2009 Newsletters (PDF Format - Click on Issue links to open)

Issue 1 Highlights.

National Secondary School Computer Fund

On Wednesday last week, we were informed that our application for funding under the above program had been approved. We have been allocated an additional 202 computers for the school over the next two years, to enable us to bring our ratio of students computers up to 2:1, years 9 to 12. Our School Strategic Plan, however, is to leverage these funds to enable the introduction of a 1:1 student laptop program by 2010. This will involve some parental financial contribution (claimable against income tax returns), estimated to be around $150 per year. For this, each student will be provided a laptop (or Notebook) computer configured to the school and     Education Queensland systems, which they can use in all classes and take home with them each night. High speed wireless access will be established across the school and students will be able to access teaching notes, revision sheets, homework sheets, internet sites and most importantly other members of their classes from  home. This  is a far  reaching plan that  will radically  alter  the  process of teaching and learning for your children at our school within two years. Teachers are excited by the possibilities and have already begun assembling the e-material for student access.

You will hear much more about these unfolding plans as the 2009 year of preparation progresses.

We were delighted to welcome Mr James Bidgood, MP for Dawson, into our school last Thursday to officially announce this important Federal funding initiative.

Issue 2 Highlights.

Issue 3 Highlights.

Photos from the 2009 Induction Ceremony

Issue 4 Highlights.

Eighteen year 11 and 12 hospitality students went to Mackay last Tuesday to attend the annual Mackay Tourism and Hospitality Expo. The students experienced an array of different things from mocktail creation, food art, and sauteed snail tasting, to latte art, spun sugar manufacturing and espresso machine handling.

In addition to these fun-filled activities on offer, three teams of two students entered the table decoration competition. The judge’s comment was that this year’s entries were more professional and elaborate than ever before, in particular the way the students were dressed and the centrepieces and themes of the settings.

Joelle Raabe and Jasmyne Edwards entered a creation that was showcased at our previous Vintage Valentine’s function which placed them in fifth place.

   Ryan and Ivy  with their table setting.

Sam and Kerry with their table setting.

From the team I Do Events Whitsunday, Sam Camm, Kerry Giebel, Ryan Oxenham and Ivy Aspery managed to enter some  fantastic tables. They placed sixth and tenth. The silence and suspense in the room throughout the judging  indicated how much energy and hard work had gone into these creations as they waited nervously to be critiqued. The judges’ feedback was positive and educational making it a very worthwhile experience.

I have no doubt that the year 11 students have the determination and focus now to make sure next year’s entries are closer to the technical finish required to take out the title.

The students wish to thank I Do Events Whitsunday who aided them in their selection of table decoration equipment and also Scott Edmonds of TAFE Cannonvale for his superb coaching.

Jacqui Green

This year, more than any other year I have been involved, Proserpine students dominated the trials in both attendance as well as wins. A record eight students from Prossie High were selected in the North Queensland team to travel to Brisbane for the state trials.

Congratulations therefore must go to 2008 State representative Frans Badenhorst (senior boys number one), along with Jessica Baxter, Amy Humphries and Samantha Camm (senior girls numbers one, two and three), Luke Henry and Sam Hinschen (junior boys number one and four) as well as Emma Deicke and Brianna Clegg (junior girls number two and four).

Roger Madsen

From the Year Eight Co-ordinators…….

Well, here we are at the tail-end of term one! It’s gone extremely fast for the year 8 students (and teachers!). How have you as parents/carers adjusted to high school?

     There are still a number of assessment items due between now and the Easter break - please check the Year 8 Assessment Planner for details.

Our Students of the Week recipients for the last week are:

· Joe Borellini for always working well and being cooperative class member;

· Casey Soutar for displaying exemplary behaviour.

     As always, congratulations to these students who have had their efforts noticed. We know that these students aren’t the only ones who deserve mention each week. Maybe it’ll be their turn next ….

     Wishing you all a safe and relaxing break over Easter.

     Until next term,

Anne Reichel and Marijke Kuypers

“Bellisimo!”

Molto Buona Pasta!  This is the only way to explain Marino’s beautifully flavoured pasta which he demonstrated to the three classes of year 9 Fast, Fantastic Food students last week. Marino from Airlie Beach Marino’s Deli demonstrated the art of fresh pasta making from a mound of flour on the bench mixed passionately with five eggs. Students eagerly helped by kneading in a variety of flavours from rich tomato paste to fresh garden spinach into the dough, before he hand cut and shaped the long noodles. Five minutes later the cooked pasta was being devoured by the students with a Neapolitan/Bolognese sauce with the fresh ‘smelly’ cheese - ayah the parmesan!!

