GUNNEDAH HIGH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER...Tuesday was even busier with a performance by Lewis Parter of...
Transcript of GUNNEDAH HIGH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER...Tuesday was even busier with a performance by Lewis Parter of...
GUNNEDAH HIGH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Find us at: Marquis Street, Gunnedah NSW, 2380 Phone 02 6742 0155 Fax 02 6742 4429 Website: www.gunnedah-h.schools.nsw.edu.au Email: [email protected] Issue 10 09.08.2013
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Last week was a huge week at Gunnedah High
School with Education Week, NAIDOC Week
celebrations and three Information Nights.
Unfortunately, I was out of the school for the week
on leave for personal reasons so can I say thank you
to the staff who contributed so much to this week.
First of all to Mrs Lyn Thomas who relieved as
Principal for the week and organised with Mrs Helen
Lickorish, our Aboriginal Education Officer, the
NAIDOC week celebrations. She also delivered a
presentation in which my vision for the future was
outlined through her construction of a power point
presentation that explained where we both want
Gunnedah High to head in the future in terms of
cultural unity and recognition.
Acknowledgements also to Deputy Principal, Wendy
Blaker, and relieving Deputy Principal, Allyson
Watson, who supported Mrs Thomas through this
very demanding week. In particular, thank you for
the roles that they played in organising and running
the year 10-11 and 8-9 Subject Selection Evenings.
Also Year Advisers, Emma Holdom, and retiring and
new Year 8 Year Advisers, Barry Butz and Phillipa
Henry, for the presentations they gave. It is important
that students return subject selection forms to
complete this process.
Director of Schools, Ruythe Dufty, has also provided
me with feedback outlining the very polished job that
school Captain, Zack Block and Vice Captain, Sara
Hutchison, did in chairing the Inaugural Gunnedah
Community of Schools Education Week Awards.
It was a week of celebrations and information! Thank
you to all Gunnedah High staff who supported this
week.
On Friday 2nd
August students from the Stage 4 and
Stage 5 GAT classes attended the Civic Theatre to
support a team of peers in a debate against Local
Government Representatives. The opposing team was
led by Mayor, Owen Hasler, and our students
performed brilliantly in defeating their opposition! It
was a great opportunity to reinforce our connection to
the community and to showcase the talents of our
students - Alex Koenig, Courtney Brandon, Kassidy
Semper Optime “Always Your Best”
Excellence and
Innovation in a
Unique and
Caring School
GIRLS TENNIS TEAM-“STATE CHAMPIONS”
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Lamey and Sophie Suter. Congratulations to Alex
who was named most outstanding speaker.
Year 12 will undertake their Trial HSC over the next
few weeks. Can I wish them well and encourage
them to utilise their teachers and plan the exam
preparation carefully to ensure that they perform to
their personal best.
A reminder to everyone that Wednesday 21st August
is a Staff Development Day and students do not
attend school on that day.
Shane Kelly
Principal
NAIDOC WEEK
The week starting the 29th
July was an extremely
busy time for the school.
We celebrated NAIDOC
week, Education Week
and held our Year 10 and 8
Subject Selection Nights
as well as our Year 6
Preview Evening.
We were appreciative of the Elders who joined us for
the Flag raising. Mr Cliff Griffen started the
assembly with Welcome to Country in traditional
Gamilaroi/Gomeroi language.
Year 9 girls were outstanding as they conducted the
assembly, speaking about the meaning of NAIDOC
Week and reciting a poem written by a local Elder.
The Festival of Champions got off to a great start
with the billy boil followed by spearing the kangaroo,
quoits and balloon stomp. Teams from each year
competed fiercely. Winners to be announced.
Tuesday was even busier with a performance by
Lewis Parter of „Murri-Kulcha‟ and the whole school
and Elders‟ luncheon.
Lewis was born in Bowen, North Queensland with a
heritage of the central Queensland Daranbal people
whose language is Birri Gubba. Lewis is a fine
musician and song-writer. Students thoroughly
enjoyed his performance and cultural storytelling.
