1 November 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome back everyone to term four. I hope everyone had a great Spring break with your students.

Since our last newsletter, there have been so many amazing opportunities and experiences happening for the students of Beerwah State High School.

Six senior students spent the whole two weeks of the holidays on the trip of a lifetime, travelling around Spain and learning more about the country and the Spanish language. The students have reported that the trip was amazing, and was something that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Mrs Tanya McIlveen, who organised the trip and accompanied the students, was extremely impressed with the students, stating that she was very proud of them and that they impressed everyone they met. Congratulations to the students on their great trip, and a massive thank you to Mrs McIlveen for organising and giving up her holidays to enable the students to have such an amazing adventure.

Also on the holidays, a number of Beerwah State High School students participated in the Oztag Schools Cup competition at Kawana. Three teams participated on the weekend; a boy’s open team, a girl’s Year Eight team, and a boy’s Year Eight team. The Year Eight boys made the playoffs on Sunday, going down by the barest of margins to their opponents. All teams played with incredible effort and sportsmanship, were great representatives for the school, and all improved significantly over the competition.

A massive thanks to Emma Liesegang and Nick Stead for giving up three days of their holidays to look after and coach the students at this competition. It is a huge effort and one that I am sure that the students and their parents also appreciated very much.

On the first day back of term, a large number of very talented Beerwah State High Students were involved in the Beerwah State High School Music Night. It was a fantastic evening with a variety of student talents on display, including the Coalition Band, Stage Band, Concert Band, Rock Band, Percussion Trio, Vocal Group, French Horn Duet, Vocal solos and Piano solo performers. A truly magical night of entertainment.

Thank you to all of the parents and carers who came along to support all of the performers on the evening. Also a massive thank you to all of the staff who made the evening possible through their hard work and preparation with the students. Thank you to Clare Deady, Nathan Hill, Will Audley, Rebecca Stephenson, Jess Rossberg and Michelle Peters for all their work in preparing the students, and/or preparing and organising the evening.

On Thursday, October 24 and Friday October 25, a group of very talented students presented the Beerwah State High School Dance nights. These were two spectacular evenings, where these inspiring students entertained the audiences of a packed out Performing Arts block. Congratulations to the students for their amazing efforts and performances, and a very special thank you to our amazing dance teachers, Ms Jess Rossberg and Ms Michelle Peters for their hard work, commitment and endeavour in producing such an outstanding and entertaining evening.

On Friday October 11, the Caloundra Community Awards were held CCSA Hall in Caloundra. The following students received nominations for awards on the day:

All nominees received a certificate of achievement at the event, acknowledging their nomination for these prestigious awards

On Monday 14, October the school held its fifth annual Academic and Cultural Cup Awards ceremony. It was a fantastic ceremony, showcasing the talents of the students and staff to the whole school cohort. Below are the students who won the year level prizes this year for the academic cup:

The winning house for this year was TUNBUBUDLA!

Congratulations and thank you to all who performed, participated and organised the event, particularly Mr Peter Voight who did so much to ensure it was a fantastic event.

Thank you also to all of the local businesses who supported the event through vouchers and prizes; in total over $650!

School Trip

Arrangements and organisation has now begun in preparation for a school ski trip in 2020. The trip is looking to travel to Queenstown in New Zealand on the first week of the September holidays next year. Students in Year Eleven and Twelve in 2020 will have the opportunity to be a part of this trip. Information was given out to interested students on Monday. If parents would like any further information, they can contact Mr Steve Jeffrey at the school.

Laptop Hire Scheme

Planning has also commenced for a Laptop hire scheme to commence in 2020 to compliment the current BYOD program within the school. For 2020, this program will be available to students in Year Seven and Eight, with the aim to have every student in these grades with a laptop available for use every day of school. More information regarding this will be distributed to the relevant students in the near future.

School Drop Off

Can I remind parents that when dropping off students at the front of the school, there is an allocated “stop and drop” area where cars can stop safely to let students out of the car. Please use this space if not parking in the parking lot; some are stopping at the entrance of the parking area which is causing a potentially dangerous situation behind them as cars as forced to stop and block the bus entrance.

Term Four

Term four will be a very busy term, with a number of official school events occurring to mark the end of the year and the successes of our sensational students.

Some of the important events coming up in the next couple of weeks include:

Matt Samson
Acting Principal

2019 Awards Night

Congratulations to all the students who received awards at the annual Beerwah State High Schools Awards Night. On Tuesday, October 29 two hundred and twenty students received recognition for their achievements throughout 2019. Three hundred and five awards were handed out. Below is a selection of the many photos that were taken on the night.

