RHHS 2016 Annual Report and Achievements

Rooty Hill High School Annual Report

2016

8908

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Rooty Hill High School 8908 (2016)

Printed on: 1 May, 2017

Introduction The Annual Report for 2016 is provided to the community of Rooty Hill High School as an account of the school's operations, progress and achievements throughout the year.

It provides a detailed account of the progress the school has made to provide high quality educational opportunities for all students, as set out in the school plan. It outlines the findings from self–assessment that reflect the impact of key school strategies for improved learning and the benefit to all students from the expenditure of resources, including equity funding.

Christine Cawsey AM Principal

School contact details Rooty Hill High School 54 North Parade Rooty Hill, 2766 www.rootyhill-h.schools.nsw.edu.au rootyhill-h.School@det.nsw.edu.au 9625 8104

Message from the Principal In 2016, Rooty Hill High School enjoyed an outstanding year in terms of its school plan delivery, growth and progress.

The school's commitment to innovation and creativity as a core value was recognised when the school was named as one of the 40 Most Innovative schools in Australia by Educator Magazine and was one of only 3 government schools to be recognised. The school continued in its role as a Social Ventures Australia Powerhouse School sharing our work across Australia and learning from other schools. The personalised learning program for students was consolidated with the launch of My Learning Hub, an online portfolio for students to upload their own evidence against the ACARA and NESA capabilities. One extension of this work was the school's role as a Lead School in the Mitchell Institute Shifters project involving students from 11 schools in Sydney and 11 schools in Victoria. The school also extended its personalised learning strategy to parents in response to feedback in 2014–15.

At the end of 2016 the school had recognised students with 15770 merit awards (up 5000 on 2015), 2305 significant achievement awards & 95 PERSIST awards. These were given to students at Academic Presentation Assemblies, at year assemblies and at deputy principal assemblies throughout the year. In addition, 406 students were recognised at the 2016 sports recognition assembly for just over 1000 achievements. These student achievements along with detailed information on student performance are outlined throughout the report and the school has published a 2016 Student Achievements Missing Link to be read in conjunction with this report.

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School background School vision statement Our Purpose: As a Learning Neighbourhood school, our overall purpose is to increase expectations, capacity and achievement for students, staff and the community through three strategic priorities: Capability Driven Curriculum, Personalised Learning and Leading for Innovation.

School context School Context (Updated for2017): Rooty Hill HS is a large, co–educational, comprehensive community school in western Sydney experiencing rapid demographic change. The enrolment for 2017 is 1120 students. Over 50% of the students enrolled for 2016 – 2017will be from non–English speaking backgrounds, including a large number of families from Asia and the Pacific. There is a significant enrolment of Aboriginal students (over 5%). The school is committed to promoting its cultural and linguistic diversity. The school FOEI (family occupation and education index) for 2017 is 121,with 70% of students coming from families in the bottom 50%.This places the school one standard deviation below the government school average–our students enter high school with more challenges than students from more advantaged backgrounds. The school’s 2016 budget based on the RAM (Resource Allocation Model)is $10 967 501, an increase of $656 673, primarily due to increased funding for teacher salaries, permanent beginning teachers and equity programs. 71.25% of the teachers are New Scheme teachers, an increase of 6% from 2016. Over the last 3 years in external measures of student performance in Years 9 & 10, students have improved from an average of 1.5–2.0 standard deviations below the mean to an average of 0.5. Although up to 80% of students in any Year 7 group are below grade average on enrolment, the school’s growth data is now above state average with 70% of Year 10 at or above grade level.

At HSC the school average gap was 0.5 in 2015 compared with over –0.82 at the HSC in 2014. The school plan strategies seek to increase the slope of each student’s learning trajectory.

Strengths: The school has a very committed, dynamic teaching, administrative and executive staff with a range of experience. Over the last decade the school has been recognised for its achievements as a school of professional practice, its work in quality teaching and leadership, its exemplary personalised learning programs and its commitment to innovation. The school is a BOSTES registered provider of professional learning. The school has a number of critical strategic partnerships, including a five year innovation partnership with Social Ventures Australia. Parent and community support of the school is strong and working parents have valued both the use of social media and the individual contact approach used by the school in personalising learning for each student. In 2015 the school introduced a BYOD program, with an 80% take up in Year 7. The school has strong academic and socio–cultural platforms that are enhanced by high quality relationships between staff and students. Students are at and above the ACARA relational benchmarks reflecting a strong, positive student culture. The school values are embedded in all programs, policies, practices& relationships.

There is a broad academic curriculum, a strong vocational program and the opportunity for students to participate in a wide range of extra–curricular programs. There is a strong focus on innovation and improvement, leadership, technology in learning, personalised learning and transition programs. The development of a “lead faculty” model has embedded literacy, numeracy and critical thinking in school, faculty and subject practice. Each student has a personalised learning plan. Student leadership, personal and social capability, ethical understanding, intercultural understanding (ACARA capabilities) are demonstrated in sports, the arts, school service and academic programs. The school has a commitment to building positive relationships through personal responsibility. http://www.rootyhillhighschool.nsw.edu.au/

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Self-assessment and school achievement Self-assessment using the School Excellence Framework

This section of the Annual Report outlines the findings from self–assessment using the School Excellence Framework, school achievements and the next steps to be pursued.

School Excellence Framework This year, our school undertook self–assessment using the School Excellence Framework. The framework supports public schools throughout NSW in the pursuit of excellence by providing a clear description of high quality practice across the three domains of Learning, Teaching and Leading.

In 2015, the school was externally validated as part of the trial conducted by the NSW Department of Education High Performance Unit. In that validation the school had identified only 3 areas where there was more work to be done to achieve Excelling in all domains.

In 2016, the school collected further evidence and, as a result, identified only one area as "sustaining and growing". This area was Student Performance where the school remains below the state average in the number of students achieving Bands 5 and 6 in the HSC. In all other areas the school's performance is rated as "Excelling".

In summary, the school’s self–assessment placed the school as excelling in: • Learning: Learning Culture, Wellbeing, Curriculum & Learning, Assessment & Reporting, • Teaching: Data Skills & Use, Collaborative Practice, Learning & Development, Effective Classroom Practice, Professional Standards, • Leading: Leadership, School Planning, Implementation and Reporting, School Resources, Management Practices & Processes.

The school rated itself (and provided evidence to support that rating) as sustaining and growing in: • Learning:

Student Performance Measures,

Our self–assessment process will assist the school to refine the strategic priorities in our School Plan, leading to further improvements in the delivery of education to our students.

For more information about the School Excellence Framework: http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about–the–department/our–reforms/school–excellence–framework School Achievements 1. In 2016 this school was recognised as one of the 40 most innovative schools in Australia by Educator Magazine based on the following evidence: • The school is one of seven Social Ventures Australia Powerhouse Schools, chosen for its capacity to design and deliver innovation.

• In 2016, the school was featured in the AEU report, Getting Results for a school designed National Partnership grant funded program in literacy and capability pedagogy. The current Year 10 cohort (of 220 students), who started high school with only 10% of students at or above grade level were the focus of this program and, through a combination of new programming and pedagogical approaches, finished last semester with 70% of students at or above grade level and only 9% of students still needing intensive intervention.

