Term 3 15th September 2023

From the Principal's desk

Dear Parents, Guardians and Community members, 

Celebrating our Student Leaders

This week we held our traditional Student Leaders Handover parade, presenting our 2024 School Captains, Student Council and House Captains to our school community.  This parade was led by our current 2023 student leadership team, who presented themselves extremely well and summarised their individual leadership journeys. They then passed over their blazers to the new 2024 executive.  
Our house captains also shared in this honour as our current leaders handed over the house banners to the newly elected 2024 house captains.  

Thank you to our 2023 Student Leaders:

School Captains 2023                                              Vice Captains 2023

Oscar Byrne and Miah Cox                                        Imogen Kelly and Morgan Grimshaw

Student Council President 2023                         Student Council Vice President

Bianca Le'Gear                                                               Bethany Bailey     

Student Council Treasurer                                     Student Council Secretary                                              

Cameron Colless                                                           Bethany Bailey    

House Captains 2023

Eacham Amy Hunter and Emily Mills        Euramo Lillian Caulfield-Anning and Scarlet Howard

Barrine  Sarah O'Sullivan and Noah Blooranta  Quincan Kaydee Clemesha and Talytha MacDonald

School Captains 2024                                                Vice Captains 2024

Troy Taylor and Charlotte Nunn                            Ben Howard and Bridie Keevers

Student Council President 2024                            Student Council Treasurer

Noah Child                                                                        Jean Pluschke

House Captains 2024  

Eacham Doug Seawright and Thomas Coleman   Euramo Kaydee Cummings and Christopher Scrivens

Barrine Bella Trentin and Breanne Wadley   Quincan Carlee Bloomfield and Alan Kilpatrick

Congratulations to our 2024 elected leaders and a heartfelt thank you to our student leaders for this 
year! 

Further student leadership opportunities 

We have so many amazing students at this school and are driven to provide them with the most 
opportunities possible to enhance their personal growth, therefore we are adding additional roles to 
our school, the recipients of these roles will be announced at our Awards Evening.  The new 
positions include an Indigenous Captain, Band Captain and Junior School Captains. We will also be 
extending our Prefects to further year levels.  

SET Plan interviews 

It was absolutely wonderful to meet so many of our Year 10 students and their parents at the 
interviews.  Our staff led these students through the process of choosing senior subjects for next 
year and provided guidance around possible career paths and subject choices.  The senior subject 
offerings at our school are extraordinary, we have an amazing offering of different subjects and also 
work with students to include specialised subjects or areas of study through other sources such as 
Distance education, Universities and Trainee/Apprenticeship options. If your child is in year 10 and 
hasn’t completed a SET Plan interview please contact Ms Whybird our Senior School Head of 
Department.  

Facilities 

Exciting news for our school community.  We are dedicated to improving the facilities at this school 
as our kids deserve the very best and I will do everything possible to ensure we keep improving 
these.  We have representatives from Infrastructure services from Central and Regional office early 
next term to perform a site evaluation on general learning classrooms in our school.  This is 
wonderful news and demonstrates a clear step towards upcoming upgrades to our facilities.

 
Facebook 

Please like our school on Facebook so you can receive our regular updates and celebration of our 
staff and students, our goal is to continue improving our communication with our parents and 
community members.  
Well deserved break 
As term 3 comes to an end I wish all of our students, staff and parents a safe and restful break. Term 
3 has been an exceptionally busy term and I look forward to an equally wonderful term 4! 

From the Deputy's Desk- Senior School

As always, we have had a busy few weeks as we approach the end of term. Firstly, congratulations to the Year 11 students who applied, presented speeches and interviewed for senior student leadership roles over the last few weeks. These students all deserve acknowledgement for their courage and commitment in putting themselves forward for consideration for these roles, regardless of the outcome. Well done, we are proud of you.

Year 10 SET planning is almost complete, with over eighty Year 10 students completing their SET plans last Wednesday. A SET plan is a student’s education and training plan for the compulsory participation (post mandatory) phase of schooling in Year 11 and 12. In this phase of learning, students have a broad choice of learning and training options, with students able to choose a variety of options including school subjects, vocational training courses, school-based apprenticeships and traineeships, and even university subjects. Well done to all Year 10 students who have completed their SET plan and prepared themselves for starting their learning in Year 11. For those who haven’t had a SET plan meeting, it is important that you do so before the end of term so you can make sure you can select the subjects you wish in Year 11, and have considered the best pathways for your success for the coming years. If you need to make an SET plan meeting, please contact the Head of Senior Schooling, Kirstie Whybird at kwhyb2@eq.edu.au this week. If your child is not returning in Year 11 in 2024, please notify as soon as possible.

