15 March 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Thoughts

Dear Helensvale State High community,

One Community

At last Monday’s assembly I spoke to our students about litter and the long-lasting damage it causes to our environment and wildlife. By that afternoon I had discovered that a number of our students had participated in the Clean Up Australia Day community events held around the Gold Coast.

I had the privilege of meeting with some of these students who suggested our school could also support this campaign. Together we decided to host a ‘Clean Up Helensvale State High’ event this Friday 16 March from 3pm to 4pm. This would never have come about if it were not for the initiative and leadership of our students.

This demonstrates that student voice is valued and you don’t have to be in a leadership position to show true leadership. Great things will continue to happen in our school due to the quality of the students that come here. In essence, our students define the quality of our school.

Students interested in volunteering this Friday for our ‘Clean Up Helensvale State High’ event will be provided with permission slips for parent / carers to approve.

Literacy and Numeracy

Literacy and Numeracy are the currencies of all learning. There is a strong moral, ethical, educational and economic imperative to ensure every student has the literacy and numeracy skills necessary to progress through school and have a successful future.

The National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is one measure the school has to help drive improvements in student outcomes. Participating in NAPLAN benefits our students by providing individual student, as well as whole school point in time and longer-term, progress information.

This year, NAPLAN tests will be held for Year 7 and Year 9 students from Tuesday 15 May to Thursday 17 May. The school encourages all students to participate in NAPLAN. The outcomes of the tests gives us a true indication of where each student is at so we can individualise our literacy and numeracy programs to meet the learning needs of each student, thus delivering on our One Student learning mission.

Further information will be provided in the lead up to NAPLAN.

Parents and Citizens Association Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The objectives of the P & C Association are to promote the interests of, and facilitate the development and further improvement of the School, for example, by promoting parent participation and encouraging collaboration between parents, students, school communities and non-government entities to foster a commitment to achieving the best educational outcomes for children and young people.

The functions of the Association are to foster community interest in educational matters and to try to bring about closer co-operation between the parents of children attending the School and other members of the community, staff members of the School and students of the school. (P & C Model Constitution).

Congratulations to the following parents and citizens who have been elected as the P & C Executive for 2018.

We would not have an Association if it were not for the executive filling these voluntary roles and the support of our regular attendees at the meetings.

2018 Next Step Survey

The Queensland Government is conducting its annual statewide survey of all students who completed Year 12 in 2017. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12.

Between March and June, all our students who completed Year 12 last year can expect to receive instructions to complete a web-based survey or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office. Please encourage them to take part. If their contact details have changed, please assist the interviewer with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate.

Thank you for your support of the Next Step survey in 2018.

Further information on Next Step is available online at the link below or on toll free telephone 1800 068 587.

NATIONAL DAY AGAINST BULLYING

Helensvale State High School has registered to take part in the National Day Against Bullying this Friday – March 16. As part of this initiative ALL staff will receive a ‘Bullying – No Way’ wristband to wear on that day as a symbol of unity against bullying in our school community. We will also be encouraging ALL staff – teaching and non-teaching - to engage in as much discussion around ‘kindness’ and ‘compassion’ on this day to reiterate the nationwide message.

Our breakfast club on Friday morning will involve the distribution of some literature to our students around bullying. Joy Xavier, our school based nurse, will be running an activity at lunchtime involving students writing a pledge as a visible stance against bullying and writing what their world would look like without it.

During our Futures lessons, every student will be participating in activities based on resources from the National Day against Bullying website, which promote a common understanding and action around combating bullying. This clearly aligns with our school values of RESPECTFUL, RESPONSIBLE and RESILIENT which are the focus of our positive learning behaviour lessons.

Damien Seaton, a cyber-security expert, addressing all students at Assembly the following Monday regarding safety and appropriate behaviours on-line, will further consolidate these activities. We are also hoping to invite Damien in to run a Cyber-security information session for parents to expand their understanding and awareness of on-line security.

Bullying has no place in our society and we are proud to take a stance and be a part of this federal government initiative.

