April

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Ponderings

A short and sweet Pondering this month.

Welcome to term two which will include 3 short weeks with Public Holidays, NAPLAN for those of you who wish your students to complete this in years 3,5,7 and 9, Cluster Musters, Show entries and attendance, the school Review, and of course the very successful Multischool for our Secondary students and teachers.

Please remember to read Notices to ensure that you are on board for the NBN LTSS Early Connection for Eligible Distance Education families.

Thank you to the P&C and their support for the 50th Jubilee. The planning team are pulling together the elements of a fun-filled weekend that will provide opportunity for everyone to reminisce and celebrate where we have come from and where we are going as a school. The registration form will soon be out so that we can ensure that catering and activities meet the needs of those attending. Watch this space.

ANZAC Day in Charleville was a proud moment as our four students and five staff members marched for the school and other students and staff marched for other organisations. Thank you all for representing your school while recognising the importance of the occasion.

Enjoy our Autumn term and your time with your children in the busy journey of learning.

Jenny

From the Deputy’s Desk

Welcome back to term 2! I hope that everyone had an enjoyable Easter and has come back into the school room feeling refreshed and ready to take on the coming weeks of learning.

Term 2 will see us all getting together for Cluster Musters in St George, Roma, Mitchell, Charleville, Cunnamulla and Quilpie. These days are an excellent opportunity for students to socialise and meet with their friends and teachers. I know the teachers have some wonderful Drama and team sports activities organised for them. Jenny, Zoe and I will also be in attendance to discuss a range of things with the home tutors. Please try and ensure that you will be available on the day to take part in this opportunity. Students will conclude the day with a presentation for all!

Last term was hectic and due to this I didn’t get the opportunity to thank our School Captains Jaye Radel, Matilda Bryant and Amy Steele for accompanying myself and Shelley Bryant to Brisbane for the National Young Leaders Day. This was, as it always is, a wonderful opportunity for both the students and adults attending to gain some excellent skills and insight into what leadership can mean for each of us. The key theme of “Master the Little” has stuck with each of us in its own way. Please take the time to read the reflections each of our School Captains has written for this month’s newsletter. Thanks also of course to Shelley Bryant for attending as our camp parent for the 3 days. I really appreciated her support and the time taken out of the many other things she needs to do on a daily basis.

Students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will be most pleased to know that NAPLAN tests have arrived in the school and will be ready for mailing out the week prior to testing taking place. Each test will be placed in its own sealed envelope with the name of the test and date for opening this on the front. Included in the test pack you will also receive a letter outlining the process, a timetable for when the tests are to take place, a hints sheet which outlines what assistance may be given and a test declaration sheet. This final form MUST be completed and returned to the school with the test papers on completion of the testing.

Please remember that while NAPLAN testing is important as it does allow our teachers to gain a snapshot of a student’s learning and understanding it is not the only piece of evidence that we use. It is important for the sake of your student and for your own wellbeing as well that the test days are treated as something that needs to be done but with the acknowledgement that it is there to help us know what your student can do and does know. I have found in my years of teaching that these days are best kept low key so that stress doesn’t play too much of a factor for everyone.

Congratulations to year 9 student Alice Sewell who has entered as Junior Miss Showgirl 2016 for the Charleville Show. I am sure that we all wish her all the best in this venture.

Alice the Super DJ at Charleville Minischool

Cheers Kate

PLO Prattle

Welcome back to Term 2. I hope that you all had a rest during the Easter break. The mornings are starting to cool off so maybe winter is on the way. This also means that Cluster Muster, NAPLAN and the local show’s aren’t far off.

Following is an article from Michael Grose. I am a first born so I can relate to what he has to say. I also believed that I wouldn’t do the same as my parents and that I would be different, however now when I look back I can see that I did do some things the same as my parents. My poor second child has very few photos of himself on his own. So as a parent don’t put too much pressure on the first born child.

Curriculum Corner

Achievement Standards

At KSC, I was asked by a number of parents for a document which outlines what is expected of students by the end of the year. These documents are already created and are produced by the Australian Curriculum team. They are freely accessible via their website.

The Australian Curriculum website states “an achievement standard describes the quality of learning (the extent of knowledge, the depth of understanding the sophistication of skills) that would indicate the student is well placed to commence the learning required of the next level of achievement.” We say the achievement standard normally indicates a “C” level of achievement.

Below is an example of the Year 1 achievement standards:

These documents can be downloaded from the links below:

In addition to this, the content descriptors specify what all young people should be taught. Copies of the content descriptors can also be found at the above links.

