21 May 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

What a big and busy term! So much is happening in this great school.

Our staff are hard at work preparing curriculum, assessment and resources for the new QCE (SATE) system commencing in 2019. This exciting change will give students the opportunity to gain an ATAR, which is more nuanced than the OP system. Our HOD Senior Schooling Trudy Crow is providing regular updates to students and parents. More information is also available at the link below.

Beef Week was a great success and provided many real-life, exciting and worthwhile opportunities for our Agricultural Science and Hospitality students. Special thanks to our staff who spent long hours ensuring that students could participate. Huge thanks to our car parking convenor and P&C Treasurer Claire, P&C President Paula and all who assisted them; student, teachers, past staff, parents and community volunteers! Please see Paula’s article for more detail.

Stage 4 of the Outdoor Gallery is up and looking fantastic; many thanks to Visual Arts HOD Cindy Mills for organising this last weekend, and to the P&C for once again funding!

Preparations continue for our 2019 Centenary. Many thanks to our very active committee and to John Allison, past principal and Centenary Committee Chair for their tireless input into this exciting milestone.

In particular, please keep 7 - 9 June 2019 free. The school will host important functions including:

• Wednesday 14 February - 2019 Luncheon at the Regent, Bolsover street (pre 1963)
• Friday 7 June 2019 - Old Boys Game 6.30pm Rockhampton SHS
• Saturday 8 June 2019 - Gala dinner Rockhampton Leagues Club 7.00 – 11.00pm
• Saturday 8 June 2019 - Tatts Day Callaghan Park Raceway (11.00-5.00pm)
• Sunday 9 June 2019 - Breakfast at the Regent, Bolsover Street
• Sunday 9 June 2019 - Centenary Open Day 9.30 – 11.30am (BBQ lunch 11.30 – 12.30)

Information about booking to attend these events will be widely advertised. We hope to see as many of our past and present Rockhampton SHS students, families, supporters and teachers at these events as possible!

You can register on the following sites:

Kind regards

Kirsten Dwyer

School Expo

Saturday 26 May from 2 – 4pm

Invitation to students enrolling in Year 7- 2019 at Rockhampton SHS.

The purpose of the expo is to provide:

• a snapshot of the school’s facilities, curriculum and policies through an information session and organised tours of the school
• an opportunity to meet with staff and students to discuss the year 7 program and the many educational and vocational pathways after year 7
• the 2019 enrolment package to parents as well as enrolment interview times with staff members. Interviews for the enrolments will be held on Thursday 26 July, 2018 starting from 3.00pm to 5.45pm.

Hope to see you there!

Rockhampton High School Attends Beef Week

Rockhampton State High School’s Agriculture Department had a busy Beef Week with students participating in show cattle events and class excursions. The school’s show cattle team competed in Team Judging, Junior Paraders and Led Steer classes. With 43 teams that entered the Team Judging, our two teams both made it to the top ten. In Junior Paraders, Bailey Rose made it to the Semi-Final in his age group and Megan Mitchell made it to the Grand Final for her age group. Sarah Castles came fifth in her age group in the Young Judges competition at the end of the week. Congratulations these students and to all of the other participants. Agriculture classes also explored Beef Week investigating emerging farming technology, genetics, farm and herd management and machinery. Rockhampton State High School also hosed a teacher professional development session and a student careers night. A massive thank you to all the staff that volunteered time to assist the department with the running of these activities.

Philip Richards
HOD – Materials Technology

Homestay Families Wanted!

Every alternate year Rockhampton State High School welcomes approximately 25 students and 2 teachers from Hashimakita Senior High School in Japan. This visit is a very important cultural event for our school as it brings together our Japanese sister school and the wider community. During their stay, the students attend classes at RSHS to experience Australian school life.

The program is rewarding for the entire school community as we try to teach our students to be culturally tolerant and encourage them to learn about the world outside of Rockhampton.

