25 May 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Thoughts

Principal’s Tours – Great to hear the student voice

Most Wednesday mornings I conduct a tour of the school, usually with prospective parents and students. I conduct the tours the same way each week, where I basically go into classrooms and stop students randomly as we come across them and encourage the tour participants to ask questions about the school.

Some of our visitors are quite surprised by this approach, and by the fact that we can stop any student and ask them questions about the school. This ‘open approach’ to the school tour reflects the confidence that we have in our students (the most important people in our school) to talk positively and honestly about school life. This, in fact, has considerable more power than if I was to talk about the school as I believe the student voice is the ultimate ‘point of truth’.

Common each week in the student feedback to a range of questions is:

• The teachers and support staff at our school are highly rated by the students
• Our school really cares about the wellbeing of our students
• The Deans and Student Support Team do a great job in providing emotional and social support for students
• There is an amazing range of subjects students can study at school
• The Academy programs are some of the students favourite subjects
• The teachers are always there to provide extra help and support
• Behaviour in classes is usually always very good
• The chicken burgers are the best thing for the canteen!

It is also great feedback for me to hear what our students think about the school. It enables me to focus on what we need to keep doing and think about what we need to start doing to make sure that we make the school the best we can for the students and community we serve.

Tours run on most Wednesday mornings from 10.15am to 11.15am. If any parent or carer would like to attend a tour, please email Cindy on chahn13@eq.edu.au to book your spot.

P&C News

P&C Meetings are a great place to meet new parents and community members while keeping up to date with school activities and initiatives.

All P&C association meeting are held in the third and eighth week of each Term. We look forward to seeing you at our meetings. Keep your eye on the HSHS facebook page for updates and information.

Venue: SWeLL
Time: 7pm

2017 Meeting dates:

Term 1: Tue 7 February & Tue 28 March (rescheduled from 14 March)
Term 2: Tue 9 May (rescheduled from 2 May) & Tue 6 June
Term 3: Tue 25 July & Tue 29 August
Term 4: Tue 17 Oct & Tue 21 Nov

We would appreciate if you could please forward any P&C meeting agenda item requests through to pandcsecretary@helensvaleshs.eq.edu.au.

Introducing RTI WILL Sessions

Here at Helensvale SHS we are passionate about EVERY one of our students succeeding. In order to achieve this, it is vital that students meet the deadlines and hand in all required tasks.

Our teachers continually provide support in catering for student needs however there are still times when students do not fulfil their learning obligations and neglect to hand their work in.

To assist students to submit their assessment items, we will be implementing the following supportive arrangements for all Year 9, 11 and 12 students:

• Students who have not submitted assessment tasks/drafts or who have had poor attendance that has impacted their learning will be required to attend compulsory “catch up” sessions to be held MONDAY AFTERNOONS from 2.15pm-2.55pm.
• If students do not engage in the Monday sessions or fail to attend they will be required to attend a THURSDAY AFTERNOON session from 3.00pm-3.45pm. Parents will be notified in both instances.

Please note that on Monday afternoons students will be able to access buses which will leave the school at normal scheduled times however travel arrangements will be needed on Thursday afternoons if your child is involved.

We are gradually adding in year levels and plan that by the end of the year all year levels will be involved in RTI Will Sessions.

Junior English

All junior classes have been crafting creative pieces in English this term. Year 7 students have been developing their voice through narrative writing, Year 8 students have uncovered the devastating impacts of natural disasters on their victims and Year 9 students have been exploring the power of monomyths. All year levels have practised writing on demand as a strategy to get their creative juices flowing.

