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20 November 201920 November 2019

From the Executive Principal

From the Executive Principal’sDesk

Congratulations to the GraduatingClass of 2019

I wanted to express how impressed I waswith the manner in which the graduatingclass of 2019 finished their 13 years of

schooling. Their efforts during the assessment period weregreat and the celebratory events at the end of the final weekwere respectful, well-ordered and a fair bit of fun. We wish youall every success in the future and hope you remain closelyconnected with “The Creek”.

Every Day Counts

I would like to ask for your continued support in encouragingstudent attendance at school up to and including the last dayof the school year. We have class work and/or review ofassessment tasks planned for the period of time following theformal assessment periods for every year level. The school willschedule some additional “reward” activities into the last weekfor students to be able to attend. As we did last year, we willalso begin our inter sub-school swimming carnivals for Years7,8 and 9 during the last week of term 4 to select our 2020inter-school swimming teams.

Awards Night

Congratulations to all our Award recipients at our AnnualAwards Night. The night was an amazing showcase of studenttalent and achievement. Just a reminder that I did publish afairly extensive Principal’s Report on the night to avoid having

to give a lengthy speech. This report is now available for you onour website.

Darrin EdwardsExecutive Principal

From the Principal of Senior School

Graduation 2019

I am extremely grateful to the parents, students and teachersfor the team effort in pulling off what was a very involvedbut rewarding and positive graduation week for the Year 12students. The students displayed overwhelmingly respectfuland positive behaviour. Staff were involved at a whole rangeof levels and had a myriad of tasks to perform. The SmokingCeremony with local indigenous man James Doyle, and histeam was also a highlight and of course the colour event isalmost certainly going to be a fixture from this year on. They sayit takes a village to raise a child, and it took an army to run theseevents. I am thankful for the positive feedback from all quartersso a heartfelt thank you all round. Feedback is welcome.

The New Senior System for Year 11 in 2019/2020

So now begins a new era in Senior Schooling. I will becorresponding to all families as we move towards exam timeand the Christmas break about expectations of Year 11 for theJanuary return. Year 11s begin exams on Monday, November25th but only in a couple of sessions, as classes remain running

on that day. The block exams start on Tuesday, November26th, when students are only required to attend if they havean exam, otherwise they can remain home and study. Classesresume again in January.

Year 10 Exams

Year 10 Exams also begin on Tuesday, November 26th whenstudents are only required to attend if they have an exam,otherwise they can also remain home and study. I ask thatparents impress upon Year 10 students the importance ofbeing on time for all sessions in the Leading Edge Building.These skills in punctuality are vital for the senior examenvironment they will enter in 2020. Classes also resume againin January.

Queensland Core Skills Test Update

On Wednesday, November 13th, students received their QCStest grades from A to E. The school is using this report to guideour predictions about final outcomes around OP scores. Somestudents have done particularly well in some subjects and it isthis grade set that will support what we are hoping to be terrificoutcomes for students

Student Leadership 2019/2020

My thanks to Ms Mullighan and Ms Acres for escorting theYear 10 students on the Halogen Young Leaders Day in Week6. These students will be able to think back fondly to theexperience and hopefully are beginning to consider a role instudent leadership in 2020.

Best Wishes

Andrew StonePrincipal Senior Secondary School

From the Principal of Junior Secondary

Excellence - Awards Night

It was a great honour to lead the organisation of our 25thAnnual Awards celebration – where we recognised theachievements of close to 400 students. An event as largeas this would not be possible without the contribution of anenormous number of people in our school community. TheCreative Arts performances on the evening were outstanding.I thank all members of the school community who donatedawards for this event. Congratulations also to our teachingstaff who work so tirelessly for the benefit of our students. Anamazing effort!

