1 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

Executive Principals Report

Dear Parents and Friends

Welcome to the new school year. I do hope by now that students are settled in their classes and have established their routines for the academic year. It is always a challenge to get back into rhythm after a long break such as Christmas.

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our new Corinda families and hope that you have had a positive experience as you settle into our school.

I would like to thank all of our parents for your support in ensuring the students are prepared for learning and presented in full school uniform. It is important to acknowledge that our school uniform sets the high standards that we instil in our students. This is purposely done in order for our students to be associated with a strong reputation and branding – so when they apply for part time or full time positions, employers can identify this branding with personal qualities.

Over the holidays, we celebrated the outcomes of our Seniors 2017. I felt so very proud of them as a cohort and their OP data was the best in the history of the school. What an amazing effort they all made to lift and stretch their results. I must admit that this time last year I was very nervous for them, and they certainly rose to the challenge and exceeded expectations.

We are celebrating:

• 5 OP 1 students
• 20% OP 1 – 5
• 87% OP 1 – 15
• 100% QCE attainment (7 consecutive years now)
• 98% University offers – only three students did not receive offers – 2 of which were audition based.

Congratulations to Didi Mulligan – Dux of the School who obtained an OP 1 and was awarded the University of Queensland TC Beirne School of Law Leadership, Excellence and Diversity (LEAD) Scholarship. This is a very prestigious scholarship and one of the top scholarships offered in Queensland. What an amazing achievement.

We look forward to having our OP 1 – 5 students join us for the Scholars Assembly in the coming weeks.

Visit by Minister for Education

Prior to the school year starting our staff received a visit by the The Honourable Grace Grace, MP, Minister for Education and Minister for Industrial Relations. She enjoyed walking around our school and was impressed by the stories shared by staff. In her address to staff she referred to the Government’s commitment to providing over $10m in facilities expenditure for our school. We do not have any details of how this will be distributed, but we are hopeful that a new library will be part of this resourcing.

New School Council 2018

Late last year the new elections for School Council took place. It was agreed to increase the Council membership to allow more representation. Our School Council chair Ms Susan Pedley stepped down from her position as staff member to allow new members to join. Congratulations and welcome to:

Leigh Rae Ash (re-elected)
Genise Benz (parent)
Jack Gilroy (Teaching Staff)
Kelli Gallagher (Non Teaching Staff)

A new community representative has also been invited to join and we are just waiting on confirmation of this position.

New House Structure

This year we have introduced a new House structure with the aim of creating a greater sense of community and allowing students to interact with the senior students. We have broken our school down into 6 sub school with a House Master overseeing each sub school / house. This has seen the addition of two new houses – Kabul (the snake) and Yarraman (Black horse). Families will remain together in these houses to allow parents to have one point of call for any issues they wish to have addressed.

Extensive research was undertaken around this and schools that have adopted this model have had very positive outcomes with this. The students have been very positive about this change and our staff are excited to be a part of their house and the potential to enhance school spirit.

Leadership positions have been designed to reflect the new structure and students have been invited to apply for these positions over the past week. The positions include:

• 6 School Captains (one for each house)
• 1 Year Level Leader for each year level within each house (6 per year level across the school)
• 1 Home Group Leader for each vertical home group (from any year level)

Our six House Masters are now located in Q Block together where students can access them any time. We have purposely chosen this location so that all year 7 students are able to access the House Masters easily without confusion.

We look forward to watching this grow over the next twelve months and to developing a greater sense of school spirit and positive competition between the house, not only on the sporting field but also in a variety of pursuits.

Parent Information Evenings

A letter was emailed to all parents this week outlining key dates for parent meetings. Please take the time to mark these on your calendar, as they will provide some critical information. I look forward to meeting you all at these events.

Welcome back – I am excited for the year ahead and am very happy to be back with our amazing staff and students!

Helen Jamieson
Executive Principal

Coming Events

QParents

Have you joined QParents?

Parents will have received an invitation email or letter by now and it’s great to see that so many parents have registered already. If you have not received an invitation, please advise us immediately by emailing info@corindashs.eq.edu.au . Over time, QParents will become an integral part of how we communicate with parents. Get on board to enjoy the ease and convenience that QParents offers.