Check out these extracts of writing that our students have crafted this term…

The Mountain. I can barely see its foreboding silhouette against the fading sky. My mother lives up there. That’s why I live at the bottom of The Mountain, closer than anyone else I know. My mother was born far away from here. It took her years and years to come here and climb it. She used to tell me stories about it. About how when she first got here and saw how large and dangerous the mountain was, she wanted to give up. That’s what everyone told her to do. About how when she started to climb, she thought she would never make it. She fell down a lot and nearly didn’t make it. She had to sacrifice a lot, and it took serious persistence, but now she lives in The Castle, Success. Success made it all worth it. At least that’s what she told me. She could have carried me up, she said, using the free climbing gear, and winches that Success had in store, but she would rather I did it on my own. Once you have Determination and Dedication, the two ice picks she left me with at the bottom of the mountain, the climb is so much easier. At least that’s what she told me.

So I take a breath and start climbing.

Anonymous (Year 8)

Nick blinked open his eyes as he felt the control over his limbs and body diminishing. Two statuesque, shapely figures swum away from him as he came to realise his situation. He was trapped. Paralysed. Unable to move or swim away. Nick could feel his body dropping to the lake floor, his lungs losing air quickly, soon to be empty. His body begging for air, he accepted his fate and fluttered his eyes closed for one last time. Abruptly, Nick’s body jerked forward, his body breaking the seal of water that nearly imprisoned him for life. His eyes opened apace, a figure similar to those seen in the water, but less harsh. Nick was instantly astonished by the creature in front of him. She was ethereal. Her skin pale but soft to the touch, her eyes radiantly blue but ready to pierce at any second.

“Can you hear me?” Her sweet voice resounded through Nick’s thoughts. “I need your help.”

Isabella H (Year 9)

The rumbling sound of the horn resonated across the silent village as James took a heavy sigh. The boy watched from above the thatched huts as the village surged towards the town centre, buzzing with noise like a swarm of incessant insects. Swiftly, James sprang from his perch, hurrying to join his family amongst the chattering crowd in daily prayer. Raising his arm in ritual manner, he glared loathingly towards his father, the chieftain, and recited the village creed with immense disinterest.

Without warning, a piercing cry echoed through the dark depths of the forest. Silence engulfed the fear-stricken villagers as they stared, shocked, in the direction of the noise. Suddenly, the grotesque creature thundered through the town’s wooden archway, its bellow emblazoning terror into the minds of the townsfolk.

Coen R (Year 9)

“Move along, you filthy creature,” the mother snarled down at her child, “You’re a poor excuse of a human being.” She pushed Atlas aside and she banged into a wall. Atlas’ mother continued to walk along the corridor, casually taking a swig from the bottle in her hand. Atlas’ wavy chestnut hair fell across her face covering her pale grey eyes that were brimming with tears.

She wiped her face as her mother called out to her, “Come here, Atlas!”

The terrified girl wiped at her face, hoping that her punishment wasn’t going to be too severe. She walked into the hall, her mother stood in front of their mantel piece; she fidgeted with her fingers. Atlas was surprised to see that her mother’s face for once didn’t look angry or aggressive, instead a solemn expression took over her features.

“I know where your father is,” she spoke softly. Atlas’ eyes widened. That thought was preposterous. Her father, alive. He had been missing for over fifteen years, she was sure that he would be dead.

“Where is he?” the timid daughter spoke, her voice slightly raspy from holding back her tears.

“You have to go through the passageway,” the mother explained, “Look.” She said pointing at a little key hole that was there on the wall. Atlas peaked through. The sight she saw amazed her, there was a view of the forest. She heard distant growls which made her jump back and look her mother.

Anvita S T (Year 9)

Beaconsfield is burning

It was ten years ago on the 16 February 1989, that a raging inferno ripped apart Victoria and South Australia. Two thousand homes were destroyed and more than 75 lives were lost in the blaze. Families are still scarred by this event, with burns on their skin forever reminding them of the horror they went through.

The fire at Beaconsfield could not be contained and defeated us. The monster grew as it slowly engulfed those ahead. “Twelve volunteer fire fighters have died,” announced the Head of the Victorian Fire brigade that day. As volunteer fire fighters my father and I heard the crackling fire and saw smoke covering the sky like a giant storm cloud. Burning embers fell as if they were snow. The sound of hovering helicopters filled our ears as we desperately ran towards the trail of fire in the distance. As we reached the furious inferno it was as if everything went into slow motion. This day will be forever remembered as Ash Wednesday.