• In 2016 the school was the lead school with 11 other schools in a joint venture with the Mitchell Institute and Professor Yong Zhao from Harvard University to student–led social entrepreneurship and creativity. This was an extension of the school's sophisticated personalised learning strategy for all students delivering universal, targeted and intensive curricular, co–curricular and extra–curricular opportunities measured against the achievement of the ACARA capabilities.

• Over the last three years using @Google Classroom the school developed #MyLearningHub, an online student controlled data repository based on student self–efficacy in achieving and demonstrating the ACARA capabilities through student led selection of work samples, personal statements and the development of high quality scholarship applications and CVs. • There is a deep alignment between the school’s culture, its creative school plan, the extensive use of evidence and its choice of high leverage whole school platforms. In 2014–16 the school hosted visits from school leaders from all sectors from across NSW who wanted to adopt or adapt one or more of the approaches being used in the school.

The school's work was presented at conferences, published in professional readings, featured in case studies (including the NSW Department of Education Community Consultation project) and cited in academic texts on creativity, classroom practice and change theory.

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• In 2016 the school was featured as one of the six Australian ACARA case studies of innovative capability practice submitted to UNESCO and was also featured in the Australian Learning Lecture series for its work teaching and learning creativity and higher order thinking in every subject through the “Creativity Wheel” and “Creative Inquiry Cycle”.

• The school continued to be recognised as a leader in Professional Practice as a BOSTES endorsed provider of professional learning, designing high quality teacher learning including, for example, a program at AITSL APST Lead Level in partnership with UNSW for secondary schools– What Can We Learn from Students about Classroom Practice?–that was highly evaluated.

2. Due to changes in the NSW Department of Education Annual Reporting template software that have limited the inclusion of photographs and the community recognition of student achievements the school has published a special Missing Link.– Achievements 2016 – which, with the Missing Link editions for Terms 1–4 2016, records over 10000 individual achievements and includes significant achievements recorded in photographs and awards. This valuable document can be accessed by the community via the school's website.

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Strategic Direction 1 Capability Driven Curriculum

Purpose We will deliver our overall purpose through the development and implementation of high quality creative, digital, capability driven curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment designed to increase the learning trajectory of each student.

Overall summary of progress There was significant milestone progress made towards the Products and Practices in the School Plan, as reported in detailed quarterly reports tabled to the School Council throughout 2016.

• External reporting required for both the University of Sydney STEM trialled units and the Australian Learning lecture publication of the school's Inquiry Based Teaching and Learning Programs indicated a marked improvement in both student engagement and results.

• Every subject taught in the school has high quality, BOS compliant program and assessment documents aligned to school wide platforms. All faculty head teachers are versed in the compliance process and the future focus will be in developing programming language and strategies that help to capture the elements of the quality lesson designs that spiral from the programming documents.

• Every faculty has trialled a version of the Inquiry Based Learning platforms. The appointment of Capabilities Coordinators in every faculty in 2017 will further support the school's progress towards a capability driven curriculum.

• Faculty professional learning plans demonstrated evidence of a focus on programming through capabilities to create a capability driven curriculum – All faculties will be working towards assessment and reporting against the capabilities in 2017.

• Results across all external assessments indicate that the school has greater success moving students from lower bands and that growth data is positive on the majority of measures.

• HSC grades in 2016 showed improvement in the "middle bands" and reflected a greater choice of VET subjects, including TVET and school based traineeships in this cohort than in the previous cohort.

• A significant shift has been noted in discussions about assessment, with more variety in the forms of assessment evident in most KLA’s. The inclusion of capabilities to be targeted within each assessment task will continue to be an ongoing development in 2017.

The following products and practices were on track to completion in 2015–16 and will be embedded in 2017: Practice 1: Using a range of student learning benchmarks, the school undertakes ongoing action research to identify and create innovative programs and strategies to increase the learning trajectory of students.

Product 2: Every teaching and learning program taught in the school has high quality NESA–aligned program and assessment documents aligned to school wide platforms.

Practice 3: Teachers embed capabilities and creative, higher order student learning activities into each subject program to ensure skills develop into capabilities and dispositions.

Practice 5: In every subject student performance over time will be tracked using "the story behind the curve" to identify and track improvements, innovations and changes in student performance.

Practice 6: Targeted programs are designed and implemented using an action research framework to ensure that the purpose and planned outcomes of the program are planned, implemented studied and reviewed.

Product 7: The products of each targeted program are embedded as platforms within the school and subject based curriculum.

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Progress towards achieving improvement measures Improvement measures (to be achieved over 3 years)

Progress achieved this year

Funds Expended (Resources)

1. average growth (to within one mark) and value added data (learning trajectories) to within 1 standard deviation of state average..

Detailed faculty and team annual reports were completed by all teaching staff to indicate progress against the key performance indicators.

Staffing

Overall progress towards the measures in 2016 was positive, especially in the areas of extended writing.

NAPLAN Numeracy growth was above state average.

2. 40% of all students achieving Band 4+ in external tests and an average GPA of 3.5 on internal academic reports.

The overall trend for 2016 was positive with a reduction of students in the lower bands, and more students moving into the middle bands in all KLAs. In all cohorts, the school successfully reached the target of 40% achieving Band 4+ in school based assessment results. Despite this, the average GPA in each cohort was below the expected 3.5.

3. 80% students achieving benchmark standards in ACARA/BOS capabilities.

Significant work continued throughout 2016 to engage students in the My Learning Hub’ as a space for tracking student progress towards achieving capability benchmarks. 2016 VALID data indicates a significant success with the Inquiry and Project based learning in Science for the Year 10 cohort – 70% 0f students were at or above state average in two of the four domains tested and growth data was significantly above state average.

Other resources – • Faculty teams • Executive and aspiring leadership teams • Lead faculties • Professional Learning Teams • BYOD and Google Classrooms • In –house consultancy team • Learning Support – Senior Study, Learning Centre • My Learning Hub development costs • Professional learning sessions including School Development Days

Next Steps In addition to making milestones progress towards the products and practices to be in place at the end of 2017, the school plan initiatives in this strategic direction will: • Complete the tasks required to embed Products 4, 8 and 9 in 2017 (see School Plan).

• Maintain the emphasis on the development of quality assessment practices that target the capabilities and provide opportunities for students to collect examples of progress towards the development of capabilities through the increased use of My Learning Hub • Continue the intense capability focus in all stage 4 programs in 2017, commencing with reading in term 1.

• Redesign reporting documents to include capability benchmarks and indicate student progress to parents.

• Provide enhanced support to faculty teams through the appointment of Capability Coordinators and Google Gurus.

• Undertake a review and refinement of the Creative Inquiry Cycle model to focus on capability benchmarks and assessment that move students to a stage of immersion, rather than engagement.

• Undertake further work is to be done in the compilation of work samples and CTJ across classes in many KLA areas. Annotated work samples that clearly define standards and benchmarks will be developed.

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Strategic Direction 2 Personalised Learning

Purpose We will deliver our overall purpose through the development and implementation of high quality universal, targeted and intensive personalised learning programs that give each student the opportunity to do his or her best in making a successful transition to 21st life and work.

Overall summary of progress There was significant milestone progress made towards the Products and Practices in the School Plan, as reported in detailed quarterly reports tabled to School Council during 2016.

• Students in Years 6–12 participated in over 2500 personalised learning and transition interviews. They reviewed their Personalised Learning Plans (PLP), set goals and reviewed academic achievement.

