Term 4 - Week 10 - December 2021 -

From The Principal

It has been a wonderful end of term as we celebrated student academic achievement at our annual Awards Evening and sporting achievements at the Southern Zone Sports Awards. In the same week, we also had a well-attended Graduation Ceremony for our departing Year 12 students. With close to 200 parents and friends in the audience, this reflected the community support for our Senior students and the great job they have done leading our school throughout 2021.  

On behalf of the school, we wish our graduating class of 2021 the best for the next part of their educational journey and look forward to hearing stories of challenges and successes in the future. I would like to give a special mention to our elected student leaders over the past 12 months for their tireless efforts, often behind the scenes.

Congratulations must go to all of the award winners over the past few weeks, especially to our School Dux, Mackenzie Campbell, our Junior School Dux, Mac Flegler, and our Sportspersons of the Year - Kassidy Dore (Junior) and Brooke Tongalea (Senior).

Business Liaison Awards – 2021

Each year the Cairns Business Liaison Association conduct their awards ceremony to highlight the range of student talent in Far North Queensland. Tully State High School was successful in seeing two of our Year 12 students receive awards this year. Tahlia received the Institute of Office Professionals Encouragement Award, while Liam Burton was Runner-Up for the Agriculture Futures Award.  These awards are highly competitive - congratulations to both Liam and Tahlia.

2022 Staff

As with every year, our school will lose some staff and of course acquire new staff and 2022 will be no different.  In our first 2022 newsletter, we will introduce our new staff. I do acknowledge the dedication and effort shown by several of our staff who will be leaving our school at the end of the year. Teachers leaving include:

Ms Darcey, Ms Wood, Mr Bird, Ms Passfield, Mr Moore, Ms Kachur and Ms Cassidy.

We wish them the best in their new schools and recognise the positive impact they have had on students during their time at Tully State High School.

Waltykima

A big shout out for this year’s annual year book, the Waltykima. As usual it is packed with stories and photos of students and their experiences throughout the year. The front cover was designed by one of our Year 10 students, Angie Andreson, which featured the Tully Gumboot!  The Yearbook, highly valued and a treasured keepsake for all of our students, is now available at the front office.

Year 7 Wellbeing

As part of the Year 7 Wellbeing program earlier this year, students were involved in showing their gratitude by initiating a project that could benefit future generations of students. One group designed art pieces that typified our local area. Ms Kachur used the plasma cutter to cut the designs out in metal and these designs are now placed in a new seating area for students - a great collaborative project that students will view for many years to come.

Summer Holidays

On a final note – thank you for your continued support and encouragement of your child’s education throughout the year. I wish you the best over the summer break and look forward to catching up in the new year. I am on leave for the first few weeks of Term 1 and during my absence Deputy Principals Ms Rebekah Bidois and Mr Mark McLoughlin will be acting Principal.

Richard Graham

Principal

Awards Night 2021

On Tuesday November 16, our annual Speech Night took place in the Multi-Purpose Centre with huge numbers of students receiving awards.  This year, Subject Awards were handed out in all year levels recognising the top student achiever in each of these subjects.  As well as that, we had many students receiving Merit and Excellence Academic Awards in recognition of their outstanding results in all of their subjects for the year.  At Tully SHS, we set high expectations and the criteria for merit and excellence is of a very high standard, so congratulations must go to those students receiving these.

Many parents and members of the local community were on hand to witness students also receive Special Awards and Bursaries generously donated by supporters of our school.  Our 2021/2022 School Captains, Toko Tuatai and Jack Watson, did a brilliant job of presiding over the evening’s events. The night culminated in the exciting announcement of our Junior School Leaders for 2022 – congratulations to Nicholas Muriata and Mia Uitenweerde, and the winners of the prestigious Junior and Senior Dux awards were also announced.  This year, Mac Flegler was awarded Junior Dux with his excellent results for Year 9, with Mackenzie Campbell taking out Senior Dux. 

Congratulations to all students receiving awards, and a huge thank you to Mrs Stewart and the Concert and Jazz Bands for the entertainment during the evening.  Recognition must also go to the teachers and families of these students, as their success is a product of their hard work and perseverance also. 

Mrs Rebekah Bidois

Deputy Principal – Senior Secondary

Reading Improvement

The NGRT report on reading improvement shows a marked improvement in the reading results.

At regular intervals throughout Year 8, the English classes have been explicitly taught a range of reading strategies. The graph shows that our students are progressing more compared to other students across the nation.

On Friday the 26 November, Year 8 students were issued with a letter showing their results and progress from Year 7 to 8, as well as suggestions for continued improvement of their reading.

Kathleen Macdonald

HOD English.

