianna Skinner Under 15’s, 1st place
• Doug Pridmore Over 17’s, 1st place

Emily Shepherd won the prestigious President’s Choice award which was judged by the President of the Show Association for the best all-rounder in showing, leading and judging

As a stud the Vendor’s are judged for best display, this year MSHS came away with the Herdmasters Prize for this Division. Well done to all students who kept an excellent vigil on the cattle and display area.

Agricultural news

The gardens were finally planted in Term 2, no thanks to the rain holding back progress in this area.

Year 8’s planted their class gardens with many different varieties of vegetables such as snow peas, different types of lettuces, carrots, beetroot and many others. These are coming along very well except for a few types of greens that the bugs have had lunch on.

Year. 9’s Corn was finally planted last term with most crops now having corn cobs growing on them. There have been 4 different types of corn planted to see the different results and yields gathered from each.

Year 10’s have been busy 1st semester with fencing in the first term a skill which none of them had done before. They all did very well with their practicals and the fence is now going to be used as a trellis for pumpkins. Term 2 was also a new experience for them all as cattle show handling was taught. The students learned how to handle, wash, walk and show the cattle to a show standard and also judging was taught. Some of the students were quite reluctant to handle the animals at first but quickly grew confident in their handling.

Year 11’s are concentrating on their market garden this year and finally weather permitting started to plant last term. The students were given their own garden plots to plan and plant.

This started with propagation in the nursery to then replanting in their gardens. The students of this cohort have done themselves proud with the way in they have embraced propagating and maintenance of their own garden plots, excellent to see. And their gardens are looking fantastic.

Year 8 garden end of Term 2

Year 9 Corn week 1 Term 3

Year 11 garden end of Term 2

Year. 11 Students planting seeds in the nursery

ACADEMIC STUDENTS’ SCIENCE NEWS

This term we have embarked on working with one of the smallest particles known to man. Yes, it is the atom. Did you know that approximately five million million hydrogen atoms can fit on a pinhead? This is unbelievably small, and yet everything around us is made up of atoms of different elements. In a human of 70 kg, there are almost 7x1027 atoms (that's a 7 followed by 27 zeros!) Another way of saying this is "seven billion billion billion."

We have been looking at how toms of different elements and compounds combine to form new substances. Did you know that the common salt we eat every day in our food is actually a combination of two very dangerous elements? The chemical formula for salt is NACl, which means one Sodium atom combines with one Chlorine atom. Sodium is a highly unstable element that reacts violently with water and is stored in oil. Chlorine gas was used as a weapon in the 1st World War as it is heavier than air so it will drop to the lowest point and spread into the trenches where the enemy army would be sheltering, and yet we enjoy the new chemical compound on our food every day. Thank goodness that when a chemical reaction takes place, a new substance is form is formed that becomes fairly harmless.

We have been learning so many new exciting things about the invisible world of atoms, that there is a constant buzz of excitement amongst all the students in the class. Science is so much fun!

JCU EXPERIENCE

On July 10, I grabbed the opportunity to experience university life in James Cook University (JCU). It was a memorable trip that provided me a deep insight into the courses that I am interested in such as Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery and Business. The sessions that I attended assisted me in deciding on which course I would like to take after year 12. I particularly enjoyed the Medicine session where we were shown and could touch cadavers of a man’s arm and leg. We also experienced residing in the campus overnight in one of JCU’s affiliated colleges – John Flynn College. Besides obtaining useful information about JCU, I was also given the opportunity to meet other people from different schools. The trip made me look forward for university after high school.

Thrisha Bajamundi - Year 12

On the 10th of July five students travelled to Townsville to experience the life of a staying on campus as a university student at JCU. Before leaving for Townsville students had to pick three courses they wished to engage in over the two-day period. Monday night we went to the movies, bowling, laser tag and arcade machines. We meet staff at the university and students that were already studying. There. Both the staff and university students were nice and easy to interact with. This experience was helpful in deciding if university was for me and what each course was about.

Amber Walker – Year 12

SCHOOL FAIR

USEFUL APPS FOR STUDENTS

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

MATHS TUTORING

ENGLISH TUTORING

COMMUNITY NOTICES