newsletter date 6th march, 2020 crestwood infoline · 2020-03-06 · from the principal …...

From The Principal …

CRESTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL

Telephone: (02) 9639 7422

Facsimile: (02) 9686 3462

Newsletter Date

6th March, 2020

Week 6, Term 1

Inside this issue

SRC news

Sport News

Talented Football

program application

TAS Times

News from English

Careers News

Year 7 camp report

Yr 11 & 12 interviews

Copies of all

excursion notes can

be found on the

school

website.

http://

www.crestwood-

h.schools.nsw.edu.

au

Crestwood In fol ine . . .

Weeks 7 and 8, Term 1

Week A 9.3

Commerce Market Day 10.3 Macquarie Cup Netball

11.3 SRE Seminar Yrs 9 & 10 12.3

Year 7 Peer Support

13.3 Yr 11 Investigating Science Taronga Zoo excursion

Week B

17.3 Yr 11 & 12 Parent Teacher Interviews

Yr 7-10 Support Unit Parent Interviews 19.3

Macquarie Cup Touch Football Assembly

Yr 7 Peer Support 20.3

Sydney West Swimming Carnival

Yr 9 Geography excursion Long Reef 22.3

Duke of Ed Bronze and Silver Training Day

The Value of Extracurricular Programs

Extracurricular activities have a valuable place in education particularly for our young

people who are growing up in the vast technological world. These activities work to

build leadership and interpersonal skills that a classroom alone cannot always foster.

Often they have the effect of nurturing strong team-building skills and training

students in pursuing long-term goals. In particular, extracurricular activities can equip

students with many of the skills future employers will be looking for and help students

to experience success beyond their academic endeavors. The variety of programs

offered at Crestwood High School are an opportunity to have fun and spend time

with others of similar interests. Students can meet friends from different social

groups and build positive relationships with staff.

Term 1 has been filled with events and opportunities for students to enjoy including

swimming carnival, a variety of Macquarie Zone sports, Duke of Edinburgh program,

Peer Support, Peer Tutoring, Band, Year 7 Camp, leadership roles on Taster Day and

Open Night, the launch of Hills Relay for Life and we are only at the end of week 6.

Of course all of these activities and programs would not occur without the hard work

and dedication of staff and the support of parents. The time teachers give to these

programs are above regular teaching duties. I would like to thank the staff for their

ongoing commitment to providing our students with these valuable extracurricular

opportunities and the contribution they make to positive educational experience at

Crestwood High School.

Macquarie Zone Basketball

Yesterday I had the pleasure of coaching the Open Girls Basketball Team at the

Macquarie Zone Gala Day. The team consisting of Wendy Woodward, Phoebe

McTear, Alex Eggington, Isabella Kopeliaris, Sarah Davidson, Sophie Walsh, Holly

Powell and Sophie Taggart represented their school with great skill and teamwork.

The team played five games and went through the competition undefeated, placing

them first. The Macquarie Zone Representative Team was selected from the day’s

games with six of the Crestwood girls team being selected. Congratulations to

Wendy Woodward, Isabella Kopeliaris, Sarah Davidson, Sophie Walsh, Holly Powell

and Sophie Taggart on their selection. A huge congratulations to the Open Boys

Team (and their coach Mr Salhani) who placed second in a nail biter of a final. Their

team work and tenacity got them through to the final in a very competitive field.

I am very proud of our students who represented our school and themselves with

spirit and sportsmanship, it is certainly a pleasure to be a coach.

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At Crestwood High School, there are high expectations for student learning, whether it be in the classroom, playground or other learning contexts. There is a deep belief in the ability of every student to learn and to achieve high personal standards with appropriate and effective teaching. Class time is used as learning time and students should show diligence and sustained effort. Success is recognized and celebrated with the intrinsic reward of achieving personal best. Passion for excellence is a driving force each and every day.

Crestwood High School has dedicated staff working together, pushing themselves and their students to do their best. The best teachers work to improve their teaching skills by exploring new techniques in a continuing cycle of improvement. They lead by example encouraging your child to accept responsibility for their own learning and providing them with the skills to be lifelong learners. They provide a culture of self-evaluation, reflection and informed decision making.

