25 June 2020 Volume 22 Number 5

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

PRINCIPAL

News from the Principal

We are drawing to the end of what has been a very unusual semester as the COVID-19 Pandemic has forced many changes to our delivery. The last few weeks have at least seen a return to normality in respect to classroom learning and the vast majority of students have adjusted back into this routine well. Parents and carers have played an important role in supporting students in this disruptive period over the semester and we thank you for these efforts.

The end of term is always a busy time in schools with assessment, moderation and reporting taking centre stage. I hope that your students have applied themselves well over the last 20 school weeks in both the Learning@Schools and Learning @Home modes. Our Year 11 and 12 students are working slightly different timelines to the traditional semester model with their respective Unit 1 and 3 results to be available in the next week.

We await further information around the lifting of restrictions before we can commit to our normal face-to-face parents meetings such as Parent Teacher Night.

The recent release to schools of the QCAA confirmed Unit 3 results, indicated that the school had made accurate judgements on student assessment with little movement required from the school submissions.

Co-Curricula

Many of our Co-Curricula programs including excursions, camps and sport have been on hold since March. As some restrictions pertaining to gatherings and specifically schools are lifted, we can begin to offer these opportunities to students again.

Queensland School Sport have announced the resumption of some of their activities from the beginning of the new term. We are currently planning on Term 3 Gala Days and our own athletics carnival.

Mobile Phones

Technology can be a powerful learning tool but it also can be a distraction to learning. My belief is that mobile phones have a place in schools … they are used in some classes for internet access for learning … as well as providing a communication tool outside of class time for parents and their children.

The flip side however is that some students “play” with their phones during class time and are not fully engaged in learning. Consequently the general school rule is that phones must be out of sight and switched off during class time unless instructed by the teacher that the phone can be used for learning. Consequences for non-adherence include confiscation of the phone. Persistent misuse may lead to a student losing the right to have a phone at school.

Positive Education

Across the school we have adopted Positive Education as a wellbeing philosophy. It is an evidence based approach, based on the work of Martin Seligman and others. We use this approach predominantly in our Junior School Home Group Program and incidentally in the Senior School. A core component of this approach is the use of the PERMAH model, which consists of the elements of Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment and Health.

Integral to this approach is the embracing of a growth mindset - that through deliberate practice we can change our behaviours and emotional states to enhance our sense of wellbeing and live a fulfilling life.

If you have a student in the Junior School, the student diary provides more information.

Cars

We are getting to that time of the year where an increasing number of our senior students are driving to school. I remind all members of the community about the responsibilities of student driving:

• Students are to register their car with the school’s administration.
• Student cars are to be parked in the bottom school car park not in side streets.
• All passengers must have lodged written permission from parents with administration.
• Drivers are to obey road rules at all times.

On the topic of cars, I also remind parents to be respectful of our neighbours. I have received some complaints recently of cars being parked across drive ways before and after school.

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

To read newsletter in full view, please click on the “Newsletter Print Version” button on the top left-hand corner of the screen.

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

News from the Deputy Principals

Are Your Contact Details Up to Date?

Moving into Semester 2, families are encouraged to connect to the QParents portal. This allows families to manage a range of information including address and contact details as well as absences for students. QParents also allows parents to access timetable and reporting information. Information about QParents is available at the link below or contact the Administration Office.

Families can also update their details by sending their student to collect an update details form from the student desk in the Office.

Student Attendance

At Centenary SHS, every day and every lesson counts. Families play an important role in supporting student attendance by contacting the school when absences occur including when a student is late to school. Contact can occur via phone call, email, written note or notification via QParents.

Expectations and processes regarding Student Attendance are outlined in the Parent Handbook which is available on the school website.

By working together, encouraging attendance and minimising disruption to learning, we can provide our students with the best opportunity to succeed in their courses of study.

Uniform

With the cooler weather upon us, it is timely to remind our school community of the school’s uniform code and processes. Centenary is a full uniform school and represents connectedness and pride within the school and our student’s achievements.

Students are expected to wear the correct uniform at all times including travelling to and from school. This also includes the wearing of correct jumpers in the cooler weather. The permitted jumper options for the school are the knitted sweater or the new navy blue school jacket. Students are also permitted to wear the school’s navy blue fleece scarf.

Any variation to the school uniform code is to be negotiated with the school’s Administration usually through the relevant year level Deputy Principal.

Information about the school Uniform Shop is available at the link below:

Year 12 Processes

Year 12 Tracking

We are currently conducting QCE tracking for all Year 12 students. It is very important that students are fully aware of how they are progressing in terms of attaining their QCE, especially considering a significant number of students will need to sit external exams at the end of the year. Some students require additional support and opportunities to gain the necessary 20 QCE credits to attain their QCE. This may require some students to adjust their learning program at school. Students and parents will be notified and meetings conducted if this is the case. If you have any concerns about how your son/daughter is progressing please contact the school to discuss. The best advice is to make sure ALL students stay on top of their assessment requirements and deadlines for each of their subjects. Now is not the time to become complacent, as a strong finish to the year can have a significant impact and conversely the opposite can occur if students attempt to limp across the line.

