13 September 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

As we approach the end of Term 3 and the end of my tenure as Principal of Wynnum State High School I reflect on my time here since 2013.

PROUD

The PROUD mantra where we focus on being Positive, Respectful, On Task, Unified and Determined in all that we do is a fantastic platform for students and staff to work together to deliver the high expectations we have for our young people.

Every day I see students going about their business as productive, positive students who will grow into fantastic community members.

STUDENTS

The students are truly the greatest asset in any school and that is certainly the case at Wynnum High. I have seen pleasing improvement in the general sense of responsibility of students in relation to how they present themselves and how they conduct themselves in and around the school. Student achievement and commitment to excellence continues to impress all people involved with Wynnum High. The new House system has certainly seen more engagement for students and an extra leadership opportunity for many.

COMMUNITY

The sense of community evident at Wynnum High continues to benefit the wider community. New and exciting opportunities are sought by students and staff each year with understanding and generosity at the forefront.

FUTURE

The process to appoint a new Principal is well underway and will be completed early in Term four. While that process is being finalised the school will be in very safe hands. Elizabeth Williams will remain as Acting Principal until the newly appointed Principal takes up duty.

In closing I wish to thank all members of the Wynnum High Community for contributing so much to my personal and professional growth and wish you all the successful future you deserve.

Best Wishes.

Phil Campbell
Principal

Senior Secondary News

YEAR 10

Year 10 students completed their SET Plan interviews on Thursday 1 September and chose the subjects they will study in Senior. This was a great opportunity for students to talk about their future goals and aspirations with their parents/carers and teachers. If you were unable to make the SET Plan interviews, please contact the school office to organise an interview with the Guidance Officer Mr Inglis.

The last week of Term 3 will also see some classes of Year 10 students off on work experience. We look forward to hearing all their wonderful stories about their experiences of working life when they come back next term.

YEAR 11

Final costings are currently being determined for Year 11 Camp so that invoices can be sent out as soon as possible. All Year 11 students and their parents/carers should have received a reminder email with the camp letter attached. If you would like to go to camp, please return the camp notification slip to Student Services as soon as possible.

YEAR 12

What a busy few weeks it has been for our Year 12 students! First it was the two days completing the QCS test and then they were busy with exam block. Congratulations to you all for making it through such a busy (slightly stressful!) time. The Year 12’s can certainly see the light at the end of the tunnel with only one more term of their secondary schooling left.

Special Education Program Update

Congratulations to the two Year 12 students who received a $2000 grant from My Future, My Life funding. These funds will go towards their employability in 2017. Well done to them and their families.

YEAR 11 LEGAL STUDIES EXCURSION

In August the Year 11 Legal Studies students ventured off to the District and Supreme Courts in Roma Street to watch some real-life cases. Here the students got to sit in the public gallery and listen to cases being heard and also witnessed offenders receiving their sentences. It was a worthwhile experience to see our knowledge of the Queensland court system in practice. The court staff was so impressed with the behaviour of our students and the respect that they showed throughout the day that they even let them ‘take over’ an entire empty court room!

Year 10 Garden Harvests

The year 10 students have been busy over the term with Garden Harvest. A lot of produce has already been harvested. Every student went home with either herbs, broccoli, green, purple or white cauliflower, beans, yellow tomatoes, lettuce, baby spinach or flowers. With the harvest complete students were keen to get out and plant a new variety of produce including such things as purple carrots, rocket and various flowers.

TAFE 2017

TAFE applications for 2017 are now open. After much anticipation and a slight delay, TAFE have launched their new application system for TAFE at Schools Programs. To apply for 2017 courses, follow the link below:

Click here to apply online

Once the home page is open, enter one of the codes below depending on the course selected:

TAFE Brisbane Application Code: TQB1701
TAFE SkillsTech Application Code: TQST1701

Students will need to include their USI number in order for applications to be processed.

