Woree Highlights Newsletter, Mid Term 4 - November

From the Principal

Principal’s Report – Term 4, Week 5

Dear Parents and Carers,

As the year progresses it just seems that every week is getting busier and the days are flying by.  We are rapidly approaching the end of the year and shortly we will farewell our Year 12s, followed a week later by our Year 11s and 10s.

There have been a multitude of exciting events and reasons for celebration happening already this term and I will highlight just a few.

2024 School Captains

The Year 11 aspiring leaders had to hit the ground and finalise their applications for 2024 Student Leadership roles by the end of Week 1.  During Week 2 the nominees presented speeches to the Year 10s and 11s and participated in individual interviews with the selection panel.

We are excited to welcome our 2024 School Captains, Amrita, Olivia, Vanya and Jesse, and Student Council Presidents, Xybelle and Geena.

Woree’s Got Talent

We started Week 2 with the final of Woree’s Got Talent 2023.  Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the final.  Performing in front of peers is daunting and requires great courage.  Well done to Amrita who was named the 2023 champion.

Mental Health Week

During Week 3 we celebrated a belated Mental Health Week.  The Wellbeing and Engagement teams organized an interesting array of events that included yoga with a puppy, dancing, Indigenous games, craft activities and making healthy nourish bowls.  Students and staff benefited from the opportunity to participate in activities that were kind to their body and mind.

Sports Awards Ceremony

We also celebrated the outstanding sportsmanship and abilities of our students during Week 3 at the Sports Awards Assembly.  For a relatively small high school we have an enormous depth of sporting talent and students just willing to get in and give it go.  Congratulations to all of the sports men and women who were recognized for their efforts this year.

QCT TeachX Award and World Teachers’ Day

Week 4 saw us celebrate Education Week in Queensland.  The week is always finished off with World Teachers’ Day.  Thank you to the P and C and SRC who combined to provide a beautiful morning tea and hampers for our teachers in recognition of the hard work and commitment they put in every day.

The Queensland College of Teachers recognizes the most outstanding teachers across Queensland each year with their Teach X Awards.  This year there were more than 290 teachers nominated across 7 categories.  Thirty-one teachers were recognized with an award for the innovative and supportive work they are doing in school.  Our very own, Ms Heather Crothers was the recipient of an award in the Beginning Teacher category.  This is a wonderful and worthy recognition of Heather’s work here at Woree SHS.

Cairns Youth Council

Cairns is the second city in Queensland to embrace the opportunity of electing a Youth Council to represent the youth of Cairns in a similar way to the Cairns Regional Council.  We had three students nominate for election on the Council.  Voting occurred in all schools across Cairns during Week 5 and we are elated to announce that all three of our candidates, Olivia, Millie and Braydon have been elected to the Cairns Youth Council.

SET Plans and Subject Selections

Earlier this term our Year 10 students participated in SET Plan interviews with their parents/carers.  The students had been exploring their desired future pathways throughout the year as part of their Careers Education program and this has culminated with their SET Plan and Year 11 subject selections.

Our Year 7, 8 and 9 students have also now had the opportunity to select subjects for next year.

If your child has missed out on selecting subjects or has changed their mind about their choices, please direct them to see Mr Ryan (Junior Secondary) or Mr Wright (Senior Secondary) as soon as possible.

Farewell Year 12s

During Week 4 we farewelled our 2023 SchoolTech graduating class.  These students were already on a work pathway and most have commenced their fulltime employment including a number who will be completing apprenticeships and traineeships.

Shortly we will farewell our Woree campus Year 12s.  Our Woree Year 12 students will be finishing their external exams early next week and we look forward to seeing them return on Wednesday 15 November to prepare for their final day and Graduation Ceremony on Friday 17 November.

Presentation Night 2023

On Wednesday 15 November we will celebrate our annual Presentation Night.  This major annual event is an opportunity to celebrate the diverse range of achievements of our students and to say thank you to staff, parents, carers and community members for all of the support they provide our students that enables them to reach their potential.  I encourage you to attend.

New Mobile Phone Policy – Away for the Day

From the start of the term, we introduced our new mobile phone policy that requires students to keep their mobile phones and other devices away for the day.

Thank you to all of the parents and carers that have supported us to implement this new policy.  Staff are already making many positive comments about the increased engagement of students in class due to the absence of distractions caused by their phones.  We have also seen an increase in students engaged in healthy social activities during the breaks.

Facilities Updates

Over the holidays we continued to have a number of areas of the school renovated and refurbished:

• Renovations to J02 to create the Stronga Sista’s club room
• External painting of C Block
• Bi-annual gutter cleaning across the whole school
• Window replacements in M Block
• General repairs in D, C, P and K Block
• Air conditioner replacements in P Block
• Annual pest control treatment

Regards

Kathryn Todd

Principal

School Leaders - 2024

Congratulations to our 2024 School Leaders:

Geena (School Council), Vanya, Jesse, Amrita, Olivia and Xybelle (School Council).