Vanessa Bond
Administration Officer

Deputy Principals Report

Welcome to term four. I hope that all students and families had a fabulous break over the holidays and enjoyed the more relaxed pace. Term four is a busy term and it is all about learning. Our Year Twelve students have two weeks to go until their graduation and are very busy working towards their final piece of assessment in each subject. We wish them all the best for their final weeks and look forward to seeing them all dressed up at the formal.

Year Ten and Eleven students have four weeks to go until they finish up for the year. I would encourage all students to check in with their teachers about any work that they have outstanding. All students will be expected at school until all work is completed in full.

Thank you to all the students and families who are supporting our uniform, jewellery and mobile phone policy. We are enforcing our expectations of these policies and ask that all students abide by them. We are proud of Beerwah State High School students and our hope is for each student to be the best that they can be.

We wished our teaching staff a Happy World Teachers Day on the October 25 by celebrating with a morning tea and a cake. The teachers are Beerwah State High School go above and beyond for our students and world teachers day was a great way of acknowledging that work.

Everything that we do here at Beerwah State High School is to support the learning outcomes of every student.

Have a great term four.

Sam Burchall
Deputy Principal

Queensland Ready Reading Program

The Ready Reading program invites parents and community members to make a difference in their local community by volunteering in schools to support children’s reading.

Reading is a powerful tool to help children grow their vocabulary, language skills and imagination. It helps them to develop life-long skills that will support their future growth and learning.

The Department of Education’s Reading Centre and Volunteering Queensland are working together to help improve literacy for children in Queensland by training up to 3000 volunteers to share their knowledge and time to foster a love of reading.

Register your interest to become a Ready Reading volunteer.

Future Pathways

Sunshine Coast Technical Trade Training Centre 2020

First round interviews took place on Thursday, October 24 with Brant from the TTC meeting twenty students seeking placement in 2020 programs. Students also attended a preparation session with senior Industrial Design teachers, Mr Bell and Mr Forrest the day before. This provides students with valuable insight into trade careers, participation at the TTC and tips for interviews. Though many felt some nerves before the interview, our students have commented that they found the session worthwhile. Congratulations students on successfully completing this stage of the application process.

SCTTTC Information Evening

A second information eventing is scheduled to be held at the SCTTTC, 40 Bower Street, Caloundra on Tuesday, October 29 at 6.15pm. This is an opportunity to see the facilities, hear first-hand about course offerings and meet face to face with trainers.

RSVP to tttcadmin@caloundrashs.eq.edu.au or phone 5499 5222

New program on offer

The TTC are advertising the new programs offered in 2020 to Year Eleven and Twelve students.

Cert II Salon Assistant SHB20216 AND Certificate II Retail Cosmetics SHB20116
Cert II Salon Assistant (Barbering) SHB20216

Both programs are VETiS funded with students attending one day a week. Students will also complete eighty hours of structured workplace learning. The dual course gains five QCE points and the Barbering course four QCE points. Expressions of interest are being accepted.

An information afternoon will be held on Wednesday, November 6 from 4pm at the TTC in Caloundra, providing students and families the opportunity to find out more about this exciting opportunity. RSVP to tttcadmin@caloundrashs.eq.edu.au or phone 5499 5222

School based apprenticeships and traineeships (SATs)

As the term progresses, our Year Twelve trainees are working towards completion of their certificate qualifications and ensuring they have worked the required amount of paid hours. Completion of both theory training and work hours will mean that students receive two certificates and bank QCE points.

Current Vacancies

Resumes are still being accepted for Hospitality traineeship with Subway, Glass House Mountains and a Hospitality traineeship with café attendant/barista duties in a local Landsborough coffee shop.

Interested Year Ten or Eleven students should see Mrs Forrest for details. Year Elevens should note that seven hundred and fifty hours of paid work plus the full qualification study need to be completed before the traineeship is eligible for completion.

Students should also remember that it is possible to turn their part time job into a school-based traineeship. Interested students should make a time to see me.

Career Development Website

As the end of year approaches, our Beerwah graduates will be considering career pathways, study options or full time work and many other students may be looking for a part time jobs. The My Future website has collated some resources that are helpful to students in researching and preparing to find work.

Information on:

• Occupations
• Industries
• Career Insight
• Courses
• Institutions and organisations
• Create a career profile

View the job search resources here:

Graduate Interviews

In week four this term I will be conducting interviews with our Non-OP Year Twelve students. This is a chance for us to discuss career action plans and for students to receive helpful information to assist them in their chosen pathways. The Build You Future after school brochure, containing many helpful links in relation to study, employment and funding option, will be available for students. Students can also complete an expression of interest with the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, which will place their details on a mailing list to hear more about finding a job, what they can do when they leave school and on training and employment programs that might suit them. These handouts will be made available to all of our graduating seniors.

