19 August 2016, Volume 18 Number 7

News from the Principal

The school has enjoyed a busy first 5 weeks of the Semester with plenty of activity and achievement across a broad range of curricular and co-curricular pursuits. It is rewarding to witness so many students taking up the mantra of getting involved and consequently getting the most out of their schooling. Whilst Sport has held the limelight in recent weeks, upcoming events such as the school’s production of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the Science Extravaganza will give more students the opportunity to shine.

Thanks to all parents/carers who attended the Parent Teacher Interviews in Week 2. These nights are powerful forums in facilitating strong parent/carer school partnerships in respect to student wellbeing and academic progress. I trust you found the dialogue useful and you feel confident in working with the school to maximise the achievement of your child. Please follow up with staff, if you have further questions or concerns, through telephone or email.

On a similar note I extend my thanks to all the Year 10 Families who attended the recent Senior Enrolment Parent Information night. Good subject selection in the Senior Phase is a key factor in maximising student achievement. Senior Phase pathways can be complex and are certainly dynamic. It is essential that all stakeholders have an understanding of pathway opportunities and requirements.

I welcome Lorraine Wallis to the school as a Guidance Officer for Term 3. Lorraine brings a wealth of experience to the position and has hit the ground running, working with our Year 12 students on their QTAC applications.

NAPLAN

The NAPLAN testing program is one measure of school performance. It is particularly useful in gauging the specific areas of strength and weakness in individual students. Whilst the data is yet to be finalised, as a school we have performed strongly again in Numeracy with approximately 30% of students achieving in the Upper Two Bands in both cohorts and across the language domains although Writing remains our weakest performance area.

The school will interrogate this data further to:

• Identify students for further support
• Identify the high quality teaching practices that are contributing to these outstanding results
• Review discretionary funding to best support improvement

District Athletics

Building on our success in 2015 when the school won the Brisbane West District Track and Field for the first time, our team last week repeated the effort and became the first school ever to achieve a clean sweep of every major trophy. Centenary SHS won the Boys, Girls, Champion School and Percentage Trophies in a terrific school effort.

Congratulations to all staff and students involved. Many hours of training and preparation have laid the groundwork for this success.

Students and Cars

As the year progresses we are witnessing an increasing number of senior students driving to school. Whilst we appreciate the convenience of car travel for many families there is an overwhelming need for drivers to accept the responsibilities and school requirements of student driving.

• All student drivers need to register their car at the office
• Other students are not to travel with student drivers unless parent/carer permission is received in writing at the office
• Students are to park in the lower car park and not in the streets adjoining the school
• Road rules are to be followed at all times

Please discuss these responsibilities with your children.

Student Success

Congratulations to the following sporting teams who are now District Champions after the recent Gala Day:

Junior Boys Cricket coached by Jeremy Arnold
U/15 Rugby Union team coached by Dion Locke
Year 7 Girls Volleyball coached by Josephine Moon

John Brew, Principal
Email: admin@centenaryshs.eq.edu.au

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Newsletter Articles

News from the Deputy Principals

Reward system update

At the start of this term we again recognised the great behaviour of the majority of our students. Our reward system allows students, who are well behaved during lessons and at break times, to be issued with a behaviour merit award. These behaviour merit awards are registered electronically and the HG totals are collated at the end of each term. The HG group in each year level with the highest amount of merit awards is rewarded with a Pizza Party. Congratulations to the following winning HG classes for Term 2:

Year 7 – YA07C
Year 8 – JA08B
Year 9 – CU09B
Year 10 – JA10C
Year 11 – CU11B
Year 12 – JA12C

Year 10 STEP Process and Subject Selections

All Year 10 students have now completed their initial subject survey which will determine how the subjects are aligned for next year. We are now in the process of developing these subject lines for Year 11. This process will be finalised by the end of Week 6 and Year 10 students will then be able to access their secure OneSchool site to complete their final subject selections. Subject selections will be open until Friday 26th August to allow final adjustments to be made at the SETP meetings scheduled for Thursday 25th August. All Year 10 students and parents/carers should have received information about the SETP planning day and instructions on how to book their interview appointment through the PTO booking system on our school website. If you have not received this information please contact the school. Please assist your son or daughter over the next couple of weeks with this process of selecting a pathway and subjects for their senior schooling. If you have any questions, please contact the school to discuss further.

Adam Richter, Deputy Principal (Years 9, 10 & International)
Email: arich60@eq.edu.au

Leaving the School Grounds

Students are not permitted to exit the school grounds during the school day without permission from the Principal or relevant year level Deputy Principal. The school has a very clear process for students who may present a need to exit the grounds during the day including the scheduled AM and PM breaks. This process is outlined in the 2016 School Diary on the following pages:

• For Junior School parents/carers and students, this process is outlined on page 132 of the 2016 School Diary
• For Senior School parents/carers and students, this process is outlined on page 133 of the 2016 School Diary

Students who leave the school grounds without following this process are in breach of the school’s ‘Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students’ and can face disciplinary consequences.

Senior Exam Block

The Term 3 Exam Block for Year 11 and Year 12 will commence on Wednesday September 7 and continue up to and including Friday September 16.

Prior to the exam block, all Year 11 and Year 12 students will be issued with their green tracking sheet to indicate if they are up-to-date with their coursework and assessment. For students who may have outstanding coursework or assessment, there is a school-wide expectation that they attend the exam block catch-up sessions to assist in their attainment of the QCE.

