Dear Parents/Caregivers,

With only a few days to go the construction work on site continues at a rapid pace with air-conditioning installation.  At this stage, all the rooms that were scheduled to have air-conditioning installed, will have them completed for the commencement of school in 2021. In addition to this works, many of our buildings are having electrical upgrades to ensure that the new power load requirements will be catered for. Areas of the school that experience high levels of pedestrian traffic are getting an artificial grass make over and we are also creating some new gardens. Finally, the oval will also be having some maintenance completed over the holidays. 

A reminder that school starts on Wednesday 27 January for Years 7, 11 and 12 students in full blue school uniform. Years 8, 9 and 10 start back the following day.

Please check our website for uniform shop hours and school office re-opening information. 

I would like to farewell all our families leaving the school community this year and wish you all the best for the future and to those returning next year a fantastic holiday period.

Regards,

Chris Capra
Executive Principal

It has been a challenging although extremely rewarding year in Senior Secondary.

We thank all of our students for their resilience and ongoing commitment to being a RED. As we move into the holidays we wish all of our students, their families and caregivers the most relaxing of breaks. We hope that every individual within our community finds parts of 2020 that they can be grateful for as they also look forward to setting aspirational goals for 2021.

Our Senior Secondary Admin team will be back on site on Monday 18 January if you need any assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us from this time.

A reminder that 2021 school commencement dates are as follows:

Years 7, 11, 12 - Wednesday 27 January 2021 

Years 8, 9, 10 - Thursday 28 January 2021

Year 9 and 10 Annual Awards Night

Congratulations to the Year 10 Highest Academic Achiever Jaida Flynn, who was absent on the night of the awards. Jaida is an extremely dedicated, inquisitive and determined student. She has a passion for Science and excels in the subject as well as many others. Jaida, as a Year 10 student, has met every challenge of her Year 10 subjects and excelled in Yr 11 Psychology and Yr 11 Mathematical Methods. Jaida has been involved in numerous extra-curricular STEM activities, including STEM Cup and Science Club. Jaida has also lead groups of students in scientific experiments at the Cutting Edge for Kids Conference at Griffith University. Jaida was named the PBC 2020 STEM Power girl, which is a big achievement.  Jaida enjoys being challenged to think in new ways, and apply what she has learned to real life scenarios. Teachers comment that Jaida is an extremely hard working student, who enjoys to have a laugh and is a lot of fun to be around. Congratulations on this amazing achievement Jaida.

Reporting

Year 10 reports will be finalised and emailed home from Wednesday 9 December.

Note that some Year 11 subjects e.g. Maths, do not complete their first Unit 3 assessment item until early in 2021.  Year 11 Unit 3 interim reporting will not be finalised until early in Term 1 2021; hence Year 11 students will not receive a report at the end of this academic year.

A reminder that in 2021 all Year 10 and 12 assessment will be scheduled for the last week of each term. Year 11s will have a different schedule for Term 1 and 2 however will also have exams in the last week of school in Terms 3 and 4.

Release of year 12 results

The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) will release student QCEs and Senior Statements and Statements of Results through the Student Portal on the myQCE website https://myqce.qcaa.qld.edu.au/index.html from 9:00am on Saturday 19 December 2020. Students must know their Learner Unique Identifier (LUI) and password to log in and check their results. Students have been emailed and reminded on many occasions to log into this portal to check their account details but some have chosen not to do so.

Students will be able to download hard copies of their qualifications directly from the Student Portal on the myQCE website. They will not be sent hard copies from the QCAA though they will be able to request hard copies in the Student Portal.

Please note that as Year 12 results and Levels of Achievement are calculated by the QCAA, Year 12 students will not revive an Exit Statement or Report from PBC; they will only receive published results from the QCAA via the Student Portal.

Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)

ATARs are calculated by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC). All ATAR eligible students should have registered with QTAC (https://www.qtac.edu.au/atar/ ) to ensure that they receive their ATAR on 19 December.

