Monday 31st May 2021

Principal's Welcome

Over the past two weeks there have been a large number of large events that staff and students have involved in.

After completing NAPLAN online for the first time ever, we celebrated all things Year 7 with our Septofest event on Friday.  After having to postpone the event from earlier in the year, it was awesome to see staff, prefects and Yr 7 students having a fantastic time together and work on their teamwork and social skills.  Check out some of the images below of our best dressed Yr 7 student and some of the prefect costumes.

We also celebrated our music students, with every music class presenting a performance piece at the full school parade on Thursday then wowing our community with a concert that night.  The standard of talent on show was amazing, well done students for the effort you put into preparing for these performances.  In more miusic news, we are counting down to our Instrumental concert featuring Cairns Brass on June 12.  Due to COVID restrictions we are having to limit our audience so be sure to reserve your tickets early to be able to attend this event.

These events listed above do not happen by chance...thanks also to the dedicated staff for your efforts in providing these opportunities for our students.

Last week we also welcomed three external reviewers from the Education Improvement Branch into our school to complete a full school review relative to the National School Improvement Tool.  The reviewers provided us with fantastic feedback about the awesome things we are doing at Atherton SHS, as well as some recommendations for our future improvement work.  We will shortly receive a written report about their review, which will be shared with the community so that we can celebrate our progress and look at ways to work together over the next four year strategy.

Parents don’t forget that our second teacher moderation day is scheduled for Wednesday June 2.  All parents have been emailed details about the day and teachers have emailed/directly set  clear directives about work to be individually completed to every student.

Have a great fortnight ahead!

News in Brief

Teacher Moderation Days:

We are advising everyone that our remaining 2021 teacher moderation days will be held on Wednesday June 2, Thursday September 2 and Friday November 26.  On these days, teachers will meet to review and revise student progress and then collaboratively plan their next student learning experiences.  Students will not be required to attend school on these days and, as with COVID last year, any students attending on these days will be supervised, but no new learning will occur.  Please read the detailed information about this event later in this newsletter.

Year 6 into 7 Transition events:

Thank you to all the parents and Year 6 students who have attended our recent transition events.  Head of Junior school Kirstie Whybird will send further information about transition events and enrolment requirements directly through Primary school teachers or Principals.  As you can see from the photo below, students at the second transition night had a great time saying hello to our stud herd!

Reporting absences for your child/ren:

We have recently implemented a new system for student attendance.  We have a new mobile number for you to text through absences for your child/ren - 0426 305 138 - Please ensure that you update your contacts as the old number is not working any more.

Septofest photos

News from the Deputy's Desk

Another fruitful few weeks at the school with students busy getting into the middle of their learning cycles with lots of great things happening around the school.

Our year 7 students in particular have eagerly gone into their new electives this term and it is wonderful to see them engaged in ITD with Mr Alford with gusto. I was amazed at the skill and quality of the jobs these students are producing. Year 8 students are also making their way through their electives and the students in Textiles are making items from recycled materials and the students in Japanese are learning about the work ethic of their Japanese student counterparts – they did not like hearing that Japanese students are timetabled onto cleaning the school every day!

Aside from in classes, a reminder to all families that our second moderation day is scheduled for June 2, and once again supervision of students will be provided for those who are not able to stay at home on this day.

But why is a moderation day needed? The moderation process is not a simple one, especially when applying it to all year levels, and at our school moves through four phases: Before, After, After, End. The process in more detail includes

• Before – where assessment standards are broken down and a common understanding of teaching and learning skills and processes is discussed, planned and enacted by classroom teachers,
• After – an informal checkpoint after teaching has commenced and evidence of student learning has started being collected,
• After – occurs after students have submitted summative assessment that will count to their final results, where teachers will undertake many activities to ensure accuracy in awarding of results and matching evidence in student work to standards,
• End – comparing student summative assessment results and awarding final results accurately, as well as interrogating data to ensure that teaching and learning is always improving.

In the past, we have asked teachers to come off classes in order to complete this process, meaning teaching and learning time is lost throughout the term. By having these activities occur one day per term, we are hoping to eliminate the need for teachers to be off classes as much as possible, so they are able to do what they do best - teach. Students will be sent an email from their class teacher about the work to complete on this day so that learning can continue.

