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MAY NEWSLETTER 2017
FROM THE COLLEGE PRINCIPAL
Excellence
Term two is well underway and staff and students are engaged in classroom
learning. However, I would like to recognise the achievements of our students
at the end of term one. Our College goal is for 80% of students to achieve a C
or better and 20% to achieve an A by the end of the year. At the end of term
one our students achieved 88% C or better and 16% achieving an A. This is a
testament to the high stands of curriculum and assessment delivered in our
classrooms. 2017 is on track to produce our best results.
Our academic excellence is backed up with sporting success. Capalaba State College is fast gaining a reputation for
sporting excellence. Our high performing sport programs are providing the foundation for skill development and training
routines. Our students have made district, regional and state finals.
NAPLAN
Congratulations to all students who sat the NAPLAN tests. All students showed commendable maturity and
responsibility throughout the days of testing. I would also like to thank our local Woolworths who provide fruit for
morning tea each day.
Fete
Preparation for the fete is well underway with students on both the senior and junior campus bringing in items to
support the day. The fete is a wonderful opportunity to showcase our family spirit and to enjoy a fun day out
together. Please continue to support the P&C as they prepare for the big day.
Driving and school
As the year progresses many more students are successful in obtaining their provisional drivers licenses. Parents and
students need to be aware that students are not allowed to drive themselves to out of school activities, such as
excursions or sport. We provide bus transport for these activities and would ask that students understand that there is
still duty of care for all students and this includes travel to and from activities. Also many students are also driving
themselves to appointments and require early passes. I would ask that parents give permission in their notes for their
child to travel in a car driven by another student. This allows me to know that parents are fully aware of how their child
is getting home or to an appointment. I thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
Arts fest and Under 8s day
Thursday 25 May was an exciting day at the college. The junior campus celebrated Under 8s day. it was a
fantastic day of hands on learning. Our students were joined by early learners from our local childcare providers. On
the senior campus, year 5 and 6 students from the junior campus and local primary schools participated in a range of Arts
activities. This is always a highlight on our college calendar.
By being yourself, you put something wonderful into the world that was not there before.
-- Edwin Elliot
Bronwyn Johnstone
College Principal
DATES TO REMEMBER
29 May - 2 June
Beginners Music Week
1 June
Year 7 Gala Day (Day 2)
2 June
Brisbane Careers Expo Year 11
8 June
Met East Cross Country
9 June
Year 5&6 Cluster Sport (Day 2)
9 June
Year 7 Immunisations
12-16 June
Year 11&12 Block Exams
14 June
Prep and Year 7 Information evening 5.30-6.30pm
15 June
Junior Campus Athletics Carnival
16 June
Senior Campus Athletics Carnival
16 June
Year 10 into 11 2018 Subject Information Due
22 June
Term 2 Reports emailed
23 June
Last day of Term 2
10 July
First day of Term 3
12-14 July
Year 11 Leadership Camp
JUNIOR SECONDARY NEWS
Science Club news
In Science Club we
created ‘Bath Bombs’
for Mother’s Day. The
students mixed
together the
ingredients starting
with the dry and adding
the wet; finally adding
colour and essential
oils for aroma.
The students
thoroughly enjoyed
themselves and created
a total of 39 ‘Bath
Bombs’ of green, blue
and green/blue mix.
Which have now
hardened and are
ready for decoration.
We will be keeping the science theme going as we will be doing slime, crystal garden, spaghetti bridge, growing microbes
and bouncy custard balls.
Science club is for any student in Junior Secondary that wants to have fun with science without the hassle of report
writing. We run Science Club on Tuesday second lunch in SC06 and best of all – there is no cost.
Kind Regards,
Carl Harbinson
Science / Maths Teacher
Wildlife Wandering!
Year nine Science students were spotted out and about the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary this week. As part of
their ‘Ecosystem’ Unit, they were able to witness the fragile ecosystem of many endangered species of birds
and native wildlife. Of particular interest to the students was the Free Flight Bird Show & Birds of Prey,
arousing squeals of delight from the group as birds flew dangerously close to cowering heads. The Reptile
Show was an opportunity to learn more about our slithering friends, and provided a hands on experience for
those brave enough! Mrs Grigg was delighted with the students’ interest and exemplary behaviour, ‘Taking the
classroom outdoors has been an excellent opportunity for the students', she said, ‘and the students had fun
learning!’
ABCN GOALS Program
This week 8 of our year 9 students along with 8 Victoria Point High School students participated in the launch of
the 2017 ABCN GOALS Program which will continue over a series of sessions throughout the rest of the school
year. The GOALS Program is a one-to-one mentoring program where students are paired with a corporate
mentor as a professional role model. GOALS is designed to widen the life choices and aspirations of students.
