Missing Link TERM 3 2013
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT As we reach the end of this very busy and productive term, I want to thank our Year 12 teachers and students for completing all the requirements for the HSC assessment program. I would also like to thank the parents and families of Year 12 who have supported them in this demanding time. We will all celebrate together on the 20th September at the graduation, after which many Year 12 teachers have told me they will work with students over the holidays to ensure their study is supported. This holidays we are also sending our first exchange group to China as part of the school's Confucius Classroom program. We know the group will have a wonderful experience and will bring lots of new ideas for teaching about Chinese culture and language back into the school. I want to thank Ms. Mattimore and Mr. Meng for leading what is now a signature program for the school and for Western Sydney. This term we launched another signature program - the We are Readers program for Year 7. We are trialling four big strategies in reading and writing with all Year 7 classes this term and next term 96 Year 9 students have volunteered to act as peer reading tutors for Year 7. We are 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 RHHS Alumni Network: www.linkedin.com (GROUP: Rooty Hill High School)
using the Daily 5 and would like parents to help us. Every day, every student who wants to be a better reader should: 1. Read to self 2. Work on writing 3. Read to someone 4. Listen to reading 5. Work on words The We are Readers program was the first of four major programs we are introducing with the school's literacy and numeracy grant. The other three are also related to the ACARA capabilities: numeracy, thinking and ICT. We have many decisions to make, especially about the use of 1:1 laptops in the school. The government's program is coming to an end and the school needs to identify a new way of ensuring students can learn using 21st century digital technology. Most schools are looking at options for students to BYOD - bring their own device in much the same way as they bring a calculator and books. There are several options that range from every student buying any device they want, to the school recommending and supporting the purchase of a particular device with software loaded for school. Download our new RHHS App at: app store for iphone or ipad Google Play for android it’s FREE
continued from page 1 We will be asking the School Council to make a recommendation at its last meeting this term - 16 September and everyone is invited to join the discussion. Please contact Mr. Pesle or Mr. Movia if you want to contribute to the discussion. There have been many other things happening this term as you will see in the rest of the Missing Link. One of the most important was the official farewell to the leadership team for 2013 and the induction of the new leadership team. Mr. David Matthews, CEO of the GWS Giants gave an inspirational address on the challenges and highlights of working with young leaders. I want to thank Madison, Tori-Lee, Missy, Matthew, Sharlisa, Bryce, Katherine, Siera, Rebecca and Zoey for their leadership in 2013. I would like to welcome our new leadership team led by captains Tyrell McCarthy and Breayla Harding and principal's representative Setaleki Mafi. There is a photo of the full team on page 7 and, as Breayla and Tyrell said in their first address to the school, they will continue to lead the journey of the school following from the leadership of the previous team. I am sure this team will make a significant contribution to the progress of the school. Finally, I would like to wish all students, parents and staff a safe and happy holiday. Whether you are traveling to China or other places or studying for the HSC or just "chillaxing", I hope you all have a chance to take a well earned break.
Year 9 LEAPS students on their tour around ANZ Stadium
LEAPS Law Firms Encouraging and Assisting Promising Students (LEAPS) is an innovative school student workplacementoring program for Year 9 students. The LEAPS mentoring program establishes a structured, appropriate relationship or partnership between a volunteer mentor and student. The mentor encourages and guides the school student, offers support, advice, friendship, positive reinforcement and sets a constructive example for the student. The program has continued to support and encourage Year 9 students through term 3. This term students have toured ANZ Stadium, climbed at Urban Jungle, visited Sydney Aquarium and gone jet boating on Sydney Harbour.
BELL PRODUCTION On Wednesday the 24th of July, a group of year 7 and year 8 students attended the Bell production of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy Midsummer Nights Dream. In Term 1, Year 7 students were introduced to the plays of the legendary playwright William Shakespeare and were highly intrigued to see one of his plays come
to life on the stage of the Joan Sutherland theatre. It was a first time experience for many of the younger students and the production developed greater interest and enthusiasm for the theatre. Many of the students who enjoyed the excursion said that they now look forward to the school theatre production that will be held in Term 4.
