Term 4, 25 November, 2022

Principal's Welcome

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 8, term 4.  This is the second last newsletter for the year.  A huge thank you to the school community for your support over the past fortnight with the many student events that have occurred. 

Year 12 Formal and Graduation

Congratulations to our departing Year 12 students who finished school last Friday.  A huge thank you to Ms Kelly Heidenreich, the organising committee and the army of helpers who supported and helped out with this event!  The Year 12 Formal was outstanding and wonderful to see the large crowd turn up to watch the arrivals.  Check out the ASHS Facebook page for photos.

The Year 12 graduation on Friday was excellent!  It was absolutely wonderful to see all our students and families gather and line the walkway for the final farewell and walk out the school.

Presentation Ceremony

Congratulations to our 2022 award winners.  Well done to all the award winners for your hard work and dedication in 2022.  The full list of award winners is included in this newsletter.  Thank you to Ms Cathy Campbell for leading the organisation of this event. For 2023, we are planning to continue our week of celebrations in week 7.

Teacher Moderation Day

Atherton State High School will be engaging in our final teacher moderation day on Friday 25 November (today). The moderation days have been supported by the P and C Association and the Local Consultative Committee (LCC) and will ensure that teachers are providing the best possible education for every student. 

Please complete the feedback surveys emailed to all parents regarding the arrangements on this day.  This feedback will guide our planning into 2023.

Thank you to the whole school community for this support!

Principal Position

The new permanent Principal for Atherton State High School is Ms Leanne Knight-Smith. The Atherton community will welcome Ms Knight-Smith for the commencement of the 2023 school year. 

Thank you to the school community for your support over the past six months.  I have greatly appreciated your support.

Once again, please ensure all students are attending school every day!  This is a critical time for the completion of assessments.

Have a great fortnight.

Yours in learning,

Helen Carne

Principal

From the Deputy's Desk - Middle School

From the desk of the Deputy Middle Secondary

ICT News

BYOx (Bring Your Own devices)

Students will be able to access the school network via BYOx Link in 2023. Currently, the school network is not configured for easy access to the school network; in other words, currently, the BYOx link is not active. Essential steps for Atherton State High to become a BYOx school are now complete, and the service centre will be enabling the BYOx network in early 2023.

BYOx Link service allows students to securely access the IT network, school email and learning applications such as QLearn on their own devices. It provides seamless access to digital learning resources between school and home.

The department has selected Microsoft Intune as its mobile device management (MDM) tool. One-to-one devices in schools using BYOx Link must enrol into the Microsoft Intune Company Portal (Intune). Intune allows the department to distribute a wireless network profile and curriculum related applications to student's BYO devices.

Once the BYOx network is active in 2023, students will be sent a help sheet to install Intune on their devices, enabling a seamless experience to connect to the school network. The information would also be available via the school website.

Bandwidth upgrade

Atherton State High School will also undergo a bandwidth upgrade in 2023. The first phase of this work will increase average internet speeds to 1Mbps per student, which is much faster than our current capacity. This means our overall internet speed as a school would be approximately 1Gbps.

Nav Singh

Deputy Principal Middle

From the Deputy's Desk - Junior School

From the desk of the Deputy Junior Secondary

The year is winding down and assessment is ramping up in the junior school. It is important that students and carers stay on top of assessment due dates, revision timelines and achieve to the best of their ability. It is also important to take care of your student’s mental and physical health at this time and ensure that we take time to look after ourselves and each other.

With the end of year in mind, it is important to note that Week 10 is an alternate activities week for years 7, 8 and 9. This means that normal curriculum instruction has ceased and students will engage in other activities. Students will still be actively supervised and the school day remains the same in terms of start and finish times.  Each faculty in our school will take turns in engaging with the students this week, with the last day being a rotational basis.

Year 6 into 7 Transition Day November 30

Year 6 students for 2023, who have completed an enrolment interview, will have an orientation experience on November 30 (Wednesday Week 9). On this day student’s will be placed in their 2023 class groupings, have a tour of the school and engage in real classroom lessons taught by high school teachers. The day will operate as a normal school day beginning at 8.50 am and concluding at 3.00 pm. Students are to wear their Primary School uniform and bring a hat, writing equipment, their lunch or tuckshop money and a water bottle.

All students need to have completed their enrolment paperwork and interview to be able to participate in this term 4 transition day on November 30. To make an enrolment interview time, please call the school office.

Chris Keating

Deputy Principal Junior

Finance update

Dear Parents/Carers/Guardians,

Student Resource Scheme 2023

To provide parents with a cost-effective alternative to purchasing textbooks and/or resources elsewhere, Atherton State High School operates a SRS for 2023. The scheme ensures that students have the resources required for them to engage with the curriculum for their education, and saves parents time and money in sourcing the prescribed materials elsewhere. Savings are gained through the school’s bulk purchasing practices and hiring arrangements. The scheme’s operation, resource inclusions and participation fees were approved by the school’s P&C Association at the meeting held on 18/10/2022.  The Department encourages parents to participate in the scheme. Participation in the SRS is optional, and no obligation is placed on a parent to participate. Participation is for the duration of your child’s enrolment at the school.  

Student is new to the school.….

Parents are required to complete and return the SRS Participation Agreement Form when joining the scheme for the first time. If no participation form is received, the school will take the view that the parent has chosen to opt out of the SRS.  The parent is then required to provide the educational resources listed in the SRS for their child by the start of the school year. A parent can opt in or out of the scheme in subsequent years by completing another Participation Agreement Form.

Continuing student of the school…..