Parents are always encouraged to be involved in their child’s learning by helping to achieve common goals that are shared across all the school community, for example, the promotion of values such as respect for others, honesty, tolerance, fairness and the pursuit of excellence. School may not always be the best fit for students but at Crestwood High School we look at providing support and opportunities for all students. This can only be successful with effective communication between all members of the school community.

Learning to learn … taking responsibility for building your own learning ability

Some of the most important curriculum in the school these days is not only the content you learn in class, but also ‘learning to learn’. Students can develop their ability to learn just like they can develop their abilities in mathematics, literacy and sport. Like muscles, the brain can be trained, developed, exercised and extended. Much research has been undertaken in this area and I have attempted to capture some of this research. Students can use the following four areas, ‘stick, stuck, stock, stack’ to help them think about their learning and develop their learning brain.

Stick

Being able to stick at a task until its logical conclusion is a good practice to develop. It’s like stamina with muscles. You can learn to stay focused by staying on task for longer periods of time. Building resilience is also important. Resilience is the ability to avoid distraction and to master your concentration and attentiveness. Students with more ’stickability’ are more engaged and more able to manage their distractions to allow absorption of new thinking. As students get more resilience they build their tenacity and determination. This further builds the staying power of their ’learning muscles’.

Stuck

Being stuck is the point of learning. You only learn something new when you have arrived at the point when you don’t know. The ability to know what to do when you don’t know is the most important ‘new learning’ skill. Being able to use your resources to figure a way out of being stuck is the key to opening up new learning. Being resourceful is a skill that can be developed. At school, teachers will always be there to guide, but when there are no teachers to call on, then good learners will have strategies that ensure they are ready and able to learn new skills. Resourcefulness also includes the creative side of learning where students question and imagine. Becoming ‘unstuck’ is like muscular strength and you build this by continually challenging the limits of your knowledge and skills.

Stock

Taking stock of your learning and reflecting on how you learn best is an important skill. This area includes the skill of self-assessment. Taking stock of your progress, from where you have come, and looking at your challenges.

….continued over page

From the Deputy Principal

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From the Deputy Principal

Looking ahead and working towards where you need to be is critical in school learning and preparing for examinations. Being able to plan your progress and understanding what you need to practice to improve is about taking stock of learning.

Stack

This is about the social dimensions of learning where you can develop your skills to learn independently or interdependently. That is, individual, solitary learning or stacking yourself with others to learn cooperatively. Being able to know when it is appropriate to learn alone or learn with others includes such things as coaching self and others, collaboration as well as imitating (or stacking) a skill of others or modelling a skill for others.

Professor Guy Claxton builds on these areas in his work on Building Learning Power. You can further research more ideas for improving learning abilities by reading his work. Have a look at this link for many more ideas in improving learning skills.

http://www.buildinglearningpower.com

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn—Benjamin Franklin

Technology Safety

In this hi-tech world it is amazing how misinformed people are about the internet and social media Although the instance of inappropriate usage are rare at Crestwood, schools and police have to deal with instances of inappropriate use of online sites which sometimes extends to unlawful behavior. To help to ensure a safe environment for children the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner, a Federal Government initiative, provides services to keep parents and students informed, regulate online providers and control online content.

One of the services that the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner provides include a reporting system where the public can report inappropriate content and have it removed. This includes Cyberbullying materials and offensive and illegal content. The Enhancing Online Safety for Children Act 2015 gives the power to provide assistance in relation to serious cyberbullying materials. That is, material that is directed at a particular child with the intention to seriously embarrass, harass, threaten or humiliate. The website of the commissioner provide information on how to report inappropriate material. Visit the following site for more information https://www.esafety.gov.au Warren Groth

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YEAR 11 & 12 PARENT INTERVIEWS

TERM 1 WEEK 8, TUESDAY MARCH 17TH 3.30-7.30PM

Parents need to be registered with the Parent Portal to book appointments.

https://web1.crestwood-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/portal/register

Use the email you received this newsletter with as your username.

An Access Key was emailed to you on arrival to Crestwood High School. If you do not have that

emailed letter, please contact Janaki Marudhachalam in our office to email that out to you again.

