(con8nued) determina?on. The gradua?ng class of 2014 is our largest to go through the school and they will leave a considerable legacy. * Our curriculum Head Teachers who are leading major work in new programming, assessment a n d " c a p a b i l i t y " d r i v e n curriculum. * Our sports coaches and the parents who support our massive sport program. In par?cular I wish to congratulate Joel Treharne, our volleyball coach and the two v o l l e y b a l l t e a m s o n t h e i r outstanding wins at CHS this year (see below). * Our deba?ng coach Brianna Dolling whose teams are working hard to succeed. * Our Robo?cs team and their coach Linda Graham. * Our Year 7 students who have just completed the We are Readers program and whose results show a "big jump" from NAPLAN to now. * John Meng and the LOTE team for a wonderful launch of the Confucius Classroom and the celebra?on of Chinese culture in our school. * Our lead facul?es who have trialled new teaching and learning tools and then shared them with others. I wish to say a par?cular thanks to the Visual Arts teachers for their work in developing higher order thinking and graphic organising ac?vi?es. * Our P&C for their enthusias?c support of BYOD and the dona?on of two sample BYOD computers as prizes for Year 6 parents who came to the enrolment night. * Our partners who support the s c h o o l fi n a n c i a l l y a n d strategically including the L e a r n i n g N e i g h b o u r h o o d s c h o o l s , S o c i a l Ve n t u r e s A u s t r a l i a , H a n b a n , t h e A u s t r a l i a n i n d i g e n o u s Mentoring Experience and AFL Indigenous Academies. Special thanks to Luke Penrith from AFL NSW who is leaving the program
this year aZer 6 years of great work. * And finally, congratula?ons to the following teachers who have completed their maintenance of accredita?on this term: Sarah Andrews, Gesuina Haaring, Sarah Haigh, Channelle Narayan and Basant Sharma.
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS As you can see we have had a great term and a great year. I want to wish all our staff a safe and happy holiday, success for their footy teams in the finals and, for Year 12, a chance to make the final prepara?ons for the HSC examina?ons.
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School resumes for students and staff on Tuesday 7 October.
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Christine Cawsey AM
SVA Project Career Capable, Futures Focused Our 4 projects: 1. Capability driven curriculum 2. Uni ready, Work Ready 3. Personalised Digital PorAolio 4 . 2 I C Pa re n t E n ga g e m e n t Modules Our partnership with Social Ventures Australia (SVA) con?nues to grow. The project leadership team travelled to Melbourne to p a r ? c i p a t e i n a T h o u g h t L e a d e rs h i p G at h e r i n g . T h i s brought together all of the Bright Spot Schools involved in the p r o j e c t a n d p r o v i d e d a n opportunity for us to reflect on our exis?ng partnerships and u n d e r s t a n d t h e r o l e o f philanthropy in schools. It also allowed us to share the great w o r k b e i n g u n d e r ta ke n t o improve outcomes for students.
All 4 of our major projects are beginning to take shape. This term we have focused on the Work Ready, Uni Ready project with new systems in place for subject selec?ons to provide students with a comprehensive overview of each subject, enabling them to make an informed choice which fits in with their career plan. We are also conduc?ng audits of the careers program and the VET program to ensure we are delivering work readiness skills to students. The Personalised Digital PorAolio Project is well under way as we con?nue to research and review exis?ng porAolios and design a Rooty Hill High School capabili?es porAolio. The porAolios will showcase the work of students and provide an opportunity for them to demonstrate their achievement of the ACARA General Capabili?es in literacy, n u m e ra c y, i nfo r m a? o n a n d communica?ons, technology, cri?cal and crea?ve thinking, personal and social capability, e t h i c a l u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d intercultural understanding. The 21C Parent Engagement Module Project is inves?ga?ng innova?ve ways of engaging more parents in the life of the school and providing useful tools and resources to support their children through high school. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with SVA as we move in to the second phase of each project. Conny Ma?more Deputy Principal