Thanks heaps to Marino from the cooking staff. The students every much appreciated the time Marino gave to the three classes.

 Left: Marino’s pasta

Students comments:

Da Marino’s pasta was delicious. The way he made his pasta was so cooool!! He is really talented at making pasta. It was really yummy!

     We thank him for his time and his demonstration. I really   enjoyed the demo and the pasta.

     The pasta was delicious and satisfying.

     Da Marino’s demonstration of how to make, prepare and cook fresh pasta was very interesting and the whole class enjoyed it. His pasta was very delicious.

     Our class greatly enjoyed learning from Marino’s infinite pasta wisdom.

     We were intrigued by his quick methods of pasta making, the pasta machine and also the repeated use of rolling pin to make  it thinner so that in the end the pasta was thin, smooth and long.

Jenny Stratford

John Fowler & Tamika Gregory

Vision comes true

When the thought of a cenotaph at our high school became a reality, our local community became a buzz.

      Many thanks go to the people from our great community. Neville McLiesh who donated the rock and cement, RSL of A Proserpine Branch who paid for the kerbing, Tas whom placed the curbing around our gardens, Matt from Plants Whitsunday, Thinkwater Whitsunday for the irrigation system, Whitsunday Funerals for the white cross, Michael and Carol Lee for the steel for the flags and the ANZAC Day Commemoration    Committee for the plaque.

Working hand in hand with our School Officer (Grounds), Harry Humphrey, who may I say “Did the school proud”, we had the job finished on April 23, just in time for the ANZAC Day Ceremony at our school on April 24.

How proud and humble I was to see Mr Roff, staff and   students support me in my vision. This was a truly moving  experience.

Elizabeth Balma

On 5, 6 and 7 May, three year 9 Food Technology classes visited Airlie Beach Plaza to tour and enjoy a dining experience with Off Ya Noodle and Pasta Bar.

    The classes have been studying pasta making and sauces. The main emphasis of this excursion was to see the style of wok cookery and the stir frying techniques. The restaurant cooked on two huge woks with an intense heat and wild flame. Some students bravely volunteered to battle the wok and flame and we all gained lots of knowledge as Wayne and Nathan answered the questions we fired at them and showed us through the kitchen and cold room. The food selection was fresh and colourful with an amazing variety of foods like water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. The foods provided different colours, tastes and textures. The noodles were thick and thin, some egg and some rice. Every student had the experience of ordering their own noodle and sauce selection to create their own texture and flavours in their noodle box.

    Thanks to Wayne, Nathan and Jordan (the awesome chefs) who showed us how they amazingly cooked stir fry in 1½ minutes. They gave over 75 students great value with an extremely tasty luncheon experience of wok in a box with a choice of our drink.

    We thank them greatly and some of the students will certainly be returning for more delicious noodles.

Jenny Stratford

Senior Ski Trip 2009

New Zealand – Here We Come!

A group of forty-seven students and four eager staff are busily preparing for the ski trip. The group    depart Proserpine on June 27 to spend a week skiing Mt Hutt and sight seeing   Methven and Christchurch. The trip has been 18 months in the planning and is now less than a month away. Students and staff are currently attending fitness sessions, sourcing clothing and organising cash for the trip. The season has opened 2 weeks early and is promising to be a fantastic season for snow – good planning!! Stay tuned for some great stories on our return.

Leanne Farr

Career Day - 3 June

Real people, real jobs real experiences

As part of the school Career Education Program we invited local people from a wide variety of professions to talk to the years 10, 11 and 12 students about their own field of work. We asked the guest speakers to talk about their real experiences, the good and the bad, their day to day routines as well as the more dynamic aspects of their jobs.

Over 30 industry representatives from 26 career fields talked to over 400 students about a day in the life of their chosen  careers and the pathways they travelled to get there. Students were able to choose three different sessions to attend.

The event was aimed at giving the students detailed information on specific career fields with an opportunity for the students to ask questions in an informal setting, enabling them to gain information to use in their own career planning.

