17 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

I have thoroughly enjoyed acting as the Executive Principal in Chris’ absence. It’s been fascinating to observe, first hand, the day to day workings of such a high performing secondary school. I have been particularly impressed with the behaviour of the students and the clear focus on teaching and learning in this school. As a local primary school principal, the last few weeks have given me a valuable insight into the secondary education.

Congratulations to the Open Rugby League Team who won the State Final in a hard fought game against Kirwan last Wednesday. I’d like to recognise the hard work and dedication of the coaching and support staff. The team will now play Patrician Brothers at Redcliffe on Wednesday.

Regards

John Cattoni
Acting Executive Principal

Senior School Update

The importance of being on time

As students enter Senior School and begin to prepare for life beyond the school gates our expectations of them increase as we prepare them for their next steps. Punctuality is one of the key ways that a person can positively brand themselves.

It is vital that students arrive on time for school every day. Important notices are delivered through Care that ensure students do not miss out on activities and events at school.

For all of us, being on time demonstrates that a person is diligent and dependable, that they honour their commitments and can be trusted. It shows that they have respect for other people and that they care as much about their time as yours. Being on time builds self-confidence and success.

We ask that our students arrive on time for school as a precursor to arriving for work or lectures on time, if the traffic is regularly bad please ask your Year 12 student who is driving themselves and their siblings to school to allow a few extra minutes. If your child finds it difficult to get up in the morning please try and support them to do so and encourage them to go to bed a little earlier so that they get enough sleep.

Library Update

The construction of our new library is excitingly close and we therefore wish to make you aware of several impacts:

• Library classrooms will be closed from Week 10- affected classes will be temporary reallocated for Week 10.
• The library will be permanently closed 3:00pm Friday 21 September with demolition to begin over the holidays/early next term.
• Numerous room changes will occur from the beginning of Term 4 to accommodate the movement of classes from the library as well as the opening of the new D block classrooms, new timetables will be distributed to students for Term 4.
• The IT Department will be relocated to E Block for Term 4.
• A limited suite of library tasks will operate out of E Block
• Student printing which will be available in E Block, before school and break time only.

End of Term

Students are reminded that they need to be at school every day up to and including Friday 21 September. This is particularly important for Year 12 students as they will only have 4 teaching weeks before assessment commences in term 4.

Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA)

An RSA course will be conducted by Ignite Education on 20 September at school. The cost is $50 and students will need to register with Ms Shreeve in Y block. This course is very useful for any students who wish to work in the Hospitality industry.

Year 11 Queensland Core Skill s Test (QCS)

Year 11 OP students and parents please note that QCS classes will commence at 8:00am on Wednesdays in Term 4. As 11OP students will be commencing school at 8:00am on Wednesdays they will be allowed to leave school during sport time in Term 4. All non OP students in Year 11 will have to continue to do sport in Term 4. Any student that has transport or other issues which will affect their attendance at 8:00am should contact Mr McDougall in Y block.

Diploma of Business

The school intends to offer a Year 12 Fast Track Diploma of Business course in 2019. This course which is offered in the school timetable by Prestige Services Training is attractive because it currently achieves a Rank of 81 which is equivalent to an OP of 9. The cost of the course is $1990. Any interested students should contact either Mr. McDougall or Ms McQueen.

2019 Aurora scholarships

Please attached information regarding scholarships for Year 12 school leavers. These scholarships are particularly designed for students who have overcome hardship to complete Year 12.

Middle School Update

We are once again coming to the end of the Academic term with holidays fast approaching! With assessment schedules in full swing and students becoming tired and fatigued it’s important for parents and caregivers to remain committed to supporting their child right through until Friday 21 September.

Parents, families, and caregivers are a child's first and most important teachers. Parent engagement in education is about parents and caregivers, schools and communities working together to ensure that every parent can play a positive role in their child's learning, school community, sport, and social life.