Charlee Wilson

Debating

Congratulations to Ms Garibaldi’s junior debating team who have been competing in the Gold Coast Debating Competition. So far, the team is undefeated having crafted winning debates on the topics – ‘pirates are better than ninjas’ and ‘children should have daily chores’. Next week, students will undertake a short preparation debate where the topic will be unseen and they will have a fleeting 90 minutes to write their speeches before presenting on the same night. Good luck to S. Sela, A. Wolter, A. Hemmings and K. Sego!

A Herald from the Humanities Department

What a competitive start to Term 2, particularly for our Year 7 – 10 students studying Humanities subjects!

From 2 May – 5 May, schools across the globe entered this contest, earning points by spending hours answering questions about a range of topics about History, Geography and Civics.

Through the combined efforts of our students, Helensvale SHS placed 34th in the world out of almost 900 schools and Julian Rogers in Year 10 placed 16th out of all students competing in across the globe.

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved awards in the World Series for Social Sciences:

Elite Award

Julian Rogers

Gold Award

Lisa Matsuzaki

Silver Award

Summa Wilde
Leo Matsuzaki

Bronze Award

Oliva Tighe
Zeno Jun

Credit Award

Joshua Bocock
Phoenix Belcher
Aaron Taplin
Ava Parker
Nawuththuduwa Liyanage

We are in the midst of the Languages competition which ends this Thursday 25th May and have already more than doubled our awards since 2016. More to come on this soon… watch this space!

Rachel Vickers
Head of Department - Humanities

Love Bites

LOVE BITES is an extremely successful school-based Domestic and Family Violence and Sexual Assault prevention program that evolved on the Mid North Coast of NSW. Love Bites is based on best practice standards for education programs as recommended by the Federal Government funded Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearing House and other leading academics in the area of violence against women.

Last Friday, the year 10 students participated in the first day of this program, which was led by different members of the local community.

For more information,

STEM Happenings

STEM Cup Challenge

Over the past 4 weeks, 6 of our amazing year 7 & 8 students have been competing in the STEM Cup Challenge.

The STEM Cup Challenge see’s our students compete against students from around the Northern Gold Coast Schools in a variety of STEM based challenges. So far we have completed challenges around creating helicopter rotors that would allow for the most movement, cracking coding & encryptions and solving complexe mathematic equations.

We are happy to report that our 2 teams are currently sitting in 1st & 3rd position for the Secondary School’s Northern Division!

STEM Ambassadors:

Our eager STEM Ambassador team has been working hard behind the scenes on some exciting new STEM-based activities to use during our up-and-coming STEM Challenge Day! As a part of their role as STEM Ambassadors students have been learning all about what it takes to create STEM challenges and links between real-life scenarios.

On the 6th of June, we will be welcoming students from 8 different primary schools in the Northern Gold Coast Region to compete to become the ultimate STEM Challenge Champions.

We cannot wait to see these activities challenge our younger companions!

International Department

Helensvale SH recently played host school for a group of students from the Philippines. This is the third year that a group of Ateneo High School, students from Manila, have taken part in a study tour with our school. The group joined in many activities and attended a variety of classes with their “Buddies”. They had a great day at Tallebudgera Environmental Beach School, where they participated in rock wall climbing and water activities, a day visit to Griffith University and sightseeing in the local area. Our Chaplain, Long Bradley, took them for a drumming lesson, Tony Gordon showed them the art of Aboriginal Dot painting and they had a vigorous game of volleyball with Mr Hinds’ Volleyball Excellence class. At the conclusion of their visit, the group bush danced at the farewell with their buddies. The group were sad to leave but made lots of friends and memories.