Year 12 External Exam and Mock Block

This will be the first year that Year 12 students will sit an external exam for each General subject studied. This External Exam Block will run across Weeks 4 to 7 in Term 4 and will conclude the school year for Year 12 students. As a way of preparing for the External Exam Block, we are planning to conduct an internal Mock Exam Block across Weeks 9 and 10 in Term 3. This Mock Block will attempt to replicate the conditions and setting of the External Block to best prepare students for this situation. Students will also receive specific feedback about their results from the Mock Block exams. More details to follow in Term 3.

Year 12 End of Year Functions

Although the last few weeks of this year will be significantly different for our Year 12 students due to the External Exam Block, they will still participate in the signature events of the Formal, Mystery Tour and Graduation. We are expecting that the current restrictions placed around the COVID-19 situation will be relaxed enough to the point that these events will be able to proceed as normal. Students will receive further information as the year progresses.

Semester 1 Reporting – All Year Levels

All students will receive an academic report, which encompasses work covered across Semester 1. Years 7 to 10 Semester 1 Report will include evidence collected across the whole semester and may include evidence from Learning@Home. The Year 11 Semester 1 Report will include the overall result for the completion of Unit 1. The Year 12 Semester 1 Report will include the confirmed result for the first assessment item in Unit 3.

Year 12 Reports sent in Week 9, Term 2
Year 11 Reports sent in Week 10, Term 2
Year 7 – 10 Reports sent in Week 1, Term 3

There will be no Parent Teacher Evening, in alignment with COVID-19 protocols, but students and parents are welcome to contact teachers, or other support staff at school, directly to discuss feedback about results and work covered.

Writing to Learn, Learning to Write – Celebrating Writing

This term will no doubt go down in history as a unique time in education in the 21st Century. The recent ‘Learning at home’ experience definitely created challenges but it also provided both teachers and students with an opportunity to reflect on how we teach and learn and be courageous to try some new things. Interestingly, the craft of writing has helped many people to feel and think through the impacts of the current pandemic.

The historians amongst us have been keenly documenting the impact of the current pandemic to ensure future generations are able to understand how this event has changed the world and societal discourse. While some of us have engaged in reflective writing, posted on social media, penned a story, or written an isolation parody.

The following pieces of writing were produced by some of our Junior Secondary students during their time learning at home. These pieces give us some insight into how our students having experienced this period of isolation and the introduction of new social norms such as social distancing.

Congratulations to our Literacy Coach, Dani Ringrose who was recently awarded a ‘highly commended’ in a national fiction writing competition. Dani was one of thirty-three writers selected out of 277 entrants in the Stringybark Short Story Awards to have her story ‘Hey Siri’ be published in a collection of stories titled ‘Close to Heaven’. This is a fantastic achievement and acknowledgement of Dani’s passion and commitment to teaching and writing literature. Well done Dani.

Measuring the impact of teacher professional learning on student writing

Centenary State High School began collaborating with the team from Write that Essay in 2018 in order to support teachers and students to lift writing outcomes. Through this program students have been introduced to explicit strategies to improve their academic writing. In an effort to measure the impact of teacher professional learning and the implementation of these writing strategies, over the past three years, students have undertaken diagnostic testing. Overall this testing has shown a significant improvement in the composition skills of assessed students.

Below is a summary of our key findings to date:

• Writing output across assessed year levels was positive. Students showed strong generative skills. In particular, Year 9 were 40 percent above their expected output rate. This is a positive results that demonstrates students can respond strongly when asked to complete on-demand writing tasks
• Students on average were generating sentences of an appropriate length (16 – 20 ideal range) and were producing fluent writing, by drawing on the ideal number of sentence styles
• Students tested were writing the expected paragraph length for their year level. This was described as an ideal result, with students displaying a clear notion of what is expected in terms of a paragraph and developing their ideas
• A decrease in the number of students in Year 9 who when previously assessed had demonstrated issues with the use of incomplete sentences
• Higher levels of coherence writing evident across year levels
• Areas for improvement include precision (paying greater attention to the use of specifics in writing to demonstrate insight and perceptiveness) and the expansion of ideas across sentences.

Responding to the challenges of writing practice

We will continue to address our 3 school objectives for improving writing, with a clear focus on our ‘Thoughtful Writing’ strategy in order to foster greater precision and clarity in student writing. We will also explore how we can attend to the emerging challenge of expansion. Our actions will include:

1. Continued provision of quality professional learning to build teacher capability to teach evidence based writing instruction.
2. Continue to provide students opportunities to regularly practice writing ‘on demand’ in a variety of contexts and assessment conditions across the curriculum, including online.
3. Continue to build a school culture that celebrates writing excellence.