Once your registration is approved, you will receive an email to indicate this. You will be able to log

on and use the key as instructed on the access key letter. Then you are ready to utilise all the

modules on the Portal including Parent Interviews.

You will not see the session until this time.

Information has been supplied via a paper flyer from your child and an email. Emails closer to the

opening and closing time as reminders will be sent as well.

PARENT INTERVIEWS WILL OPEN

FOR BOOKINGS ON THURSDAY

MARCH 12 AT 8.OOAM.

https://web1.crestwood-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/portal/register

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HSIE Happenings YEAR 9 GEOGRAPHY—LONG REEF BEACH EXCURSION

An excursion to Long Reef Beach, Collaroy has been organised for Year 9 Geography students. This

excursion will enable them to collect data for an investigative study. This excursion meets the

mandatory fieldwork requirements of the Geography course. There will also be an

assessment task in Term 1 associated with this investigative study.

This excursion will allow students to investigate coastal processes as well as examine the effects of human

development and the process of storm erosion on sand dunes. They will undertake an investigation into

management strategies to address these issues.

Permission notes have been distributed to all students in Year 9 and are to be returned, along with

payment, by this coming Monday 9th March, 2020.

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HSIE Happenings

Year 10 Commerce Market Day

Monday 9th of March, 2020

On Monday the 9th of March 2020, the Year 10 Commerce classes will be hosting a

market day at lunch time in the Cola. There will be a variety of stalls open on the day.

Including donuts and milkshakes, bubble tea, stir fry, pizza, a sausage sizzle as well

as soft drinks, party food and ice cream, slushies, wedges, ramen noodles, middle

eastern sweets, waffles and fried rice. There will be a lot more stalls to be looking

forward to on the day.

Don’t forget to bring some money as tokens will be sold during recess time on Monday.

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Year 7 Camp

Year 7 camp was held at The Tops Conference Centre and embraced the phrase “challenge by

choice”. With over 95% attendance each and every student gave the different activities their best

go. The activities were based around outdoor themes and team trust and included abseiling, giant

swing/Goliath, survivor, mission impossible, bubble soccer, cart racing and high ropes as well as a

peer support program. Year 10 students attended in the role of peer support leaders, continuing

the role that began at the start of the year. Their leaders guide them through these activities

giving the year 7’s an insight into life at high school, how to deal with certain situations, manage

peer pressures and value themselves and others in a safe, respectful environment.

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Visual Art Excursion On the 21st February, Year 11 and 12 Visual Arts students and Support Unit students visited

Artexpress at the gallery of NSW and enjoyed some time viewing the general collection

as well.

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An article about Crestwood High School students appearing in the Hills Shire Times

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SRC NEWS

Open Night

Along with many other staff and students, 25 members of the

SRC attended the annual open night held on Tuesday 25th of

February. I would like to thank them for the enthusiasm they

met their commitment with as we had an enormous interest

from families in the surrounding area. Keiralee Cutajar has

provided us with her personal perspective of the evening:

The SRC are constantly working towards addressing the concerns of the study body and encourage

students to share their suggestions with the group so that we might provide the best possible learning

environment. If you would like to let us know about something you would like to have addressed please

speak to an SRC member or Mrs Jones.

Mrs Jones is looking for students and staff who would like to shave their heads at school to support

cancer sufferers and remember that you can register family members and students for the Hills Relay for

Life team here and start fundraising to support research into cancer treatment and services for people

effected by a cancer diagnosis. If you have a service or idea that might be able to support our

community effort please contact Mrs Jones in the Visual Arts Staffroom 9639-7422 or via email at

[email protected]

Together we can make a difference.

On Tuesday the 25th of February I had the privilege of attending Open Night. After a

presentation in the hall parents were keen to learn about what life is like at Crestwood High

School. So, what better way than to show them with guided tours with SRC members. There was

a diverse range of visitors from all round the community, who were all amazing to interact with.

