19 May 2017

Newsletter Articles

Executive Principals Report

Dear Parents and Friends

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge one of our local feeder schools – Sherwood State School who are celebrating their 150th year anniversary. What an amazing milestone to reach and it was great to see and hear of some of the school’s history at their annual Fete last weekend. My very best wishes to Sherwood State School and a big congratulation on a very successful celebration last weekend.

Corinda State High School had a very proud presence at the Sherwood Fete with our Music Ensembles and Dance students performing throughout the day. We received so much positive feedback on the quality of our ensembles and dance performances. Our students really did shine and they looked so professional in their performance uniforms. It certainly portrayed very high standards of presentation and performance and made us all feel very proud. Congratulations to our staff and students for all your hard work last Saturday.

NAPLAN – a smooth operation

I am pleased to report that our students went very well with their NAPLAN testing last week. They all came prepared and were very calm in their approach to the testing. The approach with our NAPLAN testing is to try to maintain as much routine as possible and retain students in their classrooms in a supportive environment – as opposed to a large hall scenario. Our Heads of Year – Troy Olsen and Chip Barnes ensured the organisation and administration of the testing ran very smoothly. Our staff have worked hard with our students in their numeracy and literacy classes to ensure students are equipped with the concepts and test taking skills without interfering with curriculum time. We are looking forward to receiving their results.

The important point I would like to emphasise with NAPLAN results is that each student is individual and the important feedback for them is to compare to their last NAPLAN results to measure their individual gains in literacy and numeracy. NAPLAN is not about comparing students, nor is it about making the school look good, but it is about making a difference in every individual student’s most important foundations for success in life after school and that is literacy and numeracy.

We as a school take NAPLAN very seriously as it is also feedback for us to gauge how well our students are doing and what interventions we need to implement to ensure we are building strong foundations. When we receive our results our teachers spend considerable time analysing each of their students and identifying focus areas for improvement. This is our most important work.

Assessment Time

We are entering a critical part of our school term with a range of assessment planned in the coming weeks. Please be sure to check the Assessment planner and prompt students with questions around what is due, how they are going and their organisation to ensure all assessment is a reflection of their personal best. It is important that students are well organised with their time management in order to reduce unnecessary anxiety. Sometimes this might just mean sitting with them at the table with your own activities while they complete their work or study. To know they have you there is sometimes the best support you can give them.

Actively Global

Next week we will have some very special visitors in our school. At the beginning of the year Tracey Hall participated in an International Professional Exchange in India, spending time in a school developing a collaborative project for our two schools. This is an exciting opportunity for our students and staff as we embed actively global strategies in our classrooms. Next week we will be welcoming teachers from India to continue the partnership that Tracey initiated during her visit. We are very much looking forward to sharing our school, culture and hospitality with them as they did with Tracey.

Helen Jamieson
Executive Principal

Coming Events

Open Classrooms – After School Tutoring

Students can get expert help for assignments and assessment, every Monday to Thursday 3-4 pm in the air-conditioned comfort of the library. Each day offers a different tutor for each subject area:

Enrolments for 2018

We are now taking enrolments for 2018. Enrolment forms are available from our office and on our website. We look forward to receiving these as soon as possible! The closing date for our Excellence programs is 25 August 2017.

Student Services

Calling all 2016 Year 12 Students

Throughout your high school career, you made have made use of the Roll Room’s stock of spare used uniforms for emergencies.

Now that you no longer require them, please give some thought to donating your old uniforms to the Roll Room for other students to use.

We are especially requiring more sports shorts and boys formal shorts.

Cyber Smarts – Using Social Media Wisely

You have access to the world’s largest museum, art gallery, library and social group ever created. You also have access to ways to expand your intelligence and your influence that your past generations could have never imagined. To gain these massive benefits you need to have your wits about you and know how to use technology and social media wisely.

Accountability

Being completely anonymous online is a thing of the past. Anything that you share on social media, publicly or privately, can be tracked back to you and you may be held accountable for sharing it.

Always use the “Nana” rule

If you wouldn’t want your nana, parents, teachers, or future employer to see something, don’t share it on social media.

Illegal Content

There are some things that are entirely illegal to share on social media. Threatening posts and messages or “sexting” a nude photo of an underage person– even if that person is you– can lead to legal action and police involvement.

Privacy Settings

Know exactly who can see a post, picture or tweet before you share it. If total strangers can see all of your information, pictures, and everything you post, they can use this information to track you or to hack your profile.

Public versus Private

Privacy settings allow you to share appropriate content with friends and family while making sure that strangers can’t access your information. Carefully choose what information you want people that you don’t know to see when they view your social media profiles.

