5 February 2021

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to 2021, and a special welcome to all of our new families joining us this year. Our school numbers have remained fairly consistent from 2020 – 2021, with a growth of approximately

At Day 8 last year (which is the official Department of Education student count), we had 1132 students. As we approach Day 8 this year (Friday), our student numbers are looking to be 1148. Students have settled in beautifully to our school and it gives me great pride seeing them altogether each week at full school parade.

There is so much exciting work happening at Mackay State High School and the energy shown by the staff during the Student Free Days was inspiring. We are a team that is passionate about your child’s education and living the Mackay SHS mission to “provide educational excellence and diverse pathways, built on a culture of inclusion, high expectations and pride”.

To share some of the achievements of our graduating 2020 Year 12 students:

• 99% of our students achieved the Queensland Certificate of Education (the state average, including both public and private schools was 85%)
• Our 2020 Dux Damolaoluwa (Joyce) Olakolu received an ATAR score of 98.4 (one of the highest of all schools in Mackay)
• Thanh Huynh, also Dux, was awarded a Sir Samuel Griffith Scholarship, for outstanding academic achievement, with a placement to Griffith University
• 89% of our ATAR eligible students have accepted a University offer and will be commencing studies in the coming weeks
• In the coming weeks, we will be contacting every graduate to check in and ensure they have commenced in apprenticeships, traineeships or employment.
• A huge congratulations to our 2020 cohort, who faced much adversity through the year and the first group to exit year 12 under a new Queensland Senior Education and Assessment system.

2021 has many exciting things installed for our school. One date to mark on your calendars is our school musical, GREASE! If you have been following our Facebook posts, you would have seen some of the amazing talent we have at our school, with students practicing for auditions into roles. The musical is set for Friday 4th and Saturday 5th June at Northern Beaches Performing Arts Centre – mark this on your calendars!

Next week (Week 3) is a busy week!

• Wednesday is our Senior and Junior School Leadership Investiture. Students who were elected as leaders will be inducted in front of their cohorts in special ceremonies. Parents of student leaders are invited along to attend the ceremony and notes will be sent home with students.
• Our Swimming Carnival happening next Friday. There have been changes to the Risk Assessment processes for schools and we now MUST have all students complete permission forms to attend this off-campus event. If your child does not return a permission form, they will be required to remain at school.

Hopefully, your child has mentioned our 2021 Pride Cup – this is a new whole school program aimed at defining your child’s House and providing a sense of belonging to that House. We have tried to ensure that siblings entering our school will now belong to the same House, and we also ensure that students remain in the same Form / House throughout their six years with us. Throughout the year, each faculty will be running activities and challenges in a range of fields (eg: weekly maths challenges, Mackay High’s Got Talent, Minute to Win it) and students can gain points to their House for participation. Throughout the year, points will be tallied and the winning House announced as Pride Cup champions. Our House Prefects are excited to be leading this new initiative in 2021, and we are keen to see some House spirit at our first Swimming Carnival next week.

Finally, I believe in clarity, alignment and transparency. As a staff, we have spent the Student Free Days and first two weeks ensuring our staff refocus on our priorities, that will continue to see our school improve and student performance lift over the next three years. Our 5 keys areas for improvement are shown below and we use the mantra that “at Mackay State High School, we are improving with CLASS!” to guide our work.

Enhancing communication with parents is one item that we are working on under the “School Operations” priority. I have included in this newsletter our list of teaching and support staff with their email addresses should you wish to make contact to discuss how your child is settling into the New Year. I will be encouraging teachers to make contact home to inform you of the work and assessment being undertaken in classrooms and to let you know how your child is progressing. I would also encourage you to make contact with your child’s teacher (and email is usually a great way for this) if you have any concerns about their classwork, effort or behaviour. Connecting to our school’s Facebook page is also a great way for parents to stay connected and receive reminders regarding upcoming events.

Below is a snapshot of your child’s support team, so you know who you can call (if it isn’t a classroom issue)

Finally, I would like to invite parents to the first P&C meeting being held on Monday 22nd February at the School’s Staff Learning Lounge from 5:00pm. It will be wonderful to meet with parents and to hear your feedback on how the school year has commenced.

I am proud to be leading this amazing school and looking forward to working with you throughout 2021.

We Believe … We Achieve
Yours in Education

Felicity Roberts – Principal
#mackayhighpride

GENERAL HOUSEKEEPING

Medication at School

If your student requires medication while at school, there a couple of steps that need to be followed.

Step 1

Complete paperwork:

• Administration of Medication Forms are available from the general office. They must be completed by a doctor and parent/guardian and returned with the medication to the First Aid Officer at the school office.