Year 10 Subject Selection evening demonstrated a
wide range of electives with visual and practical
displays. Students on all three evenings spoke
extremely well about their experiences at the High
School and gave great subject selection advice. We
are thankful for the wonderful catering of Gai
Bowen. Megan Verdan and the hospitality class
excelled themselves when they catered for the Year
10 and Year 6 evenings.
Wednesday we experienced the world of Brett
Murray, the Nation‟s number one Anti-bullying
Campaigner and „Youth Culture Expert‟. Brett has
been a leader in his field for over a decade and is an
expert in cultural change and developing workplace
culture. He is a four time Australian of the year
nominee and a highly sought after speaker.
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Speaking at the high school about his mission to
„Make Bullying History‟, the name of his book, he
engaged the staff, students and parents also in our
local primary schools and radio station 2MO with his
unique storytelling style.
A huge thank you to the many community, staff and
students who were involved in all sections of the
week‟s activities. A very successful week and a great
time was had by all.
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SCHOOL BASED TRAINEESHIP
Damian Janson Year 10 signing up for his SBAT
(School Based Traineeship) at KFC. Damian is
pictured with Suzi Bell (SBAT Coordinator) his
mother and Gunnedah‟s KFC Manager.
BOYS TENNIS TEAM
On Monday 22nd
July the
Gunnedah High School boy‟s
tennis team travelled to
Armidale to play Duval High
School in the CHS Competition.
The boys played brilliantly and
confidently without losing a set
to Duval and with most sets
resulting in 6-0. The team
comprised of Sam O‟Gorman,
Zac McCann, Josh Day and
Lachlan Paine.
PERSONALISED LEARNING PLANS
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Students at Gunnedah High School.
The Australian Government is strongly committed to
improving the literacy skills of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander children and has set a goal of halving
the gap in literacy and numeracy achievement
between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and
non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
within a decade.
Personalised learning plans at Gunnedah High School
will involve the student and their parent/caregiver
working in partnership with the staff, to develop a
plan that reflects the student‟s learning goals and
current capabilities, including specific learning
targets.
Mrs Cunningham will be making contact to invite
families to make their appointments to develop these
plans.
This commitment to implement personalised learning
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students was
subsequently reflected in the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islanders Education Action Plan that the
Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood
Development and Youth Affairs endorsed in April
2010.
Through this agreement all education sectors have
committed to implement personalised learning plans
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
A link to this Action Plan is provided below:
http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/a10-
0945_ieap_web_version_final2.pdf
PLASST
Personalised Learning and Support Tool
(PLASST) 2013 Trial for
Gunnedah High School
During the next few weeks our school, along with
other public schools in the area, will be participating
in the trial of a new tool (PLASST) being developed
by the Department of Education and Communities for
teachers to identify the learning and support needs of
their students.
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This trial is focussed on the development of a sound
and reliable online tool that, when finalised, can be
used by teachers in collaboration with parents and
carers to identify the strengths and educational needs
of students with additional learning and support
needs. This information will assist schools in
planning and personalising learning and support for
individual students who require adjustments in their
day to day learning.
The trial will involve teachers completing an online
questionnaire about the educational needs of some of
their students. Students themselves will not be
required to complete any additional work or be
formally assessed as part of the trial. This trial will
not impact on students‟ education provisions.
Further information about the PLASST trial,
including the collection and use of data in the trial,
will be provided by the school in a letter to parents
and carers of the relevant students.
If you have any questions about the PLASST trial,
would like to discuss your child‟s involvement or
would prefer that your child does not participate,
please telephone the school on 67420155.
GIRLS TENNIS TEAM
“State Champions”
Congratulations to the Girls‟ Tennis Team on
becoming State CHS Champions for 2013. At the
finals conducted recently in Ulladulla on the NSW
South Coast, the Gunnedah High team of Jessica
Novley, Chloe Beasley, Gabby O‟Gorman, Kyra
Carlyon & Nikki Bruce swept all opposition before
them in a convincing show of their tennis talents.
Gunnedah High defeated Ulladulla High seven sets to
one in the quarter finals, defeated last year‟s winners
Grafton High seven to one in the semi-finals, and
convincingly accounted for Hunter Sports High six to
nil in the final. The remaining two sets were not
contested in the final as a result had already been
achieved.
