16 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Our 2018 Leaders Investiture was held in Week 3 with the Senior Leaders including Captains, Prefects, Music, Sports and House Captains presented to the school and receiving their badges. A large number of parents and family also attended, making the event even more special. Our Junior Secondary Leaders are selected later in the term after nominations are sought. Peter McKenzie, School Captain in 2003, spoke to the Leaders and the student assembly sharing some of his experience and providing them with some advice in their new roles. The Prefect group attended a Leadership workshop for student leaders across Mackay which was held at the MECC in Week 4.

Two of our 2017 graduates received nominations in the Young Achievers Award for 2018. Congratulations to Lauren Morgan and Haard Shah who will receive invitations to a State dinner in May in Brisbane, with fellow nominees. I am sure that both will very ably represent Mackay and Mackay State High also. I also wish to recognise Haard Shah who has received a prestigious QUT Vice-Chancellors Scholarship to undertake his tertiary studies over the next few years. This scholarship is hotly contested and a great achievement for Haard.

Assessment Planners for Semester 1 were distributed last week and I encourage all parents/carers to discuss this document with their student(s) and keep a paper copy available. Students, particularly in the Senior years, should refer to these dates regularly. I also remind parents and students that each week free tutorial rooms are supervised by teachers of English and Maths for an hour after school. Students can seek assistance of advice during this time, especially when completing homework or projects and assignments. Information of the days is included in each newsletter.

Ms Stanger, our IT Head of Dept, along with Rob and Christeen our two Technical Officers, have been spending many hours “on-boarding” students’ laptops to be able to be used in our school Network in classrooms. The big push is to have our Year 7 students’ laptops connected to the system. As of Monday almost 60% of students now have laptops connected to the network, allowing students to log on and access drives and internet through the EQ network. It is very important that students now bring their laptops to all lessons as teachers will be relying on students to have their devices at lessons. If your child’s laptop has not been connected at school, arrange to pay the $35 connection fee to the office and drop the receipt and their device to ICT Services.

Mackay will be afforded the opportunity for parents and students (13 years and older) to access a workshop on Cyber safety and information for parents seeking to understand more regarding online communication. Please refer to the two fliers attached to the newsletter and mark the dates down or call in at 9 Gregory St, Mackay. These activities are endorsed by our EQ Cyber safety branch.

Our House Captains will be able to test their skills with the Interhouse Swimming Carnival being held at Memorial Pool on Friday 16th February. Students are all expected to attend this school event and can be involved in swimming events, novelty events both in and out of the pool. Students are reminded that they are to be at the pool by 8:45am with rolls marked. Students are not permitted to leave the pool and will be dismissed from the pool usually at about 2:30pm. Students coming on buses, will have staff walking back to school for those returning for buses.

In the afternoon between 2:50 to 3:15pm the Bus turnaround and road at the front of the school is heavily congested with vehicles including MTC buses which need to access the turnaround to collect students. Please ensure that vehicles are parked carefully and access for busses is provided to turn in. I would strongly recommend that parents collecting students, arrange a different pickup point, possibly in either Penn, English or Kenilworth Streets.

Interact Club has reconvened at Mackay SHS in 2018. This club that has operated at Mackay State High School since 1963 (55 years) and many former Interact members are key members in our Mackay community today. Congratulations to the new Executive and thank you to Mr Pozza for his stewardship of the group.

Marnie Bugeja – President
Phillip Pheobe and Soren Jocumsen – Vice Presidents
Charlene Booysen - Secretary
Annalese Jacobson – Assistant Secretary

Students meet regularly and try to identify a couple of local causes to be their focus for the year.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

STUDENT LEAVE PASSES

Please read the LEAVE PASS procedures for exiting the school during the day for an appointment or if a student becomes sick. This is on page 11 of the school diary.

SICK

Any student becoming ill at school must report first to the office. It is imperative that the school has a contact phone number for such emergencies.

