2024 Kingaroy Highlights #3
Principal's Message
Senior School News
Block Exams
Year 11 and 12 will have Block Exams at the end of this term. Year 11 exams will run from Friday 22 March to Thursday 28 March, and Year 12 exams from Tuesday 26 March to Thursday 28 March. We are planning to have the exam timetable out in Week 8.
Absence during an exam
If your Year 11 or 12 student is ill during the exam block, please complete the following steps:
1. Contact the school office before the exam
2. Arrange for the completion of the Illness and Misadventure document by a medical professional (please let your doctor know you are a Senior student at KSHS and require documentation completed). Please note that “Unfit for Duty” is not enough. These documents are on the school website under the Senior School tab in Curriculum.
A reminder that absences of the student/parent/caregiver's own choosing, e.g., family holiday do not qualify for an AARA.
Ms Leanne Krosch
Deputy Principal, Educational Achievement - Senior Secondary
Wellbeing and Engagement
Year 10 Immunisations
School immunisations for Year 10 are March 11. The clinic has informed us that the school can continue collecting consent cards right up to the day. Please return these cards to the front office at your earliest convenience.
School Photos
The students were fantastic on school photo day. If you have any concerns, please contact MSP Photography directly on admin.brisbane@msp.com.au or phone 07 3865 4291.
Kingaroy Merit Points and End of Year Trips (Junior Grades)
The majority of students appear well on the way to achieving 120 Kingaroy Merit Points, to receive a five-dollar tuckshop voucher. The P and C have kindly continued to support and finance this terrific initiative.
Parents will be emailed clear criteria for end of year trip eligibility at the end of term. These trips are intended to celebrate consistent and appropriate standards of attendance, behaviour and effort.
Mr Steve Perrett
Deputy Principal, Wellbeing and Engagement
Year 12 Camp
The Year 12 Leadership camp at the Sunshine Coast Recreation Centre at Currumundi ran from the 14th to the 16th of February, with ninety-seven students and six staff in attendance.
The aim of the camp was for students to further develop their leadership skills and works as teams. The perfect weather turned to rain on the Friday, however students enjoyed activities that were run in group rotations, with a teacher and an experienced Group Leader from the Recreation Centre attached to each group for the duration of camp.
Students participated in rock climbing, alpine rescue, body boarding, giant swing, caving and archery. Additionally, there was a trivia night, night time pool activities, a sunrise walk on the beach and team building activities.
A huge thank you to Miss Hough, Miss Penfold, Mrs Steinhardt, Mr Shirlaw, and Mr Reiger for supporting our students.
Mrs Krysty Connelly
Year 12 Year Level Coordinator
Year 7 News
The past week has seen the Year 12 students working with our excited Year 7s. On Monday, some Year 12s jumped in and helped Ms Maudsley coach some volleyball to more than twenty Year 7s who have little or no volleyball experience. The ability to give them tips and tricks and show their skills as well as chat with the Year 7s was greatly appreciated by them. We hope to make this a Monday event every week this term and it would be great to see even more Year 7s join in.
This was followed by the much-anticipated handball competition wtih the Year 12s, through their Sports and Recreation Committee, led by Sydney and overseen by Miss Hough. Held during first break, there was competition, rule-checking, cheeky plays and lots of laughs and noise. Ms Maudsley believes that the Year 7s well and truly held their own against the Year 12s. However, to confirm, they have invited Sydney and her group back next week just to be sure.
Wednesday's first break gave the chance for the first meeting of the Banish Recycling Group. This is an opportunity for Year 7s only who wish to lead, to collect, to create posters, to advertise, to encourage others, to sort through donated goods, and source postage sponsorship to enable various items that are not easily recycled, to be recycled. Which goods? Our intrepid and inspiring group of Year 7s will have more information next newsletter as well as on the school Facebook page.
A reminder regarding who to contact:
- For any wellbeing or general questions or issues, please contact your student’s form teacher
- For any in-class (curriculum and behaviour) questions, please contact your student’s teacher or Head of Department
We look forward to meeting you all at the Parent-Teacher Interviews on Monday afternoon.
Helen Maudsley
Deputy Principal
RESPECT Lesson for 7E
7E have had a great start to their high school careers here at KSHS. In their Form and Life Skills lesson this week, they focused on one of our school values - Respect.
Key points made by 7E were:
- Everyone deserves to be respected
- Respect is listening to others
- Respect can come in many forms, such as words or body language
- The respect we show to others should be the respect we want to receive
Well done 7E for your awesome posters on respect!