Opportunity – Make-Up Transition Morning

Date: November 28thTime: 9am – 10:30 amLocation: Performing Arts Block

For Year 7 students who have enrolled late and/or missed outOrientation day last term, we will be holding an introduction toJunior Secondary on November 28th. During this time, studentswill get to meet some of our Junior Secondary leaders and havea tour of the school. If your student is attending this session,please arrange to pick them up at 10:30 am. We will escortMountain Creek State School students back to their school at10:25 am.

Quality – Exams and Assessment

Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 students may not completeassessment early. Students must ensure that all assessment iscompleted by the end of term. Our junior students will remainactively engaged in learning. I thank you in advance for yoursupport with attendance and completion.

Dates for the diary

Opportunity – Support for the Sunshine CoastWater Angels

Staff at Chancellor State College are organising a second WaterAngels Event (the first one was water for Stanthorpecommunity). They are collecting water in 10 litre containers forpeople in Warwick. The collection day is Saturday, November30th and drop off is at Chancellor State College on Saturday,November 30th between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. We appreciateany support you could give to drought-stricken communities.

Andrea EvansPrincipal – Junior Secondary School

Craig HegartyDeputy Principal – Junior Secondary School

• Last day of Term 4 is December 13th.

• Reports will be emailed on December 12th. Any outof date email addresses should be updated prior tothis day. If you do not have an email address, a copywill be available from the school office on Friday,December 13th.

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Lindsay BakerHead of Department – Junior Secondary School

Senior School Update

University Headstart Success

I have had the privilege of speaking with young people abouttheir future pathway and their keen interest in tertiary study. Itis pleasing to see these young people attain their goals for theirpathway. Congratulations to our Year 10 and Year 11 studentswho have been accepted into the Headstart program at theUniversity of the Sunshine Coast for Semester 1 next year.

Harrison D, John D, Max D, Keita G-K, Samuel F, Asha J, Isla L,Logan M, Lilli M, Ethan R, Hayden S-F, Xara S, Jacob T, JordiT, Abbey W and Noah W.

Brejetta AcresSenior Head of Sub-school (Stradbroke)

Finance Information

Statements

Mountain Creek State High School Finance department emailsmonthly statements to remind families of what is outstandingfor 2019 excursions and fees. As we have raised invoices for2020 Student Resource Scheme, this invoice will also show onyour statement even though it is not due until January 31st,2020. We apologise with the due date confusion; however, aswe have the majority of families wanting to pay SRS before theend of this year, the 2020 SRS invoices were raised early toenable this. The Department of Education is currently updatingstatements to contain the correct due date schools arerequesting fees to be paid by. At present when any schoolraises an invoice, it has a 30 day due date.

Who will the statement go to? If you are listed as the debtoron our OneSchool system, all invoices/statements will email toyour nominated email account.

Payment Methods:

Statements will contain payment information that include a linkdirectly to the BPoint Payment portal to pay on-line. You will

need your invoice number and CRN (Customer ReferenceNumber) located on the statement.

Alternatively, there is a 1300 number to pay invoices via phone1300 631 073. QParents subscribers will also be able to accessand pay invoices through the QParents Portal.

Term Instalments

If you opted on your 2020 Financial Commitment form to pay2020 SRS in term instalments, you will not be sent a newinvoice. Payment of each instalment can be made against youroriginal invoice during the first week of each term. You willcontinue to receive monthly statements until the account is paidin full. Please ensure the first instalment is paid before the duedate, January 31st 2020, so that your son/daughter can receivethe resources they will require.

Instalment dates 2020

Year 7 – 9

Instalment1

due by Friday January31 2020

$140 ($105 SRS +$35 BYOx)

Instalment2

due by Friday April 262020

$105

Instalment3

due by Friday July 192020

$105

Total $350

Year 10 – 12

Instalment1

due by Friday January31 2020

$160($125 + $35BYOx)

Instalment2

due by Friday April 262020

$125

Instalment3

due by Friday July 192020

$125

Total $410

Credits

Account credits, created by subject changes, reduction of fees,or overpayment of fees are indicated on your statement by anegative sign (-) preceding the amount. The credit will stay onyour statement until you elect to use it. Please notify financestaff any time you wish to use this credit to pay for excursionsor activities, this does not happen automatically.

