1. education
2. school

4 September
15th
May 20152012
DEPUTY’S REPORT . . .
Interschool Cross Country:
State High hosted this year’s event and I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents and supporters, along with all
participants, who helped make Monday’s Cross Country such a success. Student competitors not only gave it their all but
it was great to see so many parents and supporters on the sidelines.
NAPLAN (National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy):
Held over three days, 12 to 14 May, NAPLAN assesses the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress
through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. This week NAPLAN was held, with Year 7s
involved with testing at State High for the first time, and it has been fantastic to see the effort they have put in to complete
this national initiative.
Do you have the new App?
As advised in our previous newsletter, we have now transferred from Skoolbag to the QSchools App and parents are
encouraged to use this application which is a cost effective means of receiving timely information from the school,
including newsletters. This application is expected to broaden in the future and be used for a variety of communications
between the school and parents and, in turn, between parents and the school.
To download or update the QSchools App (Android, Apple or Windows 8), search for Charters
Towers State High School and “favourite” your school to receive updates. Please ensure push
notifications are enabled in your phone settings.
School Assemblies:
Parents are very welcome to attend our school assemblies which are held every Tuesday
morning from 9.00 am. The assemblies alternate between Junior and Senior, with next Tuesday
19th May being a Junior assembly. Please sign in at the office on your arrival.
Yours in Education, Derek Copelin, Deputy Principal
DATE CLAIMERS . . .
Tuesday 19th May
Junior Assembly 9.00 am
Debating Round 2 at BTC
Tuesday 26th May
Senior Assembly 9.00 am
Tuesday 2 June
Junior Assembly 9.00 am
Debating Round 3 at ASSG
Parents and Citizens’ Association Meeting
second Tuesday in the m ont h, 6. 30pm, admi ni st r ati on bl ock
ALL WELCOME!
Student learning is enhanced when parents and schools work together.
Next meeting: Tuesday 9th June
The debating season is off to a flying start this year with both of State High’s teams
winning their debates.
The junior team, with speakers Liam Geary, Morgan Hermann and Taliesin Pankhurst,
argued the topic “that the PlayStation has killed the Playground” on the negative side. They
defeated CCC by arguing that while the playground might be dying, it is not because of the
PlayStation but is actually because of a number of factors such as overprotective parents,
bad maintenance and because more people can afford a personal backyard playground.
Special congratulations go out to Liam Geary as this was his first debate and he performed brilliantly.
The senior team argued “that unhealthy foods
should carry a warning label” and were on the
negative side of the debate. Alyssa ConGoo,
Harmony Barath and Kassidy-Rose McMahon
successfully out argued the Columba team by
proving that such a plan would be too expensive
and would not have any real impact on the problem
of obesity in Australia.
Both teams will debate again on 19th May, at BTC,
with the seniors arguing the topic “Animals should
be banned from use in sport and entertainment”
and the juniors receiving the topic “Domestic pets
should be banned.” Both teams will be negative
and argue against BTC.
SCOTT PARKER, COORDINATOR
First speaker Alyssa, second speaker Harmony and third speaker
Kassidy-Rose analyzing the flaws in the other team’s case.
2015 saw Charters Towers State High School host the Interschool Cross Country at the Airport on
Monday 11th May. Competition was fierce among all four schools including ASSG, BTC, CCC and our own
school. Participation was exceptional from all age groups and from all schools. The whole school turned up to
witness a morning of fun filled competition.
Behaviour on the day from all students was fantastic. Principals of all three schools commended our school
on staff commitment to hosting, the smooth running of the carnival and the high participation of students from
our school, which had not been seen for the last 5 years. We had some outstanding individual performances
on the day including Louise Polsen who placed 2nd in under 12s and Jordan Dietrich who placed 4th in the
under 13s. Our team of 48 competitors really did the school proud and I applaud you for your effort. I
encourage all competitors to train hard to improve for next year’s event.
With an overall score of 1136, ASSG took out the Thomson-Morris
Trophy for Combined Aggregate Points in Cross Country at the end
of the day.
MATT DE BRENNI AND THE TEAM
Please note that the new student school hats will be available from
Titley’s top shop next week.
The Bucket Hats are $19.95 and Caps $14.95.
Winners of the Country Music Best Dressed were Ben Edmondson and Karrina Oswin who took
out best dressed male and female student; Aimee Andrews won most creative. Best dressed male
and female for staff went to Mr Goldenberg and Mrs Chappel; Mr Daley won most creative.
Library’s awards went to best dressed male Ben Edmondson and runner up Anthony Wilson; best
dressed female Haley Rolley and runner up Emma Jane Pousti. Best dressed male and female
award for staff went to Mr Daley and Mrs Chappel.
Thank you to everyone who participated. Your presence at the event was greatly appreciated. MRS KING, LIBRARY
A big thank you to Carol King for co-ordinating this event in the library.
Top picture (l to r): Anthony Wilson, Christopher Wheeler, Ben Edmondson, Aimee Andrews, Hayley Rolley,
Madelyn Glenwright, Crystal-Lee Walsh, Jasmine Gillard, Karrina Oswin, Ruby Boundy, Mikalah Alloway,
Emma-Jane Poustie .
Picture lower right (l to r): Mr Tim Daley, Mrs Brenda Chappel and Mr Leon Goldenberg.
Please note that for the safety of all students,
only service and delivery vehicles
are permitted to enter the school grounds.
Thank you to Coleman’s Stockfeed and Mr Clein for the truck and to staff and students for all
your efforts in preparing and entering our float in the Country Music procession. A special
thank you to Kylie Higgins for your hard work in coordinating the activities.
NAPLAN Testing for Years 7 and 9 was
an absolute success with very few
behaviour issues across the three days of
testing.
Mr Willis and I would like to congratulate all
students who participated and applaud the
high level of commitment and enthusiasm.
UVETTE HUGHES, HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
On Saturday 2nd May Charters Towers held the regional heat
for the Rostrum Voice of Youth public speaking competition.
This event is designed to showcase the youth of Australia
who possess powerful speaking skills and leadership
potential. Entrants compete in two main events; the first is a
prepared speech on a given topic and the second is an
impromptu speech where competitors have 15 minutes to
create a 5 minute speech. In both events the aim is to entertain and inform.
This year State High’s entrant was Kassidy-Rose McMahon who competed in the
senior division. She selected the topic of “a bridge over troubled water” for her
prepared speech. She delivered a most eloquent presentation, equating the bridge
to her journey through life and the water below to the problems and issues she has
had to overcome to reach her destination. In her impromptu speech she was given
the topic of “the road less travelled” and once again spoke well, talking about how
she did not want to leave any road untravelled, lest she look back at the end of her
life and have regrets.
Kassidy-Rose McMahon
during her impromptu speech
Kassidy-Rose McMahon was awarded first place in the Charters Towers region for senior,
defeating speakers from CCC, BTC and ASSG. This means she advances through to the North Queensland finals, to be
held in Townsville on 30th May. If she is again successful she will go on to the Queensland finals, in Brisbane.
SCOTT PARKER, TEACHER AND COACH
Year 9 History have been studying Australian History and what life was like before and after the
arrival of the First Fleet and other key events in Australian History.
In English we are beginning to write our short stories. We have looked at many genres already
including, comedy, murder mystery, science fiction. I am looking forward to reading all of the stories.
The Year 10, 11 and 12 Science students are learning about all sorts of chemistry subjects including
atoms, elements, mixtures, the periodic table, chemical reactions and explosions.
In Job Skills the Year 10, 11 and 12 students are continuing to look at goals, resumes, job search skills and their
employability skills: What do employers want from them as workers? How can they further their skills to be ready for the
workforce? We are looking at having our yearly work experience as a group in Term 4. Keep an eye out for more
information as we get closer to Term 4.
Two upcoming events:

