WITH THE release of ATAR scores on Friday, December 13, it is with great pride that I can announce that we have received our best-ever across-the-board ATAR outcomes, growing our tradition of outstanding results.

A remarkable six students achieved ATAR scores above 99, placing them in the top 1% of the state.  These results would equate to OP1s in the previous system and are the school’s best ever results.  To have six students at this level is unbelievable. The remarkable Noah-Jay McArdle received the school’s highest result – a 99.80.
Added to this, 25% of students achieved an ATAR score above 90.  All of these results stem from having wonderful students combined with fantastic teachers and deliberate and targeted curriculum programs.

Importantly, every student at Coolum State High School was successful and all of them have plans for exciting careers and courses ahead.  We are so proud of them all.
Coolum High’s results place it in the highest tier of schools.  To see, up close, the diligence and determination of these students is truly remarkable.  The precision of the teachers and the way in which they strive for excellence is truly next-level and something for which I am extremely grateful.

Perhaps the greatest reward is in hearing the gratitude of the parents of these students.  All of them speak glowingly of the nurturing and care our students receive, as well as the sheer quality of teaching in the classroom.

I believe that the Coolum community should be extremely proud of the young people we have nurtured together.  Significantly, education matters in our community, matching the natural beauty that drew us all here in the first place.  At times, we have to pause and wonder, is there really anywhere better on earth?  Congratulations go out to all our graduating students – I know you will join me in being extremely proud of them!

HOW REFRESHING it was to see our Senate passing laws to limit access to social media for children aged under 16.  There is now no doubt that social media is causing harm to young people, and we now have lawmakers willing to take a stand.  Every politician who voted for this legislation deserves to be applauded.

Social media has caused untold damage to the mental health of young people everywhere.  It is not a healthy space for the young, who should be playing sports, mixing with friends, engaging with family, learning music and reading books, and getting out in nature.  We should not be in darkened rooms engaging with people who are not with us in person.  As truly social creatures, our socialisation should always be with people who are with us physically, along with the occasional phone call.

Unfortunately, as parents, social media requires us to be more vigilant than ever before.  As someone who was raised in the country, we only ever had two golden rules – be home before five OR be home before dark.  These were simpler times, and parents could let us have the run of the town knowing we would be safe.  I can’t remember the words “mental health” ever being used together in that way.  Times have changed!

We have to keep our kids safe.  The social media companies have shown that they will not take charge unless their hands are forced by governments, and even then, it will be hard.  Our best chance is to take charge ourselves.  Only as communities can we make a difference.

I have been heartened to see the immediate improvement made in the use of e-bikes in our community, thanks to the determined actions of Sergeant Joel Bryant of the Coolum Police.  If we can make a difference there, we can make a difference here.  Let’s stand together on social media and save the minds of our young people.  It will be hard and maybe slow at first, but we can do this.  Let’s make our world a safer place for our young people.

LAST WEEK, Coolum State High School held its annual graduation ceremony, this year at the Coolum State School Hall.  This was then followed up at school with the ‘guard of honour’ ceremony in which our graduating seniors walk through a guard of all students who have gathered to ‘clap-out’ the students for their final exit from the school.

It was an emotional, yet exuberant, time as 195 young men and women contemplated what 13 years of education, six of which were at high school, truly meant to them.  The most tearful ones, though, of course, were the parents!

During the evening ceremony, school captains Chilli Lloyd and Bronte Strahan, and valedictorian, Savanah Mahony, made wonderful speeches thanking school staff, celebrating shared friendship and making sense of the meaning of leaving the major institutions that have shaped their lives.  Students, Owen Troy and Starlee Cattanach, gave truly wonderful musical performances that perfectly captured the emotional and reflective mood of the evening.  Subject awards were given to a group of extraordinarily talented students, many of whom had not lost a single grade prior to undertaking external exams.  The school’s friends at Diggerman provided a scholarship equating to training that will shape one young man’s life forever.  Wandama Award winner, Noah-Jay McArdle, won the subject prize for every subject he studies – a truly remarkable feat!

The ‘guard of honour’ ceremony is a little more relaxed than the evening graduation.  At it, students are paid their last farewell by the students and staff who will need to front up again in 2025 – the ones who haven’t yet left school.  We honour our graduating students’ legacy, acknowledge their achievements and remind them that they are forever part of the Coolum High family.

