22 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

NAPLAN Results

Once again Rockhampton SHS celebrates our literacy and numeracy successes in NAPLAN Mean Scale Scores(MSS). We are delighted by the significant gains shown by our students, and outstanding performers and improvers will be acknowledged by the school. Letters will be sent home and certificates will also be issued to students.

Swap Meet Car Parking

Thank you to the wonderful students who helped with car parking during the recent Rocky Swap. It was an extremely busy day and all the students were fantastic. They had a great attitude on the day, even when there were a few challenges. The P&C are very grateful for their help and for their mature attitude on the day.

Many thanks to Kath Rumpf for getting notes out and receiving forms. Once again, thank you to our terrific P & C, school staff, volunteers and Carpark Convener Claire Morrison.

Yr 12

Aiden Anderson
Sasha Dobbs
Daniel Somerfield

Yr 11

Montana-le Cowley
Michael Malick

Yr 10

Ally Dobbs

Yr 9

Reece Kelly

Yr 8

Joshua Malick

Yr 7

Bailey Jose
Parker Ryan-Williams

Congratulaions

Congratulations to Kelly Pernes, who has been selected to participate in the 2017 Young Achievers Program!

Regards
Kirsten Dwyer

Year 7 – 2018

Enrolment interviews are being held on Thursday 26 October from 3.30pm to 6.00pm. Please contact the General office on 49204333 to make a booking and collect an enrolment package.

School Opinion Survey

If you have already completed your Parent/Caregiver Survey, thank you and please disregard this notice. If not already completed, the online surveys will remain open until 25 August 2017. This is your opportunity to have a say about what this school does well and how this school can improve.

Science

It has been a busy few weeks in the Science Department! The students in Science in Practice and our Year 9 cohort have experienced many practicals and excursions supporting their learning.

Year 11 Science in Practice

The Science in Practice students are busy learning about Australia’s past, present and future. The unit started with an introduction into the geological evolution of Australia from a continent of lush, tropical rainforests to that of an arid environment over the past four billion years. A trip to The Caves to see this evolution first hand allowed the students to see that Australia was once home to a large diversity of Megafauna and giant marsupials, like Kangaroos as big as cars! The students were able to visit and explore the fossil dig site, where Queensland Museum palaeontologist Scott Hocknell and his team are currently excavating to find hidden clues into our prehistoric past. The students may have made some exciting discoveries of their own!

Year 9 Science

The Year 9s have been taking an exciting journey through the systems of the human body. They have looked at how our body systems work together to keep our bodies in balance and provide us with the essential nutrients to live, grow and function. They have completed many practicals including modelling the parts of blood and looking at cells using microscopes and exploring the valves and chambers of a sheep heart.

Modelling parts of the blood, this picture represents the plasma and red blood cells

NAPLAN returns positive results

Congratulations to the large number of students in Years 7 & 9 who achieved and improved in the 2017 NAPLAN. We saw improvements across both year levels and will celebrate students achieving results above the average or improvement in the coming weeks. Special mention must go to the Maths Department and Year 9 students. 93.5% of students in the cohort received at or above National Minimum Standards – congratulations on this outstanding performance.

Amanda O’Beirne
HOD Learning Engagement

Women in League

Five of our Year 11 girls played in the “Women in League” last home game on the first weekend in August. Brooke, Tay, Abbie, Hannah and Susan played brilliantly and were great ambassadors for both Women and League and our school.

Woolworths Earn & Learn

Rockhampton State High School will again take part in the Woolworths Earn & Learn program. For every $10 spent at Woolworths, families will earn one sticker. Stickers can be returned to the collection box at Student Services, Rockhampton State High School. This program allows the school to build our collection of resources for students and in the past has been a worthwhile undertaking. We thank you in advance for your support; 26 July – 19 September

Amanda O’Beirne
A/HOD Learning Engagement

EXCEL

This term the year 7 EXCEL science class have been learning about the phases of the moon and solar and lunar eclipses.

Students were given a challenge to design and build an eclipse model that represents the stages of solar and lunar eclipses. Each group worked on strategies that would allow them to model the life-like features of each type of eclipse before presenting their design to the class. The year 7s showed off their inquiry skills, team work and engineering skills in making a number of excellent models that demonstrated successful representations of both partial and complete solar and lunar eclipses.

Year 10 Rugby League Tour

The school’s Year 10 rugby league team will travel to Townsville at the end of August to see the NQ Cowboys play Cronulla.

They will also visit the NQ Aquarium and the Townsville Army Museum. On the way home they will play a game against Proserpine SHS.

The year 10 team is currently on top of the table in the RDSSRL 10B division. Coached by RHS Old Boy, Brodie Smith, they are hoping to play in this year’s grand final which will be played on Friday, 9th September.

Maths matters

Term 3 is already proving to be a very busy one for students in the Maths department with all junior classes involved in assignment work. Years 8,9 & 10 have all been learning about Statistics and each year level involved in investigations involving data collection, analysis and displays. Year 8s have enjoyed learning about the game of Scrabble and are investigating how the game may be designed to work in a foreign language. Year 9s have investigated the question ‘Are we typical year 9 students?’ by comparing primary data collection with secondary data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Year 10s investigated the topic ‘Earning or learning’ and looked at comparing sets of data and also whether income correlates to years of study.

