31 October 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Our Sports Awards Ceremony was held last week and many students were acknowledged for their participation during the year. Some amazing team achievements and individual achievements were showcased. The depth of sporting talent across the school continues to grow. Congratulations to all students who participated in our sporting programs this year. Well done!

Our Academic Awards event also took place last week. This is a major highlight in the year and the successes that are acknowledged are simply awesome. So many of our students have achieved at such a high standard not only in one subject but in many. The Honours awards are always a highlight and highly contested. Much debate and deliberation goes into these prestigious awards. I am sure you agree that the number of students that received an Honour Award is a great representation of the commitment and dedication of the students themselves as well as their parental support and of course the staff. An exceptional effort, keep up the great work! Thank you to our wonderful special guests who shared the evening with us. You are an integral part of our community, who we value immensely.

The term is moving ahead quickly and the year is drawing rapidly to a close for our Year 12 students. With only three weeks of their schooling journey to go it is vital that every one of our Year 12s remains focused on their school work. Distractions are many at this time for all seniors and we certainly do not want any students allowing themselves to lose sight of the core business of maximum achievement right up until the last days. Our teachers will be monitoring student progress very closely and we ask that parents and carers assist us at home with this focus. We have a wonderful cohort of Year 12s in 2017 and we wish the very best for each student.

News from the Senior School

The end of the school year is coming quite quickly for our seniors. Years 10 and 11 students have 4 busy weeks while our graduating Year 12s have only 3 weeks left of school…ever! I have set out below some information about what is happening for each year level currently, but if you have any further questions, please just email me on mwill246@eq.edu.au or phone me on 3906 7349.

Year 10

RYPEN Camp

Twice a year, our local Rotary Club (Wynnum and Manly) sponsor two of our students to attend their Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) camp. Two weekends ago Victoria Fuentes and Alex Croft in Year 10 attended the camp as our representatives. They were challenged through active learning and problem solving activities designed to stretch their mental, physical and social skills. Both girls reported as having a wonderful time with Alex saying she could have stayed another two weeks! Alex and Victoria will now attend a rotary dinner in a few weeks’ time where they will join with the other sponsored students from local schools and deliver a presentation about the camp and their experiences.

We would like to sincerely thank Rod Fletcher and the Wynnum and Manly Rotary Club for their ongoing and generous support of the students of Wynnum High.

Year 10 – Final Weeks’ Activities

Exam Block

All Year 10 students will be undertaking their Maths and Science exam plus their English spoken presentations during the period Monday 13 November through to Wednesday 15 November. The Maths and Science exams will be held in the Imperial Playhouse to allow the students the experience of sitting this formal style of examination before entering Year 11. The exam timetable is below. It contains all the details but it is important to note that Year 10s attend school as normal during this mini exam block period.

Clearance Day

Clearance Day for Year 10 students will be Tuesday 21 November. This is when all books and resources must be returned and outstanding fees paid. Clearance forms and further information about this will be sent out soon.

Dinner Dance

A lovely highlight of finishing Year 10 is the Dinner Dance on Thursday 23 November. Information has already gone home about this event to students and their parents but if you require further information, please contact Mrs Erin Peters on emmcn0@eq.edu.au

Year 11

Year 11 – Final Weeks’ Activities

Exam Block

Exam Block for Year 11s will be Monday 13 November through to Friday 17 November. You will notice on the timetable below that there are no exams scheduled for the morning of Thursday 16 November. This is to allow Year 11 students who wish to attend the final assembly for the graduating Year 12s to do so.

Clearance Day

Clearance Day for Year 11 students will be Monday 20 November. This is when all books and resources must be returned and outstanding fees paid. Clearance forms and further information about this will be sent out soon.

Year 11 Camp

We have had a wonderful response for camp and we are very much looking forward to it. The final balance for camp is due this Friday 3 November. Packing lists and further information will be distributed to students next week.

For those students who are not attending camp, a program at school will be provided.

Year 12 Jersey for 2018

Full payment of the jersey ($72.30) is due to Student Services by Friday 10 November. If you did not receive an invoice but your student is wanting to order a jersey, please contact Tanya Moore on 3906 7348 or myself as soon as possible.

Year 12

There are many upcoming events and celebrations for the Year 12s to allow us to celebrate their time at Wynnum High and to send off a lovely group of young people out into the world. Below is a summary of these:

Clearance Day

Clearance Day for Year 12 students will be Friday 10 November. This is when all books and resources must be returned and outstanding fees paid. Clearance forms and further information about this will be sent out soon. This process must be completed in order for students to receive their graduation folder and attend the Senior Formal.

Marina Williams
HOD Senior Schooling

Creative Arts News

Junior and Senior Showcases

Wynnum State High School is delighted to invite family and friends to attend the Junior and Senior Creative Arts performances. The Senior Showcase will be held on Thursday 9th November from 6 pm and Junior Showcase on Thursday 23rd November from 5 pm in the Star Theatre. This is where the Dance, Drama, Music and Art students will showcase their wonderful work. They have been working hard all semester to prepare for these performances and would appreciate your support.

