15 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Thoughts

Dear Helensvale State High community,

Throughout the various celebration and recognition events held we are able to measure how successful we are achieving our mission of One Student, One Community, Many Futures.

One student - Creating a ‘school for one’ by catering for the learning needs, interests and aspirations of each and every student

One community - Our school community, with an unrelenting focus on, and a commitment to, the learning and well-being of each student. Together as a community we demonstrate how, we value education, have very high expectations of our students’ learning and behaviors, and celebrate their successes.

Many futures - ensuring every student transitions from our school with a viable pathway to the future, because together we delivered on our ‘qualification guarantee’.

At our recent Awards Night, one of our biggest achievement recognition ceremonies of the year, there were numerous examples that demonstrated just how committed we are as a school community to ensuring every student succeeds.

Whilst the theme of the night was, ‘This is me’, the delivery of our successes as a school community were a true representation of ‘This is Helensvale’.

There were many outstanding achievements recognised at this event, I wish to share some with you.

Delivering on our ‘Qualification Guarantee’, thirty-eight of our Year 12 students have already received direct entry into either Griffith, Bond or Southern Cross University. Another twenty-five of our students have gained direct entry to TAFE to study various diploma courses. Sixty-six students in Year 12 are graduating with a Diploma qualification. Every Year 12 student leaving this school will leave with at least one qualification.

Student achievements in Maths and Science are outstanding. Our students competed in the Education Perfect World Maths Series, coming first in Australia and 3rd worldwide, competing against 1454 schools globally. Individually, one of our student’s efforts was outstanding. Julian is the third best student in the ‘World Maths Series’, and fourth best in the world in the ‘All Subjects World Series’. Julian is also 2nd in the world in History and Japanese. What an amazing achievement.

Twelve of our Junior Secondary students received high distinctions in ICAS, an international science competition. Three of our junior secondary students, Arabella, Tahlia and Lily, also won 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Griffith University STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Cup Challenge.

And speaking of STEM, this year Helensvale State High School and Excite teacher Miss Shay Young were awarded the Kaleidoscope Award from Griffith University for Most Engaged Gold Coast School, providing wonderful opportunities for our students in the area of STEM.

Our Yr 11 biology students, Genevive, Chelsea and Julia, took out 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the Griffith University Gold Coast Science awards.

Again, this year we entered two of our hospitality students, Ronan and Jenna, into the Australian Culinary Federation Competition. These students won at state level, then at national level, then represented Australia at international level, where they took out gold. There were tears of joy from hospitality teacher Ms Wright at this announcement. What an amazing achievement and an experience these two students will never forget. Thank you to Glen Bacon, Executive Chef – RACV Royal Pines Resort, for mentoring our students to such success.

And more gold for Thomas, achieving 1st place in the prestigious QTIC Salute to Excellence Award for Food and Beverage. These students already have offers of jobs and apprenticeships in the hospitality industry.

Our Arts students have had many successes again this year showcasing their talents at a school, regional and state level. The Drama academy students received multiple awards at the Intermediate Drama Festival. Yr 12 senior Art students have received Creative Generation Awards for Excellence in Visual Art. Thomas’s artwork was so outstanding that is was exhibited in the Gallery of Modern Art as part of Creative Generations.

Not to forget the amazing achievements of our instrumental students:

State Honours Ensemble Program
Australian Honours Ensemble Program
Wind Symphony receiving gold at Fanfare

And what an experience - Performing with the Australian Navy Band in Sydney and with the Music Lecturers at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Our outstanding sporting achievements for this year were recognised at our Sports Awards night last week. However I would just like to share three of the many standouts: Our U15 AFL boys were state champions, our junior and senior netball students were state indoor champions and our Touch 13 year girls were National Champions. There are many, many more sporting achievements at a local, national and international level that were recognised at the Sports Awards night.

The Northern Collegiate Australian Business Week was once again a fantastic week showcasing collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurial skills at its best. We had success at the Mayor’s Telstra Tech Awards, as well as the Gold Coast legal study essay competition.

Whilst our student and school achievements are regularly posted on Facebook and included in our fortnightly newsletters throughout the year, it is not until you stop and reflect on the year’s achievements at our Term 4 events that you truly get a sense of how great we are as a school community in providing so many opportunities for our students and just how much our students excel.