• All 7–10 students used the digital portfolio during their personalised learning interview to complete their PLP and upload evidence towards the capability benchmarks.

• Information from Personalised Learning Week interviews and the Tell Them From Me survey was used to identify universal, targeted and intensive interventions for students and year groups. A detailed wellbeing matrix was developed for each year group and for targeted groups of students that guided the delivery of programs that resulted in improvement on a range of well being measures in each year group.

• Year group projects and events were conducted successfully to promote the values of the school and ensure students developed skills across all ACARA capabilities.

The following products and practices were on track to completion in 2015–16 and will be embedded in 2017: Practice 1: From enrolment all students participate successfully in creating and implementing their own digital personalised goal setting, improvement, transition and tertiary study plans.

Practice 2: Students demonstrate on the ACARA capability benchmarks and their digital portfolios that they are successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active citizens.

Product 4: There is evidence that students who are participating in universal, targeted and intensive personalised learning and leadership programs in each year group show improvement on measures of academic and social progress including attendance, participation, behaviour, retention and post school destination measures.

Practice 7: The school is successful in implementing innovative systems and practices where students, school and community assume a greater voice in the school.

Practice 8: As a result of the SVA Bright Spots School Connection and Powerhouse School recognition, the school has delivered creative solutions to achieve its purposes in personalised learning.

Progress towards achieving improvement measures Improvement measures (to be achieved over 3 years)

Progress achieved this year

Funds Expended (Resources)

40% of students seeking university entry and 90% planning tertiary education after leaving school.

33% of students in year 12 2016 sought University entrance and 62% sought tertiary education. It should be noted that a higher number of students in this cohort entered employment based on traineeship and vocational programs.

The school added an additional 0.6 to the Careers Adviser allocation and the Senior School Welfare and Learning Support Teams supported detailed transition plans.

All students demonstrate progress in their digital portfolios towards being successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens.

All students in Year 7–10 utilised the digital portfolio to complete their personalised learning plan and uploaded evidence towards their capabilities.

Significant increases in student recognition in 2016 showed students were engaged in classroom and whole school activities. This work was presented at conferences and the school hosted visits from 20 schools, national organisations and international

The school allocated an additional 2 periods to each class in Years 7 and 8 (an additional 1.3 FTE staffing) to support an IT program that included learning about capabilities and understanding how to

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Progress towards achieving improvement measures Improvement measures (to be achieved over 3 years)

Progress achieved this year

Funds Expended (Resources)

All students demonstrate progress in their digital portfolios towards being successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens.

organisations interested in the work.

prepare an electronic resume.

Next Steps In this strategic direction in 2017, the following initiatives will continue as the school plan is realised: • The work on Products 3, Product 5 and Practice 6 will be completed to embed this work in the school.

• Student self–reflection comments will be included on half–yearly and yearly reports.

• Students in Year 7–12 will use the My Learning Hub (digital portfolio) to provide evidence towards the ACARA/BOSTES capability benchmarks • The full Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP) will be delivered to all Year 10 students to address the work and enterprise capabilities.

• Personalised Learning Interviews will be conducted online • Students in Years 10 –12 will use My Learning Hub to develop their resumes and scholarship applications • Year group matrix mapping of all programs to the capabilities will continue to underpin the delivery of the capability focus of learning in the school.

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Strategic Direction 3 Leading for Innovation

Purpose We will deliver our overall purpose through a values driven, research based culture with a disposition to leading for creativity, improvement and innovation in our planning, partnerships and professional practice.

Overall summary of progress In 2016, Rooty Hill High School was recognised in the Top 40 Innovative Schools in Australia by the Educator magazine. This was a significant affirmation of the quality of educational leadership and innovative practices implemented in the school.

There was significant milestone progress made towards the Products and Practices in the School Plan, as reported in detailed quarterly reports tabled to the School Council throughout 2016.

• • • •

• • • •

• •

•

•

Ms Linda Graham achieved accreditation at Highly Accomplished Level (HAT), the first for RHHS. there were 2 teachers who achieved APST proficiency and 9 who completed Maintenance of Accreditation.

The school hosted 28 practicum teachers and 14 learning support volunteers.

Dr T. Loughland (UNSW) and the Principal were asked to present at the ACEL conference on leading classroom observation, and an article on the school's work was published in ACER Teacher Magazine in November 2016 and February 2017.

An updated Professional Practice Policy was implemented in 2016.

The school re–published its Strategic Partnerships Policy and shared it with a range of not–for–profit organisations working with schools.

In the annual partnership review using the school's Value Proposition evaluation tool, 29 Partnerships were recognised for their strategic contributions to school and student progress in 2016.

2016 Strategic Partners: ABCN (technology), ACU, AFL Indigenous Academy and GWS Giants, AIME, Ashurst/NBN Co (LEAPs), BCC, Cycle for Happiness, Ex–Students/Alumni, HANBAN, Health Department WS (SALSA and Stand Tall), Ningbo/Rosette Project, NRL (In League in Harmony and School to Work), Learning Neighbourhood, Make your Mark & IScope, Mitchell Institute, MockTrial/Law Society, Professional Associations, STEM Partners (DofE, UTS, USyd, CSIRO), SVA, SVA Collaboration, Sydney Story Factory, Symphony for Life, TAFE (TradeServices Centre, TVET, Taste of TAFE), UNSW (Practicum Partnership, Robo Gals), University of Sydney (Compasss), WSC SchoolIndustry Partnerships, Vietnam Veterans, WSU (Ningbo, PATHE, Fast Forward).

100% of teaching and SASS staff participated in and completed the PDP/PLP process in 2016.

Teacher Professional Learning applications were concentrated in 3 areas: Syllabus Implementation (25%), Quality Teaching (20.4%), Leadership and Career (18.5%). The direct link of professional learning to both individual goals and the school plan resulted in significant shifts in the levels of expertise demonstrated by teachers, administrative staff.

The ongoing focus on developing the capacity and leadership skills of Professional Practice Mentors (PPMs) in each faculty resulted in the effective re–positioning of the PDP process, faculty professional learning and greater support for the Head Teachers. Effective feedback from PPMs led to the modification of key Professional Practice documents to streamline the whole process. This was supported by the high quality action research published by the school's Professional Learning Teams and both programs will continue in 2017.

The school continued to provide registered professional learning as a NESA endorsed provider including training 20 Executives and PPM at APST Lead Level on Leading Classroom Observation and Leading Collaboration.

The following products were achieved in 2015 and embedded in 2016: Product 1, Product 7, Product 8.

The following products and practices were on track to completion in 2015–16 and will be embedded in 2017: Practice 2: The ongoing use and development of school wide learning and change platforms are informed by value driven action research.

Product 3: There is evidence of individual career growth and accreditation against professional standards at graduate, beginning, proficient, highly accomplished and lead career stages.

Practice 4: Professional learning opportunities for leaders and aspiring leaders that ensure novice (administrative) leadership behaviours develop into adaptive and enabling behaviours that support student, teacher and school learning.

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Practice 5: The school is recognised for professional learning team engagement that enhances teaching practice and influences the design and impact of major school programs and projects.

Practice 6: The school is recognised for high quality observation, monitoring, supervision and professional learning in each subject focused on improved curriculum delivery, capabilities, assessment and student learning progress in each subject.