Year 12 school leavers seeking employment

A reminder to register with Ms Shreeve in Y block with your contact details and expressions of interest, this will be forwarded to The Department of Employment Small Business and Training which will broadcast students with relevant vacancies and opportunities.

Transition Day Year 7 2021

Monday 7 December will have seen PBC welcome over 400 enrolled students to the PBC Community. Transition Day supports the 2021 Year 7s as they move from their primary schools to secondary school. On Transition Day, we welcomed students, assign them to their core classes, had them experience some lessons with next year’s teachers and introduced them to their Houses.

Transition Day also welcomed parents to the PBC family. Parent Meetings and morning/afternoon tea presented ideas for supporting young students through the change to high school, and introduce key staff who can assist in the process.

Term 4 Reports

Term 4 reports will be emailed or posted home on Wednesday 9 December. This is a full report with detailed comments. Please be sure to share the report with your child, so that they can receive important feedback on their work this year and set goals for 2021. 

2021 Core Classes

The 2021 timetable has been constructed to provide maximum opportunities for students across PBC to study courses of choice, in our large and diverse school. Year 9 core classes are driven by electives that have been chosen and there is little flexibility. Parents should be aware that, with the exception of Academic Excellence classes, their child will be with a different group of students next year, and prepare to support them through this change. Coping with changes such as these are important for building resilience – a significant quality for success in life. While there is no opportunity to swap classes due to friendships, the usual range of support will be available to all students and their parents to help them through this change. 

Good Luck Year 9

Farewell to our Year 9 cohort who are transitioning to the Senior Secondary Phase of Learning. Our very best wishes for continued success!

A special thank you to our Optima team:

• Dean of Students Ms Cardinal Year 7 and 8 and Ms Hillcoat Year 9 for the many Restorative programs to support student being reflective and setting aspirations for future positive behaviours
• Year Coordinators Ms Condon Year 7, Mr Williams Year 8, Mr Jesser Year 9 for your continued diligence in supporting school attendance, uniform compliance and positive behaviours
• Wellbeing team led by Ms Willis, Mr Catterall ‘Chappy’ and other external support team members.

Final Week

The final week of school will see Junior Secondary students participate in an alternative program. Students will work on curriculum related activities within their English classes. Absences will be tracked as normal with rolls marked each day. Students should continue to wear full school uniform, bring a hat and water bottle and should bring lunch as although the canteen will be open it will have reduced stock being the last week. The canteen will be closed all day on Wednesday 9 December.

Seasons Greetings

In this, the last newsletter of the year, I would like to wish all readers and the Junior Secondary students a safe happy holiday. It continues to be a privilege for me to work this fabulous, energetic and positive group of students and staff.

The 2020, Australian Business Week was once again a resounding success at PBC. To kick off the week, the Year 9 Academic Excellence students were removed from their classes, thrown into teams with many students they had never met and asked to create an original electronic device that would appeal to consumers. They then had to market the product; creating logos, slogans, trade displays and video commercials. Then, if that wasn’t enough, they had to make business decisions in a share market simulation and even present a report to prospective shareholders. 

This unique experience allowed students, with the support of nine remarkable teacher mentors, to not only learn about business, finance and how to run a company but also the importance of working as a team and meeting deadlines. Each challenge was tackled by our students with impressive fortitude and despite being the second last week of school and in the midst of a heat wave, they were outstanding. They displayed extraordinary levels of creativity, resilience and dedication, highlighting the talent of this group of students.

The PBC Academic Excellence Department would like to thank the Greater Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce and McDonalds The Pines for their incredible support in making this a truly memorable week and would also like to congratulate Shane Robinson and the members of the Red Team for their epic victory.

The Greater Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce featured the competition in their latest newsletter! https://www.gsgc.org.au/blog/pbc-abw-program/

The PBC Leo’s Club have had an amazing year, despite the COVID-19 situations. This will be our final monthly report until the new year. In November, we contributed our help to local charities, such as Baby Give back, and the Kmart Wishing Tree.

