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NEWSLETTER PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

E S T A B L I S H E D 1 9 1 2 A P R O U D M E M B E R O F T H E

24 March 2015

Hello Parents, Carers, Students, Staff and Citizens of Mount Morgan, As we approach the end of Term 1 it is appropriate to look at what we could do better for our students and if we were able to change something to improve their learning capacity what could that be? The information you are about to read has been gathered from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating which has been researched by the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council. Healthy diet – Healthy lifestyle – Healthy results Schools have an important role in promoting healthy eating and physical activity to students and provid-ing an environment that supports a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet can improve behaviours critical to educational success and performance at school. Effective school-based nutrition and health interventions can also help improve academic performance. Smart Choices became mandatory in state schools from 1 January 2007, and applies to all situations where food and drink is supplied and consumed in the school environment. This includes tuckshops, vending ma-chines, school excursions, school camps, fundraising, classroom rewards, school events such as celebra-tions and sports days, and food used in curriculum activities. Students are encouraged through education sessions to choose nutritionally supportive foods and drinks for their ‘lunch boxes’ brought to school, and to start every day with breakfast. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating provides information about the amounts and kinds of food we need each day from the five basic food groups to obtain sufficient nutrients for good health and wellbeing and is consistent with the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating

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Example serves in the table below define the amount of food that equals one serve within each food group. For ex-ample, two slices of bread or one medium bread roll is equivalent to one serve. Recommended number of Daily Serves for children and young people

*Some foods do not fit into the five food groups because they are not essential to provide the nutrients needed. They are regarded as ‘extra’ foods and include biscuits, cakes, desserts, pastries, soft drinks, high-fat snack items such as crisps / chips, pies, pasties, sausage rolls and other takeaways, lollies and chocolates. Source: The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services, 1998. https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials/how-much-do-we-need-each-day/recommended-number-serves-children-adolescents The Smart Choices – Food and Drink Selector assists with making selections on foods and drinks to be supplied in schools. Foods and drinks have been classified into three categories according to their nutritional value: Green, Amber and Red. http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/healthy/docs/evaluationsummary.pdf GREEN ‘Have plenty’ Encourage and promote consumption of these foods and drinks. E.g.: wholegrain / whole-meal / rye / high-fibre breads and crisp-breads, high-fibre breakfast cereals, rice, wholemeal pasta and noodles, vegetables, fruit, milk, yoghurt, cheese, lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and legumes. Foods and drinks from the GREEN category are tasty, less-expensive choices. Take every opportunity to include foods from this category as part of the school lunch menu. For example, add at least one salad vegetable to sandwiches and rolls, add salad to burgers, and consume chilled or frozen fruit pieces at lunchtime. AMBER ‘Select carefully’ Do not let these foods and drinks dominate choices. Avoid large serve sizes. Amber foods are mainly processed foods that have had sugar, salt or fat added to them. These foods should be selected carefully because in general they: have some nutritional value; have moderate amounts of saturated fat and/or added sugar and/or salt; and can, in large serve sizes, contribute excess energy (kilojoules). Select moderate to small amounts of: processed meats (devon, salami, corned meat, bacon, ham, pastrami), margarine, mayonnaise and oil, spreads (peanut paste, fish or meat-based spreads), snack food bars, refined breakfast cereals with added sugar, full-fat products. RED ‘Occasional’ Limit the consumption of these foods and drinks to only very occasionally (eg: once a month). At school, staff and parents also eat from the school tuckshop. While their needs may be different to children, it is important that adults model healthy food choices. Eat/drink only occasionally: sugary drinks, artificially sweet-ened drinks, confectionery / lollies, deep-fried foods, snack foods, ice-cream varieties, cakes, muffins, sweet pas-tries, slices such as doughnuts / croissants / cream-filled or sugar-coated cakes and slices, ‘fast foods’ such as brand-name burgers and pizzas. I appreciate you taking the time to read this information. Regards, Trevor Rickertt – Acting Principal

