15 June 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Last Thursday, our Year 12 students transformed magnificently into young men and women as they dressed to the nines for the annual Midwinter Ball. This is a major milestone for our students before they embark on a very busy Term 3 full of exams and assignments. I would like to sincerely thank Mrs Emma Curnow, Deputy Principal, Mrs Sharyn O’Brien, Business Manager, along with Heads of Year 12, Mrs Patti Williams and Mr Dan Palmer, for the months of work that go into organising this one event alone. It was a huge success and the students had an amazing evening, so richly deserved as they look towards successfully completing their secondary education.

I want to start a conversation about something that has a profound impact on students’ success at school – attendance! Having spent many years reading a great deal of research on education, I know that high levels of school attendance are 100% linked to high levels of achievement at school.

I can’t say how much education means to me or I’d be here for hours, nor how much value I place, personally, on attendance at school. I know from watching what happens, year in and year out, that there can be no doubt that the students who attend school the most are invariably the ones who achieve to their highest potential. They are also more likely to become involved in the richness of school life, in things like music, sport, drama and the other clubs and societies that make school life fun and enjoyable.

Attendance at school is what gives the student the chance to make the most of their start in life. High levels of attendance give the student the maximum chance to achieve highly. Every day of school missed is a missed opportunity to learn. Subjects like Maths, in particular, are sequential and require sustained, regular attendance to succeed.

Commencing Term 3, let’s set our sights not on good school attendance, but on great school attendance. Let’s aim to set the benchmark on school attendance so that our students, Coolum State High students, have the best possible chance of success. This year, we have already lost too many school days with COVID regulations. Let’s make attendance, every school day, a top priority as we set ourselves to make the most of the opportunities that we have this school year.

To this end, Coolum High’s attendance policy will be enforced more strongly than ever before. School staff will be phoning parents where students have attendance records that do not allow students high chances of success. Extra measures will be taken if an unacceptable pattern of attendance continues. When it comes to attendance at Coolum High, every day matters!

Troy Ascott
Principal

Deputy Principal - Junior Secondary Year 7 and 8

Junior Secondary News

The past few weeks have been a hive of activity in Years 7 and 8. Assessment has been the main focus with the end of Semester 1 closing in. It is important students understand that if they are absent for any reason, it is their responsibility to see their teachers and catch up on any missed work. Most classes have resources on Microsoft Teams which allows easy access and catch up. If the student is concerned or worried about assessment, it is crucial they see their teacher before the due date, and parents may contact teacher directly. As this is a very busy time of term, the main message to students has been around the school motto of Care, Respect and Excellence. These messages have been celebrated on parades to reinforce key standards at Coolum State High School around caring for the school environment, litter, speaking respectfully to others and trying their best for excellence in every class or event they participate in.

Yondr Pouch inspections have demonstrated the junior students are very reliable in bringing their pouch and the respect shown for focusing in class, particularly around assessment periods. This cultural change will have long term benefits as they progress into senior and we thank all parents for their support and encouragement of this policy. Having student devices charged every day and ready for each lesson is also a challenge, and we thank parents for helping their young learners with organisation skills. These are all core skills of the Coolum Code.

There has been a number of excellent achievements of Junior Secondary students that we would like to acknowledge. A special congratulations to the Year 7 and 8 students involved in regional Fanfare competition, where Coolum State High School performed to a very high standard receiving a silver medal in musical performance. A number of students have also performed incredibly well in the regional Immersion Robotics Day hosted at the school which saw over 50 primary students from all over the district descend on the school to compete in teams to create robotic challenges. Thanks to our specialist teacher, Mr Barry Butler, who made this all possible. A special thanks also to our Year 7 leaders who helped out at the Coolum Primary Under Eights Oval Day with Ms Guest.

Lisa Fowler
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary Year 7 and 8

Deputy Principal - Junior Secondary Year 9

Reporting and assessment calendars

We have reviewed our processes and made changes in the development and communication of assessment calendars to students, parents and staff. Term 3 Assessment calendars will now be emailed out to parents in the first week of next term ensuring students and parents have as much time as possible to stay on top of their studies.

We are currently in the early stages of creating our Semester 1 student reporting. Reports will be developed, checked and emailed to parents at the end of Week 1 Term 3.

