5 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

In the last newsletter, I shared the achievement of one of our 2017 Yr 12 graduates. Another of our high performers, Lauren Morgan who is studying a double degree, Bachelor Psychological Science/Bachelor Criminology and Criminal Justice, has been awarded the Sir Samuel Griffith Scholarship to complete her studies at Griffith University and her high performance gained her entry to the Griffith Honours College. This is a outstanding achievement, recognising Lauren’s excellent performance at Mackay State High and will assist her greatly in the completion of her pathway.

Recently our first Junior Secondary Disco was held with a large number of the Year 7-9 teachers being present for the Meet & Greet BBQ prior to the disco. The student numbers were very high and they all seemed to have a very good evening, faces painted for some and enjoying the competitions during the night. While the students danced in the Hall, supported by staff and many Senior Buddies, Year 7 parents were invited to an information evening led by Ms Drinkwater and senior staff. Thank you to those parents who attended.

Many of our Year 8 students travelled to Lake Fairbairn to participate in the 2018 Year 8 Camp. Students engage in a range of activities as part of allocated groups doing challenges, hiking, canoeing and team building activities over the 4 days. Later this year, we intend to hold a Year 7 Camp based on the same program and goals, to transition to this as a permanent part of our Year 7 program.

Cyber safety is a very important behaviour for our students/children. I have invited some specialists in the field of managing safe practices on internet and social media to speak with our students on Tuesday 6th March. The presenters from EQ, will address students in Year 7&8, 11&12 and 9&10. Please discuss their presentation with your child when they are home.

The Interhouse Swim Carnival was a great day of student engagement with Mackay House taking out the event this year. Later in the newsletter are the names of the Age champions from this year and records broken. With the warm sunny conditions on the day sunscreen was in big supply and the students spent lots of additional time in the pool or keeping wet with novelty events organised for the day. Special thanks to Mrs Kellie Biddle and her team who coordinated the event and to the House Captains who ably assisted in encouraging student involvement.

Our P&C Association is a key decision making and advisory group for our school. For the 2018 AGM being held on 26th March 2018 at 6pm. If you are interested in positively influencing the school achievements, please come along and become involved as the small group are looking for some new members for the committee. Our meetings are held each month and generally are concluded by 8pm. If being a member of the P&C is not of interest, you may like to contribute by volunteering for a regular day at our Tuckshop. This is a very valued role and joining this team, helps all of the students.

The Sports Academies are holding a Gala Sports Afternoon on 5th March commencing at 5pm on our ovals/ courts for any Year 6 students and their parents interested in seeing the opportunities offered to students in our Academy groups. Students will receive some drills/ coaching from our quality staff and the older students as well. Parents will be invited to participate in a video session showing the expectations and the opportunities and products of our system – most importantly respectful and positive young women and men, with some quality skills along the journey.

Interschool Debating commences in Term 2 with Junior division and Senior division Competitions being convened over 5 weeks on Tuesday afternoons. Mr Pozza is supported by 6 teachers who in pairs will work with their teams to build their debating and public speaking skills. Those interested should speak to Mr Pozza.

Mackay Central State School Leader’s Ceremony was held on Mon 26th February. Three of our current student leaders Jenica Bautista, Eunice Belonio and Troy Bajamundi attended showing the Central students the positive pathway through to Mackay SHS, Our students shared some of their experience as Leaders since departing Central and presented the new Captains with their badges.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

TEACHER PROFILE

Mrs Alex Burns

Hello, to the Mackay State High School community. My name is Alexandra Burns and I am a relatively new Teacher to our wonderful school. My husband, fur children and I have lived in the area for the past four years, and absolutely love being a part of our amazing city. We spend much of our time at the beach, camping, dog parks and enjoying the Mackay hospitality with friends. Primarily I teach English, History and Geography to years 7, 8 and 10, which is the highlight of my day. However, through my different extracurricular activities I get the opportunity to interact with all different students from years 7 – 12. I am very proud, excited and grateful to be a part of our school and wider community. I look forward to meeting many of you at various school functions this year and into the future.

