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Email:Email: admin@mackayshs.eq.edu.auPhone:Phone: 4957 9179

Fax:Fax: 4957 9100

19 March 201819 March 2018

PRINCIPAL’S REPORTOne of the highlights for students attendingMackay State High is the range ofopportunities presented to students duringthe year, in the areas of interest andpassion. One of these successes is for Year12 student Isi Uluiviti he has recentlyreturned from auditions for the 2018Creative Generations Musical Extravaganza in July 2018. Hehas been selected to return for final selection in the FeatureVocalist sector, needing to learn to perform a further 7 songs ina couple of weeks. Education Queensland receives over 1000applications from musicians, singers and stage managementstudents from schools in Queensland and select about 100students to participate in this week of training and coaching byprofessional performers in Brisbane. Those students laterperform at the Brisbane Entertainment & Cultural Centre in July.Mackay State High has proudly had at least one of the studentsin our Music program for the past 6 years and we look forwardto Isi’s performances.

On Friday 16th March schools and communities acrossAustralia engage in the National Day of Action against bullyingand violence. Our school has had a number of activities duringthe week to highlight this event and students encouraged to

wear an orange accessory on the day. In Form Classes,students are making a “hands on commitment” which afterdiscussion, is written on a Paper Hand to be displayed in theirroom, while other smaller hand messages can be done byindividual students. A short video featuring “Kid President” wasto be shown in Form Class during the week. This special focuswas on the Friday, however continued emphasis is given toeliminating bullying and all violence, following our ResponsibleBehaviour Plan for Students.

On Monday 26th March our Parents & Citizens Association willhold the 2018 AGM with the committee for this year to beelected. As always we are very keen for new faces to becomeinvolved and bring new ideas “to the table”. Our meetingsalways commence at 6pm and generally they end at or before8pm. Please come along and become involved to support yourchildren.

Interschool sport has commenced recently with competitionscommencing for Netball and Rugby League Interschool fixtureson Wednesday afternoons. These enable students to learn newskills and meet new students through their teams. There arenine netball teams this year with a wide range of ability frombeginners to experienced. I also thank our staff as coaches,who also have range of ability, but a keen interest in supportingour students. In League there are two divisions with the Div 1games for the higher level students, while the Div 2 competitionallows students to participate to learn the game as thecompetition goes on, some graduating in later years to Div 1.

A large number of our Year 11/12 students were involved inWork Experience both through our school and some studentsat Mackay Engineering College. This is a great opportunity for

students to see the real workplace situations, while learningsome key skills especially in communication. Some studentsgain part-time work through successful placements, with onestudent even gaining full-time apprenticeship. We sincerelyappreciate the generosity of local employers in placing ourstudents and thank them as always.

Our BYOX program has seen very large numbers of ourstudents being On-Boarded to access the in-school internet inrecent weeks. Students are encouraged to have their laptops atschool for use in lessons, whether for notetaking, researchingor accessing software programs for classwork. Parents canassist by reminding students to bring devices daily to school. Atpresent over 70% of students are connected with 80% of Year7s.

Our teaching staff were recently involved in after school trainingwhich offered 26 different training sessions on a wide rangeof topics, with over 400 teacher from High schools attending.This event is held each year, providing links for staff betweenschools also.

Mr Steve PaulgerPrincipal

TEACHER PROFILE

Miss Ella Barresi

My name is Ella Barresi and I am veryexcited to be on board in 2018 teachingDrama. I moved to Mackay from Melbournein 2013 to pursue a Bachelor of Theatre(Specialisation Music Theatre) from theCentral Queensland Conservatorium ofMusic. This lead to me completing myGraduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching to begin myjourney teaching Drama in schools. Over the last five years Ihave been lucky enough to be involved in the amazing artscommunity within Mackay. My experiences have had meworking with many local dance schools, choreographingcommunity musicals and working for Central QueenslandUniversity. I am now excited to begin working with the talentedstudents of the Mackay State High School Arts Department. Ihave been greeted with enthusiasm and energy from all of myclasses and I am looking forward to seeing what achieve overthe year.

Ms Janna Lynam

Hello! My name is Janna Lynam and I amvery excited and proud to be a part of theMackay State High School community. Iwas born and bred in Mackay and workedin the medical industry for about ten yearsafter finishing school. During this time, I wasable to travel frequently overseas andvisiting places like London, Paris and Rome truly ignited mypassion for history. It was then that I decided that I wanted tobecome a teacher in order to share my knowledge and love forall things historical with eager young minds. After graduatingfrom Central Queensland University in 2016, I spent my firstyear doing short term contracts and relief work for many of the

local schools (this flexibility also allowed me to squeeze onemore overseas trip in!). I was always excited to come to MackayState High School as I felt that I truly belonged here and I couldsee the pride that both teachers and students alike had for theschool. With my new position as a full time teacher I am keptbusy with my Year 7 History and English class and my Year 10History and English classes. I look forward to meeting as manymembers of our fantastic community and wish everyone a greatyear ahead.

