26 March 2025

From the Executive Principal’s desk

Dear Parents and Caregivers

The connection between school and home is one of the most vital elements for a student to be happy and do well. When parents, teachers and staff work together with a shared commitment to the expectations set out at school, our children thrive and achieving success becomes so much easier. Why? Because there is less confusion, anxiety and negativity within the student’s day. This sums it up even better:

A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.
~ Swahili Proverb.

Getting our beautiful Mansfield children on the best course isn’t just about wearing the correct uniform, attendance or turning up to school on time (though these are fundamental contributors to success!). There are many ways parents and caregivers can help support their children and contribute to a positive and productive school experience. Some of the simplest actions can have the most significant impact:

1. Start each day smoothly and peacefully.
   A calm and structured morning routine sets the tone for the day. Ensure your child wakes up on time (I know, this can be a hard task at times), has a healthy breakfast, and arrives at school prepared for learning. This eliminates stress and allows them to focus and engage positively at school from the outset.
2. Spend time listening to your child.
   One of the greatest gifts you can give your child is your time and attention. Put screens away and ask about their day, celebrate their successes, and support them through challenges. Sometimes this is best achieved on the car ride home from training or rehearsal!
3. Provide proper nutrition and sleep.
   Children learn best when they are well-nourished and well-rested. Balanced, nutritious meals help them stay focussed and energised throughout the day. Adolescents need eight-ten hours sleep each night: this is vital for their concentration, mood and overall wellbeing.
4. Teach non-aggressive conflict resolution.
   Conflict is a natural part of life, but how we handle it makes all the difference. Respectful communication, problem-solving, and emotional self-regulation at home helps students develop essential social skills. By modelling and reinforcing these behaviours, we all help create a school environment where kindness and respect are the norm, not the exception.
5. Place a high value on manners and respect.
   At Mansfield State High School, we hold high expectations for behaviour, uniform and effort. Reinforcing good manners and respect at home, whether in how we speak to others, listen to or show appreciation, supports this school culture of excellence.
6. Model and teach time management.
   Time management is an invaluable life skill; one our children learn from us. Encourage your student to be prepared for the following day the night before, plan their homework, balance responsibilities and meet deadlines. This helps instil a sense of accountability and self-discipline.
7. Show your love of learning.
   Children are naturally curious, though their enthusiasm for learning is often shaped by those around them. Parents can encourage them by demonstrating a love for reading, asking questions and embracing lifelong learning.
8. Speak respectfully about teachers.
   The way we speak about staff and teachers at home directly impacts how our students approach learning at Mansfield State High School. Students engage more positively in their learning and respect the educational process more when a positive and respectful attitude towards teachers is shown.
9. Encourage responsibility for learning.
   Our teachers guide and support students every lesson, every day. However, when students take ownership of their learning, it encourages independence, perseverance and a growth mindset. The outcome? Greater confidence and resilience in our children.
10. Express love and encouragement every day.
    Finally, and perhaps most importantly, let your child know every single day how much they are loved and valued. Words and actions of encouragement and support help build their self-esteem and motivate them to do their best.

At the end of the day, we all want our beautiful Mansfield children to be happy and achieve their best. By working together, parents and caregivers can help teachers teach their children better and create the best foundation for student success. In this, Quality Learning in a Caring Environment is something we all contribute to: We Are Mansfield!

Mrs Karen Tanks
Executive Principal

Leadership

Associate Principals

Deputy Principals

Heads of Year

Heads of Department

School notices

2025 Open Days

Open Days are an opportunity for future students to learn more about our school. Year 7 students enrolling in 2026 should attend one of the following Open Days:

• Tuesday 1 April 2025
• Wednesday 2 April 2025
• Thursday 19 August 2025.

Open Days start at 9.00am in the Assembly Hall. No booking required.

The key dates for applications, including the Programs of Excellence are on the school website. Updated application packs will be available after the Open Day on Wednesday 2 April.

Qkr! by Mastercard

Does your student need a replacement ID Card, Student Handbook or Student Council / Senior Badge?

Did you know you can pay for these using Qkr! by Mastercard?

• Make faster, more convenient payments from a secure mobile app anywhere and at any time.
• Website payment alternative for parents and carers without a smartphone or tablet.
• Pay direct from a credit or debit card without pre-loading funds to a third-party account.
• Track transactions easily with online receipts.