The sessions focus on helping students build their confidence, learn about the importance of setting goals and
to assist them in continuing their education to Year 12 and beyond. Our students were very excited to meet
their mentors and begin their GOALS Program journey.
Mrs Fiona Suter
Dean of Junior Secondary
ARTS UPDATE
Dates
30 May
1 June
2 June
Opera Excursion (evening)
Jr Dance Team Eisteddfod (day/evening)
Sr Dance Team Eisteddfod (day/evening)
ArtsFest
Our Senior Campus ArtsFest takes place each year during UNESCO’s International Week for Arts Education. The week
celebrates the contributions arts education makes to students’ creative and critical thinking skills. On Thursday 25 May Year
5-6s from Jr Campus & Coolnwynpin SS joined us on the Senior Campus for a day of workshops and performances. The
afternoon concert showcased students from Years 7-12 curricular and co-curricular Dance and Music programs.
The Senior Campus congratulate and thank Miss Amy McNamara and Miss Chloe Prior on their contributions to ArtsFest
and the Drama, History and PE Departments during their two successful practicums during 2016-2017.
Drama
On 26 May, Year 9 Drama students performed their class production for assessment to an audience of Year 7-8s. The class
of 23 students have learnt the challenges and joys of developing characters, memorising lines and cues, and working with
their peers. At the time of writing, students are busy adding technical theatre elements including video, lighting and sound.
The Senior Drama and Drama in Practice classes will finish their ‘Anywhere Theatre Unit’ with their production Stuck.
Students will perform excerpts from traditional theatre classics in non-traditional spaces. The production takes the form of
promenade theatre at night through performance spaces on the Senior Campus. Due to space limitations, tickets were by
invitation only.
Dance
It’s been a very busy term for the Dance department. The Junior and Senior Dance Teams have learnt 4 routines to
compete against schools in South East Queensland in three upcoming eisteddfods.
The Junior and Senior Dance Teams will be competing in their first eisteddfod on Thursday 1 st and Friday 2nd of June at the
Brisbane Performing Arts Challenge (BPAC). The eisteddfod is held at St John’s Anglican College, Forest Lake, I welcome
and encourage family, friends and dance lovers to come along and support our Dance Teams.
Tickets and Programmes are on sale online. Go to … https://www.trybooking.com/276645
This year the Dance Team students are competing in style with their new Capalaba Dance Team jackets.
Students are very excited to represent Capalaba State College at the upcoming eisteddfods and hope to come back with a
win!
Upcoming Events:
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Redlands Eisteddfod at Ormiston College 7th -9th July
Beenleigh Eisteddfod Mid-August
I appreciate your ongoing support of the Dance department at Capalaba State College.
Katie Blood
Dance Teacher and Dance Team Coordinator
Chess Club News
College Championship under way
The annual Capalaba State College Chess Championship kicked off on 11 th May with 11 students nominating for this
year’s title. This is also the 11th year the championship has been contested. Nice coincidence of 11s there.
Interschool chess
Two teams from Capalaba competed in the second round of the Brisbane High Schools Interschool Chess Competition
held at Churchie on 16th May. 2017 marks the tenth consecutive year that our college has contested the interschool
competition. In that time 43 students have represented our college and 67% of these have gone on to be awarded
ratings by the sport’s* official body. At this most recent tournament, our A grade team finished 12 th out of 22 teams (an
improvement of 8 places on round 1’s performance), and our under-strength B graders achieved a commendable 12th
place out of 39 (up 2 places) with just three players. It was also our B graders who took the individual honours on the day
with both James L and debutante Lena A winning merit ribbons for their stong performances, scoring 4.5 out of 7.
Ratings
Jaydn M was thrilled to receive a Qld Junior Chess Association rating when the May list was released. He debuted at 532.
(Jaydn becomes the 29th student from our college to be recognised with an official rating.) Congratulations also to Bailey
P whose good results at the first round of interschool competition in March saw his rating rise 18 points to 522.
Special mention
A movie voucher has been on offer for several years now for the first student who could master the bishop and knight
checkmate. This highly technical mate is acknowledged as the most difficult in chess (like trying to catch a fish with your
bare hands as someone once described it), and even World Champions have failed to execute it on occasions (eg Anna
Ushenina in the 2013 Women's Grand Prix tournament). That prize has at last been claimed by Michael M who
successfully demonstrated his mastery of the technique. A noteworthy achievement.
