Term 4 Newsletter 2023

Principal's Report

As we approach the end of another fantastic school year, I share some ‘connections before curriculum’ reflections and observations of the many exciting accomplishments and moments of celebration during 2023.  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions as we farewelled our Year 12 students, celebrating their graduation and sending them off with the knowledge and skills to tackle the next chapter of their lives. It's heartening to share these moments with families and loved ones and witness the growth and transformation these young individuals have undergone during their time at our school.  Similarly, our Year 6 students are on the cusp of completing their primary schooling journey. As they prepare to transition to high school, we commend them for their hard work and enthusiasm. We wish them the very best as they embark on this exciting new adventure, and we look forward to continuing to share their journey.  Our school team is humbled to share the learning journey with so many students from different backgrounds, circumstances and settings.  This lies at the very heart of our mission as a state school.  I would like to thank our school team for their commitment to learning for every student.  I also thank every parent for entrusting your child/ children to us.  We are proud of our strong trusted relationship with every one of you.  To students, I thank you for your hard work in 2023 and for the relationships you have built with your teachers. 

School Awards

Our recent school celebrations across Primary and Secondary were a testament to the diverse talents and achievements of our students. These events were filled with pride and joy as we celebrated achievement. It was a joy to acknowledge the dedication and hard work that our students have put into their respective areas of interest. Our school community is rich with individuals who not only excel in their studies but also contribute to the cultural fabric of our school.

Finishing Strong

As we enter the final weeks before our extended summer break, I want to encourage all students and families to finish the academic year with the same determination and enthusiasm that has characterized our community throughout the year. High levels of attendance and commitment to learning will ensure that every student maximizes their potential and sets the stage for a successful 2024.

Looking Ahead

While the summer break is a time for relaxation and rejuvenation, it's also an opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year and set goals for the future. I encourage everyone to take some time to recharge, explore new interests, and spend quality time with loved ones.

Thank you to each member of the school community, our learning partners, and our P&C, for contributing to another memorable year. We should all be so proud of what we have achieved together, and I look forward to the exciting possibilities that the next school year will bring.

2023 StuditaliA Prize Winners

The StuditaliA Prize is the initiative of the Queensland Department of Education, the Consulate of Italy and the Italian community in Brisbane to promote excellence in Italian-language studies in Queensland schools and reward the high achievement of Year 12 students of Italian.

The prize recipients receive a unique opportunity to travel to Italy on completion of Year 12 to immerse in the Italian language and culture and deepen their knowledge of Italy's society.

The number of student prizes awarded in any year depends on the donations received and the number and quality of the applications received from students. The program is open to Year 12 Queensland (state or non-state) high school students of Italian language.

This year there were eight scholarship winners, including 2 students from the Cairns School of Distance Education. Full-time CSDE student Grace Meyers and school-based student Isabella Reilly were among the prize winners.

The group will depart Australia in early January for their Italian adventure and we wish them all the very best for their journey and beyond.

Complimenti Grace e Isabella, siamo fieri di voi!

Congratulations Grace and Isabella, we are proud of you!

Lucy Fedrizzi & Rosaria Zarro

Year 12 Italian teachers

Minecraft Club

This school year has witnessed a fantastic surge of enthusiasm as over 80 students joined our Minecraft Club at various stages. Between 15 and 20 students consistently participated each week, making it a thriving community within our school. The Minecraft Club has become a hub for creativity, collaboration, and, of course, endless fun.

At the forefront of this digital haven are our 5 dedicated student leaders who have orchestrated a series of engaging events. From imaginative building challenges to adrenaline-pumping PvP (Player vs. Player) battles, the Minecraft Club has proven to be a dynamic space where students not only play the game but also actively shape and contribute to the virtual landscape.  The community has blossomed into a supportive network where friendships are forged, ideas are exchanged, and the love for Minecraft is celebrated.

Minecraft Club stands out as a shining example of how extracurricular activities can not only enhance students' gaming experiences but also contribute to their overall personal and social development. The Minecraft Club is not just about bricks and blocks; it's about building a community, one digital adventure at a time. 

To all students who haven’t yet experienced the magic of Minecraft Club, we extend a warm invitation to join us in the next school year, and we hope to see familiar faces return as we continue building, battling, and exploring together in 2024.