We know you will be fantastic leaders and role models for everyone at Woree State High School!

Good News Stories

Teaching Award for a Woree SHS Teacher

On Thursday 26 October, I had the absolute honour of attending the QCT TeachX Awards in Brisbane to see Heather Crothers, Arts and IT Teacher collect her award in the Beginning Teacher category.  I was blown away by the quality of work being undertaken by all 31 educators who received an award this year.  There were over 290 nominations for the awards this year so to make through to being 1 of the 31 recipients is an outstanding achievement by Heather. You can view Heather’s short bio video and a video of her receiving her award on the Woree SHS Facebook and Instagram pages.

Kathryn Todd

Principal

Cairns AFL Reserves Top Player

Congratulations to our HOD, Junior Secondary Mr Doug Ryan for being awarded the Reg Dean Medal for the best and fairest player in the AFL Reserve Competition Cairns. Doug has been playing AFL for most of his life and has played for 6 years for Trinity Beach Bulldogs who practice twice a week for an 18 game season. Doug loves the game of AFL and feels excited about his award and that it is a great individual achievement.

Editor

Year 8 Coordinator Report

Term 3 Camp

At the end of Term 3, 44 students attended Tinaroo Environmental Education Centre for a 3 day camp. Students had the opportunity to canoe, build rafts, do a high ropes course and participate in team building activities. The Year 8s were also responsible for erecting their own tents, keeping the camp site clean and washing up after breakfast and dinner. It was wonderful to see the teamwork, friendship and resilience shown by the students over the 3 days.

Lauren Maxwell

Year 8 Coordinator

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Rewards Lunch for Outstanding Year 8s

How best to reward the fabulous Year 8 students who have the best behaviour record for the 2023 school year? By treating them to a delicious lunch of sandwiches, scones, a dip platter and slices prepared by the great Tuckshop crew. These upstanding students either had 1 or no recorded behaviour incidents throughout the whole of 2023.

Mr Ryan and Mr Starr came along to congratulate the students for their wonderful behaviour this year.

Lauren Maxwell

Year 8 Coordinator

Year 10 Student Report

A Word from a  Year 10 Student

Our term started out with a trip to Green Island to celebrate the top 15 students from each senior year level. Students had to be on Good Standing, meaning they had to top attendance and no minor or major behaviours to be eligible to attend the trip. It was a great day and we’re already looking forward to next year’s trip.

To end 2023 with a bit of fun and build camaraderie amongst peers, Ms Parsons has organised a Form Class challenge for the year 10 cohort. Challenges have included broad jumps, puzzles, trivia and targeted attendance improvements - all to be completed during form time. Our most successful challenge so far has been the random acts of kindness where staff were encouraged to ‘dob’ in a year 10 student as they executed their random act of kindness. It was great to see the year 10s vying for first place, however the two winners of this challenge went above and beyond what was expected as they took this challenge out into the wider community. Sharmilla (10B) is doing great things in the community as she competes for the title of Young Mayor of Cairns, while Rhylee (10CL) helped out one of our teachers when he came off his bike one afternoon after school.

Year 10s are also preparing to participate in the 11s-4-7s program where they support our year 7 cohort of 2024. Year 10 students will need to nominate by week 7 of this term and will then return to school in week 10 to learn how to mentor the year 6’s on the Tuesday before the Year 6 into 7 transition day on the Wednesday. Next year, the year 11’s will then plan and run various activities for the Year 7 cohort to build relationships and assist in a more supportive transition to high school.

Fa-asega (10B)              

Years 10, 11 & 12 Coordinators Report

Ferry, Sun and Sand – A Seniors’ Reward Day

On Thursday 12 October, fifteen Year 10, 11 and 12 students travelled to Green Island to celebrate a successful 3 terms of learning. Everyone enjoyed themselves and a great day was had by all.

Jodie Keirle

Year 11 Coordinator

YEAR 11

Leadership Camp at Quinola Lakes

In Week 10 of Term 3, 56 Year 11 students travelled with 13 amazing staff to Quinola Lakes for the annual Year 11 Leadership camp. The camp was a massive success and a great time was had by all.

The Year 11s were placed into groups that were significantly different from their usual friendship groups and  had to work their way through 5 activities over the 3 days. This was challenging and put them outside their comfort zones. They all participated to the best of their ability, embraced the challenge and did an amazing job despite some stages of the camp being very cold. The activities were designed to test their ability to communicate effectively and work collaboratively in a team. It brought the best out in all of them and it was wonderful to watch them develop as people over the 3 days.

