31 October 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Thoughts

Dear Helensvale State High community,

Respectful Relationships

Our Learning Environment

Respectful Relationships is our focus over the next fortnight. For those of us fortunate enough to attend Encore, Under the Northern Stars, VAFA and Degustation, you would have experienced the extraordinary talents of our students. What really stood out for me, besides the talent of course, were the genuine relationships between teachers and their students. Having strong, trusting and respectful relationships with our students is the foundation of learning. It was clearly evident that these relationships had been forged over time, and this takes real commitment and energy. In fact, I see this every day at the ‘Vale. Our students are very lucky to have the calibre of staff we have at our school teaching and supporting them to achieve success. Our staff are also privileged to have such talented students that show great potential and a very supportive community.

Staff Appreciation Day

Last Friday 26 October marked World Teachers Day, or ‘Staff Appreciation Day’ as we termed it at Helensvale State High School.

Every day staff at Helensvale State High School are making a positive difference - creating opportunities for students, empowering their minds and proudly teaching our state's future leaders, innovators and influencers.

This year our students really got into the spirit of recognising our staff. The day started at 6am for many of our students who greeted staff at the gates on their arrival with thank you posters and banners, small ribbons and vouchers for a free windscreen wash by our students. A mural was placed outside of SWeLL to remind our school community of the significance of this day. Class started with a message of gratitude for our staff, delivered from our School Captains over our PA system. What a great way to start the day for our staff. And of course there was the obligatory apple for every staff member.

I would like to thank Klearnet, members of our Business Alliance, for sponsoring a morning tea for staff on this important occasion. This day was a true reminder of our ‘One School. One Community’ philosophy.

Respectful Relationships Activities (29 October to 9 November)

Over the next fortnight the school will be explicitly teaching the topic of Respectful Relationships, particularly targeting our Year 7 and 8 students.

During assemblies we will be speaking about types of bullying and its effects. We have asked our Drama students to present on assembly a recent production they did which sends a strong anti-bullying message.

Year 7 and Year 8 students will then have a follow up lesson which will allow students to explore the notion of respectful relationships through a range of interactive activities.

During Futures on Friday the focus will be celebrating diversity.

We have also secured some Titans players as guest speakers.

And finally, we are establishing a generic anti-bullying email address @HelensvaleSHS during this fortnight that will include an automated response for out of hours for Year 7 and 8. This will provide an additional avenue for students to seek support on this very serious issue.

Karen Lindsay
Executive Principal

JAPAN TRIP 2018

During the school holidays, twelve brave adventurers set out for the land of the rising sun seeking to meet new people, experience new sights and sounds, and improve their Japanese language skills. Along with their teachers, Mr Middleton and Mrs Radecki, our group visited our Sister School, Shiraoka Senior High, and participated in a homestay experience followed by a week of sightseeing. We visited some of the most iconic locations in Japan and even managed to squeeze in some time for a theme park visit, or two! Our students represented our school very well and had an amazing experience that they will never forget. They also have made some friends that they can keep in touch with for years to come. A wonderful trip all round.

Maths Legend!

Our students competed in their third Education Perfect World Maths Series. This Year we came third overall in the Maths World Series out of 1,454 schools and first in Australia. Much of our success is due to our top point scorer Julian Rogers. Julian came 3rd overall in the Maths World series and competed in all subjects, World Series’ coming 4th overall in the world. Julian won an iPad and hundreds of dollar in iTunes vouchers and a Pizza Party for his class.

Julian’s efforts have been admirable as well as those of Ian Kwak who also won a lot in iTunes vouchers. Ian was 8th in the world. Congratulations and thank you to the efforts of our other Elite award winners: Harrison Irving, Samara Kurtz, Isaac Kwak, Leo Matsuzaki, Lisa Matsuzaki, and Tuyen Tran. We are very proud of your efforts to rank in the top 0.2% of 60,000 competitors across the world!

Overall we had elite winners, 5 Emerald, 10 Gold, 15 Silver, 76 Bronze, and 107 Credit Award winners. Thank you for your efforts.

ENCORE 2018!

Wow, another successful showcase of the HSH Dance Department last Friday night, October 19. The Dance Department wishes to thank the Helensvale community for supporting our students as they prepared for their annual dance concert. We are so fortunate here at HSH that our dance students are exposed to so many wonderful guest choreographers and work with their dedicated classroom dance teachers to produce such a spectacular show. It was a treat to witness some amazing student choreography on the night, as well as view the wonderful creative media works developed by our Film teacher, Mr Colin Burnim. It was wonderful to see so many HSH administration and teaching staff attend the event and show support to their students; it means so much. The department was thrilled to work with Nick Willner and Sean Dawson from Platnium AV who prepped the lighting and sound for our event; thank you gentlemen for your professionalism! Massive thanks goes to our Head of Department, Mrs Bonita Winters and teacher aides Sarah Stevens and Toni Batt, who supported the team in their preparation leading up to the event and on the day. And finally congratulations go to the HSH dance teachers Zy Kelly, Jackson Kook and Lauren Riches; the time and effort dedicated to this event was evident on the night.

VAFA’s

The Vale Arts Film Awards Night, also known commonly as The VAFA’s is a special night where the Arts Department and the talented students of the amazing subject, Film and Television, taught by the wonderful Mr. Burnim come together with family and friends and we commemorate the wonderful student’s productions, and skills. This year’s VAFA’s was highly successful with fantastic films and film makers receiving multiple awards throughout numerous categories. There were many laughs, cheers and screams throughout the night and it was an amazing night, and we will remember it for a lifetime. Well done to all the teachers and students that made this night possible. Massive appreciation to Mr. Burnim for working hard to ensure that everyone received the knowledge of Film and Television subject. Well done to the nominees and winners for this year’s VAFA’s. Congratulations to everyone!

By Josh Evans
Film and Television student

Wellbeing

As part of our Learning and Wellbeing framework, we have created a wellbeing hub for students and parents, this can accessed through the Helensvale State High School webpage. The hub includes links to other websites and apps which can help to support student wellbeing, as well as provide information on career pathways. To access these ‘well-being hubs’, click on the links below, or, go to the HSHS website: https://helensvaleshs.eq.edu.au/ scroll down the page and click on the relevant icon.

Student Link

Parent Link

Do you Need to Talk to Someone?

• Lifeline – phone 131114
• Kids Helpline – phone 1800551800 for young people aged 5-25
• Parentline – phone 1300301300 for support, counselling and parent education
• eSafety Commissioner

-- complaints about cyberbullying:

-- complaints about image-based abuse: