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Creating opportunities,

achieving success

N E W S L E T T E R

Warrawong High School

May 2012

From the Principal

High Expectations Lead to Better Results Education research consistently shows that if we

(parents and staff) expect more then our students

will do better. We consistently make this a strong

theme with students. Recently we have focused on

playground cleanliness and encouraged : “walk 10

steps and put it in the bin”. To support this we have

installed new rubbish bin holders across the school.

This strategy has had an immediate positive impact

on tidiness across the school. Likewise in class we

are demanding that students respect each other,

their teachers and that they work hard. If parents

are making the same demands at home and

encouraging the same attitudes then it will make

our job as teachers that much easier. More

importantly with the support of parents, we can

guarantee that the results in terms of student

performance will be improve by an even greater

amount.

Parent Teacher Afternoon and Semester One Reports Semester One reports are being prepared soon

and it should be the goal of every student to get the

best possible results and comments, something

that will only happen with dedication, focus and

hard. Reports will be published ahead of the Parent

Teacher afternoon on June 26 starting at 2.30pm.

Parents are asked to put this date in your calendar

and make it a priority to support their children by

attending.

Trade Training Centre is Under Construction As part of iPie we are in the middle of a $1.3 million

upgrade of our practical classrooms in construction

and hospitality. While there are some stresses for

classroom access at present the work will be ready

for use by the middle of next term. These upgrades

are occurring at each of the three iPie schools and

will lead to a major improvement in student training

towards a vocational pathway through to the HSC.

A Rainbow of Colour

Nineteen new additions to the Permaculture garden

have added a rainbow of new colour to our already

vibrant garden. In keeping with tradition, Class 4 of

the IEC has been working on a Garden Art project

for the garden.

They have made

nineteen colourful

signs to help

identify the wide

variety of fruit trees

in the garden. The

signs are a testament to the hard work, creativity

and imagination of the class. Class 4 will be

graduating from the IEC at the end of Term 2 and

will be moving on to different high schools and we

would like to thank them for all their hard work in

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the garden and their beautiful contribution.

Goodbye and good luck Class 4! MS

Breakfast Club Our trial of a breakfast

club during term 1 2012

has been a great

success. The number of

students attending on

Monday, Wednesday and

Friday mornings from

7.45am-820am has been growing. Our aim is to

provide a healthy start for

anyone who has missed out

on breakfast for whatever

reason. A healthy breakfast is

a great start to anyone‟s day

but is a particular help with

kids focus and learning in

class. Generally there is

toast, fruit, fruit juice and

cereals on offer courtesy of

the Red Cross who sponsor our

efforts. We also have “specials”

form time to time with a

sausage sizzle or bacon

“butties” available in our Cob

Oven Cola. These events

attract large numbers of

students and encourages

broader student participation in

the program.

Music News I‟d like to announce the formation of the new

Performing and Creative Arts Committee. Staff

currently in the committee is Mr Curley, Mrs

Edwards, Ms Green, Mrs Habicki, Ms Cutajar, Mr

Delaney and Mr Harrison. Already there are a

number of plans in the works to promote the

performing and creative arts at Warrawong High

School. One example is the student recording

project where students will have to chance to write

and record their own original songs for a

compilation CD. Any student wanting to be part of

this great opportunity should see either Mr Harrison

or Mr Curley.

We‟d also like to take the opportunity to promote

two upcoming events: Warrawong Idol and our

annual Talent Expo. Our first priority is to give

students the chance to rename both of these

events. Prizes will be awarded to the students who

come up with the best names. More information will

be given out over the next few weeks.

Mr S. Harrison

Koori News - Wreck Bay visit

March 30 2012

A magnificent sunny day welcomed our Indigenous

students to the shores of Summercloud Bay. We

visited the Wreck Bay Pre-school and interacted

with the kids in reading, shell art and outdoor

activites. Emma Annakin, Jasmine Brown, Daneal

Kuiper, Korey Kuiper, Blake

McCauley, Sky Palmer,

Dominic Symons, Cynthia

Thomas, Shallee Whitfield,

Kieren Worthington and

Dean Ward all enjoyed

a barbeque lunch, a

great day and were

excellent ambassadors

for our school.

Yr10 to 11 Subject Selection Yr10 students are up to the point where they have

to make decisions about their Yr11 subjects for

2013. To help we are holding our annual advice

session for parents on Wednesday June 13,

6.000pm in the Library. It is essential that all Yr10

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students and their parents attend - it is an

opportunity to talk to teachers, and representatives

from the university and TAFE sectors. Again this

year we will use our iPie project (Illawarra Partners

in Education) to broaden the curriculum by sharing

subjects ad students across three local high

schools - Figtree, Illawarra Sports and ourselves.