Our host families are paramount to the success of the program and we are now seeking families who might be interested in hosting a student from Sunday 29th July—Saturday 4th August. It is an excellent opportunity for our students to make friends with someone from another country and learn about other cultures.

RSHS will organise local excursions and cultural activities for the students during each school day, so there is no expectation that families will need to provide cultural experiences during the homestay week. The visiting students will be grateful to experience the daily interactions in an Australian home and make local connections. It would be good if students also had their own room in your home, but this is not essential. The students all have a good level of English so communication isn’t too much of a problem.

If you are interested in being a part of this wonderful program, or would like some more information, please contact staff via email (Ms. Lindley belin0@eq.edu.au or Ms. Dee sdee21@eq.edu.au) or via phone on 4720 4333.

The school will also hold an information evening on Wednesday 30th June at 7:30PM in L09. Expression of interest forms have been distributed during week 5 to students. Please return these as soon as possible if you are interested in participating in our Homestay program.

Hospitality students benefit from Beef Week

Students were involved in a number of events and presentations during Beef Week to gain both and insight into the hospitality sector and gain practical experience. John Alexander, Executive Chef of Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane (and ex-Rockhampton SHS student), requested the assistance of Hospitality students to help with food preparation, front of house and food service at the inaugural live Wagyu Sale Gala Dinner held at the Great Western Hotel. Thirteen students were involved in this event and learnt first-hand the pressure and skills required to cater for 160 guests, a most worthwhile experience. Our students received excellent feedback on their service at this prestigious event.

John also volunteered his time in conjunction with Maître-d Herbert, to implement a session will all senior Hospitality students, covering his career journey and providing an insight into the hospitality industry. John took the time to discuss student aspirations and allowed them to taste unfamiliar foods (truffled pecorino cheese and Wagyu beef). Students also learnt about the ‘luxury export beef market’, watched a demonstration of how to prepare a whole rump into different cuts, and enjoyed a specially prepared lunch.

Finally, Iron Chef Sakai and his assistants met with students and staff on Thursday 10 May, taking part in a Question and Answer session in the hall. He generously provided an insight into aspects of his career and personal life, as well as sharing his cooking inspirations.

Julie Granville
Home Economics & Junior Secondary HOD

EXCEL Update

Year 7 Humanities students explored the Capricorn Caves to discover Australia’s ancient megafauna deposits. Students used Go Pros to explore the caves and unpack the mysteries of the past. They learnt about fossils, megafauna species and conducted an inquiry into the overkill and environmental hypothesis for the extinction of the megafauna.

In Science, students used their knowledge of force, momentum and gravity to design and build a device to shoot marshmallows across empty space for distance and towards a target to test the accuracy of their devices.

Year 7 Humanities EXCEL students assumed the role of a paleontologist conducting an excavation to locate artefacts. Students learnt how artefacts and fossils are excavated, catalogued, and used to piece together the ancient past. Students worked as a team to use the appropriate tools to dig through different stratum to uncover real fossils in the bed rock.

Breeha Sinnamon
EXCEL Coordinator & Science Teacher

Beef Week parking wrap up from the P & C President!

WOW, what a week we had, on behalf of Claire Morrission (Car Parking convenor and P & C Treasurer) and myself I want to say a heartfelt thank you firstly to all the staff for putting up with the disruption to their usual parking for the week.

I want to also acknowledge the massive effort that Lloyd, Andrew and Robert did with organising and helping during the week.

Thank you to all the tuckshop ladies for supplying us with food and water for the week as well as dealing with being short staffed and missing an Eftpos machine while we borrowed it.

Lastly, I want to thank all the teachers, staff, students, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, ex- students, friends, Chaplains, etc who took time out of their lives, often taking time from their paid jobs to come and assist the P&C with carparking. At times the weather was not favourable: we worked in cool morning, rainy afternoons, heat and fog.

We survived traffic jams on the oval, people self-parking wherever they wanted, and a few upset customers who did not get the park they wanted, or had to wait to leave the oval in the afternoons.

