MISSING LINK
Term 2 2024
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE I want to thank our staff and students for completing a very busy and productive term. We returned in very wet weather after flooding across western Sydney affected so many communities and, despite a lot of rain we were able to complete a lot of sport including the Athletics program, knockout sport and gala days. We also continued to be involved in many co-curricular and extra-curricular programs with university and not-for-profit partners that are reported later in this Missing Link including Origin Career Explorers for Year 8, SALSA, Fast Forward with WSU and AFL Indigenous Academies.
Academic Focus We also completed significant academic work and issued academic reports for Year 12, interim reports for Years 7 and 11, and we completed the first semester academic reports for Years 7-10. In Week 2, I spoke to Year 11 students at their interim report assembly on the theme of “Year 11 Matters”. Many adults do not realise how many universities now make their early offers to students in western Sydney based on their performance in Year 11. When we think about the word matters in that context, it means something that is significant, important and has meaning to us. In schools we say things like “attendance matters”, “wellbeing matters”, “individuals matter”, “everyday matters” and I had the opportunity to ask Year 11 students what matters to them- family, friends, jobs, sporting teams, hobbies, doing well at school. I also had the opportunity to ask them what will matter in 18 months when they do the HSC and what will matter to them in 5 years from now. We know we cannot change the past but we can improve the future by focusing on the present and doing the best we can to make each day matter. In Week 3, I spoke to Year 12 students at their Principal Report Presentation Assembly about choice and opportunity in the week when many Australians had seen the aurora borealis in the southern skies. It rained in Sydney, so we did not get the same chance and I asked Year 12 if they did not see something, did it still happen. I referred to the power and importance of science in providing evidence for what is happening even if we do not see it ourselves. I went on to ask Year 12 students about the opportunities they will have and some they will not know about. There are opportunities we never know about, opportunities we were given and did not take or deferred, and those we are given that we choose to take because we value them, we think they will turn out well and, in some cases, although they do not go as well as we hoped they let us try something new. Year 12 students have chosen to do the HSC, they took opportunities in Term 2 to complete applications for university and trade entry, they worked on their major works, and they completed the trial examinations.