Care | Opportunity | Success

S O U T H SY D N E Y

Principal’s Report

HIGH SCHOOL

Newsletter | Term 1 Week 10 | 5 April 2019

Congratulations and well done to:

Year 11 students for their focus and commitment to the Year 11 Elevate Study Skills program

Our Year 7 students and Ms Corlija for successfully negotiating another round of vaccinations

Our fantastically talented and enthusiastic sporting team members for their sportsmanship and successes

Our Year 7 students and their Year 11 coaches for a very successful Gala Day

Our Year 7, 9 and 11 students for navigating the NAPLAN online and Minimum Standards practice tests

Empowering Young Women’s Workshop

We are very fortunate to have many influential business

links which provide outstanding opportunities for our

students. Ms Stell led an exciting workshop focusing on

leadership, goal setting and emotional intelligence at

the Empowering Young Women’s Day held on Thursday

at T. Rowe Price, in the City, on the 50th floor – what a

view! This was a wonderful opportunity for our Year 10

and 11 girls to foster and nurture leadership aspirations

and ambitions.

Phones

We all love our phones! It is important that they are used judiciously when at school and we expect that

phones will only be used in class for educational purposes, by teacher request or assent. Thank you for your

support in ensuring that Teaching and Learning continues to be our Number 1 priority.

Exciting News – Parent and Student Portal for Year 7 coming next week….

Our Parent and Student Portals give you access to a range of information including record of attendance,

student timetable, school calendar and NAPLAN data. For Years 8-12, as we come up to the 12 month

implementation, we will be resending information about access. If you have not logged on before, you will

receive an email early in Term 2 with details of how to set up an account to gain access. You will be

provided with a new access code but will need a valid email address to register. We advise you to update

your current email account details via our Front Office if our file records are incorrect.

Year 7 students will be shown how to access the Student Portal in week 11 and given their school ID cards

by Mr Yasaman.

Interim Reports

Please take the time to discuss interim details with your child/ward. These will be posted home to students in

Years 7-10 early next week.

Kind Regards

Catherine Walton (Acting Principal)

Gifted, Talented & Enrichment Making a Film in a Day

Students from South Sydney High School joined our SSEP students on Wednesday 26th March to make a short

film in a day. Jack Bond, Rayan Brahimi, Jude Carla and Fionn Hughes from Year 8 became a film crew for the

day and turned their film concept into a narrative film entitled, ‘An apple a day…..’. They worked with Simon

and Lindsay from Star Time Studios who came to our school with professional film equipment and assisted

students in navigating the various stages of the intricate film making process. These students adopted a very

professional approach to their work and Jack Bond deserves special commendation for demonstrating his skills

as a Director.

We look forward to future ventures of this nature that will encourage potential film makers in our school

population and equip them with the skills to make engaging short films.

The Gifted Awareness Forum for Educators On Saturday 23rd March the Gifted Awareness Forum for Educators took place at Newington College,

Stanmore. Ms Aine de Paor, South Sydney High School’s Gifted Education Coordinator was invited to offer a

session as a presenter in which offered colleagues strategies for engaging and challenging high aptitude

learners whose giftedness lies in the creative arts. Those who took part in this session were particularly

impressed by the range of ways in which we at South Sydney High School cater for our high aptitude learners

both within and beyond the classroom. Programs offered at South Sydney High School and shared with

participants via a powerpoint presentation included:

Our focus on differentiation in the classroom to challenge all students at their level of ability

South Sydney’s Club for Intelligent Minds (SSCIM)

SSCIM Camps

Project Based Learning as a key element of our provision for high aptitude students in our enrichment classes.

The South Sydney Enrichment Program offered to high aptitude students from our local primary schools (SSEP)

On the 27th March 20 students from our school

visited Google to experience the amazing work space

of this 21st Century. We were escorted by Mr

Armanios and Mr Chadwick and they too were

impressed with what they saw. We discovered a

variety of opportunities can happen when you select

to study engineering and IT. It was both fun and

educational. We thank all our teachers for arranging

this excursion as it has given us much to reflect upon.

Linh Huynh, Meg Wighton, Michael Chieng

Student Ambassadors

Beacon & Opportunity - Google Visit

NRL Rabbitohs Program

Year 7 attended a NRL Rabbitohs talk which

included a powerpoint on Gratitude. Students were

asked to be grateful and show gratitude to their

parents, teachers, friends and others.

Two male Rabbitohs players and one female player

attended. The students were given prizes and asked

the players questions. They were thrilled to have

Alex Johnstone, the Rabbitohs current fullback

visiting.

Thanks to the players, the Rabbitohs and the NRL.

Sports News Frederick Mravec results at Sydney East Region Swimming Carnival

Place Event Time

1st Place 200m Freestyle 2:22.33

1st Place 100m Breaststroke 1:24.15

1st Place 100m Freestyle 1:07.11

1st Place 50m Freestyle 30.64

1st Place 210m Butterfly 1:16.07

Simply Outstanding!