The camp provided a basis for our 2024 School Leaders to develop their reasoning for wanting to be a leader at Woree and the process clearly works because the incoming school captains are a fabulous bunch.

The camp is best shown in the photos below. Enjoy!

Jodie Keirle

Year 11 Coordinator

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Senior Shirts 2024

Week 4 has seen the Year 11s able to wear their senior shirts for 2024. It has been an interesting, creative project with the final product being fantastic! How great they look.

Jodie Keirle

Year 11 Coordinator

School Events and Special Days

World Teacher's Day

It is always a joy to have Phebe Moore, Guidance Officer visit our staffrooms, but even more so on World Teacher’s Day when she’s delivering cupcakes donated by JCU. Below is a letter received by JCU paying tribute to our teaching staff.

Editor

Woree's Got Talent

Woree’s Got Talent introduced us to some new talents for 2023. Our Term 3 auditions saw over 15 acts perform musical acts, magic tricks, duets, solos and dancing.

Six grand finalists were announced with 4 acts performing at the Grand Final event in front of a packed Q3 audience during lunch time.

Thank you to our judges; Mr Travers Toohey, Miss Morgan Harrison and Arts Captain, Keelan .

Thank you to our MC’s Mana and Wyatt and to the Tech Crew, Ekko, Mackenzie and KC.

Congratulations to:

Amrita – 1^st place

Nathaniel – 2^nd place

Catherina and Martina – 3^rd place

Bulou and Haleigha - Highly Commended

Brooke Byars

Year 7 Coordinator/ Tourism Teacher

Arts

ENERGY 2023

Ergon Energy sponsors an annual exhibition of highly creative and inspirational works produced by visual art students from across the Cairns region. This year, 23 high schools from afar as Ravenshoe and Tully were represented in the exhibition held at the Tanks. Congratulations to Woree SHS students Catherina, Emily, Xena, Maddie and Jasmin for each submitting their artwork, it was marvellous to see their works hanging in a public art space alongside many other talented artists.

Sabrina Paterson

TA, The Arts/Digital Technologies

Energy Exhibitors - Artist Statements

Xena K – Yuzuru Hanyu

"This art piece is a representation of the famous Japanese Ice Figure Skater Yuzuru Hanyu. He is a two-time Olympic champion, a two-time world champion and he’s broken world records nineteen times. He is an inspiration to keep trying and to not let other stop you from going above and beyond. The art represents his gracefulness as he poses for the beginning of his performance. It captures his devilish and handsome features as well as his slim skater body. The harsh shadows emphasise his figure and his bold personality. Yuzuru Hanyu is a passionate Ice Figure Skater that is an inspiration to keep being determined in your goals."

Maddie

"I represented reef in my artwork by creating a wave and surrounding it in marine life. I wanted to represent the beauty of the ocean and how varied the lives that live in it are hoping to draw attention to its wonder and how important it is not to destroy it."

Jasmin

"Viewing the world culturally reveals the myriad traditions, beliefs and values that shape our diverse society. My focus is on a cultural trait - mythology - interpreted through a depiction of a snakes head, merging the mythic Apophis of ancient Egyptian lore with hieroglyphics presented through orange lino print scales representing "Chaos" and "Disorder." The portrayal combines the creatures malevolence with the notion of movement through this carefully crafted portrait of Apophis through its dynamic flowing scales."

Emily Z

"Fire portrays the remains of a fire breathing dragon. All that is left is its skull, however it still appears as if it is about to breathe fire, even in death."

Catherina  W

Dress

Elegantly clothed with bits and pieces of the earth

A continuing cycle

We were first created by dirt and a breath from God

A continuing cycle

Then we fall asleep in a sleep we can never wake up from

And are placed inside the earth

A continuing cycle

Earth gives and it takes. Treat it well and be grateful for we are blessed

Drama

Production preparation is ramping up for Romeo and Juliet performances in Week 10. The elaborate set and costumes are close to being completed and with Woree’s new lighting and sound rig Woree’s theatre has been transformed into a magical world.

This production of the Bard’s famous work will be nothing like you’ve seen before, with a new twist to the familiar story that will enthral audiences. Tickets are on sale online and at the school office. Scan the QR code for details and to purchase.

Robert Davies

HOD, The Arts/Digital Technologies

Digital Technologies

E-Safety

With the world of communication increasingly moving towards flexible working from home conditions the importance of communicating safely online is paramount.

At Woree SHS, we have been preparing students for this flexible and online present and future with the Research Skills Course in Year 7 and 8. In this course, students learn how to select and use a large number of digital and online tools for research and communicating with confidence. They learn how to be a good online citizen knowing, how to best behave online and become well equipped to recognise threats such as scams and bullying.

For example, during one simple lesson students learn that using different passphrases for each online service is significantly safer than a single password.

Passphrases are:

• 4 or more random words put together.
• More than 14 characters long
• Unpredictable
• Mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.