I am very proud of the effort everyone put in, many were willing to do extra shifts when we were short on volunteers or come in when asked. I wouldn’t go as far to say that everyone enjoyed their shifts, but no-one complained (well at least to me) about being there, so again to all the amazing people who volunteered THANK YOU, the P&C executive couldn’t have done this without you

See you in a few weeks for the Rocky Show.

Paula Ireland
President RSHS P&C

Chaplaincy Art Auction

On Friday 11 May, Rockhampton State High School hosted the 2018 Art Auction to support Chaplaincy in Schools. This auction is an annual fundraising event and is a joint effort between North Rockhampton, Rockhampton and Glenmore State High Schools. Art works for sale are donated by past and present students, teachers and artists. This year artworks sold raised just over $1000 to help support Scripture Union and chaplains in our schools. Thank you to all those people who supported the auction by buying artworks and to the teachers, students and artists for their generous donations. Thanks also to the Arts teachers at our schools who helped to frame and set up the exhibition and to the Hospitality students of Rockhampton State High School who prepared drinks and finger food for the auction night.

Cindy Mills
Head of Department Visual Arts

Outdoor Gallery 2018

The latest round of artworks has just been added to Rockhampton State High School’s outdoor gallery. The work displayed is a mix of year levels with Year 9 Pop Art still lifes and food sculptures, Year 11 Visual Arts in Practice ceramics and landscapes, Year 10 assemblage sculpture, and Year 8 clay monsters.

Our buildings now look even more colourful and our students’ work is on display to the public. Congratulations to the students whose work has been selected for display.

Cindy Mills
Head of Department Visual Arts

Science

Dream Big Project

Year 12 student Patricia Missingham attended the 2018 Dream Big Project at the Rockhampton campus of CQUniversity. The Project is designed specifically for female students to inspire more of them to consider careers in science, particularly engineering, across regional Queensland. It is Queensland’s largest collaboration of students, undergraduates and successful engineering professionals that occurs in one day. The program for the day included female engineer guest speakers and activities such as 3D printing, Robot C programming, structure building, siege engine construction and a Future City Build Workshop.

After participating in the Dream Big Event, it has been found that 68% of the students were now considering engineering as a career and 98% of the students found the experience helpful in providing information about the career of engineering and going to university.

Yr 10 Special Education Science

Students in Mr Ladley’s Year 10 Special Education science class were excited to see that it was possible to extract DNA from strawberries using just a few steps and some simple laboratory equipment.

Students have also been learning about the scientific method and fair testing, laboratory procedures and how to use safety equipment in the laboratory. They also successfully gained their bunsen burner and microscope licences. Students’ confidence in the laboratory and willingness to use laboratory equipment has improved as a consequence. In Term 2, students will be conducting a range of experiments investigating the physical and chemical properties of elements and compounds as well as some simple chemical reactions.

I2S2 Program – Indigenous Education Teacher PD

The I2S2 program is supported by CSIRO in partnership with BHP Billiton and was first trialled in 2015 in 14 schools across Queensland and New South Wales; there are now 77 schools around Australia that participate. This program was first implemented at Rockhampton SHS in 2016 with only a few year 8 and 9 classes. This year will be the first time that all classes in years 7, 8 and 9 will participate; that is 650 students in years 7, 8 and 9.

All teachers in the science department have now taken part in two days of professional development designed to build their skills in inquiry-based learning and cultural competence, and support the cross-curriculum priority of indigenous perspectives in the Australian Curriculum. It also ensures that all students – Indigenous and non-Indigenous ̶ can deepen their knowledge of this culture and undertake hands-on inquiry activates as part of the junior science curriculum at Rocky High.

Teachers will deliver Indigenous themed, hands-on unit’s inquiry units for 5 weeks in terms 2 and 3. In these units students will investigate and solve different problems through inquiry learning such as the physics of using woomeras and spears, the best combinations of wood for fire starting, or how to maximise the germination rate of native seeds.

Teachers are excited to deliver this program in 2018 and we hope that it will increase the engagement of indigenous students in their science classes and expose them to potential science careers.