While applications will remain open until 6 February 2017, it is recommended students apply as soon as possible if they are interested. The first round of offerings and enrolments will be at the beginning of Term 4 2016.

If you have any questions please contact the Work Placement Coordinator Tanya Moore on 3906 7348

Junior Secondary News

Year 9 High Resolves

The Year 9 High Resolves students have been learning about different social justice issues around the world including gender inequality, homelessness, poverty, human trafficking, domestic violence and refugee issues. As part of High Resolves, the group is creating a social justice project for the WSHS students. They have chosen to focus on social discrimination and have been madly preparing a variety of campaigns to present to the school next term. These campaigns are designed to combat social discrimination in the school.

Look forward to a free-dress day, some video presentations and a sporting tournament by DISCRIMINATION EXTERMINATION in the first few weeks of Term 4. Well done to all High Resolves students so far and your dedication to helping everyone in the school become more inclusive of others!

The next High Resolves meeting is in Periods 1 & 2 next Tuesday 13th September.

Year 9 French Immersion afternoon

Five Year 9 French students spent an afternoon at All Hallows’ School in Fortitude Valley speaking French with other students from all around Brisbane. Nadia, Joseph, Alex, Sarah and Tyler participated in five different workshops with French teachers, where English wasn’t permitted and they had to speak French the whole time! Fuelled by chocolate croissants and macarons, everyone enjoyed speed dating, rapping in French, writing paragraphs from memory and analysing song lyrics – all to improve their language and cultural awareness. Félicitations à tous!

Awards Season

RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE IN ACADEMIC AND SPORTING PURSUITS

Awards Night

The highlight of our school academic year is our annual Awards Night. This will be held on Thursday 27 October in the Imperial Playhouse commencing at 7.30 p.m.

Criteria for the awarding of academic awards is as follows:

In Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 subject awards are given to the top three (3) students in English, Maths, Science and Humanities. Results from semester 1 and term 3 are used to determine these awards.

In Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12, subject prizes are awarded to the top student in each subject. Results from semester 1 & term 3 will be used to determine these subject prizes.

As well as these subject prizes, awards of excellence are presented to students who have achieved consistently and well at an A and B level in their studies during the year.

A points system is used determine these awards of excellence for each year level and it is based on the results achieved from both the semester 1 report and the term 3 report.

The system is as follows:

• only A and B results count towards awards of excellence
• in semester 1, an A = 10 points while a B = 8 points
• in term 3, an A = 5 points while a B = 4 points

In Year 10, 11 and 12 students need to get 69 points and in Year 7, 8 and 9 students need to get 80.5 points.

As well as academic awards, community, service to the school and honours awards are also presented on this night.

Sports Awards

The highlight of our school sporting year is our annual Sports Awards. This will be held on Thursday 20 October in the Star Theatre commencing at 7.30 p.m.

Students who achieve the following awards are recognised on the night and can expect to receive an invitation to the Sports Awards.

• Age Champions for swimming, cross country, track and field
• Most valuable players awards for Year 7 Gala Sport Day teams
• Most improved player and most valuable player awards for Year 8 to Year 12 for all interschool sports
• Bayside District Premiership Team awards
• Sports Achievement awards for students who have been selected to represent Bayside District, Metropolitan East or State or National level
• Service to the School Sport awards and Sportsperson of the Year

If you have any questions relating to the above, please do not hesitate to give us a call

Warm regards

Liz Williams
Deputy Principal

Maths News

Australian Maths Competition Results

Wynnum SHS competed in this event earlier in the term and results have just arrived via e-mail.

Congratulations to the following students.

(HD -= High Distinction, D -= Distinction, C = Credit and Pr = Proficiency)

Our best result was Hayley Geldart of Year 7 with a percentile of 100% which meant that Hayley beat 99% of Year 7 students (who competed in the competition) from Australia. A great effort! Congratulations to all of our students. Certificates will be presented on parade later in the year after they arrive in the mail.

