16 September 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

We have come to the end of an incredibly busy Term 3 which culminated in the Celebration of Excellence on Wednesday evening.

For the first time in two years, we were privileged to welcome members of our parent and wider community who were witness to an extraordinary showcase of student talent. From our record number of recipients of Gold Academic Excellence Award, Community and Leadership Awards, and Sporting Excellence Awards to the most incredible line-up of student performances, it was a night to remember!

The highest accolade presented at the Celebration of Excellence is the Wandama Award. This award is presented to the highest academic achieving Year 12 student at the time of the Celebration of Excellence and in 2022, this award was presented to Cooper. Cooper is an incredibly hardworking student and has earned this award through his dedication to his studies. We know this is the first of many accolades for Cooper and we wish him, and every Year 12 student, every success during the final term of their high school years.

And on top of all of this talent, one of our finest graduates, Isabella Nicholls, was our very inspirational guest speaker. Isabella recorded her maiden victory on the World Surfing Tour at the Margaret River Pro this year, and had so many wonderful anecdotes and basic, honest advice for our students that she has learned in her journey to become a professional surfer. Isabella is truly an inspiring role model for all of our students, and the younger generation in general.

There have been so many student successes throughout the Term 3. Year 12 student Jemima won a Peter Doherty Award for Outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student in STEM, and a group of fiercely committed Coolum High School teachers and administrators won a Showcase Awards Regional Commendation for their work in bringing Retrieval Practice to our school, in a bid to further enhance our students’ preparation for their all-important external exams. Students’ achievements are absolute testament that this work has paid off in spades.

Coolum High’s Chess Team were once again the Regional Champions amongst all Sunshine Coast High Schools with Year 11 student, Noah, reinforcing his standing as the Coast’s best player by going through the tournament undefeated. Our Cheerleading students once again excelled under the impeccable tutelage of Hayley Green, finishing, amongst other things in first place at the Cheerbrandz Eutopia competition in Brisbane, and our Robotics Academy students had incredible success winning silver at the Sunshine Coast RoboRave competition.

As borders reopened this year, Coolum High welcomed 28 amazing International students at the beginning of Term 3 from countries including Chile, Norway, Germany and Italy who have added culture, intelligence, energy and boundless enthusiasm to our school. This week, we also say farewell to four of our Year 11 International Students as they return to Germany and Italy. Jule, Francesca, Elena and Quirin have completed their three-month study program and have made many wonderful memories and friendships during their stay.

During Term 3, Coolum High welcomed four Education Queensland Reviewers and interviewed hundreds of students, parents and members of the wider community. The Reviewers were glowing in their assessment of the school and we look forward to their report on their findings, and their recommended 5 areas of improvement. A summary will also be available for parents on the website when it becomes available.

With the last term for our Year 12 students on the horizon, we wish them, and all of our students, a very restful break and look forward to an exciting Term 4.

Troy Ascott
Principal

Deputy Principal - Junior Secondary Years 7 and 8

Junior Secondary News

We are proud to continue to celebrate the academic success of Coolum State High School students this term. Our Celebration of Excellence Awards evening showcased the depth of academic rigour at Coolum State High School. In Year 7, Gold Awards were earned by 70 students and 47 students received Silver Awards at our year level parade. The Year 8 cohort boasted 59 students with Gold Awards and 42 students received their Silver Award on parade this week. In addition, there were a dozen Special Awards earned across Years 7 and 8. As a school community, we congratulate these students and their families. We are extremely proud of your shared commitment to education.

We are also delighted to acknowledge the overwhelming parental support for our YONDR policy. Working together, we are promoting a safe and phone-free learning environment, which in turn optimises academic outcomes for all students. As always, each student is required to show their locked YONDR pouch every morning in Home Group as part of their daily routine. This term, we are also awarding tuckshop vouchers to exemplary students who enthusiastically engage with our YONDR Policy. Parents can continue to enhance our classrooms by regularly checking in with your student about their YONDR pouch. This check-in can also provide an ideal opportunity for parents to start a conversation with your student about social media, online safety and appropriate interactions with peers. Community support for our YONDR policy is the key to its ongoing success.

