29 April 2022

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Parents, Carers and Community

A warm welcome back to our students for Term 2 and I hope everyone had a relaxing and fun-filled break over Easter.

Disruptions due to COVID are still causing delays, challenges and problems for us to solve. We will need to continue to be resilient and to teach our students to be resilient. While we need to make allowances for the disruptions, I don’t want to lower expectations. Setting high expectations sets a standard, a minimum benchmark of which behaviours demonstrate our values of respect, responsibility and safety. Some of these behaviours include attending all lessons, being on time to classes, bringing the appropriate equipment to school (including laptops), wearing the school uniform properly and with pride, following all staff instructions and engaging in learning to their best of their ability. Regardless of ongoing disruptions, a high standard needs to be maintained and consistently enforced. Please have this discussion with your children, as I have asked our staff to set high expectations.

Staff changes

Staff at Beerwah SHS are an experienced, capable, committed group of educators and support staff. We, as a community, are very fortunate to have such an amazing group of people who are teaching, guiding and supporting your students. I’m very proud of our staff and it is a pleasure to work with them every day. We welcome a number of new staff to our team this term.

New teachers include Ms Cowan in Arts, Ms Rolfe in Maths, Ms Quintal in English and Humanities.

Mrs Kylie Brown has been appointed to the role of Year 8 Head of Year for the remainder of this year.

Anzac Day

We were thrilled to have a number of returned service personnel attend our school’s Anzac Day service and, in particular, Wings Williams who presented the school with a book recounting his personal stories. RSL President John Nisbet also presented the school with a story book on service animals in the defence forces.

Congratulations and thank you to the hospitality staff and students, our school captains, the school band and the brilliant vocal group for their contributions on the day. Wings Williams told me he was brought to tears by the vocal rendition of “I was only 19”. It was outstanding. Thank you to our special guests Jason Hunt MP, Member for Caloundra, for his inspiring words and to the Hon Andrew Wallace MP, Member for Fisher, for his support of our school.

Anzac Day dawn service and parade

30 year celebrations

The 30 year celebrations are gaining momentum. This is a summary/list of what is happening:

• Alumni on Facebook now has over 1000 members. This is going strong! There has been a great discussion this week about the school song. Please join if you are on Facebook.
• Formal parade presentation in Term 2, Week 5.
• Bumper stickers/ banner designed by Year 10 student Dustin. Well done, Dustin! Congratulations and thank you. These bumper stickers will be delivered to the community.
• Traditions stories – signage to highlight some of our traditions including Cheer Cup, House Names, Run the Corridors (planned for Term 2/Term 3).
• 30 days of Throwback Thursdays on Facebook and Instagram. Starting this week.

Community Event – Term 3 – Saturday, 23rd July, 2022

We will be hosting two events on Saturday 23rd July to celebrate our 30-year milestone. Planning is well underway and a committee has been formed to organise this event. Please keep an eye on our Facebook, Instagram or Alumni page to see further details.

The P & C has generously donated $3000 to help the school celebrate this 30-year milestone. Thank you so much to the P & C for their ongoing and never-ending support for our school.

NAIDOC Week

National NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year (Sunday to Sunday) to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. You can support and get to know your local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities through activities and events held across the country. I’m so pleased that we have a team organising some events for NAIDOC week this year.

Thank you always for your support. Success for all!

Take care, stay safe

Lyn McDonald
B. Bus, M. of Ed. Research

From the Business Manager

SUBJECT FEES

Additional fees on top of the Student Resource Scheme (SRS) are applicable to some subjects. Invoices and statements have recently been emailed home for these. The date for these to be paid in full was extended in line with the delayed start to the school year, however this due date has now passed.

Those who may still have fees outstanding are asked to initiate payment in full or set up a payment plan as a priority to ensure that your student maintains appropriate access to resources and extra-curricular opportunities. Any families who may currently be experiencing any financial hardship are encouraged to reach out to the school to discuss options around this. The Administrative Team will be making phone calls home to individual families to alert them to any outstanding fees and discuss further.

Thank you to those families who are meeting the obligations of their payment plans or have paid in full.

EXCURSIONS

Students are able to engage in excursions and incursions that enhance their learning experiences as well as recreational and additional activities to support their interests. The Department considers these excursions as optional school activities and to ensure students are eligible to attend, SRS/subject fees are to be paid in full or an active payment plan in place prior to students being invoiced for participation.

The excursion permission form and invoice will have a due date for payment. Unfortunately, if payment is not received by the due day, your child may be unable to participate. The school is required to advise venues and transport companies accurate numbers attending well in advance of the excursion date.

Payments for excursions can be made online through BPOINT (link on each invoice), Qparents, Centrepay or in person Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 8am – 12pm. Please be aware that BPOINT payments need to be made by 5:30pm each day to show those funds have been received on that date.