The website also contains work samples for parents to have a look at in regards to those content descriptors and achievement standards. More information on this can be found in the following link

Finally, we also have the following benchmarks from regional office that we hope our students achieve by the end of that year (see below). If you would like more information on any of this, please contact me or your class teacher.

Spelling

Some friendly reminders regarding the spelling units:

1. Please ensure you are completing all activities
   Research shows that students develop the ability to spell through a number of factors (see below) and the spelling program includes all of these across activities throughout the week
2. Please ensure you are marking ALL of the activities and providing feedback to the student.
   This can either be affirmative or corrective depending on what is needed
3. Focus on the sound of the week in the pre and post test results
   Even if the student got the whole word wrong, they may have actually written the correct grapheme for the sound of the week. This can be done by putting little ticks/crosses across the top of each sound and then an overall correct/incorrect. Students can be responsible for doing this themselves with your support.

I have received some fantastic feedback from some families who are doing these units in their entirety. Families are reporting that students are finally understanding spelling and are progressing quite quickly.

If you are finding that you are struggling to complete the spelling units, please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher. If you’d like more information on how to support your child, please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher or myself.

Thanks
Zoe Farrer
Head of Department – Teaching and Learning

Digital Discoveries

STEM Hub

The STEM hub for parents and students provides valuable information for your school community on the importance of STEM and potential STEM careers and pathways available to students.

Get Microsoft Office 2016 free of charge

Did you know your child can get Microsoft Office 2016 free of charge, just for being a student at Charleville SDE? All you need is your child’s school email address to sign in.

To help prepare your child for success this academic year, the Department of Education and Training has teamed up with Microsoft to provide free Office 2016 to every Queensland state school student. With Office 2016, your child will have access to the latest version of Word for writing, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for presentations, OneNote for organisation and notetaking, and much more.

You can install a complete version of the latest Microsoft Office on up to five compatible PCs and Macs, five tablets and five smartphones. Your Office subscription lasts for as long as your child is a state school student.

Ask your child to follow these simple steps to get Office:

• For PC and Mac, visit portal.office.com, login using your school email address, click through to install and follow the onscreen process.
• For tablets and smartphones, download from your app store and sign in with your school email address.

Visit the link below for instructions on how to download and install Office 2016 to your personal home computers. If you have any trouble, contact the school technician on (07) 4656 8909. There is also a CD version available for those worried about the amount of download this would take up.

Setting Up Student School Email Account in Outlook

Did you know? Every student at Charleville SDE has their own email account – free! You can set up Outlook on your computer to be able to access a student’s email account allowing them to be more independent. With their own email account students are able to email their teacher and their classmates. Their username and password is the same as the one that they use for access the Learning Place (iConnect and eLearn). Their address is (username)@eq.edu.au

App of the Month: CyberSense

This quiz app from Internet Matters is unique in that it is designed for children and their parents to access in parallel. Using a split screen interface, family members can take quizzes across nine categories of esafety subjects including downloading, chatting online and cyberbullying. Points are scored and if needed, more information on a topic can be accessed. It's a clever concept - providing the perfect opportunity for parents to prove to their kids that they are not as knowledgeable as they perhaps think they are in terms of esafety! It's free too - grab it here.

Student Work Celebrations

The Year 7 students have been learning to edit images. Isabella, created this awesome presentation showing how she was able to use a range of programs and tools to edit her photos.

Year 8 students experimented with Audacity, audio recording software, to record themselves on the computer. Kyle was able to use the sound editing tools within Audacity to create this entertaining introduction of himself.

Check out the latest blog posts:

Prep – Year 3 Student Link:

Years 4 – 9 Student Link:

Year 10 Student Link:

From the Technician’s Table: How to Store a Number in School Phone Memory

To store a number lift handset (off hook) or press SPEAKER/HEADSET key then press STORE to begin storing operation, followed by pressing the phone number desired (this number won’t be dialled). End storing sequence by pressing STORE again, followed by the memory location you wish to store the number. Also note that the phone will lose any stored phone numbers when it loses power. To prevent this you can place batteries in the phone, the panel for the batteries is located underneath the detachable foot on the bottom of the phone.

Example: To store the phone number 8441-6111 in the #3 one-touch memory, lift handset and press the following buttons

STORE -> 84416111 -> STORE -> #3 MEMORY BUTTON

You can also store the conference code for the class teacher as a number to assist your student in dialling into their lessons.

Girl Guides

Did you know that Charleville School of Distance Education has its own Girl Guide Unit? The 2nd Charleville (Lone) Guides is an official part of Girl Guides Queensland. In 2016 we will continue Girl Guide sessions on Tuesday afternoons at 3:00pm starting in Week 3 of this term.

