Missing Link TERM 1 2014
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT Although this has been a very long The P&C held elections at the AGM in term - 11 weeks - the energy, March. The new office bearers are: enthusiasm, participation, commitment and achievement of almost all President Lincoln Jurd students has made the start to the Vice President - Rodney Johnson year one of our most successful ever. Secretary Gail Thick Treasurer Debbie Johns I would like to start by noting the Publicity Officer - Naomi Hammond retirement of Mrs. Andrea (Andy) McKay this term after 22 years as a Can I mention some other highlights of Head Teacher at the school. In a this busy and pro duties term? moving farewell everyone commented on their contact with Mrs. McKay who 1. Over 200 students were recognised has interviewed almost every new at the excellence assembly and student and their families for years. details are a available as a pullout Particular note was made of Mrs. in this magazine or you may choose McKay's contribution as a Hospitality to watch the video either on the teacher and, from this year the VET television in the front foyer of the student of the year award will be school or via the school website. named after her. 2. The school has completed its I would also like to say a special annual school report and we have thanks to Helen Fone who has made great progress towards stepped aside as School Council improving both academic and social president after 6 years. Helen's outcomes for students. The report significant contribution to the school will be on the website later this and the community will be week. acknowledged in the coming months.
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 Web: www.rootyhill-h.schools.nsw.edu.au All School Announcements and information can be found on our Facebook page: Facebook: www.facebook.com/rootyhillhs RHHS Alumni Network: www.linkedin.com (GROUP: Rooty Hill High School)
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3. Year 7 have made a great start to high school and are already participating in the We are Readers program with great enthusiasm and with the support of a new group of Year 9 mentors. 4. Year 8 has started on the subject based writing program We are Wr i t e r s a n d , a f t e r a g r e a t improvement in reading in 2013 are already showing teachers a great effort in writing. 5. O u r r e d e s i g n e d s e n i o r personalised learning and support program based in the library is proving to be a great initiative with demand for individualised career, learning and transition advice growing strongly.
Year 10 and 11 students representing RHHS at the NSW Law Society Mock Trial Competition.
HSIE NEWS It has been an exciting and busy start to 2014 for HSIE! Well done to all students for giving it their best and consistently displaying the PERSIST values in all their HSIE 6. Teachers are working hard to classes! redevelop programs in every s u b j e c t f o r t h e A u s t r a l i a n Mr Price has spent many hours curriculum and for capabilities. By creating videos for Harmony Day to the end of 2015 we hope to have help showcase the hours of effort an exemplary capability driven students have put into their cultural curriculum in place across the performances. school. Thanks to Ms Halaunga, Ms Selva 7. We have been nominated as one and Ms Douglas for volunteering to of three NSW schools as a Social be cultural leaders for Harmony Day V e n t u r e s A u s t r a l i a ( S VA ) performances. Powerhouse School - the project we have designed will be led by Year 12 Business Studies students the deputy principals and the Siddarth Maharaj and Liam Jurd school will receive close to represented Rooty Hill High School $350000 in funding to support at an Economic Forum this term. This forum was attended by many innovation in the next 5 years. important Australian Political 8. The tone of the school has been figures, including our local member one of harmony and participation. Ed Husic. The annual Harmony Day this term was one of our best ever For the first time in several years and the wonderful sense of there is a Senior Geography class. friendship and harmony is the Both year 11 students and Mr Singh source of compliments and are excited to be involved with this comments from visitors, parents subject. and community partners. Year 10 Commerce are very excited to have attended an excursion to So let's keep up the great work. the Police and Justice Museum. Students participated in a mock trial and now have a better understanding of how the legal system in Australia works.
Christine Cawsey
The HSIE faculty looks forward to continuing this successful start in Term 2.
MOCK TRIAL RHHS are again participating in the NSW Law Society Mock Trial Competition. Our team won their first round against Montgrove College and will come up against Terra Sancta College in Term 2. Students in the Mock Trial Team this year include: Rose Al-Kahili (Yr 10 Barrister), Robyn Bascara (Yr 10 Solicitor), Rachelle Rativo (Yr 10 Barrister), Clare Da Silva (Yr 11 – Witness), Adrienne Mazo (Yr 10 Witness) Hayley Bairstow (Yr 10 Officer).
