4 June 2021

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Welcome to Week 7! And what a special week it is!

I would like to start by wishing the best of luck to our 35 students who are taking this stage this Friday and Saturday night in the Musical production of Grease - our very first musical in over a decade! Special mention to Cicely Baira (our wonderful Director and Guidance Officer) and the 15 staff who have been giving up their time to make this production a reality. We are truly proud of you and can’t wait to see you on stage. There are still tickets available, so please check out our Facebook page for details on how to book your seat.

Wednesday we saw our House Spirit at its best. We traded<pride parade for a bit of fun – a full school Tunnel Ball competition on the oval with our four Houses competing for points in the inaugural Pride Cup. The Pride Cup tally is close, with Denniss just in front of Chataway – these are the points up to the end of Week 5.

This week has also seen the first round of Year 6 into 7 enrolment interviews. We have been excited to meet our new families, and are particularly overwhelmed with the high interest in enrolment into our Academy programs. In 2022, we are commencing a third Academy at the school – the Creative Arts Academy (complementing our Academic and Sporting Academies); and will be welcoming our instrumental music, talented artists and performers into this Academy with a focus on extra-curricular development in the Arts.

Assessment Period

Week 7 to 10 is our heaviest assessment period for our students. I would encourage parents to check your child’s assessment planners so that you can assist them in their organisation and preparation for exams and assignments. Students should be preparing for assessments through set homework activities and revision. If your child doesn’t have an assessment planner, please contact the office and we will organise a copy to be emailed home.

Finally, we have great learning happening in our classrooms and many events taking place daily. The best way to stay up to date with us, is to join the Mackay SHS Facebook page. We have daily posts and it is the best way to stay up to date with what is happening around the school.

Have a wonderful week.

We Believe … We Achieve
Yours truly, in Education

Felicity Roberts - Principal
#mackayhighpride

Semester I Reporting Information

Teachers are commencing the first round of Semester Reporting for our students.

• For students in Years 7 – 10 the results provided will be from a student’s Semester I performance – unless the subject was run only for a Term (which is the case for some Humanities, Arts and Technology classes).
• For students in Year 11, the results provided will refer to the completed result for Unit 1.
• For students in Year 12, the results provided will be provisional / progress grades for Units 3 & 4.

Our Year 11 results will be coming out ahead of other year levels to facilitate students making early any appropriate subject changes as they move into Unit 2.

Report cards will be emailed to parents/carers on the these dates. If you have changed your email address recently please contact us to ensure that your details have been updated.

Should you require a printed copy then please contact our school Office.

Year 9 Academic Excellence Academy

Inaugural Brisbane Camp – May 26-28

22 excited students and 3 teachers stood in the cool of Mackay Airport at 5.15am last Wednesday morning, looking forward to 3 days of STEAM experiences in Brisbane. The focus for the camp was to offer students opportunities to participate in a range of workshops, tours and talks that they would be not able to access here in Mackay.

On Wednesday we went to SparkLab at the Queensland Museum to play with hands-on Science experiments. After a walk through the Brisbane ‘City Markets’ (a mind-blowing array of foods and crafts from countries around the world), we were privileged to be invited to visit IROC at BHP. This is the Integrated Remote Operations Centre, which operates all the BHP/BMA/BMC Bowen Basin mines and Hay Point Port from a floor of the BHP building in Queen St. Following talks by Managers and Superintendents, students were treated to the 32nd Floor, which was an amazing 360deg view of the Brisbane Skyline. Dinner and free time in Brisbane Queen St Mall was followed up by some competitive tenpin bowling and walk back to our accommodation while having the unique chance to view the total lunar eclipse on the bank of the river at Southbank.

Thursday saw the group attend the Griffith Film and Television School for a talk about courses and a tour of the film studio and an animations lab. This was then followed by a hands-on tour and workshop at the Cube at QUT. Students played in the Cube – a 2-story touch-screen, making fireworks explode by combining chemicals and then analysed data from QUTs solar panels to determine which ones produced the highest amount of power. Our night time activity was dinner at Southbank restaurants and a viewing of ‘Cruella’ at the movies.

Friday was spent at Dreamworld. While this sounds like a massively fun day (which it was), there was also the educational aspect: the Ride-Science Education workshop, in which students studies the physics of speed and how this works for roller-coasters. They were also able to design their own roller-coaster.

Students and teachers returned home late on Friday night, tired, but certainly happy, having learned a lot and having had lots of fun together! Thanks to Mrs Bryan, Mrs Niemi & Mrs Watt for taking the students on this camp.

VICKI WILSON CUP

A massive congratulations to our Vicki Wilson Cup/Shield girls who played in a round robin tournament on Tuesday 1st June to try and progress to the Vicki Wilson Finals.

Year 10 – 12 Cup Team girls actually lost to St Pats in the pool rounds. However, the girls regathered themselves and made changes to the weak spots in the first game. They came out in the Grand Final with a sense of purpose and an inner belief that they had the team and have done the work to want to go to the next level. Every game we play against St Pats is always of the highest quality netball and it was this time that we came out on top. The girls are excited about going down to Brisbane at the start of August to play against the best netballers in the state.

Shield Team – Year 7-9 placed 5th.

Cup Team – Year 10-12 placed 1st and progress to the Vicki Wilson Cup final at the Nissan Arena in Brisbane in August.