Year 8 Creativity

Once again for the final unit in Year 8 Indonesian, students were asked to create a short story with Australian animals as the main characters. Their creativity shone through with the characters and narrative complications they created including a kangaroo who was almost taken by a snake but uses her jumping skills to save herself and then makes friends with a family of kittens.

Olivyae created a story about a kangaroo who goes on an adventure because she was bored with eating grass to then find out she loves eating bananas, filling up her pouch as she bounces around Darwin. A kangaroo also featured in Keira's story about friendship and being careful around water, when the kangaroo helps a koala who had fallen in a river. A kangaroo and cockatoo solved the problem of their names getting mixed up by writing letters on gum leaves in Kailey's story with a problem-solving twist. Amelia's story has a family of emus and also includes problem solving when the emus realise they have to follow their tracks to find their way back to the family picnic. The largest variety of animals is in Sina's story 'No, I'm a Bandicoot!' Bruce the Bandicoot meets a whiptail wallaby, two brushtail possums and a gecko who all mistake him for a rat. Bruce sets them straight and is allowed to live with his new friends after promising not to eat them. Sina's wide knowledge of native animals comes from helping her mum who is a wildlife carer in SE Queensland. 

Spike's Visit!

Spike is no ordinary sloth.

She’s adventurous, friendly and loves trying new things. This year she has been travelling around the country visiting Prep A students and their families.

Spike’s adventure started with James at the Twelve Apostles in Victoria. She then flew all the way to the far north of Queensland to go to a beautiful waterfall with Misha. Spike then popped over to visit Ady where she helped look for dinosaur bones.

She jumped on the next mail plane to visit Elodie where they worked hard to put lick out for the cattle and learned CPR. 

After that, Spike flew down south to visit Claudio. They made pancakes and cookies. Yum! She then headed down to Tiara’s place to jump on the trampoline and read books.

Spike caught a flight to New South Wales to visit Zaynab where she learnt some ballet and prepared fresh beans with Zaynab and her sister, Fatima.

Finally, it was time for her last stop before heading home. Spike zoomed up to South East Queensland to meet up with Lily where they rode a train and worked on their phonics lessons.

Now Spike plans on having one last adventure in Cairns for Celebration Week before a well-earned rest with Miss Hopkirk at school.

Spike has loved her adventure. Thank you Prep students for looking after her so well!

Shoot This – Year 9 Visual Art

Mr Kelly’s year 9 visual art class have been exploring the history and practice of photography this term. Studying pioneering photographers from the early twentieth century including Eugene Atget, Edward Weston and more experimental photographers such as British artist David Hockney.

Exploring the themes of Still Life and Landscape and being taught how to use their phones to take better photographs, Mr Kelly said he was “surprised by how diverse the subject matter of the students is as I have students in my class here from Indonesia, Western Queensland, Tasmania and the Gold Coast… it is just so great to connect with them and see where they live”

The Photojoiners, which is a series of photographers taken individually and then made into a composite, is based on the work of David Hockney. The work the students produced was excellent. It really allows for the creation of a unique vision of an area or a person and like Cubism allows things to be seen from multiple angles in the same plane at the same time.

Here is a small sample of the terrific work that year 9 visual artists have made this term.

Kind Regards,
Mr Kelly (Visual Art Teacher)

Visual artworks

Reef Guardian Spotlight: Making Waves for a Cause

Greetings Cairns SDE community,

Exciting news is making waves at our school! Did you know that we proudly hold the title of a Reef Guardian School? Joining forces with schools across Australia, we're actively supporting the preservation of our magnificent Great Barrier Reef!

In the recently concluded Term 3, some of our extraordinary students and teachers took a plunge into Run4Planet, a social climate awareness movement empowering everyday Australians to create a positive ripple effect on the Great Barrier Reef. 

Our students stepped into the spotlight as Run4Planet Ambassadors, donning Reefys – stylish headscarves or buffs crafted entirely from recycled materials – during activities like runs, walks, and dances throughout October.

Our Run4Planet Ambassadors: Anna, Pippa and Kelly

Meanwhile, dedicated teachers, accompanied by family and friends, gathered at Esplanade for a rejuvenating morning walk/run.

Imagine the scene: Lorraine Lawson, our remarkable Reefy Runner Master, led the charge, with some teachers also sporting the trendy Reefys.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to all participants! Your support and enthusiasm are key in cultivating a culture of care for ourselves, the environment, and others. Together, let's sustain the momentum and continue making a positive impact on our incredible Great Barrier Reef. 

Stay tuned for more eco-adventures and initiatives as we navigate towards a greener, more sustainable future!

Cairns School of Distance Education Sustainability Team

Senior Tourism Teachers attend Annual DestinationQ Tourism Forum

This term, our Senior Tourism teachers, Cassandra McIntyre and Ken Callaghan, attended the annual DestinationQ Tourism Forum which is Queensland’s leading tourism industry event, bringing government and industry leaders together.

Over 700 delegates gathered to consider the future of the Tourism industry, and discuss key Tourism and Events issues and priorities which was opened by our Premier,  Annastacia Palaszczuk, MP.  The theme for the Forum - Build and Focus – setting the foundations for the future with a focus on the Year of Accessible Tourism now and beyond 2032 with key note speakers Dylan Alcott AO and Todd Sampson delivering inspiring presentations in the day’s program.  Dylan Alcott, known for his Paralympic gold medals is now the founder of the Dylan Alcott Foundation and his presentation focused on making Tourism accessible and inclusive for all persons of disability. He is committed to assist Tourism industry providers to become aware of asking more questions  to overcome barriers to accessing Tourism attractions, properties and events. Todd Sampson shared some of his award-winning documentary experiences with a presentation, “Motivation to Keep the Momentum” where he overcame many obstacles to achieve scientifically brain changing feats and how you can boost your creativity and brain power.

Our Tourism teachers take away from the Forum including a new wealth of knowledge of how the Queensland’s Tourism Industry has been resilient and sustainable and where it will be headed towards 2032 and beyond and how to inspire creativity. Year 11 Tourism Students in 2024 can expect to learn more of the future of our Tourism industry as the new Senior Tourism syllabus is introduced.

Creating habitat at CSDE: Planting workshop

Greetings Cairns SDE community,

We had an awesomely industrious team of tree planters at CSDE at the start of Celebration Week in Week 9 of Term 4, coming together to spend an hour creating rainforest habitat in the school grounds.

Together, teachers and students planted over 60 native understorey rainforest plants, including gingers and cordylines, matt rushes, red lacewing vines and birdwing butterfly vines, powderpuff lilly pilly and little evodia. Native edible plants, including native violets and native mulberry, were also used the create a peaceful, shady native garden that everyone can enjoy when they visit our school. By using only native plants, we’re also creating invaluable habitat for birds (like our resident orange-footed scrub fowl), small reptiles, insects and other invertebrates.

The event would not have been made possible without the amazing support of Sarah Sims at Treeforce, our local tree planting group here in Cairns, who provided many of the plants and showed us all the best way to plant species to give them the best start in life. A final shout out to our two invaluable groundsmen, Fred and Jack, who did all the hard work behind the scenes, spending hours preparing the site for our planting workshop, so we could come and spend an enjoyable afternoon in the shade.

A huge thank you to all our participants, who brought enthusiasm and passion for the environment to this event. By working together, we can achieve great things and move towards a more sustainable world.

CSDE Sustainability Team

Tree Planting Workshop Photos

Recycled Art and Design Challenge Winner

Congratulations to Sophie from 5A for winning the Recycled Art and Design Challenge during National Recycling Week! Sophie successfully rose to the challenge of creating an artwork using recycled materials to send an important environmental message. Her beautiful creation, ‘Bottled Reef’, symbolises how trapped our precious Great Barrier Reef is becoming due to plastic waste in the ocean. 

Thank you, Sophie, for sharing an important message about reducing plastic waste!

Cairns School of Distance Education Sustainability Team

OLC Community Lunch

Thank you to Ms. Gates and the wonderful OLC students for putting on a spectacular community lunch in Week 8 of this Term. 

OLC Community Lunch

Year 12 Graduation Night

We had a wonderful night celebrating our Year 12 Graduands at the Pullman Reef Hotel Casino last night. Thank you to the students and families that came to celebrate our Year 12's.

We wish our Year 12 students all the very best on the next chapter!

Graduation Night Photos

STEAM Workshop & FNQ VEX IQ Regional Competition

In Week 4 of this term, Cairns SDE was thrilled to host the FNQ VEX IQ Regional Competition in the L Block undercover area. There were multiple schools that attended the event including Edge Hill State School, Bentley Park College and Mountain Creek State School to name a few. We are so proud of our students that participated in the STEAM workshop and Competition.