*Is Chess a sport?
In over 100 countries around the world (including 24 of the 28 members of the European Union)[1] and in the Olympic
movement chess is considered a sport[2]. Several world chess champions have won their national Sportsman of the Year
competition, including Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Vishy Anand (India) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)[3]. Chess was
officially recognised as a sport by the IOC (Olympic Committee) as far back as the 1920s, and was planned to debut as an
event in the 1924 Games in Paris, but that bid foundered on the difficulty of distinguishing between amateur and
professional players.[4] Chess is to be included as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang,
South Korea [5].
Objections are sometimes raised that chess is not very physical, but then neither is rifle-shooting from a prone position
(an Olympic discipline). Like other sports, chess has championships, rankings, trainers and referees. Top players train
physically to be in condition, and even employ nutritionists and fitness coaches.[6]
The human brain uses lots of calories, and intense mental activity can be calorically demanding. You can in fact lose
weight playing chess[7]. In one famous world championship between Russian Grand Masters Anatoly Karpov and Garry
Kasparov in 1984-5, Karpov lost 10 kgs over the course of the tournament! The referee ultimately called off the contest
out of concern for the health of the players![8] Chess at the top-level takes a physical toll on its participants. In 2014 two
chess players died on the final day of the Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway. Many chess champions die young of stressrelated complaints[9].
And of course there is the pointed observation by Macedonian aphorist Ljupka Cvetanova — 'To many people chess is an
extreme sport. It requires thinking.'
[1] http://londonchessconference.com/a-question-of-sport/
[2] https://www.olympic.org/ioc-governance-international-sports-federations
[3] http://en.chessbase.com/post/a-question-of-sport
[4] http://www.history.com/news/5-sports-that-havent-made-it-into-the-olympics-yet
[5] http://www.chessdom.com/chess-makes-a-step-towards-inclusion-in-olympic-games/
[6] http://londonchessconference.com/a-question-of-sport/
[7] https://www.quora.com/Has-anyone-lost-fat-weight-by-playing-chess
[8] http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=55015
[9] http://en.chessbase.com/post/stephen-moss-why-chess-is-an-extreme-sport
Junior Campus News
News from the Junior Campus Choir
You are invited to attend a performance by our Junior (years 1-3) and our Senior (years
4-6) choirs.
Week 10 Parade Performance
Thursday 22nd June at 8.45am
In the Junior Campus Hall
Our Choirs have negotiated and chosen their own songs and have been working hard (and having fun) to ensure a great
performance. We would love your support and encouragement on this day. We look forward to seeing you there.
Year 1 Fire Fighter Visit
This term year 1 were lucky to be visited by the firefighters from Capalaba Fire Station.
Students learned the steps to staying safe during a fire emergency.
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Scream and shout
Get down low and go, go, go,
Get out and stay out
Stop drop and roll
Meet at the mail box
Call 000
They practised these skills and the fire fighters were very impressed! The fire truck tour was a great hit and the
students enjoyed the experience of using a real fire hose. Thank you to the Capalaba Station for sharing your
knowledge and teaching us to be safe in the event of a fire.
Under 8s Country to Coast 2017
The sun dawned on a flurry of Capalaba early childhood activity with a huge team effort on the junior campus
from ECDP to Year 4 + Year 9 and our combined staff team of Teacher Aides, Cleaners, Teachers and School
Officers.
What rose from the ground across Hankey Park was amazing – a games space, a sensory space, a science
space, a creative space and face painting space. More than 300 children from Kindy to Year 3 were first
entertained with live animals from the country to the coast.
The 30 activity stations staffed by our dynamic teams were engaging with the children in pure early childhood
fun. Hands were wet, painted or slimy. Faces were painted, blowing bubbles or smiling at the brilliant Macaw
parrots who came to visit. Feet were dancing, running or tying shoes laces.
Children could find a quiet space in the outdoor home corner, learn about caring for animals at RSPCA, squirt
bottle paint on the fence, thread a necklace, bowl down penguin skittles, avoid being stuck in “space balls”,
dance with ribbons, marvel at 3D printing, play mini hockey, make and test sound science experiments and
balance an egg and spoon over an obstacle course.
We welcomed nearly 100 Kindy students from nearby centres and wrapped the Under 8s session up with
another live animal show from Deadly Australians.
CHANGES TO PAYMENT DAYS AND UNIFORM SHOP TIMES
The Uniform Shop at the Senior Campus will be open on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays between 8am and
2pm.Hats, Library Bags and Swimming caps can be purchased from the Junior Campus during the above
times.