On 7 November, we went to Baby Give Back from 12:00pm – 3:00pm, to help clean and sort cots, toys, prams and more. Baby Give Back provides essential baby items to families in crisis to help them give their children a safe start to life. Emma made the motion, followed by Miranda and all was in favour to donate $150 to this amazing charity.

The Kmart Wishing Tree focuses on collecting gifts and raising funds for those in need. After the motion made by Emma, second by Matilda and all Leo’s were in favour, we donated a total of $200. Liam, Lily, Emma and Ava went to Kmart and from the $200; $100 to buy gifts for boys and $100 to buy gifts for girls.

We have also decided to make an Instagram page for the Leo’s club to expand our communications with students and also for the local community and charities to know who we are if they ever need our assistance.

The Leo’s Christmas party was organised to be on 6 December, where we had Secret Santa, games, pinatas and many more games to celebrate another successful year! After donating to Fight 4 Youth last month, Leisa, the founder of this charity, have invited the Leo’s to have a group session at the centre on 8 of December.

Coming up next month we also have a Bunnings BBQ on 20 December. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the PBC Leo’s Club. See you next year!!

Click the links below to hear the latest from PBC’s Wellbeing Team.

Senior Secondary Guidance Officer

Read the attached article for the latest information targeted to senior students of careers and pathway information.

https://pbc-shs.eq.edu.au/support-and-resources/guidance-officer

Junior Secondary Guidance Officer

This is a list of recommended support services for the school community as we head into school holidays:

How to access support through school website: https://pbc-shs.eq.edu.au/support-and-resources/student-resources (see support and resource links in right column)

Support services for the young person: https://pbc-shs.eq.edu.au/Supportandresources/Formsanddocuments/Documents/support-and-resources/help-services-2018(pdf,488kb).pdf

eMHprac a guide to digital mental health resources: https://pbc-shs.eq.edu.au/SupportAndResources/FormsAndDocuments/Documents/support-and-resources/emhprac-resource-guide-mar2019.pdf

Helping parents support their teenagers through everyday issues and tough times: https://parents.au.reachout.com/

Connecting families to the right services at the right time: http://familychildconnect.org.au/

The Gold Coast Community Directory lists community-based groups, organisations and individuals that offer services and activities across the city, making it easy to connect with community based groups and services in your local area: https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/community/community-resources-directory-2918.html

The Black Dog Institute is dedicated to understanding, preventing and treating mental illness: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/

QLD Health Website (coronavirus (COVID-19) – everything you need to know, in language you can understand): https://www.health.qld.gov.au/

13HEALTH (13 43 25 84 non-urgent health advice)

Headspace (mental health and wellbeing support for young people): https://headspace.org.au/

Need to talk to someone (Lifeline 13 11 14, eheadspace 1800 650 890 or Kids Helpline 1800 551 800)

New life care (providing mental health support, emergency food aid, disability and homelessness support): https://newlifecare.nu/

Genuine Love (op shop and food relief): https://c3currumbin.org.au/genuine-love/

Centrelink (we deliver Centrelink social security payments and services to Australians): https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/centrelink

If you require urgent and immediate help please call 000 or the Acute Care Team (QLD) on 1300 642 255 or Mental Health Access Line (NSW) on 1800 011 511 for 24/7 crisis assistance

We encourage parents/caregivers to email your student’s excellent recent achievements to us. These achievements can be in The Arts, sporting, academic or community service. We would love to hear from you! Please email us at news@pbc-shs.eq.edu.au with details of your student’s achievement and include at least one photo, and/or any links to media articles that we can share via our Parent Newsletter, internal communications and social media.

School Based Trainee

Congratulations to PBC's Kirralee on commencing her School-Based Traineeship with Rebound Indoor Sports Centre. Michael, the Manager is in the photo with Kirralee. Thank you to Mas National, MRAEL

 who is the Apprenticeship Support Network Provider for this traineeship.

