16 September 2021

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

As we look forward to a well-deserved term 3 break for all our hard working students and staff, we continue to undertake contingency planning during the pandemic.

Please find below for your information in the event of a lockdown or partial lockdown:

Attendance

It is a Department of Education requirement to take attendance daily.

If there is on option for on-line learning parents will be required to call in daily to advise if the child is ‘present or absent’ in remote learning.

If online learning is available, students are to email their form teacher between 8:50 and 9:00 (using their school email address only).

Students are simply to email ‘present’ in the subject line

Continuity of Learning

In the event of a lockdown or partial school closure (open to children of essential workers only) remote learning will be available in two modes – online (via desktop, laptop or iphone) or in print format. For reasons of immediacy of curriculum delivery, and ability for teachers to assist and monitor, the school’s preference is for online via desktop or laptop if at all possible.

The school has invested heavily in online learning platforms (Education Perfect – for all students in almost every subject and Atomi – for students of senior general subjects). These platforms can be accessed remotely along with curriculum materials below. Teachers are trained in the Learning Place and are being trained in MS Teams and where possible will deliver lessons according to the existing timetable.

If there in no option for online learning parents will need to collect work (after two days of a potential lockdown) from the Staff Common Room. Access via Campbell St. A QR Check-in will be required.

Junior Secondary

Learning@Home: The password-protected Curriculum Support for Continuity of Learning website contains Learning@Home packages for the learning areas of Mathematics, English, Science, HASS, The Arts, Digital Technologies, and Design and Technologies. Learning@Home lessons have been grouped together into 'packages'.

Curriculum into the Classroom (C2C) units: There are C2C units for all eight learning areas. Each unit contains a range of resources that can be used or adapted to suit classroom planning. The units can be downloaded from Download Manager Online. Navigate through the menu on the left to download units. Once downloaded, these folders need to be unzipped before use. Unzipping instructions can be found here.

C2C resource libraries: The C2C resource libraries provide links to a range of resources including worksheets and learning objects grouped into different year levels and topics for all learning areas. These resources are also found within the C2C units.

The Learning Place: The Learning place contains many resources including learning objects, worksheets, videos and slideshows for all learning areas. Use the search engine located on The Learning Place to find suitable resources.

Senior Secondary

Secondary schools will receive advice from Queensland Curriculum Assessment Authority (QCAA) on future arrangements for senior secondary assessment if required. We encourage students to pay close attention to teacher advice regarding curriculum delivery through the Learning Place and/or MS Teams.

Please note that in the event of a partial lockdown, school staff will be available to assist during school hours only (8:50 am -2:50 pm).

I would like to wish all members of our school community a safe and enjoyable holiday!

Kind regards
Kirsten Dwyer

Year 12 External Assessment – Term 4

External assessment will take place from 22 October to 16 November 2021 for all General subjects. During this time, all students studying General subjects across the state will sit an examination that is set and marked by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA). The results of this examination will contribute to a student’s ATAR score and QCE.

Our students are well prepared for these exams. They have engaged in extensive revision and have completed ‘mock’ exams to give them an insight into the design of questions and the subject matter assessed.

Year 12 students have an electronic copy of the 2021 External Assessment Timetable and other important resources including directions for students and an equipment list. See attached documents.

If students are absent on the day of an external exam, they need to provide documentation of their extenuating circumstances. For example, a detailed medical certificate explaining the illness and the effect on the completion of the examination. In this event, parents/carers should also contact the school prior to the commencement of the exam. These exams cannot be rescheduled.

For more information, please contact the school on 49204333. We wish all of our students the very best of luck as they enter this important phase of their learning.

Trudy Crow
Head of Department – Senior Schooling

Important Dates for Year 12

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.

Rockhampton Schools Come ‘N’ Try Day

Ten Senior Food Technology & Hospitality students were selected to take part in the Queensland Tourism Industry Council’s Come ‘N’ Try Day at Willby’s Training Restaurant. The event is designed to promote the industry and for students to consider it a viable career pathway and better understand the wide variety of careers available. Students participated in various activities, including cookery demonstration from Roel Van Camp (head chef of The Rocks Yeppoon) backstage tour of the Empire Apartments Hotel and guest speakers in the tourism industry. A huge thank you to Mrs Robyn Johnson for guiding students over the course of the day.

Julie Granville
HOD Food Technologies

Sports News

Inter-school sports – Term 3

Girls Soccer – Both our junior and senior teams had a great season, with both teams reaching the Semi-finals in this year’s competition. The girls represented our school proudly and improved with each match. Congratulations girls!

Girls Touch Football – The Rocky High 15 Girl’s Touch Football team took on other schools around Rockhampton this term in the Inter-school Girls Touch Football competition. They recorded some landslide victories with 20-0, 18-0 and 18-2 against the likes of Heights College and Kingsley College, the girls were rewarded with a showdown against the St Ursula’s Open Girls All Schools Touch Team in the Open Division Grand Final. After taking the lead 4-3 at halftime, then the girls were down 6-5 late in the game where they managed to equalise to make it 6-6 heading into full time. The girls ended up going down 7-6 in a 3 on 3 drop off. It was a fantastic season for the girls. A big thank you to Mr Gill for coaching the girls this season.

Inter-house Volleyball competition

Over the past three weeks, our school’s second annual Inter-House Volleyball Competition was held. There was great participation and skill on display from all our students across all grades. Ultimately, it was a showdown between two teams from the Armstrong Sharks, with team One taking the honours of becoming this year’s victors!

