Malanda State High School eNewsletter

News from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carer/s,

I cannot believe that we are already at the end of the first term for the year! Time has flown, and I am sure that it is not just for the staff, but for families and students alike. I want to take this opportunity to thank all parents and the community for their support. I would also like to acknowledge our wonderful year 7 students on an exceptional start to their high school journey and look forward to seeing them prosper into the future.

As we draw to the close of the term, families who are new to our school may not be aware that we report on student progress each term, for academic, effort and behaviour. Term one (April) and three (September) report cards are progress reports, whereas the reports at the end of each semester (June and December) are the results awarded for the culmination of work throughout the semester. The first progress reports will be emailed on Friday of this week. If you do not have an active email address, please contact our friendly administration team who will assist you in updating your details. Please also know that if you are signed up to QParents that you are also able to update your details via the app as well as access report cards via the platform too. QParents is a tool that we will be utilising into the future, and so I urge all parents to sign up as soon as possible. To do this, please contact our wonderful office staff.

For those of you with students who have been at our school for some time, you will know that last year we commenced our review of the Code of Conduct for students. This year we have been reviewing and refining our behaviour levels and systems, to align to Education Queensland’s definitions of behaviour, where we focus on universal, targeted and intensive support for major and minor behaviours that may occur in a school. In line with this, parents will notice that from this academic reporting period forward there will be an element that is no longer included – that being of behaviour levels including levels of below, entry, bronze, silver and gold. This change has come about as it distinguishes that we treat minor and major behaviour instances as they occur in a supportive manner, whilst recognising that all students can act in a safe, responsible and respectful way each day, and in every lesson they attend. The student support teams are currently working through what these systems will look like, including how students will be identified and/or can apply for the awards through criteria. Whilst these changes are being mapped out, we will still acknowledge and celebrate student positive behaviour throughout the year. We are also gaining student voice in this space, so we know how students want to be acknowledged for their positivity in our school. Currently in the junior years we are already undertaking our first rewards day as this newsletter is published, and we look forward to including more students into the future as our systems and processes are reviewed, with students still able to apply for gold, silver and bronze levels until a new system is in place. Further information concerning this will be communicated with the community as the information is finalised, and we will of course be presenting the work and ideas at our P&C meetings. I encourage you all to attend these meetings so feedback from the parent and citizen bodies in our community can be gathered, heard and reflected upon.

As we close the term, as usual I would like to acknowledge the wonderful achievements of our students. For this this fortnight in sport, we congratulate Lilly for making the Tablelands netball team and Taylor for referring at the event. We also had Maeve at the Hockey trials and Pippa at the recent Basketball trials – well done ladies! Rustin and Myles are also congratulated for representing the Tablelands at the recent basketball trials, congratulations is extended to you also!

Whilst I am in the sporting arena, it would be remiss of me not to mention our school’s annual Cross Country. It was an amazing day with students dressed in the most bizarre and creative costumes for the theme of ‘A Day on the Job’. Well done to all competitors and Barrine for, yet again, taking out another school carnival - surely another house has to win at something?! I extend my thanks and well done to all staff in the supervision and participation at the annual event, and acknowledge the hard work of the sports coordinator, Ms Shana Backshall in delivering another high-quality event.

Aside from sport, I am thrilled to advise the community of the impressive results we have seen across the school for all academic subjects. At the time of printing, across all subjects and year levels in the school, we have 90% of our students achieving an A, B or C, with 54% of all students receiving an A or B. This is testament to the excellent students we have at Malanda and the support from our parents and community; well done to all!

As we end the term, I wish to announce a few staff changes. We wish Ms Paula Wymbs, our Executive Secretary, all the best as she leaves us to pursue a study path in nursing. We also wish Mr John Van Vegchel all the best as he relocates to Cairns, no doubt he will be missed by the students and staff alike. We wish Ms Dianna Godfrey safe travels as she embarks on long service leave for most of the term, with a replacement being finalised this week.

