16 May 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

ANZAC DAY

A record number of students and staff represented Rockhampton State High School at the annual Anzac march as well as the Dawn Service. It is certainly an event that takes pride of place in the school calendar and is well supported by the school community. Prior to Anzac Day, students attended Anzac ceremonies in the assembly hall to commemorate and pay their respects to all who have and are currently serving our country.

Many thanks to DP Melanie Brown who managed these successful events! Sincere thanks to the record number of staff and students who attended the Rockhampton town march.

SHOW PARKING - JUNE

Information regarding students participating in show parking is included in this newsletter. Many hands make light work! Our hardworking P & C welcome parents, students, community members and staff at these important fundraising events. Students may use participation in such activities to count towards a school’s Citizenship Award

MEDIA CONCERN

“13 Reasons Why” is an American television series based on the book by Jay Asher and appears to be quite popular with adolescents. Please note that Headspace, a national youth mental health foundation, has issued a warning regarding this series:

Whilst the series deals with some very important matters the explicit nature of the content of the series in the absence of how to manage these situations is of concern. I would encourage you to review this content prior to giving consent to your child to watch this and to monitor their viewing and internet and entertainment access generally.

Year Co-ordinators are always available to assist you or your child, as are our Chaplain, Guidance Officers, Youth Support Co-ordinators, School Based Police Officers and School Nurse. Please do not hesitate to contact these personnel via the main office should you wish to discuss your child’s wellbeing or seek advice.

THANKS TO OUR WONDERFUL P&C

Thanks once again to our P&C for their recent approval of a number of facilities projects. We eagerly await the installation of stage 3 of our outdoor gallery in late June. Many thanks to Art HOD Ms Mills for management of this!

Best wishes
Kirsten Dwyer

Around the Grounds – with HPE and Sport

Term 2 is well and truly underway, starting with a new and improved Cross Country course, a host of inter school trials, the Karen Murphy Cup for our Rugby League Girls and Philip House breaking their drought to finally win an interhouse carnival. It has been many long years since Philip has taken out a carnival, with Wentworth, Cook and Griffith following closely behind. Well done to all of our runners, as well as our athletes that contested the Inter school Cross Country. Notable mentions to Dylan Mills (u14) and Emily Smith (u13) for taking out their respectable age races and qualifying for the Rockhampton & District team.

Our boys basketball and soccer seasons have begun, as well as our girls inter school netball teams starting their seasons strongly. This term have also seen our students participate in the AFL Queensland “Rookie Search” - a talent identification program aimed at uncovering hidden talent in our school systems. Our Senior Girls AFL team has begun their season well, dominating proceedings against Rockhampton Grammar School in the first week of their knockout tournament. There is plenty more to come with AFL this year, so watch this space…

As well as our inter school teams, we have had a few outstanding individual sporting achievements for our students to start the year. The Ruff sisters – Danielle and Elyssa have been competing at a high level in both track and road cycling. The girls have a jam packed calendar culminating with Elyssa competing in the National Junior Track Series later this year, and Danielle going head to head with the nations top track sprinters through the latter months of the year. We wish the girls every success in their cycling endeavours.

Tara Daniels, year 10, has recently been to New Zealand as part of the Australian Junior Womens Inline Hockey Team that contested the Trans-Tasman Cup. Tara was honoured to be selected as Captain of the team and played brilliantly, leading her team to gold. The tournament was the best of 5 games against NZ and Australia won 3 out of 5 games. Tara was a heavy contributor throughout the tournament, scoring a hat-trick in the first game, as well as scoring the match winner in the second game after a triple overtime period of 20 minutes. It was the first time in 5 years that the Aussie Junior Women's team had won a game against the Kiwi's. Her red hot form was rewarded with selection in the under 18 Junior Women team to contest the World Roller Games in China in August this year. Well done Tara, we wish you all the best.

Damien Kelso
HOD - Physical Education and Sport

School Expo

Saturday 27 May 2 – 4pm

Invitation to students enrolling in Year 7- 2018 at Rockhampton SHS.

Please join us and take part in the activities that will introduce you to Rockhampton State High School.

We will also provide entertainment, displays, complimentary coffee shop and barbeque!

• Short presentations (commencing at 2.00pm in the Assembly Hall) from staff and students
• Receive enrolment packages and book enrolment interview times for 9 August 2017—3.30pm onwards

Hope to see you there!

FEET First Commitment Ceremony

Rockhampton State High School will hold its annual FEET First Commitment Ceremony next Friday 19 May at 10am. This ceremony represents a public pledge by our current Year 12 students, in the presence of parents and community members, to make every effort to gain further education, employment or training on completion of school. Year 12 students and community members are invited to sign the FEET First Commitment banner to demonstrate their commitment to the FEET First principles.

Parents of current Year 12 students are invited to join us for the ceremony and a light morning tea in the Assembly Hall on Friday 19 May at 10am. Please RSVP to Samantha Sinclair on 49 204 323 or ssinc51@eq.edu.au

Samantha Sinclair
A/FEET First Program Coordinator & VETiS Administrator

Hey YOUth Summit

On Thursday 4 May, selected Year Eleven students attended the Hey YOUth Summit convened by Keppel MP State Member, Brittany Lauga. The day commenced in an entertaining fashion with BOKWA dancing to awaken participants mentally and physically. Students responded in an enthusiastic manner and thoroughly enjoyed hearing from a wide range of key speakers from CQUniversity, Reach Out, State Government and local entrepreneurs. Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, Grace Grace, spoke about stimulating local employment. Brittany Lauga discussed her role in government and encouraged young people to get involved. CQU Associate Vice Chancellor, Kim Harrington, spoke about making the most of opportunities. Reach Out spokeswomen, Mak and Katie, discussed youth mental health issues and supporting each other through challenging times while nutritionist and business owner, Annita Rossiter, discussed health and wellbeing. Breakout sessions allowed student groups to give feedback which Ms Lauga will present to Queensland Parliament. Our students gave confident and poised responses and represented our school in a very positive manner. The Queensland Government has also created a youth e-hub and student participation is encouraged.