Our weekly sessions (subject to leader availablility during field events) are run as an on-air session using Web Conferencing. The girls learn about the World of Guides, they strive for badges, help out in their community, have fun and fellowship, and meet during Field Events if possible.

Email Mrs Sam O on sowcz1@eq.edu.au if you would like to join and application forms and information will be forwarded to you.

Cooking Challenges

For their individual badges two Girl Guides were required to take on a cooking challenge. One decided to make an Apple Crumble while the other made yummy cookies. If only you could smell photos!

ANZAC Day Challenges

The Girl Guides are currently working towards their ANZAC Day badge: learning more about the ANZAC spirit, traditions, symbols and history behind our ANZAC Services. Our Guides will be attending services in a variety of locations. Check out some of their work below:

Poppy and Wreath created by Eve

What does the Spirit of ANZAC mean?

“The spirit of ANZAC means being proud of your country and its people” – Alice and Lillie

“I’m proud of (and a bit sad for) everyone who is involved in war because they risk their lives for our country” – Charlotte and Eve

“Many soldiers died in wars, and they did it for us, for our country” – Savannah and Kristy

Emerald ‘Central Highland Games’ Camp

Six members attended a Girl Guide camp in Emerald on the school holidays. Being in the Central Highlands of Queensland, the theme for the weekend was all things Scottish! We even had a Queen of the Scots in attendance. The Guides had a wonderful time meeting other Guides from across Western Queensland – making new friends for life. Activities included canoeing on the dam, Central Highland Games (including boot throwing and cabre toss), a water fight, campfire, Guides Own, fossiking for Sapphires and night scavenger hunt. Congratulations to the Lone Guides who attended – you did your unit and school proud!

Western Alliance – Junior Secondary

Multischool Term 2

After a disappointing postponement from Term 1, secondary students were excited to be boarding the bus and heading to Longreach for a week of learning, fun and adventure and to finally see their classmates and teachers face-to-face, many for the very first time.

Students experienced what it is like to be in a High School setting, changing rooms and teachers for different subjects and catching up with classmates at break times. There was even afterschool activities including Art, Swimming and French Knitting, and evening activities including a Scavenger Photo Challenge, Movie Night, Survivor Challenge and the all-important disco!

Thanks to all the parents, staff and students who made the week one to remember!

Be sure to add the next Multischool to your calendar: 10 – 14 October.

Leadership Camp 2016

This year, alongside senior and fellow junior school captains, I attended the Brisbane National Young Leader’s Day. It was HEAPS of fun and I learnt so much! We flew (much to Matilda’s and my delight!!) to Brisbane on Sunday afternoon. The conference was on Monday, where we saw lots of people (over 3000 in case you were wondering), and even made some new friends over a bag of lollies!

The actual conference blew me away – it was AMAZING!! The speakers were the most inspirational people I have ever met. My favourites were Nathan “Dubsy” Want and Pippa Sheehan because they were very short, sharp and to the point. They stuck to the theme of “Master the little” and inspired me to master little things first before I try the big things. The skills that I learnt are life time skills, which I will use forever. The best piece of advice that I can give is this: Master the little. Don’t jump straight to the big things. Conquer the little things first.

After struggling to get out of the conference facilities, due to too many people with the same idea as us, we made a VERY important stop – The Southbank lolly shop!! That night we headed to Strike bowling where Mrs Bryant beat us all with a very comfortable score of 60 +.

I would like to thank Mrs Lofthouse, Mrs Bryant and the staff that made the conference possible. By making this extraordinary trip, you have helped us gain life time skills, ones that we can share with future captains of the school.

Thank you very much.

Jaye Radel
Junior School Captain.

National Young Leaders Day AKA Leadership Camp

So, as some of you might know, each year the junior and senior school captains of Charleville School of Distance Education travel to Brisbane for the National Young Leaders Day, also known as Leadership Camp.

Day One 13th March

Flying to Brisbane; well this was an interesting experience for junior school captains Jaye Radel and Matilda Bryant and myself, but to be honest from Mrs Lofthouse’s point of view it was just “a bus – just in the air.” So anyway, Mrs Lofthouse and I flew from Charleville to Roma where Mrs Bryant, Matilda Bryant and Jaye Radel joined us to fly to Brisbane.