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

Adam Richter, Deputy Principal (Year 12 & International)
Email: arich60@eq.edu.au

Deb McIntyre, Deputy Principal (Years 7 & 8, ATSI & EALD)
Email: dmcin49@eq.edu.au

Anna Petrie, Deputy Principal (Years 9 & 10)
Email: apetr0@eq.edu.au

Kelsey Oakes, Deputy Principal (Strategic Projects)
Email: koake10@eq.edu.au

2020 SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY

2020 School Opinion Survey

Parents and Carers are invited to participate in this year’s School Opinion Survey and have a say about schooling during the COVID-19 lockdown. You will also be given the opportunity to provide feedback about our school more generally. This is extremely valuable to the school and is used to inform future planning.

Participation in the survey is anonymous and you are encouraged to take this opportunity to have your say. The survey form has been designed so that it can easily be completed on a computer or smartphone. The online survey will be available until Friday, 17 July 2020, and should take less than five minutes to complete.

To access the survey, please click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser:

Please contact the school if you have any questions about the survey.

Deb McIntyre, Deputy Principal (Years 7 & 8, ATSI & EALD)
Email: dmcin49@eq.edu.au

BUSINESS MANAGER

News from the Business Manager

2020 Fees due date 31 July

A “Debtor Statement” for school fees has been processed and parents/carers should have received these either by email or by post. This statement is an overview of previous single invoices that have already been forwarded.

Please note that no action is required for a credit adjustment, this will appear as a negative amount on a statement. If you have not received a statement this indicates that there are no outstanding fees.

All fees relating to the 2020 calendar year are due by 31 July 2020. An overview of all fees and charges can be located on our website. These documents provide a detailed explanation (by subject) of Curriculum Charges and Student Resource Scheme fees and what the school provides for each of these charges.

Please note that some subjects are only timetabled each term or semester. For these subjects, invoices will be generated as required with an email advising parents/carers of the fee. For invoices generated after the due date, a 30 day account will operate.

For more detailed information please contact the individual Head of Department or Business Manager by emailing admin@centenaryshs.eq.edu.au.

How to make a payment

Payments can be made over the counter by cash or EFTPOS (Debit Card, MasterCard or Visa), by BPOINT or QParents. BPOINT and QParents options allow parents/carers the convenience of making payments from home and alleviates the need to pay over the counter transactions in person. For more information about QParents, please refer to the school’s website.

BPOINT Option

BPOINT is an online payment system and is the preferred payment method for the Department.

This option is accessed through an internet weblink below:

which appears on all invoices and statements. This link can also be located in the Quicklinks section of our school’s website homepage. You will need the Customer Reference Number (CRN) which is printed on the bottom of your invoice/statement before payment can be processed.

When accessing the BPOINT weblink on individual invoices all relevant information will prepopulate. Parents/Carers will only be required to enter their credit or debit card details.

INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) BPOINT is also available by dialling the 1300 number provided on individual invoices. This option will only accept credit cards.

ELECTRONIC DIRECT DEBIT REGISTRATION (eDDR) BPOINT is the approved payment plan option. To set up a payment plan parents/carers will be required to contact the school office first.

For more information on BPOINT please refer to the school’s website.

PHONE OR COUNTER payments Options

Payments can be made at the school office, Monday to Friday between 8.00am and 4.00pm. Payment options include credit and debit cards (EFTPOS), cheque and cash. Money orders are also accepted.

For payments over the phone, call the school on 3373 4555, Monday to Friday between 8.00am and 4.00pm and we will transfer you to the IVR BPOINT 1300 dedicated phone number. Only VISA or MasterCard can be used for this process. From 2018 schools are no longer able to accept credit card payments over the phone.

Changes to the Payment of Excursion

This year excursion/camps/activities will no longer be included in payment plans. These are a user pay activity and will need to be paid in full prior to attending the event.

Please note for existing payment plans, excursions will not be automatically included, you will need to contact the office to make arrangements for any activity outside of the SRS to be included.

Parent/Carer Experiencing Financial Difficulties

A parent/carer wishing to participate in the Student Resource Scheme and experiencing financial hardship is encouraged to contact the Business 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.

Lost Property

We currently have a large number of jumpers and jackets in lost property located at the office. If your student has lost a jumper/jacket or another other item, please encourage for them to come to the office.

It is highly recommended that all school items be clearly labelled so that we can return any lost property to students as they are handed in.

Charmaine Macaulay, Business Manager
Email: cmaca5@eq.edu.au

STUDENT LEADERSHIP COORDINATOR

News from the Student Leadership Coordinator

Update from the Student Forum!