Lastly, the school will have some facilities work occur over the holidays, so we ask the community to refrain from using the grounds whilst this work is being completed. If you are concerned or see anything suspicious occurring on our grounds, please contact school watch to report the issue.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy easter break, we look forward to seeing all students back on Tuesday 22 April.

Yours in learning,

Natasha Lyndon

News from the HPE/Agriculture/ITM Department

Year 7 - ITM Hat racks

Year 8 - HPE

Introduction to movement unit for Year 8 HPE. Students had 20mins to create a group freestyle movement sequence. They were engaged and enthusiastic so we can’t wait for next term. We will have a range of traditional and contemporary dances, as well as Gymnastics and Taekwondo.

The mayhem of multisport with the whole year 8 cohort. The number called is the number of participants each team then a ball is thrown in and the ‘team’ must play that sport to score. It’s mayhem but so engaging.

Year 11 & 12 - ITM projects

During lunch this term, it was Teachers vs. Students in an epic wheelchair basketball game! The competition was fierce, but the Teachers came out on top with a thrilling 3-2 victory!

Huge thanks to everyone who participated and cheered us on – what a great display of team spirit!

The HPE team wish you a safe and happy holiday 🐰

News from the Science Department

Malanda State High School Students at the Go Health Expo in Cairns!

Our Year 10, 11 & 12 students are currently at the Go Health Expo in Cairns, an exciting event that’s all about connecting the future health leaders of tomorrow with industry experts today! This incredible collaboration between the Cairns Regional Jobs Committee, Queensland Health, CheckUP, Health Gateway to Industry Schools Program, and health organizations across Queensland is giving our students the chance to explore careers in acute healthcare, wellness health, allied health, and social services. The expo features hands-on demonstrations, mock health facilities, and information booths offering valuable insights into school-based traineeships and work experience opportunities. Teachers are also getting in on the action with professional development sessions, and parents and community members can register to attend and discover the diverse career paths in health. It’s a day full of learning, inspiration, and endless possibilities!

From Monday 17^th to Wednesday 19^th March, the Year 12 Biology class conducted fieldwork for their student experiment at Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre. On the first day, they really enjoyed collecting data for the citizen science MangroveWatch program in two different mangrove ecosystems and got an appreciation for the diversity of the mangrove species that were present. Students were also well acquainted with the mosquito and sand fly populations that exist in these habitats. On the second day, students battled the rain to conduct their own fieldwork in the mangroves or along the sand dunes. The students all worked really hard into the night to process and interpret their data, draw valid conclusions and write the majority of their report in the comfort of the air-conditioned conference room. A big thank you to Terri Macqueen and the staff from Holloways Beach who assisted the students with their field studies and for the tour of the aquarium. Additionally, we would like to thank our parent helper, Dr Amanda Freeman who was a great help in the kitchen and as an ecologist in the field.

Ms Williams and Mr Watkins

Science Ambassador Program

On Thursday 20^th March, 50 students from Year 11 Biology and 10 Science attended a presentation as part of the Visiting Young Science Ambassador program which was sponsored by the Cairns Business Liaison Association. Selina Ward is a PhD student from the University of Queensland and is completing her thesis on “Integrated surveillance of neglected tropical diseases and vaccine preventable diseases.” Selina spoke to students about tropical disease that are relevant to our area and the overseas work that she has done on disease surveillance. She also spoke to students about pathways into health-related careers such as nursing and medicine. The presentation was engaging and informative and we would like to extend our thanks to Selina and the Cairns Business Liaison Association for supporting the program.

8B Science

On Friday 21st of March the students of 8B Science were warned that an earthquake would be impacting their classroom. With the building materials supplied (toothpicks and marshmallows) they had to create earthquake resistant structures. Like a real-life situation, they had to submit their construction design plan before they begun building and testing their models. Once their towers were built, we put them in a container of jelly and shook the containers to simulate the shearing motion of secondary earthquake waves. This was a fun way for students to demonstrate their knowledge and finish the unit on tectonic plates.