Day Two 14th March

Young Leaders Day; up and dressed in our CSDE uniforms ready for the conference. Wow, it was big and I mean BIG, over 3000 school kids, BIG, with so many very different school uniforms – one I’ll never forget was the lime green dress! Although CSDE is just a simple blue Polo shirt, it is neat and practical for us bush kids, but it was just such an experience seeing so many different school uniforms. The National Young Leaders Day was very vast and extremely loud, we had speakers such as Nathan ‘Dubsy’ Want and Sergeant Ian Stuart

telling us about how they “Mastered the Little”, how leadership can be fun and roles of leadership. This was one of the best experiences of leadership camp; thankyou CSDE for allowing us to have such a memorable experience. Thank you also to Mrs Lofthouse for having to rescue me from the millions of students going out of the conference room. After the National Young Leaders Day we went back to the Hillcrest Apartment where Jade, Tilly and I went for a swim in the pool. That night we went bowling, might I mention we had a lot of balls go into the ‘gullies!’ Another memory I won’t forget is Jade doing cartwheels on the bridge going back to the apartment; “there’s a first for everything they say”. One thing for sure, we all crashed after a highly exhilarating day.

Day Three 15th March

Away we go to the airport where Mrs Lofthouse and I dropped Mrs Bryant, Tilly and Jaye off for their flight to Roma. Then Mrs Lofthouse and I went on a train back into Brisbane to fill in some time as we had to wait most of the day for the flight back to Charleville. I’m sure we did circles. Trying not to get run over by bikes was the fun part! After the walk everywhere waiting for time to pass, we went back on the train to the airport and waited some more. Finally, after the flight was late, we were on our way back to the bush!

During these three days Mrs Lofthouse, Mrs Bryant, Tilly, Jade and I went on many public transports including planes, cars, buses, boats and for Ms Lofthouse and myself, trains… another Interesting experience!

Although it was only three days, it seemed a lot longer.

Young Leaders Day/Leadership Camp is something I’m sure we will never ever forget!

By Amy Steele

The National Young Leaders Day

By Matilda Bryant

Imagine over 3000 year 5 and 6 students (mostly), all packed into one venue, all jostling for the best seats, to sit and listen attentively to “inspirational” speakers for a whole day. Well this is exactly what Jaye, Amy and I did on the Monday before Roma mini-school (instead of my rolling swags, packing (some may say shoving) clothes and loading the car!)

Mrs Swadling and Mrs Lofthouse invited the school’s student leaders to attend the National Young Leaders’ day run by the Halogen Foundation in Brisbane. Mum said I was going and that was that – the decision made! Because of such a tight time frame, this year we (Jaye, Amy, and myself) got to fly to Brisbane. WOW! What an experience that was! I was extremely nervous when we got to the airport in Roma and we were waiting. Jaye seemed cool as a cucumber, but I could tell she was also excited and perhaps as nervous as I was! After a little hiccup through the Roma airport security (courtesy of my Mum) and a delay of 20 minutes due to bad weather in Brisbane, we boarded the plane and headed to Brisbane – The Flight was AMAZING! When we got to Brisbane it was dark so we flew in over the lights of Brisbane and I could recognise some of the landmarks I had seen previously in Brisbane when I came down on school camp.

We got to Brisbane later then we had anticipated, so Jaye and I (oh and Mum) got dropped off to have tea, while Mrs Lofthouse and Amy checked us into the motel! We had a really good meal and Jaye, Amy and I had a flock of sheep by the time we had eaten.

The morning of the conference we walked to the Brisbane Convention Centre, on the way we passed other school students, in two straight lines, going to the same venue, with many of the fellow walkers in disbelief of where we had come from – Yes - Charleville School of Distance Education (for those of them who actually knew where Charleville is)! We were a little later than Mrs Lofthouse was hoping for and we had to join the line, yes you guessed it way back there! When it was time we were ushered in like a mob of cattle one after the other along the well beaten cow pad! Still with some scepticism about just how interesting this day was REALLY going to be. I looked around as the centre kept filling and filling to the tune of “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift.

Well I have to say we were indulged by amazing and inspirational speakers from all walks of life. Nathan ‘Dubsy’ Want, Qld Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, Josh Richards, Pippa Sheenan, Lisa Stojanovski, Sarah Cutler and Hannah Purss where all exceptional speakers from all different walks of life with exceptionally diverse life stories; however they did speak about what makes them remarkable leaders, they have all managed in the professional lives to Master the Little!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Lofthouse and Mrs Swadling for allowing us this opportunity. I would like to acknowledge my mum for insisting I attend and also acting as a chaperone (or having a holiday as my dad puts it!). Attending this forum really exposed me to the notion that leaders are all very different and have very different skill sets, but everyone can be a good leader if we MASTER THE LITTLE!

I want to also encourage any of the student leaders in the coming years to attend this amazing day if you are given the same opportunity. Go with an open mind and I am sure you will come back a better leader – especially if you can master the little!