Nicole Brazeau – Deputy Principal

STUDENT LEADERSHIP

Congratulations to our Year 7-9 Student Leaders who were recognised at our Leadership Parade last Friday. These students have been allocated leadership positions under our four pillars of learning, community, cultural and sport. Our Student Leadership Co-ordinator, Nahdia Graham has a team of teacher mentors supporting her and student leaders across the school in their involvement in a range of activities. These students will also be offered workshops in leadership throughout the year.

Our first Learning Leadership session was conducted for the junior secondary leaders last week. The discussions around leadership qualities were impressive from this amazing group of students. A session for our Year 10 and 11 Student Leaders will be held this week. I look forward to working alongside these students in developing their skills as young, motivated leaders wanting to make a positive difference to our community.

EXCITE Dissection

Guest Lecturer Matthew Barton came in this week to see our 8 EXCITE classes. An extremely knowledgeable person, he gave an in-depth demonstration and dissection of a pluck and ran through a dissection of the heart. The students thoroughly enjoyed interacting, asking questions and firing answers at Matthew as they moved through the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems. This experience gave the students a great opportunity to interact with our community and university members, as well as hone their laboratory skills. It was a learning experience that is sure to stay with them.

LLI – Levelled Literacy Intervention News

LLI is a program designed to bring students up to grade-level reading performance. It is intense, small group instruction in reading and writing. LLI has seen many of its graduating students integrating their newly established reading strategies into their other subject areas. These reading strategies and their newly found confidence has resulted in higher levels of achievement in many of their subjects. Currently LLI has 76 students, from years 7-10 participating in the program, with all students demonstrating improvement in their ability to comprehend increasingly complex text.

Harper Year 8

LLI has helped me to understand the books I’m reading in my other subject areas. I now know how to infer, visualise and go back to the book to find evidence. The best thing about LLI was the support I got from the teachers and aides. I have increased my reading age by three and a half years. I am now reading and comprehending above my age and graduating from LLI at the end of the term.

Avril Year 8

LLI has encouraged me to read out loud with more confidence. I now know how to find evidence in the book. The best thing about LLI has been making new friends. I have increased my reading age by 3 and a half years.

Kapitolina Year 8

LLI has helped me to read out load, understand new words and with my spelling. I can also read with fluency. I’ve enjoyed making new friends in LLI and reading to the teachers. I have increased my reading age by 4 and a half years.

Diploma of Events - LIVET Royal Pines

The year 12 Diploma of Events students recently had the opportunity to participate in the LIVET (Live Vocational Education and Training) program at RACV Royal Pines Resort. The students had an all access tour of the facility from the Food and Beverage Manager. They did a number of rotations throughout the hotel working in Events, Banquets, a number of their restaurants, Concierge, Reception, the Golf Shop and Housekeeping. The students learnt valuable skills and were able to link their theory and work at school to real life situations in the Resort. Each afternoon the students had the opportunity to do an espresso Coffee Workshop and a Mocktail Workshop in the Videre Bar. This gave the students a practical, hands-on experience of expectations of the hospital industry.

All students represented the school at a high level. The staff at RACV Royal Pines were very impressed with the student’s behaviour and work ethic. This was an extremely valuable learning experience for the students and we thank Prestige Service Training for making this possible.

Ms Nicola Brandis
HOD Industry Pathways

Vale Learning Alliance

What a fantastic start to our Vale Learning Alliance with a breakfast catered by our awesome hospitality students. 50 of our local businesses and school staff attended and experienced some great networking, as well as listened to our Executive Principal, Karen Lindsay, present our 2018 Spotlights.

Damien Seaton from Cyber Security was our guest speaker and delivered some very relevant and interesting information for Schools and Businesses regarding the new legislation on Cybersecurity. Our student leadership led an activity which was, ‘How our school was profiled by the Wider Community’ and what we can do to improve our profile. Some very exciting ideas were produced.

Overall, all attendees enjoyed the professionalism of our Alliance and are looking forward to the next event in Term 2.