Lisa DunsdonBusiness Services Manager

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News from Coding and Innovation Faculty

STEM Academy Immersion Day

On Tuesday, November 12th the STEM Academy held itsImmersion day for the Year 7 students during which teams ofstudents continued applying lean startup methodology to theproblems they had identified and began considering possiblesolutions.

Special thanks to the mentors who made the day such asuccess. Specifically, thanks to:

STEM Classes in 2020

I’ve had recent enquiries as to whether students can apply forthe STEM Academy if they are going in to Year 8 or Year 9 ifthey have not been previously involved. The answer is YES! Weare keen for as many students as possible to develop the skillsso much in demand in society and by employers which are, inparticular: working in a team, thinking of creative solutions toreal-world problems, goal setting, critical thinking, and so on.

Students need to complete an application which is availablefrom the front office. They do have to have a good work ethicand want to develop their skills and knowledge – all while havingfun learning!

Senior Robotics Club – We’re off to theNationals!

This year has been the inaugural year for the CreekerBotsSenior Robotics Club. Meeting on a weekly basis, the grouphas learnt and practised some of the robotic building skills tocompete in the First Tech Challenge (FTC). In the lead up tothis year’s competition, the group took part in some Rookieand practice days hosted at regional schools. On Saturday,November 2nd the CreekBots took part in the QueenslandRegional finals. Overall, on the day there were six qualifyingrounds prior to the finals, with only the top eight qualifyingteams making it through to the Semi and Grand Final. Ouroverall results from the day were three wins, one draw and twolosses.

At the end of the qualifying rounds, the CreekerBots came in17th place from the 30 teams competing. This meant we werenot in the top 10 that automatically qualify for the Nationalcompetition. It was not until the end of the day that we receiveda judge’s invitation to attend the National Competition atSydney. Chosen for our robot’s construction feature of speedas well as how we upheld the FTC philosophies of ‘GraciousProfessionalism’ and ‘Co-operation’.

Junior Robotics Club – We’re also off to theNationals again!

Continuing on from the strong performances over the last twoyears which has seen the FIRST Lego League (FLL) CreekrBotJunior Robotics team head to Nationals, this year we have bothteams attending – CreekerBot1 and CreekerBot2.

Well done CreekerBots!

Good luck to our Senior and two Junior CreekerBotteams!

BYOD Laptops 2020 – Accidental Damage cover

With many families considering purchasing a laptop for theirchildren, it is timely to refer families to our BYOD MinimumSpecifications document:

https://mountaincreekshs.eq.edu.au/SupportAndResources/FormsAndDocuments/Documents/Information%20Technology/BYOD2020advice.pdf

In particular, I draw your attention to the section which includesour strong recommendation that families consider bothwarranty and accidental damage cover at time of purchase.

Graeme Breengbree3@eq.edu.auHead of Department – Digital Innovation

News from the Humanities Faculty

Social and Community Studies: QCAA AppliedSyllabus

In Social and Community Studies, the Year 11s are currentlyworking on a Health and Recreation Unit. The students arefocussing on all aspects of their well-being including Mental,Social, Physical and Emotional well-being.

• Business mentors: Kelly Lavery, Raphael McGowan,Ash Richardson, Francois Joubert, John Greenhalgh,Warren Schulz, Gwen Farrelly, Brian Keayes, AlSylvester, Asrar Ismail.

• Pitch Presentation mentor: Robyn Pullman

• Technical mentors: Julian White, Michael Warry,Andy Walpole

• Product Design mentors: James Burkwood, GlennStephens

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The focus this week has been nutrition and how eating theright foods, having a balanced diet and fuelling up with the rightnutrients before school can improve your mental, physical andemotional well-being. So, Mrs Dunn decided to put her class’sknowledge into action and took them into the kitchen wherethey prepared four easy, nutritious breakfast options: ProteinBooster Balls, Quick-n-easy Quiché, Vanilla Burcher Muesli andBlueberry Pancakes. Students’ prior research taught them thatall four items will not only sustain them with enough energy tooperate at full mental capacity at school, they also ticked allor most of the food groups making them a balanced meal fullof essential nutrients. These are meals that take less than 15minutes to prepare on a Sunday night and can then be grabbedout of the fridge or freezer and eaten on the way to school.