A parent’s participation or non-participation in the scheme will continue as per their previously completed Participation Agreement Form. A parent can opt in or out of the scheme in subsequent years by completing another Participation Agreement Form.

If a parent has opted out of the scheme the parent is required to provide the educational resources listed in the SRS for their child by the start of the school year.

The Student Resource Scheme Annual Parent Information Letter, Student Resource Scheme Participation Agreement Forms,  SRS Fee Payment Arrangement form  & Resource lists will be placed on the School Website before the end of the school year. Please refer to the SRS Resource lists for the associated costings.

Current Year 11

• Invoices have should now have been paid for current year 11 students for the Year 12 Leadership at Tinaroo Environmental Education Centre which will be held at the start of the school year 2023.
• A biology Trip is planned to Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre in March 2023, invoices have been sent out already.
• VET fee letters have been given out for Certificate Courses for 2023. Please sign and return these for all Certificate Courses as soon as possible.

All

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 have been sent out for outstanding fees.

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

64th Annual Presentation Night

The event was a fabulous celebration, recognising the academic, sporting, cultural and service achievements of our students. And there were so many!! Despite the challenges of 2022, our students have excelled this year and we are so proud of them. A huge thank-you to all of our sponsors, donors and supporters for making this night possible.

Presentaton Night Awards

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Senior Formal - Oh What a Night!

Our Year 12 Formal at the end of each year is truly a celebration of success in all its forms and the Formal for the graduating Class of 2022 did not disappoint. Decked out in their very best attire, you could feel the love in the room while watching the presentation of our graduates. 

The arrivals, which are beyond compare, were yet again brilliant. The mother/son, father/daughter dances allow a rare moment of proud reflection as parents support their children through this milestone event. The thought and care of the Student Formal Committee members who choose their theme months ago and worked tirelessly to see it come to fruition. The effort by both the huge number of school staff, led ably by Ms Kelly Heidenreich and the wider community to bring everything together and turn our sports hall into a venue of beauty is a magnificent feat in itself. The volunteer dance partners, 14 in total this year, who were there because they were needed was amazing yet again.

Some special final moments as Mr Pluschke counted in the dancing one last time, the School Captains and Vice Captains complete the final work of their roles and the song, by one of our talented students, that made us laugh and cry and was brilliance in itself.

See our Gallery of just some of the photos taken on the night 

Formal Fun

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ASHS Class of 2022 last photos

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Year 12 Graduation - Ceremony & Walk Out

The Class of 2022! Ritual and tradition are important in any family and we are proud to say that the Atherton State High School family traditions remain rich, strong and meaningful. Best of Luck to all our graduating students. Well done to each and everyone of you.

Graduating Ceremony

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Yr 12 Walk out

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Ag Dept and Year 12 Cattle Team Captains

Our Cattle Team Captains, Sarah Entsch and Sacha Micola prior to their graduation.  Sarah and Sacha have been exhibiting these at the local show since the animals  were calves. 

Link and Launch for Year 12's after school

Ag Dept - Year 10's

Year Ten Agricultural Science finished the year off harvesting and eating their first watermelons. They also have grown a number of different pumpkin varieties.

HUB Graduation - 10th November

Our HUB celebrated Tyler, Haylee and Marianne graduating and we want to share some more photos of the night. Congratulations again we wish you every success in your future endeavours.

HUB Graduation Night

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Aerospace

Imogen and Lucy had a fabulous opportunity to be a part of an amazing Aerospace Awards ceremony and also visited GE Aerospace.  They got to fly a Qantas B767 simulator. What a great experience!

Atherton SHS Playgroup

Atherton SHS Playgroup held its final session for the year this week. We celebrated the end of a successful year with a Christmas party. The children made Christmas bauble biscuits, decorated Santa stockings, played with water and balloons, and danced to Christmas songs using jingle bells. The playgroup runs for an hour every week.

Atherton SHS early childhood students practice and hone their skills working with young children and babies, developing resources and analysing child development during these sessions. The playgroup is a free service to the community and is an integral part of the students’ Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care.

Atherton SHS Playgroup

Student Council Fundraiser

The student council worked with Better Together to partake in a Christmas fundraising drive to help local families in need around Christmas time, and was a big success. A total of approximately 200 items were donated by staff and students, and as the staff donated the most, they will be receiving a pizza party, with grade 8’s as the runner ups. Thank you to everyone who participated in this event.’

Yarning with Our Elders

Over the Christmas holidays and into Term 1, QATSIF (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation) in partnership with ACU (Australian Catholic University) will be running their 3^rd Annual Yarning With Our Elders project.   

All 2023 First Nations Queensland secondary students (including our 2023 Year 7 students) are invited to help to record and preserve important stories, history and culture through yarning with an Elder.  It is run over the Christmas holidays to allow students to catch up with their grandparents and other family members.

Students are invited to share their Elder’s story using any appropriate media eg. Video, voice recordings, essay, poetry, music, interviews etc.  Preferably, presentations should be less than 10 minutes or 5000 words in length (or equivalent).

All entries will be recognised with a certificate and a trophy or medallion.  ACU will assist with collating and preserving these important stories for future generations and offer prizes for outstanding entries.

ENTRIES CLOSE: FRIDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2023.

Printed entry forms and information will be available at B022, the CEC & CLO office.

School Based Youth Health Nurse - The Facts about Vaping

Become a Homestay host to an International student & be reimbursed.

Contact the school to register your interest and complete an application form.

Mental Health First Aid

Tablelands Regional Council in partnership with Queensland Health are delivering Mental Health First Aid Training.

Holiday Support is available