Mrs Rachael Simpkins
Year 11 Coordinator

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

Rockhampton State High School students from Years 10, 11 and 12 visited the Capricorn Careers Expo at CQ University.

This year’s Careers Expo gave students an excellent opportunity to talk to representatives from many organisations including universities, registered training organisations, private colleges, apprenticeship organisations, local employers and so on. Demonstrations by industry experts in the areas of automotive, and emergency services allowed students have a close look at these careers.

This is a once a year opportunity for our students to engage with the southern universities and it was wonderful to see so many of our students engaging with exhibitors and asking questions and accessing useful resources. Many exhibitors commented on the excellent behaviour and good manners of our students as well as the genuine interest they demonstrated.

The Career Expo is an annual event and students from years 10 – 12 in 2018 are encouraged to participate.

Trudy Crow
HOD – Senior Schooling

MasterChef Mystery Box Challenge

On Monday 8th of May a team of year 11 Hospitality students including Tamara Buchholz, Kiah Jackson, Isabel Brown and Susan Anderson participated in the MasterChef Mystery Box Challenge with runner-up contestant Matt Sinclair.

The competition took place at Wilby’s training restaurant at the Central Queensland University Tafe Campus.

The girls were provided with a mystery box of ingredients and had to come up with an entrée, main and dessert using selected ingredients. Each team then had 2.5 hours to plan, prepare and serve their dishes to the judges. They represented Rockhampton State High School with pride and did an absolutely amazing job working as a team to produce some excellent dishes.

The girls made a trio of wontons with dipping sauce for entrée, a coconut mushroom curry with tempura prawns for main and a pineapple and lime syrup cake with spiced cream for dessert. Their outstanding efforts earned them 4th place in the competition with only half a point separating them from the third place holders.

These students are very proud of their achievements and are already looking forward to what the Mystery Box challenge will hold next year!

Samantha Hogan
A/HOD Home Ec

GIO Trophy – Senior Boys Rugby League

The school’s First XIII rugby league team will kick off the school football season for 2017 when they take on St Brendans in the GIO Trophy competition on Wednesday, 17th May. The GIO Trophy is a state-wide knockout competition which will this year be contested by over fifty schools.

Coached by Mr Wells and led by school vice-captain, Jesse Burkardt, this year’s team includes some exciting players. Two players to watch will be newcomer Mason Spreadborough and powerhouse forward, Dale Arnold. Spreadborough will be sure to impress with his skills, speed and determination and Arnold’s strength and size will make him a hard player for any opposition to contain.

The May 17th game will be played at Browne Park. Kick off will be at 5.30pm.

Cyber Safety Expert Visits Rocky High

Susan McLean is Australia’s foremost expert in the area of cyber safety and young people. Widely known as the ‘cyber cop’ she was the first Victoria Police Officer appointed to a position involving cyber safety and young people.

Susan runs the organisation CyberSafetySolutions which provides advice and assistance to a wide range of diverse bodies including Education Departments, elite sporting bodies, adolescent psychologists, child protection agencies and medical practitioners.

Rockhampton State High School students were fortunate to have a session with Susan McLean last month. Susan focussed on the potential dangers of the online environment and provided students with useful tips for the use of mobile phones, instant messaging, online games and social networking sites.

Susan’s advice centred around making wise choices in relation to security settings and the long term impacts of online activity such as Facebook, especially when it comes to employment recruitment.

Parents can access cyber safety information from the CyberSafetySolutions website.

Senior Students Connect with CQU

Rockhampton State High School senior students are again participating in the CQUniversity “CQUni Connect” program. This program is part of the 'Widening Participation' initiative aimed at equipping school students with the desire and skills to transition to university, work or further training. CQUni Connect aims to focus on the challenges students may face as they prepare to take the next step after school. The facilitators lead discussion about finishing school, exploring the opportunities of higher education, the challenges of finances and future participation in the workforce. The program works on the philosophy that if they get the right information, students will be able to make the best decisions about their future.

The program targets Year 11 and 12 students and is made up of interactive modules which aim to build confidence and motivate all students to work to their full potential. The four modules are: Transitioning Out of School, Money Talks, Opportunities in Post-School Study and Are You Work Ready?

The program is delivered by the CQUni Connect team made up of current CQUniversity students who once attended high school in the Rockhampton area. They are able to share information about the varied opportunities available while studying at university particularly the support offered to students.

A highlight of the program was a visit to the school by Associate Vice-Chancellor of CQUniversity, Ms Kim Harrington. Ms Harrington interacted with Year 12 classes sharing her career journey with them.

Mrs Trudy Crow
HOD – Senior Schooling

Early departure from school

Parents are reminded that the procedure for releasing your student early is as follows:

• Send a note with your student requesting an early departure from school.
• In an emergency a student can be located but depending on the whereabouts of your students this cannot always be achieved in a short time.

If your student has an unexpected appointment that arises during the day, please advise the school at least an hour before the appointment.

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