6 August 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome back to Term 3

Welcome to Semester Two. I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new families and students who have recently joined our school.

Academic Excellence

Our students have achieved some very pleasing results for their Semester One studies. This student achievement data in terms of the number of students achieving A’s, B’s and C’s is on track or exceeding our school wide goals. This is a positive reflection of the high quality teaching and learning that permeates our school. Our leadership team has come together to unpack the data and are using this data to inform the design and development of strategies and feedback that will serve to provide continued growth and improvement for our students. I encourage you to take a moment to discuss these results with your child and for them to share with you key focus areas for improvement and enrichment in Semester Two.

Priorities for our Students

At our first assemblies this term I have announced our key priorities for the term. These are:

• High Expectations: 90% attendance. It is the Wynnum Way to come to school everyday, on time and ready to learn. PROUD to be part of the team.
• Learning: Achieving our personal best, using the WALT and WILF every lesson to monitor our progress towards learning goals and adhering to classroom learning routines.
• Being a PROUD Ambassador for Wynnum SHS: upholding our expectations by being positive, respectful, on task, unified and determined.

Athletics Carnival

On Friday of week 2, we came together as a vibrant and energetic learning community, engaging in a spirited day of competition as our students represented their house in a range of track and field events. Many PROUD behaviours were on display as students cheered on their friends from the sideline and challenged themselves embracing the ‘have a go’ attitude synonymous with our culture. We thank the HPE staff for their efforts in making the carnival a great success.

School Opinion Survey

Families have been mailed information on how to participate in the 2019 School Opinion Survey. This is an opportunity for parents to respond anonymously to a series of questions about our school. Likewise, staff and students are invited to be part of the school opinion surveys.

School Review

Next week, Wynnum SHS is scheduled to participate in a school review as part of our four year strategic planning cycle. This review will be undertaken by the School Improvement Unit. It will see a team of three educational leader’s visit our school who will use the nine domains of the National School Improvement Tool to review our existing practice to provide important insights, perspectives and recommendations to the school. This information will assist in framing the design of our next four year plan.

Parents and community are also invited to provide feedback and suggestions that will help influence and inform this strategic plan, either via a community reflection and visioning board at parent teacher interviews this Wednesday night, or via the survey monkey link below.

For more information about our school review, please view the attached community fact sheet.

Tracking Students for Success

The staff at Wynnum State High School are determined to know our learners and track our students for success. This past week, all of our teachers have come together to engage in student case management meetings. Together teachers have had the opportunity to engage in reflective professional dialogue as we interrogated student data, devised strategies and interventions that will create successful and engaged learners, and have committed to monitoring student progress against defined measures of success.

P&C

Our next P&C is scheduled to meet on Thursday 8th August, 6:30 pm in the school library. We welcome all families to attend.

Julie Strong
Acting Principal

From the Deputy Principals

Attendance in Focus

The overall attendance for the school at the end of week 3 is 88.6%, down .07% from the total attendance for Semester One. Our school goal is 90%. While we do understand that some absences are necessary (genuine illness, bereavement etc), we ask that families support high attendance by:

• Arranging family holidays during school holiday
• Students only taking part of a day off when they have an appointment

If a child is having difficulty attending school, please always let us know so that we can support the child’s return to school.

At the end of Semester One, the coveted House of the Term attendance trophy was awarded to Cunningham House. Well done Cunningham. Other awards given out for Semester One attendance were the best attending House Group per House and the most improved House Group per House. Students in these winning House Groups were given certificates.

We are determined to continually improve attendance for students as we are acutely aware of the importance it plays in allowing children to achieve success at school.

Liz Williams, Kim Hutchinson & Marina Williams

Kapa haka Group

Would you like to learn more about traditional Maori dance?

Would you like to learn about Maori culture and language?

If so, the Kapa haka Group would like to invite interested students to join them. The group is not limited to students from a Pacific Island culture as all students are welcome to come along and learn about Maori performing arts.

Kapa haka literally means 'group' (kapa) and 'dance' (haka). The group was formed by the students of Wynnum State High school and is now strongly supported by the parents and friends of the students. The group name is Te Roopu Kapahaka o Wynnum State High school. This name was chosen as a professional approach to and for the group, also allowing the community to know who they represent.

If you are interested in joining or would like to know more, please come to a rehearsal. The group rehearses:

Wynnum State High School are proud to be associated with the Kapahaka group.

Senior School News

Year 10 GOMA Excursion

On Tuesday 30th July, twenty eager Year 10 Visual Arts students travelled into South Brisbane to see the current exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). Students explored the mesmerising works of Contemporary Australian artist, Ben Quilty, renowned Australian artist Margaret Olley as well as works included in the current Creative Generations exhibition.

