28 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome back everybody to an exciting new school year at Beerwah State High School. The start of the year is always an exciting time, with our new Year Sevens arriving in the school, and all other students commencing their studies in their next year levels.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our Year Seven students and their parents/carers and also to all of our new students and families in all other year levels. Welcome to the Beerwah State High School community.

It is also a special and exciting time for our Year Twelve students, who begin their final year of formal schooling. We wish them all the best of luck for this very important year, and look forward to working with each of them as they strive to reach their goals for the year. I have been meeting each of these amazing young people over the first few weeks of school, discussing their goals and aspirations for the future, and have been extremely impressed with each of them and their plans for their futures after school.

At our first school assemblies, I have challenged each student to make this the best year of their schooling so far. I have encouraged them to reflect on what they could have done better in the past, and to learn from these mistakes so that they commence this year organised and remain better prepared for what the year has ahead for them.

In regards to our Year Twelve student cohort who graduated in 2019, I am very pleased to announce that we received 100% success rate in achieving their QCE (Queensland Certificate of Education) and some very pleasing OP (Overall Position) results, with three students receiving an OP one - five, seven students receiving an OP six - ten, thirteen students receiving an OP eleven - fifteen, and four students receiving an OP sixteen - twenty. The pleasing outcome of these results is that we are confident that every student received an OP that enabled them to receive an offer at a university in a course of their choice, and a positive start to their life after high school.

At Beerwah State High School, we also continue to strive to create opportunities for students to engage in new and exciting opportunities and experiences, while also looking to provide opportunities for parents to engage with the school.

Already this year, the students have been involved in the Cheer Cup competition and the school Swimming Carnival, with a number of students then going on to represent the school at the District Swimming Carnival.

Parents have engaged in our Year Seven parent “meet and greet” evening, where they had the opportunity to meet their student’s teachers for the year. We have also recently held a Roadcraft information evening, where parents came along to hear about the amazing driver education program that our older students have the opportunity to engage in later in the year.

Can I encourage any parent who has a student of or nearing driving age to look into this very worthwhile program which has the potential to save lives and minimize the risk of serious road accidents? If you would like any information regarding this please contact the school and ask to speak to either our school Chaplain, Mr Mike Turner, or our Head of Senior School, Ms Leanne Young.

Parents have also engaged in our first P&C meeting of the year last week, and it was pleasing to see some excellent numbers at the meeting with some new faces present to hear about the great things happening at the school. The next P&C meeting is Tuesday, March 10 at 6pm in the school office and all are welcome.

Can I please remind parents dropping off students at school, that there is a drop off zone on the main road towards the end of the park zone? If parents do enter the parking area, can we please enter the area and park before dropping off students, so that all is done in a safe manner? This area is shared by buses entering this zone, so if cars stop blocking the entrance this can cause an unsafe situation.

Also, a reminder that parents are requested not to enter car parks in the school itself to drop off students as this can again can cause dangerous situations, particularly just prior to and after school. There are handicap drop offs within the school to assist parents with students with disabilities so please contact the school if you require to use these for your student. Thank you to the majority of parents who do the right thing in these zones every day to help ensure the safety of our students.

I am very proud to inform everyone that one of our amazing students, Deegan York, has been selected in the Australian Junior Roller Derby Team who will be travelling and competing in Canada on August 15 and 16 this year. We wish Deegan all the best on this incredible achievement.

I wish you all a fantastic 2020, and look forward to working with you to ensure the best educational outcomes for your student in 2020 and beyond.

Matt Samson
Acting Principal

Deputy Principals Report

Happy New Year to all of our families, students and community,

It has been a fantastic start to 2020 here at Beerwah State High School! We welcome our Year Seven students as they transition into high school and become familiar with our rules, routines and procedures. Mark Cavanagh has been working hard to ensure that each and every Year Seven student feels supported, can find their way around and is working on being the best that they can be. It was so fantastic to meet so many of our parents at the Year Seven parent evening. Thank you to all parents for coming along to meet the teachers and supporting your students.

We welcome Mrs Karen Sharp back this year who will be continuing in her role as Year Eight Head of Year.

We are proud of our semester two reporting data in the Junior Secondary School. My challenge to each and every student and family is to go back and have a look at those results from 2019 and reflect on what subject results can be improved. What subject can you and your student target and aim towards gaining an improved result? This may be that you look at moving from a C standard to a B standard. All of our Junior Secondary teachers are working hard to work individually with students to focus on improvement.