Support Life Skills – Fishing Trip

Jayden Coelho(left) and Cody Palmer(right)

look on as Tom Lean displays his whopper Flathead.

Support Life Skills fishing trips to Windang in term

one proved very popular with students. Tom Lean

caught the fish of the season, a nice 45cm

Flathead. Others caught a mixed bag of Whiting

and Bream. Students caught a bus to the venue

and learned a few rigging and baiting techniques.

Mr Morales still recalls the „one that got away.

Mr Morales

High Flyers Each year the Defence Forces offer students

across Australia the opportunity to apply for

Defence Technical Scholarship. The Defence

Technical Scholarships reward technically savvy

students for staying on at school and enrolling in

specific subjects such as Maths and either a VET or

approved syllabus technical subject. Successful

Year 12 students will receive a $3000 scholarship.

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that

three of our Year 12 students, Corey Delangen,

Jordan Hurst and Sean McAdam have been

awarded this prestigious scholarship.

Congratulations goes to each of these boys.

Support’s Vicious Vikings! Mr Morales‟ Support Vikings raided the school in

term 1. They were looking for gold and jewels and

helpless monks to capture.

The final score – Vikings 1 Monks -0

Support Juniors on a raid - Sky, Jayden Coelho,

Dylan, Yeutu, Maya, Clayton, Jayden Clifford, Tarne

Sara the Red Kurtis Longbeard

MC class Viking fleet

Matthew Meanstreak

7.S D & T Wow, what a great group

of professional textile

students. We all had a lot

of fun and enjoy wearing

our own creation. We look

forward to wearing our

aprons during our

practical lessons during

this term.

There are some basic rules to remember regarding

the use of the sewing machine in the Textile room.

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1. Firstly turn the handwheel of the sewing

machine towards you! AT ALL TIMES

2. Second rule the machine 'Take-up-lever' must

remain in the highest position before removing your

work from under the sewing machine AT ALL

TIMES.

3. Finally inserting bobbin into the bobbin case,

bobbin case thread hangs from the right hand side

as it is inserted into the bobbin case.

Remember these THREE techniques and you will

have fun with your sewing machine and will avoid

grief and pain.

Making our apron was awesome, from designing

our apron to sewing it was great experience. It was

hard not to enjoy it with a teacher like Mrs Ella.

Samantha

Sewing was really fun with Mrs Ella. We got to

make aprons and even dye it with a colour of our

choice.

Dilara

Ms Ella and 7.S D&T

Sport Article This semester has been an action packed sporting

bonanza at Warrawong High. The School Cross

country carnival (which took place late term 1) was

a great day with some great participation from our

students. This was followed by the Zone Cross

Country carnival at West Dapto which was again a

beautiful day with a number of students progressing

onto the Regional Carnival.

The School Athletics Carnival was held on the

Monday of week 4 which was a great day with

some beautiful weather to promote some excellent

results.

Grade sport also began in term 2. We have 10

teams entered across the sports of Touch Football,

Soccer, Netball, Basketball & Newcombe ball.

These teams have started the competition with

great results. Last year we had 4 teams in the

finals, with 3 of them coming away as champions - I

think we can better that this year!

Yours in sport

Josh McCarthy

Careers Expo 2012 Over 60 students from Years 10 and 12 attended the Illawarra Credit Union Careers Expo on 8

th May to

find information about employers and a wide variety of jobs as well as TAFE,

universities, private training providers and various help agencies.

Online Roll Marking This will involve record student attendance each

period and it will remove the need for a dedicated

roll call. This will have the benefit of increasing the

amount of teaching time we have each day ie. an

extra 25 minutes of learning time every week. In

addition it will allow for considerably better tracking

of student attendance. As part of this we will be

making even greater use of SMS attendance

tracking to keep parents fully informed on a daily

basis if there is a problem with their student‟s

school attendance.

Getting a Good HSC Result Year 12 have finished their half yearly exams and

Year 10 and 11 should be studying hard in

preparation for their upcoming exams. The School

Certificate and HSC exams are now that much

closer. Students who do well in major exams are

those who make a consistent effort studying at

home. Study is not a last minute rush but

something that requires that a reasonable amount

being done each week. The Board of Studies has

produced student booklets which include advice,

helpful tips and websites. These were given to

students earlier in the year and are an essential

read for students and parents.

School Fees School fee invoices have been sent home to all

families. Thankyou to those parents who has

already responded and paid fees; your prompt

action is very much appreciated. Please note that

our request for payment by cheque was only if this

was more convenient. Parents should not organise

a bank cheque or money order as this represents

an unnecessary cost to families. We ask that

parents organise prompt payment or if there is

financial hardship, contact the school to make

alternative arrangements. Our school is not rich

and every extra dollar helps us to make the school

a better place for all of our students.