For those of us who have finished school, some of us a long time ago, it’s a reminder of the powerful role that our school played in shaping our lives.  It reminds us of simpler times, of friendships and shared experiences, of things we learned that we’ve never forgotten, and of the fun things we did in between.  It’s a truly emotional experience and one of the greatest transitions in our lives.  I certainly hope that the graduates of Coolum State High School take the friendships, the learning and the experiences of their school years with them forever.

THE FOOTBALL season’s over, the weather is getting warmer, and things are heating up for the greatest game of all – cricket!  Hasn’t cricket done a great job of making itself the most inclusive of games, with the girls’ game going from strength to strength, leagues for older players growing by the minute and the grading system meaning that players can find their level where they can enjoy Australia’s favourite national game.

It’s in this context that we have our own Coolum Cricket Club – a place genuinely owned and loved by its community.  The club keeps on doing even greater things, with new nets and lights that turn night into day.  The club now has an A-grade team to keep the best local talent playing locally, and with some of its strongest juniors having now come through the ranks.  The turf pitch must surely rank as the best on the coast, while the picturesque ‘Caulfield-Chambers’ oval is a truly great place to enjoy an afternoon watching and playing the game that Bradman played.

The junior cricket at Coolum Cricket Club is just outstanding, with more juniors playing the game than ever before.  The juniors are nurtured in the club environment, with its welcoming atmosphere, where enjoyment is the name of the game.  This inclusive atmosphere hasn’t stopped some of Coolum’s best juniors from playing at very high levels and representing themselves, their families and their club in elite representative teams, including the Sunshine Coast Scorchers.

While he never played for the Coolum Cricket Club, it was fantastic to see former Sunshine Coast junior cricketer, Angus Lovell, make his first century for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield on the weekend.  Lovell’s century certainly shows the strength of cricket on the coast and that, with the right nurturing, coast cricketers can make it all the way to the top.  The Sunshine Coast has truly become a great nursery for outstanding cricketing talent.

At Coolum State High School, we like all sports as they nurture physical fitness, teamwork, fun and belonging.  We would like to congratulate the Coolum Cricket Club on their wonderful rise in our community and wish them all the best for the exciting season ahead.

HOW GOOD is it in Coolum when the weather changes from winter to spring and starts heading for summer?  The days are longer, the beaches shine even more brightly, and everyone seemingly has more time to be outdoors, to chat and to take in the wonders of this amazing area in which we live.

When you go a bit beyond the Coolum borders you can also find the Jacarandas blooming, with their beautiful purple flowers.  This has long been a symbol for students to put their heads down and study, as exams are upon us, and so it is for our current year 12s, who began their final exams on Monday.

Under the current ATAR system, exams in Maths and Science subjects are worth 50% of students’ overall grades, while in all other subjects the exams are worth 25%.  Stakes are high!  Students have spent the last two years learning and remembering the content required to excel at these exams.  At Coolum High, they have been supported by expert teachers who are heavily invested in their students’ outcomes.

Transitioning from school is a fun time in your life, but it’s also challenging.  At last, you have to be able to answer in some way that question: “What do you want to do after school?”  It’s a daunting question and one that many of us are still trying to answer!  The best answer, though, begins with doing as well as you can in your exams and assignments at school – impressive results open doors, as does building a good character that allows you to work effectively in teams and with others.

Over the coming weeks, our year 12s are taking their first big steps in their lives by aiming to do their very best in their exams.  Two years of work is reaching its culmination.  The exam papers have been sent and have made their way all around the state.  There are no excuses and nowhere to hide.  At Coolum High and at schools across Queensland, it’s time to showcase everything you know and have learned on your schooling journey.  In terms of your schooling journey, this is the grand final.  We wish our students all the very best!

WELL, our Saturday tutorials have begun.  As many in the community would be aware, Coolum State High School recently won a ‘Showcase Award’ for its outstandingly successful approach to senior schooling.  The Showcase Awards are the premier awards for state schooling in Queensland, with the award presented by the Minister for Education.  There are many reasons why Coolum High won this award, but none was more important than the dedication of our staff.