Junior Secondary Reporting Data Semester 2 2020

Positive Feedback from the Junior Secondary School

Congratulations to the following Year Eight students for being recognised by their teachers

Congratulations goes to Lexie in 9K. She was invited to perform at Sydney’s annual Ukulele Festival where they performed a set of six songs. Lexie also entered a nine thousand five hundred word short story into the State Storyfest Novella Competition. Lexie was short listed in this compaction and received Runner up which is an outstanding achievement given that the age bracket was up too eighteen years of age. Thank you to Kath Bateman for supporting Lexie with this.

Junior Student Leaders

I am very proud of our junior student leaders! They are working in the tuckshop for the first fifteen minutes of our first lunch break to assist the tuckshop ladies to get through the volume of students. We are hoping to ensure that the time spent lining up for service is limited. This also gives our student leaders the opportunity to showcase their leadership and engage with students. Thank you to our amazing tuckshop ladies for supporting the student leaders and for all the great work that they do every day.

We are also proud to congratulate Alex as our new Junior Tibbrowuccum House Captain. Alex went through a selection process and was successful. I would like to congratulate and thank the other applicants for their efforts and time and wish you all the best for your leadership journey in the future.

Sam Burchall
Deputy Principal

Literacy Update

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said: “Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope” – and how right he was. Literacy (the ability to read and write) is at the heart of every aspect of life: following a recipe, reading the newspaper (digital or traditional), writing a job application – the list goes on. Of course, the sheer joy of reading a novel is surely enough to warrant a high level of literacy.

Here, at Beerwah State High School, we value literacy and work hard to improve our students’ literacy levels across all faculty areas. In Year Seven, all students are enrolled in Lexia, an on-line reading program that has three sections: comprehension, word study and grammar. A placement test ensures that students are working at the correct level (foundational, intermediate or advanced) in each separate section. A student may have excellent comprehension skills but may be weaker in grammar. Year Seven students are expected to complete a minimum of one hour of Lexia per week as part of their homework. Please encourage this as the benefits are almost immeasurable.

March will be an exciting month with the inaugural Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, a national digital spelling competition. Students in Years Seven and Eight will be able to participate. Registration begins on February 24, practice time will be available from March 9 and the schools’ competition runs from March 16 to 26.

Lyn Hansen
Literacy Coach

Numeracy Update

This term in class Year Seven and Eight students have been developing their number facts and exploring the relationship between multiplication and division through the use of the MAD-T graphics organiser. Knowing number facts is the foundation of various mathematic concepts. Students are fluent in their number facts if they can recall all 4 facts from the fact family.

Numeracy is the ability to use mathematical concepts and apply them to everyday situations in a variety of contexts. The first step to support your child’s numeracy development is to ensure they understand the foundational skills that numeracy is built upon such as multiplication facts. Test your child and see what facts they know.

Numeracy Puzzle

I look forward to working with your children over the term to further develop their numeracy skills. A reminder that maths tutoring has re-commenced for students in the library every Tuesday from 3:00-4:00 pm.

Kayla Monk
Numeracy Coach

Laptop Hire Program

The school still have a limited number of devices available for the laptop hire program.

We have spaced the annual payment instalments to assist families with the additional cost of a device.

The payments are as follows: Deposit $125 > Term 1 (by week 5) $50 > Term 2 (by week 3) $50 >Term 3 (by week 3) $50.

Please contact the school to secure a device.

Attendance Snapshot Profile

Beerwah State High School believes each and every one of our students can be successful when we all work together to ensure students attend school. During 2020 we will be emailing every parent an Attendance Snapshot Profile for each student. You would have received your first one already. We will be continuing to do this throughout the year.

We understand parents may have informed the school regarding illness, family situations or an individual arrangements for a student. The Year to Date (YTD) percentage displayed on the profile records when the student is at school. Please understand we take individual circumstances into account when we are managing a student's attendance. The profile is an opportunity to celebrate student's attendance or offer support to a student or family.

We would like to work together to provide students with every opportunity to achieve to the best of their ability and to create clear and consistent processes pertaining to attendance. Please contact the Head of Year to discuss possible strategies to improve their attendance.

Marni Bradley
Head of Department eLearning and ICT

Future Pathways

Welcome back to 2020 and another exciting term one. Many students have been busy over the holidays seeking opportunities, commencing traineeships and progressing with qualification study. It’s shaping up to be another successful and busy year with students engaged in many alternative pathway options including school based traineeships and apprenticeships, Distance Education, Sunshine Coast Technical Trade Training Centre, Kawana Waters State College Health Program, TAFE courses and other certificate studies.