2020 has had its challenges, but the Student Forum has persevered to implement initiatives that positively engage our school community. Clean Up Australia Day, Plant Pals, and Positive Postcards – which highlights the importance of World Environment Day and Thinking of You Week – helps to spread awareness and encourage students to be mindful in an effective, fun and innovative way!

The Junior School had a blast participating in Clean Up Australia Day. This actively demonstrated CSHS’s commitment to involve the school; whilst benefiting the environment around us. Successfully, on this day, HG’s filled their bags with rubbish from their designated sections to improve the school’s learning areas, to tackle a significant issue, and – of course – to have fun (congratulations to MO08A for collecting the most rubbish and winning!). Furthermore, to increase the school’s involvement in making our environment better, Plant Pals is a project that clearly outlines the significance of plants in a creative and amazing approach. Populating plants in classrooms effectively communicates this! To begin, Junior HG classes will give their Senior “buddy” HG’s a pot plant to feature in their room. Decorated and attached with a card, this showcases positivity and mindfulness regarding nature. Additionally, a massive thank you to Mr Richter for supplying and potting all of the Plant Pals!

Staff, teachers and teacher-aids are the backbone of Centenary State High School’s learning environment. To show the student’s appreciation and gratitude towards their teachers, we have – once again – introduced Positive Postcards. This is where the students write a small message predicated around thanking a teacher or acknowledging their hard work. Evidently, this depicts the teacher’s importance and kindness in a positive, mindful manner. I do not think we can ever truly thank the staff of CSHS enough for their continuous engagement and positivity in the classrooms and community; however, this activity allows us to have the opportunity to do so.

All of these initiatives, conceived and organised extremely well by our Student Forum (and our wonderful Forum Co-ordinator, Mrs Manche), aided in engaging our school and community to become more aware of the important and positive values/ideals that World Environment Day and Thinking of You Week convey. We hope to keep involving and raising awareness for issues or mindful activities that improves our school and community next term!

Brady Peut,
Junior School Captain

Carly Manche, Student Leadership Coordinator
Email: ceman4@eq.edu.au

STEP

News from STEP

STEP Term 3

There will be STEP in Term 3. The usual and not so usual selection of activities will be announced shortly, but at this point in time it is unknown what sports will be available.

Sign on will be done electronically next term, via Microsoft FORMS: students will be emailed the relevant links to do this.

Stephanie Corless, STEP Coordinator
Email: scorl10@eq.edu.au

GUIDANCE

News from the Guidance Officers

The Importance of Honest Reflection

“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.”

Leonardo da Vinci

Before we embark in earnest on a new semester, we need to reflect on the year so far. Focusing on self-reflection is a critical element in making positive change. Many of you have formulated and are working towards a set of academic and personal goals. This is a great START in your quest to improve yourself, but change requires more: you must have an awareness of the distance between where you are now and where you want to be. Many goals are never achieved because people do not take the time to reflect on their progress along the way. If you are not actively taking time to assess the discrepancy between your goal and your current behaviour, your chances of success are low. How can you ensure you achieve your goals if you’re not self-aware enough to know whether you’re on the right path?

The Right Kind of Reflection

There are two main, almost opposing mistakes that people make when engaging in self-reflection: being overly critical and being overly defensive. Those who are overly critical of themselves tend to focus only on their shortcomings, become overwhelmed at the magnitude of the perceived obstacles to overcome, doubt their ability to meet challenges, and instead decide that any meaningful change is out of their reach. This form of negative self-talk is likely to cause a person to become paralysed or disengaged, rather than inspired and tenacious.

On the other hand, those who are quick to defend and justify their behaviour run the risk of stagnating simply because they won’t take ownership of their part in their progress to date. When you convince yourself that you’re doing everything you can in the circumstances, there is really no room or direction for improvement. By absolving yourself of accountability, you are also missing out on the opportunity to actively change your trajectory. Overall, it is important to find a happy medium between blaming yourself and refusing to take responsibility, and that happy medium is honest self-reflection.

The How-to of Reflection

Let’s use academic progress as an example to illustrate how to self-reflect. Models of reflection are generally cyclical, and most feature three stages – do, reflect, plan. In this case, term one was the do: you have attended class, compiled notes, and completed assessment for each subject. Now it’s time to reflect on your experience this term, so that you can plan for improvement next term. The importance of honest, constructive reflection cannot be overemphasized.

Some useful reflection questions include:

What happened?
What strategies did I rely on this term?
What was the outcome?
What was I thinking and feeling throughout term?
What challenged me, and did I successfully overcome that challenge?
When was I most successful, and why?
What have I learnt about the way I think, learn and act?
Can I take any lessons from others around me (peers, older students, teachers, parents)?