For example: CatPreciou5BlueMe@sure would be a very safe passphrase.

As a parent/guardian it can be difficult to know where to look for other quality advice and information. Woree SHS research skills program uses a range of organisations that have great resources for online safety. These include the Australian Government’s Esafety Commissioner, the Alannah and Madeline Foundation’s Digitalk, and Optus’s Digital Thumbprint.

eSafety Commissioner’s eSafety Parent - www.esafety.gov.au/parents

Optus’s Digital Thumbprint - www.digitalthumbprint.com.au/parent-resources/

Alannah & Madeline Foundation - www.alannahandmadeline.org.au/learning-resources/digitalk

These can give you the confidence that your child is navigating the online world safely at school, home and everywhere in between.

Any questions regarding the Research Skill course please email Mr Dodd hdodd34@eq.edu.au. 

Robert Davies

HOD Digital Technologies/The Arts

Engagement Programs

Year 8 - Engage. Empower. Learn. 

Flower Garden 

At the end of Term 3, Ellijah and Capri put together a raised garden bed. The groundsmen then filled the bed with soil and the Engage, Empower Learn students planted flowers. The flowers are currently in full bloom and attract many beneficial insects and small birds.

Jodi Shepherd

Engagement Teacher

Market Garden Update

In Week 4, Year 8 Engage, Empower, Learn placed cardboard over the grassed area in between the original garden beds. From now and until the end of term, we will develop the new garden beds and walkways. This week however, students had the task of flattening the boxes and placing it on the ground. It was quite a hot day, so we took quite a few water breaks and students had a Zooper Dooper at the end of the session for their solid efforts. Watch this space for garden updates!

Jodi Shepherd

Engagement Teacher

Young Mayors Program 

On October 9, Principal Katherine Todd and I attended the Meet the Candidates event held at the Cairns Regional Council chambers. There were 17 young people from different schools around the region who were able to attend the event. Woree State High School had the most candidates in attendance with Braydon in Year 8, Millie in Year 10 and Olivia in Year 11 all representing the South Cairns Region. All three students had strong platforms for their election and answered difficult questions from members of the public about why they should be Cairns’ first Young Mayor. Elections will be held on Tuesday October 31 in Period 3. Vote 1, 2, 3 for WOREE!  

Jodie Shepherd

Engagement Teacher

Note: "If you are talking to Olivia, Milly or Braydon, please congratulate them on what they are doing as it takes courage to stand out amongst your peers when you are a teenager" – Kathryn Todd, Principal, Woree SHS

Cairns Young Mayor Voting

On Wednesday the 31October Woree SHS completed voting for the Cairns Young Mayor. All students voted during Period 3, with year groups coming up in 15-minute intervals. The voting was very official with genuine electoral commission voting paper and polling booths. Students were also required to give their age and suburb to the officials. Our three candidates Braydon, Olivia and Sharmilla, all campaigned during this time encouraging students to put them first. 

A big thanks to Mrs Chatfield and her Year 10 class for showing students how to vote, Mrs Todd for directing students with the mighty megaphone, Mr Chatfield for being the ballot box boss and to Ms Jami for making sure our students voted correctly. 

On Sunday November 5 we will find out if our students have been successful in making the Youth Council. It is from there the Youth Councillors vote on who will be crowned Cairns' first Young Mayor. 

Jodi Shepherd

Engagement Teacher

Cairns Young Mayor Update

CONGRATULATIONS Millie, Brayden and Olivia!!!!!!

All 3 students have been elected on the Cairns Youth Council.

The Mayor will be elected by the Young Councillors once they start their council meetings. This is a fantastic result for 3 exceptional young people in our school community. We are so proud of you all!!!!

English

Weeks 1 - 5

At the beginning of the term, we were fortunate enough to have a ‘Poet in Residence’, Anisa Nandaula. Anisa is the Australian Poetry Slam 2016 runner up and Queensland Poetry Slam champion. She is the recipient of the 2018 Queensland poetry XYZ innovation in spoken word prize. Anisa is a published poet and toured the country with her debut poetry collection Melanin Garden. She has performed on some the largest stages in the world such as the Woodford Folk Festival, Splendour in the Grass and Sydney Opera House.

Our Year 11 students were so excited to workshop with Anisa.

“A lot of us ended up in tears writing our poems! It was so cool to hear Anisa perform her slam poetry to us and then show us how to tell our truth through words!”

She inspired them all to not shy away from the beauty and power of poetry.

This visit was followed by the annual public speaking competition, Navigating Our Narratives, held at Cairns State High School. We had three entries into both senior and middle categories, Lucas, Olivia and Sophia. They wrote and delivered fantastic speeches to an audience consisting of several regional schools proudly representing themselves and Wari Jiguul.