Mr Stephen Ross-Bryant

Hello Mackay State High students, parentsand staff, my name is StephenRoss-Bryant.

I began teaching here at Mackay State HighSchool this year and I teach agriculturalscience, general science and junior maths.

I have a vast background in a variety of fields including theAustralian Army, Corporate Facilities Management and morerecently Geology and Palaeobiology.

One interesting fact about me is that my wife and I lived andworked in the UK for 10 years after which we rode motorcyclesback home to Australia from London. This trip took us a year todo and we rode through such places as Serbia, Montenegro,Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India. We saw someamazing sights and met some very interesting people.

I am looking forward to watching the students in my classesprogress and develop into proud young adults.

SENIOR SCHOOLING NEWS

Work Experience

Every student who participated in Work Experience from 5 –9 March is required to return their completed Workbook andEvaluation Form to Mrs Esau in E6 as soon as possible.

USI (Unique Student Identifier)

A Unique Student Identifier (USI) is a reference number uniqueto each student.

All Year 10, 11 and 12 students are required to create a USIand this number stays with the student for life. All students arerequired to have a USI number by the end of Term 1.

Students will need ID such as a birth certificate, passport ormedicare card to be able to create their USI. Go to the linkbelow and select ‘Student Login’ and follow the steps fromthere. Anyone needing help creating a USI can bring their ID toMrs Annamaria Esau in E6.

http://www.usi.gov.au/

SPORTS NEWS

A message from the HOD

The year has started off well with a big influx of new Year 7students into all our Sporting Academies. The start of the yearhas been quite warm but all students across all academies have

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been putting in a great effort by learning new skills and adaptingto new staff under trying conditions. This year the FootballAcademy welcomes a new teacher into their fold – Miss MonicaTracy. Monica has a wealth of experience playing Football at ahigh level whilst also running the Clayfield Girls College programlast year. Under the guidance of very experienced coach, BradRadunz, she will continue to grow. Our Netball Academy hasalso a two new faces in charge. Miss Emma Forster is our newNetball Academy Co-ordinator and has a wealth of experiencein Netball and Fitness. Joining her this year is Miss HannahKoko. She joins as a fresh-faced first year teacher. These twoladies have hit the ground running by co-ordinating the teamsfor the interschool Netball competition as well as running beforeschool fitness sessions for the girls. The Rugby LeagueAcademy staff of Andrew Gercken (Co-ordinator), RowanGraham and myself have been working really hard to get ourboys prepared for a big year of Rugby League. The division 2competition finally started after being delayed one week due thewet. I would like to thank all teachers involved for a productivestart to the year.

Back Row: Rowan Graham, Andrew Gercken, Nathan Doyle,Back Row: Rowan Graham, Andrew Gercken, Nathan Doyle,Kevin Blakey, Brad RadunzKevin Blakey, Brad Radunz

Front Row: Kellie Biddle, Monica Tracey, Jacqui Kelly, EmmaFront Row: Kellie Biddle, Monica Tracey, Jacqui Kelly, EmmaForster, Kelly Russell absent Hannah KokoForster, Kelly Russell absent Hannah Koko

Nathan DoyleHead of Department Physical Education

Football Academy

Before School Fitness Program – 7:00am till 8:00am everyWednesday morning (weather permitting) If it has rainedovernight there will be no training so not to chop up our fields.This is to improve our overall individual fitness levels to allowbetter team play for our competitions and club football. Forthose students who live out of town a text message /messenger system is being put in place to help out withcancelation.

Practical Program – This term we are working on the Technicalside of Football, revisiting and refining the individual skillrequired in our game as well as placing them into a gamesituation to prepare for upcoming competitions in Terms 2 and3.

Football Academy Gear is handed out to those students thathave paid their fees on Friday’s Second Break in our J BlockFootball Room. Please have an idea of the size you may require.

Yours in Football

Mr Brad RadunzHead Coach Football Academy

Rugby League Academy:

The 2018 Mackay State High School Rugby League seasonis well underway and the boys have been working hard intheir early morning sessions and in their Academy classes inreadiness for the season ahead. The local division 2competition has kicked off and has seen our new Year 7students represent Mackay SHS for the very first time. The Year7/8 Ponga and Gagai sides (seen in attached photos) haveworked well to gel as a team and are looking forward to asuccessful year. Our First XIII squad has been preparing for theirupcoming North QLD competitions with our first game of theseason this week against our old rivals St. Patrick’s College inRound 1 of the Aaron Payne Cup. The Under 15 Division 1side have a wonderful opportunity later this term to play againstMercy College as a curtain-raiser to the North QLD Cowboyson 1300 Smiles Stadium. Good luck to all boys this year, yourefforts in the Pre-Season will pay dividends later on in the year.

