19 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Thoughts

One Student, One Community, Many Futures

It is an absolute honour and privilege to be acting Executive Principal at Helensvale State High School. I would like to thank the staff, students and community for making me feel so welcome.

In speaking with staff, I have asked the question, “What is the best thing about teaching at Helensvale State High School?” In every case the answer has been, without hesitation, “The students.” I have now met with many students and I wholeheartedly agree. I have found the students to be very polite and willing to engage in meaningful conversations. The students are owning the values of Be Respectful, Be Responsible and Be Resilient.

The culture of the school is very student-centred, focused on personalised student learning. Our large school size brings many opportunities such as diversity of curriculum offerings and a strong Academy Excellence Program, catering for the needs of ‘one student’.

Last Thursday night I had the pleasure of attending a dinner to support our school chaplains. I was joined by our school chaplain, Long Bradley, and Nerise Moore, P& C President and School Council Chair. The purpose of the evening was to celebrate the work our Chaplains do in schools, supporting students, staff and families in a number of areas. We are very fortunate to have Long as our Chaplain. Long has been with us for 17 years and is a much respected member of the school community. He does amazing work with our students. It was very evident at the dinner that Long was respected by his peers to whom he is a mentor and friend.

I look forward to meeting you at the upcoming Parent-Teacher evenings, Subject Selection evenings and numerous cultural events that are happening this term, including our school musical, which I am particularly looking forward to.

Karen Lindsay
Executive Principal

STUDENT REPORTS.

Semester One student reports will be e-mailed to parents and caregivers on Tuesday 18 July. If you haven’t received your student report please contact our reporting officer Fiona Perry 55738555 or e-mail fperr5@eq.edu.au.

Parents and caregivers are also reminded to make sure their contact details have been updated with the school, if there have been any changes.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS.

Wednesday 26 July from 3.10pm to 7.30pm our parent teacher interviews will be held. An e-mail will be forwarded to you following the reports to explain the Parent –Teacher Online (PTO) booking process. As time slots can fill quickly, should you not be able to meet with a particular teacher please take advantage of the option ‘to request contact’ available when making your bookings.

PARENTS OF YEAR 10.

Parents of Year 10 please note there are no formal parent teacher interviews for Year 10 parents. If you are concerned about your student’s results please contact the relevant subject teacher. You may do this via email, or by telephoning the school on 5573 8555.

Musical

In this Musical One Story video, our 'Beauty', Belle (Isabella), discusses her role and the rehearsals for the upcoming Helensvale High Musical 'Beauty & The Beast'. With only a little over 2 weeks to go, be sure to book your tickets now and come and see the talented students performing at The Arts Centre, Gold Coast on August 1 & 2.

Achievements over the holidays

There have been a huge number of student success stories over the holidays. Here are the ones that the school has been notified of by proud parents and staff. Remember that the school loves celebrating outside achievements, but we are unable to track all successes. Please feel free to contact the school through Facebook or media@helensvaleshs.eq.edu.au with the details and a picture.

Taylah Drews, grade 12, represented Helensvale State High School at the State Equestrian Interschool Championships at Toowoomba in the Advanced Dressage and Advanced Freestyle Dressage. She placed 3rd and 4th and obtained a qualifier to compete on the Queensland team at the Interschool Nationals in September. This is a great achievement for her and she is very excited to be representing Helensvale and Queensland at the Nationals.

Holly Gray is representing Queensland in the 14 years girls’ team at the National Youth Soccer Championships in Coffs Harbour. They won the Championship and are now National Champs!

Helensvale SHS students Bailey Wood, Dylan Skjellerup and Gabriel Tutu recently played in the Rugby Union QLD team. Their team, the Cyclones, won the state competition. Well done boys.

Kialla-Skye Bailey and Tamika Smith played in The Nissan State Age Championship with the 12A NGCNA rep Netball team and came 4th in Qld for their age. There were 63 teams in their age group.

Our Vale girls Emily, Dannii, Tehaavi & Anika, placed 2nd for NGCNA rep netball 14A team at State Championships for Netball.