The cheer squad that kept their nerves at bay were Geena, Anastasia and Keelan.

This is the speech that Sophia delivered for her middle school category:

To thine own self be true:

Good morning distinguished guests, judges, and audience. My name is Sophia B, and I am a Year 8 student from Woree State High School.

What does being true to yourself really mean?

I am myself.

I cannot be anything but myself!

In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, “being true to yourself” was a piece of fatherly advice to a son who was going away from everything he knows to experience the bigger world. The father lovingly advises his son, to keep his thoughts to himself, restrain from acting on rash desires, and treat people with familiarity but not crudeness.

In other words, be yourself and don’t be swayed by others.

As a young person in the 21^st century, I think that may have been easier 420 years ago in a lovely castle in Denmark!

But from where I stand, being true to yourself is a little harder to navigate.

I believe that it is extremely important to have a strong sense of who you are in the world, and how you want to travel in the world.

We have our parents and family who teach us to have strong values.

We have teachers in our schools teaching us how to succeed in the world. We have friends telling us what to look like, talk like, dance like and think like.

How on earth are we supposed to do develop our own personalities and opinions in a world that is telling us what to think!

We are constantly told what is acceptable and what isn’t, what we should and shouldn’t do, and how we should act or we shouldn’t act. And then we have social media.

So, Polonius, says to keep our thoughts to ourselves.

The culture of social media is literally designed not to keep our thoughts to ourselves. In fact, it openly encourages us to post, text and snapchat, every single thought that might cross our minds at any time of the day and listen to every thought that anyone else in our digital world needs to express!

The trouble with me is that I don’t have social media.

Polonius says to restrain from acting on rash desires.

The internet literally exists on the human impulse to look at things they can’t have, but desire, buy things they think they desire, play games to pass the time that leave you isolated and lonely, and make crazy decisions like cutting your hair by yourself, or spending all your free time living up to impossible beauty standards!

The trouble with me is I don’t have social media.

Polonius says, treat people with familiarity not crudeness.

I am not sure I even have to explain that our great mentor, social media, literally depends on being over familiar and crude, to belong.

The trouble with me is that I do not have social media.

If Laertes followed his father’s advice, he would have been true to himself, and the world would be his oyster.

He would not be so easily influenced, and he would speak with kindness.

He would have been curious, as he found things in the world that he did not understand. He would have been thoughtful, because he would have made many mistakes, and learnt from them.

He would be strong enough to have self-esteem, to be clear thinking and made sure that the world aligned with his own values and desires.

Today my narrative is that I am true to myself.

I have chosen to leave the noisy confusion of the influences of social media and make mistakes, be curious and kind and find some peace in the fact that Laertes, also did not have social media. 

Other student work to acknowledge are the Year 7s and 10s working with other ways to communicate their knowledge. Giving their books a rest, they are working collaboratively and creatively with whiteboards and butcher paper - “old school”! and producing colourful ideas and visual displays in our classrooms.

Melinda Geyle

HOD, English

INTAD

On Site Learning at Cairns Hardware

Year 11 Construction and Engineering students visited Cairns Hardware. Students saw firsthand the process of modern housing construction. We started with in-house 3D computer aided drawings of the home, which were sent to semi-automated wall framing and roof trusses assembly lines, including a 3 day old half million-dollar automated machine that cut truss timbers to length and angle before skilled workers fixed them together. In the roofing shed, we learnt how flat metal coils are formed into corrugated roofing, gutters and fascia. Finally, we visited the materials shed to learn about many different building materials. A huge thanks to Guido and the rest of Cairns Hardware team for inviting us to visit. Mr Affleck and Sugar (Mr Shields) supervised the visit.

Ramon Affleck

INTAD Teacher

HPE/Sports

Woree Warriors Term 4 Sports News, Weeks 1 - 5

JUNIOR SECONDARY SPORT (JSS)

The Woree Warriors have had a tremendous inaugural year in the JSS competition as the official home and away season comes to an end, setting up an exciting finals period.
Special congratulations to Girls Basketball, Girls & Boys Volleyball & Boys Touch who finished in the Top 4 overall and will complete this week in the Premier League Finals. All other teams will compete in the Division 1 Finals. Any teams that win this week will go straight into the Grand Finals on Wednesday November 8.

Sam Harreman

Sport Coordinator/HPE Teacher

RUGBY LEAGUE
In what is turning out to be a very positive year in Rugby League, all of our female and male Rugby League Academy students tasted more success during the first month of Term 4.

Our Year 7/8 & 9/10 girls Warriors competed in the inaugural “City vs Country Cup” – an annual ‘Best of 3 State of Origin’ type home and away series against Mareeba SHS. Over 3 consecutive tough weeks of football played in hot conditions, our Year 7/8 team completed a convincing whitewash to claim top honours of the very first team to win the Country Cup.

