10 June 2022

Newsletter Articles

For more info please see:

From the Principal

Dear Helensvale State High School community

Every day in classrooms students are receiving feedback about their learning. Feedback is founded on the belief that all students can achieve success in learning. It places the emphasis on students feeling safe to take risks and make mistakes as they progress. It assumes that every student has untapped potential to further improve. Feedback can take many forms. I have devoted this newsletter to peer feedback.

When each student understands the criteria for success, and has advice and support in making the necessary changes, we can expect all students to learn. This is a culture in which students build self-esteem. Peer feedback has been proven to be just as effective as teacher feedback when students are trained in how to do it. Peer feedback involves students giving and receiving information about performance or understanding in relation to the criteria on which they will be assessed.

Why Peer Feedback?

• Encourages collaborative learning and can build and enhance students’ capacity for judgement.
• Students are able to detect errors and provide suggestions for improvement when processes are scaffolded.
• Helps students become teachers of themselves and each other, and to self-regulate their learning.
• Plays a role in establishing where students are in their learning and how they can reach their desired learning goals.
• Increases student achievement.

Click the below link to check out some senior students demonstrating the power of peer feedback in a HPE context.

Yours truly
Karen Lindsay
Executive Principal
Helensvale State High School

Year 8 Humanities - History

In year 8 Humanities, in Miss Lawrance’s and Ms Schrader’s co-teaching class, the students have been learning History in Term 2. There has been a lot of new vocabulary to learn and pronounce, whilst learning about the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. The word wall in the classroom has been an effective way to consolidate some of the learning as well as using maps to locate the New World such as Spain. We use paddle pop sticks sometimes as a strategy to include all students in activities and interacting, not just the extroverts!

Holiday Programs

Helensvale SHS Farmers Markets

Don’t forget to support our local farmers.

Every Day Counts!

Cyberbullying Help

What would you do if your child was being cyberbullied?

According to research by the eSafety Commissioner , 1 in 5 young people experience cyberbullying and online abuse and 55% seek help from their parents/carers.

Our free training is available online and has been designed to be completed on a range of internet ready devices, including smart phones.

Support Staff

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

Acknowledgment of Country

Helensvale State High School as one community, acknowledges the Kombumerri Peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which our school is built. We respect their long history, ancestry and culture. We pay our respects to the Elders, past, present and emerging for they carry the memories and traditions of past times.

We would also like to extend our acknowledgment to other First Nations Peoples: those hailing from the Torres Strait Islands and those belonging to other Aboriginal Language Groups.

We acknowledge the strength and resilience of Kombumerri peoples. We respect their enduring connection to the local wetlands and the cultural responsibility they uphold to preserve wildlife. Together, we go forward, learning in the spirit of these values.