Female Motorcycling 

Anika Loftus in Year 7 received the exciting news last week that she has been nominated twice across the disciplines of Dirt Track and Speedway for the upcoming 2020 Motorcycling Queensland Awards which will be held virtually on Wednesday 9 December. Anika received her nominations for the MQ Junior Female State Rider of the Year Award. This is Anika’s 4th year in succession at being nominated for state awards in motorcycling.

Tennis Gold Coast Champion

Congratulations to PBC's Joe Melzer, the WINNER of the Tennis Gold Coast 16/Under Boys Singles Champion 2020. Joe now has his name on the Honour Board at Queens Park tennis. Joe has continued to train hard throughout 2020 so this is fully deserved - Well done Joe!!

The Year 7 and 8 Annual Awards Night was held on 25 November 2020. The award recipients where as follows:

Academic Awards

Highest Academic Achiever Year 7 - was a tie and the winners were:

Chelsea Crossan
Chelsea is an enthusiastic student who visibly enjoys learning and demonstrates excellent understanding of knowledge and skills across all subject areas. She also demonstrates effective and supportive leadership in groups. Her favourite subjects this year have been Maths and Science. She enjoys the way Science helps us understand our community and her experience of writing a poem about the Science and Geography of protecting mangroves in Currumbin Creek sparked an ongoing passion for our local environment.

Olive Pilarski
Olive is an excellent student who demonstrates mature and insightful understanding of a wide variety of topics and applies creative approaches to her learning. She enjoys learning, always strives to do her best and contributes to a positive learning environment. Her favourite subject is Science because of the way it applies to the world around us. The activities she has enjoyed most this year are the use of design thinking to create unique products such as a beautifully illustrated children’s book on water management.

Year 7 Outstanding Academic Achievement 

Jamey Bennedick
Sienna Clare
Chelsea Crossan
Tait Cushing
Mila Du Preez
Fenner Lee
Sho McCabe
Ethan McManemin
Bradley Munro
Scarlett Munro
Olive Pilarski
Neil Reid
Zali Retter
Alyssa Voser
Elle Warren

Highest Academic Achiever Year 8

Roxanna Hannan
Roxanna is a diligent, kind young woman who inspires her peers in her quietly spoken way. She always strives to do her best and is a valued class member to whom others look as an example. Roxanna is a very quiet achiever and not only does she aspire to greatness, she is humble and consistently courteous and supportive to everyone around her.

Year 8 Outstanding Academic Achievement

Amelaya Goyne
Adam Gray
Roxanna Hannan
Lachlan Haysom
Joshua Humphreys
Kiarah Kelly-Gadsby
Hamish McKenzie
Maddie McNamara
Liam Newson
Jack Pache
Ava Schenk
Seajay Thompson
Anise Webb
Rebecca Whatmough
Zane With

Creative Arts Awards

2020 Principal's Art Prize

Madelin Jillett
Madelin’s surrealist painting has been the talk of the art room for months. Surrealism is an art movement where artist are to depict dream like imagery. Senior students are in awe of Maddie’s dedication and amazed at her skill. This is the first time a year 8 painting has been selected for the Principals Art Prize.

Service and Commitment to The Arts Awards:

Tiahna Melfi - Dance
Jaide Parks - Music

Most Outstanding in the Arts Award:

Cameron Dixon - Musician
Kiarah Kelly-Gadsby - Visual Arts Product
Olive Whalen - Music Student
Sahara Zisti - Dance/Choreographer

Sports Awards

2020 Junior Sports Person of the Year:

Julia Remington

State Representatives:

Abbey Carter - Swimming
Jordy Halford - Surfing
Rico Haybittle - Surfing
Riley Munro - Surfing
Julia Remington - Swimming

2021 Student Leaders

Congratulations to the following students who have been nominated Junior Secondary Head Prefects in 2021

