22 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parents / Guardians / Caregivers,

The Queensland Government has announced that students in Years 7-10 will return to school on Monday 25th May. I join the entire school staff in warmly welcoming your child back and we want you to know that we have missed them. We would like to thank every parent for their patience and support over the last 5 weeks during our period of online learning, and hope your child too, is excited to return.

The decision to return to school for all Queensland students is supported by the Queensland Chief Health Officer and aligns with progressive easing of restrictions as part of the Government’s response to COVID-19. Advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) states that physical distancing is not required for students during classroom activities. However, it is still required between adults. I therefore ask parents and carers to pay particular attention to the requirement for adults to maintain physical distancing of 1.5 meters at all times while on school grounds. Please do not gather in areas around the school such as carparks or at the school gates.

We are continuing to ensure that the health and safety of our students and staff remain the priority. We are continuing to invest additional hours into cleaning (which will occur mornings, during breaks and after school) and restricting visitors to our school. We have hand sanitisers in every classroom and will continue to model and teach appropriate hygiene practices such as cough and sneeze etiquette. Full school and year level parades will not occur (until it is safe to do so) and interschool competitions remain on hold.

If your child is unwell, it is essential that you keep them at home. In accordance with Queensland Health Directions, parents or carers of any child showing signs of illness will be asked to collect them immediately from school.

If you choose to keep your child at home, you remain responsible for their supervision and learning. The Department of Education learning@home website will remain available and will continue to be updated throughout Term 2 with new resources for students. Please know, that classroom teachers are not expected to keep delivering in an online environment, once they return to face to face teaching. If you do not intend for your child to return to normal school attendance from Monday 25th May, please notify the school as soon as possible.

For students who have a medical reason requiring them to remain at home or in isolation, our school will make arrangements to support their learning at home, just as we would in the case of any extended student medical absence.

BYO Device - Student Laptops are required from Monday 25th May

Our teachers and students have been utilising OneNote Class Notebooks for their lessons over the past five weeks and some incredible work has been occurring. Mackay SHS has been a BYO (Bring Your Own) device school for many years and we would like to continue the use of OneNote as our consistent platform in all of our classrooms once we are all back on Monday 25th May. We are asking that students have a fully charged laptop ready to go for their classes on Monday.

Alternative options:

• For students in years 7 to 9, we are also going to allow the use iPads (where students do not have a laptop). Whilst a Windows based laptop will always remain the school’s first preference, we have made a decision to allow IPads in years 7-9, where students do not own a laptop, but have a working iPad at home. iPads will need to go through an ‘onboarding process’ at school and have Microsoft Office products installed for use in classrooms. Students can access OneNote, Word, PowerPoint and Excel (the main programs used in years 7-9) on their iPad.
• If you are not in a financial position to have your child with a device, please contact the school, as we have a number of laptops that can be loaned through an equity program. We would like every students with a device and are here to support every family.
• Finally, if your child’s laptop is damaged or not working, and, you have it in a store being repaired, we are able to provide a “hot swap” device that can be loaned for short periods, while devices are being repaired. Please contact the school for more information.

We are looking forward to returning to the normality of school next week. On behalf of all staff, I sincerely thank you for your patience and support over recent weeks and months. The positive feedback from our school community and the willingness of parents and carers to partner with us in support of your child’s learning, has been greatly appreciated.

Kindest regards

Mrs Felicity Roberts
Principal

TEACHER AND TIMETABLE CHANGES FOR TERM 2

We welcome Mr BRAD SMITH to our Year Coordinator Team. Mr Smith will be the Year 7 Coordinator working alongside our Junior Secondary HOD Mr Matthew Skinner and Year 8 and 9 Coordinators Mr Brad Mather and Ms Alex Burns.

Mr Steve Ross-Bryant will be taking leave for the remainder of the year. Thank you Mr Ross-Bryant for being a valued member of our Agriculture Department. The following timetable changes will occur from the start of next week:

We also wished Ms Kimberley Lappin farewell in Week 3, and will be wishing Ms Sarah Fletcher farewell in Week 8 to embark on their journey of motherhood! Good luck and well wishes from all staff and MSHS families. The following changes will be from Monday Week 8 (8th June)

Mrs Tea Vella is going to be working on support provisions for our EALD (English as an Additional Language) students and the following changes will also occur:

Term 3 – looking ahead!

In Term 3 we will welcome Mr Tom Sleeman into the Maths/Science department and Mrs Karli Henri who will join across faculties in Junior Secondary.

We also welcome back Mrs Dianne Watt, who will come on board as a Head of Department for Teaching and Learning. Mrs Watt was our Master Teacher prior to this, and we are very excited to have her back on our team!

We are looking forward to seeing all students on Monday 25 May.

STYMIE

STAFF RECOGNITION MARCH/APRIL

Emma Forster- Teaching Staff Awardee March

Setting up JOT forms and our You Tube Channel. Awesome help in staff and student wellbeing (setting up physical exercise for our students at school and Workout of the Week while at home). The passion shown by Emma is worthy of recognition.

Felicity Roberts – Teaching Staff Awardee April

Felicity has been a powerhouse during the entire process of the school closure, or even going back to the start of the year. She has juggled volumes of publications from various levels of government – always communicating with all facets of the school community. Her care and concern for the wellbeing of staff has been prioritised in decision making. She has been professional and dedicated, forward focused and strategic. Her levels of work output are very significant.

As a Mackay State High’s new principal, Felicity has gone above and beyond, and is highly respected by all staff

Des Patton – Support Staff Awardee March

Des should be recognised this month for the facility improvement work that he has championed. Des primarily painted the junior boys toilets and several C Block classrooms in the past few weeks, which is amazing work. Des has kept pushing through with painting. Organising others so work is done systematically and getting the balance right between painting and prep

Cicely Baira – Support Staff Awardee April

Cicely joined us at the beginning of the year and has been a breath of fresh air. The staff wellbeing that has been created by her films and dances. Not only wonderful to be a part of, but amazing for the community to see. Lucky to have a creative go getter on the team.

TEACHER EMAIL LIST

ATTENDANCE

Communication is the key. We have an email address for you to inform us if your child is going to be absent. Please email attendance@mackayshs.eq.edu.au to notify us of your child’s absence and any further details.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Mackay High now has a Youtube channel and our own Instagram page. So tell your friends and jump on Instagram and like the page. We also have a Youtube channel while you are in home learning mode you will find weekly workouts from our PE guys as well as skills videos to keep you going. You will also find how to videos for online classes.

FARM SAFETY CALENDAR COMPETITION

ACCESS CENTRE

I’m Jasmin Huxley, Learning Support Coordinator and Learning Support teacher here at Mackay State High. I completed my Master of Education specialising in Learning Difficulties in 2017. Prior to that I obtained a Bachelor of Learning Management and Graduate Certificate of Education (Learning Difficulties). I have been working in a private setting one-on-one with students who find learning challenging here in Mackay for around 13 years.

My roll at MSHS entails teaching four classes and working with students (and teachers with students) who require learning support. As we all know this year has been a doozy so far thus I have not been able to work with as many students as I would have hoped for but, with the outlook of school returning to normal, I am very much looking forward to working with students in small groups to develop Literacy and Numeracy skills and encourage life-long learning. I believe that teachers and students alike benefit from the love of learning and furthering knowledge and practise on a professional level.

Fun fact: I’m pretty sure I have the largest rabbit figurine collection here at school!

GUIDANCE OFFICER

MACKAY STATE HIGH SCHOOL P & C

Next P and C meeting is on Monday 25th May 6pm, in the staff common room.

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