ANZAC SCHOLAR CLARE DA SILVA OFF TO SOUTH KOREA HSIE is very proud to announce that Clare Da Silva (above 2nd from left) of Year 11 was selected for the prestigious Premier's ANZAC Scholarship in 2013. The scholarship is awarded to 16 Year 10 and 11 History students across all school sectors in NSW who have demonstrated an enthusiasm for Australia's war time History, outstanding citizenship and have achieved at a significant level. As part of the selection process, Clare was required to submit a proposal about how she will share her learning about Australia's wartime History with others. She will be travelling to South Korea on a funded tour with the NSW Department of Education this April/ May.
MAORI & PA C I F I K A WORKSHOPS Year 7 and 8 students from Maori and Pacifika backgrounds had the opportunity to participate in PATHE Workshops run by UWS this term. The workshops focused on 'Dreams a n d Vo c a t i o n a l A s p i r a t i o n s : Highlighting the importance of education by profiling vocational areas and respective pathways'. 44 students across year 7 and 8 were involved and all represented Rooty Hill High in true PERSIST style.
LOTE Our best wishes to Year 12 students of Chinese Beginners Course who have already been preparing their HSC examinations. Currently they are focusing on writing short paragraphs and have functional conversations in Chinese language. Year 10 Mandarin elective class has been exploring Chinese tea culture in Term 1. Students have shown their interests in different types of tea, tea making and necessary utensils in the traditional tea ceremony. When attempting various culture activities and assessment tasks, students had the opportunities to practise their language and communication skills. The LOTE faculty would like to congratulate the Year 9 Mandarin students for their continued effort in their language learning. Our thanks to those students who prepared delicious Chinese food, one of the Term 1 topics, for the Chinese New Year staff morning tea in Februray. Year 7 students have made a
positive start this term. They have been learning about numbers and colours as well as Chinese New Year. Their poster presentations on colours have shown their language skills as well as their imaginations. Well done, year 7! About 80 students from Rooty Hill Public School have recently enjoyed Confucius Classroom Chinese language and Culture Outreach at RHHS. On the day they learned to do brush writing through hands-on calligraphy session. Their chopstick skills were coached through a Spring Roll Challenge. They also enhanced their knowledge about Chinese culture through an interactive session on festivals. Rooty Hill High School will outreach to Y5 and 6 students from Minchinbury Public School and Eastern Creek Public School later this year.
MY MATHS ONLINE Mymathsonline.com is an excellent resource available to all students at RHHS. Students can gain better understanding of Mathematical concepts by practising questions, learning skills, gaining proficiency and attempting extension work as well. To get or retrieve logins, students need to consult their Mathematics teachers.
trained to read the questions thrice. This enables the students to decode the question correctly and apply the appropriate mathematical knowledge and skills to find solutions.
CHROME BOOKS Mathematics/LOTE faculty has recently been equipped with 16 Chrome books. Students can use these Chrome books to assess many Web2.0 and Web3.0 tools which enhance their mathematics and problem solving skills.
PROGRESSIVE ACHIEVEMENT TESTS IN MATHEMATICS (PAT MATHS) Congratulations to all Year 7 students who have completed the online PATMATHS test. This tool is designed to provide information to teachers about the level of achievement attained by their students in the skills and understanding of mathematics. Maths faculty is currently analysing each Year 7’s PATMATHS results which will be used to inform teaching and learning in future.
READ 123 Read 123 program has been implemented to support students with literacy-based questions in Mathematics. The students are
LEFT: Students participating in the Maori & Pacifika Workshop. ABOVE: Students proud of their work in LOTE - Mandarin.
USING THE LIBRARY AT RHHS Most students who are new to the school have by now visited the library during class time or a break. However, for those of you who are still unsure here are a few tips which might be useful.