Private Isn’t “Secret”

Just because you have a piece of information, a photo, or a post set to “private” doesn’t mean that it can’t be shared with others. While privacy settings make it more difficult for others to see things you don’t want them to see, people inside your private network can still share photos and screenshots outside of the network.

Strangers & Online Friends

Know the Site. Some sites, like Twitter and Tumblr, are known for allowing people to connect and discuss art, music, politics and ideas with people from all over the world. Other social media applications, like Facebook and Snapchat, are almost always used exclusively for friends and family. Understand the culture of the social network before you join– it will help you make smart decisions about who to connect with.

Who to Friend

Strangers will occasionally send you friend requests on Facebook. Sometimes, they might even be from halfway around the world! No matter who they are or what they say, don’t accept friend requests on Facebook from individuals that you don’t know. Most people have a lot of personal information available on Facebook, and these strangers are looking for that information– not a new friend.

Don’t trust everyone

Online friends can be valuable members of your social network– if they really are who they say they are. The Internet can be a great place to make friends with similar interests and from all over the world, but it is also full of people who are looking to take advantage of you.

Verify identity

Take action to make sure that anyone you interact with online is really who they say they are. Google’s “reverse image search” can be used to check if a photo is really of that person, or if they stole it from an online source. Real people usually have fleshed-out profiles, visible interactions with friends and family members and lots of available photos.

Security

Secure passwords. Create a secure password keeps your identity secure, your personal information safe, and your accounts from being hacked. Choose a password that only you could think of, using information that isn’t readily available on your online profiles. Every password should include both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special symbols ( !@#$%^*). Choose your security questions wisely Sites often use security questions to help you reset a forgotten password. Hackers can use information on your social media profiles to easily answer these questions and gain access to your accounts. Choose security questions with answers that cannot be discovered by a quick scroll through your Facebook profile.

Location Tracking

Any time you upload a photo online, there’s a chance that your location can be tracked through it. Most phones and cameras have GPS installed, and the information of your location can be found in the data of pictures taken on these devices. Websites can also track your location via your IP address.

Hackers

Most hackers use clues on your social media to discover your passwords and account details– or they may pretend to be someone that they’re not to convince you to tell them your information directly. If You Think You’ve Been Hacked Change your passwords immediately; delete any posts that anyone else may have published on your account, and let your social network friends know not to open any suspicious messages from you.

Feeling Safe

Cyber bullying. Harassing threatening or intimidating someone else online is cyber bullying and it’s illegal. If You’re Being Cyber Bullied, Don’t respond to any messages or posts that make you feel unsafe– use your computer’s screenshot function to take a picture of the message and show it to an adult that you trust.

Blocking Features

Most social networking sites have a block feature that can prevent another user from contacting you any further. Learn to use the block feature to stop a cyber bully in their tracks.

Reporting Harassment

Many websites allow their users to report other users who are sending harassing messages. Doing so may lead to the cyber bully’s account being disabled.

When to talk to an adult

Any time someone has made you feel unsafe online, it’s a good idea to talk to an adult about how to handle it.

Andrew Fuller- Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychologist

Your Digital File-Supporting Students to Drive their Future

21 Learner Drivers signed up.
66 Hours of Supervised Driving.
2 Learner Drivers already reaching 100 hours!

How good is that? It’s free, and easy to book go to:

Safety on the roads. Safety online.

Your Digital File is working with Corinda State High School, offering a community program Supporting Students to Drive their Future, providing students with access to a brand new vehicle and supervisor to increase their learner driving hours. Tuesday 7 March saw the start of the program and bookings are starting to come in.

Your Digital File is an easy to use, highly secure online file storage that will make you more productive.

• Store & access your files anywhere - desktop or mobile.
• Easily & securely, share your files.
• Effortless file security that you have control over.
• Send & receive files that can be signed with a single click.
• From $1 per month for personal accounts and $5 per month for business accounts.

Canteen Week

This week, our wonderful tuckshop team were surprised with certificates and cake to say thank you.

Humanities

Research Excellence

The year 8 and 9 Humanities Excellence classes spent a day developing research skills at the State Library of Queensland. After a tour of the library, students were instructed on how to access the paper and electronic resource catalogues. This excursion is designed to foster independent research skills similar to those necessary at university level. Year 8 students were able to access a range of primary and secondary sources related to their research task on the Spanish conquest of Aztec civilisation. Year 9 students investigated the histories of individuals from the local area who were killed in the First World War, and accessed the State Library’s extensive records on WWI servicemen. This research will now form the basis of their assessment this term in History.

