11 September 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

School Improvement Unit Review

In Week 5 of this term, Wynnum SHS participated in a full school review. This review was completed by the School Improvement Unit and included the provision of a report that provided many positive affirmations around our innovative practices in regards to teaching and learning, partnerships forged with community and industry, and actions taken to create an inclusive, supportive and safe learning environment for all. This report plays an important role in the strategic planning process as we together embark on the design of a vision and four year strategic plan that will allow us to proudly build futures together. The executive summary of this report is available to the school community on our website.

NAPLAN Success

The recent release of our 2019 NAPLAN data results has served as an affirmation of our resounding commitment to providing positive learning outcomes for students. The key stand outs include:

• Wynnum SHS NAPLAN Mean Scale Score remaining on par or slightly above that of the state.
• Percentage of our students achieving in the Upper Two Bands greater than the state for Year 9 Reading and on par with the state for Year 7 Writing and Grammar and Punctuation.
• Overall trends indicate that our collective efforts focused on improving student capabilities in writing, reading and numeracy are paying off as our data demonstrates continued sustained positive impact on overall student results in these strands.

Wynnum SHS certainly has a lot to be PROUD of with such positive NAPLAN results.

PBL – Switch Off to Switch On

As a Positive Behaviour for Learning school we seek to foster a learning environment that promotes and enables our PROUD behaviours of being Positive, Respectful, On task, Unified and Determined. As such, our PBL Committee is presently in the process of reviewing our school policy surrounding the use of digital devices during the school day, including the use of portable gaming consoles, mobile phones, headphones and air-pods, smart watches etc. This review aims to ensure that the learning environment is one in which students are able to ‘Switch Of to Switch On’. Further information around changes to this policy and our expectations will be communicated in due course to the school community via our Facebook page, website, newsletter and e-mail.

Attendance

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting student engagement and success, we have set a school wide target of 90% attendance for Term 3. At our weekly assembly we as a community monitor our progress towards this goal, recording our weekly House Group attendance rate on a large attendance board that is displayed in the Sports Hall along with three other buildings around the school. As we enter the assessment phase of the term, we ask for your continued support in order that we may reach this target and in doing so provide our students with the best chances of success on their upcoming assessment tasks. “It is the Wynnum Way to turn up to school every day, on time and ready to learn. PROUD to be part of the team!’

Cath Pfingst returns Term 4

Cath Pfingst will be returning as Principal from the start of Term 4. I look forward to continuing to hear about the success and achievements of the Wynnum SHS community and wish you all the best in your future endeavours.

From the Deputy Principals

TRACTION CEO Bike Build

On Friday, 6 September, five Yr 8 students participated in the inaugural TRACTION CEO Bike Build. This half-day experience paired up corporate, private and public sector leaders (“CEO participants”) with TRACTION participants to assemble a new bicycle together, but with a twist! The students played the lead role (supported by TRACTION Mentors), guiding CEO participants through the bike build process. They worked together to get the job done, and along the way shared experiences, built rapport and relationships across generations.

At the completion of the event, the CEO and TRACTION participant team donated their new bicycle to a person in need through the GIVIT charity.

The intention for this event was to create a safe learning environment for TRACTION graduates to build skills and confidence, and for CEO participants to experience firsthand the benefits of TRACTION programs in the community.

Our students represented our school really well and certainly did us proud! Well done to Ethan, Blake, Dee-Von, Hannah and Ana.

Redlands Supporter Dinner for TRACTION

Last Thursday, one of our Year 8 students Riley, along with Chappy Greg, Mr Inglis and Sharyn our School-based Police Officer, attended a Redlands Supporter Dinner for TRACTION.

Riley was chosen to talk about his experiences doing the TRACTION program at this dinner. He did a wonderful job and we are extremely proud of him.

R U OK DAY

On Tuesday, 10 September we recognised R U OK Day here at school.

R U OK Day is designed to inspire and empower all people to connect with each other and support anyone struggling with difficult aspects of life. At Wynnum High we have a school Guidance Officer, a school Chaplain and a school based Police Officer who act as support persons for our school community every day. As well there are all of the staff who are here to help our students in whatever way we can.

Yellow is the colour for R U OK Day so it was great to see the splashes of yellow worn by many students and staff.

Our student leaders organised a school assembly to acknowledge the day. At that assembly representatives from Headspace, an organisation that helps young people who are not always OK, spoke and talked about the help they are able to give young people in need. Our student leaders spoke about the signs to look for if someone is not OK and what steps students could take to help someone who was not doing OK. Members of the Junior school gave a terrific musical performance to reinforce the message of the day.