Unique Student Identifier (USI) Numbers and Issuing of VET Qualifications (Years 10 – 12)

As of January 1 2015, students undertaking a VET qualification must have registered with the Australian Government for a Unique Student Identifier (USI) number. This number is linked to any nationally recognised training that your student may undertake whilst at Centenary SHS or beyond. In February this year, students and parents/carers were first introduced to the USI requirements and many students have submitted their USI to be recorded in their student profile on OneSchool.

Students who have not completed the USI registration process or submitted their USI to the school for verification are not able to have any VET qualifications and certificates issued under this new legislation. In the coming weeks, the school will be identifying students missing USI numbers and working through the registration process. Parents/Carers are asked to follow-up with their student to ensure that this process has been completed so that completed qualifications can be issued.

If you require any further information about the Unique Student Identifier (USI), please visit the Australian Government USI website:

After-School Detentions

The issuing of after-school detention is one possible consequence for unacceptable behaviour within our school. After-school detentions can be issued when:

a) A student fails to attend an assigned lunchtime detention, or
b) A student engages in behaviours that are judged to be at a medium or high level of unacceptable behaviour in accordance with the school’s ‘Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students’

After-school detentions are held in HE01 on Friday afternoon from 3.00pm to 3.30pm with students and parents/carers receiving notification of the detention before the scheduled date. It is essential that students attend these detentions as they enforce the school rule of “Be Responsible”. It is important to outline that failure to attend an after-school detention may result in the imposition of an external suspension period.

Furthermore, any student who receives three (3) after-school detentions in a term will be referred to the appropriate year level Deputy Principal where further action such as external suspension and suspension of ‘good standing’ will be determined in accordance with the school’s ‘Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students’.

Matt McDonald, Deputy Principal (Years 11 & 12)
Email: mmcdo156@eq.edu.au

News from the Business Services Manager

Teacher Aide Day – Friday 2nd September

Each year on the first Friday in September, schools celebrate the support provided to students and teachers by their teacher aides.

This celebration day enables the school community to recognise the skills, abilities and flexibility that teacher aides contribute to the daily life of the school.

QParents

QParents is an online portal that provides parents/carers with secure access to your child’s student details.

QParents will enable parents/carers to:

• Check your child’s timetable on your phone, tablet or computer
• Access you child’s report cards online
• Pay school invoices online with a credit card
• Notify the school of your child’s absences and monitor attendance
• Engage more closely with your child’s school

All Year 9 parents/carers have now received invitations. If you need more information on how to accept this invitation please email the school on admin@centenaryshs.eq.edu.au.

For more information visit https://qparents.qld.edu.au or the school website www.centenaryshs.eq.edu.au.

Lost Property

Students should check the school office for any property they believe they have lost. If property is marked with the student’s name, every effort will be made to return the property to the student as soon as possible. Parents/Carers are most welcome to visit the school and check the lost property section for items that their student may have lost.

Items of school uniform which remain unclaimed after one month will be placed in the “spare uniform” collection kept at the school for emergency situations or will be sent to the school uniform shop for sale as ‘second-hand’ uniforms. Other unclaimed items will be donated to charities.

School Fees

All school fees for 2016 are due on the 31st October unless you have entered into a payment plan. Statements have already been sent home. If you require an update, please email your request to admin@centenaryshs.eq.edu.au. If your family is experiencing financial difficulties, please contact the Business Services Manager to discuss how your financial obligations can be met throughout the school year, or to negotiate alternative arrangements that may be available.

Payment Options

Payment of the participation fee may be made over the counter by cheque or cash or EFTPOS (Debit Card; MasterCard or Visa), by direct deposit (internet banking) or BPOINT. The direct deposit and BPOINT options allow parents/carers the convenience of making payments from home and alleviate the need to pay over the counter transactions in person.

BPOINT

BPOINT is an additional payment method which is available to all parents/carers to pay school invoices. The internet web link enables you to authorise to have your credit or debit card in a secure environment. BPOINT offers several payment options including:

• Internet payment via web link
• Single direct debit
• Recurring direct debit

All future invoices and statements will display this payment option. You will need the Customer Reference Number (CRN) which is printed on the bottom of your invoice or statement before payment can be processed.

INTERNET BANKING

For payments made by direct deposit (internet banking), use the details that are indicated on the front of the invoice or statement. The reference space provided for these payments is only 15 characters long. Please ensure that either the Debtor ID or Invoice number is recorded in this space.

BPAY

BPay is no long a payment option.

Parents/Carers Experiencing Financial Difficulties

A parent/carer experiencing financial hardship is encouraged to contact the Business Services Manager to discuss how their financial obligations can be met throughout the school year, or to negotiate alternative arrangements that may be available to accommodate their individual circumstances. All discussions will be held in the strictest confidence.

Charmaine Macaulay
Email: cmaca5@eq.edu.au

News from our ATSI Coordinator

One of Centenary SHS’s Aboriginal students was selected to participate in the 2016 Indigenous Australian Science and Infrastructure Development (SID) Winter School at QUT. Aidan Kenny, from Year 12, attended the week long camp at QUT over the last school holidays and had the opportunity to explore a range of Science modalities and pathways and meet with other Indigenous students from around the state. Congratulations Aidan.