Invitation to join the Friends of Corinda Music

Friends of Corinda Music supports the music program at Corinda SHS. In recent years, funds raised by this group have helped purchase instruments, sound equipment, and a banner to help promote our wonderful program. Our first meeting for 2018 is on Thursday 8 Feb at 5:45 pm, in the Paradox Room, Corinda SHS. One of the agenda items will be to choose the times and dates of meetings for the rest of the year, aiming for approximately two meetings per term. Meetings are usually short, lasting less than an hour.

Membership is open to parents, staff, and community members. It is a great way of keeping up to date with all the Music events in the school, as well as contributing to the school's vibrant music program.

Margaret Caley
Secretary

House Masters

2018 sees an exciting new opportunity for students of Corinda SHS with the introduction of a vertical house structure. Students are now members of home groups where they will remain for their entire schooling, creating a familiar support group at school. This allows students to foster relationships across year levels, develop and display leadership in a new setting, and participate in all aspects of school life as a part of their house. The six houses, each with its own dedicated House Masters are:

Bunar – Jeanette Laurie
Dibbil – Kirsty Morrison
Kabul – Chip Barnes
Moori – Erin Clare
Pirri – Nick Vlaisavljevic
Yarraman – Caitlin Brown

The house masters are the first point of call for parents for any query. If you have any questions about this new system, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s house master. Corinda State High School; Six Houses One Family.

The Arts

I would like to introduce myself to the school community as Head of Department – The Arts for 2018 whilst Jenny Catanzariti is on maternity leave. I have discovered already that The Arts at Corinda State High School is a very exciting and busy department, which offers amazing opportunities for the students with classroom, excellence and extra-curricular arts activities available. The staff are a dedicated and passionate group of educators who work hard to support students in achieving their best and challenging them to improve and grow.

Ms Mardi Mansfield - mstit3@eq.edu.au

Dance

The dance department is in full swing with extra-curricular competitive troupes commencing rehearsals on day one. These dancers will be participating in a weekend dance camp on 2, 3 and 4 February with industry professionals and the talented Corinda SHS teachers to learn routines for eisteddfods this year. Classroom dance this term is focussing on exciting topics including Musical Theatre, World Dance and Elements of Dance. Students in these classes will be working towards the Dance in Focus event on 22 June.

Drama

Drama classes have started with classes from year 7 to year 11. Students will be revising the elements of drama to prepare for their upcoming units and have a variety of excursions and incursions to look forward to. Incursions will include performances from Brainstorm Productions and Zen Zen Zo Artist-In-Residence workshops and excursions will include a visit to QPAC to see ‘Antigone’. Students will also perform drama works for assessment on a variety of evening performances to be advised by the drama teachers.

Instrumental Music

Instrumental lessons have begun in woodwind, brass, percussion, strings, guitar, voice and piano. Opportunities for our students include public performances, competitions and attending the music camp in March. If you have not yet enrolled, it is not too late to see the music teachers in M Block for an enrolment form. These forms can also be accessed on the school web page. Once completed please return the forms to The Arts Head of Department.

Literacy

Accelerated Reader 2017

We are pleased to continue Accelerated Reader within our Wide Reading program for 2017. All year 7 and 8 Students will be part of this program.

Reading for pleasure is important for teenagers and is a strong predictor of success in life. It will help students:

• Improve their memory and vocabulary
• Increase their mental stamina
• Improve achievement in all learning areas
• Develop empathy
• Decrease stress

Accelerated Reader is a program to support the wide reading students do at school and at home. It will allow all students to find and choose books that are appropriate to their reading level and it will help improve their reading!

This term, all Year 7 and 8 students will undertake the STAR testing to determine their reading range. They will then be able to borrow books from the library marked with their reading range.

Students will need to:

• Borrow books from the library that are part of Accelerated Reader
• Read every day for at least 20 minutes
• Complete the quiz for their book within 24 hours of finishing
• Choose another book and do it all again

Students will have some opportunities to read at school. It is important that students are bringing a book to read to school every day.

It is also important that students are given opportunities to read at home. As a parent you can help support your students wide reading by:

• Being a role model – read and show an interest in reading
• Find out what your child likes to read
• Talk about books at home
• Put aside time at home for reading books
• Provide access to paper books not just electronic
• Ensure students are reading books and not just comics or webpages
• Acknowledge reading done at home by signing the reading log in the student planner

To support Accelerated Reader please regularly ask your child to share their reading goal with you, encourage them to always take a book to school and to read at home, remind them to complete the quiz online after reading each book, and celebrate their successes!