Attendance

We know that everyday counts, and it is even more important as we move closer to the end of the school term that students are attending and working to their potential. Year 9 students have a number of assessment items that are due over the next two weeks. Below is a screen shot of Weeks 9 and 10 of the Year 9 Assessment Calendar.

Lee Merrett
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary Year 9

Deputy Principal - Senior Secondary Years 10 and 11

Year 11 - 2023

I would like to thank all families of current Year 10 students who attended the recent information session regarding Year 11, 2023. A copy of the slides used in this presentation has been sent to all families.

By the end of this term, Year 10 students will have completed their Senior Education and Training (SET) Plan. The SET Plan outlines your child’s goals and career interests, as well as courses, qualifications or degrees related to those careers.

The Senior Subject Information Book for 2023 will be available later this term in Week 10 – just in time to have a look over during the holidays. This is a great opportunity to continue discussions about the best pathways to success for your child and what subjects are necessary to achieve those goals.

SET Plan meetings with families are occurring on 26 and 27 of July. Further information about SET Planning and booking a meeting time will come out early in Term 3.

USC Experience

On Wednesday 8 June, Year 10 students had the opportunity to visit the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) campus. Here they were able to see the range of facilities and resources on offer at the university. Students were also able to hear detailed information about the wide variety of university courses across the many faculties at USC.

I would like to thank USC for their continued support of Coolum High students, and to Linda Pilkington and Liz Mortimer for their work in making this excursion happen.

Year 11 House Cup

Have you heard about the Year 11 House Cup? As Head of Year 11, Mr Reck has organised a fantastic lunchtime basketball tournament and now has ‘Coolum’s Got Talent’ underway.

Year 11 students have thrown their support behind this concept and have been excellent participants in the competitions on offer.

Terry Proctor
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary Years 10 and 11

Deputy Principal – Senior Secondary Year 12

Year 12

The Midwinter Ball!

Term 2 is proving to be a very exciting one with many events taking place. The highlight, of course, is the Midwinter Ball. The Ball was held on Thursday 9 June, with Red Carpet arrivals at Coolum State High School from 4:30pm. Friends and family gathered to see the glitz and glamor, and mingle with students, staff and parents. MSP Photography provided opportunities for professional photographs, with information to be communicated once these are available.

Our glammed-up students departed by coach to the Maroochy RSL Events Centre where they feasted on fine food, gave the photo booth a good work out, and danced the night away. Thank you to our Year 12 HOYs, Patti Williams and Dan Palmer, for organising the evening and making it one to remember.

Year 12 students during Midwinter Ball

Attendance and Late Arrivals

All Year 12 students are expected to attend each and every day, and it is proven to be a significant contributing factor to student success. If students are absent due to illness, please contact the school and encourage your child to contact their class teachers in order to keep up with course work. We know there have been some challenging times with learning from home arrangements, flooding, COVID and general illnesses that have been plaguing our community, however we are here to support your child. Communication is key. Email, call, or come in for a conversation if you have any concerns.

Driving safely

As the number of students who drive to school continues to increase, we are encouraging parents and families to talk with students who drive to and from school. We promote safe driving each week on our Year 12 assembly, however we have a few reports from concerned members of the community who have reported students not conducting themselves in a safe way while on the roads. We have asked Coolum Police to support us in reminding students of their responsibility on the road. We thank you for your continued support.

Hello World Excursion

Our Year 11 and 12 students will have the opportunity to engage in a University or TAFE experience on Wednesday 22 June (Week 10). Attendance is expected at this event and there is no cost to students or parents/carers. This is always a priceless experience where students can see the workings of a TAFE or University campus, and hear first-hand what life is like after high school. An electronic permission letter will be emailed to parents – please complete as soon as possible. If your child has other arrangements on a Wednesday, such as an apprenticeship, work experience etc, they need to honour this agreement with their work place/ trainer.

Kind regards,

Emma Curnow
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary Year 12

Science Department

Coolum SHS is blessed with our current student population of academics and past students.

On Friday 13 May, we welcomed back former student Kali Crofts (Class of 2012). Kali was an extremely hard-working student who went onto study Medical Science, then moved to North Carolina, USA to further her studies, particularly in Immunology.

Kali's current studies are investigating Paediatric vaccines.

Kali talked about her academic journey in Australia and in the USA and encouraged students to work hard and follow their dreams. We are so lucky to have had so many amazing students come through Coolum SHS, including Kali.