Parents and families play a significant role in supporting their child's education. Research has shown that when schools and families work together, children do better, stay in school longer, are more engaged with their school work, go to school more regularly, behave better, and have better social skills. Parent engagement also results in longer term economic, social and emotional benefits.

Thank you to all our PBC families, parents and caregivers for your support of your child throughout Term 3, we look forward to working with you in Term 4.

Student reports will be emailed home on Friday 21 September, these reports are interim reports indicating your child’s effort, behaviour and academic progress only. If you have any concerns or questions arising from the report please contact the teacher of the respective subject directly, email addresses can be found on the PBC website.

Wishing you all a safe and restful holiday and I’m looking forward to a very busy Term 4 on our return.

Naplan On-Line

NAPLAN is moving online. This means moving NAPLAN from the current paper-based tests to computer-based assessments. At PBC, the transition to NAPLAN online will commence from 2018.

Moving NAPLAN online brings many new opportunities for students and teachers that are limited or not possible with paper-based tests.

As part of our transition on NAPLAN On-line, PBC will run the school readiness test in Week 3 of Term 4 with our Year 8 students. As many of our Year 8 families have taken advantage of the BYOD program, we ask parents and caregivers to ensure that your child is ready for trial test by installing the NAPLAN lock-down browser onto students laptops. The lock-down browser allows students to securely participate in NAPLAN Online and the NAPLAN trial it prevents students from using other applications or websites on their device during assessment events. Please visit ACARA’s NAP locked down browser page for more information:

2018 NAPLAN Review

The Queensland Government is undertaking a review of NAPLAN in the Queensland context, to better understand the impacts NAPLAN is having on learning and teaching within the state. The first stage of the Review, conducted in June 2018, focused on consultation with parents.

The second stage is now underway, with consultation extending to students, teachers, principals and other key education stakeholders across Queensland.

Queensland students in Years 3 to 10 are now invited to provide feedback on their experiences with NAPLAN, via an online survey. Students wishing to participate will require the consent of a parent or caregiver, who can assist with completing the survey at home.

The survey link is available at the link below:

This project has received ethical clearance from both the Australian Catholic University and the Department of Education. Further information on the Student Survey and the Review are provided within the survey link.

Student Leadership

The House Leaders and the Head of Dept. Middle School are currently reviewing applications for candidates for Middle School Student Leadership 2019 positions. The calibre of young people attending PBC was reflected in the fine way in which these young people put their names forward. A Leadership Assembly will be held early next term, where many of the candidates will have the opportunity to present speeches to their Houses. Interviews will also be conducted and final selections will be made shortly after that. Thank you to parents/caregivers who are supporting their children through this process.

Meeting Academic Commitments

The end of term is nearly with us, and students are anticipating their well-earned breaks.

A reminder once again that students are expected to attend school up to and including Friday 21 September. The holidays extend for a fortnight, with school returning on Monday 8 October. A reminder that students who have not met their academic commitments by completing all assessment at the end of term will be required to do so on the first day back.

Free School Holiday Activities

The school holidays are a great opportunity for students to extend their learning in informal settings, relax and prepare for their final term.

The Gold Coast City Council and Wesley Mission have a fabulous program of free school holiday activities, run through Thrower House (across the road from PBC). See their website for details.

Students are also encouraged to visit some of the many natural settings, athletic facilities, museums and art galleries.

Finally, students may consider using some of their time to ‘give back’ to their community, with the guidance and support of parents/caregivers. Students undertaking voluntary work can be acknowledged through PBC’s Community Service scheme. Click here for details:

Our Middle School attendance target is 95%. We have high expectations for students to arrive approximately at 8:30am so they are ready for CARE class at 9:00am and have a positive start to each day. Attendance ‘every day counts’ is a Term 4 priority.

Year Level Coordinators are reviewing daily data for students signing in late or early departures. Leaving early (sign out) notes need to be written and signed by a parent/caregiver and delivered to the Middle School Student Services prior to 8:45am. It is appropriate for you to sign out no more than 3 times a term for an appointment or an activity during school hours.

