Biloela State High School

Newsletter
Biloela State High School acknowledges the traditional Gangulu people on whose land it stands.
Biloela State High School
Issue 7
14 May 2015
CROSS COUNTRY 2015
Hello members of the Biloela State High School community. The school cross country was held on Wednesday April 29 with
perfect weather conditions. The sun was shining and the students were pumped ready to take on the 3km and 5km track to
prove that they can master the long distance. The day began in the usual fashion with the house captains urging their house
on through the use of house cheers and a motivational speech from the new Deputy Principal, Jody Clark.
Timers were ready and the whistle was blown to announce the beginning of the course. As the students came running (or
walking) to the finish line, points were tallied and it soon became apparent a recount was required. After a night of number
crunching and tally checking the winner was decided. Lavarack once again cross country champions by the margin of one
point! Never in cross country history has it come down to such a small margin between first and second. This can be put
down to the efforts of the house captains in cheering on the students and getting them to participate.
Big congratulations go to the following students who came first in their age group becoming cross country age champions.
U/12: Daniel Setch (Flinders) Emily Authurs (Flinders)
U/13: Jared Cullen (Flinders) Taylor Heid (Paterson)
U/14: Matt McKee (Paterson) Anna Cruice (Lavarack)
U/15: Matthew Heit (Lavarack) Breanna Heid
(Paterson)
U/16: Ruairi Warner (Flinders) Jess Radke (Lavarack)
OPEN: Michael McLure (Lavarack) Alice Melville
(Flinders)
The following students also broke records proving they
have the right stuff—Jared Cullen, Taylor Heid, Anna
Cruice, Matthew Heit, Breanna Heid and Jess Radke.
Cross Country Age Champions
Reporter—Mr Marshall
Commonwealth Bank Australia
Shade/Vegetation Donation
A big thank you to the Commonwealth Bank for the $5000
donation to our school for shade and vegetation
replacement around the school. This will help with the
recovery from Cyclone Marcia.
Cross Country winning house Lavarack
Important Dates
14 May
15 May
18—20 May
20 May
19—26 May
27—29 May
1 June
Hawaiian Theme School Social 6pm BSS Hall
Callide Valley Show Holiday
Year 8 Camp at Fairbairn Dam Departs 7:30am
Defence Force Recruiting Presentation
Year 10/12
2015 Biloela Eisteddfod
Year 10 Outdoor Pursuits Camp Blackdown
Tablelands
Year 8 Vaccinations (Clinic 2)
HABITS OF MIND
Questioning and Posing Problems
CHARACTER STRENGTH
Spirituality
STUDENT DIARY TOPICS
The Research Process
Biloela State High School - Cnr Gladstone Rd & Scoria St, Biloela Qld 4715 Tel: (07) 4992 8666 Fax: (07) 4992 8600
Website: www.biloelashs.eq.edu.au
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Literacy and Numeracy Improvement at Biloela SHS
Once again this year, we have been focussing on Reading,
Writing, Spelling, Grammar & Punctuation and Numeracy as a
key component of learning in our school. I am very pleased
about the extra work our teachers and teacher aides are doing in
this area. Our Year 7 and 9 students have worked well in the
NAPLAN testing program this week and I thank these students
for trying their best. We are very much looking forward to see the
improvement they have made from their last test two years ago.
We must thank Chappy Nigel for organising the morning tea
each day for these students over each of the NAPLAN days with
the assistance of a few key helpers and Mrs Lisa Whitworth for
her overall organisation of the NAPLAN Testing program.
I want to emphasise that our focus on improved literacy and
numeracy continues even though NAPLAN has been and gone
for another year. We want to see students writing in full
sentences and using interesting and extensive vocabulary. We
know that this is a key foundation for student learning. Thank you
for your support at home where we hope you reinforce good
literacy and numeracy skills. It is great to encourage students to
read by being seen reading ourselves!
Our Improving Uniform
It has been great to see that your strong support of our school
uniform continues with the provision of our sun-safe school shirt
for every student. Well done. It has also been good to see the
improvement in the wearing of the correct shoes appropriate to
learning in all areas of our school - sandshoes. This continues to
be an important goal - every student in the correct shoes. Thank
you also for ensuring students have a modest length to their
school shorts. Now that the colder months are upon us, we ask
that all families invest in a school jumper. If funds are tight, I ask
you to discuss this with me as I can provide a school jumper to
any student in need. Let us not let this be a barrier to quality
learning at school. I thank students for responding to our recent
focus on minimising jewellery in our school.