Caring for our students is the highest priority at Coolum State High School. A key initiative this term has been maintaining safe and clean facilities. There has been a concerted effort to work with students to beautify our school toilets. Students are encouraged to report any issues and be mindful of cleanliness, with a new day cleaner employed to support an enhanced school environment. Students are invited to participate in the art space competition, which will further increase our pride in our facilities.

As Term 3 comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our families a safe and happy holiday and look forward to everyone returning in Term 4 rested and focussed to achieve.

Silver Award Winners

Lisa Fowler
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary Years 7 and 8

Deputy Principal - Senior Secondary Years 9 and 10

Retrieval Practices Regional Commendation Award

As has been announced to the school community, the Minister for Education confirmed that Coolum High be awarded a Regional Commendation as part of the 2022 Showcase Awards for Excellence in Schools. The was the result of implementing a research-in-action project based on ‘Retrieval Practices’.

How did we get here?

Coolum High identified the need for students to be better prepared for large, high stakes external exams in the senior years. In particular, we identified the need for students to retain and retrieve content and procedural knowledge over long periods of time.

What is Retrieval Practice?

Retrieval practice involves the deliberate bringing of information to mind and has been shown to consolidate long-term memory. Any activity that involves the deliberate retrieval of information can be considered Retrieval Practice and can enhance learning (Blunt & Karpicke, 2014; Kang et al., 2007).

There are many ways in which retrieval can be practiced, including taking quizzes or practise tests, drawing concept maps from memory, doing a ‘brain dump’ of information known about a topic, exchanging questions in pairs, and self-testing with flash cards.

Whilst this sounds simple, the process is very sophisticated when strategically planning out and retrieving sometimes more than 100 pieces of information that students need to readily recall under exam conditions.

The key benefit is that memory for particular pieces of information is strengthened, and the ability to quickly and accurately retrieve it again in the future is improved (Rowland, 2014). Retrieval Practice has thus become recognised as a highly effective technique that can promote learning in a range of disciplines and contexts (Dunlosky et al., 2013).

What did we do?

Coolum High teamed up with the Science of Learning Research Centre (SLRC) at the University of Queensland to run a research-in-action project through the Partner Schools Project program.

A team of dedicated staff including Mr Hughes, Miss Pascoe, Ms Vellar, Mrs Lohman, Mrs Samson, Mr Ascott and Mr Sweeny implemented our retrieval practices project across a number of classes. The goal was to not only assess the impact of this approach for students, but also to ascertain how frequently this should occur in order for students to get the best benefit from it.

Each subject area developed three sets of important ‘facts’ needed for that particular subject. Set A was retrieved weekly, Set B was retrieved fortnightly, and Set C was not deliberately retrieved at all. This project was implemented throughout 2020 and involved almost 300 students.

What did we find?

It was clear that when deliberately implementing retrieval practice strategies into learning, students were able to recall both greater quantities of information and for over longer periods of time, when compared to information that was not deliberately retrieved.

Interestingly, younger students benefited from more regular, weekly retrieval of facts. Senior students received the same benefits through fortnightly retrieval practice being implemented in their classes.

The outcomes

A key outcome was that Retrieval Practice is effective in a variety of curriculum areas.

Student Performance in Senior Summative Assessment

All senior subjects that implemented Retrieval Practices in 2020 and 2021 saw significant improvements.

Student results submitted to the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) showed strong lift in the distribution of student outcomes in:

• Overall student A-E performance.
• Student performance in Internal examinations.
• Student performance in External examinations.

Staff Capability

Staff reported that improved curriculum clarity was a significant outcome from the project. The benefits of Retrieval Practice were not only evident for student retention of knowledge, but also for teacher clarity. In other words, it was very clear what needed to be taught and learned.

Student perceptions and confidence about their performance were also positively impacted by the regular and consistent implementation of Retrieval Practice. This enhanced the confidence and performance of students leading into high-stakes external exams, with some students achieving

incredible results.

The table below shows the results of our 2021 graduates where retrieval was implemented.

Want to know more?