Angela Duncombe, ATSI Coordinator
Email: adunc62@eq.edu.au

News from the Chaplain

Food for Thought

Friends – The people you spend most of your time with will have quite a marked effect on the way you live and act as you will find yourself adopting a lot of their habits and hobbies.

Peer pressure is often referred to as being a bad thing, but that’s not always the case.

If you choose peers whose ways are good, then they will probably influence you to behave in the right way. On the other hand if you choose friends who are constantly getting themselves in some sort of strife, then it won’t be long before you find yourself being led into doing things you don’t really want to do.

Remember, it’s your choice. Think of the characteristics that you like most in people and then look for friends who display those characteristics.

A message from Chappy Bernie

How to Build Confidence – Andrew Fuller

Confidence is one of the most powerful, and one of the most elusive, qualities that creates success in life.

Building confidence means that we develop the courage to try out new things. Unless we are exceptionally talented, most of us approach new activities with a slight apprehension, which is usually followed by bewilderment and confusion. Our first attempts may be feeble but if we persist we often gain a sense of mastery. If, however, someone rescues us when we are bewildered we learn that someone else can do what we cannot. This is why rescuing children when they are struggling with a new activity is toxic to confidence.

There are several steps to creating and building confidence.

• Trust your child - Nothing builds confidence more than trust. One of the best ways of communicating your trust is to ask your child for help.

Requesting assistance communicates to a child that you regard them as capable and competent. Letting your children cook with you can be a good place to start.

• Live a bold and adventurous life - One of the best ways to develop confidence is to live an expansive life in which you do different things,

For parents/carers this means encouraging adventure and teaching safety along with way. Kids are more durable than we give them credit for.

• Develop a yes bias – This means developing a personal motto that generally says, “Why not?” For example, if someone says, “Let’s go to France” try to say, “Sure let’s find out a way we could do that”. If a child says, “I want frog legs and ice cream for dinner” you say, “You find the frogs, I’ll get the ice cream”.
• Trust your own intuition - If you are full of self-doubt, your kids will be too. Practice trusting your intuition and hunches and follow them wisely.
• Don’t fall into the avoidance trap - When you avoid something you fear, your fear grows. What is avoided looms larger and appears more daunting, what is attempted lessens in size. While it might seem like a kindness to help people opt out of things they are fearful of doing, mostly it just makes them more fearful.

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” – Seneca

• Follow the 80/20 rule – No one is confident at everything all the time. We all have hesitations and setbacks. Aim to be bold and confident about 80% of the time. In many areas of life, it is the predominant pattern that counts long term.
• Know that first past the post isn’t always the best - The person who can achieve a skill first is often not the best at that skill long-term. In fact there are considerable advantages in being a little bit older when you start new activities.
• Set Probability Goals - A probability goal is a challenge that includes an error margin. For example, a parent might say to a child, “Let’s see if you can throw a ball into a hoop on the ground 7 times out of 15 throws”. As a child becomes more skillful we might then increase the challenge of the task by moving the hoop further away and say, “Ok it’s harder now. Let’s see if you can throw the ball into the hoop 9 times out of 20”. Probability goals help us learn how to challenge ourselves and also make it less likely that we will give up if we don’t get 100% first time.
• Little steps lead to giant leaps - When we focus on our strengths we build the confidence to tackle areas where we are not so capable. Most highly skilled and confident people deliberately practice skills that they are not good at. They go out of their way to put themselves in challenging situations so they can become more skilled. For example, top golfers often put golf balls into the trickiest part of a bunker so they have to develop the skills to make those shots. People only learn to deliberately practice skills that they are not so good at when someone has clearly told them that they believe in them and that mistakes are the only way to get better at something. If we can’t learn to make mistakes, we can’t learn to improve. People who make no mistakes do not usually make anything.
• Build a have-a-go culture - People often express their insecurities by claiming that they can’t do some- thing or by comparing themselves negatively with others. For example, “I am the world’s worst dancer” or “I’m no good at Maths”. When someone makes comments like these, acknowledge their feelings and help them to express them verbally. Ask them what makes them feel that way. Accept their fears or insecurities as genuine but don’t agree with their self-assessment. For example, you might say, “I get it that you are struggling at Maths, how can we work on it to make it easier?” Confident people make plans to improve in areas they initially find difficult.
• Be on a continual treasure hunt – devote your life toward looking for the best in yourself and in others. Focus on successes, skills and abilities. Be resolutely positive and follow the role model of Thomas Edison who after trying 10,000 times to develop an electric light bulb said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

To contact Chaplain Bernie, you can email me on bmcmu27@eq.edu.au or make an appointment at the Guidance reception on 07 33734555.

I am situated in the General Studies Block in GS20. I am available to speak to parents/carers and students, three days a week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday).

Bernie McMullen, Chaplain
Email: bmcmu27@eq.edu.au

Sports Report

Centenary SHS has achieved outstanding success in sport since the last newsletter! I am thrilled to report that records have been broken, history has been set and District Premierships won. It has been amazing watching the hard work, dedication and determination of our students and staff pay off and our goals that we set being achieved.