Click to download Qkr! By Mastercard for Apple or Android or learn more about using the app by reading the information on our school website.

Student Resource Scheme

Student Resource Scheme (SRS) invoices have been emailed out and are now due.

If you would like to discuss the SRS or you would like to set up a payment plan, please contact our accounts department via email accounts@mansfieldshs.eq.edu.au.

Next Step school leavers survey

Have your say on how you move

Don’t miss out on having your say in Brisbane City Council’s consultation for the Mansfield Safer School Precinct.

Council wants your feedback to help shape plan to ease congestion and improve safety in the precinct. They want to understand your current experience, the different ways you want to move around our school and what improvement opportunities you see.

Your feedback will help choose the infrastructure improvements we see around Mansfield State High School, so it’s important you take the opportunity to tell Council what you think will improve the precinct.

If you or someone you know has not provided feedback yet, please have your say by completing the survey and mapping activity on their website before the consultation closes at 11:59pm on Sunday 13 April.

Achievement

QATSIF Scholarship Recipients

Congratulations to our outstanding new QATSIF Scholarship recipients who were presented with their certificates at a special ceremony at Australian Catholic University on Friday 14 March 2025.

Georgia, Hannah, Riley, Caymyn, Mackenzie, Ella, and Theodore are among the 4,640 students currently supported by QATSIF scholarships. We wish them all the best for the year ahead and encourage them to take inspiration from QATSIF Patron, Aunty Ruth’s wise words:

"You don’t have to be a doctor, but there are things you can do - and you need to do them. QATSIF is your stepping stone to a brighter future. Seize the opportunities that education gives. Our future generations will have a smarter, brighter future."

Learning

Year 12 Biology excursion

Prior to cyclone Alfred testing our patience and resolve, our Year 12 students were hard at work gathering data and problem solving.  This included a data gathering excursion at Toohey Forrest for their Student Experiment with their Year 12 teachers.  Great data was had by all and students have already submitted their best drafts for feedback in Week 10.

Welcome to French at Mansfield!

Bienvenue en France!

The enthusiasm and zest of our newest students was a delight to witness during our transition to high school’s first week. They got right into knowing their teachers and engaging in their learning. 

As a Language other than English, French represents wonderful opportunities to discover new concepts and practise the skills of comparing and contrasting different language structures and different cultural aspects.

The students (and teachers) had a lot of fun producing some of the more challenging sounds, especially the throaty R or the complaining E letters (ask your student to make the sounds). The Alphabet Bingo was a roaring success and predicts an excellent year ahead for our students.

Bravo!

QUT STEM Workshop

Yasiru (10Q) and Ceasar (10J) tell us about their recent QUT STEM Workshop excursion which was supervised by Dr Akram and Mr Tuton.

“The QUT excursion was great as we got to learn about astrobiology and how NASA sent perseverance (a robot) to Mars, collecting different samples from the ground to search if there was any life before Earth. We did an activity where we got to see different types of geology through a website, and we got to see it through a polarised light to spot if the rocks were either igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic. Another activity that we did was analysing the habitability of the environment and the small living organisms and thought of the best planet/moon that is best fitted for the organism." 

"The other workshop that we did was to create a health care plan for Rhys. Rhys is a 17yr old boy who was off-roading at Stradbroke Island with 3 other people, his girlfriend and close mates. They were all wearing seatbelts except for Rhys (driver). Before they all jumped into the cab Rhys drank a couple beers and was being reckless, which caused the 4WD to flip over.  Rhys was the only one injured, he broke his right femur, destroying his dream job as a professional NRL player. Our goal was to create a health care for Rhys, and explain why this health care plan will improve his mentality, physicality and regain his social skills.”

We are lucky to have so many opportunities for our students, and we wish our students well for current and upcoming assessment.

Japanese

Japanese students have been working hard this term with assessment just around the corner! Our Year 7, 8 and 9 students have been focusing on learning script, Hiragana in Year 7 & 8 and Katakana in Year 9. Having a solid foundation in these scripts will set students up for success for the rest of the semester. Ask your child to show you how they can write in Japanese – it's amazing how quickly they can become fluent in the script! If your child is struggling to master the characters, please encourage them to complete activities in their booklets and on Education Perfect, or see their teacher for more help.

