KEMPSEY HIGH SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

PO Box 3268 West Kempsey NSW 2440

Phone 65 626166 Fax 65628570

Email kempsey-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Issue 13, Term 4. 2012.

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Year 12 Formal

It was simply one of the nicest school formals ever. Our Year 12 students brought enormous credit to themselves and their families and to the school for their presentation and behaviour at the recent Year 12 Formal held at the Kempsey Macleay RSL Club. It was a night for the families with so many parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and extended family proudly honouring the graduation of these fine young people. The staff of the club made particular mention of the behaviour of the students to the principal in the days following.

Particular mention was made during the night of the large and diverse number of students who received the awards which were distributed among 70% of the students – a figure that is quite remarkable. (Story on page 4 & 5)

November Mon 26th Year 10 Rotary Youth

Driver Awareness Kempsey Airport

Tue 27th R Risk Driver Ed Yr 11 Students

December Wed 5th Yr 6 Orientation Day

All schools Thur 6th Yr 10 Marine Studies to Hat

Head Fri 7th Yr 7 Beach Day - Hat Head

Yr 10 Marine Studies to Hat Head

Tue 11th Presentation night Yrs 7-11 6pm for 6.30pm Wed 12th Years 7 – 11

Rewards Day Wed 19th Last Day for Students

Kempsey High School

P&C MEETING

13th December 2012

7pm Agriculture Farm - BBQ

Everyone Welcome

C o m m u n i t y D a n c e P a r t y

Under 18 ’s

Where: Kempsey Showground Hall Sea St, West Kempsey

When: Saturday 1st December, 2012

Time: 5.00 – 7.00pm (Primary School)

7.00 – 10.00pm (High School)

Cost: $3/child

Proceeds to Kempsey Hornets Football Club

CONNECTING TO COUNTRY

COMMUNITY FORUM

When 2pm on Thursday 29th November 2012

Where: Kempsey High School in the `Ngundakang Burranda’ Building

For more information please contact

Natalie Smith (02) 6562-6166

Community Notices

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Year 6 Orientation

Year 6 students will have their third and final transition day at Kempsey High next Wednesday 5th. December 2012. Students will be able to travel to and from high school by bus. Parents are encouraged to attend and will have the opportunity to tour the school after meeting key staff. Morning tea will be available at the Red Onion Cafe. Further information is available from the Transition coordinator, Mr Kevin Sinclair of Year 7 Advisor, Mr Jed Peisley.

Debating

Last Friday fortnight, Kempsey High School hosted the Year 7 and 8 junior debating day for students from Melville High, St. Pauls College and Kempsey High. Nearly 100 students took part as debaters or officials in twenty-four debates. The emphasis of the day was on participation and it provided an excellent opportunity to develop the skills of debating, thinking on your feet and argument. This annual event has been going for eleven years. Well done everyone.

Late Arrivals

All students who arrive late to school

– i.e. after the 9.00 am bell, are to

present at the front office to receive a

late slip. This marks the student

present for the day. Otherwise, the

student is marked absent.

YEAR 12 FORMAL

Our sincere thanks go to Mrs Louise Ryan assisted by Ms Lisa Reid who worked

so hard in preparation for the formal. They were assisted by students from the

Enterprise Centre, Mr Chris Cooper, Mr Paul Koren and teacher Mr Kevin

Sinclair. Our thanks to the Kempsey Macleay RSL and Rubys by the River.

Restaurant.

Nymboida Camp

Ms Jackson and Mr Peisley have returned with the Year 11 Sport Lifestyle and Recreation students from the Nymboida Camp. Held at the Nymboida Canoe Centre, the three day camp is one of the highlights of the course, enabling students to learn some key kayaking skills which they will use later in their expedition down the mighty Macleay.

SRC News

Guest Speaker – Jeremy Tarbox

The SRC spent an interesting hour with Jeremy Tarbox hearing about his

experiences working with communities in the Dominican Republic as part of a UN

internship through the Rotary World Peace Fellowship. Jeremy talked about

agricultural initiatives that are helping to alleviate poverty and build communities.

He was interested to hear about our Student Equity Advisory Team and the

projects they have been involved in that show how students at Kempsey High are

thinking about others in the wider world and how they can help.

Anti-Poverty Week

Students collected food during Anti-Poverty Week for the Friends for Lunch

program which was then presented to Reverend Camellia Flanagan at a recent

assembly.

Year 8 Drama Travelling Show

On Tuesday 20th November a very excited group of Year 8 Drama students

travelled to Frederickton, West Kempsey and Aldavilla Public schools with a

program of Drama presentations which they performed to very appreciative

audiences. The students were very professional in their performances and had

rehearsed with dedication in the weeks prior to the excursion.

