12 October 2018

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Welcome back to Term 4 and before we know it, our 2018 will be graduating on Friday 16th November. The 2018 Awards Night will have been held on Wednesday 7th November with many hard working and committed students rewarded for their efforts. This week, our 2018 Sports Awards Night was celebrated at the Turf Club with State, Capricornia and Mackay District representation recognised, Age Champions awarded and Junior and Senior Sportsperson nominees announced.

Student Report Cards for end Term 3 were released online, as well as information for parents to arrange Parent Teacher Interviews. Parents are asked to check the reports to identify teachers who are seeking interviews, as well as teachers who you seek to meet with. The key date for interviews is Tues 16th Oct commencing at 3:30pm through until about 6:30pm. Other interviews can be arranged by contacting the school office and arrange a suitable time. I encourage as many parents as possible to take advantage of these meetings, as your student commences the final term for the year.

Thank you to the many parents of students in Year 7 to 9, who arranged the subject selection forms to be returned to Ms Drinkwater by end of last Term. If your student still has the forms to submit, please have them completed, approved through the Heads of Department and deliver to Ms Drinkwater as soon as possible.

This week we were notified that Brianna Skinner Year 12, had been awarded a Certificate of Community Service Nominee through The Order of Australia Organization, Queensland. Brianna had been nominated, for always being involved in school and community activities, generally to support other people. Brianna is always the first to offer her assistance to support others and our school and is a worthy recipient of this prestigious Award.

Several of our talented junior musicians extended their skills with involvement in the State Honours Middle School Concert Band, working with special musicians and conductors late in Term 3. Congratulations to Libby Hood (Tenor Sax), Charley Lee (Cello), Cristina Taylor-Brell (Euphonium), Charlotte Toohey (Violin). Well done to each of these students as they often transition to CGEN appearances in later years.

On the weekend several of our students from our Netball Academy, will travel to the Gold Coast for the State Finals for the Vicki Wilson Cup, against the top 14 teams in the State. Kara Boys, Emma Watts, Amity Bugeja, Lawren Samson, Elise Crewe, Jaelee Tillack, Lara Beveridge, Olivia McLennan, Kayla Doherty, Tilayna Nissen, Abby Crawley have been preparing well and will represent our school and Mackay very proudly, under the guidance of coach Emma Forster. Next Tuesday our choir and Instrumental bands and ensembles will be competing in the Schools section of the local Eisteddfod. Good luck to these students and their teachers who always give their best.

Congratulations to Michelle Ribot, one of our young Arts Department teachers who has been recognised by being accepted as a presenter at Australian Teachers of Media – Conference on Gold Coast in November – “All Work and No Play: The benefits of Incorporating Play into the Media Arts Classroom.” Michelle intend to include this presentation for interested local teachers at our Twilight Sessions for staff in March 2019. Well done.

A reminder to all students who ride bicycles to school. This is an excellent physical activity, however all must remember to have helmet strapped on, whenever riding. Police will be monitoring School Zones for safe traffic as well as helmets.

Mr Steve Paulger
Principal

ANNUAL AWARDS NIGHT

The MSHS annual awards night will be held at the MECC on November 7, 2018.

This is the night that we recognise all of the amazing students in this school for their academic, cultural, citizenship and leadership abilities, as well as handing over our school leadership blazers to the incoming school leaders and announcing the 2019 school captains.

Invitations will be coming out in the next few weeks to students and their families.

We hope all can attend and share in this celebration of success.

Ms Lisa Veney
Deputy Principal

SAVE THE DATE

MACKAY STATE HIGH PRESENTS

Escape 2 Euphoria will showcase our amazingly talent Arts Students on Friday the 2nd November from 5pm. There will be an art exhibition, performance artists, short films and music performances throughout the evening. There will also be free food and drinks available, making it the perfect evening out for family and friends to enjoy and support the fantastic Arts cultural at MSHS. We look forward to seeing you there.

