CSDE Weekly eNewsletter, Week 5, 24th February 2023
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Our School Values
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Home Tutor Professional Development
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Message from the HoSES
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Sports Person of the year award 2023
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Student Spotlight
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Important NAPLAN Information
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What's been happening in Primary?...
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Secondary Scoop
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English - Secondary Book Nook
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Year 12 Senior Shirts
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Latest in LOTE
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Guidance 'Go-2'
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School Photos - access links will be emailed to families soon
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Cultural Snapshot
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P & C Annual General Meeting
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Community Announcements and Opportunities...
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We welcome your feedback
Our School Values
Mission: Supporting every student to reach their highest potential
Home Tutor Professional Development
Rockhampton...
Mini-school is scheduled for Week 8 and I'm sure everyone is looking forward to all the excitement planned for that week.
We have something extra special planned for our Home Tutors during Mini-school. Feedback showed a desire within our families for professional development to be able to help support their role as Home Tutor in their child's education.
You asked... we listened.
In Rockhampton we will be holding two special 'Intensive Home Tutor Days' for our Primary and Secondary Home Tutors at the Frenchville Sports Club (see flyer below) on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th. These days begin at 9:30am with an opportunity for Home Tutors to mingle and share thoughts and ideas over morning tea. Formal sessions beginning at 10:00am.
In addition to these intensive days, Primary HT's will also have the opportunity for 'Spelling Mastery Training' on Monday and Year Level HT sessions with the teachers on Thursday with both of these days being held at CSDE campus library.
Emerald Primary families will also have access to three 'Intensive Home Tutor Days' covering Magic 100 Words Training, Spelling Mastery Training and C.L.A.W. will also be on campus in Emerald; 'Teaching in a multi-age classroom', 'Tips and tricks to support all students', Engagement - 'How to keep kids interested, engaged and motivated'.
Registration is essential for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday sessions, as they will be catered (morning tea and lunch) and we need to confirm numbers. Click the link below to register.
Registrations close Monday 6th March.
Registration is essential for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday sessions, as they will be catered (morning tea and lunch) and we need to confirm numbers. Click the link below to register.
Registrations close Monday 6th March.
Message from the HoSES
The year has started off once again with me contacting a huge number of families around the support that we can offer our students both in their online classrooms and with upcoming assessments.
As a leadership team we have been working hard with teachers to build understanding and capacity to deliver reasonable adjustments to students where they can support a more extensive level of engagement. Support processes have been unpacked with staff in our training days before school started and our leadership team are actively modelling for teachers, ways to adjust the curriculum and the classroom organisation so we meet our strategic goal of supporting all students to reach their full potential.
We now have 15 Teacher Aides across the 2 campuses assisting teachers to work with students and resourcing quality lessons. The Teacher Aides are also making one on one contacts with a significant number of identified students under direction from myself, to support them with their resilience and time management and classroom organisational skills.
Professional development in the area of assistive technologies has also seen staff trained to begin implementing speech to text supports for students as well as read aloud options where students are struggling to engage with a written text without support. If you would like more information about these literacy support options, please don’t hesitate to speak with your student’s teacher and they will be more than happy to support you and your child to learn to use the tools if they aren’t already.
I have also been in touch with a number of Year 10 to 12 families about the principal reported and the QCAA (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) AARAs (Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments) late in 2022 and again this year. If you have a student working on a short course, Applied, Essential or General course in Year 10 to 12 and you feel there may be a need for them to have additional supports such as rest breaks, additional time, scribes, a different exam venue etc., and you haven’t already heard from me, please reach out and I’ll get back to you with more details.
In the meantime, I’d like to share with you a little illustration which I believe succinctly illustrates our school’s attitude to the reasonable adjustments needed for inclusion. Whilst we can give everyone the same opportunity so we have an equal provision of services or resources, sometimes in order to be fully inclusive we need to adjust the curriculum or resources provided so everyone can participate fully. We can “Be different and make a difference”!
Sports Person of the year award 2023
CSDE annually acknowledges the sporting achievements of a Primary and Secondary Student, who has excelled throughout the year at the end of year awards.
The presentation of the Sports Person of the Year Award goes to the student who has accumulated the most amount of points throughout the year in their various sporting achievements.
Parents are asked to advise the school throughout the year of the sporting achievements by completing this online form. Scores are based on events, the level of the event (district, regional, state, national etc) and the students placing within those events. You will need to complete the form for each individual acheivement. Do not place all acheivements on the one form.
At the end of the year, points are collated, and the winner announced.
Information to note:
* School sports are what counts for CSDE Sportsperson of the year. Students are recognised for their achievement in other non-school fields; however, these achievements are not part of the accumulation of points towards the CSDE Sportsperson of the year.