Vale students- Tamzyn, Lara, Stevie, Kayla, Mackenzie and Saphiyah played for the 13A NGCNA Netball and came third in QLD for their age. Well done ladies!

Congratulations to all the Helensvale students that played at the Queensland Touch Football Junior State Cup in Hervey Bay. Helensvale SHS was represented in every age group from U/12s Boys and Girls all the way up to U/18s Boys and Girls. We also had students playing in five out of the possible eight Grand Finals on Finals Day Saturday. Well done to all the students who played and the students that won their age division.

Xavier McEldowney and Aloisio Hamela were selected in the QLD Country U14 rugby team. The boys participated in the city/country carnival held at Ballymore Stadium. Well done boys!!

Helensvale State High School's Rhian Stowers and the QLD II team squared off with ACT in Saturday's Australian Schoolboys' Championship final. ACT were the only undefeated side at the tournament and went into the match as favourites, with QLD II booking their place in the final after pulling off a thrilling upset in the final match of the day against NSW I. Unfortunately QLD II went down in the final to ACT.

Our year 7 Vale boys, Kase, Benji, and Brodie, competed in the Gold Coast Cyclones U12 Rugby Union Rep Team tournament during the weekend. They played 7 won 4 lost 3.

Our Vale ladies Reilley, Bailey and Ivana are representing Australia for Indoor Netball in South Africa over the next 2 weeks, Well done girls!!

Ashton, Trent and Riley, three Helensvale High boys representing the Gold Coast Under 13 Boys Hockey Team in Gladstone, made it through to the State Championship Finals against Brisbane. Such a great achievement!!!

Flynn Belcher from Year 7 represented Queensland Country Mavericks- Oztag- for the 12 boys.

Tehaavi Tairea-Mareko made QLD U14 girls Oz tag team for the 3rd year. Go Vale!

Keahn Tipu has made the Qld Oztag team today for the second year. Well done Keahn!

The Helensvale SHS Football Academy is extremely proud to announce that Year 8 student, Lilly Rae, has recently been signed by the English Premier League Football Club, Stoke City. Lilly will now have the opportunity to pursue her dreams on a bigger stage, representing Stoke City in the girls’ competition. Outstanding recognition for a quality young player. Helensvale SHS wishes Lilly all the best with her exciting opportunity and will be following her progress intently. Congratulations Lilly!!

Hospitality

2017 QTIC Salute to Excellence Awards – 20 th Anniversary Celebration Dinner

In the last week of the school holidays, Helensvale State High Hospitality students attended the QTIC Salute to Excellence Awards Dinner at the Emporium Hotel in Brisbane. Congratulations is extended to Ben Glutz (Year 12) and Jenna Sundstrom (Year 11) who received ‘Finalist’ awards for the Cookery section, and Thomas Keeghan (Year 11) who was also a ‘Finalist’ for the Food and Beverage section. The students can be proud of their efforts and achievement in this Queensland schools competition.

The judges were very impressed by the high standards exhibited in the ‘Skills Test’ day and the student’s passion for the Hospitality Industry shown in their interviews. The future career of these Hospitality students is indeed very promising and it is with excitement they strive toward their aspirations. All parents, family members and teachers who attended this evening enjoyed themselves, along with special guests, Daniel Gschwind (Chief Executive of Queensland Tourism Industry Council) and Hon. Yvette D’Ath MP. (Minister for Training and Skills) who presented all the awards.

The QTIC Salute to Excellence was certainly an occasion for ‘celebrating and challenging the next generation of chefs, tourism and hospitality professionals’. Well done to all students involved in the 20th Anniversary of this Hospitality competition.

Stephanie Wright,
Home Economics / Hospitality Teacher

Industry Pathways News - Certificate II in Sampling and Measurement

During the first week of school, 15 year 12 students participated in the Certificate II in Sampling and Measurement course onsite, delivered by Leichhardt Education and Training. The students had the opportunity to learn from practicing scientists who have worked on some large resource and infrastructure projects. The students have learnt how to correctly calibrate equipment and conduct environmental sampling of soil and water. They also got to use industry standard equipment that they would not otherwise have access to.