Teaching and Learning Library

Building and growing strong foundations.

I think on some level, most of us (despite maybe not being qualified builders) can understand the importance of a strong foundation when building a house. We understand that the process will take time; that the ground needs to be prepared correctly; the pouring of the foundation needs to happen; you frame the walls; put on the roof and so on. We understand it is frustrating when the progress feels slow and curse the set-backs we didn’t anticipate. But what if the builder building your house rushed to get the job done? Or had to cut corners because as the owners, you decided you needed to be in by a certain date? How would these short cuts impact the house? I anticipate that many years later, cracks will start to show.

So, why am I babbling on about house foundations in a “Teaching and Learning” section of the school newsletter? Well… I think the same can be said for our students. There are lots of little things that we can instil in our kids to build their good work ethics. Similarly, there are short cuts we can take to reduce the time in the classroom now, but what impact will this have on that little human in the future?

It is really important that we encourage:

1. Students to take their time and to value what they’re learning
2. Neat and complete units of work – handwriting, diagrams, colouring in – the lot
3. Students to work to the best of their ability – this doesn’t have to be correct 100% answers, it doesn’t have to be an “A” standard of work, it just needs to be their best
4. Students to challenge themselves
5. Students to reflect on their learning and consider their own improvements

At the end of the day, we are educating our students to become independent, self-sufficient and successful adults. We want them to see the importance of taking their time and doing things correctly. We want them to understand how attention to detail could be the difference between success and failure.

Some other strategies that may encourage students to take responsibility include:

1. Allowing choice
2. Model attitudes and behaviours that promote learning
3. Ask for feedback and encourage students to reflect on their learning
4. Encourage goal setting and reflection
5. Focus on learning, not work

So… whilst these tasks aren’t necessarily written in the papers, don’t be afraid to remind students daily that you (and he/she) should expect the best samples they are capable of producing. Don’t be afraid to remind students that neatness is important. Don’t be afraid to ask students to go back and re-do something if you don’t feel it is the best of their ability or to finish an incomplete task. Don’t be afraid to encourage your students to TRY.

Eventually you won’t have to remind them. Eventually these things will become second nature and they won’t even have to think about doing it. Eventually a solid foundation will be formed and you will be able to step back and finally see progress. Eventually they will be grateful for these skills and eventually they will thank you.

Thanks
Zoe Farrer
Head of Department – Teaching and Learning

P & C News

The P and C executives would like to welcome all new families to the school and invite you all to join the P and C. Our P and C is a group of volunteers working together to raise funds to purchase resources, send children on camp, assist families with attending field events, build a playground and work towards a better education for our children. Tonight will be our April General meeting. We hope you can join us as there will be many things to discuss about Sports Muster and the 50th Jubilee.

50th Anniversary photo Book

The committee has been very busy compiling the book, raising sponsorship and working with graphic designers to ensure we have a fabulous book to commemorate the school’s 50th Anniversary. The P and C would like to thank the following sponsors of the book: Elders, Southern Wire and Williams, Hall and Chadwick Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors. Please consider supporting these companies as they have supported us.

Sports Muster/ 50th Anniversary

Planning is well underway for this year’s Sports Muster in August. For all new families this is a fabulous two days where the children get to compete in not only track and field events but also an arts and craft competition. They score points for their houses and have a very social time with their school mates and teachers. Sports Muster is also a very social time for mums and dads with many dads making the journey out. Make sure you mark the dates on your calendar and book your accommodation. This year the 50th Anniversary will run following Sports Muster. There are many events planned to help us celebrate this milestone.

Battery Drive

The battery drive is still running. Please ask your family and friends if they have any old batteries. Sally and Damian Campbell are still doing a magnificent job with this and can be contacted on abc_campbell@harboursat.com.au . If you think you can help with coordinating battery drives in your area, Sally would love to hear from you. Many hands make light work.

Fundraising

This year the P and C will be running a Pie Drive in August. This is a great way to support the school, but also to fill your freezer with yummy pies that are quick and easy to cook. We will also be doing Calendars, Diaries and Cards later in the year. Please keep an eye out for documents in relation to both these fundraising activities.

Grants

We are always looking out for ways to fund money to assist our students, families and the school. If you hear of any grants, please contact me or another executive.

REMINDER……

All memberships all NOW DUE

If you have not been receiving the documents for the meetings, your membership is not current for 2016. Please complete the form and send to the secretary.

FABULOUS FLAGS DESIGNED AT MINISCHOOL

Jacinta, Amity, Akasha, Bec & Kate attending and visiting Thargomindah Secondary Centre