The year is racing towards culmination for our Year 12 students. Students who study General subjects will be having an exam familiarisation lesson on Wednesday morning. The QCAA has strict protocols regarding exam entry, participation, and equipment, so being familiar with and practicing these exam rules and routines is essential.

At this time of the year, some students find it difficult to find the motivation to attend all of their classes. Remember that our teachers prepare lessons for face-to-face delivery, even though some supporting resources are available online in QLearn and One Note. Most senior subjects have just commenced their final topic of work, so it is critical that students attend every lesson so they can benefit from learning activities and discussions with their teacher and peers. If your child is finding it difficult to get themselves to school, please contact us to discuss ways we can support them through to the end of the year.

Wishing you all the best over the break. I’m looking forward to working with you in the final term of 2023

From the Deputies Desk- Middle School

What a busy time we have had in Term 3 in the middle school. The time is going so quickly. 
Year 10’s you have been heavily involved in the subject selection and Student Education and planning (SET P) interviews. Thank you to Mrs Whybird, the Head of Senior School, for leading this process and to all the team of staff who completed the interviews on the day. Mrs Coleman, our Vocational Education Coordinator is now very busy following up with Vocational and Certificate placements for those who have indicated that these will form a part of their pathways. Thank you to Mr Keating for the advice you have offered to the Year 10 students in the lead up to these events based on the complexities of timetabling. I really enjoyed the SET P interviews I held with a number of Year 10 students and was impressed with the clarity they had in regard to their possible future pathways. 
In 2024 there is some exciting news in the leadership space. For year 10 students wishing to 
be a Prefect working in a pastural care role with the Year 7 students, applications are available 
from Mrs Whybird or the Student Services counter. Please check your emails for details as 
well. 
Similarly, the lower school have also been on their own journey of leadership. The current 
Year 9 cohort have followed a process to engage with leadership, development, and group
projects. This will see 12 students working together to assist with year level parades, junior 
school parades, flag bearing responsibilities and lunch time projects. Keep an eye out for 
advertised activities and projects the Year 9 leaders will be planning and implementing in 
Term 4 with the help of Head of Junior School Ms Bolton and Junior Support Teacher Ms 
White.
The process of inducting Year 9 Student Captains and Vice Captains next year is also well 
underway and being led by Ms Bolton. This is an exciting opportunity for the middle school 
voice to be represented at the Student Council, and across the entire school community. This 
process is a new and somewhat daunting experience for our young leaders because many 
students have not had the opportunity to engage with this process at high school previously. 
Students have filled in their application forms and met with Ms Bolton to discuss 
collaboratively the following steps needed to complete their individual process. Students will 
engage with an interview panel and advocate their stance on current trends and challenges 
they are experiencing within the school community and have the opportunity to discuss their 
vision for their school, specifically in 2024.
As the end of the year is fast approaching it is positive for students to reflect on how they will 
manage all of the events and assessments that are going to be coming up in Term 4. Using 
your school diary and your school email is vital to keeping everything organised and well 
managed. Year 9 and 10 students should put in routines to ensure these resources are used 
effectively. 
• Take your school diary to school each day, put your homework in it at the end of each 
lesson, even if there is none for that subject. Plot your assessment into the planner in 
the front at the start of the term and highlight them as they are completed from draft 
to final copy. 
• Check your school email at least once a week. This can be done at school or home but 
choose a time to check it and stick with it. Use the outlook calendar to set reminders. 
Email your teachers directly with questions about your classwork or assessment –
especially if you are absent due to illness. Forward any important emails on to your 
parents/carers – particularly around upcoming events.
Prepare yourself for the Year 12’s being less visible in the school as they enter the final 
assessment stage of External Exams. Remember that at the time they are celebrating the end 
of their schooling you will still be completing assessment and need to remain focussed on 
your outcomes. 
Finally, enjoy the upcoming holidays. They are a time for you to reset and refresh so make 
sure you do something you enjoy. It can be a simple as laying outside and reading a book or 
something exciting as a grand adventure with the family. Whatever it is, just enjoy.