ROBOCUP CHAMPS Francesco Demasi, Lara Ferri, Andrew Lim, Ky Staal, Lathuksan Subakaran and Kiarna Terry came 3rd in the recent NSW Robocup Soccer Competition. The aim of the competition is to build and program two robots that can participate unaided in a series of soccer challenges against other teams. The competition endeavours to foster teamwork skills and technical skills in a fun, challenging environment. For many of the soccer challenges our students played against older, more experienced students and managed to play competitively against all opponents. The students worked constantly on their robots at lunch and after school sessions in terms 2 and 3.
WHAT’S ON........ KEY EVENTS FOR TERM 4 14 OCTOBER
HSC BEGINS
11 NOVEMBER
YEAR 10 EXAMS BEGIN (ON ALL WEEK WEEK 6)
14 NOVEMBER
YEAR 6 ORIENTATION DAY - RHPS & MPS
15 NOVEMBER
YEAR 6 ORIENTATION DAY - ECPS & OTHER SCHOOLS
25 NOVEMBER
YEAR 7 - 9 PERSONALISED LEARNING WEEK
28 NOVEMBER
LEAPS GRADUATION
4 DECEMBER 10 DECEMBER
YEAR 6 GALA DAY YEAR 7 SWIM SCHOOL ( 3 DAYS) Our Year 7 Robocup champs
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ART ON THE HILL Congratulations to all students who were selected to participate in the Art on the Hill Exhibition 2013. This exhibition showcased works of art produced by students from Rooty Hill, Eastern Creek and Minchinbury public schools and students from our own RHHS. The exhibition provided an opportunity to view the work of the creative and talented students from kindergarten through to year twelve from our local community. All the works were brilliant and deciding on stage winners was a very difficult decision because of the high quality of all the art works. Congratulations to all winners in each category especially the People’s Choice Award winners which proved very popular with parents and friends.
SCHOOL MUSICAL COUNTDOWN There are only 12 weeks until our school musical Gangster's Paradise hits the stage. Written by a group of our talented students, there will be 4 shows performed in Week 10 of Term 4. This year we have our dedicated art teachers helping our talented students design the set along with our Construction classes building the props that you will see move on and off stage. We have our Entertainment class on lighting and sound, adding extra theatricality to the show and we are lucky once again to have a great band consisting of our junior students, who will be playing live music during the musical. Hospitality and Retail students will ensure that we aren't hungry during the show, operating our candy bar with yummy snacks, and our Business Services and IT classes are underway working on advertising that you will soon see posted up around our school. This truly is a whole school event that is worth seeing. For more information, please contact the English faculty.
OPEN NIGHT 2013 The Open Night was a wonderful night that showcased the extremely talented year 12 Visual Arts and Music students. The concert was fantastic and served as good preparation for the students HSC music practical exam. The exhibition was also outstanding and was a celebration of their year long hard work. Congratulations to all students.
CONCERT4 KIDS A s p a r t o f t h e Wo r l d ’s B i g g e s t Classroom - 30 Spectacular Years RHHS hosted a concert celebrating the last 3 decades of music history. Concert4kids was held to help raise awareness of The Starlight Foundation. By hosting the concert the students of RHHS were able to raise $767.80 to donate to this important work. The concert was planned, run and performed by students in Years 9 and 11.