Year 12 Visual Art

Year 12 Visual Art students had the opportunity to meet a local artist, Nicola Moss in our recent excursion. Our guest key artist, led an artist talk and a practical workshop to engage students in new ways of working. Students produced paper cuttings, created stencils and printed a mixed media response to the natural environment. This provided students with a starting point to their IA2, body of work. Art students then travelled to the Gallery of Modern Art to view the blockbuster exhibition, Asia Pacific Triennial 11. Students were immersed in a range of diverse works from photographs, installations, paintings and moving image based works. Students will draw inspiration from these works to take forward into their art making this term.

Extracurricular events

House Cup leaderboard

French Immersion Year 7 picnic

Year 7 French Immersion student Cheryl shares her experience of our recent French Immersion picnic.

“A few weeks ago, 7 Immersion came together for a wonderful picnic. It was a nice day for everyone to get to know each other better. Not just for the students but for parents and teachers too. 

Every family brought a variety of delicious food, from snacks and lollies, to sushi and slices of cake. Everyone was included, and the warm welcoming atmosphere made it easy for new friendships to blossom. From games and laughter to heartfelt conversations the day was filled with joy.” 

Scholarships to Japan

There are a number of opportunities for our students to apply for scholarships to travel to Japan through the Global Engagement Department of Education Queensland International. Our Year 11 Japanese students are encouraged to apply for the Saitama Global Students Program.

For further information please visit

Applications close Friday 30 May 2025. 

You can learn more about other opportunities that are available by visiting

School events

Year 12 Formal tickets

Information about tickets and identification has been emailed to parents and caregivers of students in Year 12 who are attending the Senior Formal on Friday 2 May. If your child is attending this event, please ensure that you have booked their ticket for scanning at the door and remind them to also bring their Student ID card. These two documents must be presented for entry.

NASA visit

On Tuesday 25 March our Science students were fortunate to spend time with Chritina Koch, a NASA Astronaut assigned to the Artemis II mission around the moon that is due to launch by April 2026. Christina shared with our students her experiences living and working on the International Space Station, including the training involved, daily living activities while in space and some of the experiments conducted. Students had the opportunity to see firsthand footage of her time in space and ask questions. Christina was an amazing speaker, and the perspective she shared was inspiring for those with an interest in Science, especially space.

Meet a Scientist

Our next Meet a Scientist is Professor Michael Milford, an interdisciplinary researcher from the School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics at QUT. His research is at the boundary between robotics, neuroscience and computer vision. He is applying the neural mechanisms of the brain to applications such as autonomous vehicles. All students are invited to join us on Thursday 3 April from 3.00pm in the Science Centre.

Due to TC Alfred, Professor David Whiteman’s presentation had to be postponed and has now been rescheduled for Thursday 22 May.

Key dates

House Cup: Rubik’s cube challenge

Over 20 students competed in the recent Rubik’s cube challenge at lunchtime to become the 2025 Mansfield Champion. Abdullah won the competition, with a new Mansfield record of 14.72 seconds. The previous record of 16.03 seconds was held by 2024 Year 12 graduate Ronald.

Service at Mansfield

Welcome to Service at Mansfield, a place where students can develop their leadership skills, enrich their school and local community, and most importantly create a culture of belonging which is our student school theme for 2025.

Volunteering @ Mansfield

V@M is a volunteering program that provides opportunities for students to support our school community. This includes helping out at our canteen, Uniform Shop, in Administration, Science Prep, R@RE Book Club, Amnesty Club, Rauchle Service Club fundraising events, Chappy Day, Brekkie Club, and more. V@M students also volunteer with our community partners, including Mansfield State School, Smith Family Reading, the Emmanuel City Mission, Clean Up Australia, and many others.

Many students across all year levels continue to take part in this initiative and receive V@M points according to their minutes of service. These points accumulate until the end of Year 12, where students can receive awards for their efforts. Most Rauchle Service Club (RSC) participate in V@M, including our Service Prefects, Harjas, Dev, and Aaryan, as well as our RSC Executives.