We answered questions about extra curriculum activities and best of all we were able to show

them snippets of what subjects were like at Crestwood High School. I loved interacting with the

year 5/6 kids in numerous activities; icing cupcakes in food tech, playing Kahoot in HSIE/

Geography, making a candle holder in woodwork, engaging in an impromptu performance in

Drama, painting in visual arts and more. It was such a great experience that I could take a lot

away from. To be in year eight and have the opportunity to showcase what’s great about your

school, made Open Night 2020 an incredible experience. Keiralee Cutajar

Up coming events :

Friday 8th May, Relay for Life School Head Shave

16-17th May, Relay for Life event, Castle Hill Showgrounds

https://www.cancercouncil.org.au/relayforlife/teams/ei00152608/

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The Turning Page - English and Drama News

Year 10 Boys’ English Class

The Year 10 boys’ class are currently studying the prose verse novel

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan. To understand some of the complex issues within the novel students participated in an

in-class court case. Students were divided into teams and given a fake incident report. Students then had to

prepare their cases and find ‘evidence’ to prove if the defendant was guilty or innocent. The panel of judges then

maintained order in the court and listened intently to all arguments. Their final decision was that the defendant

was guilty. At this time sentencing has not been handed down. However, students enjoyed the experience and

found it valuable in understanding the judicial system and procedures.

Bad Sentences

In the last edition of Infoline, we outlined the bad sentence challenge had been set between the two Year 11

Advanced English classes. Mrs Atkins and Ms Ebrahimi’s classes competed in some friendly competition with the

aim to compose the best bad sentence for the opening of a hypothetical bad novel. We asked Mrs Ragnarsson to

judge the competition—removing the names from each of the entries to ensure fairness.

The grand prize and “bragging rights” for the best bad sentence writer in Year 11 Advanced English was awarded to

Jacqueline Feldman in Ms Ebrahimi’s class This is her entry:

“It was a sea of passion and a sea of murky, abhorrent sewage water (are those chunks…?) as Olympic swimmer

Augustin M. Long decided, perhaps without much thought, to both prove himself (“I’m the best swimmer in any

medium!”) and ‘further the enlightenment of his practice’ - to which he, as a result, rashly marched towards the

nearest sewerage system tunnel with his head held high—ready to do his 100m freestyle. “

Two “dishonourable” or notable mentions were awarded to David McKay and Nick Ryan in Mrs Atkins’ class. Here

are their entries:

“From 2000 feet in the air, the gang was enjoying the sensation of being completely weightless, floating above the

clouds, though it was a lot less exciting when they realised that their plan to steal billions of dollars worth of helium

had a fatal flaw.” (David McKay)

“Despite months of claiming that he could throw the football over 40 metres, when presented with the challenge

Little Jimmy could not, not because of a lack of skill, talent or strength, but simply because he did not have

arms.” (Nick Ryan)

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All students at Crestwood High School have access to two online programs to support them in their

learning within Mathematics. Education Perfect is used by multiple faculties and provides Smart Lessons

with teaching imbedded in a task. Students are able to access any content area within the subject and

undertake additional tasks as well as those set by their teacher.

Mathspace is used by all Maths classes as either in class tasks for practicing content or as homework

tasks.

Both platforms give invaluable real time feedback to the teacher about students understanding and

common errors that may be occurring. This allows teachers to provide targeted support to a class and

individual students.

Please feel free to ask your child to view both these platforms on their laptops so that you can familiarise

yourself with their homework and classwork tasks. Should you have any questions please contact the

classroom teachers for further information.

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SPORT NEWS

Crestwood Cross Country Carnival

The Crestwood High School Cross Country Carnival will be held on

Thursday the 21st March (week 8) at Crestwood Reserve. The carnival

will be for competitors only. Age groups will run as stated below:

Period 1 & 2—under 14’s and 15’s (meet at the change rooms at

the beginning of period 1)

Periods 3 & 4—under 12’s and 13’s (meet at the change rooms at the beginning of period 3)

Periods 5 & 6—under 16’s and 17+’s (meet at the change rooms at the beginning of period 5)

Students are to wear normal school uniform to and from school. They will change into their school

sports uniform at the beginning of their Cross Country event in the PE change rooms.

If you are interested in competing in the school cross country, please see Mrs Tassone in the PE

staffroom to put your name on the list and to collect an information form.