Step 2

• Medication needs to be obtained from a chemist. Medication must have a Chemist label, with the students name on it and listing the medication and instructions and be dated the current year affixed to the packet/container.

Unwell Students

Please instruct your student that if they are sick they MUST come to the school office and the office staff will phone and make arrangements with you for your child to be collected. Students are NOT to use their own mobile phone to contact parents or they will be issued with an eDevice infringement. This process saves valuable time for office staff as they don’t have the resources to go looking for students who are not in sick bay.

STUDENT MESSAGES

Please arrange with your child PRIOR TO SCHOOL any changes or appointments to their day. Only UNFORSEEN CRITICAL EMERGENT messages will be delivered to students.

Late for School/Leave Pass

The student is required to bring a note if they are late for school or need to leave for an appointment. The note is taken to the Attendance Office and the student is then given either a late pass or a leave request. If the student is leaving school early the request is then taken to the office at the time of departure where a parent/guardian can collect the student from the office.

Second 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.

Facebook/Instagram

Mackay State High has a Facebook and Instagram page where lots of information is posted daily. This is where you will find information on any upcoming camps, excursions, sporting trials/carnivals as well as showcasing the amazing students and staff we have at our wonderful school. Remember to like our page and set as a favourite so as not to miss out on all the important things.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

SCHOOL PHOTOS WILL BE TAKEN ON 15 & 16 FEBRUARY 2021

School photography day is coming up soon. Group and portrait photographs can be purchased by following the link below or by returning the order envelope with your payment to our photographer on school photo day.

NEW

advancedlife now offers Latitude Pay! To take advantage of LatitudePay and split the cost of your order into 10 small easy payments, simply order your school photos online as usual, set up a Latitude Pay account in just a few clicks and pay no interest or fees when you pay according to your payment schedule; it’s that easy.

3 easy ways to purchase:

1. LatitudePay – Click on the link below, set up an account during the online order process and split your payments across 10 weeks with no interest or fees, if you pay on time
2. Visa, MasterCard or PayPal
3. Cash – complete the envelope supplied and return it to our photographer on photo day

Or visit: www.advancedlife.com.au
And enter online order code: 989 F7T 7JZ

School photography information:

• Online orders - do not require an envelope returned to your school
• Sibling Photos - Don’t forget to pre-order your sibling photos online up to 24 hours before photo day. We provide your school with a list of sibling orders right up to the day of photography, so no one misses out. If you miss the online order deadline, you can submit a completed sibling order envelope first thing in the morning of the day of photography, so your school is aware you want the photo taken and can bring your children together in time for it. Sibling photographs only apply to children enrolled at your school. Please note not all schools offer sibling photos
• Late fees - a late fee will be applied to each package purchased after photo day due to the additional cost of producing these packages separately
• Package delivery - photographic packages will be returned to your school for distribution approximately six weeks after photos are taken
• Previous Years’ photos - Past years’ photographs including sports, co-curricular and representative groups are also available to order under the 'previous years or group photo' tabs at your school’s advancedorder site when you click on the 'Order School Photos Here' button above. You can also order past packages, portrait images and gifts from your child’s unique, individual and secure advancedyou image archive site using the unique 9 digit image code found on packages you have ordered in the past

advancedlife would like to express our appreciation to Mackay State High School for placing your trust in us. Please remember we offer a 100% money back guarantee on our products to ensure your peace of mind. We would also love to receive your feedback or resolve any issues you may experience as fast as possible, to ensure your satisfaction. If you have any questions, comments or feedback relating to your advancedlife experience please contact us at:

STAFF EMAIL LIST

IMMUNISATIONS

Immunisation program for Year 7 and Year 10 students

Our school is participating in Queensland Health’s annual School Immunisation Program. All Year 7 and Year 10 students will be offered free vaccinations as recommended on the National Immunisation Program schedule to protect against vaccine preventable diseases. Year 7 students will be offered human papillomavirus (HPV) and diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough). Year 10 students will be offered meningococcal ACWY vaccination.

It is important that you read the information booklet contained in the consent pack which will be sent home with your child in term 1.

Only students with a signed and completed consent card, indicating ‘Yes to Vaccination’ will be vaccinated. If you would like your child to be vaccinated, please fill in the consent card and return it to the school within one week.

SPORTS CORNER

Welcome back to 2021, it’s great to have sport up and running again with lots of sports trials happening at the moment. As always, the year of Mackay District School Sport kicks off straight away so please check that you have looked at the sports and the trial information to ensure you get the paperwork back before the due date to save the disappointment of missing out.

Our Sporting Academies meeting was held on Wednesday night, which gave us a great chance to meet new and current students and parents. On the night, we answered questions about fees, uniforms, expectations, judiciary and the direction for 2021. Thank-you to all of those who attended the night we hope we were able to give you some answers around the workings of the academies.

