14 October 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Term 4 has started with a buzz of anticipation in the air!

We are in the most exciting term for our Year 12 students as they continue their preparation for the first external exams in the new ATAR system. The students have been working incredibly hard, with the support of their teachers, to ensure they are in the best possible position to succeed and give themselves every opportunity for an exciting career after they leave school.

Term 4 is filled with huge emotion and the excitement of the end of their schooling life, and the poignancy of the Graduation Ceremony and Clapout. Finishing Year 12 is a very exciting rite of passage and I urge all our students to reflect on the importance of these last few weeks as a Senior at Coolum State High School with respect and care for their peers and their school.

Even though it might be hard to believe right now, these really are some of the best days of your lives.

We are also looking forward to the Celebration of Excellence on Wednesday 21 October. With all required COVID restrictions in place, unfortunately we cannot have our wonderful, supportive parents join us for this occasion. However, the event will be livestreamed so our school community can still be a part of this fabulous event.

With so many talented students at Coolum High, we have much to celebrate in this very strange year and we are very much looking forward to a wonderful evening acknowledging their hard work and commitment. These talented young people deserve the recognition of the entire Coolum community.

This is a very exciting time of the year and I am looking forward to a fantastic term full of celebrations and milestones.

Troy Ascott
Principal

Deputy Principal - Junior Secondary Year 7

2021 Academy Applications Close Soon

Even with the Covid-19 cancelations, our academy teams have been highly successful in competitions that have proceeded this year.

Coolum SHS Academies application forms are available by clicking on the following link or by collecting a printed copy form our school office.

These exciting programs offer fantastic opportunities to our students. We have a record number of students joining the highly successful Instrumental Music program and we would love to see more students take up this opportunity.

Tutorials

Tutorials commence this week in the library at 3pm. Many of our fantastic staff are present to assist the students. Coolum SHS has received fantastic academic results for students and tutorials is one of the reasons this is being achieved. Thanks to Whites IGA we also have a great fruit platter each week for the students prior to tutorials.

CAST

Cast is back into full swing with many of the popular lunchtime activities up and running again. CAST gives our student the opportunity to be involved in free lunch time activities that are organised by our staff. The range of activities is large including academic and sporting pursuits and a variety of activities in the creative arts comprising of Rock Band, Art Club, Tap Dancing etc.

Anthony Swan
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary

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.

Outstanding Student Results

This year we have seen some magnificent student results both inside and outside of the classroom. This is testament to how our students and staff have responded to our unrelenting positive focus on improved learning, uniform and behaviour standards.

I am really looking forward to seeing how our junior students have achieved in the Term 3 report cards, especially after not having the interruptions and changes we faced in Semester 1. We have wonderful students at Coolum High and they have shown that they will meet the high expectations set for them in order to build positive and successful futures.

Athletics Carnival

I would like to thank Mr Scott McDonough and Mr Lyell Reck, together with a number of other staff, for their preparation and organisation of our Athletics Carnival. Despite the carnival having to be delayed to the end of Term 3, it was great that we were able to run this event prior to the holidays. Well done to all staff and students for making the carnival a success.

Terry Proctor
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary

Deputy Principal – Senior Secondary Year 10, 11 & 12

Important Dates for Term 4:

Senior External Exams – Monday 26 October – Tuesday 17 November 2020
Year 11 Exam Block – Monday 2 November – Friday 6 November 2020
Year 12 Graduation Ceremony – Wednesday 18 November 2020
Year 12 Clap Out Ceremony – Thursday 19 November 2020
Year 10 Exam Block – Monday 23 November – Friday 27 November 2020

This is an extremely important term for our senior students. Attendance every day is vital in success in school subjects. Please encourage your child to come to school every day. If they are absent for assessment, students must provide medical documentation to the office.

In other news, this is the home stretch for our Year 12 cohort. It has been one wild rollercoaster throughout their thirteen years of school. There have been so many ‘firsts’ for this group starting from those brave steps into their first year of Prep. This was followed a few years later as they transitioned into high school – yet another first, as the first group to cease primary at Year 6 and move into Year 7 on a high school campus. COVID has certainly meant that their final year of school has not gone to plan, however I have been proud of the way students, families and the school community has supported each other through those difficult times.

Finally, I would like to reiterate the high expectations of students in the coming weeks. Please continue to do your best and have conversations with teachers, HOYs, and office staff if you have any queries.

Emma Curnow
Deputy Principal Senior Secondary

Business Services News

Welcome back to Term 4.

Thank you to all the families that have paid their Student Resource Scheme (SRS) fees and subject fees for 2020, we understand that this year has been very challenging for many.

