Court Street GILGANDRA NSW 2827

Phone: 6847 2276 Fax: 6847 1288

Principal Mr Neal Reed

Deputy

Mr Joshua Webb

Head Teachers:

English/HSIE Mrs Fiona Lambell Mathematics Mr Steven Schier Science Miss Sheryn West TAS Mr Russell Woollams Support Mrs Di Irvin

Year Advisors: Year 7 Miss Nicola Murphy Year 8 Mr Andrew McCutcheon Year 9 Mrs Laura Jordan and Mrs Di Irvin Year 10 Miss Kristy Smith Year 11 Mrs Jessica Reed Year 12 Mrs Stacey O’Neill

P & C President Mr Paul Alchin AECG President Ms Deidrie Naden ARCO Mrs Meredith Schier

Principals Report Being intentional, being kind and demonstrating effort – we have seen a great deal of all three so far this term. Our swimming carnival has been the most recent public example of this, where students competed with courage and with exemplary effort, where personal qualities of grace and generosity of spirit were on full display, and where our young leaders motivated their teams to do their personal best. Congratulations to Sturt who were this year’s Champion House. Focussing on the growth of our students is a critical part of what we do each day. We have been intentional with a number of projects to help make this ideal a reality. For students in Years 7 and 8 we have employed a full time teacher, Miss Hyslop, to further support the reading, writing and literacy skills so that they can achieve their personal best. This targeted support sends an important message to our students that they are cared for and that we want all students to be successful learners. We have also been intentional in developing relationships with agencies, such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service, to support student wellbeing. We are looking forward to growing this space with our students in the future. I would also like to report the success of Year 7 students as they commence their journey with us. It has been wonderful to see them so well settled and focussed. Don’t forget, too, that on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th February, Year 7 and 11 will have their induction camp. We work very hard to support student transition into high school, and this commences with our Open Day, which for 2020 will be held on Tuesday 10th March. We value the connections we make on this day with students and their families and as we get closer to the day I encourage you to look out for opportunities to visit us and see the quality of our school, our lessons, our students and our staff. Neal Reed Principal

Email: gilgandra-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.gilgandra-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

NEWSLETTER 2 19TH FEBRUARY 2020

GILGANDRA HIGH SCHOOL

Year 7 students Kiesha, Kilarney, Grace & Brianna on Valentine’s Day.

Upcoming Events:

27-28th February

Yr7/11 Camp to Taronga Zoo Dubbo

11th February

P & C Meeting 7pm in Library

24th February

Seniors Luncheon

8th March

Online Orders for School & Sibling Photos due

9th March

School Photos

10th March

GHS Open Day

6th – 8th April

Sydney Royal Easter Show

SWIMMING CARNIVAL The annual GHS swimming carnival was held on Thursday 13th February. Competition was fierce and the overall winning house was Sturt. Well done to all students who participated on the day. Age Champions were: Juvenile: Alana Elsom & Ryan Ferguson Junior: Sarah Temple & Zac Ferguson

Senior: Ashleigh Carlow & Kyle Welsh

Welcome to Week 4 Term 1. It has already been a very busy term. Year 7 has completed their Best Start testing and the swimming carnival ran very well with the best attendance for many years. It has also been very pleasing to see the high level of quality learning in the school over the first 3 weeks, and has set an excellent precedent for the remainder of the term. Congratulations to all students who competed in any event and to all champions of the age groups. Also, congratulations to house captains on their appointments for 2020. I am confident your leadership will be on display throughout the year. The Year 7 and Year 11 camp at Taronga Western Plains Zoo will occur on 27-28 February, please make sure payments have been completed prior to the commencement of the camp. Year 12 have been placed with teacher mentors and are encouraged to seek advice and support from staff on an ongoing basis. Our focus of the fortnight is Right Place, Right Time. It is essential that students arrive to class on time, and stay there for the remainder of the lesson, unless given permission to leave by your teacher. Students not in class should have a written note signed by their teacher so their permission is justified. If there is an issue you would like to discuss regarding your student, please contact the school. Josh Webb Deputy Principal

Around the school…….

NEWS FROM THE TAS FACULTY It is always great to have the opportunity to try new things, and that is exactly what we are doing in our Technology Mandatory classes this year. This subject has just had a curriculum update and all students in Year 7 and 8 are working through a range of varied units in this space. There is now a new mandatory requirement for all students to study 50 hours of digital technologies and 25 hours of engineering systems. Year 8 students have already started learning new coding skills to design an alarm system using Arduino hardware. From next term, they will build in the workshops our (yet to be revealed) first engineered games. The Year 8 Agriculture course covers more content, explaining where much of our food and fibre come from. The classic food technology, textiles and timber units have all been updated to reflect the syllabus changes, giving all students the chance to learn a range of skills in the junior years. We welcome back Mrs Foran to the TAS faculty this year. She will be spending most of her teaching time giving students skills in the Food Technology and Hospitality kitchens. Over the holidays our D4 kitchen was given a makeover and the original orange benchtops (which were still in pristine condition thanks to Mrs Staggs and her classes) have finally been replaced with a more modern, neutral colour scheme. This term we have our Hospitality students catering at one of the biggest events of the Gilgandra calendar – the Seniors Week luncheon. This is a great, but busy, opportunity for all these students as they prepare meals for around 150 guests. We wish them all the best for the day. We also wish our Year 12 Design and Technology well as they have started creating their major projects for 2020. These projects include a trailer, steel toolbox and even a motorised watch winder. We look forward to seeing these projects, and many others, come together over the year. Russell Woollams Head Teacher TAS

School Photos School photos will be on 9th March 2020. If you have not received an envelope to place your order for photos, envelopes can be collected from the office. If you required sibling photos, there is a separate envelope for these and this can also be collected from the office. Sibling photos can be ordered online and will be accepted up to midnight 8th March. Students are encouraged to wear full school uniform on the day.

Student Absence If you receive an SMS message from GHS regarding absence, late arrival or truancy of your child you are able to reply to the message at no cost to yourself. This service is very reliable and a prompt response from parents/carers provides GHS with the confirmation required to justify the absence of your child and adjust our records accordingly. Student Wellbeing In response to students making direct contact home, without the school’s knowledge in regards to illness, we request the following procedure be followed: If your child becomes unwell at school, we ask that the student inform their teacher, who will then direct the student to the front office. The office staff will add the student on the system into Sick Bay to account for their time and then make contact with the parent to seek instructions eg ‘come and collect’ or ‘send back to class’. Please encourage your child to come to the office in order for the school to make contact with parents or carers.

Sentral Parent Portal All parents and carers of students at Gilgandra have access to the Sentral Parent Portal. This is a great tool that you can use to keep up to date with many aspects of your child’s school life. Features include access to student timetables, daily notices, attendance information and the school calendar. Access includes the one time activation of individual student keys so that the information you receive is tailored to your child. Information can be accessed through the Parent Portal webpage using http://bit.ly/2ws1jBR or visiting the weblink’s page on the school website. The Sentral for Parents app can be downloaded onto your phone so you have all information on hand and also have the ability to receive push notifications from the school. A letter will go home with all Year 7 students this week with access instructions included. Emailed information has also been sent to some families. Letters will go home with other year groups over the coming weeks. For more information contact the school office or Russell Woollams.