Angela Croft
Business Manager

Digital Technologies and Humanities

BYOD and Laptop Hire

Welcome back to Term 2! As we settle into another busy term of teaching and learning, it is important to remember that being connected at Beerwah and having access to a fully-charged device in classes every day is an essential routine for all students. Teachers are planning learning experiences each lesson which require access to a device. We will support parents, carers and students to ensure everyone can be connected at Beerwah.

Our Junior Secondary students in Years 7-9 have access to their textbooks for English, Maths, Science, Humanities, and HPE while our senior students have access to texts based on the subjects they are studying. Please work with us to ensure that your child has access to a device so that they can benefit from these learning materials. There is no fee charged for students who bring their own device to connect via our BYOD network.

If you are still looking to purchase a BYO device, it is strongly recommended that you provide a copy of our purchasing letter to your preferred retailer to ensure that any device purchased will be compatible with the school network environment. Google Chromebooks are not compatible with our network.

This document is available from the link below

https://beerwahshs.eq.edu.au/SupportAndResources/FormsAndDocuments/Documents/Curriculum/BYOX_Letter.pdf

We also have a range of Laptop Hire Options where we can supply a device to your child for a fee with payment plan options available.

If you aren’t able to commit financially to a device option for your child, please contact us to discuss your circumstances. We want to work with you to connect your child at Beerwah SHS.

Onboarding Support

Students are encouraged to on-board their own devices at home by following the instructions available on our website. Alternatively, Mr Woolner is available to assist at the following times via the IT Support Office in the Resource Centre

Please visit our website to learn more about options currently available to support you in getting your student Connected @ Beerwah.

If you wish to discuss your BYOD needs further, please contact our IT Department via itsupport@beerwahshs.eq.edu.au or encourage your student to pop in and see us at the Resource Centre. We will work with you to ensure that your child can be connected @ Beerwah.

What’s happening in the classroom?

Year 7 Humanities – Term 1 Success

This diorama was created by Sam T in 7B as part of his Humanities assessment last term. The task required students to research the uses of the Nile by different groups in Ancient Egypt. Well done Sam!

Term 2 Topics of Study – Year 7 – 10 Digital Technologies and Humanities

Below are the topics of study for Years 7 – 10 across Digital Technologies and Humanities. Be sure to check in with students at home and ask questions about what they are learning.

Our senior classes are working on Unit 1 for Year 11 and Unit 3 assessment for Year 12 or working towards competency completion in our VET courses.

Should you have any other queries about our programs, please do not hesitate to contact me directly via pwald9@eq.edu.au or 5436 5326. I look forward to connecting with you.

Patrick Walden
Head of Department – Digital Technologies & Humanities

The Arts

DON’T PANIC!

On our most recent whole school parade we took the opportunity to showcase some outstanding Arts students. In 2021, due to Covid, we missed the opportunity to acknowledge the success of our Drama students in their Drama Festival Performance. The Sunshine Coast School Drama Festival is an annual festival and draws over 50 group performances from schools across the south-east corner. Congratulations goes to Ella Eade and Macey Searle who received a Gold Award in their performance of the comedy “Don’t Panic”. Macey rose to the challenge by performing up a section with the Senior students. Gracie Ulrick and Trinity Gibson, both Year 12 students in 2022, were also a part of this successful ensemble. Congratulations also to their inspiring and dedicated teachers - Deb Holland and Bec Stephenson - who directed this play. Along with this achievement Ella Eade also took out a Gold Award for her very intense and engaging monologue from “Living with Lady Macbeth”, our school musical from 2021. Ella is also the Drama Ambassador for Beerwah SHS in 2022 and has been busy auditioning and running the BSHS Actors Collective. We look forward to seeing performances from this very talented group of students in the near future.

SURGE HIGH SCHOOL ROCK SPECTACULAR WARM UP!

“Off Beat” band members Rhori, Felicity and Riley entertained the students recently at our whole school parade with their version of “Blitzkrieg Bob” by the Ramones. The band is preparing for their upcoming performance in Term 3 at the first Sunshine Coast SURGE High School Rock Spectacular at the Caloundra Events Centre. The band will complete against four other schools on the Sunshine Coast for a “kick-start-your-career” winning prize which includes a 30-minute set at the Caloundra Music Festival. Based on their parade performance we know they will ROCK! Watch this space for further details including ticket sales!

YEAR 7 MUSIC STUDENT ROCK OUT!!

Mr Audley, our highly-skilled Music teacher, has been introducing our enthusiastic Year 7s to a world of music through the drum kit! Students have embraced the opportunity to bash out a rhythm on the drums, enjoying every moment. All Year 7 and 8 students will get the chance to learn drums and ukulele as part of their Arts Rotation over the two years.

