20 February 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents,

I’d like to congratulate all of our students and staff on what has been an exceptionally settled and focussed start to the school year. It’s exciting to see the things happening in our school and imagining just how good we can be and the places we are going! It is fantastic to see the way that our students have embraced wearing their uniform and the respectful behaviours evident in classrooms throughout the school.

I often talk to students about having a big ambition for their life. Something bold. Audacious even. This is because I don’t want any of our students to hold themselves back. I want them to go into life and give it their best shot. I also want our students doing everything our society has to offer, including becoming the Prime Minister one day. I want them to have the courage and the confidence to shoot for high office or great things. I know they have the potential inside of them. I don’t ever want to see our students under-achieving because they didn’t back themselves. Let’s shoot for the stars!

Now is a great time to reflect on our core value of ‘respect.’ In North Queensland, the latest floods have brought about a wave of respect for those who have been effected. I have lived in North Queensland and been through floods. When it rains up there it rains. And then it rains some more, then more again and then it just keeps going. I remember a long time ago seeing the bridge over the Burdekin River in Charters Towers going under when I went to primary school at Central State School in Charters Towers. It’s hard to describe how much water is needed to make that bridge go under. To see it under again is an awesome sight.

We have all seen footage of the devastation for North Queensland’s farmers, whose livestock and livelihood has been quite literally drowned. As Queenslanders, we pull together to help each other out during awful times such as these – in our darkest times, we show great respect. It’s a graphic illustration of the power of respect to build great communities. At Coolum High, that’s what we are aiming to do – to build a great school, a great community, built around a powerful sense of respect for each other. We respect and value everyone in our community regardless of their achievements, status or haircut! Respect is a cornerstone of our drive to become great.

It was fantastic to see so many people at Mike Nagel’s presentation last week. Mike again informed us regarding the nature of the adolescent brain and how we, as adults, need to act around our teenagers to ensure their success. Mike also alerted us to the issue of the technologies we live with, including mobile phones, and how we need to make time for human-to-human interactions. As a community, I’d like to encourage us to manage our technologies and prioritise respectful, human-to-human interactions.

Every year, we are building upon an amazing community of human beings at Coolum State High, young and old, and every year this community becomes stronger and stronger. Our first few weeks have shown just how much our students respect their uniform, their school and just how committed to excellence we are. Keep it up Coolum!

Troy Ascott
Principal

Deputy Principal - Junior Secondary Year 7

All our Academy program have commenced with many students excited with the excellent coaching they are receiving. Our Cheerleading, Basketball and Touch Football Academies have experienced growth and have commenced training. 2019 will mark the start of our first girls’ team in the Basketball Academy, which we are sure will lead to many more. After an extensive selection process, the Surfing Academy has had a wonderful start to their program. These students have completed an all-embracing fitness and rescue competency test in readiness for the year ahead. There are very big plans on the horizon for the Coolum Surfing Academy.

It is an exciting time for the inaugural ALPHA Academy in Year 7. This Academy is designed to cater for high performing academic students through rigorous and challenging school work. I look forward to sharing their journey throughout the year.

Our Young Entrepreneurs Academy is now in full swing with a large number of students keen to learn from their inspiring coach, Jimmi Bradbury. What lies ahead for these students will only be limited by their imagination. I am sure we will have incredible stories to share from this group as the year progresses.

Our Creative Arts department is becoming one of the best in the region with an amazing development program in full swing. We have increased our Instrumental Music faculty and we are looking forward to their performances. Many students have joined the Brilliant Musicians program and auditions for the school production have commenced. We have big plans and opportunities for these students this year.

We are especially proud of how well the Year 7 students are settling into high school life. The students have enjoyed meeting their new teachers, starting new subjects, meeting and making friends with other students from different schools and countries. They are beginning their exciting journey of being a student of Coolum State High School.

Deputy Principal - Junior Secondary Year 8 & 9

Our Vision: That students have the confidence, desire and belief to succeed through strong foundations in literacy and numeracy.

Planning for Success

Over the coming weeks students will be completing their first pieces of assessments for the term. This may range from assignments and exams, to presentations or completing practical tasks. This is a particularly important time for Junior Secondary students as they are still learning the behaviours and skills to be successful across a range of high school assessments.

One important skill that all students will benefit from is being organised. Setting in place a number of routines at school and at home will support Junior Secondary students to achieve this. Such routines could be:

• Regular and consistent use of their school notebooks. Bringing the essential equipment to school each day will enable students to revise their work and commit concepts to long-term memory.
• A small, but consistent, amount of time each afternoon or evening to put aside for school work. This can be for homework, assignments or exam revision (committing information to memory);
• A consistent time for going to bed each night;
• Firm but fair rules around access to devices (phones, tablets etc.) in the evenings to support good sleep practices.