Miss Pyke
7E Form Teacher
Lions Youth of the Year
Most of the Year 12 School Captains and Committee Chairs for 2024 participated in the Kingaroy round of the Lions Youth of the Year competition on Wednesday 28 February. Michael Robinson, Amy O’Hanlon, Indy Eriksen, Izabella Grace, Fidel Mearns, Sydney Clarke and Tiarna Petersen-Jiamtsu spend a significant proportion of the day involved in the competition.
Lions Youth of the Year involves students participating in an interview process in the afternoon, before responding to two impromptu questions and then presenting a five-minute speech on a topic of their choice at the Kingaroy Lions Club meeting in the evening.
All of our student leaders presented excellent prepared speeches on a variety of current issues and were enthusiastic and knowledgeable participants in the impromptu section, which is a very challenging skill.
The students all recognised the benefits of participating in a public speaking competition, as well as in an interview process which will prepare them for their future careers.
Two awards were given on the night, with Indy Eriksen being a worthy recipient of the public speaking award.
While none of our students came away as the overall winner of the competition, they were magnificent ambassadors for Kingaroy State High School and should be extremely proud of their efforts.
Paul Hutton
HOD English and LOTE
Year 12 Legal Studies Excursion
Fifteen eager, curious and intelligent Legal Studies students got the chance to spend two days at the Supreme Court in Brisbane last week, giving them time to view cases, speak to judges and other court officials, and participate in a university-level research seminar to help kick-start their next assessment task on law reform.
The students were able to see a number of courtrooms, sentencings, and legal debate in various courtrooms, giving an unmissable opportunity to see how the legal system actually works in practice. Staff at the courts were able to give them a first-hand experience of things such as the Banco Court and a jury room, as well as giving them lots of great information about their own experiences working in courtrooms as bailiffs or judges or judges’ associates.
A huge thank-you to former KSHS student Her Honour Nicole Kefford, who is a sitting judge in the District Court, the Childrens Court, and the Planning and Environment courts of Queensland. She spent an hour with our students, answering their questions concisely and clearly, amidst a very busy time for her.
Ms N Maudsley & Miss E Follett
Legal Studies teachers
South Burnett Sports
There have been a number of South Burnett trials held over the last few weeks, with over fifty students from Kingaroy State High School being selected for a team. Congratulations!
Netball
This week, it was the turn of the Year 7s who are turning 12 this year to join other 10-12 year olds to trial for the South Burnett netball team. With around forty girls trialling, it was tough to make the team. Congratulations to Emily, Daneika and Mia, who were successful and will head to Hervey Bay to trial for the Wide Bay team. We wish Mrs McAnally, the South Burnett Coach, and the girls all the best as they work hard towards the Wide Bay trials.
Ms Helen Maudsley
Netball Coach
Clontarf Happenings
Twenty-five Clontarf boys from Years 7 and 8 recently attended a session to discuss vaping and tobacco with special guest, Anita Smith, from Queensland Health.
Engaging with Anita's presentation, the boys actively asked numerous questions, demonstrating their keen interest in understanding the risks associated with vaping and smoking.
Michael Brown
Director, Kingaroy Clontarf Academy
Health News
Research suggests that a teenager needs between 8 and 10 hours of sleep every night. Yet teenagers in Australia have been found to be sleeping only 6.5-7.5 hours.
It is common for young people in their early teen years to start wanting to go to bed later at night and get up later in the morning. This is due to secreting melatonin (a hormone that signals time for sleep) later at night than they did in earlier childhood which affects their circadian rhythms (our internal clock which regulates our sleep and waking cycle). Also, as their brains mature during puberty, children can stay awake for longer.
Effects of ongoing sleep deprivation on teenagers can include:
- Concentration difficulties
- Memory impairment
- Poor decision making
- Lack of enthusiasm
- Moodiness and aggression
- Depression, anxiety and low esteem
- Risk taking behaviour
- Slower physical reflexes
- Increased number of ‘sick days’ from school because of tiredness
- Truancy
Tips to improve sleep include:
- Avoid screens (TV, computer, phone, tablets) at least an hour prior to bed. Teens who put down their smart phones an hour prior to bed can gain 21 minutes of sleep a night, that’s 1 hour and 45 minutes for each school week.
- Choose a relaxing bedtime routine which could include, meditation, mindfulness, reading.
- Avoid stimulants in the evening such as chocolate, coffee, tea, soft drink and energy drinks.
- Do the same bedtime routine every night for at least 4 weeks to make your brain associate this with going to sleep.
- Get physically active during the day but avoid intense exercise in the hour before bed.
- Keep your bedroom dark at night.
- Keep wake up times on school days and weekends to within 2 hours of each other.
For more information go to https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/teenagers-and-sleep
Selena Stevens
School Based Youth Health Nurse
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