Term 4, 14 October 2022

Principal's Welcome

Dear Parents and Carer/s,

Welcome to Term 4, week 2. Term 4 is always an extremely busy term with many events celebrating student achievements throughout the year.  Please refer to the events section in the newsletter to ensure you are fully aware of when things are occurring so that you can attend and celebrate with us.

Community Support

A huge thank you to the Atherton community for your continuing support to our school and students! Fresh St Market IGA is one of the proud businesses of the Atherton community that strives to look for ways to help our community thrive.  We are proud to offer the Fresh St Market IGA University Scholarship, which will assist year 12 students from Atherton SHS with the costs of attending university for completion of their degree.  This $10 000 scholarship is available now for students to apply.  Please refer to guidelines and THANK YOU IGA for your continuing support of our amazing students!

ARTS Open Night

Great work to all students, staff and parents involved in the ARTS Open Night on Friday night.  This event was outstanding and an absolute credit to all who organised, helped out, set up, cooked food and attended!  The talent of our students under the direction of our amazing teachers/staff is outstanding! Thank you, Mr Matt Lawrence, for your overall coordination and organisation of the event!

A huge thank you to the parents and community members who attended to support our amazing talented students.

Staffing Update

Welcome to Navdeep Singh Deputy Principal for term 4.  Mr Singh will be managing Year 9 and 10 and leading the Atherton SHS Digital Strategy.  Welcome to Mitchell Farr – Transition Pathways Officer (TPO). This role supports students when they are leaving school to gain full time employment and/or complete further study or training. 

Teacher Innovation Fund

Atherton High P&C exists to provide support for the best possible outcomes for students and as a means for the parent community to engage with the school on multiple levels. To achieve the best possible outcomes for students, the P&C also wishes to support teachers and provide resources so they can extend their practice beyond the constraints of their current resources and curriculum materials. The Teacher Innovation Fund is designed to inspire teachers to try innovative projects or ideas to engage and extend students. To do this we are making available funding in the order of $1000 per year. This fund does not try to duplicate or replace the responsibility that government has toward resourcing the education of our students. Instead, it is to support opportunities to enhance core teaching. 

THANK YOU, P and C, for your continuing support.

Facilities Update

The cricket nets have now been completed.  Over the coming months the tennis courts will be re-surfaced to allow for tennis and volleyball. 

Yours in learning,

Helen Carne

Principal

From the Deputy’s Desk - Senior School

From the desk of the Deputy Senior Secondary

Welcome back to our final term for 2022. Congratulations to all students who have commenced term 4 with commitment and focussed behaviours. With so many events and activities between now and week 10, it is important that we remain engaged right through to the end of the term, and students have generally made a great start in this regard.

With the weather warming up, it’s time to make sure that school shirts, shorts and hats are ready to wear every day. Students wearing non uniform items will be expected to change into school uniform at the office, so please support your child to be in correct uniform every day.

Term 4 brings lots of activity in the senior space. Year 10 subject selections are now being finalised, with a few tweaks and changes being made to maximise students’ options and opportunities.  A number of students have taken up the opportunity to change the subjects they chose back in August. Good on you for being proactive in ensuring that you’re starting Year 11 ready for success!

Year 11s have SET plan reviews next Tuesday 18 October, and students, and their parents, need only attend for their scheduled meeting. Next week is also assessment week for a number of Year 11 subjects. Exam timetables and information has been sent home via email. Most subjects commence unit 3 learning following this assessment cycle, so students should be checking with their class teachers to ensure they understand the learning requirements of the new units.

Thursday marked the final full school parade with our Year 12s and celebration abounded. Our Year 12s have only one week of classroom learning left, finishing their classes on Friday week 3, 21 October, with the external exam block commencing on Monday 24 October. In preparation for this, last Wednesday those students who will be sitting exams for General subjects undertook an exam familiarisation session to become familiar with the exam environment and QCAA conditions and requirements. We wish all of our Year 12s luck as they undertake assessment over the coming month. 

It’s an exciting term, jam-packed with events and a sense of anticipation and excitement. But don’t wish the term away - let’s enjoy our time together and keep making good behaviour and learning choices that support every student to succeed.

Cathy Campbell

Deputy Principal Senior

Finance update

School Watch! Please Keep Watch on our school! Contact School Watch if you see anything that is out of the normal around our school in particular in school holidays! Call School Watch on 131788

Dear Parents/Carers/Guardians,

All Year 12  Student Fees that remain unpaid must be paid now and Year 12 Formal Payments are now also due. Please confirm attendee numbers for the formal and ensure amounts are paid accordingly to enable tickets to be issued when advised in the coming weeks.