The next step in the process is to plan what you will do next. It is important that you identify how you will approach your studies in future. It is really useful at this stage to write down your key learning points, the changes you intend to implement, and any other actions you need to take forward. Writing down your plans makes them more concrete, and makes you more accountable. It is also really helpful after this term (your next round of doing) to have your plan handy so you can reflect upon and improve it.

As you move forward this term, please remember that ANY serious goal you have deserves the time and respect of honest reflection. As my old friend John Dewey once said, “We don’t learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.”

Juanita Oberle, Guidance Officer
Email: jober13@eq.edu.au

Janet Ingram, Guidance Officer
Email: jingr34@eq.edu.au

CHAPLAIN

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
Stay connected with friends

While restrictions are slowly being lifted, we are still spending a lot of time at home. That can mean feeling both crowded and lonely. It can also be a serious challenge if it’s not a safe space for everyone.

Some of us have also lost casual jobs that gave us important independence.

Although it’s a relief to be able to start seeing our friends again, many of us can only hang out in restricted numbers and we still can’t get too close to each other. So, it could still be a while before we can return to activities that usually break up the boredom, like hanging out with heaps of friends at parties, playing sport with mates and going on proper dates.

If you are trying to stay connected online until restrictions end, you may want to mix things up with one of these activities:

• Organise a virtual catchup. Seems like a no-brainer but this is the most important. Schedule time each week where you and your friends can all come together and video chat to catch up on what everyone’s been up to.
• Start a fitness or dance challenge with friends. Never thought you’d be up for learning a choreographed dance on TikTok? Think again! Challenge your mates to learn the same dance or test another physical skill like doing pushups — against the clock in a group chat.
• Get creative and learn something new. Social distancing has definitely not been easy but it’s important to try turn it into a positive. Will you ever get this much time to yourself again? Maybe not. So, take the time to deep dive into something that really interests you and that you might not be able to learn at school. Hey, that’s what YouTube videos are actually for! Ever wanted to learn how make music? Cook? Maybe it’s learning another language. Whatever it is, now is the time.

Manage your mental health in and out of COVID lockdown

With millions of people all around the world still in isolation, dealing with restrictions or facing longer term impacts like ongoing unemployment, it’s normal to feel many different emotions. You might be feeling lonely, frustrated, anxious, sad or angry. You could be having a hard time at home with your family or you might be seeing members of your family struggling.

What can you do?

• Stay connected with your friends and family as part of a daily routine. If things are bothering you online or offline, speak openly about it.
• Reach out to your extended family such as cousins, aunties or uncles if you are having a hard time at home with your immediate family.
• Let your teachers or school counsellor know if you need extra support.
• If you are feeling pressures from social media, it’s OK to take a break or switch-off.
• If you think you are being cyberbullied or you feel uncomfortable or unsafe about someone who has contacted you online, read up on eSafety’s advice about how to get support.

It’s important to take care of yourself and look out for your friends and family at the same time. Listen to them and remind them that you care about them but don’t take on too much yourself, especially if you are struggling with your own emotions or experiences. Try directing them to a service that offers trusted advice and support.

Headspace helps young people aged 12 to 25 years who are going through a tough time and it’s developed a range of resources to support young people affected by COVID-19.

KidsHelpline provides 24/7 phone, web or email counselling support for young people aged 5 to 25 years and they also have special COVID-19 resources.  

Lifeline provides 24/7 support if you, a friend or an adult you know is not coping with a personal crisis or is thinking about self-harm.

If you or someone you know is in serious immediate danger, call Triple Zero (000).

Source from (The eSafety Commissioner esafetynews@esafety.gov.au)

I hope this is helpful,

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

SPORTS DIRECTOR

Sports Director Report

As we move into the end of Semester 1 we have finally received fantastic news that select representative sports will recommence in Semester 2. From 10 July, in line with the Government’s Stage 3 easing of restrictions, Centenary SHS will be able to recommence Gala Days and representative school sport. Gala Days are resuming in Term 3 but dates and sports are yet to be confirmed. There is a revised calendar for the Queensland state championships in Term 3 and Term 4.

The revised representative calendar is as follows:

Northern District Sports Trials

A reminder that all information regarding district trials from 10-19yrs is advertised through the student notices. Students must collect paperwork from Mrs Nasalio in staffroom 4 if they wish to attend trials.

Yours in sport,

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

Matalena Daniels, Sports Director
Email: mxdan5@eq.edu.au

ATHLETICS COORDINATOR

Athletics Coordinator Report

Track and Field

The School Carnival has been rescheduled for Term 3 and will be undertaken as per the Queensland Government guidelines. We look forward to seeing our young athletes giving their all for themselves and their houses!