Thank you to all of the staff and parents that helped make the event a huge success! 

STEAM Photos

Music Camp

Thank you to Mr. Perger and students that attended Music Camp this term and put on a wonderful performance at the Presentation Day ceremonies. 

Music Camp Photos

Celebration Week

Celebration Week is a wonderful time of year where our school community comes together to celebrate students achievements and enjoy the many exciting activities throughout the week.

To kick off the week, we had a three-day swimming program at Tobruk Pool with a swimming carnival on the last day. Following this, students attended an excursion at the Cairns Aquarium where they learnt about the animals and habitats endemic to Tropical North Queensland. On Thursday, we celebrated students hard work at Presentation Day held at Cairns Colonial Club then had a BBQ at the school for students transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7. Finally, on Friday students, staff and families enjoyed a day in the water at Sugarworld and had a special visit from Santa.

Thank you all for a great year! 

Swimming Program

Excursion at Cairns Aquarium

Presentation Day

Community BBQ

Sugarworld

Parent Liaison Officer News

We have come to the end of 2023 and what a great week we had last week for Celebration Week. It’s been a huge year for a lot of our families but we are very grateful for those who were able to come into the school and celebrate with us last week.

Celebration Week Wrap-up

The week commenced with the traditional 3 days of swimming lessons which was a very welcomed reprieve from the heat and humidity. Friends who met at previous events had the chance to come together and catch up. New friendships between classmates and parents were also formed. On the Monday afternoon a group of families enjoyed planting natives in the outdoor learning precinct, along with the jovial company of the Sustainability Committee and our lovely gardeners. After a thrilling mini-swimming carnival, on Wednesday morning, we all met up at the Cairns Aquarium and enjoyed exploring aquatic and rainforest animals of the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef, in the sweet relief of the air-conditioning.  Thursday was another great day of celebrating, and this time we all came together to acknowledge students who have achieved both academically and through effort, behaviour and participation. It was truly wonderful to witness the smiles on student and families’ faces when their child’s name was called out. That night was our Community BBQ where families came together to indulge in a sausage sizzle courtesy of Cairns West Rotary Club, as well as some very yummy celebration cake. The Year 6s who were present received a certificate of graduation (directly from their future Heads of Student Engagement), and a signing bear from the Cairns SDE P&C. The following and final day was filled with splashingly good fun for our customary visit to Sugarworld. Students and teachers battled it out on the mat racer and the P&C supported Santa’s visit with gifts of lollies and books.

Daniel Morcombe Day – 20^th anniversary

As I write this article the Morcombe family and all Australians mark the 20^th anniversary of Daniel’s abduction and murder. Coming into our summer holiday is a timely moment to have personal safety conversations with our family. If you’re looking for resources to support you through these conversations the Daniel Morcombe Foundation have a multitude of them which are suitable for a range of ages. One such resource is a “That’s Suss: eSafety Challenge” – it includes worksheets, interactive animation and a Parent and Carer Guide. Considering the increase in screen time most children are exposed to these days, you may consider this activity for your holiday to-do list.

Holiday To-Do List

When chatting to some Home Tutors at our final Home Tutor Connect Session of the year, I mentioned some ideas for the holidays. I can only imagine how many kids over the next couple of months will utter the words “I’m bored” or “what else can I do”. Here are some ideas;

• Create a list together of ideas for cooking, arts and crafts activities, outside activities, places to visit etc and then plan out when you can all look forward to doing them.
• Alternatively, the list can be written down on small pieces of paper, folded up, and placed in a large jar. Add some in yourself that are not so fun or exciting eg vacuum the floor, 10 x star jumps, set the table for dinner etc. Then whenever they mention being bored tell them to select an idea from the “Bored Jar”.

Community Engagement events

Preparation for our community engagement events has commenced and we hope to see as many families as possible again next year. The purpose of these events is two fold – positive social interaction for your child, and also, a networking opportunity for yourself, as Home Tutors.

Selamat Natal!! Enjoy the break, with family and friends, and celebrate in your way with some time for you too 😊

Kind Regards,

Clare Macpherson | Parent Liaison Officer | PLO@cairnssde.eq.edu.au | 07 4080 9208

ICPA