From The Principal …

It is incredible to think that we are almost halfway through term 1. The term has launched with many events and activities including the Swimming Carnival, Year 6 Taster Day, Open Night, Peer Tutoring Program, Elevate Study Skills Program, Homework Club, Duke of Edinburgh, Community Mentoring Program and next week Year 7 leave for their 3 day camp filled with great opportunities to make new friends and get to know the teachers. These events occur due to the diligence and commitment of hard working staff above and beyond their teaching responsibilities. Our SAS staff are pivotal to the organization and administration of these events and their role is greatly valued. Together as a school community we are providing our students with a well-rounded education in a caring and positive learning environment. This is essential to maximize student academic outcomes, fundamentally our core business. Today it was my privilege to attend the Shape exhibition of outstanding HSC major projects for Technology and Applied Science subjects. This is held at the Powerhouse museum in Ultimo, Sydney. The work of two of our students, Catherine Sant and Elise Kench, were selected for exhibition out of almost 10,000 major works with only 37 student works on exhibition. To have two students in the one year reach this level of excellence is quite rare. Congratulations Catherine and Elise on this achievement and also Mr Jason Carthew who taught and mentored these students to reach this distinguished level. On Wednesday evening it was my pleasure to attend the official launch of The Hills Relay for Life 2017. This event is our school’s major fundraising and community event raising valuable funds for the NSW Cancer Council. During the evening our school leaders greeted guests, sold raffle tickets and Janvi Mistry (Ward House Captain) entertained the guests with her beautiful voice. Our school team is now registered for 2017. Members of our school community are welcome to register with our team and join us on breaking our own fundraising record and retain the Highest Team Fundraising Trophy two years in a row. Donations to the team can be made at www.relayforlife.org.au …….continued over page

CRESTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL

Telephone: (02) 9639 7422

Facsimile: (02) 9686 3462

Newsletter Date

24th February, 2017

Week 4, Term 1

Special Points of

Interest:

Careers News

TAS Times

Sports News

SRC News

Welfare news

News from the farm

Premier’s Reading

Challenge

Uniform shop

employment

Copies of all

excursion notes

can be found on

the school

website.

http://

www.crestwood-

h.schools.nsw.edu.

au/

Crestwood In fo l ine . . .

Weeks 5 and 6 Term 1

Week A 28.2

Macquarie Zone Swimming Carnival Peer Support

Yr 11 Ancient History

and 8C G&T excursion 2.3

Joost training day Macquarie Zone Basketball 3.3

Yr 6 G&T Examination Yr 12 Art Express excursion

Week B 6.3

Macquarie Zone Open Soccer Year 7 Camp

7.3

Year 7 Camp Mentor/Mentee Training

Day 8.3 Year 7 Camp 9.3

Macquarie Zone Netball 10.3 Yr 11 and Yr 12 Elevate

Mentee Training Day Macquarie Zone Rugby League

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The start to the term has been frantic with many events taking place, work to the school grounds continuing and students excelling in many areas. The High Achievers assembly celebrated the outstanding successes of our Year 12 students from 2016. It was certainly a proud moment for the school to see so many achieve their goals of entry in university, apprenticeships or the dream job. Year 12 Parent/Teacher evening was brought forward this year to allow teachers to give vital feedback to parents before the half yearly exams. This enables students to work on those areas that are requiring extra study and support. The feedback from this evening was very positive. The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a voluntary enrichment program that invites young people to participate in a series of personal challenges over a period of time and receive recognition for completing these challenges. The challenges fall into 4 areas: Volunteering, Physical Recreation, Skill and Adventurous Journey. Students are required to work independently in their own time to meet the requirements of each component. For this reason possession of a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is held in high regard internationally and is very well recognised by potential employers. Following on from the success of last year the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award will continue. In 2017, students will again complete expeditions across a range of venues. The aim of these expeditions is to develop and refine their cross country navigation skills and achieve competencies in bush craft, first aid and camping. It is expected that these groups will continue to complete the other aspects of the award and achieve their awards throughout 2017. Please contact the school for more information. The swimming carnival was another fabulous day. The weather was perfect and students competed in races across the day with some outstanding results. The venue shifted from Parramatta pool to Waves Swimming Centre and as such some new novelty events were introduced with the inflatable obstacle course and trampolining taking place whilst others were racing. During this day Year 6 students from feeder Primary schools come to Crestwood High school for the annual taster day. Students left after a full day of experiencing science, technology, agriculture and many other experiences that are not available at Primary school. Following this was the Open Night. This night gives parents the opportunity to see Crestwood High School’s facilities and experience some sample lessons. Make sure you keep abreast of events by visiting the website, downloading the App and using the parent portal.