Deans of Students will be contacting parent/caregivers for any student with 10 days unexplained or unsatisfactory absences. Parents/Caregivers are obliged to have a child of compulsory school age attend on every school day as per the purposes of ss.176 and 239 of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006.

Situations where an application for an exemption may be made include:

• Illness
• Family reasons
• Cultural or religious reasons

Parents are also advised to read the PBC’s Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students

Every student is expected to follow the Optima Code ‘Be Respectful, Be a Learner and Be Safe’ during the school day and in with wider community as they are representing PBC.

Humanities News

With our Term 3 shutdown exams behind us our senior teachers are busily preparing for their Year 12 verification submissions and are creating assessment and teaching and learning plans for the new senior education system that comes into effect next year.

Two teams of four Year 11 Legal Studies students recently competed in the Beenleigh Courts Mooting (mock trial) Competition led by Mr Poirrier. The competition gave students an opportunity to play the role of an advocate in in a simulated courtroom setting. In preparation, students were required to analyse a provided fictional scenario from the perspective of either the Prosecution or Defendant. In addition to presenting a general summation of arguments on the day, students had to master the art of questioning by cross-examining a witness. Both teams’ commitment and prior preparation resulted in a stellar performance on the day with Joshua Rowe being awarded the best advocate prize.

On Thursday 16 August a group of eight high performing Year 10 Business and Economics students along with Ms Wilson and Ms McQueen were invited to the annual Industry Partners Engagement Luncheon, hosted by the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics at Griffith University Gold Coast Campus. This was an opportunity for students to share their table and connect with business and commerce industry professionals including high level accountants, lawyers, business leaders, economists and academics. Whilst feasting on a gourmet two-course meal, students heard from two Women in Commerce industry leaders who reflected on their personal career highlights and discussed the challenges and opportunities that are available for the leaders of tomorrow. The guest speakers, Annick Donat, CEO of Madison Financial Group and Janelle Manders, Director at William Buck Gold Coast, were extremely inspiring, offering students sage career and life advice to ensure they are best placed to fulfil the PBC Motto, Nil Sed Optima - nothing but the best.

What’s next in PBC Humanities?

Our biennial Japan Trip will run over the September holidays. This is a great opportunity for students to become immersed in the Japanese language, engage in the culture, and learn about the geography and history of the land of the rising sun. Year 11 legal studies students will also travel down to Southern Cross University to participate in the STAR legal research and writing workshop.

Mr Andrew Griffin
HOD Humanities

Pedagogical Practices – Professional Learning Teams (PLTs)

Professional Learning Teams involve teachers working collaboratively in recurring cycles of inquiry and action research to achieve better results for their students.

The focus is on learning

The starting point is to collect student data or evidence of student work and for teachers to use this information to identify a problem or barrier to student learning. That is, the PLT determines what learning needs the students have.

The teachers then work collaboratively to address the problem – specific strategies are identified and a commitment made to implement these in the classroom. Often there is further reading and research involved to ensure the strategies are evidence based and high yield.

In order to measure the extent to which the strategies have been effective, further data/evidence is collected and the PLT meets again. Thus the inquiry process starts again.

There is currently one PLT operating at PBC with a focus on the new SATE system, the study skills required by students and the impact on pedagogy. Preparing for external exams, which will be worth 50% of the total mark for some subjects, prompted a rigorous discussion about how students currently take notes, organise their notes and revise for exams. Initial baseline data suggested to the PLT that students need to be explicitly taught these skills, thereby having an impact on pedagogy and prompted further research in to best practice.

We look forward to hearing more from the SATE PLT in the future.

Elizabeth Gill and Fiona Scannell
Pedagogy Coaches

HPE News

A message from Year 11 health students:

It is easy to believe that the brain is fully developed by very early adolescence, but the brain doesn't stop developing until mid-20s or even early 30s. There's a lot more information and evidence to suggest that actual brain development in various forms goes on throughout the life span. While teens are constantly preparing to meet the challenges of an adult world, taking some risks during this time is natural. Still, making too many risky decisions in the teen years may throw off the course of healthy brain development in ways that add an undue burden.