There is a weekly afterschool tutoring session for all SEP
students on Wednesday afternoons from 3.15 – 4.00pm
in the SEP.

The Charters Towers Disability Information Session 3rd
June – 4.30—6.30 pm. (See poster in this newsletter.)
TARA GOLDENBERG, TEACHER
Year 8 and Year 9 students have been learning about atoms
this term. In order to make such an abstract theme a bit more
concrete and meaningful, I decided to do a role play. The
students took the roles of sub-atomic particles and showed the
structure and function of an atom. It was a fun learning
experience and students loved it.
FAUZIA IJAZ, TEACHER
This term a group of Year 10, 11 and 12 students participated in a
History seminar held in Townsville. The 30 students saw presentations
from Dr Brian Hoepper and Professor Ian Gray that were centred on the
topics of Nazi Germany and Terrorism.
The students were asked to think critically on what their role as History
students was in society and what responsibilities they bore in terms of
stopping events like the rise of Fascism. They were also asked to question
the representativeness of images and sources, especially in the media.
The seminar was hosted at St Anthony’s and was attended by several schools, some coming from as far
away as Mackay.
SCOTT PARKER, TEACHER
This term students studying Science in Practice are being introduced to water
treatment processes. This aims to inform students how water from the local weir
is transformed into clean, safe drinking water that flows out of our taps at home.
So far students have replicated the processes of screening, sedimentation,
coagulation, filtration and disinfection of wastewater in the laboratory, with some
outstanding results (although the water still smells a bit funky!).
Well done to all students who have worked productively and safely at all times. I look forward to reading
some excellent reports over the next few weeks.
TIM DALEY, TEACHER
On Thursday 7th May 42 students
from both Years 10 and 12
attended the annual SF4NQ
Careers Expo at Reid Park in
Townsville.
This was a great opportunity for all students to do some
research on what kind of career or work they are interested
in. This expo is unique in the sense that it has many
opportunities for the students to: do ‘hands-on’ activities
with the employers there, ask them some very detailed
questions about their profession, and even apply for work.
The students represented the school extremely well in all
aspects.
There was also a Careers Challenge where 6 students represented State High in an effort to record the best
time to complete 6 tasks. State High performed admirably with a top 5 finish!
WESLEY SMITH, YEAR 10 COORDINATOR
School Expectations:

I am Safe

I am a Learner

I am Respectful