APPOINTMENT

Students must have a note from their parent/guardian requesting permission to leave at a certain time. This note is shown to the Year Co-ordinator, who will issue a leave pass, which must be presented at the office prior to departure from the school.

We ask that all parents support the school by ensuring that these processes are observed. Recently a number of students have been calling or texting their parents themselves from school. This contravenes the school mobile phone policy as well as failing to follow the Leave Pass procedures. Where students have been found to use their mobile phone to contact their parents/guardians, the mobile phone policy will be followed and an infringement will be recorded.

Ms Veney
Deputy Principal

JUNIOR SECONDARY

General News

Hi and welcome back to the school year from me. I've enjoyed meeting as many Year 7 students as possible and am enjoying the contact I have with the 3 Year 7 classes I teach. New students bring a lot of great qualities from primary school and I hope they can continue to remind older students of some of the simpler values of school life.

What's On Soon

A reminder to all Junior Secondary parents and students that we have a social/disco on Wednesday 21st February from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Full details have been provided to ALL Year 7 - 9 students via a letter home. If you haven't seen it, check your students school bag.

This is a fun way to start the year with an event outside of school hours. It only works though if students support it. We will have a professional sound and lighting set up, plus a couple of senior students who are actual DJs working there.

Year 8 camp is also going ahead in week 6 so stay tuned to our facebook site for a daily update of photos from camp. I have to forego some sleep to get this done late at night, but it does occur. Maybe I'll get better mobile reception this year for posting and won't have to climb a tree.

As soon as camp is over, I will start a dodgeball competition for Year 7. 8 and 9 students having the opportunity let me know what they would like offered. Again, if they don't speak up and participate, we can't offer anything.

Good News Stories

Overall the start to 2018 from Junior Secondary is a good news story. So far 99% of students have started the year with the right attitude and are here to learn and support each other.

I'm always on the lookout for reports of good things happening at school and outside school to show the great things that many of our students achieve and experience.

Thought of the Newsletter

No pain No gain.

Matt Skinner
Junior Secondary HOD

TRAINEE AND WORK PLACEMENT

School Based Apprenticeship

A local Mackay business is offering a School Based Apprenticeship for a Year 11 student wanting to do cabinet making. This is a great opportunity for students thinking of doing an apprenticeship after finishing school. The student would attend work one day a week while they are at school and then continue their apprenticeship when they finish Year 12. Interested students should see Mrs Annamaria Esau in E6 for more information. Students should also bring a copy of their resume.

TAFE Courses

TAFE offer a range of Certificate Courses that can be completed while students are at school. Enrolments for these courses will be closing shortly. Any student in Year 11 or 12 interested in doing a Certificate course through TAFE in 2018 will need to see Mrs Annamaria Esau in E6 for information on the courses and to collect an application form. The application form together with a copy of the student’s birth certificate will need to be returned as soon as possible.

SPORTS REPORT

SPORTS TRIALS

The first four weeks of Term One have been extremely busy to say the least. There have been a total of 15 MDSS trials for the 13-19 year age group that have been conducted. Many of our students that have represented the school were selected and represented MSHS at the Capricornia trials. This is a fantastic representation for Mackay State High School and also highlights the sporting talent at this wonderful school.

If your son or daughter is unsure of how to trial for certain sports, please tell them to come and speak to Miss Russell (the Sports Coordinator) and ensure that they listen to the daily notices for additional information each day. MDSS is taking a firm stance on Coordinators meeting deadlines and submit consent forms by the appropriate dates to ensure the chain of communication between the schools, coaches and convenors is a seamless process, therefore late nominations will not be accepted.

The following Trials will conclude Term one.

2018 Sports & House Captains

The Year 12 students have been through the process of writing nominations to be selected for the prestigious roles of House and Sports Captains of Mackay State High School. The panel of teachers from the Physical Education department spent time analysing these nominations to select the best representatives for 2018. With such a strong cohort of students we were able to have a Captain and two Vice-Captains for each house this year. It’s my pleasure to announce the following names of students who have been selected as the 2018 Sports / House captains.