News from the Sports Coordinator

Sports wrap up:

It has been a huge term for sport at MSHS, we have seen a lot of student success in their individual sports and at the school carnivals. We have seen Barrine take home two championship trophies for our sports carnivals, with just one more chance for Eacham and Tinaroo to go in week 10 of term 2 for Athletics. At the end of last week we also had Abbie Miller and Kinsley Glaspy attend the state swimming carnival for Peninsula, both girls got PB’s over the week and Abbie got 4^th in the 400m IM.

Next term its off to a quick start with district cross country on Friday of week 2. Malanda has won for 6 consecutive years now so it would be great to keep that streak! Touch Football academy trainings will also begin week 2 Wednesday next term.

Yours in sport

Ms Backshall

On Friday the 28^th of march, we held our interhouse cross country. We had a break in the rain but no lapse in the heat or humidity! Despite the conditions we saw some spectacular performances, three records were broken, Lorretta Shaw broke the 13 years girls record, Khy Allen broke the 14 years boys record and Erika Koelman smashed the open girls record by an impressive 5 minutes. Eacham house took out the sun safety award, but reigning champions Barrine house took out the house spirit and overall performance. The token hunt was super fun, with Neo Freeman, and Mitchel Bird taking home a box of favourites for finding the infamous Miss Lyndon token. In between our races we had some fun ball games and house challenges for house spirit points, overall, a really fun, competitive day. Thanks to everyone who makes our carnivals happen, especially our sports coordinator Ms Backshall.

Love from,

The Sports Captains.

News from the Japanese Department

Japanese Students visit Malanda Students

A big thank you to our amazing Japanese students for visiting Malanda State High School! It was an absolute pleasure seeing our Malanda Japanese Club student buddies connect, share experiences, and create unforgettable memories together. From fun activities to cultural exchanges, we all had an incredible time. We look forward to more opportunities to learn from each other and build lasting friendships!

#MalandaSHS #CulturalExchange #InternationalFriendship

Peer Mentoring Program

🎉 Congratulations Year 10 Peer Leaders! 🎉

A huge shoutout to our incredible Year 10 Peer Leaders at Malanda State High School! Over this term, they have shown outstanding dedication and growth. From building positive relationships and practicing leadership skills to facilitating activities and working collaboratively, they’ve truly demonstrated authentic leadership.

Their hard work and commitment have been invaluable in supporting our Year 7 students through their successful transition into high school. The guidance and encouragement they've provided have made a world of difference!

Your organisation, time management, and teamwork are an inspiration to all. Keep shining, Year 10! 🌟

#MalandaSHS #PeerLeaders #Leadership #Year7Transition #ProudSchool

News from the Support Staff

Important Dates

Phones away for the day

Keep Your Phone Safe & Secure!

Did you know? We offer FREE phone lockers for all students to keep their devices safe and secure during school hours!

Simply pop by the office to pick up a consent form, parents sign, return to the office and we’ll get you set up instantly. It’s that easy! Stay focused and keep your phone safe – come see us today!

Parents/Guardians/Staff/Student additional information

Peninsula School Sport 2025

2025 Next Step Year 12 Completers Survey

All Year 12 completers from last year will soon receive an invitation to participate in the Next Step survey. This is their chance to help our school to understand the different pathways of the 2024 Year 12 students and to improve our senior programs and supports for future students. The survey only takes five minutes and asks graduates about their study and work activities since finishing school.

As a thank you for participating, Year 12 completers who complete the survey will be entered into a draw to win a MacBook Air.

We ask parents, siblings and friends to encourage our graduates to complete the survey. If their contact details have changed, please assist survey interviewers by providing their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate. Graduates may receive an invitation by mail, email or phone. The survey can be completed online or by phone.

For more information about Next Step, including previous results, visit http://www.qld.gov.au/nextstep.