This year I will again be working five days a week out of the Industry & Vocational Training office located inside the resource centre (next door to the computer tech’s office). Students are welcome to call in before school and at lunch breaks. Information including current vacancies will continued to be displayed on school noticeboards and outside the ILO office as well as through student daily notices, year level parades, school Facebook page and newsletters.

School based apprenticeships and traineeships (SATs)

SATs provide students an opportunities to:

• Combine training with paid work
• Learn practical workplace skills
• Gain QCE points
• Continue full time school studies

We currently have trainees in hospitality, retail operations, information, digital media and technology, companion animal services and engineering. Trainees complete their qualification over senior, graduating with a Certificate II or III. School based apprentices can work in the trade industries such as hairdressing, plumbing, electro technology, bricklaying, cabinet making, civil construction, automotive and painting and decorating. Apprentices complete around 33% of the qualification while at school and then convert to full time apprentices upon graduation.

While any new SAT opportunities are advertised, students are encouraged to also seek their own opportunities by talking with their current employers or networking with family and friends. Please see me for details and helpful information. We place high expectations on all of our trainees and apprentices and students wanting to participate in school based arrangements should be willing to effectively balance school, work, qualification study and in some cases, travel.

Trainees are required to work a minimum of fifty days or three hundred and seventy five hours based on atwelve month full time nominal term. Generally this would be to work a minimum of one day a week with extra days worked on the weekend and school holidays. The SAT must impact on the school timetable and this is achieved with trainees and apprentices using their flexible learning day for work release. There also needs to be clear progress made in the qualification study, with all training plan deadlines met.

New Trainees:

Congratulations to the following new trainees:

Jazmin – Cert III Hospitality, Glass House Country Kitchen
Shontai – Cert III Hospitality, Glass House Country Kitchen

Several new traineeships are to be signed up in the next week and current vacancies include:

Certificate II Horticulture traineeship, Glass House Mountains
Certificate III Business Administration traineeship, Caboolture
Certificate III Hospitality traineeship, Maleny

SUNSHINE COAST TECHNICAL TRADE TRAINING CENTRE

In 2020 we have twenty four students participating in programs with the SCTTTC. Most of these students participated in an application and interview process before securing placements. Congratulations students and best wishes for an enjoyable and successful year.

Every year the Beerwah SHS P & C Association provides a scholarship to one student attending the SCTTTC. This year’s recipient is Kane O’Brien who is studying Construction. Congratulations Kane and have a great year.

Students in Year Eleven or Twelve attend the TTC one day a week completing theory and practical training in their Certificate 1 or II qualifications. These include Automotive Servicing, Plumbing, Electro technology and Construction. An additional program in 2020 includes salon assisting and barbering. Our current Year Ten students will be invited to register their interest and commence the enrolment process in term three. Look out for SCTTTC Facebook page to follow some of the activities and great outcomes students are achieving.

CERTIFICATE COURSES AND ETERNAL STUDY

Many students have enrolled in courses and programs and are ready to begin study in their chosen area.

Cert IV Crime & Justice Studies – Several students are continuing with their study in 2020 and students are still able to enrol in this program. This Certificate IV level on line course, which is fee for service, is studied outside of the school timetable and generally over Year Eleven and Twelve. Delivered through Unity College, it prepares students for further study and employment in the criminal justice system. Students should contact me for further information or speak to our Legal Studies teachers.

2020 TAFE at School students include:

Max – Cert II Electrotechnology
Rhys – Cert III IDMT

TAFE will have mid-year enrolments open from around April and interested students including those who may have missed on a place in term one, should watch for notices regarding expressions of interest.

KAWANA WATERS SC HEALTH PROGRAM

We have twelve Year Eleven students enrolled into the health program this year. Students will attend Kawana Waters State College one day a week and participate in training of Certificate II in Health Support Services and Certificate II Community Services. One Year Twelve student will complete the Certificate II Health Service Assistance in semester one. This program will provide students with the basic skills for a career in the health and social services industries as well as provide a pathway for further study.

DISTANCE EDUCATION

A number of Year Eleven students have elected to begin to study a subject through Brisbane School of Distance Education in 2020. Subjects include Psychology, Physics, Specialist Maths, Economics and Accounting. Best wishes for a great year ahead to all new and continuing students.

