27 July 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Thoughts

Dear Helensvale State High community,

GIPSA Sport and Wellbeing

Our GIPSA Interschool Sport competition has commenced this term with many of our students participating in competitions across the coast. I wish all participants the best of luck and know they will represent our school community well. Our students who remain at school on GIPSA days are participating in a range of valuable learning opportunities around health and wellbeing. I’d like to thank staff members Matt Dwyer, David Bimrose, Mona Williams, Nicole Brazeau and Sharon Mart for their leadership of these opportunities. It is no mean feat to organise such a program for all of our students.

VET Teacher of the Year

Congratulations to Mr Pete Whitehouse for his nomination for VET Teacher of the Year and the South East Queensland Training Awards on Friday night. It is a significant achievement to be one of three nominees out of all of the teachers and trainers in our region. This is a testament to the fantastic work Pete does with our Hospitality students and is certainly a well-deserved accolade.

Education Ball 2018

The Gold Coast Teachers’ Ball has evolved this year to be inclusive of non-teaching staff and has therefore been renamed to the Education Ball. The Ball is organised by the Gold Coast Secondary Schools Principal’s Alliance and is an opportunity for staff to recognise their peers both within the school and from other schools on the Gold Coast.

The following staff who were nominated by their peers for the Excellence in Education Awards.

Bond University Excellence in Educational Leadership: Nicola Brandis, Lisa Campbell, Tracey Eaton, Kiera Lewis, Bonita Winters

Griffith University Excellence in Teaching Award: Jo Cuba, Melissa Fainges, Belinda Howell, Brendan Jones, Shenae Larkin, Michelle Phelan, Kirsty Scott, Shay-Maree Young, Peter Whitehouse

Griffith University Excellence in Educational Support Award: Patricia Cahill, Angela Duncan, Karen Gibbs, Natalie Green, Raelene MacGibbon

Our selected nominees for the 2018 Excellence in Education Awards are: Kiera Lewis, Shay-Maree Young and Natalie Green

Congratulations to our nominees and we wish them luck at the Education Ball in September

Strategic Plan

There are five key improvement priorities which align to our learning mission of ‘One Student. One Community. Many Futures.’ The last newsletter outlined two improvement priorities that aligned to our ‘One Community’ philosophy. The priorities presented in this newsletter align to our ‘Many Futures’ philosophy.

Many Futures

Improvement Priority 5:Prepare students and staff for the new QCE and Tertiary Entrance system.

Success indicators

• Our students consistently producing learning outcomes that are on par with the best schools in Queensland and with the nation.
• Every student transitions with a viable pathway to the future, delivering on the school’s ‘qualification guarantee’ and has student exit data (QCE/QCIA, VET, OP/ATAR, Next Steps) consistent with, or greater than like schools and on par with the Nation.
• Curriculum and assessment 7-12 is quality assured through internal and external processes.

Strategies

• Enable all teachers to engage in professional development to ensure confident delivery of new QCE requirements.
• Conduct regular reviews of the school and faculty new QCE Transition Plans to determine readiness for the New QCE.
• Develop a Curriculum and Assessment Review Board with the following functions:
    o  Quality assurance of the school’s Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC) 7-12.
    o  Ensure the consistent implementation of the school’s 7-12 Assessment Policy.
    o  Ensure mock external assessments and exam strategies are utilised in ensuring student preparedness for external assessment.
    o  Review subject offerings and pathways to align with new QCE and ATAR.
• Review monitoring processes in line with new ATAR/QCE requirements.
• Consistently monitor Senior School student achievement to ensure QCE, OP/ATAR and/or VET attainment.

Finally, I would like to welcome students and staff back for term 3. I trust it will be a productive term and for many of our year 12 students the work they are doing is crucial to their final results. I encourage parents to keep in touch with students’ teachers and our Support Services team to ensure students have the support they need to be successful. I will be acting Executive Principal until 6th August when Ms Karen Lindsay will return from leave.

Kind regards,

Megan Roderick

GIPSA Week 1

A big week with a lot of action. A group of photographers got out and about to catch as much of the action as possible.