From the Deputy's Desk-Junior School

Words from the Deputy Desk Junior 
Term 3 has been action packed with a variety of extra-curricular events happening after school hours. It has been amazing to see our school offer so much to our students and I would like to thank the staff and carers who make this happen. We finish off the term with another event, the swimming carnival and I am looking forward to seeing the amazing house spirit on offer.  I would like to wish all of our students and carers a restful and safe break.  Immunisation program for Year 7 and Year 10 students 
Our school is participating in Queensland Health’s annual School Immunisation Program. All Year 7 and Year 10 students will be offered free vaccinations as recommended on the National Immunisation Program schedule to protect against vaccine preventable diseases. Year 7 students will be offered human papillomavirus (HPV) and diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough). Year 10 students will be offered meningococcal ACWY 
vaccination. 

The immunisation team will conduct their third visit on October 10 and will be vaccinating 
year 7’s and completing year 10 catch up’s. Please return any immunisation paperwork as 
soon as possible to Student Services. Immunisations require parent permission and are not 
mandatory but highly encouraged.  
Enrolment at Atherton State High School 2024 Year 7 
If you are wanting to enrol a student at Atherton State High School in year 7 for 2024 then 
please complete an enrolment pack. Packs can be arranged by contacting the school office 
and were distributed to Primary Schools earlier in the year.   
Once your enrolment paperwork is filled in, you will need to complete an enrolment session 
at the school. Please contact the school office to book an appointment.  
All students need to have completed their enrolment paperwork and interview to be able to 
participate in the term 4 transition day on November 29.  
NAPLAN 2023 Results 
At the start of next term, hard copy Individual Student Reports will be sent home via your 
student. These reports will also be sent home via the email address listed on the first contact 
recorded by the school. Attached below is a parent guide on how to interpret the NAPLAN report.

Finance Update

Dear Parents/Carers/Guardians,
Outstanding Accounts Reminder:
As we are now at the end of Term 3 please finalise fee payments as our records 
indicate that we currently have a number of student accounts that remain 
Outstanding.
We ask that you please finalise or make a plan to finalise your child’s account as 
soon as possible.
Statements are sent home on a monthly basis.
Year 12 Fees and Formal ticket payments should also have been finalised. Please 
do this ASAP so you are able to receive the tickets in Term4. These tickets will be 
handed out after exams are completed.
We now offer EFTPOS in both Reception – L block and Student Services – A 
block.
If you would like to make a payment plan or re-instate a previous payment plan, 
please feel free to contact L Block Reception on 4030 5248 – we would be only 
too happy to assist.
If you have recently made payment, thank you and please disregard this message.
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 available
• 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

Student Council

Congradulations to Noah Child and Jean Pluschke on being successful in receiving the 2024 Student Council President and Treasurer roles respectively. A brief reminder that if you would like to be the Student Council Secretary or Student Council Vice-President for 2024, you must go to the first student council meeting next year to be nominated. If you want to give back to the school community, is there really any better way? 

From the 2023 student council however, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with the student body over the last year. Without their help, it would not have been possible for Valentine’s Day, Winter Week, the World’s Greatest Shave, or any of our other events to have been successful. Our recent Winter Week fundraiser allowed us to receive an income of $758.05, which will be used by the 2024 student council to improve school spirit. Additionally, we would like to thank all the students that helped over the year to organize and run our events as without their help, we would have had a very limited impact and run much smaller events. These students are Sara Banks, Oscar Byrne, Miah Cox, Sarah Fitzgerald, Morgan Grimshaw, Imogen Kelly, Alice Mitchell, Ryanne Telford.  

Next term, the student council is hoping to organize and run the Better Together Food Drive, which gets much needed food donations for people receiving Better Together’s support. Stay tuned to the notices, the newsletter and Facebook for more information. If you would like the student council to run an event, raise awareness about an issue or help in some other way, you will need to come to student council meetings (which are subject to change; confirmed times will be advertised in the notices next year), or drop your suggestion off in the student council suggestion box located in the library. 

Well Womens Clinic

Book Week Celebrations 2023

This year our school community came together to celebrate the CBCA Book Week. This year’s theme was Read, Grow, Inspire and our activities were centred around these themes and the short-listed books. On Friday we celebrated Book Week with a Dress up as your Favourite Character and Blind Date with a Book affair. 

Students and staff frocked up in gowns, masks, wigs and onesies and paraded their favourite character down the runway. It was amazing to see so many participants in incredible costumes.  Prizes were awarded based on best character outfits and creativity. Guests were also treated to homemade scones and cake!  