As the class were on limited timing the student’s socialwell-being was put to the test as they had to work together,communicate effectively and support each other to achieve thefour meals and clean up within the one lesson. Mrs Dunn wasthrilled to say that each and every student did themselves proudon the social front. At the end of 70 minutes the students leftfull of all the essential nutrients to tackle a great day’s learning!

Thank you also to Mrs Dunn for getting the students into thekitchen to give them real world experience and the chance toprove what they have learnt.

Tina SmithardActing Head of Department Humanities

International Baccalaureate Update

IB Immersion Day 2019

Year 9 students who have been accepted into the Year 10 IBPreparatory Program are invited to attend an IB Immersion Dayon Tuesday, December 10th. Students will participate in a dayof activities that focus on inquiry, critical thinking and the IBLearner Profile in a wide variety of subjects offered in IB.

Parents will soon receive a permission letter, to be completedand returned by Friday, December 6th, with further details.

Year 11 IB Week December 2nd to 5th

Year 11 students will have the bonus opportunity ofparticipating in IB Week 2019. Over the 4 days, students willhave the opportunity to have individual consultations with

teachers regarding their IAs, EEs, TOK presentations, HIs, andany number of other acronyms. Students will be collectingdata for their experiments, completing research, preparing andplanning for a successful final year of schooling in 2020.

Students are expected to arrive ready for a 7:30 am start anda later finish of 4:30 pm to accommodate all of the plannedactivities, making the most of uninterrupted lab time.

All resources utilised will be available from your subject Moodlesor the CAS Student Information Moodle.

Year 12 Students and Parents

A massive congratulations to all the parents, teachers, peersand supporters who have seen the class of 2019 studentsthrough to the end of Year 12 exams. We are immensely proudof the work they have put in and the way in which they carriedthemselves and each other throughout the intense 3 weeks.Students…you made it!

Students, teachers and administration members had theopportunity to celebrate and farewell the students at our annualIB Breakfast on October 23rd. There were many smiles andemotional wishes of thanks and good luck throughout thecrowd. Many thanks to the Year 11 IB students who wereexceptional, chefs, servers and clean-up crew. A special thanksto Thomas R for his expert videography skills and also Chloe Bfor her beautiful calligraphy on the invitations.

We wish all our graduands the best and look forward to therelease of results on January 3rd and seeing them back onFebruary 11th for their IB Graduation to celebrate theirsuccesses and hear of their next endeavours.

World Challenge

Students from Year 11 and recently finished Year 12 studentswill soon be up, up and away on their expedition to Thailandand Cambodia November 29th. We wish them safe andmemorable adventures and a valuable experience volunteeringon their community engagement project; and we look forwardto hearing more about their achievements in 2020.

Wishing all students a successful exam block and arejuvenating holiday break. See you in 2020!

Jessi HuntActing Head of Department InternationalBaccalaureateHead of Department - Resources

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Resource Centre News

Resource Centre | Year 7 Readers Cup

Huge congratulations to our Year 7 Readers Cup team, whocame first place in the Sunshine Coast Year 7 Regional ReadersCup competition in October. The competition was tight;however, Indiana E., Scarlett E., Ruby W., and Lara S.demonstrated perseverance, resilience and fantastic teamworkin the lead up to the evening, as well as in the competitionitself. The girls found themselves in a tie- breaker during the finalround against three other elite local schools, but their hard workpaid off, and they secured the cup with true Creeker spirit! Welldone girls!