This result follows their clean sweep of other schools
in the North West competition where they defeated
all opposition eight nil.
All team members performed convincingly in the
final tournament, with three players, Gabby
O‟Gorman, Jess Novley, and Kyra Carlyon winning
all their singles matches. Gabby and Jess were also
undefeated in their doubles matches.
The depth of talent in the team proved to be the
telling factor in this outstanding result. Most
Regional winning teams that reach the finals have at
least two good players, but Gunnedah High has a
team of outstanding, reliable players.
It has been 15 years since Gunnedah High School has
won a State Team final in any sport. In 1998, the
Girls‟ Tennis team also won the last State teams
event won by a Gunnedah High School team when
they defeated Grafton High School.
This victory is testimony to the years of training and
hard work completed by the team members and their
coaches to reach the standards they currently display.
Gunnedah is fortunate to have an excellent tennis
competition and several dedicated coaches. All the
members of this team have come through the ranks of
this local association.
Gunnedah has been granted the hosting of this event
for 2014. Losing our two year 12 members, Jess and
Chloe, will certainly affect our team strength for next
year. However, there are other players waiting in the
wings for their opportunity to be part of the team that
“defends the title on home turf” in 2014.
ENROL TO VOTE
The Federal Election is on September 7 - and there is
only a short time left to enrol to vote.
Half a million young people (18-25) aren’t
enrolled to vote - are you one of them?
If so: head to www.aec.gov.au/enrol and enrol
now. It will only take 5 minutes, and means your
vote will be counted this election.
If not: chances are you have friends or family
members who aren‟t enrolled. Help them out by
sending them this link: www.aec.gov.au/enrol, so
they can make sure they are on the roll in time to vote
in the federal election.
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The 1.4 million Australians who aren‟t enrolled could
have a huge impact on the election and on the issues
they care about, if they enrol now. The electoral roll
closes on Monday 12 August - next Monday.
Don’t miss the deadline. Enrol to vote at
www.aec.gov.au/enrol and make your vote count.
ASTHMA NEWS
Welcome to Term 3 'Asthma News'. In this edition,
you‟ll find plenty of asthma updates and handy tools
to help you and your staff in managing asthma in
your school or early childhood education service
environment.
This term talks about Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA)
and offers some helpful advice on how to prevent it
happening. You can also read about how your school
or early childhood education service can become
Asthma Friendly.
There‟s an announcement from Asthma Australia
about funding for schools and other educational and
learning settings to receive asthma first aid training,
and you‟ll also find an update about our successful
2013 Pyjama Day fundraiser.
Happy reading!
Information and Education Team
1800 ASTHMA (1800 278 462)
asthmafoundation.org.au
MANURING ON…
Late last term agriculture students collected manure
from the Show Jumping Competition held at the
Showground.
We collected
the manure to
help improve
the structure of
the soil in the
garden plots. It
took us a week
of hard work
to cover a small patch. A big thank you to the TAS
department and Jean for loaning us their
wheelbarrows to make this job easier.
A massive special thank you goes out to Ray
Priestley from Landscape Supplies on Blackjack
Road, who took time out from his own busy day to
help move a 1000 times more manure/sawdust using
a the front end loader. Due to Ray‟s generous help we
were able to cover the entire garden area with a few
centimetres of manure/sawdust. I would like to also
thank the students who lent a hand helping spread the
manure. This small amount has already improved the
soil we are looking forward to harvest next year.
Again thank you to Ray, Mick and all the students
both agriculture and science who helped in this
project.
FIRST CACKLEBERRY
Clare Benson Y r9 Ag found our first egg!
CYBERBULLYING
prevention tips for parents The statistics around cyberbullying are sketchy, mainly because it often goes unreported. What we do know is that the likelihood of children being bullied online or over the phone increases as they get older and use technology more frequently. Find out more: http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/technology/cyberbullying/say-no-to-cyberbullying
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This was produced by Josh Day for our Ag blog and was liked very much by the national co-ordinator for art4ag
The theme was “Show why food production is important nationally and globally, and the challenges farmers face
in ensuring the world’s food needs are met”
People can see what we are doing by visiting http://ghsarchi.tumblr.com/
Kate Mathieson (Agriculture & Science Teacher)