From the Deputy Principals

The commitment of our students to fight cancer in the hope of finding cures does not stop with Hills Relay for Life. On Friday 3 March a team of students and teachers are volunteering to shave their hair off as part of the Shave For A Cure Campaign. This is incredibly brave particularly for some of our girls who have very long hair. Most of the students and teachers involved have their own personal story that has motivated them to act in the fight against cancer. Cash donations can be made on the day of shaving on Friday 3 March or online to the Crestwood High School team at www.worldsgreatesthave.com.

From The Principal cont…

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The P & C is taking over the Uniform Shop from term 2 this year.

We are seeking to employ a person to operate and manage the uniform shop. As we are going to online

ordering and bedding down some new practices the person will need to offer us some flexibility as we

look to meet the needs of the community.

Initially we are offering Casual employment of a minimum three and a half hours per week Tuesday/

Wednesday during school terms plus some Saturdays and school holidays.

The award we are employing under is Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award (MA000076)

School Operational Services Grade 3. Current Rate $25.78 per hour including casual loading. Wages will

be paid monthly.

For more information about the role and information pack please contact the Uniform Shop Convenor

Carol Hooke on 0419 415 372 or email your details to crestwoodhs.uniforms@gmail.com

Applications close at 5pm on 3rd March, 2017.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY UNIFORM SHOP

Assignments and examinations are a part of school life and it is essential that students are well

prepared and have the best chance of success with their learning.

To help our students at Crestwood, the library is open from 3-4pm every Tuesday and a

teacher will be present to help your son or daughter with their homework, assignments or

revise for examinations.

Students will have access to the computers for research and if they need specific help it would

be an ideal opportunity of them to seek teacher assistance. Or they may just want to use the

resources available in the library.

Please make use of this opportunity to help organise study time and improve your results.

WELFARE NEWS

There has been a reported case of mumps at Crestwood High this week.

Signs/symptoms of the mumps virus are: fever, loss of appetite, tiredness, and headaches followed by swelling and tenderness of the salivary gland.

If you suspect your child may be affected, check with your health care professional. Further information about mumps can be found on this factsheet.

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It has been a busy start to the year on the farm with Year 8 starting to plant in the vegetable garden as an

introduction to Agriculture.

Year 9 are busy developing their cattle handling skills as they, with the help of Years 10, 11 and 12, begin

to prepare our steer for Castle Hill and Hawkesbury shows.

Louise is a Red Poll x Angus/Simental. What does this mean?

He has British genetics with a hint of European, meaning he will have a fast growth rate, great muscle

development, early maturity and the ability to develop an even layer of fat.

There are some new additions to the farm with the arrival of our new ram and another ewe.

We have chosen a Wiltshire Horn ram to cross with our Doper ewes. Both these breeds are known for

fast growth rates, great carcase traits and the ability to shed their fleece. With the addition of some

hybrid vigour or heterosis, from cross breeding we are anticipating some great lambs later this year.

Mr Date, Agriculture Teacher.

The Latest Moos from Crestwood Farm ...

Page 5

SRC NEWS

Valentine’s Day and Open Night On the fourteenth of February, Crestwood held its annual Valentine’s

celebrations selling roses to students, so that we may contribute to

‘spread the love’. It was a great success and we raised approximately

$1,100.00 overall, selling close to 500 roses.