Helen Forrest
Industry Liason Officer

Academic and Cultural Cup

On Monday, October 14, Beerwah High celebrated its fifth annual Academic & Cultural Cup. Teachers and students were entertained by an array of talent which included performances by our award-winning Dance Company, the beats of a fantastic small drum ensemble, the beautiful harmonic tones of Beerwah High’s vocal group, and some electric rock performances by both a student band and “Rockin’ it Like they’re Still Kids” teacher band.

Congratulations to Team Tunbubudla, who managed a three-peat of cups, making it four wins out of five cups. A maroon mortarboard will again grace the beautiful Academic & Cultural Champions’ trophy for another twelve months.

Support from local business during the first five years of this exciting initiative has been incredible and our awardees are always extremely surprised and excited to receive their prizes. A massive thank you to local businesses listed below for once again providing some amazing age champion prizes. Their continued support is playing a huge role in our endeavours to carry the academic culture of our school to even loftier heights.

Special congratulations this year to our Dance Company (Team High Distinction) who had an amazing year. Below is a list of some of their achievements.

Concert Band (Team Distinction) once again had a hugely successful year, placing first at the Sunshine Coast Music Eisteddfod and receiving a Gold Award for an outstanding performance at the Australian Schools Band and Orchestra Festival whilst on their recent tour of Sydney.

This year six new and six returning year level male and female champions added their names to the Beerwah State High School Scholastic Almanac. The beautiful leather-bound book of parchment paper was signed by our champions, adding to the history of age champions which is held within its pages. Students earn ten points for achieving an A standard in a subject, five points for a B and one point for a C. Points are also earned for all extra-curricular endeavours undertaken by students using a scoring system of fifty points for a High Distinction, thirty points for a Distinction, ten points for a Credit and tow points for participation. Examples of some extra-curricular endeavours this year include several mathematics, literary and science competitions; the in-school spelling bee and trivia competitions; Creative Generations excellence awards; and representation of the school at events such as Anzac Day Dawn Service, Write a Book in a Day and Voices on the Coast. Students also earn points for being part of a school team within the academic and cultural fields. Points are allocated using a system of twenty points for a Team High Distinction, fifteen points for a Team Distinction, five points for a Team Credit and two points for Team Participation. Examples of the many teams that students have the opportunity to be part of at Beerwah High are Dance Company, Vocal Group, Stage Band, Concert Band, Tech Crew, Theatre Restaurant and our Music Night and Dance Night showcases.

Our school is blessed with so many talented and enthusiastic students and teachers on board. Our plane has reached its flying altitude and some very exciting destinations are in store for all passengers aboard the Beerwah State High School airliner!

2019 Age Champions

For details and photos of year level champions please click on the following link.

The top 20 point scorers can be viewed via the attached links.

Peter Voigt
Academic and Cultural Cup Coordinator/Teacher Aide – Learning Support

2019 Trivia Tournament

Beerwah State High’s annual trivia tournament was a huge success once again in 2019. More than one hundred and fifty students across five year levels competed in heats, semi-finals and finals.

Again, the teams used a clever combination of knowledge and strategy to win points and heats. Hook Me Up cards earned teams a hint; the Rebound Shot cards gave a new question; the Crowd Surfing cards tapped into the brains of the audience; Split the Defence eliminated two multiple-choice answers – but the Power Play cards were the real testers. These were either winning shots or a chance to stifle the opposition. The buzzer rounds in the grand finals were both tense and exciting.

Our winning teams this year were:

Year Eleven and Twelve: Jade, Breanne, Lulu, Ashley and Liam (TUNBUBUDLA)

Year Ten: Jayde, Callum, Dallas, Kane and Kirby (NGUNNGUN)

Year Nine: Tyson, Matthew, Jackson, Kai and Ethan (MIKETEE)

Year Eight: Sophie, Lily, Kameli, Marney and Tyla (TUNBUBUDLA)

Year Seven: Jack, Anastasia, Bodhi, Jaksen and Anthony. (TIBBEROOWUCCUM)

We celebrated with a pizza party! Congratulations to the winners and all the participants. It was another exciting tournament. See you again next year.

Lyn Hansen
Teacher and Literacy Coach

Beerwah Dance Company

Dance Night 2019

Over one hundred students from Dance Company, Dance Team, Year Seven Dance Troupe, Year Eight Dance Extension, Year Nine Dance, Year Nine Dance Extension, Year Ten Dance, Year Eleven and Vocal Group worked hard in the recent weeks with rehearsals and two successful Dance Nights.

Along with the dedicated and hardworking staff, students have pulled off two excellent shows, gaining rave reviews from packed out audiences. Well done to the students on their Beerwah Best!