I want to thank all families for their support of the school and this vital process in the teaching and learning cycle.

Until next time,

Natasha Lyndon

Deputy Principal – Teaching and Learning

Playgroup

A group of highly motivated students at Atherton SHS are completing their Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. This qualification will equip them with the knowledge and skills to work in the early childhood sector.

The playgroup will be run by our students under the supervision of Mrs Nunn, a qualified early childhood teacher. All of the students have a current Blue Card and first aid certificate.

During the one hour session, children will be allowed to play in our custom designed playground and participate in student run activities.

All children from newborn to school age are welcome to come and have some fun.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Friday, 10-11am

TAFE building,

Atherton SHS,

Maunds Rd, Atherton

Cattle Handling School

Recently the Atherton SHS Cattle Show Team attended the Malanda Cattle Handling School. The event was conducted over three days where students learned the finer skills of handling, judging and preparing livestock for the shows. As part of the event students competed in an interschool competition against schools from across the Tablelands, Innisfail and Charters Towers. Atherton SHS students competed extremely well and in a great manner finishing second overall to All Soul’s from Charters Towers.

Without singling out any students I would like to congratulate all the Atherton SHS Team that attended the weekend. Well Done!!  

A special note to Mr Brett Meekcoms that both completed the course and assisted with the supervision of students on the weekend.

We are now looking forward to the upcoming shows where we will participate in a range of poultry, goat and cattle handling events. Hope to see you all there!

Mr Cameron Harris

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Sailing Success by Tahnee Dilger

Our sailing teams have been working very hard, and the results that they have achieved are truly a testament to their commitment and hard work.

On the 20th of March, Atherton Blitz competed in the first of three team sailing competitions in Townsville. Blitz took the lead by winning 9 races out of 9.

On the 16th of May both Atherton Blitz and Tablelands Tigers travelled down to Cairns to compete in the second regional competition. Blitz won all 8 races, with the Tigers team coming second with 6 wins - the only races they lost were against Blitz.

The Tinaroo Sailing Club hosted the North Queensland High School Team Sailing Championship over the weekend, with teams attending from Cairns and Townsville to compete. Despite the rainy weather, Blitz again came out victorious, undefeated in all three regattas, qualifying for nationals in the process! Tablelands Tigers placed second, again only being beaten by the other Atherton team. Congratulations Blitz and Tigers, your endless effort and dedication has paid off!

All our sailors are extremely grateful for our volunteer coach Peter MacGregor, who has been instructing and coaching sailors at Tinaroo for 20 years this year. Thank you also to volunteer managers Lew Chapman and Darryl Dilger, and to Diana House for feeding all the hungry sailors after training on Friday afternoons! Duncan MacGregor, a former student and sailor from Atherton, has returned to the Tablelands as a staff member at ASHS and volunteers his time and expertise every Friday at training. Thanks Duncan for your support!

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped on the weekend, starting and finishing races, cooking and cleaning, rigging and repairing boats, driving the sailors to and from the event, and much more. Thank you also to Tinaroo Sailing Club for allowing access to their venue, boats and equipment, and the Tinaroo Environmental Education Centre for their support with safety boats.

Unfortunately, the 2021 season marks the final season of Teams Sailing for our Year 12s who have dedicated 6 years of their time to the sport. We farewell Finn, Michael, Tahnee, Biku and Conor, and wish them the best in their future sailing endeavors.

We encourage anyone wanting to try out sailing to come out and give it a shot in Term 4! Keep an eye out later in the year for more information.

Eliza Tops the state

Congratulations to 2020 school captain Eliza Tolley who was recently announced as being the top student in Agricultural Science across the whole state last year.  Well done Eliza, we are very proud of you!

Sports report

Welcome to the sports report. This newsletter we acknowledge several of our students who have been selected as representatives in Peninsula Regional School Sporting teams. Football (soccer) will see Madison Veschetti (year 9) from Atherton High will travel to Hervey Bay to take part in the State Championships between 27 – 30 May. Year 12 student Luke Howard spent the beginning of this week in Cairns competing in the 13-19 years Boys Hockey State Championships which was being hosted by the Peninsula Region. Year 10 student Talytha MacDonald will attending the 13-19 years Girls Hockey State Championships held in Rockhampton in early June. Another Regional Championships due to be held in Cairns is the 11-12 years Boys Rugby League where Cooper Dockrill (year 7) will be playing. We wish all students and teams the best of luck at their State Championship events.