Vicki Wilson Shield

Congratulations to our Vicki Wilson Shield 1 team who have gone through undefeated to reach the Gold Coast finals section. Our number 2 team missed out on going through to the finals by only 1 game. A great effort considering the team is compiled of year 7 students, who are less experienced. What an exciting future...the netball girls would like to thank our number 1 supporters Ms Roderick and Ms Brazeau for watching and supporting us all. We appreciate it so much.

International Update

Last week we welcomed 10 new International Students into the program from Brazil, Italy, South Korea and Vietnam.

Although some got lost a few times around the school, most have found their way to class on time. It has been a huge learning experience to move to a new country, school and stay with Australian families.

We celebrated Davi’s (from Brazil) 17th birthday with singing and of course cake!

We also welcomed a Study Tour from Taiwan, 18 students of varying ages and 2 staff are with us for 2 weeks. The students are staying with our local families which is a wonderful experience for them all. Each day the students spend time with Helensvale “Buddies” doing classes or specialised lessons. We hope they have a wonderful time and enjoy our beautiful winter weather

Kokoda Challenge – OMG 96 km in 34 hours!!!!!

It was great to see Lily Gilbert and her KCYP team mates pushing themselves to their limits in the 96km Gold Coast Kokoda challenge recently.

Fatigue, no sleep, freezing cold, hallucinations, blisters, chaffing, sore muscles and joints were just some of the challenges the Kokoda Kids faced on their way to walking 96km across the Gold Coast hinterland, renowned as one of the toughest team endurance events in Australia.

We are all very proud of Lily’s efforts so far and look forward to her continued personal growth. Her training ramps up again as she prepares to hike over 9 days and nights in Papua New Guinea to honour the Australian soldiers who fought on the Kokoda Track during World War 2.

Dann Hollingshed
Youth Services Co ordinator

Sports Carnival

Tuesday the 7th of August is by nomination only meaning all students from years 7-12 will need to nominate to be able to come down and compete and nominations will close Thursday 2nd August which is week 3. There will be no nominations accepted after this date so please encourage students to come and nominate right away or they’ll miss out. Students can nominate by coming to the sports office at the SAC and filling out the correct paper work, so can I please ask that you promote this to them in all of your classes.

Wednesday will be our Full School event and house colour inspired “working 9-5” will be our theme. All students will attend to spectate and participate.

Photography

Our year 12 Certificate II visual arts classes were visited by Greg Sullavan, the ambassador for Canon Collective, to run two workshops focussing on motion and portrait photography. The students photographed each other on Canon 80Ds and learned to use a range of camera settings and techniques to improve their photographic skills.

Year 7 Drama Academy

The year 7 Drama Academy students are working really hard in preparation for the Gold Coast Secondary School Drama Festival starting early August, at Trinity Lutheran College.

These students have chosen to focus on the topic of Self Identity, in a performance titled #THISISME!

The cast of 25 students perform as an ensemble to explore the topic of self-identity, and how you can claim who you are and be proud of that person. Uniquely YOU. The drama students use a variety of dramatic conventions to communicate meaning to their audience.

Their performance is shaping up to be creative, dynamic and thought provoking.

The Drama Academy students are now rehearsing before, during and after school in their own time. I am very proud of their focus, energy and efforts to be ready to represent Helensvale SHS in this competition.

Miss Chambers
Drama Academy Teacher

Year 10 Work Experience

A friendly reminder that all year 10 students will participate in a week of work experience. Work Experience is scheduled for 3rd September to 7th September 2018. All paperwork should be handed into their Futures teacher by Friday 27th July.

Important – for students intending on going on a Construction Site they will need to do a White Card Course ($50). Ms Brandis has a list of names of students who have indicated they require this. Ms Brandis will send out further information soon regarding this.

Please contact Ms Brandis, HOD Industry Pathways, nbran10@eq.edu.au or Ms Bellamy in CB08 if you have any questions.

Year 7 2019 - Helensvale State High School “High School Experience Day”

Are you enrolled and are coming as a Year 7 student to Helensvale State High School in 2019?

You will be participating in our “High School Experience Day” on Friday 7th September.

If you are in catchment and are intending on coming to Helensvale SHS next year and you haven’t submitted your enrolment forms - get them in ASAP, so you can participate in this important orientation day.

Please contact our school office regarding enrolment.

Wendy Chambers
Head of Department- Transitions

Uniform Shop Update

The perfect addition to your winter wardrobe, purchase the school scarf now for $22.00 before they run out. See you in the shop soon.