Organised by Guidance Officer, Sharon Rudinski and Whitsunday School Industry Links Scheme Inc. (WSILS), coordinator, Nicole Jolley, the event was one part of the school’s   Career Education Program. The program also involves work experience and industry placements, visiting career markets, work education programs, industry visits, university experiences and career planning. Over the next few months it will be a critical time for the year 12 students for their future employment or study options, as well the year 10’s who will be making  decisions about possible career pathways including school based apprenticeships and traineeships and subject selections for year 11 and 12.

The morning was a great success due to the fantastic support from local people who were willing to give up their time to provide such insights into their working lives so that our  students are better able to make informed decisions about their future career choices.

Senior Ski Trip

New Zealand 2009

“We came, we went, we conquered! And we will be back!!!” I think there is no better testament to a trip than the staff planning for the next one before their arrival home.

There are no secrets – there were a few dramas – I hurt my knee (not a spectacular fall – how embarrassing) and missed a couple of great skiing days!!

OK seriously – what a fantastic trip! A lot was thrown at us, from medical emergencies to getting bogged due to the snow falling, etc. As a group we did Proserpine proud. Talk to some of the tripees and get some of the goss! Some of the events will make great stories to tell now and in the  future.

Firstly, the air hostesses complemented us on how well mannered our students were and this then continued on and on and on again. So PLEASE make sure this is just not unique behaviour from your loved ones and congratulations and well done. You were great ambassadors for our school.

Back to the trip – we were met (after 4 hours sleep) with a fabulous day skiing. It was amazing to watch the weather change in the afternoon and day 2 was poor visibility close to white-out conditions. A good contrast and great to experience (only because the rest of the week was magnificent).

Day 3 was exhilarating – cold and thrilling – yes – a jet boat ride. Followed by retail therapy in Christchurch, the must do Cookie Time stop and a bus ride comparing the shopping experience. Those contemplating the next trip Chocolate Fix cookies are the way to go. Hey Cody! (0ne thing we agree on!)

Day 4 saw a good day skiing – the highlight being the snow falling. AWESOME!!! And later that night more snow in Methven (17cm of snow overnight). Thursday’s skiing was good – great snow but a windchill made it cold. OK don’t mind missing the skiing. However, come Friday,   beautiful (apparently one of the best for the season – even to come). A warm 2°C and great slopes – yes, not one person did not appreciate this and we (they) made the most of it.

Last day saw a lovely drive through the countryside before arriving at Willowbank. Here we had lots of fun learning about Maori culture, mastering the pois, and sticks (for those who coordinated!) and the Haka! We then made our way through the animal park and the kiwi enclosure. Lemurs are still my favourite! We then had more retail therapy/cultural experience or went to watch Transformers!! (A boy thing – maybe!)

Our last night we took the gondola up to Pinnacles Restaurant. The view is supposedly AWESOME (shame about the low cloud cover). Lucky the food was superb and nothing like a spot of fine dining to finish the experience. Into the motel and up early for the flight home.

LOADS OF FUN, THRILLS, EXCITEMENT AND SATISFACTION.

Everyone was challenged and experienced new things and experienced varying levels of success and most of all had FUN.

We will try to go again in 2011 so start saving for the ultimate school trip and hope the weather will allow for such good conditions.

Leanne Farr, on behalf of Sam Wilson, Grant Brockley and Larissa Scoles.

Article published in Cruise Whitsundays NEWS

PROSERPINE HIGH SCHOOL

WORK EXPERIENCE

Believing it’s important to support our local community, Cruise Whitsundays recently held a Work Experience Program over the school holidays for eight students from Proserpine High School. The students spent the week completing crew induction training and then getting experience working as cruise attendants and deck hands on Seaflight, Camira and the Resort Connections vessels. They also completed basic diver training and a dive experience out at Knuckle Reef. Everyone completed the full week and we know they loved it because they all asked how soon they could leave school and start working for us!

Here are a couple of pictures from our last day out on Camira… a bit of a fun day and a bit of work!

We are thankful that there are numerous students who have pride in their school, are prepared to stand up and help shape the future of their/our school.

