Welcome back to Term 2 2024. We hope you are all well and taking care of each other.
Special welcome to our new staff member who has commenced her Miles SHS journey – Miss Emilie Fowkes.
Heartfelt Thanks
Many thanks to our students and their families last term for your valuing of education and amazing ongoing support to students and staff. This ‘Partnership in Learning’ contributes to the success, achievement and wellbeing of both your child and others in our school. I must take this opportunity to thank all our staff. Our non-teaching staff for providing a welcoming, safe, clean, supportive learning environment for our school community. To the teachers who have worked non-stop teaching, reporting and planning to enhance learning abilities with our students across term one and two. A massive thank you to our many teachers sending work home for students who have been unwell throughout the term. Their commitment to ensuring that when they plan, the needs of every individual student is at the forefront of their minds is truly inspiring. Many thanks to the many volunteers through our P&C led by their energetic President Katrina Gaze for your ongoing support and engagement with all students. A huge thank you to the students for their respectful participation in our ANZAC Day ceremony on Wednesday and school march on Thursday, once again our students shine within our community. Miles SHS students were apart of the two ceremonies – Dawn Service and the Commemoration Service here in Miles and also took part at Condamine, Dulacca and Jackson.
Well term 2 is off and running right from the start. We have already had our school ANZAC service, a visit from the NRL development team, sport, supporting the community though helping at the kindy fundraiser, whole school assembly and of course our normal learning experiences just to name a few. It has been great to see our students back and getting involved with the many different opportunities that are on offer and supported by the staff at Miles State High School. I am looking forward to seeing even more involvement from our students as this is one of our busiest terms.
This term we are strongly focusing on attendance and the importance of not only being in school but engaging in the learning and opportunities that are given to your students. I would like to say a massive thank-you to our P&C who are currently funding a term of $5 tuckshop vouchers to reward students who have weekly attendance of 100%. To be a part of the action your student only needs to be at school every day in a week and they will enter the fortnightly draw. This will then be awarded in care class the next week. We already have a very large number of students who are in the running due to attending all of week 1.
Week three will continue to see the school busy, with a range of events occurring. On Wednesday afternoon/night is parent teacher interviews. It is always great to be able to talk to you directly about how your student is going in their class. To be a part of this please remember to book a time though the SOBS online application. Also Friday morning, we will see Binbian and Cameby compete for the annual Cross-Country trophy. I am excited to see if Binbian can level the count for the year since Cameby won the Swimming carnival. You are most welcome to come to the golf club and cheer your student and team on.
So far this term, through our PBL lessons students have been focusing on a range of different behavioural situations. In week one we took time to examine how we respect the people around us with the RISE value of, responsibly report wellbeing, safety and behaviour concerns. This led to the examination of ethical behaviour and social responsibility. Week two saw us looking how we show integrity though accepting difference. In these lessons we examined how different people can view things differently to others. This may cause students to act in ways that we don’t expect and we need to take the time to understand the person rather than acting in judgment. Next week we will be looking at safety and how the RISE elaboration of: keep hands, feet and other objects to yourself can help misunderstandings from occurring.
I am looking forward to another great term!
Caleb Kuhl
Welcome back to Term 2. It has been great to see the students back and engaged in their work over the last two weeks.
There are some key dates coming up for you to be aware of. Parent Teacher interviews will take place on Wednesday the 1st of May from 3:30pm to 6:30pm. Timeslots are filling quickly. If you would like to speak to your child’s teachers, please make a booking online. If you require assistance, please call our front office staff. You are also welcome to chat to me on the night, but please be aware I have some bookings myself with classes that I teach, so I may not always be available. You are welcome to contact me by phone or email any time, but please remember that your first port of call with any concerns about specific classes is to chat with your child’s classroom teacher first.
We are immensely proud of the positive start to the term that the vast majority of our students have made. Classes are smaller in number this term to support student learning. Planners and placemats which outline what students are learning in their subjects this term, and the due dates for all assessments, will be emailed out to families in the next few dates. This helps you support your child in staying on track and we support this here at school with displays of due dates in our classes and recorded in student diaries. You will receive these prior to Parent Teacher interviews, so if you have any questions about what students are learning in their classes in Term 2, you can speak to your child’s teachers on Wednesday night.
Students will be recognised for their academic achievement for Term 2 in a ceremony early in Term 3. Students have reflected on their results from Term 1 and have set themselves some goals for Term 2. These goals are recorded in student diaries, and I would encourage you to go through the goals your child has set so that you can support them to achieve them. As a reminder, we have homework club that runs after school two afternoons a week and you can book your child in for this online. I look forward to being able to celebrate the fruits of students achieving these goals to improve achievement at the awards ceremony in Term 3.
I look forward to sharing with you more positive stories about student learning over the course of Term 2.
Leigh Williams
Why are we doing the survey?
We know that wellbeing and engagement are important parts of your child's life at school. The department and your school are looking at ways to collect information on these topics so we can support our students in the best way possible.
The Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing (QEW) Survey is designed to measure how state school students view their wellbeing and engagement.
Results from this survey will tell us about students' levels of wellbeing and engagement. This information will allow us to better support our students and meet their needs.
When will this survey take place?
The QEW Survey is run in Weeks 1 to 4 of Term 2 each year. Your child's school will choose a date within this period that suits them best.
What is the survey about?
The survey measures many aspects of students' wellbeing, engagement, and experience at school.
Homework Centre is up and running, 3pm to 4.30pm every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. Parents will need to complete a permission form from the Main Office and book on Sobs. If unable to book on SOBS, please ring the office to confirm student attendance.
Miles State High School is proud to be part of a community that embraces PARTNERS IN LEARNING together our students, their families, our wider community and our staff are committed to working together to ensure that every student succeeds.
Respect | Integrity | Safety | Engagement