Aspiring young artists from Wynnum High engaged in a scavenger hunt around the gallery, closely observing the elements and principles of art within each piece and eagerly recording information about the included artists. This was a valuable experience for students, as they were able to view and appreciate first-hand the pieces that they will be studying and using as stimulus for their own art-making this Semester.

Languages News

Study Tours – Fukuoka Kaisei High School

In Week 2 of Term 3 we welcomed five students and their teacher from Fukuoka Kaisei High School in Japan to spend a week at our school. The students were matched with Year 10 buddies from Japanese class and spent lessons learning about Australian culture, food, slang, dance and sport. The buddy students showed PROUD behaviours through their leadership and acceptance of people from a different cultural background.

In return, the students from Fukuoka Kaisei made a presentation about their town in Japan (Fukuoka), which included information about manga, food, landmarks and sports.

The students and their teacher were sad to leave Australia having had had such a wonderful time here. Thank you to all families who have been hosting Japanese students and to all students who have offered to be buddies. We have two more Japanese groups coming to our school this year and your support is greatly appreciated. Week 6 will see another group arriving, this time from Iwatsuki High School. There will be 30 students and two teachers and they will spend three days here at Wynnum. Please make them welcome and say hello when you see them around the school!

Languages Department

Art Show at Gumdale SS

On Tuesday 25th June, Wynnum State High School had the pleasure of attending Gumdale State School to participate in the judging of student work in their Art Show.

The Art Show showcased a variety of artworks from Prep to Year 6 as well as community art pieces. Students in each year level created a work in celebration of the theme “Reading is my secret power to creativity”.

There was an impressive range of artworks that ranged from paintings, drawings, collages to digital art and sculptures.

It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon and great to see such emerging creative talent within a local primary school.

Creative Arts News

Wynnum Library

On Saturday 7th September, Years 10 and 11 Music students will be presenting a performance at the Wynnum Library. Families and friends are cordially invited to attend the library from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm to enjoy the casual and relaxed atmosphere and listen to some great music making by our talented musicians.

Music by the Bay

On Sunday 4 August the Big Band and two of our school rock bands performed at Music by the Bay. It was a beautiful day for such an event, which was well supported by the Wynnum community. Well done to all our students who performed on the day. They did a terrific job with the audience commending their performances.

Year 11 Excursion to Les Miserable

On Tuesday 13 August, the Year 11 Classroom Music students will be attending a performance of Les Miserables at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. This is a much anticipated performance with students looking forward to the concert.

Visitors from Tasmania

Students from Dominic College in Tasmania are coming to visit Wynnum SHS on Friday 16 August. They will be rehearsing in the Star Theatre and then performing a concert at Manly West Primary School. Dominic College hosted us last year on our Band Tour and we are all very excited to reciprocate the gesture and to see them again.

Manly West SS Fete

On Saturday 14 September, the Big Band will be performing at the Manly West SS fete. You are all invited to come along and see the band play and enjoy the fun of the fete. Also performing at this event is Mr Cosic’s Brass Quintet called Full Spectrum. You don’t want to miss that!

Instrumental Music Term 3

Sport News

This year’s Athletics Carnival once again proved to be a hit, with strong participation throughout all age groups. No one could stop the mighty Cunningham house taking out another sporting carnival for the year. Competition was heated for Age Champion positions, with some students winning the title for the second year in a row. Competitors who finished top-two in the day’s events qualified to represent Wynnum SHS at the District Carnival hosted at QSAC, on August 1st and 2nd. Again, our students did us proud competing with grit and heart.

Special Education Program Update

For the first half of 2019, staff have enjoyed regular contact with students, their families, private/EQ specialists and members of the broader community for the sake of planning a post-school pathway. The results are worth sharing!

At present, we have a Year 12 student who is completing a Cert II Business Administration with a local business. He is quite fortunate to be getting to work with, XERO, the latest bookkeeping software. We have two year 11 students attending TAFE one day each week. Another student is completing a Cert III Information and Digital Technology, whilst a peer is completing a Cert II Plumbing at TAFE and a Cert III Hospitality at a local business. A fourth student is getting closer to starting his Cert II Retail. He has been working with a Disability Employment Service on interview skills and has completed a work trial. It’s certainly not too early to be thinking of life after school in Year 10, so we have a student completing a Cert II Sampling and Measurement here at school during Ekka week.

In order to achieve such success each student has had to overcome great social anxiety to take up the opportunities afforded to them. We are so proud of them and grateful to their families for their ongoing support of the transition process. Sometimes we hit bumps in the road but we continue working together, keeping the lines of communication open and having patience.