On May 16, students from Atherton State High School travelled down to Cairns to compete in the second regional competition for sailing. Our ‘Atherton Blitz’ (Finn Vallance (captain), Tahnee Dilger, Michael Dilger, Travis Wadley, Breanne Wadley, Conor Stevenson) were undefeated winning 8 out of 8 races. The second team; ‘Atherton Thunder’ (Marni Dennis (captain), Lucy Edson, Emmie Gould, Kamryn Raisin, as well as Biku Adams-Hume and Eleanor Oates who are not from Atherton State High School won 6 out of their 8 races. A great effort and outcome for the sailing teams. The coaches of these teams were Peter McGregor, Darryl Dilger, Lew Champman and Duncan McGregor. Watch this space for an update of the finals which were held last Saturday at Tinaroo.

Next week will see the nominations open for the ASHS Interhouse Athletics Carnival which will be held throughout week 10. Students must compete at the Interhouse Carnival should they wish to be considered as a member of the ASHS team to participate at the Tablelands District Track and Field Championships, which will also be held at Atherton State High School in early term 3. The nomination process is simple:

• Come to C28
• Find your age group
• Write your name down under the events you wish to participate in
  1. Events include shot put, javelin, discus, high jump, triple jump, long jump and sprint and distance runs
• Turn up in week 10 prepared to have fun and compete while dressing up in your house colours and theme

The house themes will be announced by sports captains towards the end of week 7 – it will be interesting to see what they come up with.

If you have any further questions please feel free to see Ms Maryanne in C28 or email mcort10@eq.edu.au.

Spirit of Youth Highlights

Some of the images from last week's Spirit of Youth

Teachers Complete Profiler training

Last week our Classroom Profilers completed professional decelopment with Mark Davidson to become trainers themsleves.  Classroom profiling is a confidential process that allows teachers to reflect on strategies that can be used to enhance positive classroom feedback and behaviours. 

By implementing the Classroom Profiling process, we are working to further enhance positive relationships between students and staff

Brass and Band Spectacular

Finance Information

Dear Parents/Carers/Guardians,

Student Resource Scheme 2021 Payments Now Overdue

All 2021 Student Resource Scheme levies including subject fees were due to be paid at end of term 1 and if unpaid are now outstanding. 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. We are following up on outstanding payments. Parents experiencing financial hardship who are currently participating in or wish to participate in the SRS should contact the school to discuss options. Statements will be sent out at the end of each month.

Thank you to all those who have paid and to those who have arranged payment plans.

2021 Year 12 Formal Invoicing

Please ensure all other school fees are paid before paying for and attending the Formal.

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

Bull for sale

For Sale - Atherton High Barrine (Age- 27 Months)(Weight 900kg)

Registered Charbray Bull 64% Charolais 36% Brahman

Heterozygous Polled.

$5000+GST . Please contact Cameron Harris at Atherton SHS 40305222

For further information or to arrange an inspection.

Trade Centre Update

After months of work, the school's Trade Training Centre is about to re-open to classes.  We have added two classroom spaces in the main area, and built an engineering space at the northern end of the building.

No Code Bootcamp

Expression of Interest - Relief Positions

Car, Bike and Swap Meet

2021 Creative Arts Competition

Schoolzine Newsletters

We are now producing our eNewsletters with Schoolzine. The move to this new format  enables us to communicate with our school community across multiple channels. It promotes and enhances our engagement with parents, students and the wider community.

We hope you find the eNewsletters highly engaging, it provides an efficient and effective means of connecting with you. The new format  allows the inclusion of video, photo galleries, online bookings, mobile apps, feedback forms, calendars and so much more.

The newsletter also has a sponsorship section which provides a great opportunity for local businesses to engage with our parent community. If you would like to be a part of this, please contact Schoolzine.

Phone Jude 07 5414 2363
jude.dawson@schoolzine.com.au