In 2021, our work received nation-wide media attention when it was published by the Australian Council of Educational Research through their Teacher magazine. Interestingly, regular contributors to this publication are Professor Geoff Masters for former PM Julia Gillard.

You can view the article here:

Terry Proctor
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary Years 9 and 10

Deputy Principal – Senior Secondary Years 11 and 12

Senior School Deputy Principal Newsletter article

We are very proud of our Year 12 students who have successfully completed their Trial Exams in the lead up to the External Exam block in Term 4. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to gain feedback before they sit their final exams in Term 4. I would strongly encourage students to find time to relax over the September holidays, however do not switch off from school. Previous results have shown that students who continue to study and maintain routines during this time perform better in their External Exams.

This year we are excited to be able to offer the Saturday Study Session again to Year 11 and 12 students. This is supported by our dedicated staff who will facilitate a supervised study space for students to continue to revise and prepare for exams.

This will take place on the first three Saturdays of Term 4 from 9:00am until 12:00pm:

• Saturday 8 October
• Saturday 15 October
• Saturday 22 October

During the External Exam Block, students are expected to attend EVERY scheduled exam.

If your student is absent for an exam, a medical certificate MUST be provided to the school. There is also an official QCAA ‘Illness and Misadventure’ form that will be emailed to all students and parents prior to the exams, which must be completed by a GP. In the instance of an absence, please contact the school immediately to communicate this with the Senior Team. There are no catch-up exams in this exam system.

All VET students who have not yet completed their certificate courses will also be expected to attend school, with the support of their teacher, to complete these certificates. All Applied course work must also be signed off by their teacher. Students will receive a ‘Record of Completion’ form which need to be fully completed for their non-attendance at school from Week 4 Term 4.

Year 12 Key Dates

Year 11 Key Dates

Celebration of Excellence

In 2022, we have recognised a record number of students in Year 11 and 12. The significant number of students has meant that Silver Award winners are recognised in front of their peers. We would like to congratulate all students on their efforts this year to continue to perform to a very high standard. Congratulations!

2023 Student Leadership Team

I would like to thank the outgoing 2022 Executive Student Leadership Team for their amazing effort and leadership from 2021-2022. You have been a truly exceptional group of leaders who have united the cohort, and shown pride in your school and yourselves. The incoming leaders have very big shoes to fill and I know they will be up to the challenge.

Outgoing 2022 Leadership Team

Incoming 2023 Leadership Team

Emma Curnow
Deputy Principal Junior Secondary Year 11 and Year 12

Business Services

Finance Updates

Statement of Accounts

Statements are issued multiple times throughout the school term. It is important to note that if your statement has a negative amount on it, this is an indication that you are in credit. Credits can be applied to any future invoice that you may be issued. If you receive your statement and you are unsure of anything that is on it, please email admin@coolumshs.eq.edu.au

Student Resource Scheme

Thank you to all the families that have, and continue to support Coolum State High School. Without your support we would not be able to continue to provide the quality resources to support the learning environment, providing necessary textbooks and associated learning materials at considerable savings to parents, through the school’s bulk purchasing processes.

If you have selected to pay your SRS in the agreed instalments, please be aware that the final payment is due by the end of this term.

Invoicing for the 2023 Fee Paying subjects for Grade 11 and 12 has now commenced.

Please be aware your deposit paid at the SET Plan interviews will now be applied to the invoices, and a statement of account will be sent to outline the overall status of your account.

As outlined during the SET Plan Interviews, in order to maintain your child’s place in any fee-paying subjects for 2023, the balance is to be paid by the 25th November 2022 or a payment plan in place.

If you would like to discuss financial support options or have any other enquiries around this, please do contact me as soon as possible on 5471 5333.

We want to be able to provide your child with the necessary teaching and learning resources so they can succeed. Without your fees and on-time payments, this would be a very difficult goal to achieve, please support the school.

Financial Difficulty

If you are experiencing any difficulty in making payment now, the following options are available to assist you:

• BPOINT - allows for automatic payments to the school from your nominated bank account over 30 payments
• Centrepay Plan - allows deductions from any Centrelink payments (if eligible) or
• A negotiated payment plan with the school, where you are responsible for ensuring payments are made as per the negotiated plan.