Athenians Head Prefects
Emma Suttle
Zane With

Phoenicians Head Prefects
Rio Rajah
Rylee Lower

Spartans Head Prefects
Marnie Lembert
Rowan Kowplos

Vikings Head Prefects
Ilai Comerford
Charlotte Hart

Gold Coast Theatre Awards

Congratulations to Ms Skyring and her wonderful team of staff who have been acknowledged in the Gold Coast Theatre Awards for the efforts in executing the outstanding “All Shook Up” this year. The Gold Coast Theatre Awards are a prestigious event at which PBC is regularly recognised, but acknowledgement in a year such as this one is a significant and well deserved achievement. The PBC All Shook Up musical received 7 nominations in the GC Theatre Awards this year. 

• All Shook Up (PBC) - Best Youth Production
• Madonna Hall - Best Director of a Youth Production  
• Abby Swanborough - Best Choreographer of a Youth Production
• Krissy Tassone/Kayla Latter - Best Vocal or Music Director of a Youth Production
• All Shook Up (PBC) screen projection - Best Technical Achievement or Effect
• Bayley Jacobsen – The Jock and Beverly McIlwain Special Encouragement Award
• Oliver Childs – Best Actor or Actress in a Supporting Role

The winners of those categories were announced last Thursday night and PBC won in the following categories…

• Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Oliver Childs (Yr 12)
• Best Choreographer - Abby Swanborough
• Best Director - Madonna Hall

Congratulations to all!

 

CARE Carnival

Care Carnival was on Friday 4 December and was a huge event with EPIC food, live music, game stalls and of course the inflatables. Students came in free dress and enjoyed all the fun activities.

 

'Engineering Confidence' - Women and Girls Workshop Breakfast

On 17 November ACCIONA and Surfing Australia held their ACCIONA ‘Engineering Confidence’ Women and Girls Workshop Breakfast at PBC. The event was designed to not only build confidence in young women, but kickstart thoughts and discussions about real career opportunities in the construction engineering industry via STEM.

ACCIONA will continue as a major support partner of key Surfing Australia program, the nudie Australian Boardriders Battle, Australia’s biggest grassroots boardriders event series involving over $100,000 prizemoney across eight state events and a large-scale National Final. ACCIONA's involvement in the national final earlier this year saw the event granted carbon neutral status – a first for Surfing Australia.

CAX Experience Day

Thursday Week 7 PBC welcomed our 2021 CAX students by inviting them to a CAX Experience day. Students participated in student led dance and music workshops, met their mentors and lived a life as PBC CAX student for a day. We cannot wait to welcome these students into our community next year.

PBC Fundraising - Entertainment Books

Support Palm Beach Currumbin State High to raise extra fundraising dollars this festive season. Entertainment Memberships are packed with thousands of incredible savings on dining, activities, travel and shopping. Up to 50% off and 2 for 1 deals in your city and across Australia. You can start now or later… If you want to wait a little while, you have 3 months to activate your new Membership after you renew. Once you activate, you will have a full 12 or 24 months to use your Entertainment Membership.

  

Crazy Sock Day

This term the staff participated in a wellbeing event designed to celebrate people's creativity and differences while raising awareness of the importance of mental health. Staff were challenge to wear odd socks to school with a winner for the most creative images submitted announced. Congratulations to Ms Phillips and a huge shout out to SockieLala for providing some awesome crazy socks to our winners!

SockieLala believes individuality starts at your feet and has been triggering twinkles in the eye for the bearer and giggles in the soul for the wearer since 2018. If you are keen for some quality, quirky and quizzical socks for any occasion visit the SockieLala website https://www.sockielala.com.au!

  

Beat the Teachers Week 2020

PBC introduced a ‘Beat the Teachers’ competition during Term 4 where students were given the opportunity to take on their teachers in a number different activities throughout week 7. This year’s events were Spelling, Basketball Free Throw, Times Tables and Footy pass through a target.