Sports Captains

Daniel Kelly and Charni Bloxsom

Chatway

Vice captain – Summa Death-Franettovich, Captain – James Bassett, & Vice Captain – Olivia Shailer

Forgan

Vice Captain – Taelin Durante, Captain – Chyna Dimond

Denniss

Vice Captain – Reece Del Simone, Captain – Brittany Boss & Vice Captain - Nica Elpa

Mackay

Vice Captain – Epi William, Captain – Tamika Brecknell & Vice Captain – Narissa Phoebe

Swimming Carnival:

The Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday 16th February, where all students will meet at the pool. There will be a range of swimming and novelty events for all students to enjoy on the day. This is a mandatory school day and a great way to foster school spirit by participating and representing the house students are allocated.

Assessments

Just a reminder to all parents and guardians, all HPE subjects are marked equally on both the Practical aspect (consistent demonstration of physical skills) and the Theoretical (the health / well-being unit of study) and for this reason it is vital that all students apply themselves equally in each element. Quite often students find one aspect of this learning area much easier than the other and therefore not employ the same work habits in the area which they find more difficult. It is vital that this isn’t the case if success in the subject as a whole is to be achieved. The moral to the story for students in HPE is to NEVER GIVE UP and seek assistance from their teachers, throughout the term, to ask questions and learn what is required of them to strive to achieve to the next level. Quite often they will be surprised by the outcome if they show persistence and seek clarification in both aspects.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP INVESTITURE

ACCESS CENTRE

Majella Hoffman
HOSES

CATTLE SHOW TEAM

2018 Cattle show team brings a new year with new opportunities and a bundle of fun. This year we say hello to new students and new cattle waiting to be trained up and ready for a new year at the shows. On Tuesday the 13th February, we had our first training which involved introducing the students and the new cattle to the concept of the cattle show team. We did the basics which includes grooming, basic handling and the clean that comes after it. The cattle show team is all very excited to see what this year brings with only having 126 days till the shows and 63 training sessions left until we can showcase to the public what Mackay State High School cattle show team have to offer.

Emily Shepherd Year 12

ENGLISH TUTORING

MATHS TUTUORING

We have been pleased about the number of students who have been popping into the maths staffroom in the past week, asking whether Maths Tutoring has started this term. So, this is a reminder that Maths Tutoring has started again, on a Monday afternoon between 3pm and 4pm, Seniors in E03 and Juniors in E01.

As mentioned in the most recent newsletter, last term we managed to fill three classrooms with students seeking extra assistance with their maths work. We have noticed that there has been a direct correlation between attendance at tutoring and improvement in maths results. Come along and get help from our maths teachers – you are welcome!

Jim Laidlaw
Head of Department - Mathematics

GRIP LEADER CONFERENCE

GRIP Leadership is a leadership conference for student leaders to attend, providing examples of the different ways people can lead. GRIP stands for Generosity, Responsibility, Integrity, People, and once you get a grip on this you get a grip on Leadership.

The GRIP Conference was an enjoyable event which gave us a great insight into what it means to be a leader. By showing us the different aspects of Leadership, the attendees were able to see how they could transform themselves to become better leaders within the school. The GRIP conference highlighted how to work as a team and contribute a positive change into the school. The GRIP conference participants were given ideas on how to transform their own capacity, along with how they could improve event participation and school pride. Over the day, we were able to meet with different leadership teams within the Mackay region, all helping to become great leaders into the future.

Emma Bugeja – School Vice-Captain and Phillip Phoebe - Prefect

SCHOOL PHOTOS

SCHOOL BASED YOUTH HEALTH NURSE

Ann-Maree BRIGHTMAN
School Based Youth Health Nurse

COMMUNITY NOTICES