MDSS Trial Paperwork- School Process

Here at Mackay High, we encourage students to participate in trials for Mackay District School sport however, students and parents must be aware of the process in order to submit paperwork.

1. Students will be notified through daily notices when paperwork is available for a particular trial.
2. Students need to come to the HPE staffroom to collect their paperwork.
3. Paperwork needs to be filled out in its entirety and handed into the front office with payment by 3pm on or before the due date.
4. It is the parents responsibility to inform the school/attendance office of your students absence.

Paperwork will NOT be accepted after 3pm on the due date. This due date is clearly stated at the top of all paperwork. At no point should paperwork be sent directly to the manager or convenor of that sport as it must follow the official nomination process.

Capricornia Trial Paperwork Process

If your student is successful in getting into the Mackay District team for their chosen sport, they will receive the Capricornia paperwork on the day. Please follow all instructions on this paperwork as payment does NOT come to the school. Paperwork needs to be filled out and bought back to the general office, signed by the school and then sent off to the team manager.

Swimming Carnival

The Mackay High swimming Carnival is being held on Friday the 12th February at the Memorial Pool. Entry to the pool is a gold coin donation. Students can be dropped off at the pool from 8.15am and picked up from the pool at the conclusion of the day at approximately 2.45pm. Students that arrive by bus are to walk down to the pool and will be released with enough time to walk back to school for pick up. For our younger students we will have staff that will escort them to the pool from school. Permission forms have been emailed home and given to students, this needs to be returned to the Form Teacher no later than Tuesday 9th February. The swimming carnival is a fantastic day to be involved in as staff and students get to interact with each other outside the classroom and get involved in all the activities our staff and House Prefects have planned. The list of house and colours are below. We encourage our students to wear sun safe clothes in their house colours and ensure they bring a hat. Due to Covid regulations this year there will be NO Canteen facilities available on the day but our senior students will have a sausage sizzle with softdrinks/poppers available for purchase. Unfortunately there is also NO spectators allowed. Students should ensure they also have their own food and water for the day. We encourage all students to be involved in participating in our events on the day even if they are not confident swimmers. We will have board races and noodle races as well as our regular swimming events and also out of the pool wet activities such as run the gauntlet and fill the bucket relays which are always great fun. Looking forward to a great carnival.

House Colours

New Sports Coordinator

My name is Lucy Cody-Davis and I am the Sports Coordinator.

I have been teaching at MSHS for 3 years in the HPE, Humanities & English Departments.

Prior to making the move to QLD I worked for Netball Victoria and the Melbourne Vixens in Netball Operations.

After a challenging year of sport in 2020 we are so excited for our students as all school, MDSS and Capricornia sport is making a return!

Please keep eye out on social media and in the newsletter for any information regarding sports

“GREASE THE MUSICAL”

The school is full of excitement with the upcoming musical in June. Auditions have all been completed, students have been singing, acting and dancing their way around school in preparation for our musical. The cast is now set and what an awesome group of kids they are. Well done to everyone who auditioned, you all did a fabulous job

The cast as follows:

Danny: Dean Contemplacion
Kenickie: Ryan Tickle
Sonny: Jenelli Gorrion
Doody: Breath Canete
Roger: Ned Gething

Sandy: Benica Solicar
Rizzo: Cristina Taylor-Brell
Marty: Graciella Davidson
Jan: Tia Harlow
Frenchy: Jacaranda Rowe-Bailey

Patty: Amity Bugeja
Eugene: Tyler Hamilton
Miss Lynch: Holly Keates

Jenny Casino: Savahna Byrd
Vince Fontaine: Nix Smith
Cha-Cha: Payton Douglas
Teen Angel: Charlize Altobar

Featured Dancers: Iesha Seaton, Kayli Vormister, Bodhi Rowe-Bailey, Holly Keates, Grace Chabata, Emily Camp, Morgan Faulkner

Ensemble: Anneka O'Donnell, Chloe Pope, Claire, Murry, Elizabeth O'Neill, Jenaya Hart, Kaitlin Scott, Laina Rudken, Layne Woods, Lee Hore, Neah Garciano, Nina Boys, Sarah Coady, Sienna McMillan, Stella Collins

REMOTE AREA TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

SENIOR SCHOOLING

USI – Unique Student Identifier

Year 10 USI (Unique Student Identifier) and Student Enrolment Agreement Form for CSW

All year 10 students are required to have a USI (Unique Student Identifier) and a signed student enrolment form for their CSW subject.

Students were given a Quick Guide on how to create their USI along with a USI collection form which is to be signed and returned to the school.

The student will need ID such as a birth certificate, passport or Medicare Card to be able to create their USI. Anyone having trouble creating their USI can bring their ID to Mrs Esau in E6 and help will be given.