Year 7s are currently planning an event and investigating ‘best buys’ when purchasing food items. This involves being able to perform operations involving decimals and also rounding appropriately. The students will also be planning a menu and budget for a class BBQ.

Students in the senior school have also been involved in assignment work early in the term and are encouraged to make sure they are reviewing their class work at home on a regular basis. The year 12 PVM students will be starting a unit of work which involves the costing and planning of a bathroom renovation which will involve a trip to Bunnings later in the term.

On Wednesday 2nd August 2017, 20 mathematically minded students from Grades 7 – 10 participated in the Annual Maths Team Challenge. The aim of the MTC is to stimulate interest in mathematics and apply creative problem solving skills. Teams of five students competed in a Relay Event and a Team Event. The Team Event allowed students to work collaboratively with students from other schools in the region. All students represented the school to the best of their ability.

Jane Taylor-Thompson
HOD - Mathamatics

Volleyball Schools’ Cup Success!

On Thursday 03 August, 9 year 12 students headed down to the Gold Coast to compete in the Senior School’s Volleyball Cup. The boys dominated their pool, with the loss of only one set. In the quarter finals, the team came from behind twice to win in straight sets. In their semi-final, the boys were unlucky to lose the first set, and then succumbed to Chisholm Catholic College in straight sets to be relegated to 3rd and 4th play-off. In the bronze medal play-off, Rockhampton State High School defeated Beaudesert SHS in straight sets to clinch the bronze medal.

The boys played exceptionally well, and their sportsmanship on and off the court was exemplary. The team hope to carry their momentum into the Inter-school Volleyball competition in term 4. Congratulations boys on an excellent tournament!

Tom Lorette
Health and Physical Education Teacher -Year 12 Co-ordinator

Student in focus!

Year 9 student Makayla Fraser has recently returned from the sporting trip of a lifetime, competing for the Australian Junior Golf Team in the “World Stars of Junior Golf” Tournament in Las Vegas. Makayla, who has recently returned to playing competitive golf after an extended absence produced personal best efforts to be placed 17th overall. Following this tournament, she traveled to Temecula for another 3 day tournament, again improving her personal best score twice. In this tournament she placed fourth, narrowly missing a bronze medal. Based on her excellent performances, Makayla has been presented with an opportunity to tour America again next year, which has really motivated her to train hard and improve her craft further. It has provided an excellent focus for the next 12 months, and we wish Makayla all the best with achieving her sporting goals in the near future.

Damien Kelso
Head of Physical Education and Sport

School Based Youth Health Nurse

Work Days: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday
Location: Student Support Building, Old A Block, Ground Floor
Access: Referral via Guidance Officer or Student self-referral / drop in

Students can talk with the Youth Health Nurse about a range of health issues including:

• healthy eating and exercise
• relationships
• personal or family problems
• sexual health
• smoking, alcohol and other drugs
• growth and development

Youth Health Nurses are employed by QLD Health and abide by their confidentiality laws. What you discuss with the Nurse will remain private unless you give permission to discuss with school staff if appropriate.

The role of the Youth Health Nurse includes promoting health and wellbeing through learning activities and private consultations to support the development of healthy students and school environment. We also connect young people and their families with other community services to gain the support they need.

Families are welcome to contact me through the school on 4920 4333.

I am a Registered Nurse and Midwife employed by Queensland Health. For the past 14 years I have been primarily working in community Paediatric, Child and Youth Health Nursing. I am an Endorsed Nurse Immuniser where I continue to work with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Under 5’s Immunisation Program.

I started my nursing career in Brisbane and have worked in the UK, Darwin, Doomadgee and Bundaberg. Along with my degree in Nursing I have Graduate Diplomas in Midwifery Nursing, Paediatric, Child and Youth Health Nursing, Critical Care Nursing and Education.

Throughout my career as a nurse I have always enjoyed, and gravitated towards, working with young people and their families. I look forward to becoming part of the Rockhampton State High School Community and sharing my passion in supporting young people.

Loretta Green
School Nurse

Human Powered Vehicle

Last Saturday, 12 August, ten students travelled to Benaraby to compete for the first time in the fifth annual Central Queensland Human Powered Vehicle Championship. This event required students to investigate the design elements of a vehicle powered only by human effort with the aim to cycle around a 2km racetrack for eight-hours. The Human Powered Vehicle program is designed to educate students in design, construction, exercise, nutrition, teamwork and resilience.

The team placed 3rd in the Mixed Senior category with students from grades 8-11 competing. 27 teams from across Queensland competed and the team placed 14th overall. Asrael Quinton, Danielle Ruff and Kaden Mason each recorded the fastest lap time of 3 minutes 21 seconds, reaching speeds of 35.819km/hr. The team completed 105 laps and cycled over 210km over the 8hours.