GUITAR ENSEMBLE

In 2022 we have extended our Instrumental Program to include small group guitar lessons. Students have been loving these 35-minute lessons once a week and have been extending their skills by rehearsing in a Guitar Ensemble. We look forward to hearing the group perform on parade this term!

GOOD LUCK BEERWAH DANCE COMPANY STUDENTS!!

While the rest of us have been sleeping in, easing into our daily routine, the Beerwah Dance Company (BDC) students have been up bright and early this year, rehearsing four mornings a week from 7am in preparation for the Sunshine Coast Dance Eisteddfod. This rigorous preparation has also included weekend rehearsals. Fortunately, this wonderfully talented group of students have a deep passion for dance and thrive under the direction of their dance teachers, Miss Rossberg and Mrs Roedder, and continually achieve a standard of excellence in their performances.

Attached are some of the highlights from the 2021 competition and we look forward to seeing the updated snapshots from their performances in Week 3 at the Matthew Flinders Performance Centre. Tickets can be purchased through the Sunshine Coast Eisteddfod website:

Beerwah Dance Company - Sunshine Coast Dance Eisteddfod

In the Arts we value individuality and deliver diverse educational opportunities to ensure success for all.

Future Pathways

As the new term begins, many students are returning to school having completed work experience placements or work trials over the Easter break. Some have been offered on-going opportunities and it will be exciting to assist in finalising these arrangements. Trade Training Centre students have commenced their work placements which contribute to the required 80 hours of structured workplace learning. Other students have been able to work extra hours in their school-based traineeships and apprenticeships with many businesses busy over holiday times.

School-based apprenticeships and traineeships (SATs)

SATs provide students with many opportunities to:

• combine training with paid work
• learn practical workplace skills
• gain QCE points
• continue full-time school studies.

Trainees complete their qualification over their senior years, graduating with a Certificate II or III level qualification, banking 4 or 8 QCE credits. Apprentices complete around a third of the qualification while at school and then convert to full time apprentices upon graduation.

While any new SAT opportunities are advertised, we continue to encourage Year 10 and 11 students to seek their own opportunities by talking with their current employers or by networking with family and friends. Please see me for details and helpful information. Students must be able and willing to effectively balance school, work, qualification study and, in some cases, travel. School does come first!

Though Year 12 students cannot commence new traineeships in their final year, it is possible to commence school-based apprenticeships. Students seeking trade pathways are encouraged to network for opportunities for work experience now.

Parents and the extended local community are also encouraged to support our SAT program. If you work for, own or know of a business that may have the capacity to take on a student, please contact the school and ask to speak to the Industry & Vocational Training Officer.

New Trainees & Apprentices:

Congratulations to the following new trainees and apprentices –

Tahlia McEwan – Certificate III in Surface Extraction Operations, BWC Pty Ltd
Kyron Sciortino – Certificate III in Floor Technology, Floors Galore

Congratulations to both Tahlia and Kyron!

Vacancies late last term included Certificate III in Business or Certificate III in Hospitality with Beerwah Burrito Bar and also a Certificate II Engineering with Bell Stainless in Kunda Park. Details on both vacancies are below and interested students should see me as soon as possible.

Beerwah Burrito Bar (Year 10 and 11 students)

Certificate III Hospitality traineeship (including RSA) or Certificate III Business traineeship (food speciality).

Duties – Front of house, back of house, customer service, taking orders including phone orders, financial transactions, table service, drinks bar, food preparation, filling orders, cleaning and food hygiene procedures.

Requirements – commitment to balancing school with paid work and qualification study. Ability to work in fast paced environment. Potential to deliver great customer service. Availability for after school and weekend shifts. Completion of a minimum of 750 hours required (hospitality) or 375 hours (business) and full qualification.

Bell Stainless, Kunda Park (Year 10 – 12 students may apply)

Certificate II Engineering (traineeship) – this is a pathway option with potential for the trainee to be offered a full-time apprenticeship on completion of traineeship. A Year 12 student would not complete Cert II Engineering by graduation and would therefore be converted to full-time.

Duties – traineeship in sheet metal (light fabrication). Workshop duties under supervision of foreman. Finish products by drilling, deburring and polishing. Clean and tidy factory working spaces. You will learn to work within precise limits, work skilfully and easily with your hands and be safety conscious.

Requirements – Good understanding of maths. Have a working knowledge of workplace health and safety. Work independently and as part of a team. Follow directions and be able to report back to foreman as required. Commitment to balancing school, work and qualification study. Travel an important consideration.

YEAR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE PROGRAM

Year 10 students will all be participating in a three day work experience program in Term 3, 20 – 22 July 2022. Preparation for expectations, seeking placement and approaching employers will be delivered during VVP lessons this term with the WEX Packs to be distributed in the next few weeks.