Our Latest Attendance Report:
Year
level
2015
to
date
2014
Term 1
2015
Term 1
2013(%)
2014 to
date
Year 7
Primary
School
Primary
School
94.3
Primary
School
94.7
Year 8
Primary
School
92.0
93.3
92.8
93.3
Year 9
91.6
92.4
92.0
92.9
92.2
Year 10
88.8
91.5
92.4
92.2
92.2
Year 11
88.3
89.5
92.1
89.5
92.0
Year 12
89.2
91.9
92.1
91.7
92.0
All Year
levels
89.8
91.5
92.7
91.9
92.7
As you can see, Year 7 students have the best attendance of
any year level but it is very pleasing to see that all year levels are
attending at or above our target attendance average of 92%. It is
pleasing to see the improvements we have made to attendance
again this year and it seems we are getting better in most year
levels. Please encourage your students to keep their attendance
high as Every Day Counts for quality learning at school. Well
done Biloela!
Setting and working towards Goals Equals improving
Motivation
If we have something we are aiming for, we often work harder or
are more focussed and put strategies in place to get what we
want. Thus, if we set goals, we are more likely to be motivated to
achieve what we aim for. By now, all students should have
written their Term 2 Goals in their school diaries. Please read the
goals your children have set. You can help your child by talking
about improved strategies to reach their goals and also look for
opportunities to assist them.
How else can Parents help?
 Ensure students attend school - Every Day Counts!
 Make sure students eat well - breakfast is essential and
students must also eat at school.
 Check students have the right equipment - books, pens,
pencil case, ruler, glue etc
 Make sure our young people get enough sleep at the right
time!
 Ask your child to read something (besides their computer
screen) every day.
 Keep in contact with your student's Care Group Teacher
about issues affecting them.
 Always talk positively about education, school and learning!
Have a great time at the Biloela Show this weekend!
John Adie
Principal
Rostrum Voice of Youth
On Saturday May 9, we hosted the junior Rostrum Voice of Youth
public speaking competition. The senior heat was also held in
Rockhampton on the same day. This event has been conducted
by Australian Rostrum since 1975 and is aimed at developing the
communication skills of Australian youth.
Students were able to select from a range of topics, speaking for
6 minutes (junior) or 8 minutes (senior) with the winners of each
moving on to the regional finals in Rockhampton.
Students participated from Moura, including five from our school:
Christina McLure, Gabrielle Byrne, Joelle Cullen, Caitlyn
Donohoe, Daniel Heit. Daniel Heit was named as our overall
winner. Caitlyn Donohoe and Christina McLure were named as
2nd and 3rd respectively. All students spoke extremely well and all
made it within seconds of six minutes! A very hard challenge!
Students received positive feedback from the adjudicators and
should be proud of how they represented both themselves and
our school - it takes courage to speak in front of a large audience.
Our senior students had
exceptional results in the
Rockhampton heat with
Lucas Steger named as
runner-up and Laura Heit
as a highly commended.
A special thank you to
Marion Meissner, Pam
Semple and Judy
Swindley for adjudicating
and Mrs Sahlqvist’s Year
10 Hospitality class for
catering the event. Thank you to the parents for supporting their
child to enter the competition and the students for setting
themselves the challenge and participated in the competition.
Do you have cattle on your farm?
If so, you are able to be the host employer for your student
to allow them to complete a Certificate II in Agriculture
while they study in Year 10, 11 or 12.
This qualification is offered through RITE
(Rural Training and Employment) Contact
Sally Moller for more information on
49928666.
From the Deputies’ Desks
Term 2 is quickly going by and for our Year 12’s who are
entering the home strait of their schooling life. Year 11’s are
swiftly coming to terms with the more rigorous demands of work
load and deadlines, while Year 10’s are starting to consider what
their final two years might look like.
In preparation for this there are a number of important events
coming up.
QCS Special Consideration
Year 12 OP eligible or other students planning to sit the QCS
Test have until May 21 to lodge an application for this if they
have a diagnosed medical condition that may affect their ability
to do the test.
The special consideration can vary conditions like the size of the
font and/or the overall test paper; the amount of time to
complete the tests; the use of a computer with limited
applications or where the student does the test.
All applications for special consideration will require a medical
certificate or letter from a doctor to support the application. If
your child receives special consideration for a medical condition,
please make sure they have seen either myself or Mr Watson on
Monday.
Deadly Choices
Deadly Choices will began this week for students in Year 7-10
on Wednesday afternoon. Students who attended were really
positive about it at the end of their session.