School Athletics Carnival

Our school athletics carnival was a huge success with a record number of students attending and competing. Congratulations to every student that competed and did so to the best of their ability. The house spirit this year was outstanding and the dancing on the oval bank was extremely enthusiastic! A special congratulations to the following age champions:

12 years boys – Alec Ingham
12 years girls – Caitlin Ng
13 years boys – Sam Berkeley
13 years girls – Ismahan Elsair
14 years boys – Cole Pirrit
14 years girls – Isabelle Lightbody
15 years boys – Jordi Capdevila
15 years girls – Gracie Nugent
16 years boys – Thuya Ngwe
16 years girls – Kataraina Bennett
Open girls – Rebekah Miller
Open boys – Brooklen Waghorn

The house points at the conclusion of the athletics carnival were:

4th place on 1,144 points is Moolanda
3rd place on 1,246 points is Jarup
2nd place on 1,403 is Curragundi
1st place on 1,465 is Yallambee

Following the school carnival our focus shifted to the District Athletics Carnival to defend our title of the 2015 ‘Championship School’ and to bring home the trophy again this year. Students and staff knew that in order to achieve this goal nothing short of hard work and dedication would do. 100% had to be given by everyone and as Mr Haines repeatedly said ‘Every Point Counts’. See below for the report.

West Akuna Athletics Carnival

Students at Centenary SHS that are 12 years old compete at the West Akuna Athletics Carnival. Congratulations to the following students that competed at ANZ Stadium: Alec Ingham, Mitchell Johnson, Eli Waghorn, Yusene Govender, Eli Andrews, Ky Knight, Drew Clay, Shakir Kori, Josh Oates, Leticia Ng, Caitlin Ng, Zyera Beal, Jade Wong and Chelsea Bidgood.

District Athletics Carnival

The training, hard work, dedication and commitment from our students and staff paid dividends. Centenary SHS walked away this year with a clean sweep of all 4 trophies - the first time in history that one school has won every single trophy! We not only won Champion School but we also won the boys trophy, girls trophy and the percentage trophy. History has been made and it was not an accident that this record has now been established. Without the students and staff commitment to ongoing training sessions this achievement would not have been. The points on the final day of competition saw Centenary SHS win the Championship trophy by over 500 points. Mr Haines famous saying ‘Every Point Counts’ proved 100% spot on as the girls trophy was only won by a mere 10 points over Kenmore SHS which broke their 9 year winning streak. A big thank you has to go to all of the students who committed to achieving our athletics goal this year and for giving their all on each of the district carnival days. Thanks also to Mr Haines for being the driving force behind this victory. His commitment to the PE staff and to the Athletics team is truly appreciated. This was a team effort with a big thank you to Mr Mills, Mr Gibbs, Mr Webber, Mr Greaves, Mr Redman, Mr Dahms and Ms Petrie for their commitment to training sessions and for giving our students at Centenary SHS the best opportunity to achieve success.

Junior Gala Day

Centenary SHS has just competed in the second day of the junior gala day which saw three teams win District Premierships. Congratulations to boys cricket, Year 7 girls volleyball and U/15 boys rugby union. Cricket saw the Centenary 'Bulls' go through undefeated in 4 round robin games plus the final. Coaches reported that the students from Centenary SHS demonstrated sportsmanship, teamwork and great skills and ability. As a sports director it is fantastic to hear such positive comments about our students at Centenary SHS. A special thank you must go to the coaching staff as they have given up their own personal time to train the students. Good luck to the teams that will go on to compete in the Metropolitan finals. Thank you to all of the parents/carers that supported the sports program by having your students in 100% uniform, fees paid and permission forms returned on time.

Senior Gala Day

The last gala day for the year was held on Monday 15 August. Students were not be permitted on a bus unless they were in 100% full school uniform. Once they arrived at their playing venue they changed into their playing uniforms.

Winter Season: Year 10 and Open Gala Day
Date: Monday 15 August 2016
Time: 8.00am – 5.00pm
Venue: Year 10 and Open Teams

Open Girls Volleyball – Schools Cup

Centenary SHS entered an open girls volleyball into Schools Cup and these girls deserve to be congratulated for their commitment and sportsmanship that they displayed at the tournament. The team started training in Term 2 in AM breaks, before and after school in order to prepare. The change in this team from Term 2 to now is remarkable. Miss Porter coached the team and was truly amazed at the tournament on how each and every player had improved. It was like a whole new team and they came together to win 5 out of their 7 matches. The playoff game against Clayfield proved extremely close but the girls stuck to their game plan and they managed to win in the third set. A big thank you to Miss Porter for returning and coaching the girls.

Centenary Rowing Club

Centenary SHS is very privileged to have access to an excellent rowing club in which we currently have a team competing in events. This is a wonderful club that offers opportunities to our students and it would be wonderful to see more of our students get involved in Centenary SHS rowing team.

The Centenary rowing club competed in the South Queensland Rowing Championships on the weekend of July 16 and 17. The event was held over two days and included both state and private schools. It was a great effort by all with three of our rowers, Liv Maczan, Lilian Fraser and Courtney Hanson, making it through the heats and getting a place in the final. Considering we only have 6 students representing our school, and 5 have only been rowing for six months, it was a great achievement.

The Centenary Rowing Club is having a "Come Try Rowing" Open Day/Weekend which will be held on September 10 and 11. Students need to be over 12 years of age and ideally in Years 7 or 8. Training is Monday afternoons from 4-6pm and Saturday mornings from 6-8am.

Reporting Results

• The annual sports awards will be held in Term 4. In order to ensure that students are receiving the correct awards and are not missing out, it is important that I am informed of any sporting team that a student makes. This way our records will be up to date and the awards night will run smoothly.
• Students can see me in Staffroom 4 or results can be emailed to tnasa1@eq.edu.au.