After going down in a nail biting first game, the Year 9/10 team battled a dominant opposition filled with representative players in front of their home crowd in the second game to unfortunately hand over the cup, setting up a match for ‘pride’ in the third and final round. Fortunately, the girls game out firing in that last game leading 2 tries to 1 before the game was called off due to a serious injury to a Mareeba player.

City vs Country Cup 2023 Results

In the boys arena, our Year 7/8 Warriors managed to defeat Gordonvale SHS in the local competition final.
Nerves were on display early as some basic errors meant that Gordy had most of the possession in the first half and scored first. After defending their line courageously set after set and a bit of individual brilliance by Raf M meant that our Warriors took the lead into half time. From there it was one way traffic as the boys clicked and put on five tries to two in the second half eventually running out winners 34-16.

Bentley 7’s Netball & Rugby League 2023

The annual Bentley 7’s Rugby League & Netball competition was upon us again on Friday of Week 4. The Warriors were able to enter two teams in both sports respectively. Both junior & senior netball teams were up against some very tough opposition all day, not only competing in every game but consistently demonstrating true resilience, grit and determination. Both boys rugby league teams (Under 14 & Under 16) remained undefeated against Bentley, Innisfail, Smithfield, St Mary’s, McKillop & Gordonvale to eventually win both finals and take home the silverware. Congratulations to all involved!

Bentley 7s

Bentley 7s is always a fun day out. Both the senior and junior netball teams competed against other schools from the Cairns region. Whilst we didn’t come away with the trophy the girls showed great improvement throughout the day and were as always wonderful ambassadors for Woree.

Lauren Maxwell

HPE Teacher, Year 8 Coordinator

Volleyball

Early in the term our Warriballers competed in the FNQ Volleyball Junior Schools Cup, hosted by Smithfield SHS. In an outstanding display, both of our teams didn’t drop a set and went undefeated in all pool matches. In their respective Grand Finals, our boys put in a gutsy performance going down in a nail biter, whereas our girls took top honours with a flawless display. Congratulations to all teachers, players and managers involved! 

Sports Awards Parade

On Wednesday of Week 3 (18 October), our Warriors sporting community got to celebrate the success of our major and most dominated flagship sports and events in 2023. Below is a list of awards and students representatives.

2024 LEADERS OF SPORT & HOUSE CAPTAINS

After an intensive application, interview and selection process, the Warriors are proud to announce our 2024 Leaders of Sport (formerly Sports Liaison Officers) & House Captains! Congratulations to the following students:

Netball

Australian Diamonds in Carins

Woree’s netballers had the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet their netball idols. The Australian Diamond Netball team came to Cairns to play South Africa. Our girls got to watch a pre-game training session as well as going to the match itself. The Diamonds were so welcoming, stopping to have a chat, take photographs and sign autographs. The girls learnt so much from the professionalism, grace and kindness of the athletes and were cheering hard for the team throughout the game. Thank you to Netball QLD for providing our students with this amazing opportunity.

Lauren Maxwell

HPE Teacher, Year 8 Coordinator

Tourism

Formal Duties for Year 11s

The Year 11 Tourism class donned their formal school uniform to watch their Year 12 classmates walk the red carpet at the 2023 Formal held in Term 3 at The Pullman International.

Tourism students met Ms Byars prior to event, to learn about the importance of dress standards, how to prepare for an event, table décor and settings as well as welcoming guests to a function. Year 11 students practiced their new skills as they welcomed students down the red carpet, ushering them to the seating chart, and the photo booth.

All students enjoyed the evening, as well as looking for some ideas for their own formal next year.

Brooke Byars

Tourism Teacher/Year 7 Coordinator

Library

eBooks and Audio Books

Your student has been emailed their username and password to our eBook platform.

All students can access eBooks and Audio Books right across all school holidays.

eBooks can have their background tinted and the word space adjusted for those who have difficulty with language or text. The immersive reader will also read these books out loud.

If you want more information on this then contact Mrs Moseley in the library.

Book return dates for this year: Please mark these in your calendar: -

Year 12: 6 November (students can keep print books until after their exams)

Year 11: 13 November for books that are unit 1-4 (art, drama…) or if students are studying in an alternate sequence class (physics and PED)

Unit 1 & 2 books need to be returned as soon as Unit 3 & 4 is started

[NOTE: students will have access to Unit 3 & 4 books from the start of term 4 on their My Connect account. They will not be given print books until 2024]

Year 10: 13 November

Years 7-9: 27 November

NOTE:  1. Students will keep their digital access to all books after they hand in their print books.

1. Students need their SRS scheme to be up to date to retain access to the digital copies of the books.

Mrs Larraine Moseley

Librarian/Teacher

P&C Association

Canteen Day

Friday 3 November was Canteen Day, it is the day of the year that we say a big thank you to our wonderful Canteen Staff for the work they do serving students and staff and an array of visitors throughout the year.