Year 8 Art – “Plant Culture”

Year 8 Art students researched a wide interpretation of culture; such as, customary practices/rituals, cuisines, beliefs, icons, music and dance, etc. They then chose one specific culture to represent symbolically when creating a pottery vessel. 

The results are fantastic!

Middle School Far North Queensland State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP)

Congratulations to Year 8 student Kiera Jolly who was selected to participate in the Middle School Far North Queensland State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP) held in Cairns. This event is run by Griffith University’s Conservatorium of Music and is a wonderful opportunity for students to rehearse and perform in a concert band at a high level. Kiera worked with guest conductor Alyse Jones learning new skills and making new acquaintances with other like-minded musicians from around the region.

Well done Kiera!

Year 9 Art – Our final assessment piece for the year – leaving the best till last!

Figure It

The human form is something of true beauty and uniqueness. There is no right or wrong way for the human form to look or behave, which is why there’s so much representation of it in art. Throughout time many artists have shown the different shapes, sizes and appearances of human forms through abstraction. From the beginning of time, it has been manipulated in millions of different ways, expressing emotion, insecurity, beauty and imperfection from differentiating perspectives. The expression of the human form’s raw exquisiteness has been very effective in sculpting, which is why the assessment task asks for an abstract, human figure to be resolved and stylized out of clay.

My sculpture was influenced by Henry Moore, a British artist, who created sculptures based on the human form. Towards the end of his artistic career, he began sculpting what are known as abstract figures and declining figures. They consist of curves, convex and concave, voids and 3Dism. His way of manipulating reality into simple, yet exaggerated forms, is what inspired my artwork. However, I wanted to add emotion and an exaggeration of perfection and imperfection to my figure. 

I created my sculpture, The Woman in Despair, in a way that exposes the raw emotions of a human being through a body constructed with uniqueness and wonderous imperfection. From a large block of clay, convex and concave curves were carved and moulded in order to emphasise the common imperfections that many women have as well as features most loved and considered beautiful. This consists of body fat, hip dips, belly rolls, back dimples, spine line, an hourglass-shaped body, breasts and an enlarged buttock. The figure is positioned in a rather twisted, arched and slightly unnatural way, on her knees. Voids are placed in areas they seem likely to be. The sculpture was penetrated using a pencil between the arm and the head, at the armpit and through the chest, on the left where the heart should be. The void over the heart was created to display the human feelings of despair and emptiness. To go along with this, the head is bent to the side and downwards, and holes have been strategically carved into the face of the figure. They simulate the expressions that the emotions mentioned above come with. Some extra dots have been added to show where the nipples and belly button should be, and for style. The breasts have been intentionally shaped disproportionately to further represent female imperfection, and for style. The figure has also been shaped to show a gap between the thighs, the location of the hips and female area and where the calves meet the thigh in a sort of sitting, kneeling position. This is for effect and style.

Overall, my sculpture is successful in expressing what I wanted it to express. My full-figured, curvaceous figure gives expression to human nature and emotion while balancing imperfection with perfection. It succeeds in including the voids, curves, exaggeration, stylization and simplification of abstract sculpting.

Jasmine Pitman

TSHS Sports News

Congratulations to all students on another successful Tully SHS sporting year.  Thank you to all staff who assisted throughout the year to make each event and opportunity for the students a success.   

The year finished with the annual Sports Awards Night on Monday 15 November where we celebrated the sporting achievements of students across the Southern Zone Cassowary Coast District.    Tully SHS hosted the evening, and a special thank you must go to the staff involved in the planning of the evening and to the teachers and special guests presenting awards on the night.  The guest speaker, Romy Tietzel, provided a great insight into elite level female sport and overcoming challenges.  It is always a pleasure to have past students return to share their success with our sporting community.   

Congratulations to the Special Award winners announced on the night.  

Brooke Tongalea - Sportsperson of the Year Award (13-19 years) & Contribution to Sport Award 
Kassidy Dore - Junior Sportsperson of the Year Award (10-12 years) La Spina Memorial Trophy 
Shaniece Davis – House Participation Award 
Mackay House – House Spirit Award 

We look forward to another year full of opportunities and success in 2022.   

Congratulations to Harry Tamblyn, Korey Roberts and Kaiden Roberts, who attended the Peninsula Triathlon trials on 5/11.  All three students were selected in the Peninsula Team to compete at State Championships early in 2022.   

Annual Sport Gala Day.

On Tuesday of Week 10, Tully State High School hosted Innisfail State College for the annual Sport Gala Day.  Almost 90 TSHS students participated in a range of sports, including Touch, Netball, Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton, Cricket and Futsal.  The conditions were very hot, but students did not complain and participated with great sportsmanship throughout the day.  We look forward to continuing the tradition and visiting ISC next year.