Sports Calendar

Centenary SHS Sport Calendar can be accessed via PDF and is available at the following web address:

It contains all the latest sporting events and dates. Please take some time to have a look at this to keep up to date with all the latest happenings in sport.

Yours in sport,

Tamara Nasalio, Sports Director
Email: tnasa1@eq.edu.au

News from STEP

Our second trimester of the STEP program will be coming to a close in Week 6 of this term. One of our fantastic activities was knitting a Community Blanket. Knitting is often associated with an older generation, however we have a group of young people participating in our knitting activity. Ms Kaplan, along with two amazing volunteers, Ms Inga Ng and Ms Sheila Levine, teach the students how to knit squares and to join the squares together. Our students show their patience in mastering their knitting skills and their willingness to be part of a community project. At the end of trimester 2, our knitting group will donate their blankets to the organisation - Knitting for Brisbane’s Needy. We are proud of our student’s contribution and their great dedication to support the knitting charity.

Claudia L., Talyssa G., Emma G. “We are members of the Knitting Club of Centenary State High School. It has not only given us the opportunity to learn new knitting skills, but also to donate our blanket to people who are less fortunate in our community. We hope that our contribution to this program will help other people in the community.”

A message to people within our community who would like to participate in this knitting project. Ms Inga Ng will gratefully accept any donations of 8 ply wool, especially nice bright colours. Any squares knitted need to be about 15cmx15cm which is about 30 stitches on a 4mm knitting needle. You can drop off your completed squares to either Ms. Tarnya Smith’s MP office or Mr. Matthew Bourke MP. You can also contact Ms Ng on her mobile 0437833454 or search Centenary Knitting and Crochet Circle on Facebook.

Sin Woo Thoon, STEP Coordinator
Email: sthoo2@eq.edu.au

Cultural News

We are half way through the term and there is certainly a lot happening in the Arts department!

Creative Generation

Congratulations to our students who were involved with the Creative Generation Performances back in Week 1 of the term. Sarah Olsen (Orchestra), Jakob Small (Backstage Crew), Jessica Williams (Backstage Crew), Zahir Ali (Film Crew), and Nirav Joshi (Film Crew) all did Centenary SHS proud in their diverse roles in the show. Well done to all involved!

Vocal Ensemble Melbourne Trip

The Vocal Ensemble continues to make preparations for their trip to Melbourne for the AUSACA National A Cappella championships. There has been a lot of chocolate fundraising and they will also be holding raffles at the upcoming performances of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - The Musical!

After 3 months of preparation the performances for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - The Musical are finally here! As this newsletter is sent out, we will just be getting ready for our first of three performances. The production of a school musical is a massive task and requires a massive effort from a dedicated team of teachers, parents/carers and students. A huge thank you and congratulations to everyone involved for a fantastic show!

GenX Unleashed

On Saturday 23 July, eleven Centenary SHS students performed in the first ever GenX Unleashed Performing Arts program in Brisbane. This program has previously been run successfully in Auckland.

The students spent several weeks working with mentors from GenX Unleashed to develop a performance that involved singing, dance, drama, spoken word and visual images. Some of the students had never performed in public before. They did an excellent performance on the night and should be very proud of their achievement.

There were three other Brisbane schools who also performed in this event and it was inspiring to see how each school came up with a unique performance that represented their own community. Next year the plan is to involve even more schools and to run the event as a competition.

A big congratulations to all the Centenary SHS students who performed.

Instrumental and Choral Music

We have had a number of great performances from our instrumental and choral program in the first half of the term. The Swingers have been busy as usual and have performed at the Centenary Rocks Festival, Middle Park State School Fete, and the RSL 100th Anniversary Dinner. Meanwhile the Stage Band spent a day at Jamboree Heights State School in a combined band day with the students from Jamboree Heights SS and Good News Lutheran School.

Centenary State High School Arts Date Claimer Term 3 2016

Look forward to seeing you at one of our events over the next couple of months.

Mark Watkins, Cultural Director
Email: mwatk16@eq.edu.au

News from Applied Technology

Year 6 Transition Day

Year 6 students from Darra, Jindalee, Jamboree Heights and Middle Park State Schools recently spent a day at Centenary SHS to experience a lesson in Home Economics and Industrial Technology and Design (ITD). The purpose of the day was to introduce students to a typical practical lesson in each faculty, to allay any immediate misconceptions or apprehensions about Applied Technology.

During the Home Economics lesson, students were required to work in pairs to bake delicious mixed berry muffins. The task required them to organise their resources, measure ingredients, use equipment correctly and comply with occupational health and safety requirements.

The satisfaction of eating the end product was obvious and the students thoroughly enjoyed their time in the kitchen.

The ITD experience introduced students to the wood workshop and a variety of hand, power tools and equipment. Students produced a spinning skill toy after controlling rotating chucks, spinning abrasive discs, cordless drills and Tenon saws. The students worked particular well to complete the task in the allocated 75 minute period.

It was particularly pleasing to see students so engaged and enthusiastic in each of the Applied Technology activities.

Chihaya Akasaka Contingent

A group of twelve Japanese students and their Centenary SHS buddies participated in a design challenge to promote intercultural thinking to produce a solution to a given problem.

