9 June 2021
Newsletter Articles
Executive Principal’s Report
Dear Parents and friends
No doubt our students are heavily into their end of term assessment and with the onset of the cooler months we have noticed an increase in illness. We continue to encourage our students to practice good hygiene, washing hands and using hand sanitiser regularly throughout the day. It is important that we continue to promote these habits as we experience an increase in colds and flu. If a student misses an assessment piece, arrangements will be made to complete this upon their return. This is somewhat different and more rigid with year 12 students and it is important that they are aware of the requirements for medical documentation if absent for assessment. The school’s assessment policy can be located on our website.
Vaping
There seems to be a growing number of young people experimenting with Vaping, which from a health perspective is concerning. The school does not in any way support this and it will be treated in the same way as smoking under the school’s Responsible Behaviour Plan. I have outlined some facts for parents to consider and possibly share at home with your teenagers.
(source: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/e-cigarettes.html )
What is Vaping?
Vaping is the inhaling of a vapour created by an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or other vaping device. E-cigarettes are battery-powered smoking devices. They have cartridges filled with a liquid that usually contains nicotine, flavourings, and chemicals. The liquid is heated into a vapour, which the person inhales. This is why using e-cigarettes is called “vaping”.
What are the Health Effects of Vaping?
Vaping has not been around long enough for us to know how it affects the body over time. But health experts are reporting serious lung damage in people who vape, including some deaths.
Vaping puts nicotine into the body. Nicotine is highly addictive and can:
- slow brain development in kids and teens and affect memory, concentration, learning, self-control, attention, and mood; and
- increase the risk of other types of addiction as adults.
E-cigarettes also:
- irritate the lungs;
- may cause serious lung damage and even death; and
- can lead to smoking cigarettes and other forms of tobacco use.
How Do E-cigarettes Work?
There are different kinds of e-cigarettes. But many people use the Juul. This e-cigarette looks like a flash drive and can be charged in a laptop's USB port. It makes less smoke than other e-cigarettes, so some teens use them to vape at home and in school. The Juul pod's nicotine levels are the same as in a full pack of cigarettes.
Do You Have to Vape Every Day to Get Addicted?
Even if someone doesn't vape every day, they can still get addicted. How quickly someone gets addicted varies. Some people get addicted even if they don't vape every day.
What About E-cigarettes That Don't Have Nicotine?
Most e-cigarettes do have nicotine. Even e-cigarettes that don't have nicotine have chemicals in them. These chemicals can irritate and damage the lungs. The long-term effects of e-cigarettes that don't have nicotine are not known.
Why Should People Who Vape Quit?
People who vape need the right motivation to quit. Wanting to be the best, healthiest version of themselves is an important reason to quit vaping. Here are some others:
Unknown health effects: The long-term health consequences of vaping are not known. Recent studies report serious lung damage in people who vape, and even some deaths.
Addiction: Addiction in the growing brain may set up pathways for later addiction to other substances.
Brain risks: Nicotine affects brain development in kids and teens. This can make it harder to learn and concentrate. Some of the brain changes are permanent and can affect mood and impulse control later in life.
Use of other tobacco products: Studies show that vaping makes it more likely that someone will try other tobacco products, like regular cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, and smokeless tobacco.
Toxins (poisons): The vapor made from e-cigarettes is not made of water. The vapor contains harmful chemicals and very fine particles that are inhaled into the lungs and exhaled into the environment.
Sports: Vaping may lead to lung inflammation (irritation).
Money: Vaping is expensive! The cost of the cartridges over time starts to add up. Instead, someone could spend that money on other things that they need or enjoy.
To go against tobacco company advertising: Many e-cigarettes are made by the same companies that produce regular cigarettes. Their marketing targets young people by making fun flavors for e-cigarettes and showing young, healthy people vaping. They are trying to make kids and teens of today into their new, lifetime customers.
As of 20 September, in Queensland, devices will not be permitted to be sold containing nicotine and no promotion allowed for E-cigarettes. There will be no advertising inside stores or in public. Our School Health Nurse is available to speak with our students should they have any questions or concerns about this topic. I encourage all parents to continue to have open and honest conversations with students about the risks and impact of Vaping. Education is always the key to making good decisions.
Helen Jamieson
Executive Principal
P & C Association – Notice of AGM Continuation
The P & C Association will be conducting a special meeting to complete the Annual General Meeting, following the return of the accounting books from the Auditors. This meeting will be followed by a General Meeting.