At Woree SHS we are very fortunate to have wonderful canteen staff who specifically go out of their way to create meals to meet the needs and palates of our community.

Thank you to our wonderful canteen ladies, school wouldn’t be the same without you.

Kathryn Todd

Principal

SchoolTech

Paintball - The Joys and the Pain!

Earlier this term, the SchoolTech teachers finally got their revenge on the Year 12s at Babinda Paintball… or did they? A fun-filled day was held by all, especially at the ends “free for all”. If you see any of the students, ask them about their markings! Everyone who attended said they had a great time and loved the games.

Paul Anthony

SchoolTech Teacher

Note: Woree Highlights caught up with 3 students to talk about their highlights of the day.

Brighton – “It was good fun and very enjoyable. The best part was at the end of the session when me and Cody duelled off with 10 bullets at 10 metres, I got hit 2-3 times but he was hit many times.”

Caleb – "It was alright. I got hit in the behind area 15 times but I survived and although I had many bruises I would do it again.”

Amber – “It was really great and good to hang out with friends, and it was fun to fire at the teachers Paul and Raf. I was told that being hit would not hurt but when I got hit in the knee by Brighton…OUCH, I cried and quit.”

A Glitzy and Glamourous Graduation

On the night of 25 October, Year 12 SchoolTech graduating students ditched their tradie gear for some glitz and glamour at the DoubleTree Hilton. Some serious fashion was on display, and the proud parents and families celebrated with their graduates. The evening was lovely and the food was scrumptious.

Congratulations to all the SchoolTech Graduates, you scrubbed up well!

Paul Anthony

SchoolTech Teacher

Science

When I think of science at Woree, the first thing that pops into my head is experiments. Then I start to think and ponder on it a bit more and I look deeper into it and I see Rhyannon Kavanagh and Karli Gray. These two ladies are the backbone of the science department and without them, it basically wouldn’t function.

They are in at school bright and early in the morning setting up for the days experiments or ordering stock for future ones. They are then feeding the fish, yabbies or whatever lurks in those marine fish tanks down in the aquatic classrooms - lol. Both of these ladies have helped countless staff and students with forensic crime scene investigations, ecological studies, dissections, wine making experiments, reef trips and excursions just to name a few. They really are a crucial part of the science team at Woree SHS.

I think the thing that stands out with me for Rhyannon is that she is an ex-student from our school and is now giving back to our current students and staff. She really has formed a professional bond with many students due to her working with them so closely in their senior subjects and experiments and sharing her journey and experiences. Many students look up to Miss Rhyannon for this reason.

It’s for this reason that Woree SHS knows that Rhyannon Kavanagh and Karli Gray are Woree’s STAR’s of science! Thank-you for everything you do ladies.

Science wouldn’t be the same without them.

Mr Brad Wright

HOD, Senior School

Student Representative Council

World Teachers Day - Friday 27 October

“Thank you for all that you do”

In celebration of World Teachers Day, Student Representative Council (SRC) members packed and delivered a special hamper to all staffrooms.  The hamper is designed for all teachers, aides and office staff to enjoy. 

Brooke Byars

Year 7 Coordinator, Humanities/Tourism Teacher

Student Support Services - J Space Hub

School Chaplain

Woree SHS would like to welcome our new school chaplain, Chappy Kelly. Woree Highlights caught up with her to find out more about her self and her role within the school.

1. Where have you come from? Is this your first chaplaincy or have you been in other schools?

After spending 12 years as a stay-at-home mum, I was employed as a Teacher Aide in the DLF Unit at Freshwater Christian College. I loved this role – but a few years in I realised I was more suited to working with students to help them overcome emotional and social hurdles life can throw our way and so I pursued a career in Chaplaincy instead. I currently work as a School Chaplain at Parramatta State School I day per week and Woree SHS on Thursdays and Fridays.

2. What led you to wanting to become a school chaplain?

I enjoy supporting people with their emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing. Family, friends and school educators often told me I would make an excellent school chaplain where I could help make a difference to the lives of young people.

3. What training or qualifications do you need to become a school chaplain?

It is vital that a school chaplain have good listening and social skills, and be able to show compassion and empathy. I am currently studying for The Cert IV in Youthwork through the Scripture Union Institute of Training (SUIT).

4. What was your best experience/best chaplaincy memory to date?

Several weeks ago, whilst shopping, I was greeted by a student and although only 3 weeks into the Chaplaincy position, being publicly recognised was a highlight for me. I felt that I had engaged with this young person enough for them to recognise me and that was a good sign for the future.