Music Department

Helensvale SHS clarinet ensemble workshopped and performed with the QLD Conservatorium clarinet Choir and conductor Rianne. It was a wonderful experience for our music students and particularly clarinet players who were inspired by such a wonderful group of musicians.

Creative Generation

The Helensvale SHS Drum line, Orchestra and Dancers have been working hard last week to put together a show for Creative Generation that was AMAZING!! 1800 talented state school students took to the stage on the weekend for the Creative Generation - State Schools Onstage performance! Well done to all the parents, teachers, mentors and staff for helping make this show happen.

From our Industry Liaison Officer

Aiden & Nathan have recently commenced their School Based Traineeships with EPIC Assist. Aiden is working for Good Year Tyres completing a Cert II Automotive and Nathan is at Foliage Farm completing a Cert II Horticulture. They are loving this opportunity and look forward to their work day each week.

Northern Collegiate Australian Business Week A huge success!!!!!

Australian Business Week is a yearly event that is offered to year 11 students who wish to further develop their entrepreneurial, interpersonal, leadership and teamwork skills whilst also gaining industry experience and forming new friendships.

The event incorporates six schools, Pimpama State Secondary College, Pacific Pines State High, Ormeau Woods State High, Upper Coomera State College, Coombabah State High and Helensvale State High, which form the Northern Collegiate Schools.

This year 50 of Helensvale’s aspiring entrepreneurs participated in the event and were given the task of creating and managing a café in under five days. Each group had to work collectively to complete a number of tasks including designing a logo, a 30-second advertisement, a website, a company report as well as a trade display to showcase and promote the newly developed business. Each group also had to participate in an online simulation program that produced quarterly reports where the team had to make decisions that would potentially improve or reduce the finances of their company.

Working under pressure with deadlines was really challenging but learning how to handle and manage the pressure and having such great team members really helped make the experience rewarding, fun and worthwhile.

Each ABW team was sponsored by a local business who assisted with industry mentors to oversee and help with the financial and analytical aspects of the week. We also had a teacher mentor who had business experience and without these mentors, both business and teacher, I don’t think the teams would have been able to produce the work that they did.

At the end of the week, a GALA Dinner was organised to celebrate all participants in the event, as well as the winner in each category. The amount of time and effort that went into every aspect of the event was incredible and wouldn’t have been possible without the support from the Sponsors, both financial and in-kind, teacher and business mentors team members, our school and people like Mrs Campbell, the HOD of Business. ABW was the most rewarding, difficult, exciting, enjoyable and stressful week of the entire year and many of the students would easily be a part of it again.

2017 Northern Collegiate would like to thank the following Platinum, Gold, School, and Team Sponsors, along with Teacher Mentors and Business Mentors

PLATINUM Sponsor:

~ THE HON STUART ROBERT MP ~

GOLD Sponsor:

~ AURORA ~

SCHOOL Sponsors:

~ RIVIERA ~ CLUB HELENSVALE ~

TEAM Sponsors:

~ QT MUTUAL BANK ~ BRETT WARD HOMES ~ MORTGAGE CHOICE ~
~ MSP PHOTOGRAPHY ~ HARRIGAN’S DRIFT INN ~ FIDDEN REALTY ~
~ LIONS CLUB (ORMEAU) ~ GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY ~ SHEARERS ARMS TAVERN ~
~ GOLD COAST NORTH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ~
~ KLEARNET ~ SID CRAMP (MP) ~ WORKPLACE TRAINING STRATEGIES~
~ McDONALD’S HELENSVALE ~ McDONALD’S PACIFIC PINES ~
~ McDONALD’S ORMEAU ~

Teacher Mentors:

~ Wendy Coleman ~ Mark McKague ~ Courtney Crabtree ~
~ Janine Campbell ~ Judy Erntner ~ ~Jade Williams ~
~ Hayden Volzke ~ Casey Garget ~ Mel Bowen ~ Lee Johnson ~ ~ Naomi Wright ~ Andrew Morgan ~ Samantha Krine ~
~ Ashlee Siniska ~ Lorraine Cook ~ Tom Crick ~