The Saturday tutorials are the last piece in the puzzle before students sit their final public exams, the last act they undertake in the calculation of their ATAR scores.  For students in Maths and Science subjects, the exams are worth 50% of their overall grade.  For other subjects, the exams make up 25% of their final outcome for each subject.  The stakes are high and, as a result, students have to be on point, ready and prepared for what’s ahead.

The work the students are asked to do is complex, and retaining two-years-worth of content is daunting.  Highly successful students have been working consistently and diligently since the start of year 11.  Many Coolum High students attend the after-school tutorials on offer and, on the final leg of this journey, attend the Saturday tutorials to add the finishing touches to their preparations.

Given the mentoring systems in place and the expertise of all staff involved in this process, it’s no wonder Coolum High are winning awards.  After all, our students are pretty amazing and anyone who has had contact with them would know how many really special young men and women enter our gates each day.  For our year 12 students, there are a small handful of Saturday tutorials and then it’s match day – the final exams begin.  On behalf of our whole community, I wish them all the best!

I’D LIKE to introduce you to the best kid you’ve never met.  At the recent Coolum State High School ‘Celebration of Excellence,’ Noah-Jay McArdle took out the Wandama Award as the highest performed student in the school at the time of the awards.  He follows in some esteemed company, with last year’s recipient Jessnee Ng having achieved Queensland’s ultimate ATAR score of 99.95 and being subsequently awarded the TJ Ryan Medal.  At the time of the awards ceremony, Noah-Jay was achieving 100% in all of his six challenging year 12 subjects.

This came on the back of Noah-Jay winning the Iwasaki-Sangyo prize, involving a month-long cultural and linguistic immersion experience in Japan.  The award’s esteemed judges were left gobsmacked by Noah-Jay’s Japanese speaking ability, and the prize itself is a good gauge of his standing in Queensland when it comes to Japanese speaking ability.  For a native English speaker, the ability to master Japanese is exceptional, as the language is completely foreign.  There is no easy path to learning this language, only exceptional dedication and practice, practice, practice.

The striking thing about Noah-Jay, and Jessnee, for that matter, and all of Coolum High’s highest achievers, is their attitude.  It’s always about respecting the teacher, the learning, other learners and the school.  It’s never about finding what’s wrong – that’s always there to find if that’s what you’re looking for.  It’s about finding what’s right about each and every person and accepting that each teacher and everyone in the school is doing their best at what they do.  If there is one consistency I have learned from all of our highest achievers, it’s this – they all have genuine respect for everyone around them and especially for those people bringing the learning to them.

You won’t find a better attitude than Noah-Jay’s.  His respect for all his teachers, his commitment to his school, and his determination to do his best is there for all to see.  It was great to see his fellow seniors giving him a huge cheer when he was announced as the winner of the night’s ultimate award.  It was a testament to the regard that they have for Noah-Jay.  It’s always worth remembering, in a world that loves a negative headline, especially when youth is involved in a complex and ever-changing landscape, that there are young men and women like Noah-Jay around who set a standard so high that they inspire all of us.  Noah-Jay is a young man who demonstrates what commitment, respect, and humility can achieve.  Congratulations go out to Noah-Jay and his family – what an exceptional role model you have become in our community!

ON FRIDAY, September 6, at the Brisbane Convention Centre, Coolum State High School was presented with a Showcase Award by the Minister for Education, Di Farmer, in recognition of our outstanding outcomes in the senior school.  The Showcase Awards are the premier awards for state education in Queensland.

The award recognises the hard work of so many people at Coolum State High School, and the support of our community.  It demonstrates that, within the wider education system, Coolum High is held in the highest esteem for the outcomes it has achieved for each one of our students.

The award celebrates more than just the high academic achievement for which we have become known.  It celebrates every student.  It celebrates our students with disabilities and those who nurture and support them.  It celebrates our extraordinarily strong vocational education program and the many students who pass through this program.  It celebrates the quiet work of organisations like St Vincent de Paul and Lions, who quietly support us in the background.  It celebrates the staff members who, without recognition, bring to school each day students who are in vulnerable situations.

At Coolum State High School, we are prepared to do ‘whatever it takes’ to see every student succeed.  That’s because we are part of a strong and vibrant state schooling system that doesn’t choose its students but adapts to each one of them and finds a way to see them succeed.  The strength of a school isn’t who they are when they come in; it’s their skills and attitudes on their way out.