THE CHILDREN’S BOOK COUNCIL BOOK OF THE YEAR Each year the Children’s Book Council shortlists books in 5 categories and announces the winners in August. Any of books shortlisted by the CBCA (as well as the winners) are worth a look if you find yourself wondering what to choose for yourself. For Parents & Carers the list provides a good starting point when you are unsure of a good reading suggestion. The winners in 2013 were: Older Readers - Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan Younger Readers - The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett Picture Book - The Coat by Ron Brooks & Julie Hunt
This year we had 9 students successfully complete The Premier’s Reading Challenge: Morwarid Faiz " Year 7 Lara Ferri " Year 7 Anneka Shankar Year 7 Adema Gemeda Year 8 Harsha Kumar " Year 8 Rose Al-Kahili " Year 9 Maelody Gevero Year 9 Patricia Lazaro Year 9 Nash Wiseman Year 9 Students who wish to be part of the 2014 challenge can begin at any time. More information can be found in the library or at: https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/ home.html
YEAR 10 VIETNAM VETERANS VISIT In August all of Year 10 was involved in participating in a special presentation held by the St Mary’s Vietnam Veterans Association on the Vietnam War. The presenters were Mr Vin Cosgrove and his wife Mrs Nancy Cosgrove who spoke to the students about the reasons why Australia got involved in the war and the experiences of Vietnam soldiers. The students were very interested to hear Vin’s personal stories as a Vietnam veteran who served as an infantry soldier. Some of the highlights of the presentation included the powerful images accompanied by war songs and some of our students who dressed up wearing military clothing and equipment. Overall, it was a valuable experience for our students who were able to gain a deeper understanding of the Vietnam War topic which is studied in their History course.
You can see the complete list at http://cbca.org.au/winners2013.htm
PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE Each year the NSW Premier issues a challenge to the students in Years 7-9: Are you able to read 20 books over the course of the year from now until September, 2014? Whilst this can initially seem daunting our students are quite formidable and will easily manage provided they start now. 3
and career building sessions this term during the Monday in-school sessions. RHHS has been proud to host the after school ‘Science Club’ that began in late August for Blacktown academies including students from RHHS, Plumpton HS and Doonside HS. This partnership has involved Coffs Harbour HS and the Blacktown Academy connect with experts with ‘Fizzics Education’ and Sydney Olympic Park Authority through Video-conferencing to conduct experiments through connected classrooms. Year 7 students completing their artworks in Visual Arts as part of the NAIDOC Week celebrations
VISUAL ARTS AND NAIDOC DAY What an experience and honour it was to hear and meet Uncle Greg. He spoke with such wisdom and insight into his culture from his life experiences. Our meeting with him and the Naidoc assembly served as an inspiration to the Creative Arts faculty when introducing the Aboriginal unit into the classroom.
and congratulations to Brittany Ryan of Year 9 for featuring as our student speaker.
NAIDOC WEEK NAIDOC Week was celebrated in Week 1 of this term with official assemblies held on July 19. The assemblies celebrated the vision of the 50th anniversary of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions and raised awareness of the Recognise campaign for Constitutional recognition. Our distinguished guests were Elder Uncle Greg Simms, Luke Penrith and Matt Keevil from the AFL Indigenous Academy, UNICEF Young Ambassador Shaarn Heywood and Celeste Bluck from the School2Work program.
Both major sides of Government have announced that a referendum on Constitutional Recognition will take place in the coming years. In order for a referendum to be successful, it must have a majority in every State and Territory.
Faculties around the school all integrated NAIDOC as a focus into their lessons as well as participating in a whole school lesson on Yirrkala. The HSIE faculty integrated social justice issues surrounding Indigenous issues, racism and stereotyping. Many students Visual arts focused on year 7. The also participated in an activity to convey students read an aboriginal story written their messages onto a ‘sea of hands’. by an ex-student Renee Fogorty and then re- created their own story using the aboriginal dot painting technique U N I C E F ’ S R E C O G N I S E V I D E O and traditional Aboriginal colours. FEATURING RHHS STUDENTS IS Originality was very important to the LIVE! aboriginal culture because to copy an T h e R e c o g n i s e v i d e o c a m p a i g n art work was to steal its original spirit. featuring our students has gone live and The Year 7 students produced fantastic is about raising awareness of the need work and enjoyed exploring and for Constitutional Recognition of creating their own stories. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the first peoples of this land. The Music Faculty focused on year 11. Many people still do not realise, Students completed an Aboriginal music Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander unit, studying Contemporary Aboriginal people are not acknowledged as the music and analysing and performing first peoples of Australia; and that works by Aboriginal musicians. clauses promoting discrimination based on race still exist.