We also held a bake sale to coincide with the event, with an SRC bakeoff,

a challenge to see who could bake and sell the most baked goods. The

winner was Doyle house captain Joe Connell, who’s cakes were greatly successful in the bake sale, and

were utterly delectable.

All in all, the SRC was very happy to conduct another successful Valentine’s Day

event and once again exceed expected roses sales.

On Tuesday 21st February, we also held our annual open night, where students,

teachers and the wider community gathered to showcase all the brilliant efforts

of Crestwood High School.

As expected, several hundred students (predominantly from years five and six)

were present for the occasion, and the SRC and student leaders worked together

to run tours around the school.

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Tours ran through all the faculties, with several highlights

throughout the night such as the ‘make your keychain’ activity in

TAS and the

famous Kahoot

in the History

block.

Overall, the night was a great success, with several hundred

community members attending. Once again, it is evident that

there is much demand for admission into the school with several

out of area families attending the night.

We have a team of approximately 20 students led by Lauren Leaver

who will participate in the World’s Greatest Shave. Lauren and the

other students will shave for blood cancers. Lauren will donate her

locks to be made into wigs for children. People can donate by visiting

“Shave for a Cure” and going to the Crestwood High School page. This

is a very brave commitment from a 16 year old and I encourage the

school community to support her efforts.

“The Crestwood open night

seems to have been a great

success. We very much

enjoyed it!” -Parent.

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TAS TIMES This week the Shape exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum will open. This exhibition displays a selection of the top HSC projects from the Design and Technology, Industrial Technology and Textiles and Design courses for 2016. We are very proud in TAS to have two HSC projects being displayed at Shape and would like to congratulate Elise Kench and Catherine Sant of the display of their projects.

Elise was studying Design and Technology as part of our accelerated course and produced a design that focused on the securing mobile phones in both a safe yet functional way when driving. Her ‘Lock it and Drive’ design allows P-plater driver to secure their phones while being used as a Dash-cam and recharging without breaking the law.

Catherine produced a design website for the Industrial Technology course. Her ‘Cart Design’ website

displayed her exceptional design skills. She produced “retro” designs for t-shirts and posters that

crossed decades. She also produced a high quality video advertisement that was embedded into the

website that reflected footage and styles of each decade.

Lock It and

Drive : Elise Kench

Cart Designs Website: Catherine Sant

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Swimming Carnival 2017 On Monday the 20th of February we held our swimming carnival at Waves Aquatic centre. The day was split up into competitive races, trampolines and time on an inflatable. The day was blessed with good weather and the students participated well throughout the day. Our age champions on the day were: 12 years boys Shuluxon Indratheepan 13 years boys Adam Dickson 14 years boys Robert Tompkins 15 years boys Damon Kench 16 years boys Bonson Wong 17 years boys Thomas Palacios 18 years boys David Johnston 12 years girls Lauren Sivalingam 13 years girls Sarah Davidson 14 years girls Lily Gwynne 15 years girls Sarah Dickson 16 years girls Laura Janvrin 17 years girls Siobhan Salzmann 18 years girls Elise Kench The Champion house for the 2017 swimming carnival is Hendle.

SPORTS NEWS …

Page 9

Yr 10 Work Experience The due date for Work Experience paperwork is Friday the

24th February however I realise a number of students due to a variety of reason are not going to meet this

deadline. If your child is one of them that is fine but please ensure that the paperwork is handed is as quickly as

possible. I will be checking with any student who has not handed in their paperwork what the issues are and

expect a work in progress status. I am starting to process these forms and any issues will be discussed with the

student. This week is a compulsory work experience week and all Year 10 are expected to participate in the May

program. The Student Placement Record (SPR) should be returned to Mrs Fisher by the 24th February 2017.

Students and Parents will receive a copy of their contract at the beginning of Term 2.