All unpaid 2022 Student Resource Scheme levies are outstanding and are required to be paid now. Please ensure all fees are paid in full or a payment agreement in place with the school in order for students to continue to receive resources and participate in upcoming events. The school continues to follow up on outstanding payments and Statements and Payment Reminder Letters are being sent out for outstanding fees.

Please update Contact details

If any details have changed either address, email or other contacts, please update these with the school.

For further information email bsm@athertonshs.eq.edu.au

Paying School Fees:

You can pay your child’s school fees in one of the following ways :

• BPOINT to pay by credit and debit card
• BPOINT IVR (Over the Phone Payment) Call - 1300 631 073
• Direct Deposit into the school Bank Account BSB: 064-800 Account: 00090137
• EFTPOS at L Block Reception.
• Arrange payment plans and centrepay payments at Reception
• Payment can also be accessed online via your QParents account.

We are currently transitioning to a Cashless School and would prefer payments be made by one of the above methods 

Upcoming Events - For Term 4

Positive Behaviour for Learning - (PBL)

Students achieving through Positive Behaviour for Learning

At Atherton State High School we are proud to be a Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) school. We also encourage and invite family involvement and feedback on our implementation of PBL.

Backed by 40 years of research, PBL is an evidence-informed framework that promotes positive behaviour across a school and helps develop safe and supportive learning environments.

The PBL approach to behaviour and learning means we have clear and consistent expectations for behaviour which are agreed and shared with the whole school community. We explicitly teach our expectations and then reteach if students do not get it right the first time, just like we would reteach English or Maths if a student needed further understanding or practice.

Teachers also build positive classroom environments and take a proactive approach when students need additional or intensive support to reach their learning outcomes and engage successfully at school.

One of the benefits of using PBL is that it provides universal support to all students across the whole school. We then identify the students who may need additional support such as mentoring or learning modifications, and the smaller number of students who will need intensive support. Importantly, since PBL is a framework, we can add other programs or access services to provide the right support for our students.

As a school, we are supported by a network of PBL advisers in each region and have the opportunity to work with other PBL schools to share best practice. Regular training and building staff capability are critical in maintaining our PBL verification every year, which gives you the confidence that we are implementing PBL in the best way.  

You can listen to the 12-minute podcast Students achieving through Positive Behaviour for Learning to hear what PBL means for parents and students. You can also find out more about our PBL program and behaviour expectations on our website - visit our Student Code of Conduct - https://athertonshs.eq.edu.au/supportandresources/formsanddocuments/documents/atherton%20shs%20student%20code%20of%20conduct.pdf or visit the Department of Education’s Behaviour website.

If you have any concerns around student behaviour or learning, please see you child’s teacher in the first instance. If you would like to know more or get involved with PBL, please contact our Deputy Principal, Chris Keating.

Sports Dept - Update

General Sport

Continuing throughout Term 4, the Peninsula Regional sporting opportunities do not stop for our students. Trials are beginning to take place for state championships occurring in the early part of 2023, therefore, students are urged to listen to the student notices to receive any information on upcoming sporting trials for 2023 peninsula teams and state championships. If any student is unsure, please see the HPE staff.

Swimming Carnival

To round out sport for Term 3 at ASHS we concluded with a perfect day! A balmy 30-degree Tablelands Spring day set the scene for our final carnival of the year, our inter-house swimming Carnival, and what a day it turned out to be!

Being our final carnival for the year, the house spirit was incomparable to anything seen previously, brilliantly directed by our 2022 House Captains; in their final ever carnival, and strongly supported by their 2023 successors.

Enjoying their day poolside, all students showed unmatched house spirit, cheering on their team and peers, encouraging all participants to participate to the best of their ability, it really was a great day of swimming, inclusive of a fair few laughs thanks to our seniors of 2022!

This day however, could not have run as smoothly as it did without the assistance of the staff and house captains here at ASHS, of which, cannot go unnoticed, thank you!

Beginning their role as 2023 House Captains with gusto, our eight future house captains assisted their predecessors through leading their houses from the front, driving the house spirit and participation of all students leading to a nail-biting tally of results at the completion of the day! The completion of the day saw the results end in the following standings:

1^st Place: Eacham Echidnas – 621 Points

2^nd Place: Barrine Barramundis – 620 Points

3^rd Place: Quincan Quolls – 529 Points

4^th Place: Euramo Eels – 367 Points

A Great Day to have a Great Day!

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Individual Sporting Commendations

Grace Grandcourt won the National Title for Super Junior in IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) in Darwin in June this year, making this her 2nd National Title. 

Grace has now been invited to represent Australia at the IPSC World Shooting Competition held in Thailand in November https://2021hws.worldshoot.org/ where there will be 1,600 competitors from 50 countries.  Grace is very honoured to be invited to participate in this event and has been training very hard 6 days a week, often twice a day.  