RHHS has a proud history of students engaging in social justice issues and promoting reconciliation. To view the video please visit our school website.
THE AFL INDIGENOUS ACADEMY The AFL Indigenous Academy have Thanks to staff and students for making been working on several identity, craft it such a great day. A huge thank you 4
The Other Election – proudly presented by the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) Senior students participating in the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience around the country have recorded speeches with their vision for Australia if they were to be elected Australia's First Indigenous Prime Minister as part of 'The Other Election' campaign. The final three candidates will have the opportunity to deliver their speech in front of the new Parliament. Congratulations to three of our Year 11 students, Jay Edwards, Tiana Edwards & Carl Ryan for their outstanding entries. You can view their speeches at: www.theotherelection.com.au
Brittany Ryan with Luke Penrith and Matt Keevil from the AFL Indigenous Academy
There have been two Volleyball Schools Cups held this term where we have confirmed RHHS as the dominant school in NSW, achieving 6 Gold and 4 Silver medals across both tournaments. Mr Treharne has continued to run coaching sessions on Monday and Thursday mornings and Wednesday afternoons to ready the players for the Australian Volleyball Schools Cup in Melbourne. We wish all the players the best of luck in the Tournament beginning on the 9th of December. Congratulations to the Opens Boys and Girls Volleyball teams who competed in the NSW CHS competition. The Opens Boys finished 6th whilst the girls team were extremely impressive coming 2nd overall.
The Under 16s AFL team competed in the Giants Cup where they came second to Hills Sports HS. This places them as the best AFL team from High Schools in Sydney West.
The U15s Basketball team will be competing in the Sydney West Gala day after defeating Winmalee High School.
Congratulations to Mirae Hemi who qualified for the CHS carnival in Shotput.
SKI TRIP Congratulations to all students who attended Ski Camp this year. We had 3 days of great skiing and snowboarding.
SEPEP GALA DAY The year 8 SEPEP Gala Day was a great success with all of year 8 participating in the softball round robin day in September. SEPEP is a sports program conducted during PE lessons where students are responsible for coordinating the competition. Students act as the umpires, scores and officials throughout the term long PE program. The program culminates in a gala day where students showcase the skills learnt throughout the term. A photo and article about Atilla’s The Grand Final at the end of the day achievements in the St Mary’s Standard was a close encounter between the Rhinos out scoring the Bulls in the final Atilla Erzurumla, Year 9 won silver stages of the game. medal at the ISSI Games fro wrestling in NZ in July. This adds to his trophy cabinet where he has a gold medals from the 2012 Australian School Age Championships and more than 5 NSW State titles.
RHHS has taken out the Kevin Kingston Sevens Rugby League Tournament in Penrith recently. The team, made up of Year 9 & 10 students, Ben Tangaroa (C), Brodie Maytom, Laythan Boreham, Kitione Vikash, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jodeci Taia, Sione Taufa, Paul McCarthy, Thomas Sewell and Jamal Tauveve, defeated Terra Sancta College in the Grand Final. The boys demonstrated great commitment and tenacity coming from behind with only seconds to go on the clock in the semi-final to make it into the Grand Final. Coach Joel Baines was thrilled with the sportsmanship displayed by all of our players throughout the day and looks forward to coaching them in next year’s competitions. LEFT & BELOW: RHHS students having fun at this year’s annual ski trip in August. RIGHT COLUMN: Year 8 students participating in the SEPEP Softball Gala Day.
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MATHEMATICS COMPETITION The Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) was organised by Ms Edney. This term 40 students participated in this prestigious mathematical event and will receive their results in the first week of October. If you missed the opportunity to compete against thousands of school students on the day, why not have a go on an AMC question below.
In the diagram, all angles are right angles and the lengths of the sides are given in centimetres. Note the diagram is not drawn to scale. What is , in centimetres?