Testing the Effect of Magnetic Fields on Plant Growth

Ashleigh Franks, Maddisyn Jackson & Isaac Quinton

There are many electromagnetic waves moving around us each and every day; even though we are unable to see them, there is mixed research that explains what their impact is on our lives! A massive biological question is whether these magnetic fields negatively impact humans and other organisms that influence our lives.

Previous studies have tested the effect of electromagnetic waves on seed germination rates; specifically, whether the waves put off by Wi-Fi routers negatively impact the germination of seeds. That experiment found that more than half of the exposed seeds did not germinate at the same rate as the seeds that were not exposed to the Wi-Fi router.

This investigation focussed on whether magnetic fields impacted the growth rate of Croton plants. The effect of magnetism was expected to impact the ion breakdown in the water source with the plants absorbing and transporting the water and nutrients in the soil at an increased rate, and therefore having a positive impact on the plants’ growth.

The data collected at the completion of the experiment showed that plants exposed to the magnets grew at an accelerated rate when compared to the same plant species which were not exposed to magnets. The results suggest that the water was ionized, causing an increased uptake of water with a reduced density and an increase in water and nutrients transported through the plants’ xylem and phloem.

The results contradicted that of the seed germination research and the outcome of this experiment suggests that using magnets for seedlings, or semi-mature plants, may positively improve the rate of growth. These findings may prove influential to farmers and agricultural stakeholders, with the possibility of implementing the use of magnets a simple; effective method of improving growth rates.

Day of STEM

Students in Year 8 Excel Maths and Year 12 Certificate 11 in Business recently visited the ‘Life Journey” website where they investigated potential careers involving STEM in the real world. Students were required to choose three career journeys to research how people progressed to these positions and what the careers involve. Of particular interest was the career involving the development of robotic cars.

A certificate of the investigation together with an analysis of their personality type, their mentor’s profile of “hard” and “soft” skills and their STEM journey choices was provided for them at the end of the session.

Students were captivated by the possible choices of careers awaiting them when they graduate from their studies.

Alanna Waugh & Shirley Buchholz

Subject Selection Process Commences for Year 10 Students

Year 10 students have received the 2018 subject blocks, which set out the subjects available for study in 2019. Students have a QCE Student Handbook explaining key aspects of the new QCE system such as changes to assessment practices and the way the QCE is calculated. Please ensure you read this material with your Year 10 student. More information will be provided early in Term 3.

Maths matters

Junior homework program

This year we have been using the online homework program sQuizya, which has replaced our paper-based weekly Maths mate sheet. The aim of this program is to improve numeracy skills across all areas of Mathematics from the basics through to problem solving skills. All classes from year 7 to 9 have access to the sQuizya site and have homework due on a weekly basis.

Congratulations to our sQuizya Champions for term 1!

Year 7

Angus Bothistle, Madison Jones, Hayley Jackson, Isaiah Jackson, Tegan Kelly, Shakira Brownlie, Chelsea Finn, Sebastian Russell, Ardeth Pearce, John Pearson, Shenae Sander, Molly Milner, Blake Weder, Mahlik Schefe and Lane Rose.

Year 8

Breanna Bauman, Ethan O’Neill, Cruz Chamion, Christian Cox, Stevie Finger, jay Nilon, Leighton Charlton, Toby Promnitz, Lachlan O’Neil, Samuel Torrisi, Danielle Walker, Ellana Routledge, Arabela Bugna, Summer Neilson, Nhi Nguyen and Ben Taylor.

Year 9

Brayan Vaggs, Lachlan Vickery, Dianne Fuller, Kiesha Banfield, Jhacquille Ganter, Star Rumpf, Olivia Howkins, Caitlen Weder, Josh Malick and Cooper Clarke.