I hope you were able to attend at least one of our recognition events to gain that real sense of purpose, ‘One Student. One Community. Many Futures.’

Karen Lindsay
Executive Principal

Helensvale SHS P&C

REMINDER: The next P&C meeting is on Tuesday 27th November at 7pm in SWeLL.

We would love to see more people come along!!

Good Food and Wine Show 2018

Helensvale State High Hospitality Students

Year 11 and 12 Hospitality students participated in the front of house and back of house at the Good Food and Wine Show from the 26 – 28ctober 2018, this was held at the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre.

Students worked with celebrity chefs – Matt Moran, Maggie Beer, Alastair McLeod, Miguel Maestre and Matt Golonski and prepared for their demonstrations, learnt new skills and exhibited outstanding teamwork, working to strict time constraints and management of resources.

The supervisors were extremely impressed with the students and could not believe their skill level and dedication for 16 / 17 year old high school students. They represented Helensvale State High with pride, but also can be proud of themselves.

The supervisors congratulated the students on their leadership, attention to detail, their efficiency, initiative, skills and passion for the Hospitality Industry. They encouraged them for their future careers and were so impressed that they have offered to be referees for their choice of employment.

This was an amazing performance by Helensvale State High students at the Good Food and Wine Show. The students enjoyed this experience and appreciated the opportunity to work with celebrity chefs.

Stephanie Wright,
Acting Hod – Home Economics / Senior Business,
Helensvale State High

Futsal U16 National Titles

Congratulations to the U16 Futsal girls team who took out the U16 National Titles this past Sunday. Such a tremendous effort from the girls, the second title they’ve won in a row. Again our ‘Coach of the Year’, Lachlan McDonell, was there all weekend to support and guide the girls to the outstanding victory. A big thanks needs to go to Sharon Skennar who gave up her weekend to assist the girls and run the logistics of the tournament. Sharon has been going above and beyond for sport in this School for over 20 years and really deserves a big pat on the back for all of her efforts. The girls won the nail biter of a grand final against a school from Coffs Harbour 2-1, their resilience and teamwork saw the girls come out with a well-deserved win.

Great work to all involved

Matt Dwyer
Sport Coordinator

Student Achievement

Congratulations to Harrison Voight who recently trialled for the Asia Talent Cup for 2019 – Sepang International Circuit, KL Malaysia. This is by invitation only with only 120 riders invited to trial.

Harrison was selected for 2019 and will be the youngest participant in the talent cup. 13 Australians tried out – only 2 were selected.

Well done Harrison.

Inaugural Book Swap

Mrs Howell organised the Inaugural Book Swap last Wednesday lunch time in Discovery Place. The first swap was restricted to the junior grades, and was a huge success. Students were to bring in a book that they no longer needed in order to swap with another person. Thanks to donations from generous friends of the school, students were able to help themselves to books to read and keep.

Thanks to Love That Book, Westfield Helensvale, for their donations of unreleased novels for students to take.

A massive thanks Kimberley and Cassius from Helensvale Library for attending with a huge number of books to give away.

It was great to see Ms Lindsay, Ms Roderick, Mr Finney and Ms Dickman come down and chat to our awesome readers and supporters.

Sports Awards

Congratulations to all the students who received Sports Awards.

Our Major Award recipients were:

Dale Wood Award – Riley Johnson
Liam Enese Award – Bailey Stephens-Makiha
Coach of the Year – Lachlan McDonell
Pierre De Coubertin Award – Desi Johnson
Best Performance Team – 13 Years Girls Touch Football Team
Best Performance Individual – Finn Brown
Multi-Class Athlete of the Year – Jaydin Hindmarch-Bunker
Junior Sportsperson of the Year – Finn Brown
Senior Sportsperson of the Year – Reilley Batcheldor

All award recipients are included in the attached program.

Try a Trade

Holiday Programs

For all parents and students who want to plan their holidays now! Check out these programs!!

Wellbeing

As part of our Learning and Wellbeing framework, we have created a wellbeing hub for students and parents, which 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, scroll down the page and click on the relevant icon.

Student Link

Parent Link

Do you need to talk to someone?

• Lifeline – phone 131 114
• Kids Helpline – phone 1800 551 800 for young people aged 5-25
• Parentline – phone 1300 301 300 for support, counselling and parent education
• eSafety Commissioner
  - complaints about cyberbullying
  - complaints about image-based abuse