5. What do you see is the role of a chaplain within a high school?

To engage with students, staff, parents and other educators to provide an emotional, compassionate and social connection. Sometimes people just need someone to talk to that they can trust during a tough time to help them see through the emotions, that life can get better and there are other options available. It is important that a chaplain can be trusted too. Every school has different needs, so I will be flexible to the needs of Woree High School, and every school I work for.

6. Do you have a major goal or project for this school?

I would like to be able to help students understand that they have a voice, have hands and the importance of having a purpose outside of school, and that they themselves are, and can become future mentors. I would love to get students out into the local neighbourhood, visiting community groups like nursing homes, where they can not only learn compassion for others, but also for the local community to see that Woree students can be warm hearted and kind.

7. What approach will you take in engaging with the fabulous multicultural community that is Woree?

It is important for me to be present by attending multicultural school events when I can, and asking questions of students own cultures. It’s always a gift to hear how different people and families raise their children and the traditions they have that makes them unique.

8. Some people believe chaplains and religious education aren’t a priority in state schools anymore…what’s your view on this?

My role at Woree is not to teach religious education, however if anyone has questions, I am willing to help as best as I can. There are some great camps and events that Scripture Union runs during school holidays – so I think Chaplains are a great way to learn about these worthwhile events that can have a positive impact in a student’s life.

I feel it is a privilege to be here in a helping relationship where I can offer emotional/social and support to all students and I would like to be known a positive person in our students’ life - someone they can trust who cares about them during their student years and beyond into adulthood.

Editor

NOTE:

Chappy Kelly can be contacted by parents through Admin or via email at: kdevr12@eq.edu.au

Students can reach out by visiting her at J Space on Thursdays and Fridays.

A Word From Admin

Important Information

Student Statements are issued on a monthly basis, please contact Administration if you have not received your child’s Statement to ensure your details are correct.

Please ensure your fees are up to date, alternatively if you are having financial difficulties, please contact our Accounts Receivable Officer on 4081 5222 to discuss payment plans and options.

Early Departures – If your student needs to leave school early during the school day for an appointment a note needs to be brought to the school, alternatively you can use the yellow absence note in the back of the student planner. Students must come to the office to sign out before leaving the school grounds.  There is an increasing number of parents/carers ringing the school wanting to sign their student out immediately with no notice.

Student Illness – Students need to advise their class teacher if unwell and present themselves to sick bay so a parent/carer can be notified. Students are not to call parents directly to collect them without first notifying sick bay.

Concerns and Complaints – Parents/carers are encouraged to discuss classroom issues/concerns with the class teacher first. If the issue is unable to be resolved, parents/carers are encouraged to make an appointment with either the subject Head of Department, Year Level Coordinators, Responsible Behaviour Officer or Deputy Principal Student Services to discuss the matter further.

Student Absences

Student absences are monitored regularly. It is the parent/carers responsibility to ensure all student absences are explained. This can be communicated by:

Are your Contact Details Up to date?

Communication between parents/carers and Woree State High School staff relies on your contact details/postal address, home/work/mobile phone numbers and email addresses) being up to date.

If you have changed your postal address, phone number/s, email address or emergency contacts recently, please contact the Administration Office as soon as possible to update your details.

Electronic Sign

Please continue to watch out for important news and messages on our electronic notice board at the front of the school.  The sign is a valuable asset to our school for advertising and communicating a variety of messages to our students, parents/carers and the wider school community. 

Uniform Shop

We are a uniform school as determined by the P&C Association.

The image we present to our community is important to maintain the positive reputation of which we are so proud. At all times, students are required to wear appropriate footwear (closed in shoes). In the event a student is unable to wear their uniform, a note from the parent/guardian is required.

Please note that our school policy is that students are to only wear either a school jersey/jacket or a plain black or maroon jumper ie: no logo or hoodie. Plain black jumpers are available at BIG W for $8.50.

The Uniform Shop is open every Wednesday between 8:00 – 9:30 am.

EFTPOS is available for all purchases.

A limited range of second-hand uniforms are available for purchase. Any donations of good quality used uniforms are welcomed.

Important Times and Dates

Class Times - 2023

Useful Information on School Travel

Students have a responsibility in having appropriate behaviour when travelling on bus networks whether that urban or school and need to abide by the Code of Conduct for School Students Travelling on Buses. There are guiding principles which the Queensland Government has outlined and this includes appropriate behaviour, paying the correct fare and safe travel .

Information on the fare and zones of the urban bus network in Cairns, including the network map, is available at www.translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares or by contacting Translink’s 24/7 call centre on 13 12 30.

Should you have any questions regarding school services, please do not hesitate to contact cairnsschools@Sunbus.com.au

Have you Downloaded the QParents App Yet?

Invitations to the App are emailed to the Primary caregiver nominated from the School BSM. Please check your emails and follow the instructions.

Special Interest