Students are to seek their own placements considering their interests and potential pathways. A log book will be completed and used later in SET (Senior Education & Training) Planning. An information letter to parents was emailed and sent home in Term 1. The Work Experience Agreement will require signing by student, parent, employer (placement provider) and by the school principal. A letter of introduction to an employer will also be included in the WEX pack to assist students in their approach to employers.

Enquiries can be emailed to work.experience@beerwahshs.eq.edu.au

CERTIFICATE COURSES AND EXTERNAL STUDY

Certificate II Automotive Vocational Preparation

We have the opportunity to commence this valuable program in Term 3, 2022. A minimum enrolment of 10 students is required and we would highly recommend Year 11 and 12 students to consider enrolling.

AUR20716 Cert II Automotive Vocational Preparation is an engaging and worthwhile program that provides students with foundation skills and knowledge in the automotive industry. It is not just for those considering a trade in this field, but for anyone who has an interest in cars, motorbikes or the desire to maintain their own vehicle. It has been delivered by Tactile Learning Centre the past two years and has proven to be an enjoyable and successful experience for students.

If the minimum enrolment of 10 VETiS eligible students is reached, the program will proceed on Fridays commencing Term 3, 15 September at Beerwah SHS with all tools, equipment and vehicle supplied by the trainer.

Interested VETiS eligible Year 11 and 12 students are welcome to contact me asap as expressions of interest are open. Details are:

• Delivered on Fridays at BSHS (non timetabled day) in 2022
• VETiS funded (no cost) STUDENTS ARE ONLY ALLOWED ONE VETiS FUNDED PROGRAM
• Offered fee for service $2000
• 4 QCE points
• Delivered by external trainer from Tactile Learning Centre
• All resources, tools, equipment and vehicle provided
• 12 units, mix of theory and practical
• Hands on program
• Runs for 15 – 20 weeks (two terms)

Note on funding:

Many certificate II level courses are VETiS funded – that is no cost to eligible students. To be VETiS eligible, students must not have previously accessed or be currently enrolled in another VETiS funded certificate course including Certificate II in Hospitality or FIT at school or other programs such as the Trade Training Centre or Kawana Waters Health Program. Students utilising VETiS in Year 10 need to consider all options and any further study interest areas.

Aviation Australia Open Day

Late in Term 1, Mr Lancaster, Mrs Lucke and I had the opportunity to attend an open day at Aviation Australia’s training facilities at the Brisbane Airport. This was an interesting and informative experience which included tours of three separate training buildings and the chance to see aircraft types including helicopters, jet engines and machinery up close and to try out the drone obstacle course.

Aviation Australia’s school-to-work pathway allows school students to take the first step to a career within the aviation industry. The Certificate II in Aircraft Line Maintenance (MEA20518) provides the basic level knowledge and skills required to perform a range of specified maintenance tasks on aircraft on a flight line or at the departure gate. The VETiS funded program can lead Year 10 & 11 students into future Aeroskills apprenticeships/traineeships and is also a pathway to achieving a Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Category A Aircraft Maintenance Engineer licence, which allows authorised personnel to release aircraft to service.

It was interesting to hear that students with mechanical, electrotechnology or panel beating (structures) career choices can consider the aviation industry as a pathway. This is certainly an exciting industry with roles in demand worldwide. If you would like to know more, please make contact with me.

Aviation Australia’s school-to-work pathways

RESUME WRITING

Just a reminder that our Youth Support Officer, Ms Sue Krucker, is offering students one-on-one resume writing support. Sessions are Thursday from 11.30am and students are to pre-book a date with Mrs Forrest. Students are welcome to bring an existing resume with them, otherwise, a template will be used to reflect individual strengths and goals. On completion, resumes will be sent to the student’s school email. See Mrs Forrest or email hforr17@eq.edu.au for a booking.

Helen Forrest
Industry and Vocational Training Officer

Parents and Citizens Association

The Parents and Citizens Association at Beerwah State High School would like to welcome all families to the Beerwah High School community.

As parents/guardians, we have a responsibility to help our children make informed decisions about their future. By actively supporting our school in whatever way we can, and participating in the life of the school, we are showing our children that we do value the education that they are receiving. When the students and staff of a school feel encouraged and supported by parents and the wider community, they flourish and tend to give of their best. A good school doesn‘t just happen – we create it.

The P&C meets on the second Tuesday of each month commencing at 6.00 pm in the Conference Room of the Administration Block. We aim to keep the meetings as brief as possible, while still achieving a good business discussion. We look forward to your attendance, and your contribution to the future of our school community. Our children see our involvement as an indication that we do value their efforts at school, and that education does have relevance in their lives.

P&C meetings

• Every second Tuesday of each month - commencing at 6.00pm.

If you would like to know more about the P&C you can contact members of the executive through the school administration, or email the President, Ms Justine Baker at pandc@beerwahshs.eq.edu.au