Progress towards achieving improvement measures Improvement measures (to be achieved over 3 years)

Progress achieved this year

Funds Expended (Resources)

The school is recognised as a major developer of innovative intellectual, organisational, social, professional, leadership and educational capital through both the LSLD and Great Teaching and Inspired Learning reforms.

Recognised in the Educator Magazine Top 40 Innovative Schools in Australia in 2016, providing a huge affirmation of the leadership and innovative practices at Rooty hill High School. Detailed reports, conference presentations, papers, published articles and requests to provide case studies are available from the school.

Teachers' Professional Learning: $110 294 Shifters Program: $20 561 S.V.A. Powerhouse School: $25 000 Learning Neighbourhood: $30 000 (school funded)

Next Steps In 2017, the focus for Professional Practice will include: 1. The extension of understandings of capabilities and dispositions linked to the "discourse" in each subject.

2. Learning Design, Adaptability and Signature Pedagogies that lead to improved classroom practice 3. Evidence Informed Teaching/Learning using Outcomes Based Accountability and real–time observation of student learning behaviour.

4. Strengths Based Coaching and Mentoring for executive and aspiring leaders to further develop effectiveness in leadership.

5. Professional Learning Teams focused on Capabilities, Google Gurus, Professional Practice, STEM, Transitions and School Operations 6. Transition as a NESA endorsed provider to registration of Professional Learning courses and programs in the new MyPL. In 2017, the focus of Strategic Partnerships will include: 1. A detailed review of strategic partnerships in Term 2 and identification of key partners for the 2018–2–10 school plan.

2. Evaluating the educational and community impact of the programs developed with strategic partners.

3. A deep review of the value proposition of continuing the Learning Neighbourhood programs in their current form in light of the inability to achieve Practice 9 in the school plan.

4. The implementation of the School Community Advisory Group to replace the School Council which cannot continue to operate while the school's P&C is in recess.

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Key Initiatives

Impact achieved this year

Resources (annual)

Aboriginal background loading

Key points of the year included:

$74 171 = 0.7 staff funding

– Increased overall attendance – Partnership embedded with universities as a result of the success of the targeted programs in partnership with: • AFL Indigenous Academy • AIME • NRL School 2 Work • Sydney Uni Compass • Sydney Uni Wingarra Mara Summer School • AEGC Student leadership • Aboriginal Employment Strategy • Bangarra Dance Workshop • NAIDOC– AL Cup 8 students completed the HSC in 2016 and all made a successful transition from school to university placement (4), traineeships (3) and employment (1).

English language proficiency

36 Students in years 10–12 and 50 students in Years 7–9 received targeted and intensive support. As a result, the learning rates of 80% of these students were above the growth rates for the overall student population.

0.4 staff funding

Low level adjustment for disability

This funding was used to supplement the overall equity funding budget with 0.6FTE SLSO Support. Over 400 students received additional support including 125 on Individualised learning plans and 60 on health plans. 6 classes in years 7–9 received additional learning support.

$39 1235

Socio–economic background

Please see Strategic Direction 2 Personalised Learning Report.

$449 603 includes staffing.

This is the full budget for the school's Personalised Learning Strategic Direction 2

This funding was used to fund 5.0FTE teaching and 1.6FTE SLSO Support. Over 400 students received additional targeted and intensive support including 125 on ILP’s, 60 on health plans and almost 1000 on PLPs. My learning Hub was launched and every student in Year 7 – 12 now has a personalised learning and transition plan.

Support for beginning teachers

In 2016 the school had 5 teachers in their second year as permanent beginning teachers and 2 teachers in their first year. The school provided additional hours within the timetable as well as access to professional learning days, support of a faculty based professional practice mentor and access to in–house consultants. Two staff members achieved proficiency against the APST standards–one permanent and one temporary teacher. A detailed report on the school's Professional Practice program is included in the report for Strategic Direction 3.

$111 390

Targeted student support for refugees and new arrivals

The school supported all refugee students through EALD personalised learning. 5 Students participated in the AWS mentoring program which included excursion these students would not have been able to attend.

$5 500

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Wellbeing services funding

High level adjustment for disability

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The school allocated this funding to increase year advisor allowances and the impact on the provision of universal targeted & intensive year based programs of support has resulted in improved data on a range of wellbeing, academic and transition measures reported in the full Personalised Learning Annual Report.

1.0 FTE counsellor

An SLSO was employed from these funds, in addition to the 1.6 SLSO allocations, to provide intensive personalised support. One student with high level adjustment graduated from Year 12 and others continued the successful transition to the next year of study.

$58 368

Rooty Hill High School 8908 (2016)

$49 600

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Year 10 and this impacted the retention from Year 10 to Year 11. Once students enrolled in Year 11, retention to Year 12 was expected and it was pleasing that 17% of students in Year 11 (mostly boys) made a transition to apprentice based employment in 2016.

Student information Student enrolment profile Enrolments Students

2013

2014

2015

2016

Boys

584

577

556

554

Girls

526

521

527

541

The overall enrolment remained consistent with previous years and the number of girls in the school increased. It should be noted that an increasing number of students undertook courses with TAFE and other providers, including providers of school based traineeships.

Student attendance profile

Post-school destinations Proportion of students moving into post-school education, training or employment

Year 10%

Year 11%

Year 12%

Seeking Employment Employment

9 1

17

20

TAFE entry

20

University Entry

29

Other

School

Unknown

Year

2013

2014

2015

2016

7

91.9

92.8

91.3

92.2

8

89.6

89.5

90

89

9

89

89

87.4

89.3

10

89.2

90.1

89.7

88.4

11

88.7

95.1

87.1

90.3

12

86.8

94.5

91.4

88.3

All Years

89.4

91.7

89.4

89.6

State DoE Year

2013

2014

2015

2016

7

93.2

93.3

92.7

92.8

8

90.9

91.1

90.6

90.5

9

89.4

89.7

89.3

89.1

10

87.7

88.1

87.7

87.6

11

88.3

88.8

88.2

88.2

12

90.1

90.3

89.9

90.1

All Years

89.9

90.2

89.7

89.7

Management of non-attendance

21

The post school destination data for Year 12 was collected in February 2017. The number of students entering university declined by 6% than 2015 but the number of early acceptances remained similar. TAFE entry was significantly lower (down by 15%) than previously and this reflected the significantly increased cost of post school TAFE courses – a real barrier to students from poorer families. It is important to note that the number of students who could not be contacted (21%) was higher than in previous years and reflected the mobility of this cohort. With a larger number of students whose families are permanent residents rather than citizens, study is often cheaper and more accessible for students who can travel and live with family overseas.

Year 12 students undertaking vocational or trade training 53% 2016 HSC cohort who studied one or more VET subjects. 16 students who studied 2 or more VET subjects. 54 students completed VET courses provided

by TVET. 3 students completed school based traineeships (SBAT).

Year 12 students attaining HSC or equivalent vocational education qualification

The school's attendance remained at or close to state averages in 2016. As in previous years, a small number of students with complex needs and poor attendance affected the overall data.

All students in Year 12 cohort completed their HSC in 2016.

Workforce information Retention Year 10 to Year 12 As in previous years, a number of students moved from the school to local senior high schools at the end of Page 14 of 19

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Workforce composition Position

2016.