Many thanks must go to our wonderful staff support who came in to help out on the night, prepare before the event or just offer moral support

Jessica Rossberg and Michelle Peters
Dance Teachers and Dance Night Coordinators

2020 Snow Trip

Expressions of Interest for the 2020 New Zealand Snow Trip are closing soon.

In the September school holidays we will be heading to Queenstown, New Zealand for one week for a snow excursion. No experience required! Interested students are to see Ms Buchanan or Mr Jeffrey know of your interest by November 8.

Lani Buchanan
Teacher

2019 Spanish Trip

In the September school holidays, six intrepid Beerwah students-Amelia, Ashley, Jade, Jayden, Tyler and James set off, for what would be a trip of a lifetime.

For the first week of our trip, we stayed with host families in the beautiful city of Salamanca and attended language classes. In the afternoons, we had plenty of time to discover the magic of this beautiful city and marvel at centuries old churches and buildings, while taking time to stop for churros and to shop.

The second week we travelled to Lisboa, Sevilla, Granada y Toledo, before making our way back to Madrid. We even managed to squeeze in an amazing Flamenco performance in Granada and Jayden had the opportunity to watch Sevilla play Real Sociedad in the Spanish Liga.

Spain is such a special place and each student has come back with more confidence, not only in the Spanish language but in their ability to face challenges and navigate through the unknown. I am sure this will not be the last time these students visit Spain. This was such an amazing opportunity for these six students and hopefully more eager Spanish students here at Beerwah will go in the future. Hasta pronto España!

Tanya McIlveen
Spanish Teacher

Year Nine Academic Rewards Day

Forty two Year Nine students enjoyed a trip to Movie World in acknowledgement for the effort they have put into all their subjects over the year. Students (and supervising teachers) had a fantastic time facing their fear of heights - or feeding their need for speed - on the rollercoasters. These students represented Beerwah State High School’s core values of respect, safety and responsibility both on the excursion and also every day at school this year.

Kayla Monk
Numeracy Coach

Queensland Oztag School Challenge Cup

On the last weekend of the holidays, three teams from Beerwah State High School attended the annual Queensland Oztag Schools Challenge Cup at the Sunshine Coast Stadium. The teams consisted of students from Year Seven and Eight for the Year Eight Girls and Boys teams, and boys from Year Nine to Twelve for the Year Twelve Boys team. With limited interchanges, all students played their hearts out, stepping up and performing well for their team and representing their school proudly. Many tries were scored across the three teams. Of significant note though, was the Year Eight Boys team, who won three out of the six games to allow them to progress through to the quarter finals. In a thrilling game, the boys unfortunately went down by one point to Mountain Creek State High School. However, Matthew Poole was lucky enough to be selected in the Queensland All Stars Merit Side. Congratulations to Matt!

Emma Liesegang
HPE Teacher

Mental Health Week

During week two of this term, we celebrated Mental Health Week at Beerwah State High School. The highlight was the inaugural whole of school Macarena on parade. The juniors outshone the seniors on this occasion. Beyond Blue armbands were also distributed. The message was ‘Thrive: nurture your mental health’, and junior leader Sophie Bowen spoke on parade encouraging all students to care for themselves and seek help if needed.

Student Achievement

Year Nine student Poppy Ives was a finalist for the Young Achiever of the Year Award in the 2019 Caloundra Electorate Community Awards in recognition of her work with the Australian Marine Debris initiative, Wildlife Warrior workshops; co-ordination of Beach Clean ups and Surf Lifesaving work. Congratulations, Poppy,

Sharlene Ballard
Year Nine HOY

Tuckshop and Uniform Shop News

Sock Survey

It has been proposed by students (and a petition commenced) to include plain black socks as an alternative to our current plain white socks as part of the uniform. The P&C would like to hear your opinion by answering one simple question: Should the school continue with plain white socks only or change to option between plain white OR plain black

Please have your say by completing the survey below.

Reduced Opening Hours

Commencing term four 2019 new dedicated uniform shop opening hours will commence:

Tuesday 12.30pm – 1.00pm
Friday 8.00am – 9.00am

In addition, the uniform shop will be open extended hours the week prior to school commencing 2020. We are happy to take payments over the phone and organise collection from canteen or school office outside these hours. We are also happy to arrange appointments outside these hours by phoning the canteen/ uniform shop on 5494 0960.

Uniform Price increases

Due to supplier price increases the following prices will apply from commencement of term four 2019:

New boys formal ties will be available from next year – price remains $20.

From 2020 girls formal blouses will be provided with a tab tie included in the price.

Justine Baker
P&C President

Jen Morris
School Nurse

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