The team is now training to compete in the 24 hour RACQ Technology Challenge on 8th – 10th September 2017 at Maryborough. To prepare for this event students will be riding in the `Challenge the Mountain’ at Mount Archer National Park on Saturday, 2 September in a 5km uphill mountain ride.

Janita Ray
Mathematics & Business Teacher

A Taste of Japan with Real Language Application

During week 3 students from the Japanese Department were able to experience first-hand what it would be like to eat Japanese cuisine in an authentic restaurant setting. A group of Seniors and Year 9 students attended an excursion to Tsuruya Japanese Restaurant in Yeppoon. Students were challenged to use their language skills acquired over the year to communicate with the Japanese staff while on the extension excursion.

Miss Lindley
Senior Japanese teacher

SHEP

Congratulations to year 10 student Dominique Jepson who has been selected to attend the State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP) in Brisbane during the September holidays. SHEP brings together the finest of young musicians from across Queensland to study over a four day workshop with a team of international and national conductors. Dominique will perform with both the Symphonic Orchestra and Brass Ensemble following the workshops. Well done Dominique.

Natalie Stubbs
Music Teacher - Yr 12 Coordinator

Year 12 students improve communication skills to enhance careers

Last Friday, our Year 12 students participated in the “Communication 2 Careers”, which is a mock interview event where students meet local business people to improve their communication and interview skills. The event is organised by RING (Rockhampton Innovative Networking Group) and FEET First for the purpose of providing the students with the opportunity to practice their face-to-face communication skills to better prepare them for future job interviews.

Twenty three local business and government agencies participated in the event including Rockhampton Regional Council, The Rock Building Society, 4RO, Evans Edwards Chartered Accountants, Auswide, Brittany Lauga MP, Central Queensland Hospital & Health Service, Anglicare CQ, QLD Fire & Rescue, The Morning Bulletin and CQ University. Students and employers discussed the students’ plans after leaving school and how to perform well at an interview. The Year 12 students found that the experience greatly assisted in their confidence to communicate with potential employers. The students also received career advice and information on further education and training.

For further information, contact FEET First on 49204323 or via email ssinc51@eq.edu.au.

Samantha Sinclair
FEET First Coordinator

40HR Famine – Backpack Challenge

Globally, more than 65 million people have been forced out of their homes due to conflict. More than half of these are children. This month, from the 11th – 13th, students will undertake the 40HR Backpack Challenge to help raise money for this cause. The money they raise will support programs that help refugee children and their families in Syria, South Sudan and neighbouring countries. Wish them luck! For more information and how to donate, go to the link below:

Free Dress Day

This term’s free dress day will be held Friday September 1st. The theme will be band shirts in support of CQ All Schools Battle of the Bands, which is held on the same day at the Pilbeam Theatre. There will be a sausage sizzle at first lunch under the shed for $2. All proceeds go to the rejuvenation of the F wing retaining wall.

Please note that usual Free Dress rules apply:

• hope have a sleeve
• shorts are same length has school shorts
• overed footwear appropriate for school activities
• no additional makeup or jewellery

Elizabeth Sprague
English and SOSE Teacher

ATAP Team wins again!

Congratulations to the RSHS Indigenous ATAP team who for the third year in a row, has been declared overall winners in an academic, talent and aspirational challenge. Students travelled to Emerald recently to compete against 11 teams from other high schools in quiz, drama, impromptu commercial and an oral presentation. Tennachiah Richards (Year 12) was the winner of the oral presentation and fellow team members, Renae Mitchell (Year 12), Liam Mitchell (Year 9) and Zahli Hayden (Year 8) performed proudly to represent their school and gain placings in the other events. Special thanks to CQU and Arrow Energy for sponsoring the event, which encourages confidence and leadership. Thanks are also extended to the Emerald Shire Council who donated the use of the hall and catering, especially the delicious evening meals so thoughtfully prepared and served by their team of volunteers. The happy event has inspired our students who are working well in the hope of representing the school next year and realising their future dreams.

Alanna Waugh
Learning Support Teacher for Indigenous Students

Science Week – Aug 12 – 20

Science Week in 2017 had a focus of Future Earth. Students were able to identify different technological outcomes that may occur in our world into the future. Various concepts were discussed in class and at lunch time, including the possibility of hydrogen powered vehicles, floating homes and Virtual Reality gaming as standard in every home.

Thursday the 17th saw multiple Year 7 classes contributing to our school’s Agricultural Farm by creating a Community Orchard Garden. With the reduction in land space in Australia, as well as a growing population, Community Gardens are a concept of the future. Students worked together to prepare the garden space, as well as plant an orchard of various citrus trees. It is hoped that by the time our Year 7 students are in Year 12, the orchard will be fully grown and able to contribute fruits to various community organisations, as well as providing a shaded outdoor classroom.

Astronomy Night

Students from various grades attended our Annual Rockhampton State High School Astronomy Night on August 2. During the evening, participants were able to use high powered telescopes to identify Jupiter in the night sky, along with three of its moons! Students could clearly see craters on the moon and watched as Saturn zoomed through the lens over and over again. This event is held every year, on our school ovals so keep your eyes out in 2018 for the next Astronomy Night!

Breeha Sinnamon
A/HOD Science

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