FTE*

Principal

1

Deputy Principal(s)

2

Head Teacher(s)

12

Classroom Teacher(s)

54.5

Learning and Support Teacher(s)

2.6

Teacher Librarian

1

Teacher of ESL

0.4

School Counsellor School Administration & Support Staff

1 12.97

2016 Actual ($) Opening Balance Revenue (2a) Appropriation

1

10 597 286.45 112 397.24

(2c) Grants and Contributions

239 749.82

(2e) Gain and Loss

0.00

(2f) Other Revenue

7 868.00

Expenses Recurrent Expenses

*Full Time Equivalent

10 981 033.68

(2b) Sale of Goods and Services

(2d) Investment Income

Other Positions

1 395 048.48

23 732.17 -11 126 580.96 -10 972 461.86

(3a) Employee Related

-9 929 616.50

(3b) Operating Expenses

-1 042 845.36

Capital Expenses

-154 119.10

Teacher qualifications

(3c) Employee Related

All teaching staff meet the professional requirements for teaching in NSW public schools.

(3d) Operating Expenses

-154 119.10

SURPLUS / DEFICIT FOR THE YEAR

-145 547.28

Teacher qualifications Qualifications

Balance Carried Forward

0.00

1 249 501.20

% of staff

Undergraduate degree or diploma

70

Postgraduate degree

30

The school's financial position remained strong in 2016 and the expenditure was carefully managed to ensure that the school could achieve its priorities. This included almost $1million committed to universal, targeted and intensive personalised learning and equity programs.

Professional learning and teacher accreditation All teaching staff completed comprehensive Professional Development Plans in 2016 that included opportunities to evaluate and review their own work, complete action research and work in cross faculty professional learning teams. All teachers were accredited in 2016 and in 2017, a small number of experienced teachers will transition to NESA registration. This will mean that all teachers will then be formally registered.

For detailed reports on the hours of professional learning completed and the areas of learning addressed please see the report in Strategic Direction 3.

Financial information (for schools fully deployed to SAP/SALM)

In particular, the school was able to target increased funding towards the redesign of classrooms to match the BYOD learning environment expected by students.

The school's auditorium was refurbished and the Minchinbury Trade Training Centre, a TAFE quality Metals and Manufacturing facility was completed.

The only area of significant challenges was in the school's ongoing efforts to collect outstanding debts of 90 days plus for leave management. The school had four significant leave matters related to health care claims where policy changes made in 2016 (without notice) created a debt of close to $160 000 on staffing which will need to be recognised in the 2017 budget.

Financial summary equity funding The equity funding data is the main component of the 'Appropriation' section of the financial summary above.

Financial summary The information provided in the financial summary includes reporting from January 1 to 31 December Page 15 of 19

Rooty Hill High School 8908 (2016)

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2016 Actual ($) Base Total Base Per Capita

9 234 585.31 73 673.61

Base Location Other Base Equity Total Equity Aboriginal Equity Socio economic

0.00 9 160 911.70 1 005 338.56

In the National Assessment Program, the results across the Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 literacy and numeracy assessments are reported on a scale from Band 1 to Band 10. The achievement scale represents increasing levels of skills and understandings demonstrated in these assessments.

74 171.23 449 602.73

Equity Language

73 769.25

Equity Disability

407 795.35

Targeted Total

NAPLAN

61 262.99

Other Total

106 212.88

Grand Total

10 407 399.73

A full copy of the school's financial statement is tabled at the annual general meetings of the parent and/or community groups. Further details concerning the statement can be obtained by contacting the school.

School performance School-based assessment During the 2016 implementation of the school plan, the school refined its personalised learning strategy to report more closely on learning trajectories for individuals, classes, equity groups and cohorts. Using "grade point average" as a reference point students were able to track and set goals in relation to their own learning progress. Teachers and executive staff conducted ongoing monitoring of student progress and created extensive data reports for 2016 that complement the external data available through the Department of Education, NESA and ACARA. The assessment of capabilities became a priority that will be continued into 2017 and beyond.

The school's external performance profile on external data is impacted by its enrolment pattern (with up to 60% of students entering Year 7 below grade average) especially in the senior school where the school has not been able to achieve the Bands 5 and 6 benchmark set by the Department of Education in self assessment.

The following performance highlights in 2016 should be noted: 1. 70 % of students in Year 10 were at or above state average in the VALID Science assessment.

2. There was strong growth from Year 7 to 9 in NAPLAN in numeracy from a low base.

3. The following HSC subjects achieved at or above state average: Mathematics Extension 1 and 2; and VET Hospitality Food & Beverage.

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Although the school's results in Year 9 Literacy remained below state average the overall growth data met the school target of being within one standard deviation of the mean. It should be noted that only 4 students (of the 200 Year 9 students who sat the NAPLAN tests) achieved Band 8 or better in reading, writing and numeracy and this has serious implications for the proposed changes to the 2020 HSC requirements announced by the government.

The school's growth data for numeracy from Year 7 to 9 showed that just over 70% of students met or exceeded expected growth. That means their learning trajectory was greater than would be expected.

The school has a significant Aboriginal enrolment of 5%.

The following results were achieved: 9% of Year 9 Aboriginal students in the school achieved in the top two bands in NAPLAN Reading compared to 7.3% for the cohort as a whole) and 8.3% achieved a Band 8 in spelling.

Of the 8 Aboriginal students who completed Year 12 four enrolled at university and the other five all received employment and/or traineeship offers. The retention and post school destination results were the best results for the school's Aboriginal students in recent years.

The performance of Aboriginal students on school based measures was commensurate with all students, and Aboriginal students in Year 7 were better than the Year 7 cohort as whole.

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Higher School Certificate (HSC) The performance of students in the HSC is reported in bands ranging from Band 1 (lowest) to Band 6 (highest). The school's target measure is for 40% of students to achieve Band 4 or better and while this was achieved in 2015, in 2016 the figure was 32%. This reflected a stronger focus on Vocational pathways with 53% of the Year 12 cohort studying one or more VET subjects delivered through school, TAFE and traineeship programs.

The graphs included in this report indicate that the subjects that improved their "average" performance in 2016 compared to previous years were: English Standard, Legal Studies and Mathematics General 2. It should be noted that the school finds this information to be of limited value – a deeper analysis of the grade "distribution" indicated that while the average did not rise the number of students in Bands 1 and 2 declined Page 18 of 19

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significantly. In 2017, this data will be tracked more closely as the basis for the establishment of new targets for the 2018–2020 plan.

Parent/caregiver, student, teacher satisfaction The school used the following data to assess parent and student satisfaction in 2016: •

•

•

•

Tell Them from Me survey that indicated above state average levels of student satisfaction on a range of measures. Personalised Learning Weeks indicated strong satisfaction for over 90% of students with their progress and participation in the school.

Participation in parent evenings and school events – over 500 families attended parent/teacher evenings and school assemblies in 2016 and 600 guests celebrated the Year 12 graduation. Feedback from parents indicated that the more personalised approach used by the school (that is, engaging parents with their own children's experiences) was rated more highly than traditional contact and organisations like the P&C. The school's P&C went into recess in 2016 while the School Council continued to operate as a forum for parent engagement in decision making.

Parent and student feedback on the use of social media and the school's newsletter Missing Link was very positive with Facebook now recognised as a major source of communication. Missing Link, which is now predominantly written by students, will move fully online in 2017 and it remains a wonderful record of the life of the school each term.

In 2016, the school made a number of video clips for use in marketing and learning. The response has been very positive and in 2017, as part of #55Anniversary an Alumni website will be built to house the school's archives which will become fully electronic and accessible online by the end of 2017.

