16 October 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Term 4 is a busy time as usual with lots of exciting events! I would like to thank the P & C for their generous contribution of $50,000 to support the clean-up and re-invigoration of our ovals, which are looking great!

This week we celebrated Mental Health Week (see attached article). This was received very positively by our students – well done Loretta, our School Based Youth Nurse! Thanks too to Sarah, our Year Support Co-ordinator, for her resistance seminars. These were again highly regarded by students.

We are currently reviewing school assessment policies and procedures. There will no longer be “shut down” exams for Year 11s (and year 12s from the start of 2018). This measure will be implemented to maximise student learning time in preparation for the new Senior Assessment and Tertiary Entrance process.

Term 3 report cards have been emailed and will be issued to students during extended form classes in Term 4. This allows students to celebrate their achievements and reflect on improvement strategies.

Finally, we look forward to acknowledging our students’ sporting achievements at our special Sports Awards Night at 6pm on Wednesday 25 October in the Performing Arts Block. Hope to see you there!

Kind regards
Kirsten Dwyer

Important Dates

QParents

Parents of 2017 Year 7s please note!

I am pleased to remind you that our school will be providing parents with access to a new, convenient, online parent portal called QParents.

The QParents web and mobile application provides an easier way for you to interact with our school. Parents will have secure, online access to their child’s student information, anytime, anywhere, through a smartphone, tablet or computer.

QParents allows parents to connect instantly with our school to access and manage their child’s student information, including:

• Attendance and absence details, as well as the ability to notify the school of an absence
• Academic report cards
• Class timetables
• Viewing unpaid invoice details, payment history, and making payments online
• Viewing and updating personal student details, including medical conditions and address
• Enrolment details

QParents will assist both staff and parents in sharing and responding to information in an efficient and effective way.

It won’t replace the traditional ways you communicate with our school, but it will provide another way to communicate with us!

What do you need to do to get started?

There is an attachment to this email inviting one parent or guardian for each student to become a QParents Account Owner (QPAO). The QPAO will be able to register for QParents to access and manage the student’s information online. A student’s QPAO will be able to view the student’s information and submit requests to update some of the student’s details. Please fill this letter out and return this via email or in person as soon as possible.

The QPAO will also be able to invite other people (such as another parent or family member), to view the student’s information. Once invited, these people can register for QParents as “delegated viewers”. A delegated viewer can see the student’s details, but cannot make updates. Your student maybe a `delegated viewer’, allowing them to access important information such as their timetables, attendance and report cards.

When you receive your invitation email or letter, simply follow the instructions to register your QParents account. The process should take less than 10 minutes to complete. Invitations sent by email will only ever come from no.reply@qparents.qld.edu.au. You will not be invited to register from any other email address or organisation. .

If you do not want to register you can just ignore the invitation and your child’s student information will not be available to anyone through QParents.

Identity Verification

When registering as a QPAO, you will need to verify 100 points of identity documents online. The 100 points can be made up of documents in the following list:

If you only have 40 points of the above ID documents you can still register for QParents, but you will need to attend the school for an additional check after you have registered online. Please bring the documents to schools to be sighted at the front counter at any time

Will my child’s information be secure?

Yes. QParents is a secure portal that meets strict industry standards. Only people with the right to access information about their child will be given an account; no one else.

If you don’t want to register for QParents, your account will not be created and your child’s information will not be made available through QParents.

Please email Rockhampton State High School at Principal@rockhampshs.eq.edu.au or phone on 49 204 333 and let us know if you do not want to register for QParents.

Help and contact information

Help and contact information see the link below

For help, visit the link below or call 13 QGOV (13 74 68)

Please note – once registered, this will take effect into the following years.

Kirsten Dwyer
Principal

Maths Matters

On the last day of term Mr Granville’s year 9 Maths class celebrated their NAPLAN numeracy results with a pizza party. This class achieved the highest average relative gain for the Numeracy section of the 2017 NAPLAN test out of all the year 9 Maths classes. Congratulations to Mr Granville and MAT092E on this commendable achievement.