In terms of the representative pathways for Track and Field, at this point, the traditional pathway (District/Regional/State) has been cancelled for 2020. We are however hopeful that this situation may change or alternatives are implemented.

In saying that, as a school, we are committed to providing the best possible training opportunities for our students, and as such, the training regime will continue. See below for the Term 3 schedule. Over 60 students have attended sessions thus far, which is an outstanding effort by all involved.

The following coaches are part of our program, in addition to our experienced staff

• Des Davis – Australian Throws Coach
• Theresa Stolberg aka ‘Coach Marty’ – All events – Track and Jumps specialist
• Alexandra Roberts (Australian Junior Javelin Champion)
• Michael Melvin and Arthur Shera (former representative students)

Competitions

Apart from the representative pathways, Centenary traditionally enters the Queensland Athletics Nitro All Schools and we will investigate a range of other club based competitions for our school to enter to cater for the large number of athletes at the school. It will be great to see the famed ‘Crocs’ singlets back on the track in the near future!

Richard Haines, Athletics Co-ordinator
Email: rhain0@eq.edu.au

JUNIOR SECONDARY

Junior Secondary News

Well, to quote a meme from social media, “In retrospect, in 2015, not a single person got the answer right to, ‘Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?’” That could not be more accurate. What a tremendous change we witnessed to education for the first five weeks of this term.

Thank you everyone for your understanding and support. The kind emails - amidst the chaos of those initial IT meltdown days – meant the world to every teacher.

Back in the saddle, I have been able to return to the norm and deliver “Student of the Week” certificates to students across Years 7 to 9. Instead of going to assemblies, I have been appearing in HG classes and congratulating the nominees. Some of the students are being recognised for their engagement in the online learning. Others are being acknowledged for hard work, great manners, positive attitude, assisting peers and countless other reasons. Teachers all have the opportunity to nominate students, with all nominees receiving a certificate, keeping in line with our Positive Education focus.

We are into the swing of enrolments. If you know of a potential 2021 student, please ensure the completed paperwork is submitted ASAP.

Hopefully restrictions will continue to ease across Queensland, as we have some amazing plans for Semester 2, across the Junior School. Looking forward to sharing the outcomes!

Stay safe, stay well, stay in touch.

Brock Germain, HOD Junior Secondary
Email: bgerm1@eq.edu.au

FACULTIES

APPLIED TECHNOLOGY

Hot Shots Café

The Year 12 hospitality students operated a simulated café on Thursday 4 June. Advice from Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority recommended students serve customers seated in a café-like environment, to develop and refine service skills. To comply with government social distancing requirements, tables were positioned throughout two adjoining rooms and the total number of patrons was capped at twenty. The menu received special consideration, to ensure patrons did not experience delays with their order.

Patrons were offered strawberry cheesecake, chocolate caramel cubes, banana coconut bread, orange bread, fruit punch, chocolate frappe, cappuccino and lattes.

The rooms received attention with particular care assigned to table settings, crockery and cutlery.

The atmospheric music enhanced the whole dining experience.

The students performed admirably, particularly considering the additional complexities associated with operating a café during a pandemic. Ms Ace orchestrated the event superbly and her students’ service and delicious treats, exceeded the expectations of the patrons.

Subject change over

A reminder, all Year 9 and 10 Applied Technology subjects conclude at the end of semester. Students will change to a new elective for semester two.

The current Year 7 and 8 Applied Technology classes will continue with their respective courses until the end of week, Term 3. The slight extension in time is offered to compensate for the lack of access to kitchens and workshops during the school lock down period.

Year 9 Industrial Technology and Design

During the school lock down period, Year 9 Industrial Technology and Design students were assigned a design challenge, requiring them to design and ultimately make, a table decoration. To introduce a degree of complexity, students were required to construct the centrepiece from fruit and vegetables. The centrepiece could serve a purely decorative purpose or perform a practical function. The creative use of the fruit and vegetables was genuinely impressive. Jasper Ng’s surfing aubergine, serves as a napkin holder.

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

ELEARNING

What we learned from Learning@Home

eLearning has certainly been in focus here at Centenary this term, with the school having to rely heavily on ICT due to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initial state-wide outages aside, we were fortunate to have had a school-wide expansion of Bring Your Own Device at the beginning of the year as well as a robust and flexible digital platform in OneNote to support our efforts during those 5 weeks.

During the closure teachers were challenged with finding alternatives to one of their most powerful tools: face-to-face interaction. Many teachers began creating videos that introduced new ideas and concepts, and now these videos can now be watched and shared amongst students again and again. OneNote's ability to deliver personalised feedback to students was also very valuable.

Looking back, the ability for teachers and support staff to collaborate and support each other using technology was also a huge advantage. When preparing Learning@home resources, teachers brought unique subject expertise, teaching strategies and IT skills to their teams and the results were of a very high quality. As a way to spread best practice during the closure, our "OneNote Module of the Week Awards" showcased some of the truly innovative and creative ways teachers were using OneNote.