We are extremely proud of this award because we believe it celebrates everyone in our community who has supported us in any way.  The quiet sponsors in our hour of need.  The teachers who volunteer their time to tutor students until 4 pm each day.  The school staff who go the extra mile to make sure our school is always looking its best.  This is an award for our community and its commitment to the success of all our children.  I know that together we will continue this work for many years to come!

IT’S THAT time of year again.  The weather is warming up, the footy finals are looming and…… it’s educational awards season.
That’s right – the spectacular Coolum State High School Celebration of Excellence will be held on the evening of September 11 at the Pat Cavanagh Centre, Coolum State School.

Our annual Celebration of Excellence celebrates our highest achievers in academic, cultural and sporting pursuits and is a truly wonderful demonstration of the extraordinary talent we have here at Coolum High.

Last year, the music was spectacular.  No one in attendance will forget the students’ performance of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Proud Mary,’ performed as a tribute to Tina Turner, who mastered the live performance of this song on stage.

This year, we have more academic award winners than ever before.  One thing that is particularly striking is the number of Platinum Award winners.  The Platinum Award is presented to any student who has received a Gold Award during each year of their time at high school.  Our year 12s in 2024 are just remarkable!

The highlight of the ceremony is the presentation of the ‘Wandama Award,’ which is given to the Year 12 student with the highest academic scores at the time of the award presentation.  It is a deeply coveted award that last year was won by Jessnee Ng, who later recorded Queensland’s perfect ATAR score – a 99.95 – with Jessnee later becoming a TJ Ryan Medallist and winning the coveted University of Queensland’s Vice Chancellor’s scholarship.  Students, parents and school staff are all intrigued regarding the identity of our community’s highest scholastic achiever.

Coolum High’s ‘Celebration of Excellence’ has become a pinnacle event in our community; a night of music, celebration, recognition and remarkable achievement.  It is a night when we are able to reveal the many, many high achievers in our school to the community.  But the real question is….. who will win the Wandama Award in 2024?

Looking to the future! 
AT TIMES, as a school Principal, it’s important to cast forward in terms of the future of education in our country and look at where things are going.

The first thing I can say, categorically, is that education is, if anything, more important than ever.  Our country needs skilled young people who have a disposition towards innovation and lifelong personal growth and development.  We have to be able to adapt and innovate to take our place as a country in a changing world.
Researchers are continuing to show a decline in mental health, especially amongst the young, and especially since the introduction of social media.  At some stage, the education system, along with a range of other factors in our society, will need to definitively address this issue and aim to provide guidelines around screen time and the things that are available online.  As parents, carers and educators, we will need to be strong around the limits we place on children’s access to screens and devices and get back to the wonders and joys of nature and simple “downtime.”

Coolum State High School has already made a significant investment in health, headlined by the magnificent ‘Wandama Health Hub’ that has supported so many students towards their chosen careers.  The health sector is currently the nation’s largest employer and the fastest growing, and it offers so many wonderful career opportunities for our students.

Of so much importance to me is that Coolum State High School continues to be a beacon of excellence in public education and continues to produce graduates at the highest levels.  These students invariably become the engineers, health practitioners, educators, artists, pilots and leaders that help to shape our community and define the future.

Another area of significant investment at our school is in digital design, including the use of 3D printers, laser cutters and drones as we leverage technology to make a more sustainable future.  The Coolum High ‘Robotics Academy’ allows students to think innovatively and creatively in ways that will be very useful for the future.  All of these technologies will only continue to grow, and we need to be able to grow with the thinking that supports them.

Last but not least, there will be an increasing focus on relationships as the cornerstone of wellbeing.  In an increasingly technological age, with more online interaction but less face-to-face communication, with more gaming but less playing, more than ever, we need to work with our young people on how we create the relationships that sustain us for a lifetime.  There’s a lot to do, and a lot of areas to focus on.  At Coolum State High, I’d like to think we’re up to the task!

“It’s gold, Australia, gold!” 
HOW MANY people, like me, have sat up much later than they should have recently watching the Olympic Games from one of the world’s greatest cities – Paris?
What about the mix of traditional Olympic sports such as swimming, badminton, diving, fencing and boxing, mixed in with new sports including skateboarding, surfing and breakdancing? That’s right, breakdancing is now an Olympic sport!

