3 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Term 1 is well underway with a number of key events already taken place. Congratulations to all students who contributed on the day whether that be in championship or participation events, your efforts were appreciated. In the end it was Tunbubudla who were victorious. Thanks to all the staff for their organisation and to the parents who attended and supported their children.

Welcome again to the parents of our new enrolments for 2017 in particular our Year 7’s. The information night on February 9th was well attended and the opportunity to meet with the year 7 teachers was appreciated by the parents who attended the classroom sessions.

The school priorities for 2017 were listed in last month’s newsletter. With one of the priories being ATTENDANCE, letters will be sent to students with attendance rates that need urgent attention. This is particularly important to all students in Years 11 and 12 who may not be adhering to the schools Senior Agreement.

Last week our school leaders attended a GRIP session at the Lake Kawana Community Centre. The Core values that were addressed at the forum were around Generosity, Responsibility, Integrity and People. These presentations will help our leaders transfer their great ideas into reality to assist in making Beerwah SHS a better place.

Reminder

All parents are reminded that email is a major form of communication that the school uses for the purpose of report cards and financial statements. Please ensure that your contact details are accurate.

Glen Robinson
Principal

Please email admin@beerwahshs.eq.edu.au if you have not received any form of financial correspondence i.e Invoices or Statements. All invoices were emailed in Mid January. Please be aware payment of the Student Resource Scheme was due Friday 3rd February 2017 or by the end of Term 3 (if you have discussed and had a plan signed off by administration). Subject fees are due in full by end of Term 1 Friday 31st March 2017 unless special arrangement has been granted by administration.

Sports News

Cheer Cup

Cheer Cup is Beerwah High’s unique tradition to kick off the sporting calendar. Each house create and perform their own cheer to compete for the honour of winning our first inter-house trophy for the year. It was great to see another closely contested Cheer Cup this year with many unique cheers, war-cries, costumes, actions and dances. In the end Mikeeteebumblegrai took out first place honours with their cheer “We’re bringing Cheer Cup back”. Congratulations to all students who contributed to this wonderful event which focuses on developing both house and school pride.

Swimming Carnival

On Tuesday the 7th of February, students participated in our annual Inter-House Swimming Carnival. Battling the hot conditions, students raced in both 25m and 50m events as well as in house relay events. Students swam, danced and belly-flopped their way to earning house points and in the end, Tunbubudla finished in first place. A statistical analysis showed that Tunbubudla had almost 10% more students swimming in events than the other houses, proving again that participation is the key to winning Inter-House events. Sadly, participation alone was not enough for the staff to continue their success in the staff vs student relay event and staff look forward to reclaiming their title next year.

Congratulations to our Age Champions:

12 years - Poppy Ives, Tyson Baker and Kayleb Josey
13 years - Chevarny Norcott, Jordy Wilson
14 years - Bronte Hume and Jessica Pilarski, Nicholas Hind
15 years - Taylor Harvey, James Poole
16 years - Rose Mickelson , Todd Donnelly
17+ years - Emma Milne, Will Harvey

Finally, thank you to all students who represented Beerwah at the district swimming carnival. Students in our team all performed to their best ability with many swimming additional races to fill vacant spots. Congratulations and best of luck to Poppy Ives who has qualified to swim at the Regional Trials.

Triathlon

Nominations will open soon for our school triathlon which will be held on Tuesday the 28th of March. While it is compulsory for all Athletics Excellence and Senior Physical Education students, we welcome and encourage all students to compete. Students should listen out for notices in form class for more details or ask their HPE teacher.

AEP

Year 9 AEP students have been training hard in preparation for the school triathlon on Tuesday, 28th March. In our swimming sessions, students select the training program that best matches their swimming ability. While some students are swimming around 2km in a single lesson, all students are working their best and improving their swimming ability. Triathlon nomination forms and permission letters are now available from your HPE teacher.

Belinda Kerr
Health and Physical Education Teacher

Netball Update

Monday night netball is underway and Beerwah is fielding three teams in the 2017 competition. The fourth round is coming up and the competition has been tough. The senior team have been ferocious in their efforts on court and the Year 7 team have had two wins for the season and are starting to get to know each other as a team.