MSHS def Mercy

MSHS def WAS

St Pats def MSHS

Semi Final

MSHS def Mercy

Grand Final

MSHS def St Pats – 4goals
We are super proud of both teams.

SPORT ACADEMY TRIALS

SENIOR SCHOOLING

Working Experience

Year 11 & 12 Work Experience

Year 11 & 12 Work Experience will take place from

13 – 17 September 2021 (Week 10 of Term 3).

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. We have had many success stories from students participating in work experience with placements leading to part time work or school based apprenticeships and traineeships.

Students have been advised of the dates for Work Experience and application forms were handed to interested students.

KP Placements will arrange the location for the students in their preferred field. The cost for this service is $40.00 which is to be paid in cash to the school office prior to the application being accepted. To allow time for these placements to be made, the application and receipt of payment are to be handed to Mrs Esau in E6 no later than Friday 18 June 2021.

There is no fee for students who find their own placement. The Pre-arranged Placement section of the application form is to be completed with the details of the business and the form handed to Mrs Esau in E6 by 18 June 2021

HOME ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT

ITALIAN

Italian Word of the Day.

Ciao!

The Italian word of the day is a new newsletter segment that we hope that you will find interesting and worthwhile. The objective (obiettivo) of including the Italian word of the day is to give everyone an opportunity to engage with the Italian language. The Daily Italian Words website have generously given their permission to utilise their database of Italian vocabulary and multimedia resources. Look out for the new word or phrase in each newsletter.

Italian Word of the Day: Musica (music)

Like the similar English language word, musica is used to talk about not only the combination of melodic vocals and sounds itself, but also the art of composing or performing music.

The following verbs are often seen in the company of the word musica:

• ascoltare musica = to listen to music
• studiare musica = to study music
• comporre musica = to compose music
• scrivere musica = to write music
• fare musica = to make music

Learn more here:

You can listen to a variety of musica italiana (Italian music) and maybe even learn some Italian yourself, every Sunday from 3pm on Community Radio 4CRM-107.5 FM. Perhaps you may recognise the voices of the shows genial hosts (both Signor Pozza’s).

Ciao Ciao!

Sig. Andrea Pozza
Italian Teacher

CONGRATULATIONS

Mackay State High School student, Sora Nishimura has been selected to represent our school in the Australian Honours Ensemble Program.

The Australian Honours Ensemble Program (AHEP) is an annual program run by the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in Brisbane. Students in year 7-12 from across Australia are selected based on an audition to participate in the Honours program. The minimum entry requirements are set at a very high standard and only a limited number of students are selected to participate in this Australia-wide program.

Well done, Sora! You’ve worked hard to reach a high standard of trumpet playing and you should be proud of your achievements! Congratulations!

FROM THE YEAR LEVEL COORDINATORS

Is your student an active learner? Are they taking an active role in their classes?

This looks like:

Being in class, on time, every day | Participating in all lesson activities and completing work | Taking responsibility for their homework and assessment | Commitment to being a positive classroom member

These qualities are all attributes of successful learners at our school!

Each fortnight, students are able to gain House Points for demonstrating our school core values: resilience, respect, responsibility,

Additionally, student can earn Bluey’s for achieving the school’s Focus of the Fortnight!

Bluey’s earn students House Points and an entry into the draw for a $10 tuckshop voucher, each week!

What’s on this week?

Outdoor Chess – First Breaks Thursday at the Canteen Area!

Don’t Forget!

Breakfast Club with Clontarf & the Access Centre – Friday mornings in Kakadu

INTERSCHOOL CHESS COMPETITION

On Monday 25th of May, 6 Mackay State High School (MSHS) students competed in the Whitsunday Gardiner Chess Competition, providing an excellent opportunity for students to improve their strategic thinking skills and socialise with other contestants. Thank you to Ross Macdonald for supervising our students.

Team 1 consisted of Kai-Yi Comerford, Timofey Craig, Hao Dong and Mitchell MacDonald, our gold medal recipients, receiving 1st place out of 21 registered teams. They also earned themselves a merit by winning the majority of their games. A huge congratulations to Hao who placed 3rd individually out of all contestants. Well done to both Kyal Snell and Curtis Dopper who represented the school as individual players, hopefully we can find them a team next term. We wish our players luck in term 3, where they will compete for a position in the Queensland State Chess Competition.

Chess games are held every Wednesday at first break. Be sure to listen out for notices regarding the school competition we will run next term.

BEANIES FOR BRAIN CANCER

This year we are taking part in Beanies for Brain Cancer fundraiser.

Students are able to wear a beanie to school on Wednesday 23rd June and make a gold coin donation to Mark Hughes Foundation. Funds raised go towards research to create awareness and support brain cancer patients and their families.

We would love to see all staff and students join in for the wonderful cause!

“GREASE THE MUSICAL”

We are extremely excited to announce that tickets are now available through trybooking online.

We will be running a canteen on both nights of the musical, opening from 6.00pm. Bring your friends have a catch up before the show. This will be CASH ONLY EFTPOS NOT AVAILABLE AT THE VENUE

ACCESS CENTRE

ENGLISH

MATHS

MACKAY STATE HIGH SCHOOL P & C

The next P & C meeting is on Monday 21st June 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