For more information, please contact me at tstib2@eq.edu.au

Tami Stibbe Head of Curriculum – Literacy

International

This year we have welcomed 27 new students into our International program and we are welcoming back 46 existing students. We now have students from across the globe including Norway, Austria, India, Italy, China, Vietnam, Japan, Brazil, Iran, Korea, Jordan, Switzerland, Cambodia and Nepal.

We started the year in International by taking our students to Lone Pine where they were able to get up close to the koalas and kangaroos and experience the sheepdog show. The students particularly liked the photo with the koala and feeding the lorikeets. On Thursday 25 January, the students were introduced to Australia Day. Our senior singers performed “Advance Australia Fair” to our students and our senior leaders gave a short speech on “What it means to be Australian”. Students tasted Tim Tams, meat pies, pavlovas and Vegemite. Mrs Jamieson taught the students some Australian slang. Before long, they will be using their slang in everyday conversation.

Languages

French

Before the end of the 2017 school year, the French students wrote letters to students at Lycee Alphonse Daudet, a high school in Nimes, France.

Senior French teacher, Madame Muil went to visit the school and met with an English teacher, Madame Costes-Karima, to exchange the letters.

This year our French students were so excited to read these letters. In future, we hope to do cross cultural activities together, such as preparing videos introducing ourselves and our school and our weekly routines. So many exciting possibilities for being actively global!

Resource Centre

The Resource Centre (Library) is open daily from 7:30 am – 4:30 pm.

Afternoon Tutorials begin in Week 4.

Community News

Positive Parenting

Five forgotten mental health habits to promote in young people

Young adolescents are at increased risk of experiencing mental health problems including anxiety and depression. Now is the time to make good mental health habits a priority for your young person. While there has been a great deal written about mental health habits recently, here are five habits worth developing that often go under the radar.

1. Maintain at least two friendships groups Navigating social groups can be hard work for children at this stage. It helps to have a set of friends outside school to act as a buffer if friendship difficulties arise at school. Encourage your young person to maintain different friendship groups rather than opt for just one or two special friends.

2. Provide a space of their own Young people of this age need a space of their own at home – somewhere that they can reflect on and process events. We all need this, but the need seems greater during this stage.

3. Talk about their troubles A problem shared is a problem halved. Talking about what is worrying you is a great way to remove the burden of worry and reduce anxiety. Gently encourage your child to be open with you, or to at least, to share their concerns with a trusted friend.

4. Develop interests that energise rather than drain Encourage your young person to have a hobby or activity that energises them, refreshes them and takes them away from the stresses of everyday life. These types of activities include sport, art, music and collecting. They are generally physically healthy or creative activities that enable a young person to relax and get away from their normal routines. Having opportunities to relax and get away from the stress of everyday life is essential.

5. Make mealtimes regular There’s a strong correlation between good mental health in young people and families that have a minimum of five shared mealtimes each week. As their life becomes busier and increasingly taken up with peers, school and outside interests, a regular meal with the family provides young people with the opportunity to catch up with their parents and siblings. Shared meals also provide parents with the chance to assess their young person’s mental health in an unobtrusive way.

There is never a better time than the present to foster good mental health habits in young people. However, if you are concerned about your young person’s ongoing mental health, see your GP, a school councillor or a health professional.

Stymie

In recent months, there have been some tragic stories in relation to bullying and social media. All parents I am sure have their concerns around how this is best managed. Corinda State High School has subscribed to a special service called Stymie. We believe this will play a significant role in our school and we feel very strongly about being proactive in relation to bullying. Please take the time to learn more about what this service offers for your students.

What is Stymie?

"Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness."

~ JAMES THURBER

Stymie allows bystanders to send anonymous notifications to Your School, about someone who they believe is being bullied or harmed.

The notification interface allows bystanders to upload evidence like screen shots of FB discussions, snapchats, text messages or instant message conversations and an outline of the incident(s). Click here to view the notification page.

Your school receives the Stymie notifications in the form of an email alert. The notifications are encrypted, anonymous and confidential. Stymie does not store any information; they are merely the road upon which it travels. Stymie complements our school’s existing student well-being/pastoral care framework.

Stymie was built in consideration of the Australian Safe Schools Framework and the recommendations from the Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study.

