CSDE Weekly eNewsletter, Week 3, 5th May 2023

CSDE School Values

Mission: Supporting every student to reach their highest potential

Accountability is a crucial value in any school environment. It means taking responsibility for one's actions and being answerable for the consequences of those actions. In the context of education, accountability ensures that students, teachers, and staff members are all held to a high standard of performance, and that everyone is committed to achieving their best.When prioritised, accountability helps to create a culture of excellence. Students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning, to set goals, and to work hard to achieve them. Teachers and staff members are held accountable for providing high-quality instruction and support, and for creating a safe and inclusive learning environment.Accountability builds trust between students, teachers, and staff members and creates a sense of fairness and transparency that promotes positive relationships and effective communication. Accountability fosters a growth mindset, where mistakes and failures are viewed as opportunities for learning and improvement. Students who are held accountable for their actions learn to take responsibility for their mistakes, reflect on what they can do differently in the future, and take steps to make positive changes. When everyone is committed to being accountable for their actions, it promotes personal growth, positive relationships, and academic success.

Mini-school 15 - 19 May

Don't forget to RSVP for the upcoming Mini-school and Home Tutor Sessions

Parents & Citizens Association - Special Meeting Notice - Fundraising

Please see meeting details below for SPECIAL Meeting to go over fundraising for our P & C.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could attend this meeting to discuss and raise any concerns around fundraising within our P & C.

9 May 2023 – 3:30pm

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 462 402 626 143
Passcode: E5amG7

Download Teams | Join on the web

Principal's Report

Please see link below to access Amanda Rynne's Principal's Report that was presented at the last P&C meeting.

Primary Parent Teacher Interviews - Bookings Close Sunday 7th May

Primary Parent Teacher Interviews

Capricornia School of Distance Education would like to offer parents the opportunity to discuss their child’s educational performance with their child’s teacher(s).

Schoolzine Booking Instructions below

1. Click on the ‘Parent Teacher Interview Tile in the Szapp or
2. CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR BOOKING
   
3. Have your phone available at the interview time, as the teacher will be calling you via phone.

 The link for parent instructions - CLICK HERE FOR PARENT INSTRUCTIONS

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the school on 4931 4800.

Purpose:

Parent-teacher interviews give you the opportunity to:

• learn more about your child’s academic, emotional and social development
• meet and get to know your child’s teacher
• help you understand more about your child
• discuss how you can support your child in the classroom
• build a relationship with the teacher as a partner in learning

If the hours in which you as a Home Tutor are supervising your student are not suitable, or if there are no more available booking spots left for your preferred time, please contact your child’s teacher via email to organise an alternative time.

The ‘Staff Contact Lists’ are available in the Primary, Secondary and Whole School Cohorts in QLearn. (Look for the button below)

Athletics Carnival

Tuesday 6th June will see our students in both Primary and Secondary converge on the oval at Marist College Emerald for our annual CSDE Athletics Carnival in a sea of red and yellow.

Whether you are a Wattle or a Banksia supporter we would love for you to come along; participate and cheer  for your team!  The Parents and Citizens will be putting on a BBQ for your convenience. 

If your child is wishing to participate in events at the Athletics Carnival, you will need to complete the nomination form below (and attached to the event in the calendar). These will need to be returned to:

Mr Murray Harch by no later than Tuesday 23rd May 2023. Email: mharc4@eq.edu.au. 

Age Champion will be awarded for ages 9 - 18 boys and girls.

Please RSVP your attendance for Athletics Carnival below

Unfortunately we are unable to offer discus this year. If your child would like to compete in discus, please contact a school in your local area to arrange for them to compete at their athletics carnival. 

What's been happening in Primary?...

Primary Emerald

Prep

In Term 2, Prep students have been writing their names and are beginning to write sentences with capital letters and full stops. We have been making letters with playdough and having lots of fun during our online lessons. Mrs Shepherd is looking forward to home visits with the Prep students this term.

Secondary Scoop

English

A very warm welcome from the staff of the Secondary English department. As we finish up Week 3 of Term 2 most of the English classes are firmly in the midst of the teaching and learning for our Term 2 unit subject matter. Everyday, English teachers are working hard to prepare and deliver interesting, relevant and engaging content for all students. With Mini-school only a week away and the start of the Term 2 assessment period commencing shortly thereafter, here are some important dates for English assessment:

English @ T1 Mini-school

At CSDE we pride ourselves on the strength of our working partnership. In preparation for Term 1 Mini-school we reached out to the Education Officers at Darumbal Cultural Connection to utilise their unique knowledge of indigenous storytelling. We were thrilled to have Darrumbal elder, Nhaya Nikki and Darumbal Cultural Coordinator, LeLarnie Hatfield, join with the Secondary English staff and students to engage with the stories the Darrumbal people.

