23 October 2019

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Congratulations to 130 students who received acknowledgement for significant improvement or achievement in their NAPLAN scores (Writing and/or Numeracy). We are delighted by the overall performance of these cohorts, making RSHS the third highest in Central Queensland region for improvement.

Term 4 is event-packed as usual with many celebrations and important farewells.

It’s hard to believe the year 12s have only 17 days left, whole 10s and 11s have 27 days. We hold our Music Showcase on 29 October, Sports Awards on 30 October and our Swimming Carnival on 12 November, 1 November is a Free Dress Day (theme – pop culture shirt) to raise funds for our Student Representative Council.

Importantly on 25 October we celebrate World Teachers, Volunteers and Support Staff with a breakfast generously sponsored by the P&C. This will also provide the opportunity to thank our hard working and successful Centenary Committee.

We would like to wish all students success in their final assessment for 2020!

Regards,

Kirsten Dwyer

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.

Important Dates

50 of our Year 9 and Year 10 EXCEL students are taking off on camp on Sunday 20th October. They’ll be visiting SeaLife at the Sunshine Coast, the Queensland Museum, the University of Queensland, and the Science Centre. We hope they all have a great time and have many fun, STEM-based stories to share with us on their return!

We’ve recently purchased some new resources that will soon be popping up in classes around the school. These Zoomy microscopes plug into our computers and can be used to magnify any object that you can place underneath them! They’re super cool because they illuminate the object from the top, meaning that the object doesn’t have to be translucent in order to be magnified.

The Merge VR kit and Merge Cubes are our newest gadgets and we can’t wait to start using them! With the Merge Cube you can hold virtual objects in your hand and learn about anatomy, maths, science, engineering and more. The durable and soft Cube is compatible with over 30 available apps to learn and play.

Merge enables active learning by enabling students to learn and create in entirely new ways that increase student engagement, intellectual curiosity and classroom achievement.

The Year 8s have been using traditional microscopes to immerse themselves in the tiny world of cells! It’s amazing to be able to see how plant cells pack together, and how various shapes of animal cell can perform such different functions.

Mrs Sinnamon

Maths matters

Term 4 is certainly busy for Maths students and their teachers. End of term assessments are approaching for all students so it is very important that revision of classwork is a focus of home study time.

Please assist your student to be prepared for learning by ensuring they have writing equipment and a calculator. Our school uses the TI-30XB scientific calculators and these may be purchased at the cash collection window.

Throughout 2019, our year 7 classes have had one extra Maths lesson per fortnight in order to assist students with their numeracy skills. Likewise, the year 10 classes have an extra class each week to help prepare students for the challenges of senior subjects. Students have been focussing on activities that enhance their numeracy skills, address any deficiencies in their knowledge and using technology such as Excel spread sheeting and Graphics calculators.

Science Department

Australian National Chemistry Quiz.

Yr 12 chemistry students participated in the RACI Australian National Chemistry Quiz. The Quiz has been in operation since 1982, growing from humble beginnings into an international event spread over 23 countries, 7 languages, 1400 schools and over 94,000 students.

The quiz consisted of 30 multiple choice questions to be answered in one hour. Kate Coleman achieved a Credit while Riley Belz, Charlotte Bradford, Amber Haberle and Maddison Clark achieved Participation certificates

Well done to all students.

UNSW ICAS Exam

UNSW has delivered ICAS exams for primary and secondary school students for more than 30 years. These exams focus English, Maths, Science, Digital Technologies, Spelling and Writing. This year there were over one million student entries from over 6,300 schools in Australia and New Zealand.

Both competitions are multiple choice exams that are aligned with the Australian Curriculum – Science. The questions focus on real-life examples and contemporary issues to test students’ skills in critical thinking, problem solving and scientific literacy.

This year, 91 students participated and were awarded 9 Credits, 4 Merit and 80 participation certificates.

Year 7

Merit – Eva Rout
Credit – Blake Ryan, Alexander Nouwens, Luke Miles, Nate McQuillan, Emily Forward, Jack Corino

Year 8

Merit – Katrina Flesser
Credit – Caden Ruff

Year 9

Merit – Nhi Nguyen, Ryan Schibrowski
Credit – Hannan Brown

Year 10

Credit – Ethan Malcolmson

Well done to those students who received an award. Well done.

Stephen Ladley
Head of Department – Science

Around the grounds with the HPE Department

Term 4 is a busy one for the PE staff and students, with two major events taking place – our annual Sports Awards and inter house swimming carnival, as well as the nomination and selection of next year’s House Captains. We also finish the year with interschool sports Volleyball and Futsal in full swing, providing plenty of opportunities for our students to represent and compete for the school.

This year’s Sports Awards will follow a similar format to the previous few years, acknowledging and celebrating the excellent sporting achievements of our students, while also providing the opportunity to thank our wonderful staff for their contributions throughout the year. The Sports Awards will be held in the PA on Wednesday October 30, commencing with light refreshments in the courtyard outside the BARHI Centre at 5.30pm, aiming to be seated in the PA for a 6.00pm start. Students must submit a nomination form to HPE staff to ensure their achievements are acknowledged. This is also the process for the Junior and Senior Sportsman and Woman of 2019. Please see Mr Forbes or Mr Wells for further information.