Business Mentors:

Gold Coast North Chamber of Commerce ~ Jay Stewart
Klearnet ~ Mason Russell
McDonalds Pacific Pines ~ Mark Boothman
Workplace Training Strategies ~ Amelia Gow
McDonalds Helensvale ~ Krystlle Senior
Fidden Realty ~ Robyn Fidden
Harrigan’s Drift Inn ~ Jen Fagence
Sid Cramp (MP) ~ Sid Cramp
Shaearers Arms Tavern ~ Alana Baulch and Tony Jensen
MSP Photography ~ Synthia Kurti
Ormeau Lions Club ~ Margaret O’Neill and Marg Kelley
Mortgage Choice ~ Amanda Thomas
Griffith University ~ Simon M’zungu
Brett Ward Homes ~ Melissa Allen
QTMB ~ Steven Mitchell
McDonalds Ormeau ~ Bronte Cutcher

Sports Carnival Information

In a lead up to the all School Helensvale SHS Athletics Carnival on Thursday 27th July we need to hold a number of events before the carnival day because of a lack of time in our programme.

We have a small number of events on Wednesday 19th July, Thursday 20th July, Monday 24th July and Tuesday 25th July, these events are listed in the first table below highlighted in red. Please note that these are specialist events and are for students aiming for district, regional or state representation or Helensvale SHS Age Champion. Students will need to see Mrs Williams in the HPE office to sign up for these events before the end of Wednesday week 2 to be allowed out of their normal timetabled lesson to compete.

We also hold a miniature carnival on the afternoon of Wednesday 26th July (period 3 and 4), the day before the main carnival. These events are listed below in blue. This is predominantly for years 7-9 but we also have some senior events for years 10, 11 and 12 students. Senior students will need to see Mrs Williams in the HPE office to sign up for these events before the end of Wednesday week 2 to be allowed out of their normal timetabled lesson (senior events are highlighted in yellow). All year 7 to 9 classes will be at the carnival at this time. A sausage sizzle will operate on the oval in this time for purchase.

Remember the ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ themed main carnival is a whole day event on Thursday 27th July. Students are invited to come dressed in appropriate ‘Jungle’ theme and/or their House Colours.

OZ TAG

This weekend past we had a number of Helensvale SHS Oztag teams travel to the Sunshine Coast for the QLD Oztag Championships.

Congratulations to the two Helensvale SHS teams who made the final and finished 2nd in the State. The Year 7 Girls team played an epic 54 min game after being down 1-3, got it back to 3-3 after 30 mins of normal time. Then in 24 mins of extra time the girls, without allowing to sub and losing a player every 5 mins, ended up running out of legs and lost 3-4 to Meridan SHS. The Open Boys were outclassed by Marymount College in the final and went down 1-8.

Special mention to Jazmine Hewitson and Matthew Canning who won MVP for their division for the whole Championship.

Also thanks to all the parents that helped out over the weekend and supported all the teams.

Gab of the Guidos

Copyright Andrew Fuller www.andrewfuller.com.au

How to Build Confidence.

Andrew Fuller

Confidence is one of the most powerful, and one of the most elusive, qualities that creates success in life. Building confidence means that we develop the courage to try out new things. Unless we are exceptionally talented, most of us approach new activities with a slight apprehension, which is usually followed by bewilderment and confusion. Our first attempts may be feeble but if we persist we often gain a sense of mastery. If, however, someone rescues us when we are bewildered we learn that someone else can do what we cannot. This is why rescuing children when they are struggling with a new activity is toxic to confidence.

There are several steps to creating and building confidence.

Trust your child- Nothing builds confidence more than trust. One of the best ways of communicating your trust is to ask your child for help. Requesting assistance communicates to a child that you regard them as capable and competent. Letting your children cook with you can be a good place to start.

Live a bold and adventurous life- One of the best ways to develop confidence is to live an expansive life in which you do different things, eat new foods, go to strange places, see new shows or movies and try out things you wouldn’t usually have a go at.

For parents this means encouraging adventure and teaching safety along with way. Kids are more durable than we give them credit for.