English

Literacy

Reading plays an important part in students’ lives during their school years and beyond.

It allows children to actively engage their imagination and opens up a world of educational opportunities

Currently our Year 7 and 8 students are using the Accelerated Reader program to help keep track that they are finishing their books. Our awards for Accelerated Reader for Term 1 will be handed out at our next Junior Secondary assembly.

Our Year 9 students are about to embark on the Premier’s Reading Challenge which commences on Monday 15 May and closes Friday 25 August.

Last year, an outstanding 165,000 students from 900 schools took part in the challenge reading a total of 2.24 million books.

This year the Premier has challenged all Year 9 students to read 15 books. Experiencing books can include shared reading, listening to stories, or reading on their own. The aim for the 2017 challenge is engage more students than ever before.

Every student who completes the challenge will receive a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier. It will be my great pleasure to present these certificates during the Premier’s Reading Challenge celebration weeks to be held 6 – 17 November 2017.

For more information about the Premier’s Reading Challenge, please visit:

If your student is not in Year 9 but would like to be part of the challenge they can register on this website.

Please talk to your Junior Secondary student about their involvement in Accelerated Reader or the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Ask them questions about what they are reading and help them to always have a book that they take to school and to read for at least 15 minutes every night at home.

Reading is very important to achieving success here at Corinda and we expect all of our students to be life-long readers.

Melanie Wild Head of Curriculum- Literacy

Science

Agriculture

Our first Sheep Show of the year occurred on Sunday 7th May at the Rocklea Showgrounds.

We competed against other schools from the region such as Rochedale State High, Dakabin State High and Beenleigh State High. Students competed in several classes involving showing, judging and handling the animals to demonstrate their knowledge of the animal and showing etiquette.

To our great surprise and pleasure we received 3rd place in the Milk-tooth Ewe class with the animal being handled by Madeleine McCabe. Scarlett Watkins then proceeded to take out second place Junior Handler. Both girls are in year 7 and new to showing.

It was a great atmosphere at the show with students and teachers from other schools very willing to give advice and guide our students on their learning journey.

A big thank you needs to go to the parents who helped out on the day and supported the team.

Stuart Halsey. Head of Department – Senior Science & Agriculture

Chemistry

Year 12 Chemistry EEIs are an all-consuming endeavour for both the Senior Chemistry staff and our students. They are titrating to determine a range of chemical changes experienced by substances under different conditions such as oil exposed to air and different temperatures, pool water exposed to UV light and the oxidation of apples to name but a few.

Students are also using the Spectrophotometer, Polymerase Chain Reaction machine, high speed centrifuge and Gel Electrophoresis to investigate DNA.

Thank you to Dr Ghali, Mrs Frew and Ms Hooper for the dedication you show towards our Senior Chemistry students.

Applied Studies

Backstage Brew

Well Done to the Year 11 Hospitality students - an absolute sell out at the Pop-Up Soup Venture this week.

7A Textiles

Students in year 7 have completed their first project involving the design process. They have been very busy and creative – designing, producing an evaluating their bookmarks. This was an introduction to provide them with design skills that will be developed and challenged further this term.

Throughout the units of study, the students develop and practice skills that they can use way into the future; basic design, safe operation of a sewing machine and correct use of commercial patterns as well as the care of textile items. They also learn a range of fabric embellishment techniques.

Students get to develop their creativity when designing and constructing their practical pieces. We see many great original designs and it is amazing to see them so proud of their creations.

Languages

The World Championships for Language Perfect runs between the 15th of May and the 25th of May. During this time, students are encouraged to go online and answer as many questions as possible in the language they study. All students are encouraged to gain at least 500 points and they will obtain a credit certificate for their efforts. It is a fantastic opportunity for students to achieve recognition whilst they are studying. Students can access lists of words that directly relate to work they are currently studying in class. Good luck to all of our students.

Lisa Thompson- Head of Department Languages and International

Taiwanese Study Tour

This week we have a Taiwanese study tour in the school. There are 18 students in the group and they have been buddied with Corinda students. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about Taiwanese culture and practise their Chinese. Our guests will be joining a number of our applied studies classes in the kitchen. Ms Hackett has organised to introduce the students to Australian cuisine. In the second week we will see our visitors showcase Taiwanese food. These cultural exchanges allow Corinda students to mix with students from all over the world.

International

Homestay Families Needed

Would you like to learn about another culture and make new friends? We are looking for homestay families to host our students coming from China in term 3. The students are aged between 11 and 14 and like to be in a double placement. They will be here for 7 weeks from mid-July to the end of August. You will receive around $530 per week for 2 students. If you are interested, please contact Janelle in the International Department on jpeac99@eq.edu.au.