2019 has seen a shift in the timing of the inter house swimming carnival, with the event being staged in week 6 – Tuesday 12 November. All students are required to attend (as per regular school attendance policy) and encouraged to participate, in order to contribute to their overall house points for the carnival. Students MUST return a signed permission form and payment of $2.50 to the Cash Collection Window by the due date specified on the form, otherwise they will remain at school and complete alternate activities. Verbal consent via phone call is not adequate permission. Please see Mr Lorette or your House Master for further information.

Finally, our Volleyball and Futsal teams have recently commenced preparations for their interschool competitions, under the watchful eyes of Mrs Findlater and Miss Tones (Futsal) and Mr Lorette and Mrs Crosswell (Volleyball). We wish our students all the best in their respective competitions.

Damien Kelso
HOD - Health and Physical Education and Sport

Coding

Year 7 students have been using Python to code various projects. They have identified real-world activities such as dentistry and educational maths apps. They explored problem-solving techniques then planned, developed and debugged their code to create solutions. Leap Frog (at first with jellybeans) proved to be a popular problem-solving activity with students who worked in groups to find a coding solution. Thank you to 1300 Smiles for their donation of toothbrushes, paste and floss to give students encouragement with their exploration of technology and coding in the dental field.

Shirley Buchholz
HOD Business

Music Showcase 2019

Parents and members of our school community are invited to an evening of musical entertainment.

When: Tuesday 29 October, 2019, 6:00 – 7:15 pm
Where: Performing Arts Centre
What: Musical items performed throughout 2019
Who: Concert Band, String Ensemble, Chamber Strings, Battle of the Bands contestants, music students

Senior Students Urged to visit free TAFE options

Young Queenslanders under 21 can get a job and get their training at TAFE for free, while supporting businesses by removing the cost of training.

For further information visit:

List of free apprenticeships visit:

Qld Mental Health Week

Rockhampton SHS students, staff and community mental health providers including HeadSpace, Darumbal, CYMHS and Mr Barry O’Rourke MP, took time out last Friday to celebrate Queensland Mental Health Week. Students were encouraged to connect with their feelings by offering a paper chain to the feelings garland while enjoying their BBQ lunch and some tunes from Mr Larren Bean.

Queensland Mental Health Week Celebrations were made possible with support from a grant through QLD Mental Health, supported by our wonderful P&C, and, organised by our amazing Student Support Team.

RSHS students, staff and community mental health providers including HeadSpace, Darumbal, CYMHS and Mr Barry O’Rourke MP, took time out on Friday to celebrate Queensland Mental Health Week. Students were encouraged to connect with their feelings by offering a paper chain to the feelings garland while enjoying their BBQ lunch and some tunes from Mr Larren Bean.

Queensland Mental Health Week Celebrations were made possible with support from a grant through QLD Mental Health, supported by our wonderful P&C, and, organised by our amazing Student Support Team

For more information on teenagers and feelings view:

Understanding Your Feelings - BTN
Parenting SA: Teenagers and feelings

To talk to someone:

Loretta Green
School Based Youth Health Nurse

Writing & Numeracy Celebrations

On Monday 14th October students in Years 7 & 9 were congratulated for their improvement and achievement in Writing and Numeracy. Our students in both year levels continue to make great strides towards improving their results in these areas and are commended for their performance. Students were awarded certificates and celebrated with a BBQ lunch. Congratulations to those students and we look forward to working with students to continue these improvements and achievements into 2020.

Amanda O’Beirne
HOD Learning Engagement

Queensland Virtual STEM Academy at Central Queensland

Hosted by Rockhampton State High School

Students enrolled in the Queensland Virtual STEM Academy Program are currently ideating their solutions to their Grand Challenge problems. In the next couple of weeks, students will have the opportunity to pitch their start-up ideas to their CQUniversity mentors and receive guidance and feedback as we move towards final presentations.

Will, Lachlan, Jared and Katrina are members of the Mitigating the Spread of Disease Grand Challenge and over the past two weeks have had the opportunity to meet some new experts and mentors as part of their course. Peter, Stacey, Tom and Mick from the Rockhampton Regional Council provided our students and the other students in the Grand Challenge course information regarding Food Safety and Disease, as well as the important factors involved in disease transfer via vectors, with a special focus on the mosquito population in Rockhampton!

Emma is part of a very new Grand Challenge that focuses on Island Biosecurity and is a collaborative project with the QVSA and North Keppel Island Environmental Education Centre. Andrew Gill, Principal, has been our special expert and the students have loved having Gilly as part of their expert team. The students are currently attempting to create solutions to the massive problem, Australia-wide, of invasive and non-native species outcompeting native flora and fauna.

Georgia has been participating in the Healthy Harbours and Habitats Grand Challenge. She’s even started creating her solution which is focusing on habitat destruction on an extensive scale. Georgia is part of a course which includes an excursion to the Gladstone Campus of CQUniversity. This will take place on October 25th and Georgia and her peers will be part of a team that collects seagrass flowers from juvenile seagrass meadows as part of a university research project under the supervision of Dr Emma Jackson. This means that Georgia has the opportunity to contribute to published research! What an opportunity!

Janny and Arabella are undertaking a very special QVSA Grand Challenge: Biomedical Engineering. The girls have been exposed to experts from Townsville and have been attempting to apply engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes.

We can’t wait to see the students’ final presentations which will be pitched to CQUniversity experts, Rockhampton Regional Council mentors, key teachers at QVSA schools and the QVSA teaching team.

Mrs Sinnamon and Mr Rutherford

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