2. The school achieved its best retention to Year 12 HSC graduation data for Aboriginal students in recent years.

Multicultural and anti-racism education The school's programs in supporting multicultural education and anti–racism continued to be implemented as part of the school's three strategic directions. Three highlights were: 1. A successful Harmony Day with the partner primary schools in Term 1 that underpinned the recognition of the diversity of the school community and the commitment of every student and family to the school's PERSIST values.

2. The participation of 5 students from refugee backgrounds in a partner program with the GWS Giants AFL Club that involved mentoring, learning and an opportunity to visit Australian cultural icons including the Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. These were experiences families could not afford and, combined with the mentor program, resulted in significant improvements in the confidence of these students.

3. Project Kindness run by the Student Representative Council where students explored the importance of kindness to a civil society and practised acts of kindness with other students, especially those they did not know well.

Policy requirements Aboriginal education In 2016, as earlier comments in this report indicate, the school, in addition to its commitment to implementing all policies, consultation and recognition events, had considerable success in two key areas of Aboriginal Education: 1. The school introduced 8Ways of Learning to its whole staff and the platform is now being used to underpin cultural and symbolic learning across the school. In 2017, all students in years 7 and 8 will undertake deeper study of 8Ways of Learning through Creative and Performing Arts. All subjects will program using 8Ways of Learning to ensure a comprehensive curriculum focus supports the school's policy, community, AFL Indigenous Academy, AIME and events programs.

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ANNUAL REPORT 2016 ACHIEVEMENTS

PRINCIPAL’S EXCELLENCE ASSEMBLY ADDRESS Good morning.

Thank you to Nita Jennings for the acknowledgement of country and, like her may I extend my respects as Principal to the elders of our Aboriginal community and to Aboriginal people here today.

Can I welcome the members of the official party, the award winners, the School Council, the Student Representative Council, staff and parents?

I would like to say a special thanks to the parents who have served on the School Council, especially our President, Lincoln Jurd. They have led through some tricky times and issues and I would ask you to acknowledge their work with applause.

Can I extend a special welcome to Year 7, thank them for making such a great start to high school in one of the hottest years we have ever had and thank them for leading us in singing the Anthem today?

Can I welcome you all here and let you know that the School Council and school will air condition this auditorium before next year.

Can I also let you know that, if you feel unwell in the heat, please advise our senior student leaders and they will help?

Finally, can I let you know that the school will hold a 55th anniversary dinner on Friday 24 March. We have included an invitation in your program and we will welcome current and former families, ex-students and friends of the school.

Why are we here today?

Our Captains have told you about the purposes of this assembly and I want to congratulate the award winners who represent the best of our results in 2016. Over the course of this assembly you will see and hear about the achievements of the school last year. It was a year during which students participated in almost 60 major events and in many extra-curricular and cocurricular programs.

At the Excellence Assembly in February 2016, I spoke about our school values and said that we would be working over the whole year on the value of Teamwork and Leadership.

I would like to report on our progress with some examples: • We continued to enjoy great success in our sporting teams and just over 400 students were recognised at the 2016 sports assembly for 1200 sports achievements - most of them playing and competing in teams.

Continued from page 1.

• With the introduction of our new Young Entrepreneurs Program for Year 10 we said goodbye to older style work experience to create a 21st century approach to designing and delivering new products to solve social problems. Our SALSA team took this one step further, pitching a new sporting and health idea to Blacktown City Council.

The sport in van proposal will provide sporting equipment for local kids to play sport, especially those kids whose families cannot afford to pay for their kids to play sport outside school.

Year 10 SALSA leaders with Dr Smita Shah

• Our Bring it On team performance was ranked second in the competition; in our first year competing. Although teachers helped with logistics it was the student choreographer Jovelinn Hartley who brought the team together and it was the team leaders within the performance who made it possible for over 50 students to perform together.

• It was a team who created the promotional videos you will see today.....the media and events team gave opportunities for students with an interest in photography, film and marketing to use their skills to promote the values and work of the school.

Team work and collaboration mattered in academic learning as well.

• Our STEM Project for Year 8 was sponsored by the STEM Academy at The University of Sydney. The projects required students to work across subjects to solve a real world problem and the academic results showed significant student progress...so much so, that our

work was used as a case study at a national conference.

• Most of our students participated in new types of project learning, design learning and inquiry learning that depend on students working together to solve problems and create new products.

Perhaps the best example of this was Year 10 Science where project focused learning has been in place for some time. The performance of Year 10 students on the external VA L I D S c i e n c e t e s t s w a s impressive. Although it was exciting when 2 students achieved full marks, it was just as exciting that 70% of Year 10 students were at or above state average and that the growth in marks from Year 8 to Year 10 was twice the average for the state. We can now say we are a school that is good at Science.

It was not just our students who learnt more about team work and leadership. Our teachers worked in faculty and cross - curricular teams to deliver new ways of thinking and learning. Last year was the year when BYOD was fully implemented in Stage 4; when My Learning Hub, a brand new way for students to show evidence of their own learning against the ACARA capability benchmarks became a reality; and last year was the year when, with the leadership of the Year Advisers, each year group had universal, targeted and intensive programs to support them as learners, leaded, team members and active citizens.

Last year was also the year when the school's work on Creativity was recognised and I am pleased to announce that Professor Bill Lucas, a long term academic friend of the school will publish our work as a case study in his new book to be published this year. Our work was also published through the Australian Learning Lecture series and our teachers have been asked to share their work at conferences, in

professional visits to the school and in writing about their wok for major publications.

For those who know the school well it should come as no surprise that, although we don't have air conditioning, we still have a spirit of team work and leadership that meant, that when we put out the call for ex-students to come and share their stories at the YEP program we were overwhelmed by their support and, more critically, by all that they have achieved.

It really doesn't matter where you start...if you are a Rooty Hill student you can choose your own adventure and choose your own path......this school and this community will do everything it can to get you where you want to go. This is shown in our performance data...Rooty Hill is a high equity school; Rooty Hill farewells its graduates to university, to travel, to vocational education, to employment and to be open to opportunity. And while last year, only 43% of Year 12 wanted an ATAR, we were very pleased that 25 students received early or first round offers for university.

We now have 27 corporate and not for profit strategic partners who choose to work with us and who recognise that we cannot go back and teach to a world that no longer exists; our partners expect that their funding, support, scholarships and opportunities will be reflected in our 21st century approach.

It was our disposition to creativity and innovation, combined with our skills at providing deep evidence of learning progress that was recognised in 2016 when the school was named one of the 40 most innovative schools in Australia...there are 9600 schools in Australia and we were one of only 3 government schools chosen.

We are a Social Ventures Australia Powerhouse school - a powerhouse

of educational innovation in the heart of western Sydney. And we did this by working together..with you, with our partners and, at the heart of it, with all our students.

These are the measures of our success and, in 2017, in the last year of the current School Plan, we have chosen the PERSIST value, Success to be our focus. We say that success is when students, staff and parents work towards quality, success and recognition for themselves and the school. We ask – can you evaluate your own performance?

• We want students to understand student success and use the My Learning Hub to show us; • We want to continue to grow our results above expectations; and • We want our students to know that, if they understand themselves and continue to make effort, they can change their learning trajectory.

This is a big task that will require energy, enthusiasm and stamina. Our award winners, our families, our teachers and our new Year 7 have already shown us what it takes.

