8 December 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Our final newsletter for 2017 commences with some outstanding reports. The overall achievement for our students for Semester 2 reached the best levels in my time here at Mackay SHS. Over 87% have attained ratings of A-C, with our target being 85%. Great achievement to finish the year.

On Monday 4th December, our school formally welcomed the 2018 Year 6 students along with some of their parents. 215 students, whose parents have selected to enrol their children at Mackay SHS, commenced their journey through our great school toward their graduation in 2023, as our 2017 Year 12 cohort did a few weeks ago. Students came from schools within our catchment, while others seeking to engage special programs like Academic and Sporting Academies, Music Excellence and Agricultural programs attended for their first day. My thanks are extended to the 20 students from Year 10/11, who returned from holidays to meet their Buddy class students on Monday. The new Year 7 students experienced some class activities, met their classmates for 2018 and worked alongside them during the day. At the end of the day they were given resource lists for next year as well as School Resource Scheme details for Year 7 families. Thanks to Mr Skinner our Junior Secondary Head of Department, who with his team coordinated the program for the students.

During the past couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of being part of Year 6 Graduation events and Awards Night Ceremonies at several of the schools in south Mackay. It has been very pleasing to see the wonderful achievements of the students and seeing such large numbers of students seeking to enrol at Mackay SHS. Some students seek pathways to University, others to trades, further training or traineeships and apprenticeships. Mackay State High offers avenues for all students while at the same time developing values, community service and resilience.

Ashleigh Cairns and Aleisha Wright have worked with great commitment during the year and were presented with their Level 2 Bridge Award under the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme. Congratulations to these girls and also to Ms Wood for her guidance in assisting these and other students in the Scheme.

Charni Bloxsom, Brooke Keates and Marni Bugeja, Year 11s in 2017, who gave up a day of their school holidays to be Mackay SHS’s representatives at the Mackay Whitsunday Schools Constitutional Convention. Congratulations to these students for their efforts and Mr Pozza for his coordination again this year.

On behalf of our staff, I wish everyone a safe and relaxing break, a very Merry Christmas and Happy and Prosperous New Year and look forward to seeing everyone back in 2018.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

BRIDGE AWARDS

Level 2

Congratulations to Aleisha Wright and Ashleigh Cairns for receiving their Level 2 Bridge Award. This award is a part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Program. These two girls are looking forward to now moving onto starting their Bronze Level of this award program. These two girls have completed over two months of community service, over five months of a skill of their choice, over two months of physical recreation, as well as an adventurous journey hiking at Crediton State Forest. They have both been challenged as well as learnt many new skills including map reading, leadership and teamwork. Well done Aleisha and Ashleigh!

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

With the end of year approaching there are a few technology processes that we encourage all students to do to ensure a smooth transition in 2018.

1. Back up your data – save important files to an external HD or OneDrive account.
2. Delete unnecessary files to free up space.
3. Complete all updates (choose Settings – Updates). This is required for purchases of new laptops as well.
4. Renew licences for Anti-virus and ensure that all updates are completed. If using Windows 10 – Windows Defender is sufficient for this.

If you are looking for a new device in 2018 please consider purchasing a device from one of the school portals – either Dell or Acer. These devices are guaranteed to meet our minimum requirements, can often be repaired on site by our technicians and the school can provide a loan laptop during repair times. To find out more information about these devices or our 2018 BYOx device specifications please see the school website – BYOx eLearning.

From the IT department, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and look forward to working with you in 2018.

ACCESS CENTRE

Library Visit

WOW!! What a fabulous City Library we have. Students in the Access centre were fortunate to visit the Dudley Denny City Library where they participated in sessions that showed them all around. They became members, logged into the Library website, borrowed books/movies/CD's, returned them and utilised all the resources available to them in the Library. The last session they learnt a coding program that allowed them to set a course on a map mat. They loved this as they worked together to figure out how to get from A to B. They all worked together as a great little team. We will be looking into more visits to the Library in 2018.

Thank you so much for having us Staff at the Dudley Denny City Library.

Junior Transition

Thank you to all our surrounding schools that participated in the junior transition program for diverse learners over the last 4 weeks. They toured the school, learnt the high school timetable, completed a workbook that will support them when they come to our school. Thanks to the parents that came to our morning tea that the Year 6's prepared and served to them. All staff, parents and students got to know each other and we are super prepared for next year.

All parents and students have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

See you all in the New Year!

Majella Hoffmann and the Access Centre Staff

T20 BLAST

On Friday 1st December 2 staff and 9 girls flew to Brisbane to play in the T20 Blast school cup. The competition is normally an outdoor event but with very heavy rain leading up to the day it was moved to an Indoor Cricket Centre. The girls played Mercy in the local comp to get to the next round in Brisbane, 8 schools participated in Brisbane with Mackay SHS girls winning 2 of the 3 qualifying rounds to get to the final were the played Boonah SHS, and unfortunately they lost 137 to 115 but in saying that they played like champions. Well done girls we are all proud of you!!

MATHS TUTORING

ENGLISH

ATTENTION ALL PARENTS AND STUDENTS

It is that time of the year again when we ask
you to venture into the teenage bedroom in search
of any textbooks or novels that are now due to be returned
to the school. This includes all English novels, Geography textbooks
and Legal Studies texts. Please know all students who fail
to return their books will receive an invoice for the replacement
of these texts. So, time to hunt for those missing books
Students! When found they can be returned to the A6 staffroom.

English Tutuoring

CAMP EAGLE

Peg Bags

The Uniform Shop have Peg Bags available for sale for $20. These are heavy duty canvas bags that hang on the washing line to hold cloths pegs. This is an ongoing fundraiser to support Camp Eagle campsite which is a not for profit campsite for youth and community groups at Rowallan Scout Park. Enquires Chappy Phil 0488 573 276.

UNIFORM SHOP

The Uniform Shop Opening hours 2018:

Wednesday 17thJanuary 8am – 11am
Thursday 18th January 8am – 11am
Friday 19thJanuary 8am – 11am
Monday 22nd to Thursday 25th January 8am to 11am
Normal hours beginning the week of 29th January,8am to 11am Monday, Wednesday and Friday

TUCKSHOP

COMMUNITY NOTICES