Big thanks to Mr McAulay for his hard work pulling the show together and

transporting the students and also to Ms Norberry who accompanied the group as

their stage manager. More thanks to Cassie Willis who travelled with the show as

camera person. The students obviously enjoyed the day, as did their audiences.

Well done all!

Students who attended were Natasha Murray, Alex Schofield, Amber Towle,

Tiesha Kemp, Sharni-Lea Kenah, Gabby Thornton, Maddison Whalen, Kesia

Chabros, Evie Cornwell, Chloe Ennis, Jessie Hadley, Ayla Holmes, Kacey Jackson,

Jake Sydenham, Kate Harwood, Jade Konieczny, Merinda Kyle and Domonic

Pietsch.

Remembrance Day

School Captains Sally Evill and Ricky Sharp represented the school at the Remembrance Day Service held at the East Kempsey Cenotaph last Sunday fortnight. Ricky Sharp provided a youth perspective when he spoke about “What Remembrance Day Means to Me”. He outlined how the youth of today have the deepest respect for the ex-service men and women and a growing understanding of the challenges they faced in defending freedom when they were the same age as today’s youth. Lest We Forget.

This year’s NAIDOC Assembly was made into a lively and entertaining event by

special guests, Uncle Claude (Pastor Barry Roberts), Auntie Cheryl Blair, Auntie

Marge Vale and Auntie Veronica Smith. The traditional welcome in Dunghutti was

given by Auntie Veronica.

This year’s theme was the 40th Anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and

Uncle Claude talked about the experiences of local people of his generation. It

has been a long struggle to have the voice and real history of Aboriginal people

heard.

With Uncle Claude on guitar and accompanied by the three aunties, they sang

“The Bridge Song”. This song has come about from the idea of the local Elders to

give the new Kempsey Bridge (the longest bridge in the southern hemisphere) a

Dunghutti name which means “ longest track to the other side”. This would be a

meaningful addition to local reconciliation, linking with the original journeys of

the first surveyors who travelled on the old Dunghutti flood free routes through

the Tanban forests.

Naidoc Assembly

Official Opening

The new and refurbished facilities at Kempsey High School were officially opened

by Deputy Premier the Hon. Andrew Stoner MLA (Member for Oxley)

representing the Minster For Education and Senator Matt Thistlewaite

representing the Australian Government on Thursday 8th. November 2012.

Both Mr Stoner and Senator Thistlewaite spent time in the school touring the new

facilities, including the school funded work at the Enterprise Centre and the Rural

Studies and Marine Studies Centres. They were joined by Luke Hartsuyker,

Member for Cowper.

Other guests included Ray Davis (President of the Kempsey High School P&C) and

Nita Davis, Fred Kelly (President of the Macleay Valley local AECG), Uncle “Blue”

(Harold) Smith who gave the Welcome To Country, Graeme Jennings (Relieving

School Education Director) and Brett Sutherland representing the builders

O’Donnell & Hanlon.

The school captains, Sally Evill and Ricky Sharp and vice captains Tiffany Kirkwood

and Riley Sohier took part in the official opening and two plaques were handed to

the captains to commemorate the occasion by Mr Stoner and Senator

Thistlewaite. The prefects were on hand to lead the official guests and visitors on

a tour of the school. The tour concluded at the Red Onion Cafe where guests and

visitors were served Morning Tea.

The Pen is Mightier Than The Soccer Ball?

It has been a very successful year for Year 12 graduate and Vice-captain Joshua

Ryan. At the Year 12 Formal Joshua was presented with the very prestigious

national Pierre de Coubertin Award, an award named after the founder of the

modern Olympic movement. The award recognises sporting achievement and

made special mention of Joshua’s endeavours that were consistent with the aims

of Olympism: his participation in a wide range of sporting activities, his exemplary

efforts to achieve his personal best, and his obvious quality of fair play that has

inspired the involvement of others. Joshua has involved himself in sport at

Kempsey High School and in the wider community for many years and has always

been an excellent ambassador for the school of whom we are very proud.

More congratulations are in order for Joshua who again has achieved national

recognition for his skills, this time his writing skills. Joshua’s short story, “The

Ocean My World”, originally composed for his HSC English course, was entered

into the Charles Sturt University Creative Writing Competition. Joshua has just

received news that he is one of the four National winners of this competition for

2012. You can read Joshua’s entry at http://www.csu.edu.au/study/cwc/ .

Quite clearly, this has been a very

successful year for Joshua, who has

worked hard academically and acted

with great sportsmanship on the

sporting fields.

Congratulations on both of these

amazing and well deserved

achievements, Joshua.

Year 9 Gold Coast Excursion

Year 9 students who attended the trip to visit the Gold Coast had a wonderful

experience as this trip was organised by Mr Fitzpatrick and Miss Jackson and

included various water events.