Year 10 students

Year 10 students have benefited from an extra Maths lesson each week in preparation for the new QCE subjects for 2019. Our extra lesson on Fridays is focussing on the use of technology in Maths. Students are learning spread sheeting skills, accessing graphing programs, and other online Maths tools. All year 10s now have access to Mathspace, which is designed as a replacement for the traditional textbook. This resource is excellent for formative testing to check progress and allows students to view video tutorials on concepts that they are finding difficult.

Year 7 and 8 Excel

Year 7 and 8 Excel students will be competing in the Australian Problem Solving Mathematics Olympiad (APSMO) over the coming months. This is an exciting opportunity for students to test their problem solving skills against the rest of Australia. The competition runs over five months and prizes are awarded for achievement nationally and for the top student in each class.

Jane Taylor-Thompson
HOD - Mathematics

Maths A GKI Trip

On Wednesday 2 May, Year 12 Mathematics A students ventured over to Great Keppel Island for a fun-filled day of navigation and orienteering. For the first time in years, the weather for our annual excursion was beautiful and sunny; the perfect Queensland day we were all hoping for. It allowed us to enjoy the idyllic island conditions. The ferry trip over was comfortable, with most students opting for the top open deck space so they could take in the scenery. Students were well prepared with pens, calculators, booklets, compasses and smiles to tackle their assessment. The navigation courses took students on a trip around many features of the island via The Hideaway, through the famous shark mouth on Fisherman’s Beach, and along the sandy beaches. The island provided ideal terrain for students to put into practice techniques from the classroom. After a filling burger lunch, there was some time to relax and enjoy the beach; swimming, exploring and playing sports. Teachers and students alike thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience! Now back to the classroom for the work to continue….

Mr Granville, Mr Forbes and Mrs Simpkins

Performing Arts in the Spotlight

Production

Wednesday 2nd May saw over 100 dance, drama and music students participate in their first whole school Production day. Staff and students worked hard throughout the day choreographing, devising and refining their skills in preparation for this year’s production of Showtime. This production will take to the stage at the Performing Arts complex early term 4 and will include students from four primary schools.

Eisteddfod and Fanfare

Next week our String, Chamber and Concert Band students will compete at the annual Rockhampton Eisteddfod. Please ensure all competing students have returned their permission form to Mrs Foale and have access to a formal uniform.

We wish all of the students the very best and thank leading instrumental music teachers Miss Leisa Dalglsih and Mr Luke Coonan for their hard work and dedication to this art form.

Friday 1st June will then see the same ensembles enter in the Fanfare competition being held at North Rockhampton State High School. We look forward in sharing their successes with you in upcoming bulletins.

Performing Arts Shirts

This term the Performing Arts faculty is introducing a school performance shirt for students involved in both extra-curricular and Performing Arts subjects to wear as part of their uniform when performing at various in school and community events.

Students can purchase these shirts from the cash collection window at the cost of $27 each. After payment has been made, students will need to present their receipt to Mrs Foale or Miss Woodbine where their size will be taken and processed for ordering.

These shirts will be worn to community events in place of costuming to identify ourselves as members of Rockhampton State High school community. Payment for the shirt will need to be finalised by MONDAY 28TH MAY 2018.

Applied Dance 2019

Next year will see the introduction for year 11 students to study Applied Dance as part of their senior studies. Students will engage in community projects and performance tasks as they engage with various styles of dance such as contemporary, musical theatre and jazz. Please see Performing Arts Head of Department Mrs Foale for more information on this exciting opportunity for students wishing to undertake a practical dance subject in year 11 2019.

Jodie Foale
HOD - Performing Arts

Senior Schooling

Students Commit to Full Education, Employment and Training

Rockhampton State High School recently held its annual FEET First Commitment Ceremony. This ceremony represented 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. Students, teachers and community members signed the FEET First Commitment banner to symbolise their personal pledge of commitment to the program. Invited guests included Education Queensland - Regional Director, Kim Fredericks; Mayor of Rockhampton, Margaret Strelow and Member for Capricornia, Barry O’Rourke.