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When: |
Wednesday 23 June 7.00 pm |
Venue: |
Paradox Room |
At the AGM, all positions will be vacated and declared vacant and we are calling for nominations for life membership. We will be seeking nominations for the following positions:
President: Convenes and runs all meetings, oversees the Executive team and ensures P & C guidelines are followed and enacted. Works with the Principal to ensure the P & C is aligned with the school’s priorities and supports the activities of the school. The President is also a member of the Corinda State High School Council and is required to attend these meetings on behalf of the P & C Association.
Vice President(s): Supports the President and steps into the President role if the they are absent. Work as part of the Executive team to achieve the P & C Association’s goals and activities.
Secretary: Maintains all records of the Association, record and distributes all minutes of meetings. Collate and presents correspondence. Maintain register of members, life members and official documents. Communicates on behalf of the P & C Association working closely with the Executive team.
Treasurer: Responsible for ensuring the Association’s financial management adheres to the P & C Accounting manual. This role has been significantly reduced as both the Canteen and Uniform Shop is outsourced. An Accountant assists the treasurer in completing BAS statements and producing financial reports for meetings, preparing books for the Auditor. The Treasurer is responsible for working closely with the Executive team, and reporting the Association’s financial position at each meeting. They are required to prepare and submit the books for auditing prior to the AGM.
If you are interested in nominating for one of these positions please complete the nomination form.
To nominate to be a member, you are not required to be in attendance at the AGM. This is the only meeting where membership can be approved without being present. To register your membership please complete the nomination form.
We hope that you can join us and we welcome new parents to come along and bring ideas and suggestions for how we can engage on a more social level with our parent/carer body.
Coming Events
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Date |
Event |
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Friday 25 June |
Athletics Carnival – Day 2 |
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Friday 25 June |
Last day Term 2 |
Some of our best
SIX Houses – ONE Family Tug of War
This term, we had over 340 participants take part in the eagerly anticipated House tug of war event! Hundreds of spectators mingled around the edges of the oval and on the three levels of the new Research and Innovation centre, cheering on their housemates to bring home the title of tug of war champions! The noise from the crowd could be heard all over the school.
Kabul house hosted and had some amazing volunteers who helped to run the event. Staff also joined in the festivities, competing in a staff vtug of war. Highest participants points went to Bunar House!
Junior 1st place… drumroll…
Moori House!
Senior 1st place… drumroll…
Kabul House!
The overall winner was Moori with 100 points! Pirri came in a very close second with 98 points! Well done to all the participants.
The next house event will be House Trivia, hosted by Dibbil house.
100 Days Remaining Celebration
"Last Wednesday, the other years 12’s and I had the opportunity to celebrate our 100 days left of school. This celebration was an amazing way to acknowledge our hard work throughout the year so far, as well as give us an encouraging push to work towards our future exams, assignments and external assessments. It also gave us the opportunity to come together as a cohort and forget about the stresses of year 12 for a little while.
Although this may be a confronting reminder of the upcoming external exams, there are many more things to look forward to afterwards. In particular, our formal, to be held at Movie World, has everyone buzzing about what they’re going to wear and what to do with their hair. Formal and Graduation creeping around the corner puts into perspective just how far we have all come and how much we have grown."
- Lauren O'Rourke
Alpaca Camp
The Australian Alpaca Association’s Queensland Youth Education Camp was held last weekend at an alpaca farm in Moggill. The camp was a two day training and show event with students learning from Australian Alpaca Association representatives. Six students from our Corinda State High School alpaca show team attended the camp. Naomi, Ada, Ava, Aisling, Alexis and Cailin have been working hard with our alpacas for the past year and were excited for the camp to learn and be judged by professionals, whilst competing against some of the best alpaca teams in Queensland.
The first day gave the students a chance to learn about what makes a good show alpaca and what to look for when judging the animal on its health, physiology and fleece quality. For this section in the preliminary category Ada took out first place and received a special mention overall for her reasoning. Following the day’s activities, the students had to set up tents and cook dinner, spending the night on the farm in 2°C weather!