Miss Michelle Hoffman

To the students, staff and broader Mackay State High School community, Hello. My name is Michelle Hoffman and I am a recent graduate from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. This year is my first year as a secondary school teacher and I am overwhelmed by the warm welcome I have had into this schooling community by students and staff. I have previously worked in Brisbane in a restaurant management and function coordinating position, the experience from which I am hoping to carry into my teaching career. My teaching areas include Home Economics, Hospitality and English. This year I am teaching a range of classes from grades 9 through 12 and have taken on Netball coaching with the interschool teams alongside Emma Forster. It is relationships with these students that I hope to develop in many curriculum and extra-curricular areas to help me settle into the school and develop as a professional teacher. My personal goal for this year is to lead my students by example and demonstrate to them how to achieve their personal best. I look forward to the challenges ahead and the opportunities I have to develop and grow into this role. Thank you again for the warm welcome here, I look forward to meeting many of you through the year.

SENIOR SCHOOLING NEWS

Year 12 QCS Test Preparation

Year 12 OP eligible students have been working in their tutorial lessons to help them prepare for the QCS test, which will be held on Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th September 2018. These students are required to purchase the textbook ‘QCS Success’ for these lessons. Thanks to those students who have paid the $23 to the school office and have collected their textbook already. Any questions, please see Mrs Barnard in E06. We are also running 3 full day workshops for students to help them prepare for the QCS test. These sessions are compulsory for all OP eligible students. The dates of these are:

Thursday 1st March 2018 – Matt Rigby
Monday 30 April 2018 – Bill and Chris Gilmore
Wednesday 27 June 2018 – Matt Rigby

Year 11/12 Assessment

Year 11 and 12 students will be sitting their end of term exams during week 10 – Monday 26 March to Wednesday 28 March 2018. Students will receive their exam timetables during week 8. It is important that students sit their scheduled exams. If a student cannot sit an exam or hand in assessment by the due date, then a medical certificate is required to enable the assessment to be completed after the due date. All senior students were issued with Assessment Planners that outlines when assessment is due. Please check with your child what assessment they are currently working on to help ensure they are handing it in by the due date. Assessment needs to be completed on time to help give students the opportunity to get their best results.

Work Experience

Year 11 and 12 students will attend work experience in week 7 (next week). Thanks to Mrs Esau for her efforts in placing students. Work experience is an important program within our school as it allows students to see first-hand what is expected in a work place in different industries. Many students make decisions on future career pathways based on their work experience. There are also a number of Year 12 students who need to complete work experience to meet requirements for Certificate 2 in Workplace Practices. There will be another round of work experience for Year 11 and 12 students in term 3. Year 10 students will attend work experience during term 4. Reminder to all students attending work experience that they need to keep up with school work requirements while they are at work experience – assessment is still required to be handed in by the due date.

Senior Student Attendance

It is a requirement of senior students that they are engaged in their programs of study so that they can meet the requirements of the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). Students need to be attending school every day to ensure they give themselves the best chance of success. Holidays are not a valid excuse for students to be absent from school. Students who miss school due to holidays are still expected to stay in contact with their teachers whilst away, and complete all assessment requirements by the due date. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Barnard.

Senior Assessment and Tertiary Entrance (SATE)

Current Year 10 students will be the very first students in Queensland to commence senior studies under the new SATE system. There are some minor changes to the requirements to meet the Queensland Certificate of Education. Students planning to go to university will also receive an ATAR at the end of Year 12 to replace the current OP. There are some changes to the content and assessment requirements of Year 11 and 12 subjects commencing in 2018. We will be holding some information sessions for parents and students to help make decisions about subject selection. The first session will be held on Monday 12 March 2018 commencing at 6.30pm in Auditorium. This will be a general information session about the new system. There will be a separate subject specific information evening to be held in Term 2, prior to Set Plan interviews to be held in week 7. More information will be provided to Year 10 students over the coming weeks.