Miranda StreeterTeacher/Librarian Resource Centre

Science Department News

Australian National Chemistry Quiz 2019 –Outstanding results

On Tuesday 30th July, senior chemistry students in both IBand QCAA curriculums participated in the Royal AustralianChemistry Institutes National Chemistry Quiz. The studentsoverall achieved very well with some students receivingrecognition for exceptional performances. As a cohort, the Year11 students performed above the state average which bodeswell for future achievement. The quizzes contain verychallenging questions and test both conceptual and skillsbased chemical knowledge.

Year 11

HighDistinction

Top 10% students in the state Lilli M

Distinction Top 10 – 25% students in thestate

Harry

Matteo D

Jun L

SukwheeK

Daniel W

Year 12

HighDistinction

Top 10% students in the state Corey B

Joshua H

MackenzieL

Lachlan M

AlexanderW

Distinction Top 10 – 25% students in thestate

Lyndon E

Mia M

James R

Science Competition 2019

Students from Mountain Creek State High School achievedsome outstanding results when they participated in the ICASScience Competition this year.

Overall students at Mountain Creek State High School received:1 High Distinction, 8 Distinctions, 14 Credits, 6 Merit awardsand 48 Participation awards..

Students who received a High Distinction are the top 1% ofstudents in the year level. Students receiving a Distinction are inthe top 10% of participants in the year level and those receivinga credit are the next 25 % of participants. Those receiving amerit award are in the next 10% of participants.

All students are to be congratulated on their significantachievements.

Students achieving a High Distinction

Lachlan B

Students achieving a Distinction

Olivia B Tom L

Fletcher C Jonas H

Arlis D Adrian N

Joseph C Piper M

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Students achieving a Credit

Nalani V Jack W

Alex M Ruby H

Maddi V Caleb H

Freya H Sophie W

Junseo L Tia L

Lara S Erika C

Sarah

Students achieving a Merit

Mahira V Liam B

Hope A Nate R

Liam I Samuel C

News from Sports and HPE

Two Silver Medals – Kayaking

Kate R (Year 10) competed in the Queensland Schools FlatWater Kayaking competition held at Coomera Lake on the GoldCoast in October. Kate placed 2nd in both the U16 femalemarathon (6km) and sprint (300m) events. An awesomeachievement, Kate – well done!

Baby Volleyball Creekers Shine

Dig, Set, Spike …

In October, two brave teachers, three keen senior girls andsixteen eager Year 7 boys and girls travelled to the Gold Coastfor an exciting three day weekend at the Queensland SchoolsVolleyball Cup. They did the school proud with two top 10finishes and the girls narrowly missing a medal, coming a veryrespectful 4th. Over 2000 students attended and multipleparents and coaches from other schools commented on ourCreeker sportsmanship and positive behaviour. Amber, Ariaand Sienna coached the teams and were excellent mentors toour aspiring new volleyballers.

Congratulations Baby Creekers!!

Mrs C and Mrs H

Student Services News

Parenting Ideas

Our school subscribes to the Parenting Ideas website whichprovides access to many practical and insightful articles. Thesearticles aim to assist parents and carers on the oftenchallenging but rewarding journey of having a family. Pleasesee the latest articles below. For more information and otherinteresting content, please visit:

http://www.parentingideas.com.au/

Parent & Student Information

Biomedical Science Graduate Starts Health TechJob

USC Biomedical Science graduate StormWoolley is applying his studies and technicalexpertise to a new role in the digital health division of a systemsintegration and technology company.

Storm, 28, of Buderim, is a project coordinator at Entag, athriving Maroochydore-based company that partners withTelstra, Apple and other private technology partners to providedigital solutions for government and business.

The Mountain Creek State High School graduate worked asa technician at a Telstra retail outlet while studying his latestdegree and previous USC Associate Degree in MedicalLaboratory Science.

He was one of three Biomedical Science graduates whoreceived academic excellence medals along with their degreesat the recent USC ceremony.