Writer’s toolbox update

I’m pleased to say that student engagement with Writer’s Toolbox has continued to flourish since the initial introduction of the program. To date, students have utilised the WTB feedback tool over 2100 times, and made 750 improvements to their writing, which resulted in an average improvement of 39% in the quality of writing when compared with the original draft versions.

Other interesting data to come out of the end of Term 1 Writer’s Toolbox data collection is that Secondary CSDE students have independently completed 470 learning modules to strengthen their knowledge of fundamental skills. They have also read more than 35,000 words in reading comprehension activities.

Extra-curricular writing opportunities

Given that one of the major focus in English classes throughout Term 2 is ‘storytelling’ I been encouraging students to enter and engage with a number of extra-curricular opportunities which build upon the skills covered in class. These opportunities include:

• Independent Education Union Literary Competition – Poetry, short story and non-fiction prose competition open to students from Years 5 -12. Entries close 16^th June

Competition website

• Capricorn Coast Writer’s Festival – Biennial literary festival featuring guest speakers, workshops and information sessions which aims to foster a love of books and reading. Event runs between 2^nd-4^th June

Festival website

• Dymocks Beyond Words Writing Competition – Short stories between 500 – 1500 words for any student under 18 years of age. Free to enter. Entries close 31^st May

Beyond Words website

Visual Arts

Year 10 SET Plan - Thursday 11th May 6:00pm

Join the Webinar on Thursday 11th May at 6:00pm 

Session will be held in the QLearn Secondary Cohort

Guidance 'Go-2'

Girls Confidence & Motivation - Click the download link below

Cultural Snapshot

CSDE CULTURAL SNAPSHOT

Please help us share information about ABSTUDY support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students.

We’d like to ensure families know about how ABSTUDY can help support high school students. This includes families whose children are living at home and may not know they’re eligible. When students live at home, eligible families can get support with school fees and school materials like uniforms, textbooks and stationery.

It’s not too late to claim ABSTUDY support for the 2023 school year.

Please share our ABSTUDY for students living away from home post on your school Facebook accounts.

You can download the ABSTUDY high school eKit from our website and both:

• print or share by email the ABSTUDY payments when students live at home factsheet
• use the ABSTUDY PowerPoint presentation to help families learn about the ABSTUDY support available.

You can also:

• go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/abstudyproviders for more information for education providers about ABSTUDY
• follow us on facebook.com/ServicesAustralia to see future posts about ABSTUDY we would greatly appreciate your help sharing.

Kind regards,

ABSTUDY
Services Australia
Phone: 131 158

Darumbal Awards Nominations

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Awards Night is a night where our community celebrate the achievements of our First Nation Students. Run by Darumbal, this night allows schools to acknowledge their appreciation of the students that have flown the flag for their school with respect, hard work, effort and dedication that they have put in throughout the year.

Below are the categories that students can be nominated in. Only grades 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12 can be nominated. If your child is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or you know of a student here at CSDE that identifies and would like to put their name forward for us to consider, please let Kate Miles know on kmile19@eq.edu.au by Thursday 1^st June.

Message from your P&C - General Meeting tomorrow - Tuesday 10th October, 3:30pm

Please note there will be a general meeting on Tuesday 10th October at 3:30pm.

Please forward any discussion items for agenda. Link in the schoolzine calendar event and below.

Week 2 – Term 4 – Tue 10 Oct 2023 

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 435 302 797 627
Passcode: 7fcgwz

Download Teams | Join on the web

Learn More | Meeting options | Legal

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.

New and Improved Szapp - Faster, smarter and more reliable

There is a new version of SZapp available for Android and IOS Devices. Please ensure that you have updated to this version to assure you receive communications from the school.

If you are using an Android Device, you will need to uninstall the old app and install the new version.

IOS Devices (iPhones) will be able to update without requiring a re-install.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we are confident that the improvements in the new version will make it worth it.

An online guide on how to install and register/login to SZapp is available on the Schoolzine Website here:

Click here to view the Installation Instructions

Please note that CSDE has the added security of a passcode. You will be required to enter 3613 when asked. 

If you experience any difficulties with completing this process, please reach out to Schoolzine using support@schoolzine.com. To assist with your query, they ask that you provide a description of the issue you are facing, the email address you are using when facing this issue and a screenshot of the issue.

Improvements

We know how important it is to have a communication tool that works reliably, and we have made sure that SZapp now meets the highest standards of reliability.

Additionally, the new version provides improved speed and performance, which means you can now access your school's communication channels and updates faster than ever before. We have also made sure that SZapp is now more compatible with a wide range of devices.

Finally, we have added even more security protocols to SZapp. Your data and personal information are now even more protected, giving you peace of mind when using SZapp.

We welcome your feedback