Using substances as a response to peer pressure is one such risky decision. This kind of use actually makes healthy personality development more difficult. Alleviating particularly intense negative emotions through over-stimulation of an already sensitive reward pathway is another risky choice. Substance use in this way damages the brain, predisposes teens to addiction and makes having healthy fun more difficult.

Learning to meet challenges, make healthy decisions, and have healthy fun can be exceptionally rewarding for growing teens. If teens take very good care of their brains during adolescence, their brains will continue to take very good care of them for the rest of their lives!

News from the Wellbeing Team

For information from the Wellbeing Team including the Senior School Guidance Officer, Middle School Guidance Officer, the School Chaplain and School Nurse please click the following links.

Senior Guidance Officer’s Report

Information about university options, open days, scholarship and competitions and other opportunities.

Middle School Guidance Officer’s Report

Wishing everyone in the school community a wonderful spring break. Taking care, relaxing and getting plenty of rest. Looking forward to seeing you all refreshed in Term 4!

Following is a list of contact numbers for support and help if needed.

Pathway Centre News

For information about alternative pathways and job opportunities please click this link.

General News

Visual Arts Excellence

PBC is excited to announce that Visual Art Excellence will be offered in 2019 for Years 8, 9 and 10. If you think your child may be interested there will be a Lunch 1 showcase of student work in CO4 this Wednesday the 19th of September for them to attend. The Showcase will provide your child with an idea of what the program has to offer. Any inquires please email exenrolments@pbc-shs.eq.edu.au or see Miss Hall in the C Block Arts Staffroom.

Restaurant Week

Don’t forget to book your table for Restaurant week, where the Year 11 Hospitality students are cooking and serving a three course dinner with canapés and drinks on arrival.

Contact student services to book for Wednesday 17 October or Thursday 18 October.

State Championships for Basketball

Entertainment Books for Sale Now!

PBC is raising funds for our new Library precinct.

Please support our fundraising by purchasing the 2018 | 2019 Entertainment Membership from us today. Hundreds of great value offers are ready for your enjoyment, while also helping our fundraising! Be quick, the new Membership is selling fast!

Inter-house Scissors, Paper, Rock off

Term 3 welcomed the annual Scissors, Paper, Rock-off at PBC and once again students came out in their numbers to take part in this highly contested Inter-House Competition. The event took place across 3 days with over 500 students across the 4 houses taking part and being rewarded with vital points for their House. Competition was exceptionally close but after the 3 days Vikings and Athenians came joint first with Spartans 2nd and Phoenicians in 3rd place. Congratulations to all students who took part in this event.

Inter-house Chess Competition

The Inter-house Chess comp was a great success with students from Years 7 through 12, plus a few teachers, battling via the online platform ‘LiChess.org’. Students played a knock out tournament with games played to a restricted time limit. The skill and strategy on display by our chess champs was nothing but amazing.

Congratulations to Jonathon Chi (Vikings) who defeated (by the narrowest of margins) Fletcher Cremin (Athenians).

Well done to all of those who participated, especially those students, who had never played before, but came along to have a go and represent their House! House Cup winner will be revealed in Term 4, so participation is even more important than ever!!

Animal Welfare League

Students came together on Wednesday Week 9 to celebrate their Community Care Projects which focused on raising awareness for and collecting goods for the Animal Welfare League Queensland. Students from P11M organised a special guest speaker from the AWL, Jody, who brought along education dog Rusty for the students to meet. Jody shared with the students what the AWL is all about and the fantastic work they do in re-homing dumped, neglected or surrendered pets. The AWL re-home on average 10,000 animals a year! Jody was delighted to accept donations collected by the students on behalf of the AWL. Donated items included food, toys, blankets, newspaper, even pet beds! Thank you to all of the students who contributed to this cause, particularly P11M for organising our special guest visit.