Students interested in participating in V@M can find out more by visiting S Block staffroom to speak with V@M Coordinator Elizabeth Bridon. BRIDON, eabri1@eq.edu.au

Emmanuel City Mission

The Year 12 Prefects and Leadership team volunteered at Emmanuel City Mission on Saturday 22 February 2025.  Every visit is a bit different and every time we walk out with big smiles on our faces!  Not only did we all work together to serve a meal and clothe our city's most vulnerable, but we also got to meet some of the JILLAROOs!!!  They came with donations and took the time to chat with the volunteers and visitors.

Rauchle Service Club (RSC)

The Rauchle Service Club (RSC) has been operating for more than twenty years as the fundraising arm of Mansfield SHS. It captures the heart of the school’s culture of leading with care. Members create, organise, advertise, and run events raising money for local charities.

2024 was a bonza year with the RSC raising close to $3,000 for Rosies, Guide Dogs Australia, the Leukemia Foundation, and Orange Sky Laundry.

Our fabulous Year 10, 11, and 12 RSC Executives are continuing to thrive in 2025, having already raised $450 for Rosies with Valentine’s Day chocolates, and are currently busy organising this year’s Easter Eggstravaganza. The monies raised are fantastic, and the journey of friendship, collegiality, giving back, and supporting others is priceless.

This year, the RSC is thrilled to embark on a new adventure, welcoming Year 7 and 8 students with its new branch Interact. With this new club, even our junior students are empowered to create change and enrich our school and local community. While students can still join the RSC through demonstrating their dedication to service in V@M, this pathway is now extended to students via Interact.

We look forward to welcoming and organising events throughout the year, including the Easter Eggstravaganza, Chappy Day, Friendship Week, and our Halloween Spooktacular! Find out more by contacting RSC Coordinator Georgina Dunlop: gxdun3@eq.edu.au.

Interact

The RSC is excited to launch Interact, a new club designed to help junior students develop leadership skills through service. The club will provide opportunities for Year 7 and 8 students to connect with like-minded peers, gain confidence, and make a real difference in our school and community under the mentorship of our RSC Executives and Service Prefects.

Interactors will support the RSC and other branches of service at our school and be supported in turn as they develop and pursue their own ways to make our big school feel small. For students interested in learning new skills and getting involved in their community, Interact is the perfect place to start their journey of leadership and service!

Find out more by emailing Interact Coordinator Natalie Robinson: nrobi138@eq.edu.au. 

Student services

Student Services team

Recommended resources for parents

Options Career bulletin

The latest Options Career bulletin (Edition 4) is now available for download via the Options Careers app (Apple or Android) to parents and students, using the access code: Mansfield. This fantastic, user-friendly app allows you to find the topics of interest to you, instantaneously, and is highly recommended. Students can also download the latest edition of the bulletin from the Student Share Point page, Guidance Team tab.

Brisbane Careers & Employment Expo

Queensland’s largest Careers & Employment Expo is being held again at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. This free event will host over 160 organisations and employers with career opportunities for all ages. This free event is a wonderful resource for students and parents and we recommend you add these dates to your diary; Thursday 12 June until Saturday 14 June.

For more information visit the following link:

ReachOut Parents

ReachOut Parents is a free service, funded by the Australian Government. With more than 25 years of experience providing support to young people, ReachOut understands the vital role parents and carers play in supporting young people and helping them feel better in tough times. They offer free one-on-one coaching, practical tips and tools to help parents communicate more effectively with their teenagers and help them maintain a positive and supportive relationship.

Some of the topics they provide information and advice on include:

• School refusal
• Social media
• ADHD
• Gender identity
• Alcohol & drinking
• Bullying

To access this wonderful resource click on the following link:

Emerging Minds

For over 20 years Emerging Minds has been dedicated to advancing the mental health and emotional wellbeing of Australian infants, children, adolescents and their families. This organisation develops mental health policy, online training and programs to name a few; based on evidence-based research. This organisation develops free resources to help families access the right information when needed. Videos, podcasts and fact sheets are available on a variety of topics such including family and social relationships, bullying and mental health care.

To access this valuable resource click on the following link:  www.emergingminds.com.au

Happy Families

Our school is subscribed to the Happy Families School Membership. Owned and run by Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia’s leading parenting experts, the membership offers a wealth of parenting education and resources, including weekly Insight Articles and four live Webinars a year.

You can access the Happy Families resources at any time using the following link and membership details:

1. Visit: https://schools.happyfamilies.com.au/login/mshs
2. Enter the school password: happymshs

Community notices

Scouts holiday program