1 September 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Book Week was celebrated at our school in Week 7 and many of our staff came to school on the Friday dressed as characters from their favourite story, novel, comic or movie. The students really enjoyed guessing the characters or the book from which their dress up had been sourced. The staff loved the opportunity to dress a little more significantly as well.

Students from across the Mackay district assembled at the regional finals of the F1 in Schools competition. Mackay SHS entered 9 teams of 2 or 3 students with their designed racing cars made of balsa wood and under strict construction guidelines. Congratulations to Ben Dodd, Rudolf Kriz and Brooke Gorman, whose car and their design was selected and these students will now attend the State Finals to compete against other students from across Queensland, early next term. The team is looking forward to challenging themselves at this highest level.

Optiminds is a wonderful event which sets students in groups of 5 -8 students from Year 3 – Year 12 each year and in 2017, Mackay SHS was asked to host the various activities that focus on innovation, creativity and challenge, applying students’ knowledge and experience. Our school is one of only 3 schools that has now competed every year for 27 years of Optiminds. Mr Garth Lee accepted responsibility for the coordination of the event, supported by a team of several staff as well as over 50 students assisting in scoring, signposting or competing on the day. Congratulation to all of our competing teams, after receiving Honours Awards on the day.

Our Vicki Wilson Cup 14 and under Netball team was successful in its match against the top Rockhampton district schools. This win gave these 11 students the opportunity to be in competition with the top 12 teams in this age group, from across the State, generally from SE Qld. This is an outstanding opportunity to Ms Proctor and the girls were successful in applying for some travel support to get to Brisbane in the weekend after the holidays.

A large contingent of staff, supported by representatives from CQU and Mackay Engineering College were present during the Subject Information evening to assist parents with their students to map their pathway for Year 8, 9, 10 and 11/12. Students were provided with papercopy of the Subject Information Guide relevant to their Year level and they received colour-coded Subject Selection Form and SRS sign on sheets. These three pages need to be completed and delivered to Ms Drinkwater as soon as signed in and before Thursday 14th Sept. It is vital that we get the vast majority of forms submitted, as some classes may not be able to be carried through if insufficient numbers.

Our Year 12 students seeking to obtain an OP score have sat the QCS test across the two days. Mr Gercken supported by Mrs Barnard and Mr Graham, arranged a breakfast for the students on both mornings to ensure the students were in their best form for the tests. Upon completion the students were confident that they had performed their best, on this very challenging bank of questions based on the Senior curriculum.

Students seeking to join the Academic Excellence Academy class in Year 7 assembled at the testing centre on Thursday 31st August to complete the Literacy / Numeracy tests to gauge the highest performers in this highly competitive goal. Students will be advised early in Term 4 if they have achieved their goal. Students who are not successful this year, may be invited to join next year if students do not maintain their level of performance.

On the Year 7 Information Evening, our P&C Assoc offer prize of a school Track suit with students entering their guide sheet into a draw. This year the winner is Marley Quakawoot from Victoria Park SS. Below are the photos of our 2018 Scholarship recipients of the eight P&C Sponsored scholarships. Congratulations.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

2018 SUBJECT SELECTION FORMS

Thank you to parents and students who attended our Subject Selection Evening on Tuesday 29th August.

Students who were unable to attend will need to collect a Subject Selection Form from the office. Students will need to see the relevant Head of Department or Subject Area Co-ordinator to have their subject selection form signed.

Outstanding Student Resource Fees will need to be paid in full before students can nominate for some subjects that have an addition al subject fee.

We ask parents/guardians to also complete the 2018 Resource Scheme paperwork attached to the Subject Selection Form.

Students need to submit all three completed pages to Ms Drinkwater by Thursday 14th September 2017.

At the Subject Selection Evening parents and students were made aware that if there are insufficient numbers of students choosing a subject, then this subject may be withdrawn. Also some subjects have restricted enrolment s because of the number of specialist rooms (kitchens/workshops) and once we have reached these numbers the classes will be closed to enrolments.

Ms Donna Drinkwater
Deputy Principal

FROM THE DESK OF A DEPUTY

Term 3 Report Cards

Some important dates around our Term 3 Reporting for students in Years 7 – 12:

• Tuesday 3rd October – Reports distributed to students to take home / emailed.
• Tuesday 3rd October, 4.00 pm – online environment opens for parents and carers to make Teacher Interview bookings.

• Tuesday 10th October, midday – online environment closes for making interviews.
• Tuesday 10th October, 3.30pm – 6.30pm – Parent / Teacher Evening in Mackay SHS Hall

The purpose of our interim reports is to:

• invite parents to participate in the upcoming Teacher Interview evening
• provide parents with a summary of their student’s progress for the year-to-date
• provide school based Achievement Data for analysis.

The majority of Year 7 parents will receive their student’s report card via email as the only method. Parents of students in Year 8 – 10 will also receive email copies, but students will be issued the paper copy – for the last time. Students in Year 11 will be sent details around confirming their email addresses so that reports at the end of the year can be emailed. By 2018 the majority of parents will be receiving their student’s report card via email, only.