Developing good routines and habits will definitely support all Junior Secondary students to be organised. Personal organisation is a skill that can be learned. Remember, students who are organised often produce work of a higher standard than those who are not.

Terry Proctor
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary

Deputy Principal – Middle Secondary Year 10

Excellence in everything we do

Our first parent information session held last Wednesday afternoon was a wonderful opportunity to meet parents and caregivers and begin the conversation for Year 10 students around Career and Senior Education and Training (SET) planning. In Term 2, from 13-17 May, Year 10s will have the opportunity to access a week of work experience. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to test out ideas for their chosen pathway. Patrick Walden, Head of Department VET, will be working with the students throughout this term to organise placement for students in what is, traditionally, a very positive experience for our students.

I’ve been reflecting on the whole notion of choosing careers and pathways as I’ve been reading Michelle Obama’s book ‘Becoming’. In it Obama writes about growing up on the Southside of Chicago and the challenges the community faced at the time. Regardless of what your personal opinions are about the former First Lady her life is an example of triumph over adversity.

In the first section of the book she writes, beautifully, about growing up “surrounded by the sound of people trying” and how that influenced her work ethic as a teenager and as an adult. Obama goes on to talk about her time in her high school education and a defining moment during a conversation with a school counsellor that would shape her entire future. It was during this meeting that Michelle Obama, Lawyer, Activist, Mother and Former First Lady of the United States of America, was told “she wasn’t really Princeton material”. But, the most profound moment for me, reading this book, came when Obama describes what that moment actually felt like. She writes;

“Failure is a feeling long before it becomes and actual result. And for me, it felt like that’s exactly what she was planting-a suggestion of failure long before I’d even tried to succeed. She was telling me to lower my sights, which was the absolute reverse of every last thing my parents had ever told me”.

As a whole school community of teachers, parents, caregivers and students we must all work together to plant the seeds of ambition. We must be the champions of our young people and encourage them to challenge themselves, to not put limitations on themselves before they’ve tried to succeed. We must help them to establish rigorous routines at home and at school so that they have the discipline to go after their aspirations. But most of all we have to inspire self-belief. The belief that they can achieve. The belief that will help them persevere through the challenges that will come their way and the intrinsic drive to keep working, to keep trying.

I look forward to working with our Year 10s throughout the year on this extremely important phase of their education as they decide on their pathways for the future.

Emma Clarke
Deputy Principal Middle Secondary

Deputy Principal - Senior Secondary Year 11 & 12

In 2019 the senior schooling team has set some challenging goals to ensure we continue our journey of continual improvement and become a great school and a school that ensures every student succeeds. Coolum SHS is committed to obtaining 100% QCE and achieving the best OP results ever in 2019. In addition to this we aspire to ensure that every graduating Year 12 student transitions into a meaningful destination.

To ensure success we have modified several programs and implemented new initiatives to support our students. In 2019 senior students will be allocated a teaching mentor of their choosing, this program was changed through feedback gained form our student forum late last year. Senior science subjects now have student led collaborative online platforms to allow students to communicate and share information with each other. Research indicates that peer to peer learning has a positive effect and again was implemented through student feedback.

The senior schooling team is continuing to work hard to ensure students are fully aware of their academic performance. As we move quickly through the term it is important that all students are developing good time management skills and study habits. We recommend that for those students on an OP pathway they study upward of 3 hours a day. This will give students the foundation to be successful in their chosen subjects.

Lee Merrett
Deputy Principal Senior Secondary

Business Services News

Welcome to 2019! NOW is the time to complete your Student Resource Scheme and make payment of the $300 fee. We endeavour to have all SRS fees received as soon as possible so that we can allocate the necessary funding for resources required for your student. The start of the year is very important as it sets our students up for the rest of the year and starting them with all the necessary learning tools and resources is essential to their success.

Don’t forget that there are many payment options available to you such as BPOINT which is a direct debit into the school bank account, call the office to find out how to set this up. It’s very easy to do and takes only a couple of minutes to set up. I encourage all families to take up this option.

Before a student can be considered for participation in an optional school activity, a parent is expected to have:

• fully paid all outstanding fees or
• paid the Student Resource Scheme and other outstanding fees up to and including the term in which the school activity takes place or
• made regular on-going payments towards these fees, as previously arranged with the Principal or Business Manager
• been exempted by the Principal from paying all or part of these fees

This also includes such events as district, state and regional sports events. Mid-Winter Ball, senior jersey, Year 12 Graduation and other extra-curricular activities.