Provided with a supply of newspaper, masking tape, lengths of 6mm dowel and pencils, students were asked to design and construct a tower that could support a number of textbooks. The tower needed to stand at least one metre tall, without assistance, and be constructed from tubes of newspaper, produced from wrapping the paper around the lengths of dowel. Once the tower was constructed, its strength was tested by taking a textbook and placing it on the top of the structure. Additional textbooks were introduced, one by one, until the tower buckled under the weight of the books and consequently collapsed. The winning tower supported seven textbooks.

STEP

This trimester, a number of Years 7 and 8 students used their Wednesday afternoon STEP time to construct billycarts. These billycarts will soon be available to purchase, once their assembly has been scrutinised. Letters inviting an expression of interest from parents/carers will be forwarded home soon.

Refurbishment

An $80,000 refurbishment within the ITD building has come to a conclusion. The faculty now has an additional three welding bays, fitted with MIG welders, a quenching trough, a metalworking lathe, a selection of hand tools and increased storage facilities. Additionally, the school has purchased a laser cutter/engraver to provide students with an opportunity to learn basic programming skills and then apply these to some of the practical projects being constructed in the workshop.

Michael Tobin, Applied Technology HOD
Email: mtobi6@eq.edu.au

Business Students mean BUSINESS!

Congratulations to the following Year 11 Business Management students: Mandii Tran, Darly Ngwe, Phuong Ly and Shyanne Phung who competed in the QUT Business national schools competition – BlueShift.

(from L to R): Shyanne Phung, Mandii Tran, Mrs Berenice Furlong, Phuong Ly, Darly Ngwe

The competition is an opportunity for students to learn more about working in a team, analysing a real world business, then developing ideas to provide innovative solutions to business challenges.

I was thrilled to mentor these students in this competition as the students competed against other students from across Australia. Overall the students performed extremely well and produced a well written report. Their participation in this competition has provided them with real-world business knowledge and experience in completing university standard assessment.

Berenice Furlong, Senior Business Teacher
Email: bfurl1@eq.edu.au

News from Humanities

On Thursday June 23, 45 Spanish language students in Year 8 participated in a cultural workshop as part of their unit of work on travel and culture. The workshop focused on Flamenco dance, an art form for which the Spain is well known and was run by a Flamenco dancer accompanied by a Spanish guitarist.

The session began with the history of Flamenco Dance in Spain and a demonstration of Flamenco guitar playing and singing. Students then learnt some palmas (clapping sequences) and jaleos (vocalisations). They were then able to put these skills into practice in a short Flamenco dance.

The second part of the workshop allowed the students to view some traditional Flamenco dance, performed in traditional costumes and accompanied by a Spanish guitarist.

Cultural awareness is a vital part of language learning and this excursion provided students with an important opportunity to learn more about the history and culture of Spain.

Alison Spencer, Humanities/Languages Teacher
Email: aspen89@eq.edu.au

¡Hola! I am Ercilia, the new Spanish language assistant at Centenary SHS. I am from Córdoba, Argentina. Back at home, I graduated as a teacher of English as a foreign language. Here, I assist the Spanish classes mainly as a model of pronunciation and native language use. I am the first Spanish language assistant in the program and it makes me really happy that the school teaches this language. Languages are a very important asset for students, and Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world! Spanish is also related to a very diverse and vibrant culture that is very interesting to learn.

I’ve been in Brisbane for three weeks and I like this place very much. I like the parks, the wild animals, the city, the tall trees and nature. Some things are very different from what I was used to, such as driving on the left, having dinner around 6pm, and the Australian accent! It was very difficult to understand what people said during the first days… The school was another big difference from my idea of schools in Argentina. Here, I was surprised mostly by the ‘open campus’ display of the school buildings and the possibility the students have of choosing what subjects to do. (So, in Argentina students cannot choose the subjects they do, the school classrooms and different areas are contained within one building, we drive on the right and have dinner around 9.30 pm!)

During the three weeks I’ve been here, I’ve been invited to take part in different events, such as the school sports carnival and camp. Those activities were great opportunities to get to know the teachers and students, and how the system works. Everybody is very nice to me and I live and work with great people. Students are usually curious about my country and my culture and enjoy trying to imitate my accent and way of pronouncing in Spanish.

I’m very happy to be here and I hope the students can get the best of this opportunity.

This is a picture of me on camp.

Ercilia, Spanish Language Assistant

On July 28, the Year 12 Social & Community Studies class visited New Farm Park on a field trip to gather data for their unit on “Effective Urban Spaces”. The premise of this unit is to investigate best practice in urban recreational design. An expert from Kelvin Grove Urban Education accompanied the class, along with teachers Debra Mansini & Michele Chadwick, on a field tour of New Farm Park. Once there, students gathered data on aspects including comfort, spatial design, facilities and accessibility. This information provided a basis for students to use as a benchmark for comparison with a local park of their choice. The culminating task of the unit is a visual presentation of their findings, accompanied by a letter to the local councillor Matthew Burke, making recommendations for improvements to the leisure and recreational value of Centenary’s local parks. The class teacher Debra Mansini’s intention in developing this unit is for students to gain a real-world understanding of how they can achieve positive change through active citizenship. Students gained additional skills through the experience of surveying local residents at New Farm and drafting of the subsequent letter to council. Being able to participate in such an authentic project will hopefully encourage students to act in the future on behalf of their community. The results of their action with any subsequent response from Council will be reported on in a later newsletter.