As I say each year: My hope for each of you is that when you say you live in western Sydney and you went to Rooty Hill High School, people will say how privileged you were and will automatically know you were part of a school community that created great learners, great leaders and great achievements.

And perhaps one of you will find a way to cool schools that is cheap and environmentally sound!

Best wishes to you all and congratulations to all our award winners.

Christine Cawsey AM 10 February 2017

SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENTS In presenting the highlights of 2016, it should be noted that detailed reports of school and individual achievement can be found on the school website, on Facebook, on Twitter, in recognition assembly programs and in the Missing Link.

Innovation

The school received recognition from Educator Magazine as a leader in school planning, innovation, improvement and change in implementing school planning, learning, evaluation and validation processes. Forty schools from across Australia were named; only 3 of them were state schools. This makes the school’s achievement even more remarkable.

Highlights In 2016: • The school continued its leadership as one of seven Social Ventures Australia Powerhouse Schools, chosen for its capacity to design and deliver innovation.

• The school was featured in the AEU report, Getting Results for a school designed National Partnership grant funded program in literacy and capability pedagogy. The current Year 10 cohort (of 220 students), who started high school with only 10% of students at or above grade level were the focus of this program and, through a combination of new programming and pedagogical approaches, finished last semester with 70% of students at or above grade level and only 9% of students still needing intensive intervention.

• The school was the lead school with 11 other schools in a joint

venture with the Mitchell Institute and Professor Yong Zhao (pictured below with RHHS Senior Exec, Year 10 Adviser and Year 10 students) from Harvard University to student–led social entrepreneurship and creativity.

This was an extension of the school's sophisticated personalised learning strategy for all students delivering universal, targeted and intensive curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities measured against the achievement of the ACARA capabilities.

• The school replaced its ageing work experience program for Year 10 with a new program, the Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP) underpinned by design thinking, social enterprise and evidence informed assessment of the work and enterprise capabilities.

Year 10 students presenting their finished YEP project

• The work the school had done over the previous three years using @Google Classroom was realised in the school-developed #MyLearningHub, an online student controlled data repository based on student self-efficacy in achieving and demonstrating the ACARA capabilities through student led selection of work samples, personal statements and the development of high quality scholarship applications and CVs.

• The school continued to embed a deep alignment between the school’s culture, its creative school plan, the extensive use of evidence and its choice of high leverage whole school platforms. In 2016 the school hosted over 20 visits from school leaders from all sectors from across NSW who wanted to adopt or adapt one or more of the approaches being used in the school. The school's work was presented at conferences, published in professional readings, featured in case studies (including the NSW Department of Education Community Consultation project) and cited in academic texts on creativity, classroom practice and change theory. The school and its s t a ff w e r e a l s o r e c o g n i s e d professionally in the following ways: ✦ Deputy Principal Conny Mattimore won the NSW Secondary Deputy Principals Association Academy Fellowship worth $5000 to study “capabilities and dispositions.” ✦ Linda Graham (pictured below w i t h To m A l e g o u n a r i a s , President, BOSTES) was recognised as the school’s first Highly Accomplished Teacher.

✦

Invitations to present at conferences on: ✴ Transitions (deputy principal Conny Mattimore); ✴ Capability Driven Curriculum at the Ignite conference (deputy principal Brenda Quayle and head teacher Caroline Vuki); ✴ Using progressive assessment to measure 21 st century learning (principal and deputy principal Brenda Quayle); ✴ STEM project (head teachers John Meng and Aaron Prestridge). This project was also presented as an exemplary STEM project by Sydney University at a national university conference;

G e n e r a l ’s A u s t r a l i a D a y celebrations in 2016 and 10 students contributed to the “Your Hopes for Australia” video.

RHHS Students, Ms Mattimore and Ms Reyes at Admiralty House with the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove on Australia Day.

• The school was featured as one of the six Australian ACARA case studies of innovative capability practice submitted to UNESCO and was also featured in the Australian Learning Lecture series for its work teaching and learning creativity and higher order thinking in every subject through the “Creativity Wheel” and

John Meng presenting at the national university conference. ✦

Invitations to contribute to ACER Teacher Magazine in November and February: the p r i n c i p a l a n d D r To n y Loughland contributed two articles on classroom observation. ✦ Inclusion of the school’s work on Creativity in the Australian Learning Lecture series (see below).

Angie Reyes was the 2016 winner of the RHHS Parents & Citizens Association Community Contribution award for 2016.

✦

Angie Reyes with Lincoln Jurd, P&C President

• The school was asked to participate in the Governor

“Creative Inquiry Cycle”.

• The school continued to be recognised as a leader in Professional Practice as a BOSTES (NESA) endorsed provider of professional learning, designing high quality teacher learning including, for example, a program at AITSL APST Lead Level in partnership with UNSW for secondary schools- What Can We Learn from Students about Classroom Practice?-that was highly evaluated.

• The new Minchinbury Metals Engineering Trade Training Centre was completed with Western Sydney TAFE as a key partner.

The school also continued its internal refurbishment program with classrooms designed by students and teachers.

✦

✦

✦

Physical Education Jason Ma – Mathematics Extension1 and Mathematics Extension 2 Rachelle Rativo – English Advanced and Society & Culture Harshita Sabharwal – Legal Studies Brittany Menolotto, VET Student of the Year with Ms Munzenberger, Head Teacher Senior School

• The Betty Andersen Practical Science Award winner was Jacob Keaton (pictured below with Betty Andersen’s daughter Mrs Adam).

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS Academic Achievements • Jason Ma was the 2016 Dux. In 2017 Jason plans to study a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and a Bachelor of Science at the University of New South Wales.

Emma Jurd, Jacob Keaton and Jason Ma

• The school now uses “grade point average” to calculate overall student performance. In Year 10 and Year 11 RoSA grades, the following 7 students received a grade point average of 4.5 or above placing them in the top 10 per cent of the state. ✦ Year 11 – Rachel Varley, Lisa Vu and Sabrina Zaman (pictured below).

Jason Ma with Megan Varley, 2015 Dux

• The other year duxes were: ✦ Year 11 – Sabrina Zaman ✦ Year 10 – Imico Pablico ✦ Year 9 – Venesse Angeles ✦ Year 8 – Sussana Zaman ✦ Year 7 – Zaheda Faiz

✦

Year 10 – Morwarid Faiz, Joanna Gevero, Imico Pablico and Ky Staal (pictured below).

Sabrina Zaman, Zaheda Faiz, Sussana Zaman, Venesse Angeles and Imico Pablico with Megan Varley

• The following students achieved Band 6 results in the HSC: ✦ Emma Jurd – General Mathematics 2 ✦ Jacob Keaton – Personal Development, Health &

• 278 students were recognised with 536 academic awards at their end of year presentation assemblies in 2016.

• The VET Student of the Year was Brittany Menolotto.

For details of other academic achievements, including first place in each HSC subject, please see the Excellence Assembly program, the Graduation program and Missing Link. In addition, faculty reports are available from the school and these reports explain the academic performance of students over the last five years in each subject.

Student Leadership and Participation • The Student of the Year was School Captain Rachelle Rativo (pictured below). Rachelle was the 2015-16 Blacktown City Youth Ambassador and she received the Jim Anderson Scholarship for study at WSU in 2017.