Year 12 Graduation

In Week 7 of the final term for the year, we said farewell to our Year 12 cohort with our official graduation ceremony. The ceremony marked the very last day of school for these students, prompting not only a moment to say goodbye, but also a chance to celebrate all the previous years of school that led to that moment.

Graduation isn’t just something to fill the time. It is recognising the achievement of Year 12 students who, after countless hours of class work, homework, study, assessment, exams, meetings, sporting events, cultural events and extra-curricular activities, have made it to the finish line. It’s also thanking the student leaders and sport captains, our SLT and House leaders, and our indigenous leaders for all they have done throughout the year.

The ceremony ended, as it always does, with the Year 12 students running out of the building into a fountain of water provided by our local Fire brigade (a big thank you to those guys), with some shaving cream, and, I believe, also flour and eggs thrown into the mix.

On a personal note, as the Year Level Coordinator for this group for the past two years, it’s been my absolute pleasure walking along side this cohort through their final years at school. I’m extremely proud of their accomplishments, and I’m not ashamed to say that I will miss seeing them all each and every day at school. But I know they are destined for greater things beyond school, so I’d better let them go.

Congratulations again to all the Year 12 students on a job well done. Tully State High wishes you the absolute best for your future, wherever life takes you. 

A Glimpse of Year 10, 2021

This is what we did:

• We know that attendance at school is paramount to success in the classroom, so we celebrated students who had 94%+ attendance with ice cream sandwiched between choc chip biscuits. Yum!!!
• In order to encourage students to be leaders in our school, we introduced them to the concept that not all leaders wear badges, that it is through choices and teamwork they can have a positive influence.
• They attended the Cassowary Coast Careers Expo Day at Innisfail State College. The Expo encompasses exhibitors including Vocational Education and Training Providers, Universities, Industry Training Providers, Hospitality Training Providers, Government Departments and Defence Forces.
• They have identified personal strengths and weaknesses; acknowledged interests both in and out of school; participated in SET planning; gained an understanding of Senior subjects and university life; participated in Work Experience and gained insights into the working life from guest speakers.
• They have been visited by local employers, TAFE and university students to get a glimpse of the future.
• As usual, the cohort have been enthusiastic supporters of sporting events, the Tully Show, Read to Me Day, agricultural shows, Tully’s Got Talent, Cupcake Day, Just Dance sessions and Imaginarium.

As we go into the holidays, stay safe, look after family and friends, and we will see you in 2022.

Jenni Holmes

Yr 10 Coordinator

Building Bridges

The class was asked to construct a bridge between two boxes, using only plastic straws and masking tape. This may seem an easy task but the bridge had to be strong and designed in such a way that the structure was capable of holding heavy weights.

The students were extremely excited and with great enthusiasm set out to create some amazing structures. One group in particular not only succeeded in meeting the criteria but was also successful in making their bridge the most environmentally friendly, by using less plastic and more creative ingenuity. All of the groups were successful because not one of the bridges collapsed under the weights applied. In fact, we did not have enough weights to test just how strong the structures really were.

In the end, four bridges were still holding strong. Each group did an amazing job and were very engrossed in the task at hand.

Multicultural Dancing

Mr Hughes and Miss Ford were given the opportunity to teach their own cultural dancing to our Year 7s over two lessons in Week 9. Miss Ford taught the girls her traditional Cook Island dancing to a variety of songs. Mr Hughes taught the boys the New Zealand Māori Haka.

Transition Day

The end of primary school for most Year 6 students brings a mix of emotions – excitement, a touch of sadness and nostalgia, and often, a feeling of apprehension at the thought of coming to High School. Having been leaders and the ‘big kids’ of their respective schools for the whole year, they now face the prospect of being the youngest and the smallest, one among over 700 students.

To alleviate this daunting prospect and put a few wild notions to bed, Monday’s Transition Day welcomed all prospective Year 7 students to the High School. Students from all over the Cluster

spent the day in a range of classes, experiencing the novelty of going from Maths to English, Humanities, Science and even Wellbeing. They were allocated to Houses, lined up at the Tuckshop, and met some of our student leaders who organised fun activities during the lunch breaks.

By all accounts, the day was a great experience for this new cohort. We look forward to welcoming all of them on Day 1, 2022.

Term 4 Good Start Program:

This term our Pacific Islander students have been learning about Water is Life. Each student was given a water bottle to help being hydrated during our summer weather at school. Our students were excited to learn that water is most important resource that we need in our lives, whether it be for the environment, nutrients for our body, or general purposes like washing hands.

TSHS Uniform Policy

Stationery Requirements 2022

Casual Cleaners Wanted

Key Dates 2022

Student Reports