Ms Tania Cheers
Deputy Principal

SPORTS REPORT

FITNESS PROGRAM WITH CERTIFICATE III IN FITNESS STUDENT AND SOUTHS SUBURBAN BOWLS CLUB.

We would like to thank South Leagues Bowls Club for participating in our 5-week fitness training program. In partnership with Binnacle Training (RTO 31319), our school is running this 5-Week Fitness Training Program to give Certificate III in Fitness students vital real-life experience in fitness assessment, program design and instruction with an older adult client (age 50+). This tremendous learning experience can only be made available through the generous commitment of your time.

This Fitness Training Program involves a pre- and post-program assessment and five sessions of training – one session is to be performed per week. One of these sessions will form the basis of the student’s Major Practical assessment.

Students will program and supervise all exercise sessions for the 5 sessions. The program is to be based on the fitness assessment results and the client’s goals. Here are a selection of photos taken with the clients.

Capricornia Athletics

Congratulations to the students, who recently competed at the Capricornia Athletics Carnival, held in Emerald on the 21st and 22nd of August. All students found the level of competition challenging, which allowed them to gain rewarding personal results in the events they were selected for. This was a fanstatic opportunity for each student to compete agains the best athletes in QLD. Each of you should be commended on your achievements, well done; Callum Creeley, Ashley Eastment-Smith, Shikira Elliot, Dane Galletly, Arthur Miller-Stephen and Ngakau Ufton.

QTAC

Ryan Morrissey is the Senior Engagement Officer from QTAC. Ryan is currently coordinating a series of roadshows to enable CEO, Dr John Griffiths and CIO Phillip Anthony to visit a number of Queensland regional secondary schools to present to current Year 9 parents about the transition from OP to ATAR, effective in 2020.

The Mackay Parents’ Power Hour sessions is to be held at Whitsunday Anglican School on Thursday 7 September at 5.30pm.

The Parents Power Hour sessions are 1 hour long and cover off a range of topics relevant to the ATAR conversion in 2020 including eligibility, pathways, inter subject scaling, subject choices and MTPATH - the new QTAC tool which assists students and schools in study planning. It’s critical that parents are fully informed on how important subject selection for Year 10 is, and how it can influence ATAR eligibility and university prerequisites. QTAC is able to provide a depth of knowledge to your parents to ensure they have the information to support their children moving forward.

We are asking Year 9 parents to register their intent to attend via EventBrite as soon as possible as we only have a fixed number of seats available, and I have popped the link below.

Parents Power Hour – ATAR2020 – for Year 9 Parents - 5.30pm -

ACCESS CENTRE

MATHS TUTORING

Year 7 Maths

Friday, 25th was a very exciting day for 7E and 7G. Students in 7E had prepared an Algebra lesson that required them to teach the 7G students how to solve Algebraic Equations.

Each student in 7G had planned a lesson that taught their student how to balance an equation, how to find the “unknown” and then, how to test for accuracy.

Each student in 7G had their own “teacher”. This was teaching and learning at its best.

The lesson was judged a success because it not only taught a new skill, but helped students clarify in their own mind a new process, introduced students to new peers and role-modelled successful learning.

We are all looking forward to 7G students teaching their peers a new skill in the near future too.

Student feedback:

• I learnt a lot from my good teacher. He said I was smart, and encouraged me.
• I thought the lesson went really well. It was very challenging to ‘kinda’ teach. I don’t think I was a good teacher, however both my students understood in the end.
• This was a good experience and I would like to do it again.
• Today I learnt a new skill with Taylor and I wish we had more time to do it together!
• I was scared at first, but when we got started I was more confident
• It was a great experience to learn from someone my own age.
• It was so much easier and quicker than a teacher would have taught us.
• It was better than a normal Maths lesson. I worked harder than for my real teacher!

ENGLISH TUTORING

Congratulations to Austin Crozier in Year 7 for achieving a Credit Result in the ICAS Writing test. Well Done Austin!

R U OK?

CHAMPION OUR CHAPPY

Becoming a Chappy Champion is simple and easy!

• Visit fundraise.suqld.org.au
• Enter your local school’s name into the search field Mackay State High School
• Click More Details Champion Your Chappy
• Click Donate Now
• Choose to set up a recurring gift or a one-time investment
• Enjoy knowing that you are making a difference in your local community.

All funds raised will go directly to supporting Chappy Phil at Mackay State High School

Thank you for your valuable time and for considering this vital investment in our children’s future.

Philip Hall
(Chaplain Mackay State High School)

DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD

Ryan Marcum of Year 10, was presented with his Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award recently at PCYC by Police Sergeant O'Keefe.

Ryan completed 4 strands to this Award:

1. Skill - Trombone
2. Community Service - library work and Memorial parades with Airforce Cadets
3. Adventurous Journey - 3 days hiking Cape Hillsborough
4. Physical Education - Karate.

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

COMMUNITY NOTICES