Payments can be made at both campuses on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays between 8am and 2pm.
HEALTH, WELLBEING & SAFETY
Stranger Danger
Please discuss these simple but important messages with your child.
Yell and tell.

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Don’t be afraid to say ‘NO!’ to a stranger
If a stranger makes you feel unsafe, always ‘YELL AND TELL’.
Yell ‘HELP!’ or ‘I DON’T KNOW YOU!’ or ‘FIRE!’ to get someone’s attention.
Watch out for strangers in cars.
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Watch out for strangers that follow you.
Never approach a stranger in a car.
Never get into a car with a stranger.
Don’t talk to strangers.
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Keep your distance and never go anywhere with someone you don’t know.
Don’t believe what strangers tell you.
Don’t accept gifts, treats or lollies from a stranger.
Never tell a stranger your name or address.
PCYC NEWS
P&C NEWS
We have two very exciting fundraisers coming up this term. Detailed notes for the specific
events will be sent home with students.
Our Junior Campus Dis-Glow will take place on Friday 9th June. Students will be
encouraged to wear white or light colours so they glow under the black lights! We will
also have glow products and glow painting available at a small extra cost. Hot food will be
available and we encourage parents/carers to stay for the event and grab a bite to eat.
P-3: 5:00-6:30pm
Yrs 4-6: 7:00-8:30pm
Entry cost: $3.50 per student.
The second fundraiser is our very first Colour Fun Run. All College students from P-12 will be participating. This event will
take place on Friday 23rd June (Last day of Term 2). Sponsorship forms will be going home with students. Online
sponsorship can be set up by parents to enable you to share the link with family and on social media so that your
friends/relatives that live far away can sponsor your child. The students are really looking forward to the Colour Fun Run
and it should be a great day!
The P&C will also be having a BBQ/Food stall at the Junior Campus Athletics Carnival on June 15th.
If you can offer a small amount of time to assist with these events, please contact us on
[email protected]
The Winter menu for Junior Tuckshop is now in effect and the new Winter Warmers are proving quite popular.
A reminder that our P&C Meetings each month will be held at the Senior Campus Library at 6:30pm.
Upcoming Meeting date & time:
P&C General Meeting – June 19th at 6:30pm
We continue to see new and returning members this year and hope to see many more. Membership forms can be
obtained from the P&C room on Tuesday’s and Friday’s or `the Office.
FETE
Bring weeks began this term and your donations are greatly appreciated. Donations for each fortnight can be dropped
off at your child’s class or at either Campus office.
Pre-loved goods / Donations can be dropped off to the Senior Campus Metropolitan East Building at the top of School
Road on the following dates:
Sunday June 4th and Sunday June 18th between 9am and 11am.
Look for the Fete signs. More dates will be available in term 3.
We are gratefully accepting any homewares, toys*, clothing, baby goods etc.
* At this stage we are not accepting stuffed toys as we have access to a large range of these already.
PLEASE NOTE: we will only be accepting items that are in good, clean and working condition.
We would love some extra help in planning for the Fete and you can offer as little or as much time as you choose. Please
contact the committee if you can offer some assistance. [email protected] .
Upcoming Fete meeting dates and times:
June 1st at 1:30pm
June 15th at 7pm.
All meetings are held in the P&C building off School Road, beside the Junior campus tennis courts.
CRAFT
Our Mother’s Day stall was a huge success and we would like to thank you all for supporting the P&C in this event. The
raffle winners were;
1st prize: $100 Bunnings gift card - Bradley (Yr 1)
2nd prize: Picnic Hamper - Lara (Prep)
3rd prize: Bathroom Hamper - Gallaxy (Yr 5)
It was a joy to see the excited faces of your children who were very pleased with their purchases. We hope all of our
College Mothers, Grandmothers & Carers had a lovely day.
Our craft committee meets weekly on Tuesday & Friday 9am - 2pm in the P&C room. We welcome all new members and
children are welcome to attend.
SECONDHAND UNIFORM SHOP
Huge Savings to be made - come and see us!!!
We are running low on Boys check shirts so if your child/children have out-grown any uniforms at home, we can sell
them for you on consignment (conditions apply). Donations are welcome too.
Our shop is open every Friday 9am-2pm (closed last Friday of every month for stocktake).
For more information please ring Niki Henare 0433 071 241 or Tina Davey 0437 574 757
Capalaba State College
Address: School Rd Capalaba 4157
Telephone: Junior (07) 3823 9333 Senior (07) 3823 9111
Facsimile: (07) 3823 9300 Senior (07) 3823 9100
Email: [email protected]