Along with our dress up we also launched our fourth Blind Date with a Book event – inviting our strong reading community to go on a blind date – not with a friend – but instead with a book.  Each of our new and curated books were carefully wrapped, tagged and decorated, adding an element of surprise and treat to our book lovers. 

A big thank you to all who made Book Week so very special! 

Mrs Stevens 

Photos from Book Week

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Technologies Term 3 Week 10

Yr. 8 Digital Technologies 

This term the Year 8 Digital Technologies students completed an introduction to Python programming and micro processing. 

Students generated flow charts, pseudo code and text-based programmes to create a pizza order for a customer.  Their programmes needed to include inputs, conditions, lists, loops and functions, as well as generate and draw each pizza order.  

Students also created their very own real-world inventions using pocket-sized computers called Micro:bits.  Students wrote their very own code to manipulate hardware and software to work together.  Students built remote control cars, inchworms, milk carton robots and soil moisture kits using a range of media – Lego, hobby motors, cardboard, milk cartons and paper. 

Mrs Stevens 

Digital Technologies Teacher 

Health Faculty update

Year 9 HPE

The Year 9 HPE students have been studying risk taking behaviours including alcohol consumption and recently engaged in standard drinks pouring and ‘beer goggle’ activities.  This allowed the students to attempt basic cognitive functions (walking, balancing, throwing and catching a basketball and writing their name) whilst ‘intoxicated’, as well as seeing how accurately (or not!) they could pour a standard drink.  We hope that this encourages students to develop safe and healthy habits for themselves and their peers, and helps them to consider harm minimisation strategies that could be utilised in relation to this topic.

Year 11 Sport and Recreation

The year 11 Sport and Recreation students recently hiked the Mt Baldy-Yabi circuit as part of their assessment for the Outdoor Pursuits component of unit 2.  The students completed the 8.5km hike in around 2.5 hours.  Thank you to our wonderful year 11 Sport and Recreation teachers Mr Karamaroudis and Mr Simpson for both planning and preparing students for this hike, and to Ms Shannon and Mr Lyndon for coming with us on the day.

Year 12 Fitness

Our year 12 Certificate III in Fitness students are close to being fully accredited industry professionals.  In order to practice these skills in a real gym based training context, students have run group training sessions for staff after school during weeks 6-10.  They have also conducted health screening and fitness testing as well as training individual adult clients (both community members and staff) throughout term 3.  Thank you to all staff and community members who volunteered to be clients for our amazing year 12 Fitness students - the students really appreciate it!

Year 9's

Year 11's

Year 11's

Year 12's

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Sports Update Week 10

As Term Three comes to an end, sporting opportunities for our ASHS do not. Throughout the final four weesk of this term, ASHS has seen many students representing the school in a variety of sporting events.

Week 7 saw 53 of our ASHS student athletes travel to Barlow Park for the annual Peninsula Track and Field Carnival held across the Sunday and Monday. Our 53 ASHS student athletes competed valiantly, facing off against the best track and field athletes in our region, demonstrating the true Atherton High Way. We had many success stories from this carnival, with 7 students being selected to represent Peninsula School Sport and ASHS at the QLD State Track and Field Championships in October. Congratulations to all our ASHS Track and Field athletes on a very competitive and successful season and best of luck for the State Titles!

 Week 6 and 8 saw our Year 7 and combined Year 9/10 Rugby League teams travel to Cairns for the FNQ Interschool Rugby League 9’s Carnival. Both teams of boys played exceptionally well against some high-quality opposition. Although vastly outsized, our Year 7 team fought hard in every game, giving it their all across four games of high-quality Rugby League. These boys showed real Atherton High spirit and are to be commended for the way they played throughout the day, great job boys! Our combined Year 9/10 travelled in week 8, facing off against some of the best schools in the region, which makes finishing 4-0 even better! Unfortunately, the boys missed out on finals due to for and against, however, the boys finished with a +/- of +19 for the duration of their 4 games, even beating our fierce rivals, Malanda SHS, congratulations boys!