We will be invoicing in the coming weeks for 2021 for both the SRS and fee paying subjects so please look out for your invoice/s by email. If you would like to set up a payment plan or discuss any finance issues please contact the Administration Office.

A friendly reminder for when you receive a statement from us that if your balance is showing as a negative - , this actually means you are in credit on your school account.

Thank you again for your support.

Nicky Condon
Acting Business Manager

Vocational Education and Training (VET)

The federal government recently announced huge support for businesses taking on apprentices, below is an information brouchure. If you are thinking of taking on an apprentice please contact the school so we can advertise to our year 12 school leavers.

Tracy Ford
Head of Department - Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Sport

Athletics Carnival

Our Athletics Carnival was hotly contested on the last two days of term three. It was great to see students compete in two fantastic days of track and field given the disruptions throughout the year with covid. I’d like to thank our joint conveners, Mr McDonough and Mr Reck who organised a great carnival as well as the 400 students who attended. Congratulations to Warringa who took out champion house for 2020.

All results:

• Carcoola – 610
• Yuroka – 805
• Binyama – 842
• Warringa – 1003

12 Boys Age Champion – Noah Quilty
12 Girls Age Champion – Emily Azzopardi
13 Boys Age Champion – Billy Clements
13 Girls Age Champion – Stella Scudamore
14 Boys Age Champion – Saxon Thompson
14 Girls Age Champion – Shayla Dennis
15 Boys Age Champion – Izaak Sklenars
15 Girls Age Champion – Kobi Higgins
16 Boys Age Champion – Zane Pederson
16 Girls Age Champion – Summer Fulton
Open Boys Age Champion – Toby Mai
Open Girls Age Champion – Amaya Foxover

AFL

Well done to our Junior Boys and Girls AFL teams who played against St Teresa’s last Thursday. Our fantastic fields hosted the first round of games for the local inter school AFL competition between us St Teresa’s and Sunshine Beach. Our junior girls, fielding a very young side, with mostly year 7 girls got the games under way first with a valiant effort but unfortunately went down the the older and more experienced St Teresa’s team. The junior boys then took to the field, kicking the first goal within the minute. St Teresa’s soon equalised and the game was even at the end of the first quarter. The tight tussle continued throughout the game and our boys maintained a lead to win by a point. Both teams will play Sunshine Beach tomorrow at Noosa Tigers AFL.

Junior girls – Coolum 2-4-16 def by. STC 7-10-52
Junior boys – Coolum 4-4-28 def. STC 4-3-27

Friday Futsal concluded the semi finals last Friday, with Bananas in Pyjamas (y9 boys) def. The fortnighters (y8 boys) 4 – 1. They will now play Mateship (year 11 boys) in the final this Friday. Good luck to both teams in the final.

Good luck to our Basketballers and Rugby Union players who will compete this week. The boys basketball team will travel to Brisbane tomorrow for the State champs, whilst the U14 boys Rugby Union will travel to Gympie this afternoon for their weekly competition.

The following representative sports are currently open for nomination:

• 12 – 14 Years Boys Baseball
• 15 – 18 Years Boys Baseball
• 13 – 19 Years Triathlon

See me in the hall staffroom to nominate.

Mr Smyth
Sport Co-ordinator

Eric Smyth
Sports Co-ordinator

Languages -

Japanese

The beautiful Year 7, 8 and 11 Japanese students worked tirelessly in Term 3. In the last lesson before the break, they were rewarded by making some delicious hand rolls, or temaki in Japanese.

Walsh Sensei cooked a few kilograms of rice, got some fresh seaweed and students volunteered to bring in something to add to our hand rolls. It was such a success! Students were treated to tuna, salmon, avocado, cucumber, carrot, chicken and a range of other toppings to make their own hand rolls.

Here you can see our Year 7 ALPHA class making and enjoying their delicious delicacies.

It was a great way to end a busy Term 3 with some sensational results! Food is such a huge cultural element in Japan and it was so nice to see the students using Japanese while enjoying the meal. Some of the vocabulary used around the room were itadakimasu (Thank you for the meal I am receiving), gochisousama deshita (Thank you for the delicious meal), oishii (Yum!), arigatou gozaimasu (Thank you). These are all very polite words used while enjoying cuisine, giving thanks and expressing how yummy it was!

Our Year 11 Japanese students have also finished their Formative Assessment 1 and 2 this year and will begin number three next week, so they had a well-deserved cooking lesson to celebrate their outstanding efforts. Thanks everyone for being kind enough to bring in something to add to the meal. Arigatou gozaimashita!

Jenifer Walsh
Japanese Teacher

Dates for your Diary

Tutorials – Term 4

Bus Pass Information 2020

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 2020?

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 2020 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