CHESS The chess club meets every Tuesday at lunch time in D118. In term 1 we entered the Inter School Chess competition on the 26th of March. It has a wonderful day for Sanjar Sarwar who was placed in the top division and won 2nd runner up. Nelson Tang (pictured above) of Y10 also achieved great result, placed 3rd in his own division.
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 August, 2014? The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. All RHHS students in Year 7 to 9 are enrolled in the challenge and students who wish to be part of the 2014 challenge can begin reading at any time. The booklist and more information can be found at: https:// products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/ home.html
WIDE READING PROGRAM At RHHS all students are encouraged to develop a lasting passion for reading. Reading fluently is a critical skill for independent learners. This term each year 7 English class has commenced a wide reading program. They visit the library once a fortnight with their English teacher and revise their reading and comprehension skills. One of these activities is silent reading and students are welcome to also bring in books from home to read during this time. This has been a very successful program so far with some students averaging a book a week and it has been encouraging to see so many Year 7 students borrowing fiction books.
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The library is open at 8.00 each day and every break and until 3.30p.m. The only exception is Monday morning when the library is not open before school.
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Students who would like to use a computer need to see a member of the library staff first.
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Junior students can borrow 2 fiction books and 2 non-fiction books for 2 weeks.
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Senior students can borrow 2 fiction books and 4 non-fiction books for 2 weeks.
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Students can print their work in the library, $2 and $5 printing cards can be purchased. Costs are 10 c for black and white and $1 for colour pages.
Senior students are welcome to use the Senior Study for individual work during study periods and breaks. They need to sign in and out at the library counter. Holiday Borrowing Borrowing is always encouraged over the holidays, just remember the books are to be returned on the first day back.
HOMEWORK CENTRE The Homework Centre is open every Tuesday afternoon for all students and Wednesday lunch time mainly for Year 10 students. Ms Jin from the Mathematics faculty assists students during lunch time on Wednesdays. She supports those who need assistance with Mathematics homework or Mathematics activities / questions in general. Students are strongly advised to take advantage of the support from the Homework Centre.
PARENTS PROUD TO BE PART OF THE PROGRESS Inspiration, determination and a whole host of smiles filled the Senior Study in Week 9 of Term 1 this year with a group of parents attending a PACTS (Parents as C a r e e r Tr a n s i t i o n S u p p o r t ) workshop to help students springboard out of school and into a successful future. The Senior Study has been instrumental in inspiring Seniors to improve their academic standards through an increased work ethic and an increased value for achievement and education. The school’s Career’s Advisor (Jeanette Camillos) and Senior Support staff member Christina Marchich both praised the efforts of parents who made an effort to attend, with Jeanette proudly mentioning that “Even the rain couldn’t hold these parents back”, and Christina labelling the workshop as a “foundation for the future.” Parents were provided with information regarding strategies and support services that will help their children transition into a stable position outside of school and commented that the session had been “a long time coming.” Rooty Hill High School has recently been recognised in the media for its growing efforts in terms of improving both academic achievement and the rates of students who leave school with a solid plan for their future, whether it be in work or further education. Future PACTS workshops are scheduled later this year, and all parents are welcome to register for the workshop. Additionally, parents who are concerned about their child’s life after school are welcome to attend one of these workshops to gain an insight into how they can help their children progress smoothly from school into the workplace.
ABORIGINAL STUDIES C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s t o Ye a r 1 2 Aboriginal Studies students for the successful completion of their major works. Students are required to devise a topic of their own choice related to Aboriginal Culture or Issues and participate in consultation with the wider community as part of the project. The students chose topics of importance to social justice surrounding Aboriginal Children in care and Aboriginal people in the Criminal Justice System. Students were fortunate to have local Elder Uncle Greg Simms come into class for guidance and as a key contact in establishing other links for interviews. The major work accounts for a total of 40% of the in school assessment for their Higher School Certificate.
AIME The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) came to the school earlier this term to promote the program to students in Years 9-12. AIME is a leadership and cultural awareness program that involves focus days at The University of Sydney and provides support where possible through school initiatives. We are thrilled to report that all students who successfully completed the program in our first year last year have signed up for again for 2014. We look forward to more students being involved this year as well as staff, as more representatives from our Aboriginal Education Team have become part of the AIME team.