* You should list the highest level that your student has represented in that sport, noting that the points are only entered if the student represented, and not if they were selected and did not attend.
* Unfortunately, camp-drafting, is not a recognised school sport and so would not apply for Sportsperson of the year.
Student Spotlight
Important NAPLAN Information
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING NAPLAN testing 2024 – action required before 23 February 2024.
The National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a national Literacy and Numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. NAPLAN assesses the Literacy and Numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time. More information about NAPLAN is available here: www.nap.edu.au/naplan. This year NAPLAN will be held during Term One Mini-school, from Wednesday 13 – Friday 15 March 2024.
If you have a student in years 3, 5, 7 or 9, please click and download the information below regarding your childs' options for accessing NAPLAN testing; onsite, off-site, withdrawals/exemptions.
Please contact your student’s Care Group Teacher by Friday 23rd February, if you would like your student to access any of these options.
What's been happening in Primary?...
Introducing Year 2 Emerald
During the Induction Days 24th and 25th February the Year 2’s spent time catching up with friends.
Lego was an opportunity for lots of discussions and team work .
In English, Year 1's had been reading lots of fiction stories and talking about literal and implied meaning. They had also been discussing how the characters have changed from the beginning of the book to the end. One book that they loved was 'The Very Blue Thingamajig'. They listened carefully to the language the author used in the story to describe the Thingamjig and drew what they thought it looked like. Year One Student Nate showed his artistic talents in the picture below!
Secondary Scoop
English - Secondary Book Nook
Welcome from the Secondary English Team. With a month of lessons already behind us, classes are deep into the wonderful topics, texts and learning opportunities being explored across the secondary English work program. Inspired by our own holiday reading, love of language and literature, and passion for lifelong learning, we made a few tweaks to our curriculum offerings and hope that students are finding their Term 1 topics both engaging and enjoyable. Here’s what’s happening in English classes across secondary at the moment.
Term 1 English Unit Overviews
Year 7 – Reading, discussing and analysing the storytelling techniques in the biographies of courageous people
Year 8 – Creative writing with a focus on short stories written to engage teenage readers– we’re really looking forward to showing off the wonderful stories our Year 8s will be writing later in the term
Year 9 – Using written and visual communication skills to shape and manipulate the representations of Australia’s diverse people and places
Year 10 – Thinking critically and analysing the language in news reports to shape an audience’s point of view about important issues
11 Essential English – Examining the language of workplaces, from recruiting personnel to promoting a work event
11 General English – Critical analysis of how readers’ cultural assumptions, values, attitudes and beliefs are reflected and communicated in fairy tales; and how these classic stories can be adapted for modern audiences
12 Essential English – Creative writing to develop an effective persuasive speech for a public audience about an issue of important to Queensland teenagers
12 General English – Students are currently studying John Krakauer’s novel, ‘Into Thin Air’, a harrowing tale of survival and loss during an ill-fated expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest
Introducing the Writer’s Toolbox
There’s no denying the importance of timely and accurate feedback, to help support the development of ideas and improve mastery of skills when learning new genres and communication types. A new tool that the English staff are incorporating into classes, to support students and the delivery of core content is the Writer’s Toolbox - an online portal where students can complete their written work and assessment drafts, and receive instantaneous feedback and analysis of their use of a number of core communication skills – sentence variety, spelling accuracy, vocab precision and fluency, and structure and cohesion.
So far this year, students have written 43,295 words in the WTB portal, providing invaluable data to both teachers and students, and allowing for instantaneous feedback. In just the first four weeks, there has been 539 instances of students using the feedback tool and from that 265 edits and improvements were made to the original writing. There have also been students, completely unprompted using the training modules to strengthen their fundamental skills and knowledge of effective writing. So far 128 training modules have been completed by students outside of class time.
Years 7- 8: Top 5 favourite books
- The 13 Storey Treehouse (series) – Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton
- The Famous Five (series) – Enid Blyton
- The Babysitters Club (series) – Ann M. Martin
- Wings of Fire (series) – Tui T. Sutherland
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians (series) – Rick Riordan
Years 9-10: Top 5 favourite books
- Harry Potter (series) – J. K. Rowling
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians (series) – Rick Riordan
- Maze Runner (series) – James Dashner
- I am Number Four – Pittacus Lore
- It Ends with Us – Colleen Hooper
Years 11-12: Top 5 favourite books
- The Mortal Instruments (series) – Cassandra Clare
- The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller
- The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
- Firestarter – Steven King
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austin
Term 1 Student Recommendations
Marley and Me – John Grogan
The Island of Lost Horses – Stacy Gregg
I am David – Anne Holm
Edge of Extinction – Laura Martin
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” George R. R. Martin
Year 12 Senior Shirts
Please see below information links and order forms for the Year 12 Senior Shirts
Latest in LOTE
Open to CSDE students studying Japanese from Years 5-11
An artwork no larger than A4 – any non-photographic mode (ie. Not a photo) is permitted.