Age: 4-7 years Age: 8-11 years Age: 12-18 years

Cereals (including breads, rice, pasta, noodles) 5 - 7 6 - 9 5 – 11

Vegetables, legumes 2 3 4

Fruit 1 1 3

Milk, yoghurt, cheese 2 2 3

Lean meat, fish, poultry, nuts and legumes ½ 1 1

Extra foods (have no more than)* 1 -2 1 - 2 1 - 3

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Student Council In the past couple of weeks our student council have been very active. They have organised a range of activities and fundraisers. Clean up school’s day The students organised a competition between sporting houses for who could collect the most rubbish over the lunch hours. With the winner being PATERSON. Well done all students and leaders. International Women’s Day For this special day the students acknowledged the contribution of women in our community through wearing purple ribbon and acknowledg-ing women who inspired them. SES Fundraiser Students wished to acknowledge the hard work of the SES throughout the clean-up of Cyclone Marcia. They chose to do this by organising a pan cake breakfast for staff and students for a gold coin donation. This was proudly supported by IGA Mt Morgan and Stewart’s Towing and Service Station and funds raised will be present-ed on a future parade. Thanks again to the SES and well done students. Be Brave & Shave To support the Be Brave & Shave fundraiser the student council organised a Crazy Hair Day. For a gold coin donation students could come to school with crazy hair or they could have their hair sprayed with crazy colours while they were at school. This was done in conjunction with the numerous head shavers on the day. Thanks to student leaders and participants. National Day of Action Against Bullying To promote anti-bullying in our school the stu-dents held a movie lunch where students were able to have a break from the regular lunch time routines. Students were also able to take a photo Taking a Stand Together Against Bullying. Thanks to all involved. GRIP Leadership Conference A group of nine student leaders represented our student council at the GRIP Leadership Confer-ence. The students learnt about leader qualities, how to make a difference in their school and teamwork and organisational skills as well as many other leadership attributes . The students represented the school in a very positive manner and were very positive about the leadership skills they could utilise back at school. Looking Forward This term our focus for our student council has been on community and school citizenship activi-ties within the school. Our plans for next term in-volve wider community activities as well as sup-porting our P&C association. K Stanger—HOD Senior Schooling

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DATES TO REMEMBER: School Cross Country—25 March 2015 School holidays 03 April—19 April 2015 (Resumes 20 April 2015)

HAPPY EASTER—HAVE A GREAT BREAK!

SUPPORT THE BUSINESSES THAT SUPPORTED OUR SCHOOL FOR THESE EVENTS

Hairworx Plus—Mt Morgan—donated time and skills to support ‘Be Brave & Shave’

IGA—Mt Morgan—donated goods to support an SES fundraiser

Stewart’s Towing & Service Station—donated goods to support an SES fundraiser

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As parents, a great focus of our time and energies is spent on ensuring that our children's needs are met. We do this out of love for our children. Some-times though, it is easy to for-get our own needs. When this happens it usually leads to a

feeling of discontent which certainly impacts on all members of the family.

Many parents have common needs that, if fulfilled , will help greatly in the enjoyment of family life. Here are some suggestions:

Take time away from the kids - Having time with your spouse or partner without the kids in your ear is very beneficial for your relation-ship. So too is personal time for yourself. We all have a need for privacy.

Enjoy your job - As employment caters to fi-nancial security it is important it is something you enjoy. If you don't then this will impact on not only your own health and well-being but your families as well.

Be healthy- Look after your health through good eating habits as well as exercise. When you look good you feel good. As one needs to be a parent for a very long time (at least 18 years), being healthy makes the job easier. Ex-ercise also helps the mental health - you can work through a lot of problems when you are on the go

Take time to relax -take holidays when they are due (what really is the point of saving them if it eventually leads to stress from overwork). Use weekends well - they too are a time to re-lax and unwind. A relaxed parent is better able to enjoy the family.

Pursue an interest - whether it be a lei-sure interest, friendship group or com-munity involvement. Find time to do the things you enjoy.