If you would like to discuss financial support options or have any other enquiries around this, please contact before the due date on 5471 5333.

Q-parents Finance Portal

To keep up to date with invoices and payments, we recommend that you register for a Q-Parents account, if you have not already done so. Q-Parents is a secure online parent portal where you may access your child’s student information and stay connected to our school. The Q-Parents web and mobile app provides a more convenient way for parents to interact with the school.

Following registration, parents can access:

• Attendance and absence details, as well as the ability to notify the school of an absence
• Academic report cards
• Class timetables
• Viewing unpaid invoice details, payment history and making payments online
• Viewing and updating personal student details, including medical conditions and address
• Enrolment details.

Should you require any assistance when registering for Q-Parents, please do not hesitate to email admin@coolumshs.eq.edu.au or visit -

Facility Updates

How good is the building works looking! The Administration extension is moving along so fast. This will be a welcome face-lift for the entrance of the school. We are hoping that we will see this completed for the new year 2023.

There is lots of work happening with the new learning centre starting. The slab will start to get poured soon, with the block work already up. There have been trucks coming and going all throughout the days to get this building going. We are finally starting to see some progress and are excited to watch these works happen.

Human Resource Updates

There are so many new faces around the place!

Felicity Johnson joined us on the Student Counter back in May after working with students as a Teacher Aide at Coolum State School. Felicity is kept busy supporting students with excursions, payments, sick bay, leave passes and general enquiries. Thank you, Felicity, for being a wonderful support on the Student Counter.

Elyse Duffy has started in the front office, we welcome Elyse who has all-round school experience and will be supporting our hard-working administration team.

Alisa Pollock has joined the finance team, and while she does a huge job behind the scenes, you will also see Alisa out and about in the front office.

Jason Halstead and Dustin Wood have joined our IT Team. Without these two, the IT in the school would not be running!

Our Science Technicians are also busy ensuring students and staff have everything they could possibly need for their Science, Chemistry, Physics and Biology lessons. Leeanne Lees joined our Science team earlier this year and she has settled in beautifully. Lynette Keenan will also join the team from next term after she has relocated from Brisbane. Lynette comes with a vast amount of knowledge in all areas of Science.

Next term Leonie Russell will be a face that is seen all around the place. She joins our facilities team.

Welcome to the Coolum State High School family to all our new staff. It Is so wonderful to see new faces with strong ties to the school.

Sharyn O’Brien
Business Manager

Science

National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology, the theme for 2022 was glass. Running each year in August, Week 6.

Established in 1997, National Science Week provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge. It also aims to encourage an interest in science pursuits among the general public and to encourage younger people to be fascinated by the world we live in.

Coolum SHS recognised those students who have achieved excellence in Science for 2022 by awarding them with a Certificate and a pen from the University of Queensland.

Sicence Week Awards

Mr Paul Olsen
Head of Department (Science)

Sporting Success

Kokoda Challenge 2022

The Brisbane Kokoda Challenge has been completed by Coolum High students for another year. After being postponed from May the event took place on a rainy 13 August. Prior to the event, students had spent time attending afternoon and weekend training walks to prepare themselves for the big day. This year the school entered teams in each event; 18km, 30km and 48km.

Taking on the 18km event was Maya, Mia and Jake in Year 7 with Miss Goodacre. This was the first time the students have competed in the event and finished in 7th place in just under 3 hours. Students’ spirits were high along the course, keeping up conversations the entire way; while running the return leg.

The 30km team of Shayla, Kane, Noah, Ben, Cooper, Michael and Zephyr with Miss Wakeling and Mr Williams, finished an amazing 3rd in 5 hours and 30 minutes. There was rain, a little bit of mud and plenty of snacks. A special shout out to Cooper and Noah who have previously completed the 15km event also finishing that in 3rd place. What an achievement, maybe the 48km next year...?