Day two brought with it the parading and showmanship events, in which the students showed off their handling and knowledge of the animals. For the parading event, all of our Corinda students were in the preliminary category up against 20 others. Ada showed us her expertise once again, claiming first place, with Alexis coming in second and Naomi and Aisling awarded highly commended. The showmanship and handling events demonstrated our students’ ability to remove and re-halter an alpaca and perform an inspection of the animal. In the preliminary category Aisling and Ava both came second, while Ada and Cailin were awarded highly commended.
In addition to all of these awards, Ada was named Supreme Champion for the preliminary class, a wonderful achievement for our team and especially for Ada’s hard work. Overall, we claimed 10 ribbons for the weekend, positioning us well for entry into the Ekka.
School News
The Business side of Mother’s Day
In May, our two year 10 Business Studies classes ran their annual Mother’s Day Markets at Corinda State High School. Students had three weeks to design their products, develop a budget for their production, organise the marketing and logistics for the event and operate their stores on the day. The market was another great success as all stock sold out within 30 minutes of operating. Thank you to all staff and students who supported this venture.
All profits from this event will contribute to the It’s Time Foundation, a not for profit organisation, providing solar power to schools in Fiji. The Business and Digital Technologies faculty feels honoured to be able to contribute to this outstanding initiative.
A busy time for Corinda Arts!
On Tuesday this week during Media in Practice, we were lucky enough to welcome Hayden from the Queensland School of Film and TV to work with our students. Our students watched demonstrations and were able to participate in a camera and lighting workshop. Students were able to revise all the camera basics and see a demonstration of 3-point lighting and some other tips and tricks as they embark upon their documentary unit.
Also, thanks to Mo Billiau for hosting our Drama Artist in Residence Kurt Duval from Queensland Theatre last week. Kurt worked with our ‘Scene Project’ students in a two hour workshop. He commented on the high standard at which our students are working. We hope to engage Kurt in further workshops in the future.
We were also pleased to host Shake and Stir Theatre Company earlier in the term with their rendition of ‘1984’. Drama students in years 9, 10 and 12 were given the opportunity to watch this live theatre piece in our own drama space. Many of the students also engaged in a Q&A with the performers, which allowed the students to explore and discuss contemporary dramatic techniques and use of IT, lighting and sound to enhance their own drama projects.
In Music last week we also welcomed back our esteemed alumni in the start-up of our very own Alumni Band. Ex-students and members of our school and wider community came together for their first two hour rehearsal. Watch this space for their progress and details of their first public performance!
Creative Generations (CGEN) preparations are now full steam ahead; members of our drum line and several of our dance students will be participating in this epic show in term 3. CGEN is a large scale event which now hosts in excess of 1800 state school students, taking part in a fabulous display of Dance, Music and Drama. 2020 Graduate Vanessa Vu’s work “The Growth,” has been chosen for display in the CGEN Exhibition at GOMA until August 8.
Celebrating our P & C Life Members
On Wednesday 26 May, the P & C officially awarded Peter Baker and Karen Baker the Corinda State High School P & C life membership award. Peter and Karen have been enduring supporters of our school for approximately 17 years. Peter served the P & C as Treasurer and both Karen and Peter were extensively involved in the Instrumental Music sub committee and the Agriculture sub committee. They continuously support school events and contribute to the school in a support capacity. Congratulations and thank you to Peter and Karen.
Year 7 2023 Programs of Excellence Information Evening
Fiery Science!
On Open Day Mr Pilkington wowed audiences with an exciting science experiment to really bring the heat! Check out the video here.
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)
Every year, all schools in Australia are required to participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.
The NCCD process requires schools to provide information to identify supports provided to students with disability. Individual student will not be identified and it will have no direct impact on your child.
Information provided about students for the NCCD includes:
- year of schooling
- category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
- level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.
This information assists schools to:
- formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
- consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
- develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.
The information collected relates to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019). The privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy
https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy
Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD portal
https://www.nccd.edu.au/sites/default/files/fact%20sheet%20for%20parents%20guardians%20and%20carers.pdf
If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact Natalie Fernandez nafer1@eq.edu.au.
Community News
The Smith Family – Saver Plus Program
Need assistance with school costs? Through the Smith Family SaverPlus program, you can receive up to $500 towards school costs. Saver Plus is a 10-month savings program that provides you with a free financial education course and matches your savings up to $500 for educational expenses. You can use the matched funds to purchase school uniforms, books, stationary, laptops and computers, excursions and camps, music lessons, sporting lessons, and more!
Visit this link for more information.