When: 2nd November 2018
Where: MSHS Hall
Time: 5pm

BYOx Information Evening

There will be an information evening held in school Auditorium for any students in Year 6 coming to Mackay SHS in Year 7 2019 or any students looking at purchasing new laptops.

There will be information on device specifications, software requirements, use in the classroom as well as some information about devices available through the school’s Portals.

When: 13 November 2018
Where: Auditorium
Time: To be advised

ACCESS CENTRE

MSHS Junior Transition Program for Diverse Learners

Every Friday P1 & P2 (9am- 11am) - 4 sessions before orientation day: Parent or Primary School is responsible for drop off and pick up from the office at Mackay High.

Session 1: 16th November (week 6) ‘Starting High School’ - Tour
Session 2: 23rd November (week 7) ‘Subject Exploration’ – fun activities
Session 3: 30th November (week 8) ‘Meeting New People’ & ‘Making Friends’ - games
Session 4: 7th December (week 9) ‘Meeting Parents’ Morning tea – Students will prepare and cater for morning tea with Parents
2019 Year 7 Orientation Day (Whole school) – Week 10: 10th December, Monday

More information will be sent out to schools asap.

Senior Transition Pathways

A selection of Year 10, 11 and 12 students with diverse needs will be attending. Please parents sign forms and return to office or Access Centre by WED 17th October. More information about the Transition Pathways Expo below.

Please see attached flyer for Senior School Transition Pathways to be held at Mackay Senior Citizens Hall on Thursday 18th October 2018. It was a huge success in 2017 with over 150 young people attending.

This year, the event is aimed at the Mackay community to come & find out what services and supports are available for people with diverse needs, disability, permanent injury and illness from school through to adult life.

It will involve a roster of participating schools attending with students to explore post school options across the duration of the event, and is also open to the public throughout the event. Guest speakers include Josh Nicholson from the Australian Steelers (wheelchair rugby) and Zac Newland studying Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) from CQUniversity.

Media contact on the day: Majella Hoffmann, Head of Special Education Services at Mackay State High School mhoff18@eq.edu.au 07 4957 9128

Further event details: Danielle Ballingall, Administration, Northern Beaches State High School dball78@eq.edu.au 07 4842 1333

We look forward to welcoming your attendance.

SCHOOL MAGAZINE

If you would like to purchase a school magazine for 2018, you will have to have paid for the magazine by 26 October 2018 and have all school fees paid up to date. This is a wonderful keepsake book full of memories for the school year.

R U OK? DAY

A huge success at Mackay State High School!

This year’s R U OK? Day was celebrated on Thursday, 13th September. The Support Services Team coordinated the event with the theme this year being “Start the Conversation”. A big thank you going out to the staff, students, presenters, visitors, donors and all involved. The day was very eventful and bright with staff wearing yellow to show their support. Some of the highlights of the day included:-

• Yellow breakfast at Breakfast Club
• Espresso coffees, tea & hot chocolates for staff in J Block dining room
• Tuckshop goes yellow for R U Ok? Day
• Staff massages
• Live broadcast by Greg & Colin from 4CRM
• Paper plane competition with prizes
• Headspace Crew attended with sausage sizzle, games, activities, merchandise
• ATSICHS Indigenous Mental Health attended with a display
• Deadly Choices attended with football on the oval
• Live music by Clayton Campbell
• Bollywood Dancing Performance by Parneet Kaur
• R U Ok? Day themed art workshop for students on large canvas
• Biscuits, icy cups, smoothies & merchandise for sale by Access Centre
• R U Ok? Stickers for students to wear and yellow fingernail painting
• A Big thank you to Manager Scott and Woolworths Rural View for supplying the food for the BBQ

SENIOR SCHOOLING

Year 10 Work Experience

Work experience for Year 10 students will take place from 23 – 26 October 2018.