At first break, a bake sale was held and all money collected at that, and from the gold coin donations for Free Dress Day, will be given to Headspace, a total of $957.20!

It was a great day where our whole school community came together to remember to look out for one another and to be there for someone else when they need us.

Senior School News

$20 BOSS MARKET DAY

Year 10 Business students would like to thank all those who participated in the Market Day as part of the $20 Boss program last week.

What is the $20 Boss program?

$20 Boss is a nationwide immersive entrepreneurship program for secondary school students. Young people are provided with $20 of start-up capital to help them create, launch and operate their enterprise over the course of a school term. The program aims to equip students with the enterprise skills and career management capabilities needed to thrive in the real world.

Well done to all students involved!

Work Experience

Next week sees the last of our Year 10 students attend work experience. This program is a great first step into exploring the requirements for future careers. This year students have searched far and wide in order to gain an insight into their career of choice, this included areas such as; Air Traffic Controlling in Victoria, Optometry, Cleveland Magistrates Court, Logistics, Engineering, Hospitality, Hairdressing, Operations maintenance at Chinchilla and Joan Pease’s office.

The school would like to take this time to thank the businesses who have taken time out of their busy schedules to provide students a better understanding of the workplace.

Year 12 QCS

Last Tuesday and Wednesday our Year 12 students sat the QCS Test. They all worked extremely hard. We congratulate them!

To celebrate not just the end of the 2019 QCS Test but for also being the last ever Year 12s to sit the QCS, we had cake!!

Languages News

Wynnum Welcomes Iwatsuki High Students

Wynnum High had the pleasure of welcoming 30 students from Iwatsuki High from 19 to 21 August. Their visit is timed with the hosting of the annual Japanese Day of Excellence which also involves primary students from Wondall State School and Wynnum North State School.

On the Japanese Day of Excellence, students observed an amazing performance of traditional Japanese drumming called Taiko; they participated in or listened to a Japanese speech competition by their peers and the primary students and finally, all students participated in traditional cultural activities of dance, various games, calligraphy, wearing of yukata and karate. The students delighted in interacting with the Iwatsuki students and gaining a good insight into traditional games, activities and dance. Some students took up the opportunity to eat a delicious obento for their lunch as well. When it was time for the Iwatsuki students to leave after three short days, many bonds and friendships had been made. We look forward to their next visit.

Creative Arts News

Wynnum Library performance

On Saturday 7th September, Years 9, 10 and 11 Music students presented a performance at the Wynnum Library. It was lovely to see families and friends of Wynnum SHS there enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and the wonderful performances of our talented music students.

Year 11 Excursion to Les Miserable

On Tuesday 13 August the Year 11 classroom Music students attended a performance of Les Miserables at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. It was a fabulous night. The performance was presented by 1st, 2nd and 3rd Year Musical Theatre students studying for a Bachelor of Musical Theatre at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. These wonderful young performers were ably supported by instrumental music students from the Conservatorium orchestra.

Visitors from Tasmania

Students from Dominic College in Tasmania visited us on Friday 16 August. They rehearsed in the Star Theatre and then performed a concert at Manly West Primary School. Dominic College hosted us last year on our Band Tour. It was lovely to see them all again.

Manly West SS Fete

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

Market Day

Thanks to Years 9 and 10 Music students who created a wonderful atmosphere for Market Day at school on Monday 2 September.

Indie Recording studio

We are all very excited in classroom Music as our budding sound engineers and studio producers finally have a small recording studio in I Block to record and mix original music from budding composers.

Year 9 Drama

As part of their Children’s Theatre unit on Monday 12 August, the Year 9 Drama students conducted a drama workshop for the Year 3 students at Manly State School. The students organised their own drama games and paired up to lead their own group through a series of different activities. Currently the students are in the process of writing a script based on Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes to be performed to the Year 3s next term.

SEP Update

It is already second semester and as usual the SEP staff and students have been very busy with meeting learning goals. As usual, our focus is to support students to achieve to the best of their abilities and share the learning journey with them, their families and classroom teachers.

Goal setting is an important aspect of learning which is informed not only by academic results but also by students reflecting on their own learning. We have encouraged our students to make decisions around their learning to identify where their strengths and challenges are and then organise themselves to meet their chosen goals. These goals may be for a lesson, a week, for a subject or for a unit of work.

Decision-making does not always come easily and we encourage the process by using cognitive verbs in our WALT and WILF (ask your young person about this) and tie this to providing concrete examples of how to achieve a decision. In some instances, students have overcome anxiety around this process to develop themselves as independent learners who play a real role in their own learning. We are fortunate that many of our classroom teachers and families are so supportive in assisting with this.