Some of our Foundation Alliance Members are:

If you would like more information regarding our Alliance or would like to join our Alliance please contact Lisa Campbell on lcamp36@eq.edu.au

Young Change Agents Forum

Over 2.5 days in week 5, 36 of Helensvale’s brightest female business students and budding entrepreneurs participated in the Young Changers Forum. The workshop’s activities allowed students to develop their entrepreneurial and leadership skills. Teams worked together to create a vision map, understand root cause, practice ideation & design thinking techniques, create a social enterprise model, undertake market validation, prototype, form a budget and pitch ideas. Congratulations to the girls from IHAPPY who have been chosen to pitch their idea for a smartphone anti-bullying filter to the team at River City Labs in Brisbane during the school holidays. We wish them the best of luck.

Bullying No Way

At our school we aim to create a safe and supportive school community for everyone.

Sometimes, it can be difficult for parents or carers to know what to do when their child talks to them about bullying.

You are an important part of our work to prevent bullying and to respond effectively if it happens. Stopping bullying involves everyone.

If your child talks to you about bullying:

1. Listen calmly and get the full story. Your calm response is important to allow your child to tell you all about the situation. After they’ve told you their story, ask questions to get more details if you need to: who, what, where, when. Although you may feel some strong emotions about your child’s experience, try to keep calm to avoid more distress to your child.
2. Reassure your child they are not to blame. Many children blame themselves and this may make them feel even worse. You could say things like, ‘That sounds really hard to deal with. No one should have to put up with that.’ or ‘I’m so glad you told me. You should be able to feel safe at school; that’s not fair at all’.
3. Ask your child what they want to do and what they want you to do. A critical part of your response is to avoid jumping in to solve the problem. While it is natural to want to protect your child, helping them to find their own solution is a better option. It helps them feel they have some power in the situation.
4. Visit www.bullyingnoway.gov.au to find some strategies. The website has tips and ideas for different bullying situations. One idea is to practise strategies at home to help your child feel more confident.
5. Contact the school. Your child may be reluctant for you to do this, so discuss the idea and reassure them that the school would want to know and is able to help. Make an appointment to meet with your child’s teacher and, if you need to, ask to talk with the principal. Contact the school immediately if you have a concern about your child’s safety.
6. Check in regularly with your child. Keep the conversation going. It can take time to resolve issues, so check in regularly with your child about their experiences and their feelings. Your ongoing support is important.

If you are looking for support for yourself to deal with a bullying situation, you will find ideas on the Bullying. No Way! website for parents. As well, please contact the school if you would like to discuss any aspect of our approach to preventing bullying.

Thanks for your support to make our school a great school for everyone.

Japanese Study Tour 2018!

Accepting Expressions of Interest now

Helensvale High School is once again looking for any students interested in participating in our Japanese Study Tour to submit an Expression of Interest to the trip coordinator, Mr Middleton in Discovery Place (room DS09).

Every year our school sends students on a two week tour of Japan that sees our students visiting some of the most iconic scenic spots in Japan, as well having the rare opportunity to homestay with a Japanese family in order to experience Japanese daily life first-hand. Families from our sister school take great care of our students for almost a week and together, they develop fantastic friendships and help to strengthen the bonds between our two schools.

All students who take part in this amazing trip will develop their Japanese language skills and better understand Japanese culture. More than that, they are sure to gain more self-confidence and an appreciation of the world around them that may open some new pathways for them in their future endeavours.

Anyone who is interested can collect an Expression of Interest form from Mr Middleton or you can download and print a form by clicking on the link below.

SWELL

The SWeLL staff are pleased to announce the commencement of Chat and Chill.... with a purpose. The purpose being - providing a time and space to get homework and assignment help! Please encourage your student to come along to keep on top of their school work.

Entertainment Book

Order your ‘early bird’ Entertainment Book now for only $60. Discover thousands of valuable up to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers for many of the best restaurants, cafés, arts, attractions, hotels, travel, shopping and much more, all while supporting the fundraising endeavours of our school. Click on the link to secure your membership today!

Free External Holiday Programs

Looking for something to do with the kids over the holidays? Check these out!

Advertising

The newsletter also has a sponsorship section which provides a great opportunity for local businesses to engage with our parent community. If you would like to be a part of this, please contact Schoolzine.

Phone Jude 07 5414 2363
jude.dawson@schoolzine.com.au