Mr Josh Moores, Kali Crofts and Mr Paul Onsen

On Wednesday 13 July, Coolum SHS will be involved in the 2022 Science Engineering Challenge held at the University of the Sunshine Coast. We will be taking approximately 32 students from Year 9 (20 Students) and 12 Year 12 Students. Students can nominate themselves by talking to their Science Teacher. Names can be Placed on the list in the Science Staffroom.

The Science and Engineering Challenge is a day-long competition designed to provide Year 9 and 10 high school students with a positive experience of science and engineering. A maximum of 8 schools per day compete against each other at one venue.

Each school ‘team’ is divided into eight groups of between 2 to 4 students per group. Each group will then do either one full- day activity, or two half-day activities (i.e. one activity in the morning session, and a different one in the afternoon session). Students are assigned a colour to identify which activity(s) they will do during the morning and afternoon sessions.

Students are awarded points for each activity and the school with the most cumulative points at the end of the day is declared the winner. The highest scoring winning schools from each region/zone will subsequently compete against each other for a place in the state and - perhaps - the national final.

The Challenge activities Include:

Inspiring our young engineers!

Join us for a screening of the film ‘Dream Big: Engineering Our World’ presented by Engineers Australia as well as the chance to ask questions to professionals about careers in engineering. After the screening stay around as we will have different fun activities set up for kids to get hands on with science and technology.

We encourage parents and guardians to bring their children to this family-friendly event which will also be host to a number of activities for 8-13-year-old students, and a light snack – Cost is $5

‘Dream Big: Engineering our World’ is a film that explores the human ingenuity behind engineering marvels both big and small, and reveals the heart that drives engineers to create better lives for people all around the world. This is a film for the whole family, celebrating the work done by engineer’s past and present, whilst inspiring the engineers of the future.

Today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders – they will engineer and build the extraordinary, help solve the world’s greatest challenges, and improve the quality of life in communities worldwide.

If you would like to know more about anything with regards to what is going on in the science Department, feel free to email me, polse3@eq.edu.au.

Paul Olsen
Head of Department (Science)

Diverse Learners Department

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

Kind regards

Bec Gould
HOSES

Creative Arts Department

Fanfare Performances

Congratulations to our String Orchestra and Wind Symphony who put together two amazing performances two weeks ago for the regional Fanfare heats at Chancellor College. The String Orchestra were presented with a Silver Award after growing from an ensemble of around 5 students in 2018 (their last Fanfare performance) to an ensemble of over 15 and were commended on their journey under the direction of Ms Tara Anderson. The Wind Symphony were presented with a Gold Award with glowing feedback from their renowned adjudicator Dr Ralph Hultgren, complimenting their sound, musicianship and energy on stage. We are so proud of their result and the work of Ms Sharelle Guest. Most importantly, we could not have confidently achieved these results without our Music Camp at the beginning of this term and we would like to extend our gratitude to the public donor who helped to subsidise the cost and access for our students. I’m so thankful for the work our instrumental team do and I’m looking forward to hearing their Sunshine Coast Youth Eisteddfod performances in late July/early August next term.

PanSchool

Matt and Lennox from the Sunshine Coast Pan School are looking to run a Steel Pan jamboree later this year and are asking for expressions of interests from students interested in participating in the event. I will have more details to share with students shortly, and given the turnout and performance as part of the workshop in Term 4 last year, I’m sure there will be quite a few interested in taking part again this year. Please stay tuned for more information as it becomes available shortly.

Queensland College of Art

This Wednesday our Year 11 and 12 Senior Art classes experienced life at the Queensland College of Art (Griffith University) in South Brisbane with our Senior Art teachers, Ms Kryger and Ms Taylor. The experience involved A tour of painting studios, sculpture studios, jewellery studios, photography studios, print making studios, Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art (CAIA) studio, design studios including 3D printing facilities, campus galleries and library and also involved a 4-hour practical hands on workshop with a senior lecturer from the QCA faculty. It was a huge experience for those interested in Art beyond school or for those that are passionate about Art and the power of artistic practice.