Due to busy time constraints there are still a couple of interviews to go, but congratulations to the following students who join our current year 12s and will be our senior leaders in 2010:

Jarrad Aurthur, Dayle Bates, Sarah Budd, Holly Campbell, Caitlin Daly, Alana Dries, Renee Faust, Sam Forrestal, Sheree Galea, Ella Haig, Laura Hinschen, Ben Lloyd-Lewis, Samantha Lumby, Jordan Madeley,  Emily McDonald, Amy Mills, Alicia Murolo, Kat Rowe, Megan Sharrock, Lauren Simpson, Nina Sinclair, Dylan White

Leanne Farr

Arts News

Proserpine instrumentalists recently spent five days in Sydney working with some of Australia’s leading musicians from the Sydney Symphony and Australian Army Band, as well as a few international professionals including Dr Robert Busan and LA Symphony’s principal trombone player. The trip  culminated in performances at the NSW Band Festival where we had the honour of premiering a new Australian composition, before going on to earn  silver and bronze awards, and praise from  Australia’s Big Band great, Ed Wilson who called the band “The best performance of the day”.

PSHS ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 2009

Wednesday 12 August, Proserpine State High School held it’s annual athletics carnival. Six hundred enthusiastic students attended adorned in their house colours, some rather         ridiculous costumes and showed a wonderful display of school pride.  The tradition of the house captains making motivational speeches to motivate their own house and sometimes taunt their opponents before leading their teams into the fray of the athletics arena continued.

      The day itself was full of students jumping, throwing,      running and cheering for their house with plenty of laughs along the way. Again, it was attendance and participation that won the day with Oxley narrowly defeating Kennedy in the closest result for a long time. Cook finished third with Flinders in fourth place.

There were excellent numbers participating enthusiastically in all events. Congratulations to all those who attended and participated in a great day. You were part of a team that worked together to achieve your best. Congratulations to our athletes who competed for both team and the individual     honours of personal bests and age champions. New records were set by Adam Bugeja in the 13 years boys 3000m, Robert   Reents in the 13 years 800m and the Kennedy 13 years boys 4 x 100m relay.

Age Champions

13 years Jacinta Win (Flinders) & Keiran Anderson (Oxley)

14 years Lauren Partridge (Kennedy) & Joel Wayne (Kennedy)

15 years Kate Roulston (Flinders) & Scott Lee (Flinders)

16 years Charlie Raiteri (Kennedy) & Harry Quod (Oxley)

17/18 years Hannah Little (Cook) & Jago Clarke (Oxley)

Thanks go to all the staff who helped during the day which once again turned out to be a highlight of the school calendar.

‘Sweet As’ School Farm

This term several students have been working on many fun and challenging tasks at the school farm. The tasks have included feeding the chooks, collecting the eggs and packing them ready for sale. Some eggs are huge with double yokes!

Other tasks have included planting and picking coz lettuce, planting tomatoes, corn and watermelon ready for summer.  Currently, we are tidying up the paddocks with the ride-on mower and getting ready to plant a more edible grass for our sheep. Also we are fixing fences so our pigs and chooks keep out of our veggie garden.

Students involved have again put in a solid effort this term. Well done all!

Written by Stephanie Bradshaw

Farm Project Manager, Chris Lane

Right Hand Man, Paul Jarman

2009 MRAEL AWARDS PRESENTATION

Dion Vinci won the School-Based Apprentice of the Year award on Monday 28 September at a ceremony held at the Mackay   Entertainment and Convention Centre.

The sponsor for his award was Mackay Christian College Trade Training Centre.

Terry Kemp from Terry Kemp Builders nominated him several months ago. Although Terry wasn't present at the award night, Dion rang him immediately after and Terry was absolutely stoked that Dion had won the award. Terry had just won a housing industry award. For a builder and his apprentice to take out top honours within the same month is outstanding.

Dion’s sister Aimee flew up from Melbourne especially to be there along with the remainder of his family, friends and his mentor Al Bacon attended to cheer for him.

Dion would like to thank Terry Kemp, Terry's family and staff, the staff at MRAEL Cannonvale, teachers at Proserpine State High School, teachers at Mackay T.A.F.E, Al and Lesley Bacon, Tony and Dianne Spreadborough, friends and his family, especially his mum and sister for their on going support.

Netbooks in Robotics

During term four, a number of classes have been participating in a Netbook trial – including the year 10 robotics class. This class has been learning how to program a Lego robot to perform certain actions. Being in the Netbook trial has allowed them to experience a wireless network and students have been enthusiastic about  using the lightweight, portable Netbooks, however, some students have lamented that they really miss their mouse.

Skylah Lee (year 10 robotics class)