The Arts

Drama

After their 2nd live audition Corinda SHS has 5 Drama students selected to represent the state. Please congratulate, Cameron Cook, Anna Heckenberg, Shaun Jacobs, Tim Tran and Jennifer Lind....now the hard work begins.

Music

Last week 87 students attended our Instrumental Music Camp at Brookfield. During this time students were able to work with Rob McWilliams, a guest conductor, to improve their practice. If you are a student or parent who is interested in getting involved in Instrumental Music / Music please contact the Arts Department to enrol in lessons!

Dance

Our tickets for Semester One Dance in Focus concert are for sale from this week! The concert features dance works from our Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 classes as well as the Dance Excellence classes. We also aim to highlight some student devised choreography during the show. CSHS Hall, Thursday 22nd June at 6:30pm. Tickets are $5 per seat, children under 10 are free. Reservations can be made at the link below. Get in whilst tickets last!

Sport

Term 2 is always a busy time for sport at Corinda!

We congratulate the Corinda SHS Cross Country team who represented the school with pride at the recent West Brisbane District Cross Country carnival – an extra congratulation to those students who were successful in qualifying (top 6) for the Metropolitan West Cross Country carnival - Kieran (U13 Boys) - 3rd, Amos (U13 Boys) - 6th, Harry (U14 Boys) - 6th, Elissa (U14 Girls) - 5th, Christina (U15 Girls) - 4th, Gamoradine (U16 Boys) - 5th, and Macrine (Open Girls) - 6th.

Good luck to our Summer Gala Day Champions who will represent the District at Metropolitan Finals over the coming weeks – Year 7 Boys Touch, Open Girls Touch, and Year 9 Boys Volleyball.

Now that Cross Country has passed, Athletics becomes our next carnival focus. Athletics training will begin in the next couple of week with separate run, jump, and throw sessions held weekly. Students looking for training in specific events should contact Mr. Vlaisavljevic (HPE Staffroom) for more details. Corinda Athletics Carnival will be held over two days in Week 10 this term.

Trials for Junior and Senior Winter Gala Day teams is well underway, students should be listening to notices and checking the Sports Centre noticeboard regularly to ensure they do not miss any information or trials. Corinda will be nominating teams in multiple Year levels and sports at Junior Winter Gala Day #1 (Week 10, Term 2), Senior Winter Gala Day (Week 2, Term 3), and Junior Winter Gala Day #2 (Week 5, Term 3)

Teacher Spotlight

Kevin McMahon- Japanese Teacher

1. What is the best thing about Corinda High? Great students
2. What is your favourite colour? Red
3. What TV show do you love? Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell
4. What is your Junk food of choice? Why do I have to choose?
5. Do you have a Hobby? Reading
6. Who is the best band/singer of all time? Midnight Oil.
7. What sport do you love to watch? Cricket
8. If you could only travel to one more destination in the world, where would you go? Europe
9. What do you love about teaching? Making a difference - or at least trying to!
10. What is your favourite life quote? “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read” Groucho Marx

School

School Parking

A friendly reminder, there is NO parking in the school grounds at any time.

Community Notices

Centenary Knitting and Crochet Circle

The Centenary Knitting and Crochet circle are holding a ‘Drop in and Knit’ Day on 15th July (see poster for times and location). The aim is to complete as many squares as possible, with the goal set at 500. Squares are assembled into rugs for charity. Drop in and knit/crochet a square. Stay for an hour or stay for the day.

Always wanted to learn how to knit or crochet?? Someone will be there to help.

Drop in on the day:

• Browse through the craft display of items made by local artisans.
• Find something special on the stall selling handmade items (not just knit and crochet).
• Hourly raffles (proceeds to purchase wool for rugs)
• Be in with a chance to win one of the 3 major prizes (not necessary to be present at time of draw):
  - Primary School and High School student sections – complete a square and go into the draw. One entry per square completed, and you can start working on them at home: Junior - $20 gift card, High School – I-tune card.
  - Most squares completed on the day (no age limit) – sorry, you can’t start these at home! Prize is a voucher from Just Poppy’s at Riverhills.
• Sausage sizzle lunch and tea and coffee throughout the day.
• 8 ply yarn, 4mm needles, 30 stitches and knit to make a 15 x 15cm square. Garter stitch (all plain knitting) is fine, but be adventurous if you would like to.
• If you are into crochet, we regularly have squares that need to be crocheted together, please get in touch.

UQ Parenting and Family Support Centre Study

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