Who is a bystander?

• Bystanders are the largest group in the cycle of bullying. They are either witness to, encourage, take an active part in, or instigate bullying behaviours
• Most bystanders passively accept bullying because: they are scared, they do not feel as though it is their business, they don’t like the person being bullied, they feel peer-pressured to participate or they think that notifying someone may make things worse.
• Bystanders behave the ways in which they do because they are fearful and do not have the experience or skill, to deal with serious incidents
• Bystanders often feel guilty
• Stymie promotes the pro-social responsibilities of bystanders and outlines their responsibilities in the cycle of bullying. We are empowering your students to stand up for each other without fear

Why use Stymie?

"Every child and youth has the right to be respected and safe. Bullying is a violation of this basic right."

~ KANDERSTEG DECLARATION

• Because students who have been persistently bullied are in despair; they feel alone and isolated. They need our help
• Unfortunately, bullying is endemic in this country. The Australian Government has stated that, “bullying is a significant national problem.”
• It is time to educate bystanders about their responsibilities. Stymie will, over time, help to change the 'culture of acceptance' of bullying behaviours
• Schools are in a disadvantaged situation where they cannot offer the same level of anonymity that Stymie can. Operating nationally and independent of the education system, means that the large amount of encrypted traffic travelling the Stymie Highway, ensures complete anonymity for students making notifications; there is a sense of safety in ‘the crowd’
• Stymie works with our School's existing student well-being/pastoral care framework. It is not time consuming and, it is built to enhance what we are already doing
• Stymie fosters a unique feeling of safety that the students can access when they feel comfortable to do so.
• Stymie Notifications provide evidence from bystanders as a supportive backup for schools that need to investigate incidents of bullying
• Because one in four Australian school students are bullied and they are bullied every day
• Because for the first time in Australia, students have the opportunity to report to an independent body with absolute confidentiality
• Because we believe it is not our secondary students’ responsibility to deal with these incidents, the onus is on teachers, principals and parents to decide and execute appropriate courses of action
• Because Stymie notifications provide supporting documentation to assist the person being bullied, the parents and the teachers, to stymie the bullying cycle
• Because collective supportive action can make schools safer places
• Stymie fosters pro-social values physical and emotional safety and enhances interpersonal skills and self-awareness

Stymie Director Rachel Downie, conducts presentations for the whole school community. On the student free days prior to school start up our staff attended one of the information sessions. This was very well received and the information shared about not only the program, but cyber safety and the types of apps that are now being used with young people, was most informative.

The school will be conducting information sessions for both parents (07 March) and students (02 February) in the coming weeks. I urge all parents to take opportunity to come along and learn about some of the developments in the cyber world that are impacting on your teenagers. Details of the information sessions to will made available via email and facebook.

Topics covered include:

How Stymie Works in Your School.

• Cybersafety - parents, take your techno power back
• What bullying isn't
• Bystanding behaviours and responsibilities.

The Smith Family

With increasing financial pressure on families, the Saver Plus Program has proven to be a great way to help by providing $500 towards back to school costs.

The aim of the program is for participants to achieve a savings goal of $500, which is then matched by a further $500 per family, which must be spent on educational expenses, with parents and carers taking part in free financial literacy workshops. The program has now been running for over 13 years.

Many of our successful families have received $500 in matched savings to assist with costs such as:

• School uniforms and shoes
• Text books and stationary needs
• School camps and excursions
• Sporting, art, dance or music fees
• Laptops or IPad

UQ Research Study

We are currently seeking parents and their teenagers aged 11 to 17, to participate in this study. Parents of participating families will be offered a free 2-hour parenting discussion group called “Coping with Teenagers’ Emotions” which is based on the successful Teen Triple P (Positive Parenting Program).

Girl Guides

Girl Guides “Come and Try” Day
Many activities, new friends to be made and lots of fun and adventures.
Meet our Girl Guide State Commissioner and enjoy a sausage sizzle!
18 February 2018
Goggs Rd, Jindalee
More information contact:
Region Manager, Natasha Montesalvo – 0421806227

Choose how to add this event to your calendar:

Apple Calendar iPhone, iPad, Mac - Download .ics file

Outlook Desktop Outlook - Download .ics file

Android Calendar Android devices - Download .ics file

Other Calendar Google Calendar, Yahoo, etc. - Download .ics file

Download Event