USI (Unique Student Identifier)

A Unique Student Identifier (USI) is a reference number unique to each student.

All Year 10 students are required to create a USI and this number stays with the student for life.

Forms were given to all year 10 students in the first week of school and must be returned as soon as possible. A quick guide on How to Create a USI was also given to the student. The student will need ID such as a birth certificate, passport or medicare card to be able to create their USI. Anyone needing help creating a USI can bring their ID to Mrs Annamaria Esau in E6.

Positions Available

Full Time

A Mackay Cabinet Maker is offering a full time apprenticeship in Cabinet Making.

A local butcher has a position available for a full time apprenticeship as a butcher.

Casual Positions

BCC Cinemas are offering casual positions. The successful candidates must be available to work over the Easter school holidays.

A retail business is looking for students to do casual work. They are looking for Year 10 or 11 students.

If you are interested in any of these positions, please see Mrs Esau in E6 for more information.

SPORTS NEWS

Swimming Carnival

The MSHS annual inter-house swimming carnival was held on Friday 16th February. The house swimming participation events were a great success, with the additional novelty events implemented by the house captains. An important message of participation was imparted to encourage each house member to gain as many points as they could for the carnival. A big Thankyou to Kellie Biddle who oversaw the organisation of the carnival as a lot of work goes into these days. Also a special thank you to all of the teachers for your efforts in the management of this event, as carnivals would not be able to go ahead without your support. Aidan Watt provided the staff and students with music and entertainment from the DJ tent. Thank you Aidan for your efforts.

Congratulations to Mackay for winning the third annual carnival this year. The points are as follows.

Congratulations to the following students who set new swimming records on the day:

16 Year Boys- 50 m Breaststroke - Cameron Levitz & Blaize Grant
18 Year Boys - 50m Butterfly – Martin Armstrong
18 Year Girls - 50m Butterfly – Olivia Shailer
18 Year Girls – 50m Backstroke – Olivia Shailer

Congratulations to the following students for receiving the Age Champion awards, these students need to be commended on their superb efforts exhibited over the carnival. Well done, all students will receive recognition at the annual sports awards night to be held early term four.

Coles Sports for School 2018 program

Our school has taken the wonderful opportunity Coles is providing to acquire new sports equipment through the 2018 program. How this program works, Every $10 spent at Coles* during the program, will earn a Coles Sports for Schools voucher. The more vouchers we collect, the more gear our school can receive. These vouchers can be dropped off to any of the following locations; School Office, HPE Staff Room or to our Mackay (Parkside) Coles Store at 245 Bridge Rd (cnr Paradise St). Please support us by collecting as many vouchers as you can and drop them off to one of the above locations.

Netball

The Academy training shirts are in and they look fantastic! A new shirt design was created last year, which was to align with our schools sun safety agreement. The singlets have been replaced with a grey and purple training shirt and the girls look fantastic in them.

Emma Forster, the Netball Academy Coordinator and Hannah Koko have commenced the academy girls preseason training. Each Thursday morning the girls are required to meet at the school at 7am for a range of fitness-based sessions. The girls will work on increasing their fitness levels before the interschool season commences in week 7. Last week’s focus was a (HITT) High Intensity Interval Training session, where Kelly Russell took the girls for a Metafit work out. These sessions are challenging for every fitness level. All girls should be commended on their team commitment thus far at these training sessions. Year 11 & 12 girls who are playing in the Interschool competition are more than welcome to join in to these sessions.

Trial Information

The following trial paper work is available to be collected from the HPE staff room.

BUSINESS & IT DEPARTMENT

In the Business subject area we have junior students engaged in Economics and Business and senior students engaged in Certificate II in Business, Introduction to Accounting and Business, and Accounting. In the Information Technology area we have junior students engaged in IT for You and Digital Technologies and senior students engaged in Certificate II in Information, Digital Media and Technology, Information and Communication Technology as well as Information Processing Technology.