Inter-school sports – Term 4

Sign-ups for term 4 sports are currently underway! Term 4 offers Volleyball (boys and girls) and Futsal (girls). Both sports will commence in week 2 of term 4.

The sign-up sheet for volleyball is outside the HPE staffroom, while the sign-up sheet for Futsal is outside the Science staffroom. Please be advised that these competitions are available to year 7 – year 11 students.

Applications open for External Exam Invigilators

Background

The QCAA appoints members of the Queensland community to observe the administration of exams. The invigilator role is independent; they are appointed to observe and report on the administration of the external assessments. Invigilators play an important role in promoting public confidence in the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) system and ensuring that proper and fair administrative procedures are implemented.

Invigilator Roles

Applications from Queensland community members for invigilator roles are now open. Invigilators are appointed as casual employees of the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA).

Role summary

Invigilator duties and eligibility requirements are detailed in the External Assessment invigilator: Position description located at the link below:

In brief, invigilators are required to attend allocated assessment sessions at assessment venues to observe the administration of assessments. Invigilators report their observations to the QCAA after each assessment session by completing an online Invigilator report. Invigilators do not move or distribute materials, participate in or assist with any aspect of the administration of assessments, supervise or have any contact with students, or provide advice or feedback to staff at assessment venues about any aspect of the administration of the assessment.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for a QCAA invigilator role, community members must hold a current, paid blue card, or, for teachers with a current Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) registration, an exemption card from Blue Card Services. Applicants must be at least 18 years old and eligible to work in Australia. They must possess personal attributes of discretion, tact, attention to detail, and an ability to maintain confidentiality, as well as meeting straightforward requirements for identification and access to technology.

Prospective applicants must:

1. Read the attached External assessment invigilator: Position description and the frequently asked questions, available on the QCAA website at: https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/assessment/external-assessment/external-assessmentinvigilators/external-assessment-invigilators-faqs
2. Obtain your paid blue card (or exemption card for teachers) from Blue Card Services.
3. If necessary, register for a QCAA Portal account, following the instructions in the External assessment invigilator: Position description.
4. Submit your application for a QCAA invigilator role via the Assessor Jobs app in the QCAA Portal.

Trudy Crow
HOD – Senior Schooling

Year 7s had Fun with Maths

Year 7 students had the opportunity to take part in the Fun with Maths program on the 24th August.

It is always a fantastic chance for students to use mathematical skills to solve hands-on problems with a real-world context.

Amanda O’Beirne
HOD Student Support | Year 7 Coordinator

Boys’ Rugby League

Round 7 Cancellation

Many parents would be aware of the dispute between the Rockhampton Secondary Schools’ Rugby League and the Rugby League Referees’ Association which led to Round 7 of the interschool competition being cancelled. Various media reports have attributed the ban to poor behaviour on the part of parents / team officials.

Rockhampton High has written to the referees seeking clarification of the cause of the dispute. The RRLRA has advised that no incidents of poor behaviour involving Rockhampton High parents or team officials have been reported this season.

Year 7 Win

Congratulations to the Year 7 team which won the 7B Chairman’s Challenge in an exciting game against TCC. Codi Jasperson as awarded “Man of the Match”.

Semi Finals

The Year 8, Year 9 and Open teams all made the semi-finals in their respective divisions but were beaten and did not progress.

Thanks - Coaches and Trainers

Many thanks to those teachers and parents who coached and in other ways assisted with teams this season: Mr Webley, Mr Lorette, Mr Brodie, Mr Fletcher, Mrs Findlater, Miss Brown and Mr Michael White. Thanks also to community members Mr Brian McKean and Mr Graeme White who gave freely of their time to coach the Year 9 and 10 teams this year.

Robert Brodie
Teacher

OFFERED FOR SALE BY TENDER

The listed items are being made available for sale by Rockhampton State High School via tender process. Tenders must be submitted using the linked tender document.

• Canadian Canoes (condition – fair)
• High Jump Mats
• Balance Beam

Timeline:

Tenders will be accepted until 8 October. No tender will be accepted after this time.

Helen Lord
Business Manager

Students learn the right track to careers via iTrack

A group of Year 11 students at Rockhampton State High School recently completed the iTrack Program run by The Smith Family. iTrack is an online mentoring program where students connect to a volunteer professional for one her per week to discuss their education and career options for the future.

The students who nominated for the 2021 program engaged enthusiastically with their mentor every Friday during the Rich Study lesson. They gained valuable advice on different pathways to their chosen career and learned about their mentor’s journey from school student to a professional in their chosen industry.

The culminating activity for these students is the Work Inspiration Program early in Term 4. This group will spend two days at AECOM, Ergon Energy and the Rockhampton Regional Council to experience the world of work in an employer-led initiative.

Students in Year 10 who are interested in the iTrack program for 2022 should see Mrs Crow in the Senior Learning Centre.

Trudy Crow
HOD - Senior Schooling

NAPLAN returns positive results

Congratulations to the large number of students in Years 7 & 9 who achieved and improved in the 2021 NAPLAN tests. 2021 saw some fantastic individual student improvements across both year levels.

We will celebrate in the coming weeks with those students who saw above average improvement and those in the upper 3 bands.

Rockhampton State High School completed NAPLAN School Readiness Testing on 10/9/21. This is essential to NAPLAN moving on line in 2022 and was to test the school’s technical ability to deliver the test in its new form. Online testing has been shown to be successful at engaging students and providing relevant and up to date information to teachers. Parents wishing to explore the online NAPLAN test environment are encouraged to have a look at the public demonstration site:

Amanda O’Beirne
HOD Student Support | Year 7 Coordinator

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