Bangara Dance Workshop
This workshop will involve predominantly junior students on
Monday afternoon. This session will be hosted at Biloela Primary
and run by Sydney Saltner. Senior students who have indicated
that they would like to attend have been given special
permission forms to ensure they are not missing out on
assessment. Forms need to be returned by Monday morning
May 18.
U8’s Day at Thangool Primary
Monday May 18 also sees some of our Year 11 Mentors
heading off to Thangool Primary for U8’s Day. They will be
involved in activities aimed at building bridges between primary
and secondary students and celebrating the excitement of
learning.
Specialist Recruiting Indigenous Team
The Defence Force recruiting team will be visiting Biloela SHS
on Wednesday 27 May. They will be talking to students about
opportunities in the Defence Force for Indigenous students.
Thanks…
Each week I have the pleasure of receiving the thanks from
Blazeaid for the food that Year 11 Lifeskills students provide on
a Wednesday afternoon. I would just like to say thanks for doing
an awesome job and Mrs Sahlqvist.
Jody Clark
Deputy Principal
Parents Supporting Quality Education
Biloela High P&C
Email: pandc@biloelashs.eq.edu.au
NEXT GENERAL MEETING
Monday May 18 at 7pm
BILOELA STATE HIGH SPECTACULAR
FUNDRAISER AUGUST 14
Become involved and volunteer your expertise.
We would welcome your input for this event.
Sub Committee Meeting
Monday June 1 at 7pm
School Administration Building
Junior Secondary
I would like to congratulate all students who participated in
the Year 7 & 9 NAPLAN tests during the week. Students
demonstrated responsible behaviours by arriving on time
and ensuring that they had the right equipment. Further,
during the testing it was evident that our core values are
being recognised, in particular being respectful. Also, a big
thank you goes to Chappy Nigel who fed the students each
morning with pancakes, toast and fruit!
One of the foundations of ensuring that students do well
throughout their schooling years is to provide an
environment where reading and discussing current affairs is
common place. When you actively encourage reading and
home learning your child is able to make connection with the
text as well as expand their vocabulary. For students who
enter secondary school, the work becomes harder and
students are encouraged to become more independent with
their own assessment and comprehension of texts. One
strategy which our Junior Secondary students have been
working on is SCORE (Skim & Scan, Connect and Question,
Organise your thinking, Read and Reflect, be the Expert)
and should be encouraged when students experience new
texts at home as well. Also, asking your child questions
about what they are reading helps student comprehend the
text and allows them to build their confidence with reading.
I was lucky enough to attend Beef Week 2015 to watch our
cattle team in action. How exciting! I watched the students
lead their cattle as well as participate in judging. The
students were well worn out by the Friday, however, they
definitely didn’t show this as they competed with confidence,
expertise and passion. A big thankyou to Mrs Cowen and Mr
Van Itallie and parent helpers who allowed our students to
experience such a large international event.
A reminder that there is tutoring on each Wednesday in the
library for all students.
Lisa Whitworh
Deputy Principal
ASDAN
This week saw the launch of the ASDAN Program at Biloela State
High School. We are proud to say that we are a pilot school for this
program in our region with other schools sure to follow our lead in
this area of alternative educational opportunities.
ASDAN is a program that originated in the UK and is now
operational internationally. ASDAN is a pioneering curriculum
development organisation and awarding body, offering
programmes and qualifications that explicitly grow skills for
learning, skills for employment and skills for life.
The ASDAN program has been ‘adopted’ by Education
Queensland and all of the ASDAN qualifications are recognised by
DETE and will go towards students achieving a QCE.
Students
who access
this program
will enjoy
both
practical and
theory
components
within the
school
environment
and the wider community.
Year 8 School Immunisation
Clinic 2 Date changed from Monday May 18 to
Monday June 1
Clinic 3 Monday 26th October
RESOURCE CENTRE NEWS
This fortnight more fiction titles have been added to our catalogue.
At the same time we have updated our Web Catalogue. It is
accessible through the school’s web page at
www.biloelashs.eq.edu.au under ‘Facilities’.
Some of our Year 7s and Year 8s are busily preparing for our
Readers’ Cup Challenge coming up in early June. We have a
team from each year level. They are tasked with reading 5 titles
between them. Each team of 4 will have to answer very taxing
questions about each novel before a panel of judges against other
school teams. We are currently meeting every fortnight to
exchange books and pose practice questions. The titles are an
interesting selection:
One Minute’s Silence by David Metzenthen,
Henry Hoey Hobson by local author, Christine Bongers,
Adventures of Stunt Boy written by Lollie Barr,
Malini by Robert Hillman and
Ellas West’s Night Vision.