The competition was fiercely competitive throughout the week! The teachers took an early lead winning the Spelling on Monday followed by a narrow win in the Basketball Free throw on Tuesday but the students didn’t give up and came back strong taking the win in the Times Tables on Thursday which took the event to the wire on Friday. The students needing to win the Footy pass to take the competition to a sudden death shootout. The students took out the footy pass competition which meant that the scores were locked at 2-2. To decide the winners both the staff and students had to pick 5 people to play a knockout round of the footy pass competition to decide the winners. The teachers eventually came out on top and were crowned champions for 2021. A huge thanks to all students and staff that took part and we look forward to next year’s event.

 

Follow PBC on social media!

Instagram @pbcshs

Facebook @palmbeachcurrumbinstatehigh and @PBCAlliance

 

Dates to Remember

9 December - Last day for all Year 7-9 students of 2020

18 January - PBC School Admin offices re-open 8:00am

18-22 January - PBC Uniform Shop opens for extra trading 7:00am-12:00pm

25 January - PBC offices will be closed for Australia Day long weekend

26 January - Australia Day holiday

27 January - First Day of Term 1 for Years 7, 11 and 12

28 January - First Day of Term 2 for Years 8, 9 and 10

17 February - PBC Excellence Programs Information Night Year 7 2022

Smile Street Coolangatta

Welcome to our latest partner! Smile Street Dental and Implant Centre at Coolangatta have come on board as our latest Platinum Partner. Smile Street is your family friendly dental practice focused on providing a high standard of dental care in a fun and friendly environment. Whether it’s been a few years since your last check-up or you’re looking to improve your dental experience, Smile Street is the team you need to call. At their Coolangatta practice, they put the comfort and oral health of their clients first. Are you looking for a quality local Dentist? Give Smile Street Coolangatta a call today!

Special offer for PBC students:

The team at Smile Street Coolangatta are offering PBC Students FREE professionally fitted mouthguards. There are a number of sports programs at PBC that require students to wear a mouthguard to protect their teeth. Smile Street Coolangatta will provide a professional service to ensure the best fit and can include your student's name on the guard to allow for easy identification. Simply telephone Smile Street and advise that you would like to book your student in for a mouthguard to be fitted. The friendly staff at Smile Street will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Address:   Shop 123, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta  QLD  4225
Phone:      07 5391 1319
Email:        luximi@smilestreet.com.au
Website:   www.smilestreet.com.au

PBC Alliance Business Directory – support our local businesses

If you are looking to support our local businesses and local community when looking for a product or service look no further than the PBC Alliance Business Directory. All the listings are supporters of our students and local so please support those that support PBC. https://www.pbc-alliance.com/business-directory.html

Would your business like to support our students? Become a Partner today. If you are interested in learning more about the PBC Alliance visit our website! www.pbc-alliance.com

Thank you to our 2020 Partners!

Bendigo Bank Tugun Community Bank Branch

Find Your Feet

Synergy Fitness

Smile Street Coolangatta

Aurora Training Institute

LJ Hooker Palm Beach

Southport Sharks

WHYse Choices

Veteran Mentors

Gold Coast United

Capital Pest Management

Stone Style

Currumbin RSL

Prestige Services Training

Inspire Physiotherapy

Firewire Surfboards

Tweed Seasports

Trade Glass

Real-Crete Brisbane

Rhys Wildermoth, First National Palm Beach

Griffith University

Woolworths, The Pines

99 Bikes, Burleigh

PFD Food Distributors

Esportif Management (Nash Dawson)

Bond University

Southern Cross University

Burleigh Bears Rugby League Club

Currumbin Eagles Junior Rugby League Club

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Fraser Financial Services

Wilson Haynes Law

Big Screen Video

Greater Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce

Belinda and Stephen Phelan

Meatsmiths, Elanora

Palm Beach Surf Club

MRAEL

Shingleback Off Road

The Suns AFL Club

If you are interested in learning more about the PBC Alliance visit our website! www.pbc-alliance.com