JOOST juice Bar

Yr 10 girls are being offered the opportunity to be involved in a girls’ volunteer program JOOST. Girls who would

like to be in the program need to see Mrs Shah to collect a permission note this week. There are 24 positions

available and the first 24 girls to pay and return their permission notes will be accepted. This program usually fills

up very quickly and provides valuable work skills and references for students looking for retail / hospitality work in

the future. The ‘JOOST’ training day will be Thursday 2nd March 2017 Periods 1 – 4. All Year 10 girls have been

offered an opportunity to participate but if your daughter missed out on a permission note please see Mrs Fisher.

Career Interests Profiles Survey’s

Currently in Year 10 careers classes students are completing a career interest profile survey. Career Interests Profile Surveys are a good starting point in completing the students’ career action plan. They allow you to self-assess where you are and match your interest, personal attributes, learning styles and skills to job information. The Surveys look at where they are at that point of time and using multiple surveys will enable them to create a good career strategy for your future. Year 10 will complete 2 interest profiles – one in Term 1 and one in Term 4. The first one is Career Voyage and the second will be skillsroad. At the end of the survey, the students will receive a personalised Career Voyage career and study report which will identify job and study suggestions for them, from a broad range of occupations and qualifications based on their responses to relevant questions. All students will have either an electronic copy or a paper copy and students have been asked to share it with their parents as it is great starting tool to discuss your child’s career aspirations.

CAREERS NEWS

Page 10

The Street Smarthandbook is an initiative by the AUSPOL—Police Welfare Foundation that is a practical life guide for 16

and 17 year old school leavers that is designed to help prepare today’s youth for life after school.

The handbook covers important topics from sexual health and the effects of drug and alcohol abuse to legal rights and

applying for a loan. It offers information specific to the school leaver, providing invaluable assistance for those who are

considering buying their first car or living away from home. The handbook is also a handy guide for teens that are

pondering their future career choices and supplies them with advice on apprenticeships, university and TAFE. It

provides teens with straightforward, factual information about issues that they will face.

To view the online edition of the Street SmartHandbook, please click the below link:

CAREERS NEWS

OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS TO EXPERIENCE

ANOTHER CULTURE, MAKE NEW FRIENDS AND

IMPROVE THEIR LANGUAGE STUDIES AT HOME

In July 2017, we will be receiving exchange students from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France,

Germany, Italy and Norway. Our new arrivals will live with a host family and attend a local school for 3, 5

or 10 months. As we plan for their arrival, we are keen to hear from suitable families who might be

interested to host a student.

Host families come in all shapes and sizes, backgrounds and ages. Hosting an exchange student can be a

truly rewarding experience. It allows a family to experience a foreign culture first hand, be exposed to

a new language and pass on a bit of our own culture.

All students have at least basic levels of English, would attend a school in your local area and live the life

of a local.

You can find out more about the organisation or about hosting an exchange student by visiting the

website http://studentexchange.org.au/

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Crestwood High School does not necessarily endorse the businesses that advertise in this newsletter.

Students across Years 7 to 9 at Crestwood High School are participating in

the Premier’s Reading Challenge. The PRC aims to encourage a love of

reading for pleasure. Students in Years 7-9 enter the Challenge and read

20 books, 15 from a prepared list and 5 books of their own choice to

complete reading by the 25th August each year.

New books are added to the PRC list each year and the Library purchases

books from the list to supplement the PRC titles. All students who

complete the challenge receive a certificate signed by the Premier and

their name is published in the Honour Roll. After completing the PRC by

the 25th August all student names are submitted by the PRC Coordinator

on the 8th September.

2016 PRC statistics include: 277,098 students across NSW completed the PRC;

7,492,209 books were read by students in 2016;

2,488 schools took part in the PRC challenge

Further information is available on the PRC website at www.premiersreadingchallenge.nsw.edu.au

Premier’s Reading Challenge—2017

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Crestwood High School does not necessarily endorse the businesses that advertise in this newsletter.

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Crestwood High School does not necessarily endorse the businesses that advertise in this newsletter.