If you are not familiar with IPSC, see the link below "What is IPSC? Australia" https://youtu.be/WCxMgBfgTb0

Super Junior in IPSC

Individual Sporting Commendations

Amy Hunter
Congratulations to our Senior Girls Cricket captain Amy Hunter who on the holidays travelled to Caloundra to compete in the Queensland School Girls 16-19 years cricket team. Amy was selected in this team after a brilliant state carnival in March this year where she played for Sunshine Coast School Sport Region. Playing in the 2022 State Cricket Exchange against New South Wales, Queensland took on NSW in a series of one day and T20 matches over the week. Amy had a terrific carnival and was awarded the Player of the Match in the first one player of the tournament. Great job Amy!

Science - Year 11 Aerospace Students reach for the stars!

As part of the new Year 11 Aerospace Systems curriculum, the students were tasked with simulating a rocket launch then building a rocket to compare their simulation data with actual data. The students used a rocket design and test simulator to digitally create a rocket that has the capability of achieving the nominated altitude (70m). The students then got the opportunity to physically build their own design.

The rocket launching was successful (sort of!) Each student got to launch their own rocket and they blasted off high into the sky. Before each rocket was launched, a small altimeter and accelerometer was attached which enabled the students to record data such as apogee, acceleration, G-force, time aloft and impact force.  Our HUB students also had the opportunity to get involved by launching on our second day of launching!

Jon Collins

Aerospace Studies Teacher

Lift Off!

Science Dept Update

YEAR 12 BIOLOGY students are studying a Genetics unit and carried out an Electrophoresis experiment at the end of Term 3, using equipment loaned from James Cook university in Cairns. Students worked with DNA samples from different sources such as Tree Kangaroo and Green ringtail possum.

Under the guidance of our science technical officer Avril Underwood, currently also completing a PHD in population genetics of our local Tablelands Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo, students precisely measured the prepared DNA samples then placed them in the Gel electrophoresis chamber. A fluorescent dye was included so the samples could be compared under UV light. The students gained first-hand experience in genetic techniques using commercial laboratory equipment and the importance of precision in experimental procedure.

Biology Gallery

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YEAR 10 PHYSICS

In Term 3, year 10 Science students studied a Physics unit in which they investigated forces in structures such as bridges. In the last week of term the students participated in a bridge building competition using straws, string, paddle pop sticks and tape to build the strongest bridge. Possibly due to the amount of tape used, the bridges carried some considerable weight!

Physics Gallery

YEAR 7  SCIENCE - Investigates force

In Year 7 Science, we are studying Physics this term. We have investigated forces including friction and gravity. In their lesson today, there were given a task to make a marble change speed by manipulating forces. They brought in their own objects to create a mini obstacle course for their marble. Some were more successful than others, but everyone had a blast!

Year 7 Science Gallery

Music Dept - Individual Achievement

Charlotte Nunn attended the Australian Honours Ensemble Program Symphony at Griffith University’s Conservatorium of Music down in Brisbane for 4 days during the September holidays.

There she played from 9am until 5pm each day as lead flute in the Symphony, playing a number of challenging pieces. Charlotte also attended a master class held by the lead flute from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra to help hone her performance and technical skills.

Arts Open Night - Unending Talent!

On Friday, 7^th of October, students from years 7-12 showcased their talents at the annual Arts Open Night. Parents and community members were treated to student-made films, drama performances, an art exhibition as well as classroom and instrumental music performances. A huge thank you goes out to the staff, students, parents and community members who made the night possible, and we look forward to seeing you all there next year.

So Much Talent

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Intrumental Music

ATIM would like to thank Atherton Primary P and C for their kind financial donation towards the instrumental music department. Over the next couple of months ATIM will be putting all finances raised from the annual Brass and Concert band Spectacular towards upgrading the high school band uniforms.

We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome all grade 6 instrumental music students from Atherton, Kairi, Tolga and Yungaburra who will be rehearsing and performing with the high school ensemble for the rest of the year.

Lachlan Szery

Instrumental Music teacher

Bell Shakespeare In Atherton

On Monday 10 October we had Shakespeare come to town.   

The Players are here! All the way from Sydney’s Bell Shakespeare company, these performers treated us to a tour the human experience, and made us ask, “Is Shakespeare dead?” The lively audience responses said NO!

Cultural Connections

WELCOME to the first edition of Cultural Connections. Cultural Connections will celebrate the achievements of Atherton High School’s Indigenous students.  We are hoping to inspire, encourage and empower our First Nations students and families with our stories. All articles will be written by the students of Atherton High School.

Firstly, we would like to introduce our new Community Education Counsellor who has replaced the amazing Melanie Pabai who was with the school for over 3 years.

Sharon Anning-Caufield has lived in Atherton for over 21 years and brings with her a wealth of local knowledge.