Our Year 8 team have struggled with player changes and there is currently an opening for a player on this team. If you are a Year 7/8 student who can commit to this team for the next 6 games, please contact Mrs Ballard.

For the first time, Beerwah is supplying its own umpires. Nikita Temomo-Kreet and Deneille Stuparich have been umpiring on behalf of the school at this elite competition and we have received very good feedback on their efforts.

Thank you to all the parents who have been wonderful so far in getting the students to and from the event. There would be no competition without you.

Sharlene Ballard
HOY 12

Spotlight on Spanish

Spotlight on Spanish

All too often we hear students ask, “Why do I need to learn Spanish when people all over the world speak English?” The question may seem reasonable when considered with the fact that there are more bilinguals and multilinguals in the world than monolinguals and that many of those bilinguals and multilinguals speak English. In her TedEd presentation, “The benefits of a bilingual brain,” Mia Nacamulli examined a number of points that are worth considering.

“Besides having an easier time traveling or watching movies without subtitles, knowing two or more languages means that your brain may actually look and work differently than those of your monolingual friends.

“Recent advances in brain imaging technology have given neurolinguists a glimpse into how specific aspects of language learning affect the bilingual brain. It's well known that the brain's left hemisphere is more dominant and analytical in logical processes, while the right hemisphere is more active in emotional and social ones, though this is a matter of degree, not an absolute split. The fact that language involves both types of functions while lateralization develops gradually with age, has lead to the critical period hypothesis. According to this theory, children learn languages more easily because the plasticity of their developing brains lets them use both hemispheres in language acquisition, while in most adults; language is lateralized to one hemisphere, usually the left. If this is true, learning a language in childhood may give you a more holistic grasp of its social and emotional contexts.

“Regardless of when you acquire additional languages, being multilingual gives your brain some remarkable advantages. Some of these are even visible, such as higher density of the grey matter that contains most of your brain's neurons and synapses, and more activity in certain regions when engaging a second language. The heightened workout a bilingual brain receives throughout its life can also help delay the onset of diseases, like Alzheimer's and dementia by as much as five years.

“A recent study showed that the effort and attention needed to switch between languages triggered more activity in, and potentially strengthened, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that plays a large role in executive function, problem solving, switching between tasks, and focusing while filtering out irrelevant information.

“So, while bilingualism may not necessarily make you smarter, it does make your brain more healthy, complex and actively engaged.”

So, when students ask why they should be studying Spanish, I tell them that learning phrases and words is only one part of the reason. While they may or may not travel and they may or may not use Spanish as much as I’d hope in their future, they will use their brain. A healthy, strong, active, focused and complex brain is certainly a valuable outcome when learning an additional language.

“The benefits of a bilingual brain” by Mia Nacamulli, published on Jun 23, 2015 can be found at:

Karli Peason
Spanish and Biology teacher

Academic & Cultural Cup 2017 – ‘A Prime Year to Challenge Yourself!’

By Peter Voigt (Academic & Cultural Cup Coordinator/Teacher Aide – Learning Support)

Congratulations team Ngungun on your win last year of the second annual BSHS Academic & Cultural Cup.

A sunny yellow mortar board has risen and now crowns the cup, until it is forced to set towards the end of the year. Will 2017 see the cup adorned with either light blue or dark blue for the first time? 2017 is a very special prime number; the prime number before 2017 is 2017 + (2-0-1-7) and the prime number after 2017 is 2017 + (2+0+1+7); could this be a sign that maroon or yellow is primed to take out the prize for a second year?

As evidenced during the recent Cheer Cup and Swimming Carnival, team spirits are fuelled and ready to fire. Teams Ngungun, Miketeebumulgrai, Tunbubudla and Tibberoowuccum are in the starting blocks and waiting for the starter’s gun.

So what can you do to help your team edge ahead and possibly take out the crown in November?