The enrolment form is to be signed by the student and parent/guardian and returned to the school.

Both forms are required to be returned to Mrs Esau in E6 by Wednesday 17 February 2021

ENGLISH TUTORING

MATHS TUTORING

STUDENT SERVICES

School Based Health Nurse

Your Health Matters

I’m Ann-Maree Brightman, the Mackay State High School Based Youth Health Nurse (SBYHN). I can be found in the Student Services area on Wednesday and Thursday one week and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday the following week. Please feel free to call me on 49579179 if you have any queries.

An outline of what I do

The SBYHN works with students and school community on issues that may affect the health and wellbeing of young people and the school community as a whole. This includes helping with curriculum, teaching and learning activities, providing health information and referral, supporting the development of the environment and school culture that supports health and wellbeing, and working with the community and other services.

The SBYHN can provide health and wellbeing information about:

• healthy eating and physical activity
• feeling unhappy or stressed
• relationships
• healthy skin
• personal and family problems
• growth and development
• sexual health
• smoking, alcohol and other drugs.

Confidentiality

Young people have a right to confidentiality when accessing health services. As a health service provider the SBYHN respects this but there are some things the nurse must refer or act upon.

In most cases, it is best for young people to talk to their parents about health and wellbeing issues. I can support young people to do this.

Getting the best help for health

At times other services can provide more appropriate or further help or support for young people. The SBYHN will discuss the options for working with other services or linking young people with the right services.

The SBYHN does not provide

• treatment such as medications, injections, first aid
• physical examinations
• ongoing counselling for psychological problems.

Student appointments can be made to see me before or after school, or during breaks.

Your health matters,

Ann-Maree Brightman
School Based Youth Health Nurse

Guidance Officer

Student Wellbeing

I am Lindsay Hains one of the two Guidance Officers at Mackay State High School and have been here since 2005. Our official name is Guidance Officer but I believe Guidance Counsellor fits in better with our role. I am here to support students primarily from Year 7 to Year 9. I am a member of the Student Services and Student Support teams and am here 5 days a week. If you need any support or want to make an appointment call 49579107.

A summary of my role description is below but generally I am here to help students who are experiencing any school or personal difficulties. I provide a counselling service but if needed can make referrals to outside agencies to help students and families. I work with students to help them achieve their academic roles at school and work hard towards a good future personally and in the workplace. One of the main focuses now is to build in resilience which enables them to bounce back from difficult times and have a good and successful future.

Role Description

• Student Protection Issues (Sex, Suspected Risk of Harm)
• Mental Health difficulties (Anxiety, Depression, etc.)
• Support of at risk students (Self Harm, Suicide Ideation) with Risk Assessment and Safety Plan
• Liaison with outside agencies/external support
• Students in Out of Home Care case manager
• Brief Counselling (grief, personal, career, educational)
• 20 days suspensions/Exclusions – transition to new setting support
• Cognitive assessment/verification (via SEP)
• Complex Enrolment support

Confidentiality

I can provide confidential counselling but in a situation where it is revealed my client is at risk of harm from somebody else or at risk of self-harm I would have to disclose the information to parents and/or refer to an outside agency.

Lindsay Hains
Guidance Officer

BREAKFAST CLUB

We desperately NEED volunteers to help in our Brekky Club, Brekky club operates Monday to Thursday 8am to 8.30am. There are no prerequisites required to help only that volunteers need a Blue card.

Every day: “Fresh Fruit, Cereals, Toast and spreads”

Students can take a piece of fruit (Apples, Oranges), make their own toast (fresh Brumbies bread) with a full range of spreads. Also enjoy a glass of milk with the option of making a takeaway sandwich for lunch later.

Monday: “Milo Monday”

Students can make a cool refreshing drink with one scoop of Milo and fresh Milk.

Tuesday: “Toasty Tuesday”

Hot yummy cheesy Toasty’s served up by our lovely volunteers.

Wednesday: “Pancake Wednesday”

We are serving up hot soft delicious Pancakes with syrup, fruit, cream, berries and all things yummy

Thursday: “Smoothie Thursday”

The “Smoothie Bar” serves up blended “Chilly Chock Berry Banana Smoothies”. A real hit and a cool start to a big day.

MACKAY STATE HIGH SCHOOL P & C

Next P and C meeting is on Monday 22nd February 5pm.

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

⚽️City Brothers FC Sign on⚽️

City Brothers FC Fields, Juliet street.
Sunday 31st January, 10:00am - 12:00pm
All Existing and New players encouraged to come along.
Club uniform will be available on the day.
Or register online now – at the link below.
Email all enquirers to - info@citybrothersfc.com.au