Year 12 Social & Community Class receiving their initial briefing after arrival at New Farm Park

Deb Mansini, Humanities/German Teacher
Email: dmans17@eq.edu.au

Senior Schooling News

Year 10 Work Experience Preparation

With only three full weeks to go, Year 10 students should now be starting to organise themselves for work experience.

Students have started Work Experience Preparation this week in HG classes, covering topics such as workplace health and safety and conduct in the workplace.

Please remind your child to begin this preparation sooner, rather than later. Calling the employer and asking the questions beforehand (such as whom to report to, appropriate clothing, start and finish times, etc.) will ensure they feel more confident, prepared and therefore more likely to enjoy their experience.

A copy of the work experience preparation booklet will be emailed home to all Year 10 families.

If your student does not yet have a confirmed placement, please contact me as soon as possible.

Year 10 and 11 TAFE at School Programs 2017

TAFE Brisbane and Skills Tech

TAFE Queensland Brisbane and SkillsTech are launching their new TAFE at School application platform, designed to allow for a more seamless and efficient experience for schools and students. The new platform, known as Pathways, will be your go to point for all applications as of next week. Schools will not be able to process or accept applications.

When your students apply, they will need to provide:

1. Personal and contact details for them and their parent/carer
2. Course preference from our TAFE at School Course Guide
3. A mandatory Unique Student Identifier (USI). To create a USI click here.

On the day that applications open, you will receive an email with the Pathways link and your student registration codes for both TAFE Queensland Brisbane and SkillsTech.

TAFE Queensland Brisbane
Phone: 07 3244 6123
Email: schools.brisbane@tafe.qld.edu.au

TAFE Queensland SkillsTech
Phone: 3244 0341
Email: schools.skillstech@tafe.qld.edu.au

Year 12 QCS Test

With just under two weeks until the test, it’s important to ensure you have all necessary equipment.

Read carefully the attached QCS Test Information Sheet and check the permitted equipment below, including the approved calculator in a clear plastic container. I will be emailing you regularly with updates up until the test, so please check your emails daily.

Those students not sitting the test will receive information regarding the practice interviews over the next week. Please keep checking your emails regularly for updates.

Angela Raven, Senior Schooling
Email: arave7@eq.edu.au

News from Year 12

100 Days to Go!

This week, HGs celebrated the fact that there are only 100 calendar days left before Graduation.

On Tuesday this week, 25 Year 12 students spent their night hosting a sleep out to raise funds for Mission Australia’s homeless services. They are aiming to raise over $500 and have nearly reached their goal! To support them, please visit the website to donate.

There are of course many important moments for our Year 12s coming up. The QTAC application process is well under way, with the arrival of our new Guidance Officer, Lorraine Wallis. Students are also nearing the final phase of their QCS preparation – I have been to many of their preparation sessions and know our students have the skills to tackle the test. Non-QCS students will be attending a practice job interview to be booked on one of the two QCS days. Mr Homer, our Transition Manager, has sent out information to students involved regarding the process.

This term has a reputation for often knocking Year 12s about. Please help your child with time management routines, self-care, appropriate sleep and of course, raise any concerns with us.

Danielle Ringrose, Year 12 Coordinator
Email: dring3@eq.edu.au

News from Year 11

Let’s start with some great news! I wish to congratulate our cohort on gaining some really wonderful results on their Semester 1 reports. Overall, for a first semester of Grade 11, with adjustments to new subjects, Mr McDonald and I were happy with how students coped and succeeded. During the first week of this term OP Analyser and alternative pathway interviews took place, with students seeing their results in a new format and discussing their pathways in a knowledgeable way. This meant students were able to make informed decisions about their educational needs and what their next step may be, if required. These interviews brought to light a percentage of students sitting in subjects which had been incorrectly selected, or showed a need for students to put more effort in. I’m very pleased with our Year 11s’ effort and behaviour. If your child came home with an excellent report, I pass on my congratulations to you.

I hope these results, along with their recent OP Analyser or Tracking Interviews conducted by their HG teacher, have given them lots of food for thought for what goals they are working toward after graduation – whether it be continued study, apprenticeships, or into the work force. Please encourage any successful study behaviours you’ve seen put into place at home, and discuss small goals that need to be set up to help your child achieve their intermediary goals, such as improving marks in a specific subject.

Within the Home Group program we have committed to facilitate and support responsible behaviour and awareness of young adulthood within social scenes that students may come across as maturing young adults. Safe Partying is an educational program helping students problem solve possible scenarios they may come across at some point in their lives. To further support your student, we have the community support of our Police Officer Paul Emr, whom the students met in Term 2 for an information talk which was followed by a Question and Answer session.

The Safe Partying program continues into Term 4 and we will have guest speakers from RACQ to explain and offer the Free2go program. Free2go is for students in Year 11 initially looking at the Learner driver and safety.

Students will be heading into Term 3 assessment and Exam Block shortly. This term also saw Elevate guest speakers work in Home Groups showing students ways in managing and setting goals for studying. Hopefully study strategies from this program and any methods implemented used during the Semester 1 block exams will be put in place again this term. We will continue with the tracking of outstanding assessment (using the “green tracking form” system) to allow students a chance to catch up on outstanding assessment and Certificate coursework during block exams.

As always, please get in contact with me with any queries or concerns.