DUAL SALON ASSISTAN/RETAIL COSMETICS

We have been working with 2 Study to have the dual course SHB20216 Cert II Salon assistant & SHB20116 Cert II Retail Cosmetics up and running in term one. A minimum enrolment needs to be met before training can begin. The training organisation is wanting to start as soon as February 27. Once commenced, training will take place in the Resource Centre on Thursdays over approximately twenty five weeks. This course is for VETiS eligible Year Ten, Eleven and Twelve students and provides QCE points. This is a foundation course giving students skills in basic hairdressing tasks, communication techniques and product knowledge. Potential career outcomes include salon assistant, sales person, mark-up artist and a lead into apprenticeships. Expressions of interest are now being taken and students should return these immediately to secure a place. I will be communicating with students who have already registered their interest – so please watch for announcements.

Note on funding:

This is a VETiS funded course – that is no cost to eligible students who have not previously accessed VETiS funding through certificate course study such as Hospitality or FIT at school or other programs such as the Trade Training Centre or Kawana Waters Health Program. Students utilising VETiS in Year Ten need to consider all options and any further study interest areas.

NEW PROGRAM

This year we are offering for the first time a Certificate II in Leather Production (MST20316). This program would run at school one day a week over two terms. Leather Production is an area that allows students to take creative design concepts and turn them into reality. Designing and making leather good can lead to a variety of trades including shoe repair, saddlery and bespoke shoemaking as well as be a pathway into further student and industries such as textile clothing and footwear, fashion design and textile production. The program has been offered to students in Year Ten, Eleven and Twelve and is VETiS funded. Students interested should see me asap to register their interest and find out more.

WHITE CARD INDUCTION DAY

We are again planning to run a White Card Induction day in term one. The White Card general safety induction is an industry requirement for students attending placement or work on construction sites. The day is open to Year Ten, Eleven or Twelve students (who do not already hold a White Card) and who are intending to find work placements or experience this year. Training will be delivered by one of our senior construction teachers on campus and will run for the whole day. A cost, yet to be determined, will be charged. Expressions of Interest have been issued and are available from Mrs Forrest. Students should return these asap to secure a place. A minimum of fifteen students will be required and the class size will be capped.

Helen Forrest
Industry Liaison Officer

Careers and Employment Expo

HPE Update

Cheer Cup

Our annual Cheer Cup kicks off our sporting year and aims to foster house spirit and some friendly rivalry. Students did an outstanding job of preparing and presenting their house cheers and the event had a great atmosphere of excitement, colour and competition. Congratulations to Tunbubudla house on winning the 2020 Cheer Cup.

Swimming Carnival

Following Cheer Cup, students had the opportunity to participate in the first sports carnival for the year, the swimming carnival. Thank you to all parents and students who were organised with permission slips and were ready to participate. Once again, comparing participation rates with overall house points proved that winning our sports carnivals relies on student involvement rather than outstanding performances, although there were still many of those too. Three houses battled for the lead throughout the day and Tunbubudla finished the day victorious, now claiming the first two out of a possible four sports trophies for 2020.

Triathlon

The school triathlon will be held on the Tuesday, March 31. Nominations will be out soon, so please encourage your students to listen out to form notices and talk to their HPE teacher for more information.

Below is a link to the Representative School Sport Pathways. It covers the major changes that have occurred in our region for District and Regional Trials.

Belinda Kerr
HPE Teacher

Instrumental Music Update

I am the new Instrumental Music teacher at Beerwah State High School. The Instrumental Music Program has kicked off for 2020 and I am looking forward to a great year of music making with all students. Students in the program participate in a weekly group lesson on their chosen instrument as well as a weekly Concert Band rehearsal. The Concert Band is looking forward to another big year of performances including the school’s ANZAC Day Service, Queensland’s Fanfare competition and the Sunshine Coast Junior Eisteddfod. The Concert Band will also have many opportunities for school performances, the highlight of which being the annual Music Night taking place in term three.

If your child is interested in being a part of the Instrumental Music Program please contact me on edalz6@eq.edu.au.

Eleanor Dalzell
The Arts – Instrumental Music Teacher

Are You Teaching Someone to Drive?

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: Thursday 20 February 2020
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”

Cyber Safety Parent Info Session

An expert on Cybersafety has been booked for a parent information session. This is a free event and will be held at the Beerwah Hall on Thursday, March 26 at 6.00pm. If you would like any more information please contact Penny White at Glasshouse Christian College on 5439 0033 or penny.white@glasshouse.qld.edu.au

Top 5