An example of a self-paced Learning@home lessons

The closure was an unexpected opportunity to test what eLearning methods are most useful for students. Now students have returned to the classroom full-time, the focus has shifted to what can be learned from the experience. While the long-term effects on student outcomes are difficult to predict, we can with confidence that teachers and students have now greatly improved their capacity to use online learning strategies.

While student engagement with Learning@Home was mixed, a significant proportion of students have told us they:

• Greatly appreciated the opportunity to learn at their own pace
• Thought our use of platforms like OneNote, Stile and LearnOn was outstanding
• Enjoyed the extra responsibility and freedom
• Appreciated the effort teachers made to give them feedback and individual support digitally

Some results of the student Learning@home survey

Recent staff conversations, informed by this student feedback, have identified what worked and what could be embedded into our everyday practices. Teachers have now expanded their understanding of eLearning and many have made a commitment to incorporate some of the best of these practices into the classroom:

• More self-paced and independent learning opportunities
• Allowing more time for one-on-one tutoring and coaching of students
• Greater differentiating of resources to meet different needs
• Replacing lectures with pre-recorded video

These are just some of the innovative ideas that we have begun to implement across the school, which is something no-one could have predicted 10 weeks ago! In some ways Learning@home had a silver lining, because it was a unique opportunity to align eLearning with other priorities such as higher-order thinking, writing and differentiation. We have made some remarkable progress in this area and the future for technology use at Centenary is looking brighter than ever.

James Whittle, eLearning HOD
Email: jwhit732@eq.edu.au

HUMANITIES/LOTE

It will be more than likely Winter Break as you read this. To say this was an unusual term is an understatement. As the term progressed and all classes resumed face-to-face, students and teachers went about their business with efficiency and (relative) ease.

As reported in the last newsletter our Year 11 OZCLO team competed at state round and did am amazing job. Although not placed first again this time around, they did achieve a GOLD status in the competition and are to be congratulated on this result.

The big-ticket item over the last few weeks was our Year 7 Archaeological Dig. All classes had a session in our very own on-site ‘digging pit’, where a number of treasures were found. They learnt a little about what it is like to be an archaeologist and hopefully encourage them to think about what this pathway involves, and encourage them to think about how people lived in the past. Although we didn’t uncover any ancient Egyptian artefacts, a fun time was had by all involved. Photographs may by already on our school Facebook page.

The Term 3 Humanities / Languages Program:

• Year 7 will do another unit of History, followed by a second Geography unit with Holly Brain as coordinator extraordinaire.
• Year 8 swaps over to Geography for Semester 2, studying how nations change, as result of human settlements and then study Coastal Management, under excellent guidance from Chloe Yates.
• One group of Year 9s start with Geography and investigate Global Biomes and food production. Anna Wilson will lead this unit and is busy organising a field trip to a farm, in the hope that social restrictions will allow for us to head off campus once again. The other group begins a taste-test of Economics, under the leadership of Dylan Levey. The groups then swap over in Term 4, so that all Year 9s can confidently make an informed choice for a Humanities Extension subject in Year 10.
• Year 7 & 8 Language classes ‘ flip’ flop’ into other elective subjects and a new group of students begins their second ( or for some , third?) Languages journey here at Centenary
• Senior classes continue as in Semester 1.

If you need clarification on any aspect of Humanities or Language learning here at school, please do not hesitate to contact me, or relevant member of the team.

Wishing you and your family a safe and restful Winter Break. Warm regards

Deb Mansini, Humanities /LOTE HOD
Email: dmans17@eq.edu.au

THE ARTS

Already we are in the final week of the strangest school term I can remember! It has been great getting back into normal routines, with all of our students back in classes, working hard on their final assessment tasks of the semester. The majority of students engaged well with the Learning@home content and are well positioned with their assessment. There is certainly lots of practical work happening in classrooms in these last few weeks of term!

Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, there is still no advice from the Government about when we can recommence rehearsals for our large ensembles or run any Arts events. We are still hopeful they can start in Term 3 and will communicate this information to our Instrumental Music families as soon as we find out.

Classroom News

The Year 12 results for their first Internal Assessment have returned from QCAA and are now confirmed. This means they have been assessed by a panel of teachers against the criteria and the marks awarded by the school are now agreed or ‘locked in’. In outstanding news, 20 students across the six arts subjects in Year 12 received 100% on their first task! This is brilliant and a huge congratulations goes to the students on their achievements but also to the teachers of those students, teaching a new course with new curriculum and assessment for the first time!

An extra special congratulations goes to Aria, who has received full marks in two of her Arts subjects!