In the longest event, the 48km challenge the team consisted of Tarryn, Ethan and Aiden, supported by Miss Dennien and Mr Palmer finished 8th in 11 hours 30 minutes. What an excellent effort! The 48km team started strong overtaking many teams to contend for a good place. They suffered through the highest peak before lunch and got a little wet and muddy climbing the steep hills in the last half. Chats, jokes and banter filled most of the 50kms (somehow managed to do 2 cheeky extras). The biggest battle came in the final 10kms with feet getting sore, bodies getting tired and the sun beginning to set but everyone pushed through, showing resilience and determination from start to finish. The boys should feel incredibly proud of their accomplishments and commitment to the team. Special thanks goes out to Heidi, Daniel and Amanda for refuelling us at the checkpoint and sending the team back on our way with dry socks and encouragement.

As a whole, we are very proud of these students at Coolum High who have challenged themselves to get out of their comfort zones and try something that would not necessarily do on their weekend. As well, a huge thank-you to the teachers involved in walking with the students. We would also like to thank Mr Hamilton for his support during the training sessions and Desley Francis, Nicky Condon and Felicity Johnson from the office who worked incredibly hard to help support the teachers get this event approved and paperwork finalised for us to participate.

Kokoda Challenge adventures

Courtney Goodacre
Teacher – Health and Physical Education & Aquatic Practices

Golf clubs donations welcome

Do you have any old golf clubs laying around and you know longer need them?

Our HPE students at Coolum SHS would love to reuse them. Any donations would be much appreciated.

Golf Club Donations Welcome

Eric Smyth
HPE Teacher and Sport Co-ordinator

Non-perishable food items donations

This term, in Year 9 humanities, students are learning about the impacts of food insecurity. To show our support as a school to the wider community, the Year 9 students are creating a food drive.

We are asking the Coolum Community to support our Year 9 students with bring in non-perishable items to donate to ‘The Shack Community Centre’. The aim is to donate as much food as possible, to help provide to those that are in need.

Year 9 charity support

Nanine Stewart
English and Geography Teacher
AFL Academy Coordinator

Debating Team

Our senior debating team, consisting of Polly, Harrison and Charlotte had a win against Maroochydore State High School. The topic was “That gambling advertisements should be banned during televised sporting events” and Coolum State High School were on the affirmative team. The debating season is over for the year now. Thanks so much to Ms Malone and Mrs Hamilton for their support of the debating team this year!

Debating Team

Colette Webber
Nationally Certified Highly Accomplished Teacher
English and Humanities Teacher

International Student Program

Recently, our international students were able to were introduced to a truly Australian experience.

A school excursion to the Brisbane Lions v’s Carlton AFL game at the GABBA, provided them with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The students thought that the game was exciting and they had a lot of fun dressing up in the Brisbane Lions team colours. They painted their faces in the team colours and enthusiastically cheered at each goal.

International Student Program

They loved learning the lyrics to the Lion’s team song and joined in with the fans in singing it when they won! A special thanks to Miss Dennion and Miss Wakeling for coming along, and Mr McDonough and Mr Stewart for organizing the excursion.

Our International Student Program offers our students, families and community an opportunity for cultural exchange with students from other countries and developing global connections and friendships. Of course, we also have the privilege of showing off our wonderful part of the world.

Our Homestay families are really excited to host the international students and walk them through their journey of living the Australian way of life. The students have had an introduction to BBQs, our beach lifestyle, local sporting and recreational activities.

For more information regarding the homestay experience, please contact Ms Terri Shine on 5471 5303 or 0418 185 809, or email tshin0@eq.edu.au

Terri Shine
ISP Homestay Coordinator

Free workshops for Supervisors of Learner Drivers

Are you teaching someone how to drive? Want some advice on how best to prepare your learner and keep them safe on the road?

If you’re interested in learning the important first steps in how to teach your learner driver and ensure they are safe and proficient drivers, book into the next workshop (details provided below) or contact Helenea for more information on 0417 733 906.

Planning for Success: Workshop details (bookings are essential)

Date: Tuesday 13 September 2022

Time: 4pm – 6pm

Location: Maroochydore area – venue and address details provided at time of booking

Bookings: To book, contact Helenea from the Road Safety team on 0417 733 906

“Please stay safe on the roads”
Department of Transport and Main Roads

Dates for your diary – Term 3 & 4/2022

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 the website below. 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) helps 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

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