• Joshua Deo was the school’s Caltex Best All Rounder in 2016, with a distinguished record in participation, representative sport, leadership as the 2016 school captain and a sound academic performance.

• The Reuben F Scarf Award for Commitment 2016 was won by P r i n c i p a l ’s R e p r e s e n t a t i v e Madeline Romero.

Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award: ✦ Year 10 – Ky Staal ✦ Year 12 – Brittany Menolotto

Year 7 students participating in the Ambassador Training Day

• The LEAPS program ran for the twelfth year (coordinated by Sarah Andrews and Manny Singh) with mentors from the law firm Ashcroft and from NBN Co. It was highly successful again in 2016 for the students in Year 9 who took part.

Madeline Romero and Joshua Deo with Councillor Carol Isreal from Blacktown City Council.

• 62 students in Years 7 -12 were recognised with the Principal’s Aw a r d f o r O u t s t a n d i n g Achievement and 95 students (5 in each year per term) were recognised with the PERSIST award for overall contribution to the schools values.

• The following students received the Chifley School Service Award: ✦ Year 7 – Aeron Vicente ✦ Year 8 – Zane Catlett ✦ Year 9 – Alec Remoticado ✦ Year 10 – Blake Ford ✦ Year 11 – Harsha Kumar ✦ Year 12 – Nash Wiseman

LEAP students with their Mentors at the graduation ceremony held in Term 4 2016.

• The school’s Year 9 cohort participated in WSU’s Fast Forward Program with 25 students identified as having outstanding potential for university (pictured below).

Year 7 2016 Principal’s Award for Outstanding Achievement recipients with Year Adviser Ms Coleman

• The school had recognised students with 15770 merit awards and 2305 significant achievement awards in 2016.

• The thirteenth year of the School Ambassador program in the junior school (Years 7, 8 and 9) was highly successful with the school training 75 Year 7 students to promote the school, model school values and serve the school community. Clare Melville and Peter Jackson were successful SRC coordinators in 2016 who, with SCR Chair, Melis Ozakca introduced a range of new programs.

Ky Staal and Brittany Menolotto with LS Bhupinder Hothi from the ADF

Zane Catlett, Aeron Vicente, Alec Remoticado, Blake Ford, Harsha Kumar and Nash Wiseman with Councillor Carol Isreal

• The following students received the Jan van Doorn Personal Best Award: ✦ Year 7 – Lorrye Genobili ✦ Year 8 – Alexia Khalil ✦ Year 9 – Charm Ilaya ✦ Year 10 – Nicole Singh ✦ Year 11 – Yugant Gahlot ✦ Year 12 – Tara Schroeder

• The school’s Representative Team of the Year was the 4x100m Boys Under 13s Relay Team. The runner up was the Bring It On Dance Group (43 students).

Nicole Singh, Lorrye Genobili, Alexia Khalil, Charm Ilaya, Tara Schroeder and Yugant Gahlot with Mr Jan van Doorn

Jovilenn Hartley (choreographer), Nita Jennings and Alessandra Delfin representing the Bring It On Dance Group and Rhys Walker, Christopher Gillet and Ali Almoail representing the 4x100m Boys U13s Relay Team with Ms Cawsey and Councillor Edmond Atalla, Member for Mount Druitt

• The following students received the Australian Defence Forces

Students participated in over 200 extra-curricular team activities including clubs, debating, the Mock Trial competition, year based programs, NRL Ambassador program and AFL Indigenous Academies.

Sport • The school had another outstanding year in sport. In total there were 400 students who represented Rooty Hill High School on 1200 separate occasions in 11 different sports in 2016. This was an increase in overall participation by 20 per cent.

• The school was Zone Champion School for the sixth consecutive year. Joshua Deo, Kopul Gupta, Seuga Pula, Ari Ngati and Eden Vaoutumala were awarded Zone Blues for their excellence in sport in 2016.

• There were 86 students from Rooty Hill High School who represented Mount Druitt Zone. Of these, 22 students then represented Sydney West and 6 students went on to represent NSW at National events.

• The Junior Sports Champions were Carlos Torzar and Emily Stirk. The Senior Sports Champions were Joshua Deo and Shaniah Tukuitonga. The Sports Captain Brittany Menolotto and Assistant Sports Captains Noman Baig and Kobe Matatahi coordinated and communicated a range of sporting events.

Year 10 – Anneka Shankar (overall school winner) ✦ Year 11 – Tricia Velenzuela ✦ Year 12 – Melis Ozakca ✦

RHHS Young Writers Competition winners Visual Arts Acquisition Prize winner Emma Jurd with Ms Munzenberger

• In Term 1 the school hosted the regional HSC Music Study Day for the fifth year with 170 Year 12 students attending from 21 schools.

Marielle Aquino and Zachariah Laufili performed Big White Room for the HSC Music Study Day

• The school participated in the Bring It On Dance Competition for the first time in 2016 and achieved third place. 43 RHHS students, led

by Jovilenn Hartley (choreographer) and Amelia Taufa, rehearsed during lunch times and after school.

L-R: Carlos Torzar, Emily Stirk, Joshua Deo and Shaniah Tukuitonga

The Arts

• The Rooty Hill High School Art Acquisition Prize was won by Emma Jurd for her series of sculptures, Obsolescence (pictured above) featuring 5 “books.” Emma also received the Jim Anderson Scholarship for study at WSU in 2017.

• The Learning Neighbourhood schools had two major award evenings in 2016 where students from the four schools were recognised for writing (in May) and for their work in creative arts (in August). On behalf of all four schools we wish to thank all the students, parents and teachers who made both events so successful.

• The grade winners of the Young Writers Competition were: ✦ Year 7 – Paris Mitchell ✦ Year 8 – Marina Ott ✦ Year 9 – Narisha Prasad

• The Art on the Hill award winners were: ✦ Overall school award winner was Emma Jurd. ✦ Quality Award winners: ✴ Stage 4 – Kaitlyn Gulliford ✴ Stage 5 – Lemah Orya and Alec Remoticado ✴ Stage 6 – Kopal Gupta and Emily Wright ✦ The Hangers Prize was given to Sharon Rogers of Stage 5. ✦ People’s Choice awards were won by: ✴ Stage 4 – Zoe Millan ✴ Stage 5 – Lemah Orya ✴ Stage 6 – Emily Wright

RHHS Art on the Hill Winners L-R: Emily Wright, Kopal Gupta, Emma Jurd, Kaitlyn Gulliford, Alec Remoticado, Zoe Millan, Sharon Rogers and Lemah Orya

• Year 10 Visual Design students created 3 murals for the Eastern Creek Public School 150th Anniversary and these murals are now displayed on the walls of the new hall at the school.

Year 10 Visual Design students with Mr Chia (Principal of Eastern Creek PS) and the three murals.

For a full overview of all the school’s achievements please see the 4 issues of the Missing Link published in 2016.

Rooty Hill High School Learning, Leadership & Achievement North Parade, Rooty Hill NSW 2766 P.O. Box 70, Rooty Hill NSW 2766 Phone: 02 9625 8104 Fax: 02 9625 4208 Find us on: Web: www.rootyhill-h.schools.nsw.edu.au Facebook: www.facebook.com/rootyhillhs Twitter: www.twitter.com/rootyhillhs Instagram: www.instagram.com/rootyhillhs RHHS Alumni Network: www.linkedin.com (GROUP: Rooty Hill High School)