The Statement of Account is emailed every fortnight to assist you with keeping up to date with your child’s account. Please ensure you are making timely payments towards fees and excursions and activities. Your cooperation with on-time payments is very much appreciated.

QParents information

QParents is an Education Queensland Portal that allows parents to access their student’s financial invoices/payments, reports, absences/attendance and timetable all in one place. You are also able to make payments directly from this portal for outstanding invoices and is Education Queensland’s preferred method of payment. Please refer to the flyer below for more information.

Nolly Griffiths
Business Manager

P&C News

Annual General Meeting Notice

The Coolum State High School P&C Association will hold its Annual General Meeting on Monday, 18 March at 6pm in the Brahminy Kite room at Coolum State High School.

Attached is the Membership Form which can be returned to The Secretary, Coolum State High School P&C Association by email to pandcexecutive@coolumshs.eq.edu.au prior to the AGM.

Nominations for Executive Officer bearer positions are now open. Attached is the Nomination Form which can be returned to The Secretary, Coolum State High School P&C Association by email to pandcexecutive@coolumshs.eq.edu.au prior to the AGM.

We look forward to seeing you there.

CASUAL CANTEEN ASSISTANT POSITION

Coolum State High School is looking for a casual canteen assistant to start immediately. You will be required to prepare food and serve students under the direction of the Canteen Manager. This is a term time position only, of approximately 3 - 4 hours a day Monday to Friday. Experience preferred but not essential. A connection with the Coolum State High School community would be seen favourably. Please email your resume to pandcexecutive@coolumshs.eq.edu.au by Monday 25th February 2019.

Monica Kutt
Vice President

Dr Mike Nagel

Dr Mike Nagel is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Dr Nagel presented to parents on 13 February 2019 and the session was both informative and entertaining.

We are very privileged that Dr Nagel will write an article for our newsletter twice a term in 2019.

Below is the first article for the year, ‘Are Your Children Paying Attention’

Vocational Education and Training (VET)

It was great to meet a number of parents at our recent communication evening. As discussed, at Coolum High, we are committed to every student transitioning into further education, training or employment. Our vocational programs play a huge role in making this achievable and offer a range of pathways that see every student succeeding.

Certificate II in Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways - Year 10 and 11

This year, all students in Year 10 and 11 are undertaking a Certificate II in Skills for Work and Vocational Pathways. This course is designed to provide opportunities for the development of key employability skills.in the first part of the course, classes will be engaged in professional resume development and cover letter writing to prepare for a Mock Interview with an external industry representative in early Term 2.

It is vital that students have access to a BYOD device for this course as a virtual classroom learning environment is used. Please assist your student by encouraging them to have their device charged and ready for use every Wednesday. If your student does not have a device, please contact me to discuss alternative options.

Year 10 Work Experience

Year 10 students will be participating in a compulsory work experience placement in Term 2 from Monday 13 – Friday 17 May. Students are required to approach employers to secure their own placement. Further details will be sent home in the next week.

School-Based Apprenticeships and Traineeship (SATs) Vacancies

Under a SAT arrangement, a senior school student is released from school time to undertake an apprenticeship or traineeship in their chosen field. For further information, please speak to a staff member at the VET office in DBA

Full Time Apprenticeship Vacancies

These opportunities are not school based. They would suit those looking to leave school as a priority and transition into the workforce.

By completing a Vocational Pathways Expression of Interest (EOI) form, students will be registered to receive further information and support.

TAFE at School Programs in 2019

Classes for Semester 1 TAFE at School qualifications during have now commenced. If you are involved with any of these courses, please ensure that you are aware of when students are expected to be attending TAFE. Student timetables will be adjusted to reflect attendance at an off-campus school activity.

Please contact me on pwald9@eq.edu.au or 5471 5321 to discuss matters relating to Vocational Education and Training within the school.

Patrick Walden
Head of Department - Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Tutorials – Homework Club

Tutorials – Term 1

Sports News

Swimming Carnival

Our Swimming Carnival was held on Wednesday 6 February. With a slightly different format from previous years, 100 students chose to attend and compete for Age and House Champion points.