Student Attendance SCHOOL IS A PRIORITY : Did you know that

having ONE day off a week adds up to missing

nearly a term for the year? If this pattern

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continues for their 13 years of schooling your

child will actually miss out on 2 ½ years of their

education.

It is important that children attend school every day

as a day missed can NEVER be replaced.

Make attending school a priority. Do not allow your

children days off for birthdays, to look after younger

children, to go shopping, to keep you company or

because they were tired from a late night. Children

who are use to having days off school for these

kinds of reasons develop an attitude that their

attendance at school is not very important to you. In

high school they will themselves choose when to go

to school - for a parent this will be a big issue.

Lew Edgar;

Home School Liaison Officer

Education Tax Refund If you receive the Family Tax Benefit you may be

entitled to claim a tax refund of up to 50 per cent off

eligible expenses for your child‟s education for

items such as

stationery, computers, printers, Internet and

educational software.

Find out more at www.ato.gov.au

Student Behaviour and Digital

Harassment Our school provides a very safe environment and

our staff focus on ensuring it stays that way. In this

context a reminder to all students and advice to

parents about digital harassment. It is illegal to

send threatening text or images using mobile

phones and the internet. This includes transferring

such materials originally created by someone else.

Like any other form of criminal behaviour, if it

happens at school a student would be subject to

the same legal processes as anywhere else in

society.

Medical Details and Emergency

Contact In any emergency, we need our school records to

be extremely accurate. If at any time your child‟s

medical status changes or if you change address or

phone number, please notify the school

immediately. It is vital for all students‟ welfare and

safety that we keep these details accurate and up

to date.

Winter Uniform With the cold weather starting soon, all parents are

reminded to check winter uniform. In particular, we

need all students to have warm, school coloured

tops. Please note that the long sleeves must be the

outer layer and that bennies are not to be worn.

Any parent who has any concerns or questions

about the winter uniform should contact Ms

Ramsay at school.

Homework Diaries Students are given homework and assignments in

every subject and to do well at school, they must

complete all of this work and also make time to

study for tests. To succeed, students must be

organised and this means using a homework diary.

Parents should ensure that their son/daughter uses

a homework diary to record all schoolwork.

Further, by checking the diary regularly, parents

can see whether their son/daughter is doing

everything possible to be successful at school.

Safety and the School Mobile phones : it is the students‟ responsibility to

look after their phone, ensure it is secure and only

in use according to school rules. This means

phones are turned off in class and out of sight

unless the teacher has expressly given permission

for their use in class. Depending on the

circumstances, inappropriate use of a phone will

incur discipline measures such as detention and

confiscation for a period of up to 5 days.

Driver safety around the school : parents are

reminded to follow local traffic and parking signs

around the school. These include a 40km speed

limit between 8.00am and 9.30am and 2.30am and

4.00pm and no parking and standing signs around

the two school bus stops. Police and council

rangers do random patrols and fine drivers who

disregard these notices.

School Driveway : unless it is absolutely

necessary, parents are asked to not use the school

driveway during the peak periods at the beginning

and end of school day. This causes congestion

and leads to safety issues with students moving on

foot. If possible, students should be dropped off on

the street at either of the two main school

entrances.

W H S : C o w p e r S t r e e t , W a r r a w o n g . P O B o x 1 0 5 W a r r a w o n g N S W 2 5 0 2

Our Supporters:

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YOUTH ACTIVITIES BERKELEY NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE

YOUTH PROGRAM Come have fun hang out at Berkeley community centre from 3-6pm. Hip Hop Dancing Work-shops on Friday, Cooking classes and work-shops on Wednesdays (free food!!!) ,Sports and Fitness on Mondays. (Plus any information and/or assistance you may require) If none of these activities interest you, come chat to us and tell us what you would like to do and we will see what we can do.

Winnima Way Berkeley, 42711661

WHS does not receive or accept any paid advertising for Community

Notices. Also, we have no way of checking the bona fides of any

information received. We encourage parents/caregivers to make all

necessary checks prior to involving their children in activities listed.

Community Notices

Day date month event

Wed 13th June Yr10 to Yr11 Subject Selection

Tue 26th June Parent Teacher Afternoon

Important Community Information

New Schoolkids Bonus – Parents will receive $410 for each child in primary school and $820 for each child in high school as part of the new Schoolkids Bonus. It will replace the Education Tax Refund from 1 January 2013.

New $600 increases to Family Payments – Parents will receive an increase of up to $600 in their Family Tax Benefit payments.

Extra money to help with bills – Vital assistance will be delivered to 7,170 local single parents, young people and the unemployed to help with the costs of essential services like electricity, gas and water. Singles will receive $210 while couples will receive $350.

Upcoming Events