Year 11 Music students participated in an online Songwriting workshop with APRA Award winning, ARIA Award nominated USQ Lecturer, Mark Scholtes. The one hour workshop covered topics such as song writing techniques, writing lyrics, and putting the song together.

In the Visual Art Classroom…

From Mrs Goodwin - Year 9 Visual Art students are currently working hard on completing a Pop Art style painting on canvas using elements of art and principles of design. The intention for each artwork is to use Pop Art techniques and styles, with the theme of how they felt during lock down. During this time, connection between family, friends and schools was done through technology. Students utilised a template of an iPhone which centres the piece where they have transferred a photo of themselves. The photo has a speech bubble reminiscent of the Pop Art style. Students were asked to think of one word that identified how they felt in lock down to place within the speech bubble. The canvas has been broken up into four quadrants and connects through an image of a chain link to their partners canvas. This was done intentionally to promote communication between peers, as they had been removed from this skill for the first half of this term. So far all students have communicated well and discussed how they are connecting their artworks using design or colour. It was lovely to see students communicating face to face and back at school creating again. When they are hung all 28 canvases should connect to produce a collaborative, current and meaningful artwork.

From Mrs Duschka - The Year 12 Art and Visual Art in Practice classes are busily making their Bodies of Art and Wearable Art pieces for their major submission early next term. It’s so nice to see the busy and sometimes messy work of the art classroom, with all of those creative minds working hard! A special mention to Jacob, who has done a completely digital work, but not on his computer or an iPad, but preferring to use his phone – amazing!

Jacob

Instrumental Music News…

From Mr Johnstone, Percussion teacher - Instrumental music is back into the swing of things at Centenary. We have made adjustments to our routines to ensure our teaching rooms remain hygienic and safe. Each lesson our students sanitise when entering and exiting and do not share equipment. Despite the interruptions and challenges this year has presented I have been impressed with our music students’ resilience and ability to move forward and create music again. Next term our ensembles will start again and I look forward to our concert later in the year.

In the Film Classroom…

From Mr Oberg & Mrs Lodder - Year 11 Film students submitted their first productions last week. They were tasked to create narrative music videos and they did a SPECTACULAR job. Among the many highlights were Jayd’s canine love story, Paige’s live-action/animation hybrid LEMON BOY; Garvin’s fully animated LETTING GO; Dylen and Deacon’s psychedelic lightsabre-wielding extravaganza 100 GECS; Caitlyn’s beachside romance and Jack’s acoustic masterpiece. Great job, all!

Angela Sleeman, The Arts HOD
Email: aslee4@eq.edu.au

YEAR LEVEL COORDINATORS

Year 7 Report

In a term that was unprecedented, our Year 7s have come through home learning and their return to school with incredible resilience. As emailed to parents earlier this term, I offer our school community an enormous vote of thanks and appreciation for the efforts and sacrifices you made to support your child’s learning from home. I know this was a difficult time and that whilst we truly tried our best, there have been teething problems, mistakes and oversights as well as incredible moments of learning, creativity and opportunities.

Building and nurturing a supportive school community is essential to ensuring that every young person grows up happy, healthy, and excited to learn. Add to this a multitude of research that demonstrates that young people who are happier at school also perform better academically. So how are we fostering this in Year 7 at CSHS? Since returning to school, the sevens have been involved in a number of wellbeing activities that are designed to support our students to flourish. Ask your child about the Centenary ‘Quiztastica’ (Congratulations Ms Corless and CU07B), the Zombie Challenge (Nice work, Ms Ball and MO07B) and wonderfully organised junior school event dedicated to clean up the school environment as well as consider what simple actions students can do that will make a difference to the school community. The zest and enthusiasm that our Year 7s took to each of these challenges has been awe-inspiring.

Further to these activities, the Year 7 Assistant Co-ordinator, Ms Moon, is also the school’s Positive Education Co-ordinator. Ms Moon has designed a series of lessons that are delivered each Wednesday. These classes are based on a science-informed conceptual and applied framework that is devoted to the positive education model and designed to further encourage and support our students to flourish. Adding to our focus on positive education, our newest Year 7 Student Leaders, Dabria Rankin, Mary Swanson, Nancy Dinh and Lucy Williams have been delivering weekly Positive Education Virtual Assemblies. It continues to amaze me students schools are adapting and responding during this time and these amazing young leaders have taken to their new roles and virtual spaces with confidence uncommon in anyone, let alone the youngest members of our school community.

A culture of community doesn’t just happen in schools. It takes careful planning and daily practice to effect change and maintain positive school climate. I am honoured to work in a school that actively promotes and supports student wellbeing, and I applaud all of our students and staff for the role they play in building this climate.

Your Immensely Proud Year 7 Coordinator,

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

Jo Moon, Year 7 Coordinator Assistant
Email: jmmoo3@eq.edu.au