• The easiest way is to achieve as many PB’s in class as possible. All A’s, B’s and C’s attained for subject achievement will earn 10, 5 and 1 points respectively.
• If there’s an organised competition that’s spiked your interest, take part and earn an automatic 2 points for representing our school. Attain a high distinction, distinction or credit and receive a massive 50, 30 and 10 points respectively.
• Represent our school academically or culturally as part of a team such as Vocal Group, Dance Company, the musical cast and crew, Stage Band, Concert Band and Tech Crew (individuals are rewarded with 50% point allocations for being part of a team)
• Take part in one of our special in-school annual events such as Dance Night, Spelling Bee Tournament, Mathematics Tournament, Battle of The Bands and Music Night
• Represent our school academically or culturally at events such as Leadership Conferences, Anzac Day Dawn Service, Voices on the Coast Workshop and Reader’s Cup

So slip into those Bloch jazz shoes; trim the fingernails on your fretting hand; change the batteries in your calculator; setup the easel, open your recipe book, find your thesaurus, practise speaking in Spanish, try on a legal wig and find the character within. Our Academic and Cultural Cup is all about having fun and trying new things. Dare to have a go at something new in 2017!

Keep your eyes and ears open for in-school competitions that will be held later this year. There will be a huge pool of points up for grabs. Towards the end of term two we will once again roll the grass and spray the white lines for our third annual spelling bee tournament, stylized on a knockout tennis tournament. This has proved to be a very popular tournament with more than 15% of the student body taking part in last year’s edition. Later in the year the Mathematics Department will conduct a competition to test your number skills, strategies, literacy knowledge and abilities under pressure in a Mathematics competition designed to stimulate the mind and exercise those calculating fingers. The trivia quiz will also see a return in 2017, and there are a number of other in-school offerings on the drawing board (I’ve heard whispers that sound a little like ‘Amazing Race’).

Your mission in 2017 should you choose to take it; nominate for competitions, become a valued member of a team, dance, act, sing, paint, cook and play music; every point counts. Our first two cups have been decided by a small amount of points and team spirit and participation could once again prove to be the difference. In term four we will crown the third winner of our Academic & Cultural Cup. We will also add the name of the top male and female student to our Scholastic Almanac for each grade, with medallions and awards presented at our ceremony in term four.

Your participation and enthusiasm will decide which mortar board will replace the yellow of Ngungun. Will yellow have an extended stay on top, or will maroon (Budla) return for a second win, or will light blue (Wuccum) or dark blue (Miketee) win the honour of sitting on top for the first time? Good Luck to all four of our Beerwah High houses. The starter’s gun has now been fired and we have all left the blocks. Where are your feet taking you?

GRIP Leadership Conference

On Friday the 17th of February a group of junior and senior leaders attended a GRIP Leadership Conference at the Lake Kawana Community Centre.

The theme for the conference was RESPONSIBILTY with the following statement being the focus of the day: “Responsibility in leadership means accepting the duty to contribute to others and follow through on expectations.”

The leaders participated in the set sessions: The compass of a leadership team and the 4 expectations of responsibility. Breakout sessions included: Generating ideas that are outside the box, overcoming the challenges of leadership, gaining the support of your peers and turning ideas into action.

The senior school captains spent part of their morning tea hearing how to make assemblies amazing.

It was great to see Beerwah SHS leaders participating in the workshop and meeting leaders from other schools. The sessions were interspersed with activities that got the students out of their seats to meet other student leaders and to foster healthy competitions between schools and groups within the room.

The student leaders are now tasked with the responsibility to put some of the ideas they came up with at the conference into action this semester.

Ms Leanne Young
Head of Department: Senior Secondary
Junior Science and Senior Mathematics A Teacher

Dance Update

Year 12 Dance: these students were too hot to handle in their first performance task of STEAM HEAT. Their work ethic during this rehearsal process was outstanding!

Jessica Rossberg
Dance Teacher

Year 8 Geography Excursion

Students had fun visiting Wildhorse Mountain as part of their Geography unit on Landscapes and Landforms.