Young Passengers Road Safety

The University of the Sunshine Coast is commencing a youngpassengers’ road safety research project. We are looking forparticipants who are:

OR

This project, Young Passengers becoming young co-driversto improve adolescent road safety: SAFER-Passengers,

• Parents/Guardians/Grandparents of 15-18 years oldpre-learners;

• Pre-learners aged 15-18 years old.

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aims to encourage teenage passengers to act as co-driversand developing situation awareness skills even before theyobtain a Learner licence. We believe that by teaching theseroad safety skills in the pre-licensure period, we can instilpositive driving attitudes and behaviours for when they becomelearner drivers.

Should they wish to participate in this study, they will complete:

In order to reimburse participants for their time and effort in thisproject, they will receive:

It would be much appreciated if you can display the recruitmentflyer for us. Interested participants can contact the AdolescentRisk Research Unit (mpastorello@usc.edu.au) directly toorganise further involvement. Thank you very much for yourhelp.

P & C News

Next P & C Meeting: Monday 17th February2020 at 5:30 pm (Cartwright Room,

Administration Building)

Awards Night

One of my favourite events of the year is awards night, wherewe celebrate the all-round success of our kids.

The P&C is always proud to show our support at this evening,donating 12 awards this year.

Congratulations to all the teams and students for their amazingefforts this year.

Colour Run

History was made this year for the Year 12s with an inauguralColour Run featuring as their ‘Clap Out’ ceremony. The eventraised about $2,000 for the Chappy to the school and it’sanother example where the P&C was the forum used to makethe decision to proceed with this new initiative.

Congratulations and thank you to those involved in an amazingevent!

Remembrance Day

I and members of our Executive attended the school’sRemembrance Day ceremony. Having the whole school underthe one roof is quite a sight and I would like to congratulatethe students for the respect they showed throughout theceremony.

Year 12 Graduation

Another amazing event was the Year 12 Graduation held atSunCoast Christian College Auditorium. History was made heretoo - they were first of the compulsory preps, the last of theYear 7s in primary and the last of the OP students to graduateyear 12.

The kids (or young adults) all looked fantastic and it was anoutstanding event. Congratulations to all the parents for theirhard work to get these kids successfully through school and onto the next chapter of their lives.

As this is our last newsletter for the year, I would like to takethe opportunity to thank our P&C Executive - Virginia Brooker,Jo Reid and Matt Cleverly and our members for their voluntaryefforts this year.

I would also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Safeand Happy New Year and I look forward to working with Darrinand his team on some exciting initiatives in the new year.

Jason LawP & C President

Calendar of Events

TERM 4 2019

Year 12 IB Exams20 to22

Nov Year 11 Certificate II in Furniture MakingPathways Work Experience

Wed20

Nov

Year 8 and Year 9 Interschool Sport

Years 7, 8 and 9 Primary SchoolPerformance

Thu21

NovYear 11 Biology Ecology Excursion UQ

Week 7

Fri 22Nov

Year 10 and Year 11 IB Exams

Year 10 and Year 11 IB Exams

Year 10 QCAA Exam Block

Week 8 25 to29

Nov

Year 11 Certificate II in Furniture MakingPathways Work Experience

Week 9 2 to 6Dec

Year 11 IB Week

• An online road safety training package;

• 4 online surveys over a year (once every 3-month);

• 4 in-car driving recording (once every 3-month).

• A $40 Coles Groups & Myer gift card each time theycomplete an in-car recording and online surveys.

• Up to a total value of $160 in gift cards if theycomplete all research activities.

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TERM 4 2019

ASC Basketball Competition

Year 8 and Year 9 Interschool Sport

Mon9Dec

Awards Night

Year 8 and Year 9 Interschool SportFinals Day

Wed4

DecYear 7 and Year 8 Visual Art Exhibition

Thu 5Dec

Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 Primary SchoolPerformance

AVS Cup VolleyballWeek10

9 to13

Dec IB Immersion Day – Year 9 into Year 10

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