Sustainability Convention

At PBC we are all about giving our young people the opportunity to be the leaders in change. As part of the PBC CARE Community Project a number of CARE classes had the opportunity to present their Sustainability campaigns at the recent Sustainability Convention. Classes created their own project to promote sustainability within PBC. Some of the projects included beach clean-up programs, bamboo straws to eliminate single use plastic straws and plastic bottle recycling initiative.

Australian Schools Mountain Bike Titles

The Australian Schools Mountain Bike Titles were held at Nerang on 3-5 August, attracting 260 participants. This was only the 2nd year that school has participated in the event, with 15 great young riders across the junior, intermediate, and senior age groups competing. The riders contested four different events in three days with some great results and an overall placing of 5th out of 66 schools.

On Day 1, riders competed in a cross-country eliminator consisting of a time trial and head-to-head knock-out races of four riders over a short two minute course with only the first two progressing to the next round. PBC had some outstanding performances in the eliminator, with all riders making the top half of their respective fields. Kane Dudman was one of our best performers showing true grit progressing to the final 16 of 100 starters.

On Day 2, riders competed in a cross country with athletes racing between 8 - 20kms dependent upon age. The Nerang State Forest course included sections of the new Commonwealth Games track. The mass starts were frantic with our riders fighting their way past many others up the first big hill. Stand-out performances in the individuals were Matt, coming 9th out of 27, Ethan 19th out of 80, Kane 34 out of 100, and Vivien 12 out of 29.

Saturday afternoon riders contested a skills trials competition with Matt Mihelcic taking out the senior boy’s competition with a clear round over some extremely hard obstacles. Riders in the obstacle trial were competing for school team points, however the skill level shown by Matt was applauded by all who watched the event.

Sunday riders competed over a slightly different course in a four hour teams relay enduro event. Vivien Nisted teamed with riders from Miami and Tamborine High to gain an outstanding 12-minute win, and is now a National Teams champion. The course for this enduro was very challenging and unfortunately, our boys team suffered many mechanical issues and flat tyres which hindered their opportunities.

Mountain biking is in its infancy at PBC and we are extremely proud of how all the riders represented their school, showing great sportsmanship, team spirt and overall enjoyment. The support and help given to our team by parents and friends at this event helped make it such a success for our group. We are very thankful for those who helped in the transition area and the many other volunteer jobs.

Student Achievements

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 Facebook.

Open Rugby League – GIO Cup Finals

As you may have heard the boys were victorious in the QLD Final defeating Kirwan State High 32-26.

In a game highlighting the power game of Kirwan and the speed and skill of the Reds, it took until 40 seconds to go for 5/8 Toby Sexton to ice the game with a superb grubber to winger Ryan Garner.

Centres Will Evans and Noah Gafa we're unstoppable scoring 3 great tries between them, and usual suspects hooker Jed Edwards and half Thomas Dearden were all class in creating countless opportunities.

It was wonderful to see past and present students alike celebrate as one when the siren sounded. Mrs Wise won the award for most passionate and was still singing the song on Year 7 Assembly 2 days later.

This Wednesday we play Blacktown Patrician Brothers in the National Final at Redcliffe Stadium (1:30pm kickoff). It is the first time QLD has ever hosted the National GF, and is 10 years exactly since our last Championship side in 2008 led by NRL stars Ryan James, Cody Walker, and Jordan Rankin.

We cannot thank you enough for your amazing support and well wishes throughout the year, our history is the strength of our culture.

Gold Coast Science Competition

At the recent Gold Coast Science Competition, Lily de Groot received a Highly Commended Award for her project on fungi in the Science Communications category, and Cyna Slater placed third in the Scientific Investigations category for her project Yanny vs Laurel.

Australian Ladies Karting Championship

Congratulations to Taylah Agius, Year 11 who is the first female to win the Australian Ladies Championship in Karting as well as placing 5th in the Australian Championship.