The trip visited places such as White Water World and Dreamworld with

accommodation at Springbrook for dinner and breakfast. Everyone had a thrilling

time especially at Dreamworld. Thanks to both teachers for a well organised

excursion.

“PADDOCK TO PLATE PROGRAM”

The Ag farm along with Hospitality is trailing a program which we like to refer to as Paddock to Plate.

We Hope in the not so distant future to start a grain assist program situated at the back Ag farm (behind netball courts). This is a student educational program that would have a variety of different breeds of cattle being grain fed for a period of time for optimum meat results.

We hope to provide not only the best quality of meat available, but at competitive prices.

The main aim of this program is to:

a) Have student involvement through an educational program in both agricultural and hospitality sectors.

b) Assist the hospitality enterprise and Red Onion Café through the purchase of school grown meat products with the Paddock to Plate program.

c) Selling quality meat to the consumer.

NAME:___________________________________________________________ Are you interested in the future to purchase

a) Full Carcase b) ½ Carcase c) Maybe Interested d) Particular retail cuts (please give example below) e) No thankyou

Thank you

Gavin Saul

P.S. If you have any suggestions/ideas that may help with the initiation of the paddock to

plate/staff program, please indicate below.

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Calculators in 2013 We are going to transition the calculators we use from the SHARP brand to the CASIO brand. Although the

CASIO calculator is slightly more expensive (an extra $3 approximately), it provides better learning

experiences in a number of areas.

{Calculator displayed may not be the exact model sold, but will have all the functions described.}

Advantages

The display of fractions is the traditional method and not a linear display.

Square roots are displayed in the correct manner.

Statistical data is displayed as a table which makes proof reading easier for students.

Implementation

Year 7 in 2013 will be able to purchase the Casio calculator from the Admin office at our school. Students in

Years 8 to 12 who are used to using a Sharp calculator can purchase a replacement Sharp from the school if

they lose or break their present calculator.

We would ask all parents to support their students by ensuring that they have a calculator – it is much

cheaper than a phone and usually lasts longer. We recommend that the student’s name be engraved on

the calculator to help deter theft.

Buying Calculators from Kempsey High School

You do not have to purchase a calculator from our school, but there are advantages. The school claims back

the GST and because we order in bulk we are able to offer the calculators at a cheaper rate than many other

outlets.

If a student gets a calculator from our school the teacher will be able to assist the student. For other brands

of calculators students may have to refer to their instruction manual that came with the calculator (often

this is a problem because students lose/throw away these instructions). All students doing a mathematics

course are required to have a SCIENTIFIC CALCULATOR for each mathematics lesson. Students are expected

to provide their own calculator in examinations as they CANNOT be borrowed from the Mathematics

faculty. A calculator should last for the length of the student’s time at high school with only batteries

needing to be replaced.

Mr Bruce Sinclair

Head Teacher

Mathematics

GREAT FUN CHRISTMAS IDEA!

No Batteries ! No Electricity!

Australian Made - Locally Made Billy Carts

Support Us! Support You!

Built by Kempsey students for you to buy!

Wood Carts $50

Pictured above

Metal Deluxe with push bar $100

Contact: Lisa Reed at Kempsey High School

Phone: 65 626166

Wood Carts $50

Universities Recognize Academic Excellence

Congratulation to Jack Duncan and Jagdeep Rooprai for receiving academic excellence awards from the University of New South Wales and Newcastle University respectively.

Jack, who achieved DUX 2012, received the UNSW Academic Achievement

Award and will receive $4000 to assist in his undergraduate studies once he

commences in his chosen course.

Jagdeep’s Academic Excellence Award consists of a Certificate and the offer of a Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for Academic Excellence in Year 12, for studies at the University in 2013, to the value of $2000.

Both awards recognise the academic achievements of outstanding students

throughout their Preliminary and HSC studies.

Mr Rix Careers Adviser

Southern Cross University Visit

Recently ten year 9 students attended a 3-day residential camp at the Southern Cross

University Lismore Campus.

On Tuesday morning we left school at 4:30am and travelled up to Lismore, ready for the Uni

Bound program. Over the next three days we experienced what life is like at university. We

learned about some of the courses you can do at Uni including: Health and Human Science,

Arts, Programming/Robotics, Environmental Science, Media and Law.

We did research at the University’s huge library and also got a back stage tour of the media

complex at the campus. Everyone stayed in different rooms at Magellan College which is also

on campus. Finally on Thursday afternoon we left Lismore for Kempsey, where we arrived

back at school at 6:55pm.

We would like to thank our Careers Advisor Mr Rix, for driving us up to Lismore and back,

staying with us as a night supervisor and for his funny jokes along the way. It was a great

three days packed with fun and excitement plus we made some new friends.

This experience has changed my opinion about what university was going to be like; I am now

putting in some thought about going to university after High School.

By Bradley Hayward Year 9