During the ceremony school principal, Mrs Kirsten Dwyer, spoke of the importance of the program in assisting students to find the right pathway to achieve their career goals. Past student Ashlee Barnett reflected on her experience of transitioning from school to Further Education, Employment and Training.

Ashlee Barnett made the most of her opportunities at Rockhampton State High School. She completed a school-based traineeship while in Year 10, achieving Cert III in Business. In Year 11, Ashlee studied two university subjects as a part of the Start Uni Now (SUN) Program at CQUniversity. In Year 12, Ashlee participated in work experience at the Rockhampton Courthouse as part of Law Week. At the conclusion of Year 12, Ashlee was accepted into the Bachelor of Laws at the Queensland University of Technology and is working full time as an administration assistant at Phelan Family Law. She hopes to continue employment with this firm once she completes her degree. She gave a clear message to the current students that they should make the most of the career activities available – even if they are OP eligible and planning to study at university.

Following speeches students, teachers, families and community members signed the banner to pledge support to our students. The FEET First Commitment Ceremony banner will be framed and prominently displayed in the Assembly Hall as a reminder of this pledge.

Students will be provided with information and advice to assist them to meet their goal by the end of the year. Parents and students requiring information about the FEET First Program and the opportunities available are encouraged to contact Ms Samantha Sinclair, our FEET First Coordinator.

Mrs T Crow
HOD – Senior Schooling

New QCE System Update - May 2018

As you would be aware, the new senior assessment and tertiary entrance system begins in 2019 for our current Year 10 students.

Some of the key changes include:

• The introduction of a common external assessment task
• The strengthening of the quality and comparability of school-based assessment
• The replacement of the Overall Position (OP) system with the Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank (ATAR)

The new system attests to significant benefits to students including:

• The strengthening of the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE)
• Equipping students with 21st century skills they need to succeed in work and life
• Ensuring school leavers are innovators, entrepreneurs, valued employees, life-long learners and responsible global citizens

The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) has developed a revised curriculum with our teachers attending face-to-face professional development on all General and some Applied syllabuses. They have also commenced detailed unit and assessment planning to ensure a smooth transition to the new curriculum in the classroom.

Future newsletter updates will provide information about our 2018 subject selection processes including parent information events.

We look forward to working with you, to prepare your student for the requirements of both current and future systems.

Trudy Crow
HOD – Senior Schooling

Students engage in Rural Fire Services program

Some of Rockhampton State High School’s senior students are enrolled in an exciting program offered by Queensland Rural Fire Service. The program is delivered by trainers from the Rural Fire Service who visit the school every week. Upon successful completion of the program, the students will be awarded a nationally recognised Certificate II in Public Safety (Firefighting Operations) which will contribute 4 QCE credits. They can also join a Rural Fire Brigade and become an active volunteer firefighter.

Some of the course activities include a visit to the Queensland Fire Service’s communications centre, observing and participating in a controlled burn as well as many other exciting activities. This program is an excellent opportunity to boost the student’s community involvement and will provide valuable skills to transfer to future employment situations such as teamwork, communication and safety. It will provide valuable networks for our young people. We wish these students all the best for the remainder of this program.

Trudy Crow
HOD – Senior Schooling

Anti-Cyber Bullying

Loretta Green, along with other Rockhampton School Staff attended Annastacia Palaszczuk’s MP Anti-Cyber Bullying community forum in Rockhampton, lead by Corrine McMillan MP – State Member for Mansfield. The Taskforce’s role is to provide advice in relation to developing and implementing an anti-cyberbullying framework for Queensland. For more information about the Taskforce, you can visit our website:

Every student, every parent/carer needs to be aware of the potential risks and secrity issues on-line. Our young people are connected through social media 24/7 and we all have a duty as teachers, parents and caregivers to ensure young people are making responsible choices for their own safety and that of others.

We all have a choice about our Digital Footprint- whether the one we leave is a postive or a negative one. A simple approach to cyber-safety can be represented in the visual forms below – THINK BETTER and ZIP IT, BLOCK IT, FLAG IT.

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