Since winning the Championship Taylah has been invited to attend the Gold Coast 600 in the Walkinshaw Andretti United Garage. What a fantastic achievement Taylah!

2018 Firebirds Gala Dinner

Congratulations to Abi Houston and her very supportive family on Abi’s achievement at the 2018 Firebirds Gala dinner. Abi was awarded as the 2018 Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the U17 Queensland Netball Team. Congratulations on a very well deserved and highly sort after accomplishment Abi.

Charlie Receives National Success

Posted on Monday, September 03, 2018 SGC ENews

From opening the Coolangatta Christmas Carols in 2017, local Palm Beach Currumbin student Charlie has now received national success playing principal flute with the International Honours Performance Series at the Sydney Opera House.

The five day residential program was held from 18 -23 July where the Year 11 student worked with American conductor Jeffery Grogan. From over 12,000 auditions, 225 high school students were chosen worldwide for the concert band, choir and string ensembles. Only three Australians were chosen and Charlie was selected for principal - a huge honour.

Charlie will now represent Palm Beach Currumbin State High School for the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University’s inaugural Australian Honours Ensemble Program from the 4 - 7 October, where she was chosen amongst the best classical musicians by an adjudicating panel. We would like to congratulate Charlie on her successes and wish her the best of luck moving forward with her music.

Dates to Remember

PBC Alliance News

Support our PBC Alliance Partners

There are many businesses that help our students reach their potential at PBC by sponsoring various school programs. We would like to give a huge shout out to all of the 2018 PBC Alliance Partners! The support of these amazing businesses, for our students, is hugely appreciated.

Bendigo Bank – Tugun Community Bank Branch
Struddys Sports
Glowing Green Australia
Aurora Training Institute
Prestige Service Training
Stone Style
Griffith University
Southport Sharks
Veteran Mentors
Capital Pest Management
Currumbin RSL
Firewire Surfboards
PFD
GCU Gold Coast United
Mighty Minds
Trade Glass
Tweed Sea Sports
Tree Trunk Digital
MSP Photography
Retire Me Young
Fraser Financial Services
Wilson Haynes Solicitors
Titans Sports Management
Burleigh Bears Rugby League
Currumbin Junior Rugby League
Merc Electric
Daryl Joyce – Carpet Layer

PBC Alliance Business Directory

If you are looking for a product or service look no further than the PBC Alliance Business Directory. All the listings are supporters of our students so please support those that support PBC.

Would you like to advertise your business in the PBC Alliance Business Directory? Membership is just $25 which includes a business directory listing, invitations to all our events and regular newsletters so you can be kept up to date with PBC Alliance news. Head to the link below to sign up!

Administration

Cashier Window Operating Hours

Over the counter payments can only be accepted between 8:00am and 1:00pm on Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can make payments via BPOINT from your invoice or statement or Direct Deposit.

For Internet banking please use the details below:

Resources and Activities Schedule

To assist parents with budgeting, detailed below are current fees and activities with due dates for payment (due to short timeframes some excursions may not be listed).

For credit card payment or to request bank details for direct bank transfer, please telephone the school, or visit Student Services between 8:00am-1:00pm.

SRS Fees

Make payments the quick and easy way using BPOINT. Visit the link below, follow the prompts or phone BPOINT on 1300 631 073.

Parents/caregivers experiencing financial difficulty can email ParentSupport ParentSupport@pbc-shs.eq.edu.au.

Payment plan options are available including Centrepay -a service to families whereby periodic payments can be made to the school or Direct Debit via credit card (monthly). Paperwork is available from the Student Services Office to activate either of these plans.

Saver Plus

Community Notices

Movies Under the Stars

The Movies Under the Stars program will be run between October 2018 and February 2019.

Below is a list of the dates, venues and movies to be shown.

Tallebudgera Valley Football Club – Development Team Trials

Elanora Library Event for Teens