Year 9 Drama

During Term 3, as part of the Year 9 Drama unit, Childrens’ Theatre, a large group of students visited Manly State School. On the day some of the students conducted a workshop for the Year 3s to allow them to get to know their young audience. This term they returned on Wednesday 25 October, following several weeks of collaborative work, the students performed their version of Snow White and Three Little Pigs. The young students were mesmerised and dazzled by the colourful and witty performances.

Big thanks to the students who worked on writing their versions of the fairy tales, and for all their hard work during rehearsals; often working to refine their performances during their morning tea.

A big thank you must also go to Manly State School students and staff for accommodating our students. The experience of performing to such a young audience was an invaluable experience for all the drama students involved.

Maths Department News

Australian Mathematics Competition Results 2017

A total of forty-four students competed in this year’s Australian Mathematics Competition.

This summary showed we have a set of great results in 2017.

Our top students were:

Science Department News

8A visit to QUT and The Cube

Before the holidays, our 8A students visited The Cube at QUT Gardens Point to experience the Arduino Cars of the Future Workshop. The workshop aim was to engage students in basic coding skills that could be applied to driverless cars. Students built code to program simple light sequences and used these understandings to then apply code to move a robotic car around a set track. Students were able to alter variables in the code to test parameters of speed and cornering to ultimately test their vehicles in competition with other groups. As an added extra, students had fun exploring chemistry concepts (chemicals in fireworks and fuels in rockets) on the giant Cube screens in the foyer. It was great to see students having fun whilst engaging in STEM related activities that have implications for the future of the car industry.

Vice Chancellors STEM Camp

Over the holidays I was fortunate enough to be chosen along with 160 other students from all throughout Queensland to participate in QUT’s annual Vice Chancellors STEM camp. This camp provided high-achieving Year 11 students the exciting opportunity to engage and attend a 5-day camp which focusses on such aspects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the main aspects that makeup STEM.

During my week, our group of 16 students were tasked with the project of Biofabrication – The Hospitals of the Future. Biofabrication, I’ve learnt, is the automated production of tissues and organs to address health challenges in medicine. It uses the principles of additive manufacturing – often termed 3D printing – to combine cells, gels and fibres into a single construct that can replace a diseased or injured tissue. During the week we used specialised photogrammetry and various computer programs to 3D model and print a replaceable prosthetic ear and skull fracture implant, which can ultimately help people with the birth defect of Microtia and or traumatic skull injuries.

Other highlights of my week included getting to travel in between campuses of Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove to see real scientists in action working on ground-breaking medical research in stem cells; getting to meet founders and workers of the multinational company of Boeing; meeting the actual Vice Chancellor of STEM, Peter Coaldrake, and sitting in on a talk from Australia’s one and only ex astronaut, Chris Fergusson.

Overall, my week at STEM camp was an absolute privilege and an amazing experience, an experience in which I have made so many new friends from places all over Queensland such as Longreach, Townsville, Bundaberg, and more. Being around likeminded students who are motivated and passionate about STEM as well as learning about so many new things was an incredible experience which I will never forget.

Wynnum Special Education Program

Getting Social

Before school and during both breaks, the Special Education Program (SEP) provides a closely supervised environment for students to socialise within. In addition, with the SEP classroom divided into a number of different spaces, we are able to meet the varied social needs of the students that we support.

Each Wednesday, as a means to develop friendships, the SEP, together with the Youth Support Coordinator, runs Popcorn Club. This is a chance for Year 7 students to connect with others while participating in large and small group activities, and of course, eat loads of popcorn.

On a Friday the SEP classroom’s lights go down for the weekly movie. This is an activity that students look forward to and a wonderful way to finish up the week.

For every other break, students come to the SEP classroom to chill out on the beanbags with their friends, use the desktop computers to catch up on classwork, get some quiet time on the couch, check in with staff re their week or chill out through gaming.

There’s never a dull moment in the SEP classroom; but that’s how we like it!

From the School Nurse

Helping Young People Build Healthy Relationships – Love Bites

Domestic violence prevention is on the national, state and community agenda. Young people learn about relationships in a variety of ways, and some influences can normalise unhealthy and damaging relationship behaviours that can impact on their life and wellbeing in significant and lifelong ways.

In week two of term four, the year 10 students at Wynnum State High school participated in the Love Bites program; a full day program that explored with students the qualities of a safe, respectful and healthy relationship, domestic violence and its impact on victims and families, sexual assault prevention, the law, intervening safely and supporting friends in helpful ways, how to find support services in their community.

The program was delivered by our own Wynnum trained facilitators; teachers Bryce Peters and Matt Shefford, Gabrielle Nolan, School Based Youth Health Nurse, Karen Bowen, Youth Support Co-ordinator and our School Based Police Officer, Crystal Moore.

A highlight of the day was the Art and Hip Hop workshops held in the afternoon sessions. Students used the messages they felt most important from the workshop to create posters and lyrics to communicate the key messages around consent and respect in relationships to their peers. The strength of the lyrics and content of the posters demonstrated the young people’s understanding of the program content

Student feedback

“It was a really good opportunity to learn about new things ”

“It is a really good program to let teenagers know what to do, and when to do it”

“I learnt about domestic violence and having a healthy relationship, it opened my eyes to what it is really like”

“I liked how mature everyone was, so serious conversations could happen”

Gabrielle Nolan, Youth Health Nurse

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