Let others support you when you're down - It's often said you need a community to raise a child, but it is also true that the community can help you in this sometimes difficult task

Educate yourself on being a better parent - often our only model of parenting may have been what our parents did. It is worthwhile attending parent classes, seeking advice, talking to other parents to ensure you are well equipped for the chal-lenges that children provide.

Remember: We are all important. No one is more im-portant than the next person .

Just as children require their needs to be met so do parents. So, factor in time each day to meet your needs -Happy parents can only benefit the entire family.

FROM THE GUIDANCE OFFICER

PARENTS

HAVE

NEEDS

TOO

FAMILY SQUABBLES Parents often worry about brothers and sisters quarrel-ling. A certain amount of quar-relling is normal for children in families. It is one of the ways that they learn how to get on with other people. Quarrelling

can be positive. Sometimes, however, you will need to step in when tempers become frayed and you can see that things are getting out of control. What causes quarrelling? Learning to get on with others Arguments between brothers and sisters are one of the ways that children learn to respect other people’s be-longings and feelings. It is one of the ways children learn to solve problems. Learning to argue fairly and without hurting each other will help them get on with others. Parents’ attention Children in families also fight about parents’ love and attention. To children love means time and attention. Young children do require more attention, but allocating time to an older child is just as important and will make for better relationships all round. Health When feeling unwell, resistance can be low for coping with adversity. We may be more sensitive to comments and less able to manage our own emotions. What parents can do Here are some steps you can take to help lessen quarrels.

Protect the needs of each child, for example prevent

older children’s activities from being interfered with by younger children and vice versa.

Spend special time with each child on a regular ba-

sis.

Allow each child to own some special things of their

own that they don’t have to share. For younger children, see that there are more than one of the same toys, such as matchbox cars, so that they can play together without having to share. Two second hand bicycles are often better fun than one new one that has to be shared. If you have three children make sure that the same one is not left out every time.

Invite other children over – children learn social skills

through exposure and practise

Children need their own bit of space which will not

be interfered with by others, even if it is only a drawer.

Try not to compare children with each other - this

always leads to bad feelings.

Be generous with hugs and affection to all your chil-

dren –even the teenager that appears to pull away – deep down they love the contact.

Make ground rules. Get your children to help you

make some rules about what behaviour is not allowed in your home, for example name calling or hitting = being respectful. Then if you have to step in, you do so be-cause someone has broken a rule, not to take sides.

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When you can see that children are feeling upset,

help them to find ways to express their feelings by talking about feelings. For young children play that helps with feelings includes water play, painting and playdough. For older children and adolescents it may be something like going for a run or playing their mu-sic, and especially opportunity to talk and problem solve themselves. Maintain good health - Healthy, active children may exhibit greater tolerance / resilience and manage their emotions more appropriately when needed

Children need adults to teach them how to solve problems, and while squabbles may be annoying and stressful they also may be the means of teaching resilience as well as developing skills for managing relationships throughout our lives.

Adapted from `Parenting SA’, Government of South Australia

NAPLAN tests Like all schools nationwide, some of our students are participating in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests in term 2 (12 - 14 May). Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will be assessed in the areas of Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. Within the Numeracy test Year 7 and 9 students un-dertake a calculator-allowed test, followed by a non-calculator test. We expect that the test results will be sent to our school in September this year, and an individual NAPLAN report for each student will be sent home. These confidential reports will show your child’s re-sults against key national information in each year level. Our school will use the information in a number of ways, primarily to better identify students requiring additional support, and to identify strengths and im-provement areas in teaching programs. While the NAPLAN report is an important measure of how all students are performing, it is important to re-member that it is only one aspect of the school’s as-sessment and reporting process. It does not replace the more extensive and informed judgements made by our highly skilled and experi-enced teachers. It is important that students receive ongoing support at home throughout the year in developing literacy and numeracy skills. For tips and information please visit

www.nap.edu.au

Bullying – No Way! It doesn't matter whether it's physical, psychological or even cyber. Bullying is a concern that our school takes very seriously and is working to address. If you suspect your child is being bullied, you should make an appointment with the teacher or school prin-cipal to discuss your concerns. Some signs of bullying include:

Loss of confidence

Changes in eating or sleeping habits, possibly

bedwetting

Health problems such as headaches or stomach

aches

Unhappiness or mood swings with sudden temper

tantrums Reluctance to go to school and changes in academic performance. What you can do:

Talk with your child about school and keep the

lines of communication open so children are more likely to confide in you.