COLES SPORTS FOR SCHOOLS

Our school has taken the wonderful opportunity Coles isproviding to acquire new sports equipment through the 2018program. How this program works, Every $10 spent at Coles*during the program, will earn a Coles Sports for Schoolsvoucher. The more vouchers we collect, the more gear ourschool can receive. These vouchers can be dropped off to anyof the following locations; School Office, HPE Staff Room orto our Mackay (Parkside) Coles Store at 245 Bridge Rd (cnrParadise St). Please support us by collecting as many vouchersas you can and drop them off to one of the above locations.

JUNIOR SECONDARY NEWSWe held our first Junior Secondary disco forthe year recently which also was anopportunity for Mums and Dads of Year 7students to come along before hand for afree sausage sizzle and meet someteachers.

The disco was very well attended by over150 students.

Many thanks to the teachers who attended for their time andorganisation, to Aiden Watt of Year 11 for DJ'ing, Mr Hobdell

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for setting up lights and sound, and to the many senior buddieswho came along and helped run the evening.

Please see some of the attached photos.

We also recently held our Year 8 camp. 86 students travelledout to Fairbairn Dam near Emerald to battle mozzies (we don'tnormally see many out there), humidity and some heat. Campis a chance for those who attend to develop some teamwork,leadership and communication skills. It sounds simple, butwhen you put students in an unfamiliar environment, it' not soeasy. Anyone can identify that they need to communicate betterin a team, but just what is communication? It doesn't mean justtalking more. These are the sorts of concepts we will endeavourto work with in Junior Secondary - building skills and meaning,not just parroting jargon and actions.

Having said that, I think every student who attended learned alot of skills, met new friends, came out of their shells. Ratherthan put photos in the newsletter, check out the photos albumof camp on the schools facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/pg/MackaySHS/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1860372284003916

Students in Year 7 will soon receive a letter advertising our Year7 camp for this year. We are transitioning year 8 camp to year7 and after this year, will only run for year 7.

We are also looking at a wide range of opportunities to developleadership skills across Year 9 to help lead those students intotheir senior years.

What's On Soon

Our annual Year 7 Dodgeball competition will be starting nextweek. It's one of the highlights of the year for Year 7. Buddiesand myself will be hosting the competition. I have personallychallenged all competitors to show me no mercy, as I won't beshowing them any.

NAPLAN will be held in May. We will shortly be sendingexplanation letters home to parents of year 7 and 9 students.

Student News

The 2018 Junior Secondary Leaders and Student Council willbe formalised within the coming week, and leaders will starttheir duties for the year. Our intention this year is to run aformalised leadership training program for our Junior Secondaryleaders, to help them develop their skills leading into theirremaining years at school.

Thought of the Newsletter

In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back - CharlieBrown

Mr Matt SkinnerHOD Junior Secondary

CONGRATULATIONS

2ND HAND UNIFORMSWe are always in need of any 2nd handuniforms, for students that have theincorrect uniform, we can do a quick fix witha loan uniform through the YearCoordinators room. The loan uniform is then returned to theschool in a clean condition. If you have any Senior or Juniorshirts and shorts we would be most grateful, just bring into theGeneral office.

MATHS TUTORING

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ENGLISH TUTORING HEALTH NURSE

Ann-Maree BRIGHTMANSchool Based Youth Health Nurse

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BULLYING NO WAY

TUCKSHOP

FLEXISCHOOL INFORMATIONA great start to our year with the introduction of registers toour tuckshop. We now have eftpos available at both the juniorand senior service lines. The introduction of our cashless cardsystem will also move the service lines at tuckshop quicker.

If you have a student in Year 7, 8 or 9 they will be able touse their school ID card for purchasing after you set up aFLEXISCHOOL account.

https://www.flexischools.com.au/

Cashless Cards

Stay in control of your high school students'lunches with the Flexischools cashless cardsystem.

The Flexischools cashless card system links a students' existingschool ID card to their Flexischools account, allowing them topurchase securely on the school grounds without the need forcash.

Student lunches have never been easier for parents:

The cashless card is also great for students:

COMMUNITY NOTICES

• Top up account with funds at a time convenient toyou

• Email when account is running low of funds

• Monitor spending and see what your child ispurchasing

• Set daily spending limits

• Ensure the money is spent at school

• Safer than students carrying cash

• Reduced bullying associated with cash at school

• Reduced queueing times

• Never be short of cash at the cash register

• On-screen photo ID security protects your accountfrom lost or stolen cards

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