Congratulations to the following students who are our Swimming Age Champions for 2019:

• 12 Boys – Cooper Adler
• 13 Boys – Locki Rahui
• 13 Girls – Hailee O’Sullivan
• 14 Boys – Jakob O’Sullivan
• 14 Girls – Kalara Harley
• 15 Boys – Isaac Waddell
• 15 Girls – Makaeli Adler
• 16 Boys – Isaac Ruscoe
• 16 Girls – Fyn Sharpley
• Open Boys – Cooper Waring
• Open Girls – Keeley Duggan

The following students also set new records:

• Jakob O’Sullivan – 50m Back – 33.87, Previously 34.00
• Jakob O’Sullivan – 50m Free – 28.18, Previously 29.01
• Jakob O’Sullivan – 50m Fly – 32.03, Previously 32.62
• Hailee O’Sullivan – 50m Fly – 36.09, Previously 36.65
• Fyn Sharpley – 50m Back – 35.72, Previously 37.45
• Keeley Duggan – 50m Back – 34.93, Previously 37.24
• Jacob Cassidy – 50m Back – 30.12, Previously 32.71

Congratulations to Carcoola who won their first Swimming Carnival since 2009 with a commanding win with 1214 points. Binyama second with 1061, Yuroka third with 1026 and Waringa fourth on 863 points.

Best of luck to the competitors who qualified to represent Coolum SHS at the North District Swimming Carnival today.

Sporting Success

Congratulations to James Sweetman and Rory Cowling who were selected to represent the Sunshine Coast teams for Triathlon and Cricket respectively. James and Rory will trial at the State Championships in March for a position in the QLD team. Best of luck boys!

Ellia Smith had one of her best results at the end of 2018 as she represented Coolum and QLD in the Australian Surfing Championships in South Australia, Ellia was just pipped by a NSW girl in the final to finish 2nd. Great work Ellia, we are all very proud of you!

Upcoming Representative Sport Trials

Students who were born in the year 2007 who are interested in trialling for the following sports please come and see Mr Smyth in the HPE office:

• U12 Girls Netball
• U12 Boys Rugby League
• U12 Boys and Girls Soccer

Touch Football Academy

The Touch Football Academy kicked off in the last two weeks and is already shaping up to be another successful year. We have many returning competitors and many new faces in the Academy who enjoyed training and playing this week.

We are always on the lookout for new players to join the Academy. Our Academy players receive the benefit of playing in the local Coolum/Peregian competition as well as the Noosa competition on Tuesdays and Wednesdays respectively. They can compete at several regional tournaments throughout the year including the highly prestigious All Schools Competition which hosts schools from all over QLD and overseas.

If your student would like to be involved, please contact the school, or email Courtney Goodacre, cgood106@eq.edu.au , or Eric Smyth, esmyt15@eq.edu.au

Bus Pass Information 2019

Q: What is a Buslink Bus Pass?

A: The Queensland Government’s School Transport Assistance Scheme (STAS) provides assistance to enable eligible school students to attend education facilities. The Buslink Bus pass is distributed if you are eligible for such assistance

Q: Will I need to apply for a new bus pass for 2019?

A: If the below circumstances have changed for you and/or your student then you will need to apply for a new Buslink Bus Pass:

• your child is moving from primary school to secondary school
• you have changed address
• you have changed travel days
• you have enrolled them at a different school

Q: What happens if I currently have a Buslink Bus Pass and my circumstances haven’t changed?

A: Buslink will automatically print off a 2019 Buslink Bus pass for you and you will need to collect it from either your AM Buslink Bus Driver or at published pick up points at your school.

Q: How do I apply for a Buslink school travel pass?

A: Your child may be eligible for free bus travel. To download an application form head to your bus service Sunshine Coast . You can email your completed application to info.sunshinecoast@buslink.com.au or post to 11 Page St, Kunda Park Qld 4556.

If you don’t have access to a printer you’re welcome to ask one of our friendly Buslink drivers or come in to our office for an application.

Q: If my student is ineligible for a full Buslink Bus Pass travel, and only eligible for a Part Buslink Bus Pass, how do I pay the top up fare?

Students with a Buslink part pass (part payment) can purchase single, daily or weekly tickets from the bus driver using cash. If your student is travelling Monday to Friday in both morning and afternoons, it is cheaper to purchase a weekly ticket as you’ll receive a day free travel. Please do not pay your top up with a Go Card or you will be paying the full fare.

Q: If I’m not eligible for a Buslink Bus Pass, can I still travel on a Buslink Bus and how do I pay a fare?

If a student doesn’t qualify for a Buslink pass they will be required to pay the full cash fare or purchase a Go Card to save up to 30% off the full fare.

Q: If I or my child need a reminder of the Code of Conduct where do we find this information?

Buslink Buses are governed by the Code of Conduct. Similar to schools we have an expectation of behaviour that is acceptable on each bus and if that behaviour is breached then students will receive consequences for their behaviour. To view the code please go to: Code of conduct

Dates for your Diary