Sharon’s role within the school is to support Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children with their educational journey. This will include:

• Meeting with parents and students to discuss concerns or answer questions they have relating to their child’s education.
• Referring students to in-school and external support services for emotional/social wellbeing.
• Providing information to the school community about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander social and cultural perspectives.
• Working with external agencies to provide programs that support students to engage in school and promote wholistic wellbeing.

Parents, if you would like to meet or talk with Sharon please contact her on: (07) 4030 5218 or scaul13@eq.edu.au

Students can find Sharon in B22 on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

A huge CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Atherton High School Year 11 student Ellen Davis-Nicolson, who has secured a school-based traineeship with Mulungu Health Service in Atherton as a Dental Assistant. Wishing you the very best during this fantastic local opportunity!

In November 2021, Mulungu Primary Health Care Service opened the new purpose-built site for the Midin clinic, which includes a dental service. With two dental chairs and an onsite x-ray facility, the Midin dental clinic is also set up with cutting-edge technology in the dental prothesis area which includes being able to make crowns, bridges, dentures and mouth guards onsite with no wait time. The cutting-edge technology is a first for Far North Queensland and as a result, dental students from JCU Cairns are lining up to do their work placements at Midin clinic. The Dental team includes 2 dentists, the dental practice manager, a dental assistant and two trainee dental assistants. Mulungu are excited to welcome into the team, as Mulungu’s first ever school-based trainee, Ellen Davis Nicolson, who commences this week as a trainee dental assistant.  Midin patients can make appointments for the dental clinic by calling (07) 4091 8400.

On Wednesday the 5^th October ARTIE visited the school to launch Term 4’s Attendance Challenge.

The ARTIE program (Achieving Results Through Indigenous Education) provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with the opportunity to participate in a program that encourages and rewards improvements in school attendance, behaviour, academic achievement, effort and, ultimately,Year 12 attainment.

This term, students that achieve over 90% attendance at school and no suspensions will have the opportunity to receive a pair of awesome ARTIE shorts. Please remember it is hard to achieve 90% school attendance. Following the exemption rule may assist in improving student’s attendance data. Also, if you arrive to school after 9.30am it is considered a half-day absence. For those students who have enrolled in the program and are trying their best, keep up the good work!!

If you would like your child to be involved in the ARTIE program please send them to B22 to see Grace- Mary Rudken, Atherton ARTIE Co-ordinator on Tuesdays or Ms Anning-Caufield on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

School Based Youth Health Nurse - Chris's Spot on Health

World Mental Health Week

This year’s World Mental Health Day campaign is encouraging everyone to make a promise to “Look after your mental health, Australia.” In 2022, the focus of the annual campaign is awareness, belonging and connection. It is a simple call to action for the one in five Australians affected by mental illness annually, and for the many more impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic, and the increased uncertainty and anxiety that has ensued over the last two years. 

Fresh Street Market IGA University Scholarship

For our Year 12 students this is an amazing opportunity to apply for the Fresh Street Market IGA university scholarship.  This scholarship is $10 000 to support your university education.

Applications are open from the 15th of September and close on the 15th of November

For further details see our website or contact the P & C.

Department of Transport - World First Road Safety Initiative

Please Take Note - Road Changes

LOUISE STREET ATHERTON WILL BE ONE-WAY  TRAFFIC ONLY BETWEEN COOK AND JACK STREETS FROM MONDAY 17 OCTOBER UNTIL EARLY DECEMBER.

Atherton Performing Arts - Romantic Comedy

Atherton Performing Arts is delighted to present George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man’ – a romantic comedy. Opening at 7.30pm, Friday evening 21^st October at the APA Theatre, the season will continue until Sunday 30^th October. 

Arms and the Man is a period piece set in Bulgaria during and after war with Serbia in 1885. Shaw uses the play as a vehicle to send up European customs to do with class, marriage and war; and in the making, creates a hilarious web of misunderstandings, lies and truths, through which love must find its way…

The seven actors do a marvellous job of portraying aspects of 19^th century living in the Petkoff establishment, presenting themes that are just as relevant today as they were back then. We invite you to support our local theatre group and enjoy a night of fabulous theatre! Suitable for 10 years plus.

Yungaburra Bowls Club "Come & Try" day

Yungaburra Bowls Club is pleased to invite one and all to our first annual come and try day, Sunday the 16th of October 2022.

This is an All Inclusive day aimed at giving people from all walks of life the opportunity to experience the great game of Lawn Bowls. Lawn Bowls is a sport that anyone of any age, (dis)ability, gender or creed can enjoy. This is a family friendly event that begins at 1pm, there is plenty of parking on the street and down behind the club. Don’t miss out! This day intends to involve all of the community. 

The Atherton Tablelands Agricultural Society is growing, and they are hosting more events throughout the year.