In so many instances, Olympic athletes also excelled at their academic pursuits in the classroom. It’s because excellence doesn’t exist in a bubble, and people driven to excellence tend to be driven to excellence in all things.  How about Jana Pittman, former Olympic hurdler and mother of six, who is now a medical doctor? What an incredible life of achievement. What an inspiration!

And what about Mackenzie Little, qualifying for and competing in javelin at the Paris Olympics, while also working as a first-year doctor? How do these people manage to fit so much into their lives?

There is so much that we can learn from these athletes. Things like if you want to achieve something great, you have to work for it. There are no shortcuts. You have to be determined, committed and focused. In those moments, during an Olympic Games, you are brilliant – achieving something we would all (deep down) like to do but having the determination and the drive to actually do it in real life. Jana Pittman and Mackenzie Little show that the lessons learned as an Olympian striving and training with every inch of themselves can be translated into the academic arena, and you can, literally, achieve anything.

There is a lot to learn for our Coolum High students from our Olympic athletes. The lessons of determination, focus and sacrifice to achieve your dreams are ones every Olympic athlete knows.  From them, we can see that academic success and sporting success spring from the same place – hard work! Let’s hope our athletes have a few more gold medals left in them yet!!!

THEY’VE done it again! Coolum State High has just distributed our report cards, and once agai,n our students are setting benchmarks for their outstanding results.
Nowhere is this more true than in the all-important year 12 year.  In the highly challenging ‘Specialist Maths’ subject taken by an intrepid 25 year 12 students, 80% of the class received an A grade.  In ‘English & Literature Extension’ 71% received an A.  In Physics, 64% of the class took home an A to show off to their parents.  I could go on and on.  The list of student achievements is a very proud one at Coolum High, showcasing the talents of the young people in our community.

These results are not a one-off.  They come about every reporting period.  They do this because of the dedication of our school staff and as a consequence of the academic culture that has developed amongst our students – some of whom arrive at 7.30 am for one of our ‘extension’ subjects and then leave at 4pm after having attended voluntary tutorial classes led by our highly skilled and committed teachers.

It’s because of this that Jessnee Ng was able to secure an ATAR score of 99.95 last year, reserved for only 34 of the State’s highest achievers, and later going on to win a TJ Ryan scholarship.  It’s also the reason that in 2022, Jemima Bainbridge won the Minister’s Award as the highest-performing Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander student in Queensland.  And, before that, yet another Coolum High student achieved an ATAR score of 99.90 and, in the process, secured a Minister’s Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement.  Our students work hard, and they benefit from working with expert teachers.

At Coolum State High School, we are committed to the success of each and every one of our students.  We believe that a quality education leads to a life of fulfilment and choice, and we encourage our students to perform at their best.  With the evidence before me, 2024 is looking to be our best year yet!

HAVE you seen the movie ‘Oppenheimer’?  I’m sure many of you have and for those who haven’t it tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer who led the ultra-secret Manhattan Project that led to the development of the first atomic bomb.

I devoted a year-long subject at university to the Manhattan Project that Oppenheimer led.  Those brilliant young scientists, working against the clock to ensure that they made the bomb before Adolf Hitler did, were breaking unbelievable ground in doing so.  Imagine if Hitler had been able to make the bomb?  Where would we be now?
So, how were they able to do this?  It all comes down to knowledge.  As my twenty-year-old son has told me, the scientists on the Manhattan Project were developing breakthrough theories that are now taught to high school students across the country.  It’s amazing how quickly the basis of this absurdly intelligent work became mainstream – not only atoms, but the parts of atoms, like protons, neutrons and electrons, and then the idea that the atom itself could be split making an explosion of a force the world had never seen before!

It’s sad that, as human,s we have seen the need to create nuclear weapons.  Who wouldn’t want to live in a world without nuclear weapons?  But it’s amazing that humans can, and that this is based solely on what is in the minds of brilliant scientists.

The educator in me asks the question of where these scientists’ journeys began?  Who taught them?  Who inspired them in their educational journey?  Minds like these don’t just happen – they’re nurtured.  And, more than ever, we need people who can give us scientific breakthroughs in so many areas – none more so than with the environment and our climate.