Mr P Wilson
HOD Mathematics

Science News

Year 11 Biology Camp:

As part of the Ecology unit, our 3 Year 11 Biology classes attended PCYC Camp Bornhoffen for 3 days in late August. The scenery was picturesque with the camp hidden within Numinbah Valley in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Students were treated to superb facilities and meals and used their time productively to complete many biological tasks set around aspects of rainforest, freshwater and dry sclerophyll ecosystems. It was impressive to see such an active group engage in the learning experiences and have energy left over to enjoy playing basketball, frisbee and football in their free time. Students even took pity on their teachers and went to sleep by 1am! Don’t worry though as teachers had their revenge by waking students by 6.30am for breakfast! All students chipped in to help serve meals and clean-up. The highlight of the camp (apart from the food!) was the walk through the glow-worm cave on the first night. Special thanks must go to Mr Ken Allison, Ms Shannon Redsell, Ms Maria Posselt, Mr Grant Nicol and Chaplin Greg for their time organising and managing the camp.

SPARQ-ed Research Immersion Program

The University of Queensland is promoting an opportunity for any Year 10 or 11 students to participate in the SPARQ-ed Research Immersion Program from November 28 to December 1st. The topic this year is “Dynamic tumour heterogeneity in melanoma therapy: exploring this using a novel model-system”. Students will work alongside clinician scientists specialising in skin cancers to identify what causes acquired multidrug tolerance in melanoma. Using cutting edge technologies, participants will explore the biology of dynamic heterogeneity, which is critical to the development of melanoma treatment strategies. Any students interested in attending the 4 day course are required to complete an online application form to register your expression of interest. Last year 3 students from year 11 attended a similar event and spoke very highly of the program. Our school is happy to provide payment to attend the course. Please see Mr Nicol in the Science Office if you would like further information or visit the SPARQ-ed website.

Australian National Crystal Growing Competition 2016.

During term 2, some groups of students from year 8 took part in the annual crystal growing competition, run by RACI (Royal Australian Chemical Institute). The students grew both blue copper sulphate crystals and clear potassium aluminium sulfate (alum) crystals.

During every science lesson, the students tended to their crystals, carefully removing any seeds and marking the liquid levels. The students also had to record their observations in a journal. After 10 weeks, we chose the best 5 crystals to send in for the competition, along with completed journals.

There were a total of 68 crystals from approximately 750 students from schools throughout Queensland that were entered into the competition. We are delighted to announce that Olivia Turner, Abbie Vang, Dianne Suarez, Marianthi Panagopoulos and Erin Palmer’s alum crystal was “highly commended” along with Katelyn Le Man, Katelyn French and Emily Pitt’s alum crystal.

Lily Amos and Shana Smith won 2nd place with their alum crystal and now are eligible for the National competition, to be judged in Brisbane in October.

Well done to all those students who entered the competition and good luck to Lily and Shana for the finals.

Mrs Wyatt. Year 8 science teacher.

Year 8 QUT Cube Excursion

Students of 8A Science attended the QUT Cube on Wednesday 31st August 2016. The Cube is one of the world’s largest digital interactive learning and display spaces. QUT offers curriculum-mapped STEM workshops in the Science and Engineering Centre in order for students to gain insight into possible future career paths.

The students took part in two activities. The first was “ NASA littleBits”. This was an opportunity for students to explore electrical circuits to create various components for satellite dishes and other space related materials. They had to use their electrical engineering skills to complete a series of challenges.

The second activity was called ‘Chemworld” which involved fun experiments to introduce the students to the thermodynamics of fuels used in rockets and chemical reactions responsible for the colour of fireworks. The students were thrilled to watch their fireworks lighting up The Cube!

A big thank you to Jenny Packer and the STEM ambassadors for making us feel so welcome at QUT and providing a fantastic learning experience.

Mrs Wyatt & Miss Collins.