All School’s Mixed Touch Football Tour

Success is not merely determined by scoring points and winning titles. The determinants for success in a sporting context are many and varied, ranging from setting and achieving goals to learning and adapting new techniques to suit your style of play and as far as personal development of positive character traits such as resilience, commitment, determination and a positive attitude. Our Senior Mixed Touch Football side recently contested the Queensland All Schools’ Tournament in Brisbane – the single largest school-based Touch Football tournament in the world. Our team – made up of Year 11 and 12 students seized the opportunity to represent our school with pride, and play against some of the best young Touch Football players in the country.

During the first day of the carnival, the team struggled against an overnight bus trip and intense heat – before even taking the field. We were outclassed in our first game against eventual quarter finalists – Faith Lutheran College. We played a further two games against Good Shepherd Noosa and Brisbane Adventist College, drawing close in both games, finishing with three narrow losses for the day. The second day of the carnival saw similar playing conditions, albeit with a full night’s sleep, and similar results against Ormeau Woods SHS (Gold Coast) and Genesis CC. In the game against Genesis we played noticeably better, but lacked experience closing out a tight game to be defeated 6-5 in the dying moments, despite being even or in front for the majority of the game. Our third day’s play finished with our best Touch Football performance against Coolum SHS, finishing with an entertaining game without the desired result.

The students who grasped this opportunity were really impressive in their ability to listen and learn and progressively improve throughout the carnival.  Many other teams wouldn’t have shown the resilience to bounce back from loss after loss and still make the most of the experience.  These players didn’t give up for a single moment, and played each game to the best of their ability, and were really happy with their growth and development from both a personal and team perspective.  Our Senior Mixed Touch Football team represented the school and region with pride and should be commended for the way they conducted themselves both on and off the playing field.  

Well done and congratulations:

Rhett Austin, Kaitlyn Bellamy, Holly Beresford, Mariah Bramham, Jesse Burkhardt, Tyresse Conway, Simon Hope, Casey Lafferty, Dean Moller, Lachlan Peterson, Ta Steere.

Damien Kelso
HOD Physical Education and Sport

NAPLAN AWARD CEREMONY

Students in Years 7 & 9 were recognised at an award ceremony for both their improvements and achievements in Writing and Numeracy on the 2017 NAPLAN test. The assembly saw more than 120 students receive awards in these areas. Rockhampton State High School has continued to see improvements in Writing over the past two years and our Year 9 Numeracy results stand as some of the best for the region. Today’s celebration and BBQ was a show of congratulations and a great example of our students’ success in this area.

Amanda O’Beirne
Acting HOD – Learning Engagement

Dance Troupe

Congratulations to the Rockhampton State High School Dance Troupe who on the last Friday of the holidays took part in the Rockhampton Dance Festival. The Dance Troupe took out first place with their routine of ‘7 Devils’ by Florence and the Machine.

We have been working on this contemporary routine since February so it was well deserved. The students danced beautifully and represented the school with pride.

Lynda Dowley
Drama Teacher and Creative Writing and Co-ordinator

Junior Secondary

Year 9 Home Economics

As part of a new initiative to incorporate more practical and industry related experience into junior home economics, the year 9 students have been working on safe food service and nutrition. During week 8 and 9 the year 9 home economics students worked together to develop a menu, prepare and cater for the Human Powered Vehicle competition. The students had to consider the macro nutrient content of the foods to provide high calorie and long lasting energy meals for the riders as well as considering the storage and preparation of the food at the event.

All students involved did an excellent job and enjoyed the practical application of catering an event.

Environmental Festival

On Sunday 27th August a group of aspiring junior leaders attended and volunteered at the Hall State School’s Environmental Festival. The students worked as a team to help run the Rockhampton State High School stall, cook the BBQ and direct members of the public around the festival. Students also took turns in being the Hall State Schools mascot to engage and take photos with members of the public. The event coordinators were very forthcoming in praising our students for their efforts and the excellent manner in which they conducted themselves and represented Rockhampton State High School. All students should be extremely proud of themselves.

EXCEL

During week 8 we held our annual EXCEL program transition day for our future EXCEL students. This saw about 50 students selected from a number of primary schools working with our current year 8 EXCEL students for a day of exciting and challenging STEM activities. One of the highlights of the day was the bridge building challenge. Students had to collaborate as a group to build a bridge that would join four desks together. This was not allowed to be just any bridge though. Students had to build a bridge that would withstand the weight of a travelling Sphero robot from start to finish. The team work from all students was commendable and this was reflected in the innovation and quality of their structures.