THE AFL INDIGENOUS ACADEMY The AFL Indigenous Academy has started successfully this year with more students regularly attending both the Monday in-school sessions and the Wednesday after school sessions. This term, students have participated in sessions about bush tucker and used their learning to run a food stall at Harmony Day. They have also investigated the impacts on ‘Indigenous Diggers’ in the lead up to Anzac Day, participated in AFL workshops and designed and painted cultural art.
A trainee from the AFL Indigenous Academy works with our students.
Students Participated in an upcoming story for the Australian Education Times. Kyle Pont of Year 8 and James Sinclair of Year 11 were selected to be student reporters for their outstanding commitment, leadership and attendance in the program. The boys interviewed program leaders from the AFL Indigenous Academy. Rooty Hill High School would also like to welcome the trainee from the AFL Indigenous Academy for her work with our students.
Jeanette Camillos (Careers Adviser) and Christina Marchich (Senior Transition Support) at the PACTS (Parents As Career Transition Support) workshop.
YEAR 11 UPDATE Term 1 has been a busy year for Ye a r 11 w i t h m a n y e x c i t i n g programs, classes and events planned. It has been fantastic to see so many students participate in both curricular and extra-curricular events around the school. Some examples of Year 11 involvement include: • Boys’ Tennis, Boys’ Rugby League and Soccer
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The NSW Law Society Mock Trial Competition
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The Student Representative Council (SRC)
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The Young Leaders Conference
Term 2 will see all Year 11 Students participate in the mandatory Board of Studies Crossroads program. Students have the option of completing the course at The Great Aussie Bushcamp or complete a 3 day workshop at school.
SRC The SRC has organised and participated in several successful programs including Valentines Day and Harmony Day. Harmony Day was a huge event for the SRC, with students coordinating 4 different stalls throughout the course of the event. SRC students went above and beyond the call of duty and embodied the school values of PERSIST in everything they produced on the day! As Term 1 draws to a close, the SRC will be running a number of different events/workshops including 8-11 student elections as well as SRC training day. The results of the Year 7 SRC election, which was held earlier on this term, will be announced by the end of Term 1. A huge congratulations to all SRC students and Year 12 Senior Leaders for their hard work and efforts with the SRC! Enjoy your holidays and see you all in Term 2!
HARMONY DAY the Music 2 students on both Aural Wow!! What a wonderful day Skills and Core Composition Harmony day was at RHHS Inspiring young Australian composer The concerts in the hall highlighted T i m H a n s e n a d d r e s s e d t h e traditional cultural dances that were teachers and then conducted the r e p r e s e n t a t i v e o f o u r s c h o o l composition workshop for Music 1 community. Congratulations to all students. He shared personal s t u d e n t s w h o p e r f o r m e d insights into the composition process magnificently and to all the teachers and ways to convert inspirations into who gave up their time to help and published compositions. mentor those students. The year 7 and 8 choirs who performed on Setaleki Mafi, Marlon Maretu, mass were also outstanding. Brandon Ford and Alain-Paul Booth performed in the afternoon This year we also had 2 outdoor session to enthusiastic acclaim from performance stages and they were a both the students and the panel of huge success. The variety of music HSC Markers. performed and the audience participation gave the school an atmosphere of fun and enjoyment. CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION Students of all ages and cultures On 27th March, Year 8 had the w e r e d a n c i n g a n d j o i n i n g i n opportunity to attend a hands-on displaying the real essence and Forensic Science investigation meaning of Harmony Day. Local presentation. The presentation was primary school students from well laid out with workstations Minchinbury, Eastern Creek and displaying a different area of forensic R o o t y H i l l h e l p e d c r e a t e a science from fingerprinting to DNA community feel by joining in on all analysis. the fun and activities of the Day. The students were given a scenario and set the task of examining the evidence available in order to HSC MUSIC STUDY DAY RHHS hosted the annual HSC Music d i s c o v e r t h e i d e n t i t y o f t h e Study Day on 19 March with over perpetrator of the crime. Three 220 year 12 students from 20 local students were identified as suspects h i g h s c h o o l s p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n and were further scrutinised for intensive music workshops in Aural matches with the evidence. When Skills, Musicology, Composition and the culprit was identified, two students posing as police officers Performance. were there, thankfully, to apprehend M r L a n g fi e l d w o r k e d o n t h e the perpetrator with a pair of hand performance elective workshop c u f f s . T h i s w a s a f u n fi l l e d which was very well received by the presentation that was enjoyed by all students. Mrs Hibbard worked with Year 8 students.
VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONS In week 9, seven students from RHHS represented Sydney West at the NSW combined high schools volleyball championships. The students were Jodeci Tukuitonga, Seilala Latai, Setaleki Mafi, Ryan Fitzgerald, Brandon Kamoe, Paul Mccarthy and Mark Torzar. After winning the first 8 games the boys had already qualified for the final. Although they lost their last preliminary game against Sydney North, the boys showed great fight back to win the final in a tight three set match against Sydney East. Even more outstanding was the fact that Sydney West had won their first N S W C H S B o y s Vo l l e y b a l l Championship since 1993. From this championship, two of our students Setaleki Mafi and Mark Torzar were selected in the NSW CHS team. They will travel to New Zealand to compete in the Trans Tasman volleyball championships in June.
MYTHBUSTERS If you have not yet seen the new Mythbusters display wall outside the Science staffroom, it is a must see! IBefore you go on holidays, check it out and test out your cleverness by taking part in the quiz and guessing whether the last 5 ‘myth buster’ experiments were found to be busted, plausible or confirmed. If you get it right – you may win a prize.
ANIME CLUB Students from Years 7 to 12 have joined forces and have created an Anime Club that meets during lunch time every Tuesday in A004. Students discuss the latest Animes and Mangas which are the Japanese version of animation. Additionally, they watch animes, play games, and have cosplay contests. Also a social club, students are able to discuss their interests with other student fans The annual Science competition will who also follow this phenomenon. be held again on the 4th June when students will have a chance to If you would like to join the Anime compete at a national level. This is Club, come along to A004 at an excellent opportunity for our lunchtime every Tuesday or see Mrs students to demonstrate their Callaghan (Technology Faculty). knowledge and understanding of Science and receive a wellrecognised certificate to add to their portfolio.
INTERESTED IN LEGO…AND WA N T TO L E A R N A B O U T COMPUTER PROGRAMMING? JOIN THE ROBOTICS CLUB The Robotics club meets at least two lunchtimes a week plus every Wednesday after school. As a member of the club you will be able to build a robot using Lego and then program that robot to play soccer. You will also have the opportunity to try for a position on the team that will represent RHHS at the Regional and State Junior Robocup Soccer challenges to be held in term 3.
DEBATING The Year 11 & 12 team put in a great effort against Penrith HS, losing by the closest of margins. The team learnt a lot and know exactly what to work on when we come up against the second Penrith team early in Term 2.
If you’re unable to attend after school, members may attend the The topic was the most complex we A MISSION FROM NASA have seen of any debate: That we Year 7 and 9 have been working on lunch time sessions. should impose a public interest test their group Science projects, demonstrating imagination and For further information, contact Ms on all media ownership. The RHHS team were 'Negative', and Jaydon innovation as they enthusiastically Graham (Technology staffroom). Carling, Seilala Latai, Sasha added the finishing touches during Vucecievic and Olivia Morales week 10. made excellent points pertaining to the Murdoch monopoly on the media Year 7 were assigned a mission by and the danger of censorship. The NASA to design a module that can junior teams in the audience be used to safely land a fragile egg remarked that the debate made shaped rover on another planet. them a little nervous, but also Their modules were tested for their motivated and excited for their ability to protect a chocolate egg and upcoming year in debating. prevent it from cracking when dropped from various heights. Year 7 students worked in their groups to create some very innovative modules that we are sure will capture the interest of NASA.
For more information about the members of the debating teams and the events we are currently competing in, please visit the school website!