Theme: ‘A trip to Japan,” must feature a rabbit (for Year of the Rabbit)
One entry per student.
Artworks will be put on display at the Rockhampton Mini-school in Term One and students will have an opportunity to vote for their favourite.
The top ten artworks will the be put on display at MLTAQ Conference later in the year.
One ‘People’s choice award’ will be selected for each year level and one overall award for the even via QR barcode voting at the MLTAQ Conference.
Please note that your submission will not be returned.
Please submit your artwork to: Stacey Stewart sstew107@eq.edu.au or Miranda Broadbent mjbro5@eq.edu.au by the 21st March 2023.
Guidance 'Go-2'
2024 QTAC Guide cover competition Over the past few years, we have featured artwork created by Queensland Year 12 Students on the front cover of our QTAC Guides, and this year we're doing it again! This year, our Passport and event merchandise will advertise our Cover Art Competition for our 2024 QTAC Guide. One lucky current Queensland Year 12 student will get the chance to show off their creative flair, with their artwork featured on the front cover of the 2024 QTAC Guide. Last year, our 2023 QTAC Guide Cover winner got a special prize from QTAC. Now is your chance to be in the running to win! Entries have been extended to 12 March. Show us your interpretation of the concept "Choose the Future" and click the button below to enter your artwork, or for further details. |
School Photos - access links will be emailed to families soon
School Photos will be held during Term One Mini-school. This year there will be no envelopes, as families will be emailed an access code link to be able to order thier photos online. Please keep an eye out for this email and regularly check your spam folder.
CSDE will also be issuing all Secondary Students in Year 7 - 12 with a student card from their 2023 school photo. The first card is supplied and paid for by the school. All replacement cards will be at the expense of the family.
Sibling phots will be on offer at Rockhampton Campus from 7:30am on Monday 13th March to allow families time for this to occur before having to take their secondary students to Conference on North. Any students with senior exams on photo day do not stress! Secondary photos will be taken after the conclusion of the Essential English exam that day.
CSDE is also very excited to be able to offer Year Level group photos this year! These photos are compiled virtually from all the students in that year level that had their photo taken. This is a new option for our families and we are very excited to be able to offer you the latest technology in creating digital memories.
Cultural Snapshot
Arnhem Land is located in the north-eastern corner of the Northern Territory, with an area of 97,000 km², including Kakadu National Park. Declared an Aboriginal Reserve in 1931, it remains one of the largest Aboriginal Reserves in Australia. Arnhem Land is perhaps best known for its isolation, the strong cultural traditions, and the output of its Aboriginal art. Arnhem Land Aboriginal communities have embraced the homeland or Outstation movement, allowing smaller family groups to move back onto traditional lands.
Northeast Arnhem Land is home to the indigenous Yolngu people, one of the largest Aboriginal groups in Australia, and one who have succeeded in maintaining a vigorous traditional indigenous culture. The Malays and Macassans are believed to have had contact with the coastal Aboriginal groups and traded with them prior to European settlement of Australia.
Arnhem Land is recognised as one of the world’s great centres for ancient Aboriginal rock art, which is a continuous tradition that leads into the contemporary Aboriginal paintings being produced today. Significant rock art sites are located in the areas around Ubirr Rock, Injalak Hill and Canon Hill, and include images that go back more than 10,000 years and perhaps 20,000 years or more.
The strong cultural heritage of this region is reflected in the quality and content of the Aboriginal art being produced today. The commitment to culture is summed up in 2009 by Gawirrin Gumana, leader of the Dhalwangu clan. “We want to stay on our own land. We have our culture, we have our law, we have our land rights, we have our painting and carving, we have our stories from our old people.”
Sourced from:
https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/collections/arnhem-land/
P & C Annual General Meeting
Community Announcements and Opportunities...
Applications for Rotary Youth Exchange are now open! Students in Years 9-12 with an interest in traveling abroad, learning a new language, and immersing themselves in a new culture and way of life are invited to apply for this opportunity. Rotary Youth Exchange offers both Long Term (12 months departing January 2024) and Short Term (8-12 weeks departing December 2023) programs, depending on students’ eligibility. For more information, and to start your application, visit ryea.org.au. For interest in hosting an overseas student within your family for 12-16 weeks, please complete an Expression of Interest online or email rye@rotary9560.org .