Satellite Dish Challenge – “Fastest group to construct a working satellite dish”

Japanese News

WMSEA Japanese Day of Excellence

Wynnum SHS proudly hosted the WMSEA Japanese Day of Excellence on Wednesday 25 August. Wynnum students from years 7, 8, 9 and 10 Japanese language classes were involved along with representative students from Manly West State School, Tingalpa State School and Wondall State School.

The day began with an exceptional display of Japanese culture with the commanding Taiko drummers from the University of Queensland who could be heard across the school during the demonstration. This set the atmosphere for the Japanese language speaking competition for which we had an authentic panel of judges from Iwatsuki High School, Japan. Wynnum was represented across two categories, year 7 and 8/9/10. Congratulations to Aoife Brose of year 10 and Eamonn Butler of year 7 who won their categories. Of course it was a great effort to all of the students who so courageously took to the stage.

The next part of our day saw all students take part in a variety of Japanese cultural experiences. Calligraphy, Origami, Japanese traditional games and listening to the traditional instrument of Japan, the Shamisen. Other novelty games were well received and enjoyed by all students who had the opportunity to integrate with the visiting Japanese students as well as Japanese language learners from other schools in the district.

Well done to all Wynnum SHS participants and all who assisted on the day!

ありがとう　ございました

Mrs Wingate and Mrs Hawkin

Japan Tour – Iwatsuki Exchange

Week 7 (22 – 26th August) of this Term saw Wynnum welcome a contingent from Iwatsuki High School from Saitama Japan. The group of 14 were hosted by families in the local area and also looked after while at school by some very enthusiastic students from Wynnum State High School. The group were accompanied by two teachers, Mr Watanabe and Ms Mizuishi.

The group received a warm welcome by all Wynnum staff and students with many friendships formed despite the language barriers. The Iwatsuki students received integrated lessons in Australian ‘slang’, netball and dance as well as joining their Wynnum buddies in regular classroom activities. A special thank you to all of the staff and students for making this group feel welcome at our school. In particular, Mrs Hawkin, Mr Tickner and Ms Michael for their integration lessons.

Wynnum State High School will soon be in the same position as our visitors as we embark upon the very first Wynnum State High School Japan Tour (14th – 24th September, 2016)! More details of our travels to come!

Mrs Wingate

Art News

Concert Band Primary School Tour

The Concert Band travelled the local area on a Primary school music tour presenting performances at Lota SS, Wynnum SS and Manly West SS. The tour was a huge success with the students presenting an interesting and varied program to highlight to the Primary school students how they can continue their Instrumental Music studies into High school. Thanks to Mrs Anderson for preparing the students for these concerts and to Mr Nutley for being tour manager on the day. Well done to everyone involved, especially the students in the Concert Band.

Music Extension Concert

Zoe Nehring, Kira Medlock and Nathaniel Laurel will be presenting their Music Extension concert on Thursday 6 October in the Star Theatre from 3:15pm – 4:15pm. They would love an audience so if you would like to come along to see what happens in Music Extension you are most welcome.

Always…Patsy Cline

On Band Tour the students watch a performance of the music theatre piece Always…Patsy Cline at the Tanks performance space in Cairns. On Friday 16 September (last day of Term 3) the cast and band from this wonderful show will be visiting our school to present a student talk and perform some of the songs from the show. This is a great treat for the students to be able to talk and ask questions of the cast and band. Dance, Drama, Music and Instrumental Music students will be attending. It will be a great way to finish off the last day of school.

Musical in 2017

Next year we will be preparing and presenting the school musical. What are we doing? Watch this space! We will be auditioning in Term 4. All year levels are welcome to audition for lead roles, chorus, dance troupe, backstage or the technical crew. The auditions will be early in Term 4.

Food Drive

Oxley’s food drive was held on 1 September. The focus of the food drive was to “share what you can”. We managed to contribute 160 kilograms to Foodbank Queensland. Foodbank will use these donations to help charities and community groups feed the hungry. A big thank you to everyone who participated!