Di Huber, Year 11 Coordinator
Email: dhube1@eq.edu.au

News from Year 9

High Resolves Leadership Program

This year thirty Year 9 students have been selected to participate in the High Resolves Leadership Program. The program is an opportunity for these students to develop their skills and understanding of leadership. The students have had their first training day and were actively involved in the program. Later this term, these Year 9 students will create a project charter for their school action project.

L to R Sophie Findlay, Sama Rasoul, Ebony Moore, Rachel Zanchetta Katie Sierstema, Jess Smith, Melanie Amundsen

Career development

This semester in the HG program our Year 9 students are exploring their future options in terms of subject choices, further education and careers. By the end of this semester students will have been provided with information regarding the types of careers that are available for them to pursue as well as the types of further education they can continue with. The Year 9s will also prepare a personal resume and letter of application to assist with future job opportunities.

Later this semester, the Year 9s will need to make decisions on their subject selections for Year 10. They will receive their Subject Information Booklets that will provide them with subject specific information and will help them choose their subjects.

It is important for both students and parents/carers to understand that Year 10 subjects provide essential preparation for senior subjects. They are designed to give students the basic foundations that will make the transition to Years 11 and 12 easier. When deciding upon subjects for Year 10, students should follow some simple rules:

1. Choose subjects you will need to continue further education at University, TAFE or your chosen career
2. Choose subjects you have achieved well in
3. Choose subjects you enjoy

This subject selection process requires some careful thought to enable our Year 9 students a smooth transition into their Senior Education. If you have any queries please contact me at the school on 33734593 or email bfurl1@eq.edu.au.

Warm regards

Berenice Furlong, Year 9 Coordinator
Email: bfurl1@eq.edu.au

News from Year 7

Students love pop culture and the media. They love sharing it and using it as a means to communicate and socialise on their phones and devices. As use of social media is rising among this age group, the issue of whether this use leads to positive or negative outcomes merits greater discussion.

During adolescence, friends and peers become progressively more significant as our young people process the physical and emotional changes that are occurring to them. During this period of self-focus, adolescents also pay particular attention to the peer group as a social form of self-regulation. One way that we see our young adolescents begin to do this is through social media. Teens communicate through media in ways that we don’t always understand. They enjoy the process of creation that social media encourages: the taking, cropping, enhancing, sharing and commenting on photos and videos. But the commenting isn't just commenting – in effect, they're socializing in mixed-media conversations that include plenty of likes and links too.

Technically, the minimum age for opening a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, or Snapchat account is 13, while Kik users under 17 need parental permission. And it is even older for other sites such as Vine, Tinder, Yik Yak and YouTube. The reality is though, that as a school, we see students using these accounts at a much younger age, and the consequences of this are not always positive. It is vitally important that parents/carers understand that it is your responsibility to consider when your child has the appropriate social skills for social media, such as judging what to share and with whom, and to vigilantly monitor and discuss what your child is doing online. Research around online safety suggests parents/carers remain engaged and involved with their children's online behaviour by asking how new applications work and creating your own account. If your child joins Instagram, so should you.

Throughout this term, we have been talking to the Year 7 students about their use of social media and the internet. We have had visits from our local adopt-a-cop and we have being viewing and creating our own anti-bullying messages. Tonight, have a chat with your young person about what they know about being online and what is appropriate and inappropriate. Remind them that online actions have consequences, that they should limit what they share, encourage online manners, and limit access to your child’s online profiles by using and reviewing privacy settings. But most of all, get to know the social networking sites your child uses so you understand their activities.

Yours from the JS playground,

Karen Abraham, Year 7 Coordinator
Email: kabra21@eq.edu.au

News from our P&C

FACEBOOK page – The P&C have a Facebook page called Centenary SHS Parent Group. You can do a search in Facebook and it will come up. Please send a request to join and Lucinda or Jenny (our administrators) will check that you have a current or future student at the school. It’s a forum where parents/carers of children attending Centenary SHS can seek and share information regarding local school events, daily general information, reminders about events coming up within the school, uniform sales, lost property at school, etc. No negative posts at all will be tolerated.

SECONDHAND UNIFORMS - Secondhand uniforms can be donated to the uniform shop or you can advertise what you have to sell or would like to buy on our Facebook page (see details above).

P&C TRIVIA NIGHT – FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER

Following our very successful Trivia Night last year, it is back by popular demand with this year’s theme being supplied by the Canteen Ladies – THE OLYMPICS. So get your costumes ready, sharpen your Trivia knowledge, gather a group of friends and prepare for a fun-filled night of entertainment on Friday 28 October. More details on how to book your table to follow shortly. All proceeds go to our Student Support Fund to help our students who need a little extra assistance every now and then. If anyone would like to donate a prize for our raffle, please let us know by email at: pandc@centenaryshs.eq.edu.au.

P&C Levy

Our sincere thank you to all those families who responded to our appeal and sent in their P&C Levy payments. Donations to the Building Fund will continue to be gratefully received throughout the year. Levy forms can be located via the P&C link on the school website. Every dollar helps us toward reaching our goal of upgrading our canteen and uniform shop to service our school community.

The new uniform shop build has changed focus due to a blow out in projected costs once tenders were received. We are now investigating a demountable building to be installed on site. This will free up the space in our current uniform shop and allow us to start on the canteen expansion.

The next P&C meeting will be Wednesday 14th September at 7pm in the Resource Centre.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

Helen Shogren, P&C President CSHS
Email: pandc@centenaryshs.eq.edu.au

Futsal Sign On