See below our up-to-date ASHS Peninsula Representatives

R U OKAY DAY

R U OK? ……A conversation could change a life 
R U OK? Day was yesterday the 14th September. It’s a day dedicated to remind 
everyone to ask family, friends and people you know “R U OK?” in a meaningful 
way. Connecting with people simply by asking this question is one thing every 
one of us can do. You don't need to be an expert - just a great mate and a 
good listener. Asked with sincerity this one question can make a DIFFERENCE
to anyone who might be struggling……who doesn’t feel OK!!
The idea behind this question is to try and assist people who may be feeling 
down, ‘in the dumps’, depressed… to open up, talk about it and seek some help. 
It’s about reaching out to those who need it and prevent people within our 
community and across Australia taking their own lives. It’s about stopping little 
problems turning into big ones!!
3144 Australians died by suicide in 2021, which represents an agestandardised suicide death rate of 12 per 100,000 people. That's more than 
eight people every single day. One person every three hours!!! 
Starting a conversation             may just help to reduce these numbers. 
Perhaps you have noticed a friend, your granddad or your sister…..they just 
don’t seem to be themselves. Or maybe you just get that “gut feeling” that
something is wrong. Go ahead, start a conversation by asking the question.

Atherton Tablelands Chamber Music Festival

Year 11 Aerospace News

 Year 11 Aerospace Students achieve launch status!
As part of the Year 11 Aerospace Systems curriculum, the students were tasked with simulating a rocket design using computer technology then building the designed rocket to compare their simulation data with actual data. The objectives were to safely launch the rocket to an altitude of 70 metres and safely return the rocket to the ground. The students then got the opportunity to 
physically build their own design using actual model rocket building materials and rocket motors. The rocket launching was reasonably successful! Each student got to launch their own rocket and they blasted off high into the sky. Before each rocket was launched, a small altimeter was attached 
which enabled the students to record altitude data. Our HUB students also had the opportunity to 
get involved by launching the rockets with the aerospace students.

Jon Collins
Aerospace Systems Teacher

Aerospace

Students learning about forces using pulleys.

Students in Mr McPherson's 7B class learning about forces using pulleys. Students in year 7 have been studying forces, including Push Pull and Twist. This includes Inclined planes, ramps, wedges, pulleys, and types of levers.

Students have been having lots of fun doing prac and learning about simple machines.

If you want to see an extreme example, look up Rube Goldberg machine on YouTube.

Roy McPherson 

Japanese Speaking Competition

  Congratulations to all students participating in the Japanese Speaking competition at Malanda SHS.

This is a great opportunity to practice our speaking skills; tune our listening skills and make new friends.

Two of our year 7’s received awards for participating 3 years in row – Mia and Lilly, Well done!

Congratulations to our back ground speakers Midori and Kazue who had to prepare their own speech and present it from memory.

Looking forward to more participates next year.

Students participating in the Japanese speaking competition

Yr 9 TFF students presenting a High Teaa to Faculties

Year 9 TFF students have finished term 3 in style by developing High Tea platters that cater to the
various special dietary needs of customers. This week their magnificent platters were bought by 
staffrooms across the school and staff were treated to a huge selection of sweet and savoury treats! 
Well done students on working collaboratively to prepare and present such delicious products, and 
thank you to all the staffrooms who bought our platters - we really appreciate your support of our amazing students

Pechakucha Atherton

All abilities PE Day Barlow Park

On Thursday August 31st a group of Atherton State High students participated in the All Abilities PE Day held at 
Barlow Park in Cairns. We tried cricket, ten pin bowling, tennis, AFL, netball, hockey, NRL and athletics. Our students 
represented our school well and participated in allsports, despite the heat. We are looking forward to the increased 
program next year to help support our multi class athletes in the lead up to school athletics carnivals

Students participating in Sport at Barlow Park

Naidoc Awards

Year 12 student Lillian Caulfield-Anning received a 2023 Tablelands NAIDOC Award for NAIDOC Female Sportsperson of the Year on Saturday night at the NAIDOC Ball held in Ravenshoe. Congratulations Lillian!

Fresh St Market IGA Scholarship now open

Fresh St Market IGA is a proud member of the Atherton Community and strives to look for ways to help our community thrive. The Fresh St Market IGA University Scholarship assists year 12 students from Atherton State High School with the costs of attending university for completion of their degree.  The scholarship provides $10000.00 in financial support over a 3 year period.  All year 12 students who plan on attending university are encouraged to apply.  The scholarship is not available to students who plan to defer their studies.  The Atherton State High School Parents and Citizens Association is proud to be a supporting partner of the Fresh St Market IGA University Scholarship.

Applications open 15th September and close on the 15th November.

Application and guidelines available on the school Website in the Community tab

Previous recipiants of the Fresh St Market IGA Scholarship

Marketing Position