We have continued the option for students to compose anonymous
comments on bookmarks given to them about books that they
have read. When the book is returned, the bookmark stays with it,
encouraging others to read it. Some recent comments are:
‘Very captivating and exciting. Interesting learning about another
culture’ – Does my head look big in this by Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Rebecca Lim’s Exile (part of the Mercy Series) – ‘So good you’ll
want to read it over and over again’.
‘A truly amazing book filled
with a thrilling story of
adventure, love and martial
arts’ – Blue Dragon written by
Kylie Chan (part of the Dark
Heavens series)
Falling from Grace written by
Jane Godwin prompted this
comment: ‘This story is a little
confusing until the end. Major
plot twists. Great read!!’
We hope you are enjoying the
cooler weather. Great time to
hibernate with a good book!!
Debbie Johnston and Brenda Banks
Resource Centre Staff
QCAA Chief/Community Representatives
QCAA invites expressions of interest from community
members to nominate for the position of chief community
representative or community representative for the QCS
test. To maintain the accountability, security and proper
conduct of the test, the QCAA appoints members of the
community to each test centre to complete duties on behalf
of the QCAA.
The representatives must be available on all days required.
Applicants must have a valid email address.
Please find attached to this newsletter information about the
role and how to apply for one of these positions or refer to
the website: www.qcaa.qld.edu.au
For further information please contact Jody Clark Deputy
Principal on 49928666.
Application forms can be collected from the front office.
Completed application forms must be received by the school
office no later than 9am Friday May 22.
INVOICE PAYMENTS
At this point of time you would have received your fee invoice from
the school.
If you have not paid this fee invoice in full, you should have
entered into a payment plan. With this option it is vital that you
strictly adhere to the terms of the agreement. If this does not occur
by Thursday May 14 as per previous correspondence received,
your student will not be able to remain in non curricular activities
and elective senior subjects. If you have any queries please contact
the school office.
There are a number of options for payment:
BPay - if you use this please be aware the amount paid will come
off the oldest invoice on the system and from the oldest sibling. This
is done automatically by the system. If you wish otherwise please
advise the office.
Direct Deposit—if you use this please ensure you put some sort of
identification on the payment so we can deposit this amount to the
correct account and student. If you want it to come off a specific
account you will need to inform the school otherwise it will come off
the oldest invoice on the system.
Cash payment at the school counter. We have eftpos available at
the school or you can fill out paperwork to have your fees taken off
your credit card every month. Paperwork is available at the office to
do this.
You can set up with your bank a fortnightly direct deposit so that
the amount can be taken out and deposited into our account on a
regular basis and helps spread the payments.
Please ensure there is some notification with it to identify who is
paying into our account. Please be aware if you want these
amounts to come off specific students or accounts you need to
notify the office. If not advised, we will take it off the oldest account.
Homework Club
Does your student need some extra help or support
finishing their homework or assessment?
Our senior students are trialling a homework club
on Wednesday afternoon from 3:05 until 4:00pm
in the school Resource Centre. A light afternoon
tea will be provided for students.
Rugby
League
On Wednesday
May 6, Biloela
SHS hosted
Moura in a
friendly 9 a-side
Rugby League hit out. U/15 played first with the boys starting
strong scoring 3 tries in the first quarter. The smaller Moura pack
hit back in the 2nd and 3rd quarters scoring themselves 5 tries to
Biloela’s 1. Then the final quarter saw a fight back from our boys
to level up the game with a 30 all draw. Try scorers were Rhys
Dowd 3 tries, Sharn Tracey 1, Jai DeGit 1 and James Collins 2.
Second game saw another close battle for the open boys. We
matched Moura try for try the whole game which made it a great
game to watch. Our boys showed great determination with some
big hits and strong runs up front. With 1 minute to go Biloela boys
were up when a strong left side play caught our boys napping for
Moura to score on the buzzer.
End score Moura 30 - Biloela 28. Try scorers Hayden Khel 2, Dan
Hibble 2, Mikeal Albury 1 and Ben Hancox 1.
CHANGE OF ASSESSMENT
12RST
12LEG
11 MATA
10 HPA
8A MED
7C HPE
Research Assignment is now on Monday
May 18
Multi modal research response in now due
during Senior Exam Block June 15—19
Assignment now due Monday May 18
Theory Assessment now due June 4
Unit 1 Task 1 Critique Poster now due May 25
Research Assessment is now due Thursday
May 27
TONIGHT Thurs May 14
Biloela SS Hall
Junior Secondary
Secondary—
—6pm
6pm—
—8pm
Senior Secondary
Secondary—
—7pm
7pm—
—9pm
$5 per person
Come along and hula