CONFUCIUS CLASSROOM OUTREACH PROGRAM: A group of year 5 and 6 students from Eastern Creek PS came to RHHS this term to participate in the Confucius c l a s s r o o m ’s l a n g u a g e p r o g r a m . Students enjoyed a range of learning activities including Chinese singing, paper cutting and making traditional Chinese fried rice. They were also involved in Chinese language and cultural learning through the MidAutumn Festival and Father's Day celebrations. The feedback from students was very positive and the LOTE team look forward to welcoming some of the students to high school next year. Confucius Classroom in school language programs and classes: Year 7 students have continued to show their enthusiasm towards learning Mandarin this term. They completed the 2014 Year of the Horse Chinese calendar as one of their assessment tasks. The high level of dedication, creativity and imagination have been shown through their work. Well done, Year 7!
MATHEMATICS OLYMPIAD The Mathematics Olympiad is a series of Maths competition that junior students participate in. Every month, the team competes in a set of challenging maths quiz. There are 20 students actively involved in this top level problem solving event.
CHESS CLUB The Chess Club has continued to meet every Thursday at lunch time. Students have been competing with other schools in the NSW Junior chess league and at the South West Chess competition organised at Bonnyrigg HSc. Recently Sanjar Sarwar of year 8 won Division 5 and Ky Staal of year 7 won the Division 6 Championship.
NEWS FROM MANGAHIGH Many students from year 9 and 10 joined the NSW Mathematics Challenge organised by MangaHigh during week 9 of this term. MangaHigh is an online learning tool using game based Mathematics lessons and assessment. Please talk to your maths teacher if you are keen to improve your maths skills while playing challenging but rewarding online games.
Year 9 Mandarin class have been exploring Chinese language through ICT. Students have created and built their first Chinese Power Point about famous Chinese food using Chinese typing program for their assessment this term. Their work were outstanding and creative! Great work Year 9! The LOTE department would also like to wish all the year 11 Chinese Beginners’ Course students good luck with their yearly exam! (jiā yóu) meaning ‘come on! Full steam ahead!
DEBATING This year we have had more teams than ever participate in debating. For many, this is their first time debating in high school (even for some of our seniors), and from the returning team members we have gained experience and leadership; with new and old skills we are building an academic cocurricular community to be proud of. Amrita Prakash and Justin M c C o r m i c k o f Ye a r 1 0 w i l l b e participating at the NSW Debating Team trials and we wish them all the best with this. RIGHT: Students from our Debating Teams prepare for competition
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RHHS GETS NEW SCIENCE LABS The refurbishment of the two labs in D Block and F Block are well underway with both labs having been completely demolished. The new labs will have an exciting layout with a dedicated teaching area and separate area for conducting lab work. The work is expected to be completed for the start of term 4 and we are sure that students from other classes will be looking on with envy at those students enjoying their new work spaces.
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHEMISTRY QUIZ Our senior chemistry students recently participated in the 2013 Australian National Chemistry Quiz. Over 100,000 students from 1 700 schools from 17 countries took part in this year's Quiz. Two of our year 12 students, Leinad Diaz and Deepika Gounder both received distinctions for their efforts in the quiz. This places them in the top 10-25% of entrants in the state. Tiana Edwards of year 11 received a credit which places her result within the top 25-40% of student entrants.
FROM THE CAREERS DESK A large number of students have taken up the opportunity for a one-on-one careers interview to discuss their career options and future plans. Stage 6 subject selections, scholarships, u n i v e r s i t y a n d TA F E c o u r s e s , apprenticeships and traineeships, resumes and job interviews are just some of the topics regularly discussed with students.
Breayla Harding & Tyrrell Mc Carthy School Captains
Setaleki Mafi Principal’s Representative
Callan Brechbuhl & Karly Butler Sports Captains
Jay Edwards SRC Chair
Senior Leaders
Tynieka Attard
Tayla Berry
Liam Jurd
Ege Karsanbas
Seilala Latai
Tayla Lawson
Reece Morris
Sarah Murray
Paige Oliver
John Valvis 7
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