Science is an area of strength at Coolum High – we have many outstanding students who have graduated in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Psychology.  I wish I could show everyone just how smart some of these students are!  Maybe one day they will make a movie about something brilliant a Coolum High-educated scientist has achieved?

COOLUM State High School continues to go from strength to strength with the successes of our students coming one after the other.
Nowhere was this more evident than last Thursday evening when we hosted our annual Midwinter Ball.  On a night framed by the most perfect of sunsets, our students stepped out dressed beautifully, arriving one after the other in a bevy of the Sunshine Coast’s best and most stylish vehicles.  Who knew that we had so many classic cars on the coast!  The pages of this wonderful newspaper showcase our students dressed in their finest and ready to step out into the adult world to enjoy a night they will take with them for the rest of their lives.

In terms of the many achievements for which our school is becoming renowned, recently our Wind Symphony won platinum at the Fanfare competition – reaching their greatest heights yet!  You cannot help but be awed by the standard of these student musicians, led brilliantly by their conductor, Sharelle Guest.  Added to this, our Junior Secondary Concert Band also won platinum at Fanfare, with our strings finishing with a gold award.  Instrumental Music is on fire at Coolum State High School and is only set to get better.

Meanwhile, Coolum High’s ‘Basketball Academy’ recently won their division at the Central Queensland Basketball Championships in Rockhampton.  The Basketball Academy, led by former greats of the game in Will Sinclair and Tyler Allan, are truly taking flight, with each training session pushing our players to even greater heights.
Added to this, no less than three Coolum High netball teams recently competed in Grand Finals in Maroochydore!  No one quite trains like netballers, so this achievement shows the phenomenal commitment of everyone involved.  Good luck to anyone up against our teams!

And just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, seven Coolum High surfers were on show at the National Championships, demonstrating the surfing skill for which Coolum is known across the country.  As if that wasn’t enough, two Coolum High AFL Academy representatives – Zavier Kleinschmidt and Bonnie Dix – were named in the Queensland AFL team; the culmination of a great deal of hard work combined with some exceptional talent.  Watch out for these two players into the future.

Our Brahminy Kite rugby league players continue to excel in a range of competitions, including the Karyn Murphy Cup, where both of our teams won two out of three games.  Meanwhile, our boys recently WON the Sunshine Coast Schoolboys Trophy.  In rugby league, it’s all about teamwork.

Academically, Coolum High continues to shine – never more so than amongst our dedicated Year 12 students.  People may not know that students participating in English and Literature Extension, or Music Extension, arrive at school at 7.30 am to engage in these subjects.  Many students stay back until 4 pm to be part of the free tutoring that occurs at Coolum High and to be part of the Homework Club on a Wednesday.  While there’s a long way to go, there is a lot to get excited about regarding our current Year 12s – academically, this is possibly our strongest group across the board yet!

Coolum State High School has become a powerhouse in the world of education, and these achievements are just the tip of the iceberg.  There is so much that our community can be proud of about the children we are raising, and everything they are showcasing at Coolum State High.

I HAVE read with interest recently of the ‘Let Them Be Kids’ campaign that is being promoted by The Courier Mail and other newspapers.

The campaign aims to restrict social media use for children under 16, with an even stronger focus on restrictions for children under 14.
There is no doubt that social media is having a devastating impact on our children, and that the world has seen a phenomenal rise in mental health issues since the inception of social media from about 2008.

This year, at Coolum High, we have had the benefits of hearing from Dr Mike Nagle, from the University of the Sunshine Coast, who has reaffirmed that the adolescent brain is in a unique state of development that makes people in this age group more driven by their emotions and peer acceptance, and less able to regulate their behaviour.  It is a particularly vulnerable age.

Over time, I have seen firsthand the devastating effects of social media on young people.  As human beings, we are built for love and kindness, and we aren’t particularly well-equipped for handling abuse.  Among the many issues of social media is that we are allowing a whole range of things that we should be shielding our young people from into our homes and, more importantly, into their minds.  Being a teenager should be a time to learn and grow and make mistakes, in an environment that is largely safe because the adults around us have made it that way.  Unfortunately, the social media world is anything but safe, and any misstep we make will last in image and print forever. It is a world that lacks any regulation, that stands in stark contrast to our real world, in which there are more regulations than ever.