Danae Richter
Acting HOD Humanities/Business

School based traineeships/apprenticeships (SATs)

There have been a number of advertised vacancies and sign-ups so far in term 1. Students are following alternative pathways in a variety of industries including Hospitality, Early Childhood Education, Sport & Recreation and Retail Services. These school based traineeships are allowing students to combine paid work while gaining a qualification. Students are focussed on balancing school work, study and part time employment.

Congratulations to –

Chloe Pitt – Cert III Early Childhood Education & Care, Mountain Creek Early Childhood Centre
Thomas Logan – Cert III Hospitality, Gloria Jeans, Caloundra
Sherkia Sciortino – Cert III Hospitality, BP Landsborough
Renee Blacker – Cert III Hospitality, Glass House Country Kitchen
Todd Donnelly – Cert III Hospitality, Glass House Country Kitchen
Brent Strong – Cert II Horticulture, host employer Plant Biotech, Palmview
Emma Leddington-Hill – Cert III Business (Food Speciality), Smokey’s Chargrill Burgers

SAT Completion:

Congratulations to

Elizabeth MacDonald – Cert III Business, Subway
Lily Standring – Cert II Retail Operations, McDonalds

Current Vacancies:

SAT Hospitality – Bombay Bliss, Beerwah
SAT Hospitality – Flow Café, Morayfield
2 x School Based Apprenticeship Hairdressing – The Edge Salon, Beerwah

For all vacancies see the ILC noticeboard and listen to student notices. For further details see Ms Skerman in the ILC.

Sunshine Coast Technical Trade Training Centre

Programs at TTC allow students to study a 12 month qualification in fields such as Construction, Plumbing, Automotive Servicing and Electro technology, attending one day per week. The facilities at TTC include extensive fully equipped work shops where students are provided with practical training in their chosen field. Students also gain valuable employability skills and the opportunity to link with industry. Structured workplace learning is also a valuable part of each student’s learning at the SCTTTC.

In week 4 it was confirmed that a fourth Cert I Construction class was to commence on Friday 17th February. Congratulations to Josh Hamilton and John Neville who were successful in securing a placement in this course.

2018 enrolment opportunities will be offered to our current year 10 and 11 students in Term 3, 2017. Courses at TTC are VETiS funded – students are only allowed one allocation of VETiS funding and so the choice of where this is used must be considered very carefully. Some certificate courses at school are also VETiS funded (including Tourism, Hospitality, Construction, Furnishing Pathways and Engineering Pathways).

Certificate Courses

The Certificate II Health Support Services students have continued to enjoy their study. Axiom College trainer, Kerry has provided great feedback on the 11 enrolled students.

“The girls are working very well together as a team, helping and supporting one another with their work.”

Congratulations students on your maturity and focus as you take advantage of the opportunity to gain your qualification.

Update: Dual Cert II Salon Assistant & Cert II Retail Cosmetics

The dual course is due to commence on Wednesday 19th April 2017. This course is VETiS funded for eligible students or fee for service $500. Training will take place in the ILC and PA block every Wednesday through to the end of term 3. Enrolment packs are now available and interested students must complete and return documentation before 29th March 2017.

External Courses

School to work transition program

Courses in Logistics and Health Support Services commenced on 16th February and year 12 students Sarah Lilliecrapp, Izaac Chaseling and Jackson Attwood will attend TAFE for 5 weeks followed by specific structured work placement for 20 weeks. The programs GenR8 and AllevE8 will provide students will both a valuable qualification and work experience with opportunities for pathways post school.

GenR8, Caboolture

The Edge Vocational Education

The Edge is a training salon which has recently opened in Beerwah. Owner and trainer Jenna Crane is offering courses including an introduction to salon industry (fee for service $250 + GST) and SHB20216 Cert II Salon Assistant (VETiS funded or fee for service $2750). With links and networks to industry and business all over the Sunshine Coast, The Edge salon is able to assist students in pathways of hairdressing, beauty and barbering. The course flyer is on display at the ILC.

Helen Skerman
Industry Liaison Officer
Beerwah State High School