These work placements allow students to experience the use of new and different equipment and technologies, and to develop a positive work ethic for future employment. Structured Workplace Learning also gives the student the opportunity to put into practice skills learned in the classroom.

Students are beginning to receive their placements and are required to contact the employer for a pre placement interview and have the appropriate paperwork signed and returned to the school prior to commencing work. Students are given a checklist in their pack which outlines the steps they need to follow before, during and after their work experience.

Position Vacant

2ND HAND UNIFORMS

We are always in need of any 2nd hand uniforms, for students that have the incorrect uniform, we can do a quick fix with a loan uniform through the Year Coordinators room. The loan uniform is then returned to the school in a clean condition. If you have any Senior or Junior shirts and shorts we would be most grateful, just bring into the General office.

MATHS DEPARTMENT

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

GUIDANCE OFFICER

STAYING SAFE ONLINE AND HOW TO DEAL WITH CYBERBULLYING

Cyberbullying is the use of technology to bully a person or group with the intent to hurt them socially, psychologically or even physically. Many young people are being cyberbullied at the present time.

Cyberbullying occurs when a person uses digital technology to send, post or publish content with the intent of causing harm to another person or group. Cyberbullying acts include:

• abusive texts and emails
• hurtful messages, images or videos
• imitating others online / fake accounts
• excluding others online
• humiliating others online
• nasty online gossip and chat.

If your child is being bullied on line, some tips that might help are:

1. Stay calm: Your child needs to be able to talk to you and know that you’ll be calm, thoughtful and helpful in your response.
2. Evaluate the situation: It’s important to know exactly what’s going on before you can work out what to do next. Is it a few off hand remarks, or is it something more serious?
3. Understand how your child is being affected: If your child is upset about a situation, let them know that you understand and it’s OK to be upset.
4. Don’t take away the technology: Taking away your child’s laptop or mobile phone can alienate them from their most important support network – their peers.
5. Work through a plan together: you can get cyberbullying material removed either by contacting the social media service it happened on or by reporting it to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner

How to get cyberbullying material removed:

1. Social media services should remove cyberbullying material that is reported to them. Most social media services have a reporting area on their website. For more information about how to report material on various services go to:

2. Collect evidence of the cyberbullying material. Depending on where the cyberbullying material is posted, you might need to do this first, before you report it to the site. A simple way to collect evidence is taking a photo or screenshot of the material. If you do submit a complaint to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner about the cyberbullying material, you will need to provide this evidence.

3. Report cyberbullying to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. If the social media service fails to remove the material within 48 hours of you reporting it to them, you can make a complaint to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. You can do this at:

4. Block the person. Block or unfriend the person upsetting you so they cannot keep upsetting you while the material is being removed.

Actions you can take yourself to deal with cyber bullying:

Social media

Understand how to block, unfriend and report content on the various social networking sites and teach your child how to use these features. You can also update privacy settings on social media to limit who can see what you / you child posts (and then encourage them to do the same). If you’re not sure how to do this, you can look it up on the social media services (visit the safety centres of the social media platforms). It is also possible to disable comments on posts and videos on Instagram and YouTube.

Mobile Phones

You may want to block phone numbers that are sending bullying or abusive messages. If you aren’t sure how to do this, you can find instructions for blocking numbers on your phone by searching online (google “how to block phone numbers” and add the model of the phone you are using in the search”. You can also contact your service provider for help.

Contact the school

If the bullying is happening at school, or involves students at the school you can contact school to talk about the situation and options available to resolve things.

Lindsay Hains
Guidance Officer

TUCKSHOP

How can I get involved?

Volunteering is time willingly given for the common good and without financial gain.

The parents and citizens’ association at Mackay State High School appreciate any volunteer contribution that you can make. Can you help at tuckshop? Do you like planning or assisting at functions and special events? There are so many ways in which you can help our P&C email pandc@mackayshs.eq.edu.au for more information

COMMUNITY NOTICES