In all of these subjects we, as a department, have made a concentrated effort in ensuring that our students have access to learning materials 24/7. To do this, we have all classes using OneNote Class Notebooks. This tool allows us to provide students with a digital notebook where they can store their class notes, group work, assignments as well as access presentations and board work completed in class.

In order for our students to take full advantage of this, all students were requested to have access to a BYO device (laptop) connected as part of the book list. Teachers may be contacting parents to discuss options for ensuring students are utilising their devices and making the most of the opportunity for using electronic resources within our curriculum area.

If you have concerns about getting access to a device or questions about how you can have a look at the Class Notebook with your child please contact your child’s teacher or myself, the Head of Department, Kylie Stanger.

Technology Department

BYOx

The Technology Department has been onboarding a number of students on a daily basis. For students who collected their stickers at the end of last year it has been smooth sailing, however some of our connections this year have been slowed down due to updates or different versions of Microsoft. If you are yet to be onboarded and would like to speed up the process for your device please follow the below steps:

1. Complete all updates for your system (Windows or OSx). There are how to video’s of this on the School’s Website in the BYOx eLearning section.
2. Ensure that you have the Microsoft Office 2016 version installed as the only Microsoft Office Suite. This version is free for students and can be installed on multiple devices so you can have this on your home PC as well as the laptop.
3. Ensure that your student has admin rights to the computer and knows the password. This can be changed after onboarding but needs to be open throughout the initial process.

A big thank you to the parents/caregivers of our 720 connected students and to those parents and caregivers who are continuing the process. Remember, if you are looking to purchase a device there is a specifications checklist in the BYOx Guide for Parents on our school website.

Technology Upgrades

It is with big thanks to our school P&C that we are able to upgrade some of the technology in our Business Education and Technology Classrooms. The P&C granted the funds for two touch boards to be installed in P Block to allow for more flexible teaching and learning experiences for students and to allow for the recording of board notes directly into Class Notebooks for students to have 24/7 access. It is hoped that installations will be complete this week and classrooms up and running for Week 7.

Thank you also goes to school technician, Rob Schmidtke for the installation of the boards with the support of Christeen Werner, Dave Warrell and Michael Durie. Thanks team!

Equity Program

Families experiencing financial hardship or difficult circumstances can apply for access to an Equity Device. These devices are limited and parents/carers are required to support any application with an impact statement. This statement can be supported by a member of our school Support Services Team or with other financial statements. Unless there is some explanation, applications cannot be processed. Throughout term 1, multiple equity meetings are held to consider the applications of students however after term 1 these meetings will be held in week 4 of each term only. Within these packs are also some informative flyers about interest free loans and refurbished laptops at lower prices. Parents wishing to access this program can have their child collect an Equity pack from ICT Services.

MATHS TUTORING

ENGLISH TUTORING

TUCKSHOP

FLEXISCHOOL INFORMATION

A great start to our year with the introduction of registers to our tuckshop. We now have eftpos available at both the junior and senior service lines. The introduction of our cashless card system will also move the service lines at tuckshop quicker.

If you have a student in Year 7, 8 or 9 they will be able to use their school ID card for purchasing after you set up a FLEXISCHOOL account.

Cashless Cards

Stay in control of your high school students' lunches with the Flexischools cashless card system.

The Flexischools cashless card system links a students' existing school ID card to their Flexischools account, allowing them to purchase securely on the school grounds without the need for cash.

Student lunches have never been easier for parents:

• Top up account with funds at a time convenient to you
• Email when account is running low of funds
• Monitor spending and see what your child is purchasing
• Set daily spending limits
• Ensure the money is spent at school
• Safer than students carrying cash

The cashless card is also great for students:

• Reduced bullying associated with cash at school
• Reduced queueing times
• Never be short of cash at the cash register
• On-screen photo ID security protects your account from lost or stolen cards

COMMUNITY NOTICES