From the Guidance Officers!

Help your teenager build positive self-esteem

The development of a positive self-concept or healthy self-esteem is extremely important to the happiness and success of children and teenagers. Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves, and our behaviour clearly reflects those feelings.

For children, self-esteem often comes from knowing that they are loved and that they belong to a family that values them. It also comes from being praised and encouraged for the things that are important to them, and from feeling confident about the future. Below are some practical steps and strategies that you, as the parent, can try in an effort to help your child develop positive self-esteem.

Tips and tools for building self-esteem

More than anyone else, parents can promote their child’s self-esteem. Most parents do it without even realizing that their words and actions have a great impact on how their child or teenager feels about themselves. There are various strategies you can consciously use to build your child’s self-esteem.

When you feel good about your child and the things they do, mention it to him or her. Children remember positive statements we say to them

Be generous with praise in situations where your child is doing a good job or displaying a talent. Also, use praise to point out positive character traits.

Teach your child to practice making positive self-statements - what we think determines how we feel and how we feel determines how we behave.

Teach your child about decision-making and to recognise when they have made a good decision.

Spend quality time with your child. Listen to them, and help them learn new things and achieve goals.

Things to avoid

It’s important to be aware of things that your child might do that aren’t a positive display of confidence or self-esteem. Some things to look out for are:

If your child does something you don’t like, it’s better to tell them what she could do instead of using negative language or name-calling.

Control your temper and don’t yell at your child, especially not in public. They will feel embarrassed and ashamed.

Avoid criticism that takes the form of ridicule or shame.

Threatening to leave your child if they don’t do what you want, or saying things that imply that life would be better without them, might harm a child’s self-esteem.

Ignoring children, treating them like a nuisance, or not taking an interest in them.

Negative comparisons with other children, especially brothers and sisters. It’s better if you can recognise each child’s successes and achievements.

This information was taken from the Reach Out for Parents online

From the School Based Nurse

Bite Back

Aimed at high school students, BITE BACK is Australia’s only free positive psychology program for adolescents aged 12-18.

The evidence-based program was redesigned with input from young Australians and features modules to assist with reducing stress, building resilience, improving relationships and focus, and goal-setting.

Users collect a token after completing various activities, quizzes and stories each week, with three tokens unlocking the chance to win a $250 voucher for popular brands like Nike, Cotton On, Westfield, Nintendo and Bonds.

A six-week “Mental Fitness” Challenge serves as a capstone module to the program, helping teens entrench their learnings and track their progress with handy tips and weekly activities on gratitude, mindfulness, social connections and strengths.

An earlier randomised controlled trial showed BITE BACK was effective in decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and increased wellbeing in young people, particularly those who used the website for more than 30 minutes per week.

Development and delivery of BITE BACK is supported by the Australian Government Department of Health.

Chappy Sam's News:

Firstly, I would like to give a shout out to the lovely girls who came and helped me pack up after the Year 7 Hangout last week,

I love that there are so many helpful and thoughtful students in our school community!

Speaking of community, remember we have many wonderful opportunities for everyone to connect to the community within our school.

Also that there are many ways to access support if you feel you need some no matter how small. School Chaplains are one of those, alongside our fabulous Guidance Officers, and our lovely School Nurse -Joy. Chappy programs such as Chic Chat, and Drumnoize and after school in the SWELL with Marnie's team are other ways to connect.

Speaking of support- Kid's Helpline Online Website has been revamped and has resources for teens and young adults too as you will find below.

You can be a support to your community as well - it's part of feeling like you belong - you can help collect things homeless people need to survive or give items to a local charity that put together Christmas hampers, like St Johns, for whom our staff are collecting. Getting involved is a step toward to a well-balanced life.

Advertising

We are pleased and excited to inform you that we’ll be producing a new eNewsletter with Schoolzine.  The move to this new format will enable us to communicate with the school community across multiple channels. It will promote and enhance our engagement with parents, students and the wider community. 

We believe you’ll find the eNewsletter highly engaging, as it will provide us with a more efficient and effective means of connecting with you.  The new format will allow the inclusion of video, photo galleries, online bookings, mobile app, feedback forms, calendars and so much more.

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.

1300 795 503
http://www.schoolzine.com.au/advertisers.html