Host Families Required For Japanese Students

Helensvale State High School will be hosting students from our Sister School, Shiraoka High School, from Wed. July 26th until Tues. August 1st (6 nights). We are looking for families to take care of our “Japanese family” during this time

Hosting an international student is an excellent chance for a family to learn about the culture and language of another country and to make some international friends.

Host Families will be required to supply three meals per day, transport to and from school (bus is okay) and a warm, friendly environment. This exchange experience has been going strong for over ten years now due solely to the generosity of families both here and in Japan. While this is a volunteer homestay arrangement and as such does not provide any remuneration, the experience itself is priceless.

If you are interested in hosting a student during this period, please contact Mr Brett Middleton via email. Thank you for your support of Helensvale’s International Sister School Relationship.

From the Guidance Officers

I have had some articles that have been submitted that may be of interest to parents. I hope you enjoy!

Being a Friend versus Being a Parent

It’s interesting the number of children and adults who believe that a Mum or Dad should be a friend in preference to being a parent. The job of being a parent is so much more than being a friend and holds a great deal of responsibility. It is worth investigating this.

What being a parent means:

• Being there for your child – to talk with them, take them places, stay up late waiting for them to come home to know they are safe, helping them with homework that sometimes is beyond your own knowledge, having school meetings with teachers, preparing lunches for years on end (this alone would test any friendship)
• Being with them to celebrate the good times but also to help them through the difficult times (and at times the difficult times out-weigh the good times)
• Even when they say “I hate you’ you give them unconditional love by answering ‘I love you’ (not many friends would last the distance if they felt unloved).
• Using tough love when needed (especially if they don’t want to go to school)
• Letting them know what they are doing well but also letting them know what they may need to improve on (which they may not want to hear)
• Being honest but not harsh eg. if an outfit is inappropriate who better to tell them than a parent (a friend most probably wouldn’t)
• Being the shoulder to cry on but eager to talk through the issue causing the problem
• Modelling good behaviour and educating your child with skills needed for them to be ready for living in the community
• In drastic times - dropping everything and coming to their aid – at these times putting their needs before your own

It takes more than a friend to be a parent. It takes love, commitment, selflessness and endurance. Let’s congratulate ourselves for lasting the distance.

Helensvale State High 2017 Ski Trip

We are after one more lucky year 11 or 12 student to join us on the ski trip. Previous years have been awesome experiences for all students involved. The dates are September 15 – 20. It is to Perisher Resort and we stay on snow with wonderful meals provided.

Any year 11 or 12 who is interested in the experience please contact Mr Armitage in the NSR1 staff room or email parmi3@eq.edu.au

First in best dressed!!

Parents, this is a wonderful experience and you should encourage your students to participate!!

Rugby League

Helensvale SHS was recently promoted to the Titans Cup after being in the Titans Trophy defeating Marymount Boys side 54-6, Loganlea SHS 80-0 and Beenleigh Boys side 60-0.

The Titans Cup, which feeds into the NRL GIO Schoolboy Cup, had the school meet Aquinas College in week 5 of the competition. After a slow and nervous start to the game played at Helensvale Hornets in front of a good crowd of teachers, students and parents the boys came out on top 11-4 with Jayden Campbell sealing the win with a field goal 4 minutes from full-time.

Basketball

This term the Open Boys Basketball Academy program are playing in the Northern Schools Basketball Competition. This competition will see Helensvale play against Southport, Keebra Park, Upper Coomera State College, Pacific Pines and Queensland Academy of Health Science.

We will have games at school in the Sports Activity Centre on the following dates:

14 June against Upper Coomera State College
21 June against Pacific Pines State High
19 July against Keebra Park
August 9 against Queensland Academy of Health Science

It would be great for the boys to play in front of a large crowd for their home games!

Round three of GIPSA

Gipsa

GIPSA Photography Challenge

Recently, the talented students attended GIPSA to take photos of sports and activities during GIPSA were given a challenge, they were to take photos of letters in the environment to make the word Helensvale.” Please find their awesome attempts below.