Leading voices are starting to take note of the devastating effects of social media on young people. Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, Dr John Gerrard, has said that “the increase in self-harm events observed among young Australians since about 2008 looks just like a new virus epidemic. This period coincides with the introduction of smartphones and social media apps.”  We wouldn’t stand back and allow our children to be abused or exploited or harmed in any other aspect of their world, yet strangely, social media has seemed to be beyond the regulations that we would put in place in any other arena.

A GOOD education is just so important, don’t you think?  There has been so much research done into the benefits of a good education and, really, is there anything more important that we can do than to become as well educated as we possibly can?

Education opens doors; it allows us to see the world through a range of different lenses; we can learn a foreign language or to code a computer; we can learn architecture and engineering and how to build great things; we can learn about our history and why things are the way they are; we can learn about politics, philosophy and religion; or we can just do some Maths.  We know that, when we look at it through a large-scale lens, education makes us wealthier and healthier.  We know that it is not the type of education that matters, but the number of years in education that matters.

In Coolum, what’s so important is that we can access a great education in our community.  Education is important to everyone and no one more so than the young people around us each day.  A good education should be for everyone – one that inspires and challenges and meets students where they’re at.  An education that leads to open doors of opportunity and educates students to access the post-school destinations that are available to them.

At Coolum High, we work each day to provide a great education.  It’s a big challenge, and it isn’t always easy, but we do keep striving and we have so many graduates now that we’re so proud of.  Some of them even come back and teach in the school and it’s like they’ve never left.  Most of all, we believe that education makes a difference and forms the cornerstone of people’s futures.  That’s why it’s so important that we all stay behind our kids and keep supporting them in every way possible.  After all, they are the future!

SURELY, one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is the gift of music.  Music really is the essence of life and to be able to make music must be very special.

Every great school I’ve seen has a great music program.  A great music program seems to sit at the heart of a great school.  Perhaps it provides the rhythms and the beats and the sounds for the school and sets a tone that others follow.

Coolum State High has an amazing music program – one that, these days, spans a wide range of styles and offers an opportunity for anyone who wants it.  From the massive and impressive wind symphony to the growing and effervescent strings program, that has now coalesced into a full symphony orchestra, we have the most impressive classical music program.

Our students also excel in popular music, vocal ensembles, rock music and a wide variety of other styles.  Our latest building, Gagal Gira, is purpose-built for music with four full-sized music classrooms, six rehearsal studios and an instrument storage area.  It has to be one of Queensland’s most impressive spaces built solely to hot-house the musical talents of high school students.

When you add our growing and impressive dance program to the mix, Coolum High has become an artistic powerhouse.  There is no doubt that music sets the tone for a school and that Coolum High’s music program sets us apart.  Wait until you hear them – I know you’ll be impressed!

Well, we are off and racing at Coolum State High School.  This year, for the first time in our history, we have crossed over 1500 students as we continue to show steady growth within a difficult market for students on the Sunshine Coast as our demographics have changed very quickly.  This means that we have more talented students in our school than ever before!

I am impressed by all our students and, within that, I am especially impressed by this year’s school captains – Chilli Lloyd and Bronte Strahan.  While last year Chilli was captain of the victorious Coolum Colts Under 16 rugby league team, Bronte was making her mark as a highly accomplished and very talented dancer.  Added to this, both Chilli and Bronte are very capable students academically, epitomising what it means to be a well-rounded, thoughtful and ambitious student of Coolum State High.

Followers of our Facebook page would know that Jessnee Ng, who received Queensland’s perfect ATAR score of 99.95, has subsequently received the ‘Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship’ at the University of Queensland.  Meanwhile, Dane Zilian who achieved a remarkable ATAR score of 99.75, has received multiple scholarships, including the University of Queensland ‘Excellence Scholarship,’ to the value of $42 000.  Students like Jessnee and Dane are powerful role models for this year’s students as they strive to reach their personal best.

Coolum State High School’s student leaders have named this as ‘The Year to Shine.’  With powerful role models, ultra-impressive brand-new buildings and facilities, a strong co-curricular program and award-winning teachers I have no doubt that this will be a year to shine for all of our students.  This begins with our swimming carnival to be held this Friday.  Everything is in motion as we begin what will be a great 2024!