Encourage your child to feel okay to ask others for

help and to keep their own safety in mind.

Ensure your child knows how to report bullying

and to ask you for help when needed.

Report the incident to a teacher. Don’t try to sort

out the situation yourself.

Make sure you are modelling healthy behaviours

to your child, especially in relation to conflict resolution and anger management. Help protect your child from harassment and cyber-bullying by closely monitoring internet use and in-stalling free internet filters. For more information and ideas to understand and deal with bullying, visit the Bullying. No way! website www.bullyingnoway.com.au.

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P&C Meeting

The AGM meeting for the P&C Association will be held on Thursday 02 April 2015 at 3.30pm.

ALL WELCOME

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YEAR 7

Week 1—Shelby Keirnan

Week 2—Phillip Carlton

Week 3—Jordan Brown

Week 4&5—Nicholas Van

Dreumel

Week 6—Karri Anderson-

Ross

Week 7—Rheanna Hayes–

Dans

Week 8—Letitia Hollier

YEAR 8

Week 1—Mary-Rose Donald

–Nord

Week 2—Bonnie Leggo

Week 3—Kodi Spanner

Week 4&5—Raven Tattan-

Dullahide

Week 6—Lorina Seppings

Week 7—Clifford Robinson

Week 8—Mary-Rose Donald-

Nord

YEAR 9

Week 1—Keanna Martin-

Bray

Week 2—Charlize Winter-

bottom

Week 3—Caleb Kajewski

Week 4&5—Lachlan Buckton

Week 6—Veronica Williams

Week 7—Katheryne Loader

Week 8—Zane Smith

Positive Awards

YEAR 11

Week 1—Jacob Behnke

Week 2—Casey Kingman

Week 3—Jewel Dolan

Week 4&5—Willow Bram-

ble

Week 6—Colleen Anderson-

Ross

Week 7—Courtney Brown

Week 8—Keira Martin-Bray

YEAR 12

Week 1—Angel Coulson-

Cooper

Week 2—William Holden

Week 3—Bianca Tulk

Week 4&5—Raymond Stew-

art

Week 6— Zinzan Delaney

Week 7—Isobella Rudolph

Week 8—Shinnoah Fay

YEAR 10

Week 1—Tammy Ryan

Week 2—Claudia Brooks

Week 3—Katelyn Robinson

Week 4&5—Jessica Grange

Week 6—Maddison Noonan

Week 7—Kathleen Court

Week 8—Tara Hoani

Friday 13 March was a great success for Be Brave & Shave Day due to the tire-less efforts of Miss Taliah Dale. Over $5500 was raised for this great cause. $930 of this was raised by the students on the day. Well done! A big thank you to everyone who donat-ed to make this event so successful.

WOW—What a great effort!

THANK YOU

Be Brave & Shave Day

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Mount Morgan State High School was established in 1912 and is the oldest high school

in Queensland. In 2012 the school celebrated 100 years of educa-tion and still continues to serve the community of Mount Mor-

gan and its surrounding regions providing a quality education for each of its students.

W....like to keep up to date with what is happening..? facebook.com/MMEdP

Community News:

MOUNT MORGAN

STATE HIGH SCHOOL 04 Central Street

PO Box 11

Mount Morgan Qld 4714

P | 07 4912 5555

F | 07 4912 5500 E | office@mtmorganshs.eq.edu.au

W | www.mtmorganshs.eq.edu.au

www.MMEdP.eq.edu.au