Rohan Hardy
Head of Creative Arts

Sporting Success

Congratulations to our recent North District reps:

17-19 years Boys Football – Xy King, Harrison Renzulli, Zane Pederson, Zac Savage
13-15 years Girls Basketball – Fallon Reisinger, Grace Pearson
13-15 years Boys Basketball – Noah Butterworth, Cooper Adler
11-12 years Rugby Union – Xavier Loli
13-19 years Surfing – Kai Barraclough, Layla Johnstone, Jye Pegg, Jarvis Pelikan, Brisa Canina, Livy Corvisy

Congratulations to our recent Sunny Coast reps:

13-15 years Boys AFL – Jasper Coulter

Athletics carnival

Our Athletics carnival will take place on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 June. Students have already nominated for Thursday events whilst all students will attend the whole school carnival on Friday. Parents can attend to watch their child’s events on either day. See schedule of both days below.

Sunshine Coast Cross Country

Congratulations to Britney Murray, Shayla Dennis and Finn Bellerby who competed in the Sunshine Coast Cross Country at Noosaville State Sschool on 7 June. All three ran well with Finn making the team in 5th place, whilst Britney finished 9th and Shayla 14th in their respective age groups.

Interschool Sport

Year 7 and 9 Interschool sport signups are currently happening so that students can compete next term. This is an opportunity for students to play Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer or Touch Football on two school days. All students get the chance to play as we can field multiple teams.

Unfortunately, year 8 and 10 sport days were washed out and we hope to reschedule them for term 4.

AFL

Well done to our Junior and Senior QLD Schools Cup teams who have both competed. The seniors haven’t competed yet at the time of writing this article, however, both the junior teams performed well and we’re hoping our senior teams will follow suit.

Rugby Union boys

Our U13 Rugby Union combined team with St Teresa’s wrapped up their competition last week, bowing out in a close Semi Final loss to St John’s. It is the first time playing for many of the boys and hope they will continue to play in coming years.

Rugby league girls

Well done to our Karyn Murphy cup Rugby League girls on a successful tournament. Both our junior and intermediate teams played hard against much bigger opposition.

Upcoming

• Coolum SHS Athletics carnival – Thursday 23 and Friday 24 June
• Rugby Union – U14/U16/U18 Girls – Wednesday afternoons, Term 3
• North District Athletics Carnival – 9 and 10 August @ USC
• Sunshine Coast Athletics Carnival – 31 August and 1 September @ USC
• Coolum SHS Swimming Carnival – 16 September @ Coolum Pool

Eric Smyth
HPE Teacher and Sport Co-ordinator

Dates for your diary – Term 2 and 3/2022

Bus Pass Information 2022

Do you need to apply for a school bus pass?

The Queensland Government’s School Transport Assistance Scheme (STAS) provides assistance to enable eligible school students to attend education facilities.

There are two types of assistance available to students travelling on bus services to school:

• Distance based assistance
• Safety-net assistance

Apply for STAS online

Did you know that you can now apply online for STAS?

• One form
• Up to five children
• Any device

Need help with your application?

Email STASdigital.Helpdesk@tmr.qld.gov.au or call 1300 119 289 for technical assistance with your online application.

FAQs & handy tips to get you started

Once you are familiar with the application process and steps to get you started, you will find the ‘apply now’ button located towards the bottom of the STAS Apply for school transport assistance page.

After you’ve successfully lodged your application online, information will be generated by the Department of Transport and Main Roads to your local CDC office in Kunda Park, Sunshine Coast or Gladstone for processing.

Please note: it is Department of Transport and Main Roads policy that STAS applications for students placed under a Child Protection Order by the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services must be made using the paper application form relevant to the transport assistance . This form can be found once you commence your application online.

What are my school bus options?

To view school services including network maps and detailed route information, please visit cdcqueensland.com.au. We strongly recommend that you check the website for any service changes prior to the beginning of term.

What are my fare options?

You will need a valid student bus pass, issued annually, or TransLink go card to travel on all services.

Due to COVID restrictions we cannot take cash fares. All bus fares are determined by the Queensland

Government and fares collected belong to TransLink (Department of Transport and Main Roads).

How do I apply for a student bus pass?

The Queensland Government’s School Transport Assistance Scheme (STAS) provides assistance to enable eligible school students to attend education facilities. There are two types of assistance available to students travelling on bus services to school:

• Distance based assistance
• Safety-net assistance

For more information visit the School Transport Assistance Scheme page at

I’m not eligible for a bus pass so how do I get a go card for my student?

For more information on how to buy and top up a go card or find your local retailer visit the link below

Bus Routes

A list of bus routes servicing Coolum State High School can be viewed on this page:

Parents can also contact us by phone 07 5476 6622 or email info.sunshinecoast@cdcbus.com.au