The year 8 students took on a mentor role and should be very proud of themselves. The primary school students gave us some excellent feedback and we are very excited to be working with them all next year.

Miss Samantha Hogan
A/HOD Junior Secondary

ESSI Money and Typing Tournament Challenges – Year Eleven

In term 3, Year 11 students had the opportunity to participate in the Suncorp ESSI Money Challenge and the Typing Tournament. The boys took up this challenge and successfully completed the ESSI Money game, which taught financial literacy skills of Earning, Spending, Saving and Investing (ESSI). It simulated six months of living and learning to budget finances, apply for job vacancies and credit contracts and highlighted the importance of budgeting and avoiding scams. Josh Campbell also participated in the Typing Tournament and recorded his fastest typing speed of 74 words per minute. Both of these extra-curricular competitions allowed students to demonstrate a commitment to skills desired by many workplaces and industries. Congratulations Brady Spencer, Kody Bond, Brody Byrne, Josh Campbell and Cade Lawrie.

Rachael Simpkins
Year 11 Coordinator and Teacher

Senior Schooling

Rewarding Experience for Senior Students

Congratulations to our senior students who completed Certificate II Public Safety (Firefighting Operations) last term with the Rural Fire Service Queensland.

For the past six months, fifteen Rockhampton State High School senior students became volunteer firefighters for the local community brigade. They completed competencies such as working in a team, responding to wildfire, participating in community safety activities, protecting and preserving an incident scene as well as learning practical skills and leadership qualities required to be an effective members of their local brigades.

The students found the course to be an excellent hands on and rewarding experience and enjoyed learning to work together as a team and gaining safety skills and becoming physically stronger. They are looking forward to continuing as volunteers for their local brigades.

We would like to thank the Rural Fire Service Queensland for providing such a wonderful opportunity for our students to gain valuable lifelong skills that they will take with them on to future endeavours. Special thank you to Daniel Smith and Lyndie Scott in providing training and mentoring to our students during the program.

Engineering Students on Track for Future

We would like to congratulate Year 11 students Brandon Beck and Peppa Hoare who were successful in gaining a School Based Traineeship with the Department of Transport & Main Roads.

Brandon and Peppa will be undertaking a Certificate III in Engineering -Technical as part of the Department of Transport & Main Roads Gateway Program. This pilot program aims to give the students hands on work place skills, knowledge and understanding for their future.

The students will attend their work place one day a week and be working alongside the Department of Transport and Main Roads Engineers to complete their training.

We wish Brandon and Peppa every success with their Traineeship.

Industry Skills for Hospitality Careers

Well done to our twenty five senior students who successfully completed their Responsible Services of Alcohol and Responsible Gaming Service Certificates on the last week of Term 3.

RSA and RGS training is vital for students wishing to pursue work in the Hospitality industry where alcohol or gaming services are present. These courses equip our students not only with the legislative knowledge but also the skills and confidence to communicate responsibly with the patrons of these venues and students are given the opportunity to role play various scenarios on how to deal with difficult situations. These courses were held at Rockhampton State High School by Natasha Many from Macville Holdings Pty Ltd.

Students wishing to participate in one of these courses in the future need to register their interest with Samantha Sinclair at the FEET First office on 07 49204 323.

Senior Students Learn First Aid Skills

On Thursday, 10 Rockhampton State High School senior students successfully completed their First Aid Certificates with CSaT.

This course is designed to give participants the required skills and knowledge to provide first aid response in a range of situations, include community and workplace settings.

The course covered competencies such as recognising emergency situations, performing CPR, identifying and managing hazards to health and safety of self and others.

The students found the course to be educational and great hands on learning experience.

CQ Hospital and Health Engagement Program

Seven Rockhampton State High School students were selected to participate in the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service High School Engagement Program this year.

The program gives senior students with an interest in nursing and allied health, the opportunity to attend a one-day program delivered by clinical educators who actively engage the students in a variety of hands on activities with the hopes of impacting career choices across a range of health occupations. These occupations include nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry and cardiac science.

Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service will be running the program again in 2018 and interested students should see Samantha Sinclair in FEET First for further information.

Samantha Sinclair
A/FEET First Program Coordinator | VETiS Administrator
(Further Education Employment and Training)

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