Develop a yes bias – This means developing a personal motto that generally says “why not?” For example, if someone says let’s go to France, you try to say sure let’s find out a way we could do that. If a child says I want frog legs and ice cream for dinner. You say you find the frogs; I’ll get the ice cream.

Trust your own intuition. If you're full of self-doubt, your kids will be too. Practice trusting your intuition and hunches and follow them wisely.

Don’t fall into the avoidance trap.

When you avoid something you fear, your fear grows. What is avoided looms larger and appears more daunting, what is attempted lessens in size. While it might seem like a kindness to help people opt out of things they are fearful of doing, mostly it just makes them more fearful.

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” – Seneca

Follow the 80/20 rule –No one is confident at everything all the time. We all have hesitations and setbacks. Aim to be bold and confident about 80% of the time. In many areas of life, it is the predominant pattern that counts long term.

Know that first past the post isn’t always the best. The person who can achieve a skill first is often not the best at that skill long-term. In fact there are considerable advantages in being a little bit older when you start new activities.

Set Probability Goals. A probability goal is a challenge that includes an error margin. For example, a parent might say to a child, “Let’s see if you can throw a ball into a hoop on the group 7 times out of 15 throws”. As a child becomes more skilful we might then increase the challenge of the task by moving the hoop further away and say, “Ok it’s harder now.

Let’s see if you can throw the ball into the hoop 9 times out of 20”.Probability goals help us learn how to challenge ourselves and also make it less likely that we will give up if we don’t get 100% first time.

Little steps lead to giant leaps.

When we focus on our strengths we build the confidence to tackle areas where we are not so capable. Most highly skilled and confident people deliberately practice skills that they are not good at. They go out of their way to put themselves in challenging situations so they can become more skilled. For example, top golfers often put golf balls into the trickiest part of a bunker so they have to develop the skills to make those shots. People only learn to deliberately practice skills that they are not so good at when someone has clearly told them that they believe in them and that mistakes are the only way to get better at something. If we can’t learn to make mistakes, we can’t learn to improve. People who make no mistakes do not usually make anything.

Build a have-a-go culture- People often express their insecurities by claiming that they can’t do something or by comparing themselves negatively with others. For example, “I am the world’s worst dancer” or “I’m no good at Maths”. When someone makes comments like these, acknowledge their feelings and help them to express them verbally. Ask them what makes them feel that way. Accept their fears or insecurities as genuine but don’t agree with their self-assessment. For example, you might say, “I get it that you are struggling at Maths, how can we work on it to make it easier? Confident people make plans to improve in areas they initially find difficult.

Be on a continual treasure hunt – devote your life towards looking for the best in yourself and in others. Focus on successes, skills and abilities. Be resolutely positive and follow the role model of Thomas Edison who after trying 10,000 times to develop an electric light bulb said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

NEWS FROM THE FINANCE OFFICE:

Thank you to those families who have paid their 2017 Student Resource Fees and Subject Fees. All 2017 payments are now overdue - please pay any outstanding amounts as soon as possible. If you are having financial difficulty please contact the Finance Office on 5573 8569 to discuss a confidential payment plan.

INTERNET BANKING:

If you use Internet banking (paying directly into our bank account) to pay your bills, please ensure that you are using your students EQ ID number as a reference so that we know who the payment is for. We currently have a small number of unidentified transactions in our bank account. Debtor Statements were emailed to all Parents/Carers on Friday 23rd June, please ensure that if you have been using internet banking that all payments are reflected in your statement balance. If you feel that there is a discrepancy, please contact the Finance Office on 5573 8569 to discuss.

School Nurse Says….

2017 Early School Leavers survey

The Queensland Government is conducting its annual statewide survey of students who left school in Years 10, 11 and prior to completing Year 12 during 2016. The Early School Leavers survey is a short, confidential survey that collects information about what young people are doing the year after leaving school.

Between July and August, students who left school in Years 10, 11 and prior to completing Year 12 last year can expect to receive an invitation to complete a web-based survey or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office to complete the survey. Please encourage them to take part.

For more information, visit the following link or telephone toll free on 1800 068 587.