Quality Behaviour Winners of the Quality Behaviour Slip Draw for the term:

Year 7: Rainne Drummond-Paki, Makaylah Scarff, Myles Flynn, Ryan Kloner, Ezekiel Filipaina, Sean Terrey,

Hannah Al-Idrus

Year 8: Jasmine Mederos , Taylah Moore , Bryan Guzman Cares , Elise Harris

Year 11: Easton Churchill , Brendan Wardrop

Congratulations to all students for their hard work and dedication this term!

Article from the Southern Courier

Parent Teacher Nights Term 2 Tuesday 14th May - Year 11 and 12

Tuesday 25th June - Year 8 and 10

Term 3 Tuesday 30th July - Years 7 and 9

Interim Reports Interim Reports for Year 7-10 will be posted home next week. If you have any queries, please contact the

Head Teacher of the faculty:

English: Ms Hasking

Maths: Mr Askounis

Science: Ms Mifsud

HSIE: Mr Moreland

CAPA: Mr Wiseman

PDHPE/TAS: Mr Wood

A sample report is included for your reference.

Library News

Featured Library Displays

During the course of my day as a Teacher Librarian, I receive many student queries about what is good to read

and where to find specific information. The display “I don’t remember the title, but the cover was blue” was

inspired from multiple queries I have heard over the years. As a promotion of fiction texts, the blue display

has been a success as it has had to be refilled a few times and brought a smile to the faces of students and

staff. Anzac Day is a significant day in Australian history. There are many non fiction and fiction texts in the

library collection for students to learn about the events at Gallipoli and other Australian wartime experiences.

Year 7 Gala Day softball

A wonderful Gala Day carnival was held on 3rd April this week. Our three Softball Teams participated in the

spirit of fun and fair play on the day. Each of the teams played well and learnt lots from our competitors and

coaches. The excitement started to build after the fifth game as our players realised that we had won enough

games to make it an all-South Sydney final. The final score was a tie.

I was very proud of our Year 7 teams. I would also like to pass on an enormous thank you to our Year 11

coaches and those who assisted on the day. These students are a great credit to our Senior School and I

acknowledge the wonderful work that they have done each week preparing our Year 7 softballers for Gala

Day. They are, Ernie Gilshenan, Jessica Vu, Eric Raman, Balsam Badeea, Lucas Cosstick and from Year 12, on

the day, William Crowley and Sharlise Te Hira.

Ms Brookes

Writing Competition

Tournament of Minds South Sydney High School encourages participation in Tournament of Minds. This is a voluntary program.

Teams of seven students from Years 7-10 are invited to participate in the Secondary Division. Students work

collaboratively and creatively to find solutions to real world 21st century problems. Training sessions will

commence at the beginning of Term 2 and will take place weekly during the lunch break. After initial training

sessions and exposure to Spontaneous Challenges, teams are expected to work on a Long Term Challenge

(unsupervised) for a period of six weeks prior to the Tournament Day on the last weekend in August. Parents/

Carers will be expected to provide the students’ transport on the day. The Tournament will be held at St

Scholaticas High School, Glebe. The current challenges are drawn from the following disciplines: STEM, THE

ARTS, LANGUAGE LITERATURE and SOCIAL SCIENCES.

Jennifer Tilby, Facilitator

Students are encouraged to enter the Whitlam Institute’s 2019 WHAT MATTERS? Writing Competition. Entries

close on 10th May 2019 and need to be entered online. This competition is a catalyst for students to develop a

perspective or a point of view on where we are heading as a society. It provides a forum for young people to

be involved in the shaping of Australia’s future. Students must submit an original written work between

400-600 words in prose or poetry, of either fiction or non-fiction on a subject that interests them. Prizes are

awarded in four categories. South Sydney High School has supported this competition and its cause for a

number of years. Student involvement is highly recommended to continue to develop current Literacy skills

and provide a platform for sharing concerns and ideas.

Jennifer Tilby, Facilitator

In Week 11 Term 1 2019, our school is taking part in the Tell Them From Me student survey. The survey will

provide us with valuable feedback on what our students think about school life, how engaged they are with

school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have

used the Tell Them From Me survey to help them improve. The survey is completed on-line and is run by an

independent research company, The Learning Bar, which specialises in school-based surveys.

Staff in schools will not be able to identify individual students from their responses. To ensure confidentiality,

participating students will receive a unique username and password. Where fewer than five students respond

to a question, the results will be suppressed. The survey typically takes 30 minutes or less to complete and will

be administered by the school during normal school hours.

This research will help schools in New South Wales to better understand how to improve student wellbeing

and engagement. It will also help teachers and principals discuss what works to improve student outcomes.

Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. Your child will not take part if either you or your child do not

wish. If, during the survey, your child is uncomfortable, he/she can choose to stop the survey at any time. For

further information please contact Mr B. Benischke

Tell Them From Me Survey