Congratulations

Congratulations to the Open Boy’s

Knockout Tennis team who defeated

Kellyville High School last Tuesday without

dropping a game. Good luck to them in

round 3 of the State Knockout

competition against The Ponds.

A big congratulations to the following

students who were successful in being

selected in the Sydney West under 15’s

opens tennis team and will now represent

Sydney West in the CHS state tennis

tournament:

Derin Sen, Rebecca

Wills, Sophie Little,

Ollie Woolstencroft

and Bailey

Mularyczyk. .

Good luck to all our students who are

moving on to the next round of

competitions

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SPORT NEWS

Macquarie Zone Football Gala Day was held on Monday

2nd of March at Richmond in 38 degree heat. The girls

played 4 amazing games, winning three and drawing the fourth game with Colo High School. A count back on goal

difference was the only thing separating Crestwood from the finals and having our bye early in the day meant the

girls were shattered by their final game at 12.30pm. Congratulations to all who represented Crestwood High

School and extra congratulations to Jemma Brackell (Year 12), Breanna Buccini (Year 11) and Isla Giron (Year 8)

who were chosen in the Macquarie Zone representative team.

The girls now change focus to our Knockout games in the Puma Trophy competition with our first opponents

being Auburn Girls High School in week 8

CHS All School’s Triathlon

Congratulations to all the students who competed in the CHS all School’s

Triathlon at the Penrith Regatta Centre last week. Well done to the

following students: Georgina Roper, Erin Osborne and Piper Robertson who

competed in the Junior Girls. The Intermediate Boys were Ethan Manwaring,

Jamie Laaksonen and Deniz Sen. Congratulations to Sarah Dickson who

competed in the Senior girl’s individual event and placed 17/44 and 7th in the

government schools category. Adam Dickson who placed 10/118 and 4th out

of 32 in the government schools category and Leila Dickson who placed

37/106 and 6th out of 41 in the government schools category .

Year 8 Hill Runs

It is great to see students getting fit in PDHPE.

Remember, all students must be changed for PE

practical lessons. Students are to be wearing:

1. School sports shirt.

2. School sports shorts

3. Appropriate joggers

Macquarie Zone Football

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TAS TIMES

PUZZLING SOLUTIONS

The Preliminary Design and Technology class this term have been learning about different production methods

that can be used to make products. They have been applying these production processes towards the

development of unique 2D and 3D puzzles.

Students were required to create a puzzle that would take a student in year 7 between 5-15 minutes to complete.

To do this students have been experimenting with designing custom puzzles and different ways to join parts using

Adobe Illustrator and Sketchup.

Below are some prototypes that have been created using the laser cutter. When students submit their final puzzle

designs, they will have to evaluate them on their aesthetic and functional qualities.

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CAREERS NEWS

2020 Yr 12 Careers Talks – Tuesday Lunchtime

Library (Bottom section)

Career Seminars – Why attend?

Each year Mrs. Fisher invites guest speakers from universities & organisations to come to Crestwood on Tuesday lunchtimes during Term 1 - 3. The aim of these career seminars is to give senior students:

up to date information from the organisation and providing them a forum to learn about opportunities each organisation can offer and a face to ask questions

enables student to explore their post school options and compare different institutions

to help students do their research for the Careers Expo (June 2020), early entry schemes the institute offers, adjustment factors and scholarship and cadetship information.

DATES TIME ORGANISATION

Term 1 10/3/20 (WK7A)

Tuesday Lunchtime

Library bottom section

PCA Cadetships Australia

(Business, Finance, Commerce scholarships &

cadetships)

17/3/20 (WK 8B) Scholarships, Adjustment factors & understand-

Term 2 28/4/20 (WK1A)

Tuesday Lunchtime

Library bottom section

(Please bring your lunch)

University of NSW (UNSW)

28/4/20 (WK2B) Western Sydney University

12/5/20 (WK3A) Macquarie University (MQ)

19/5/20 (WK4B) University of Sydney (USYD)

26/5/20 (WK5A) University Technology Sydney (UTS)

2/6/20 (WK6B) TBA (Torrens or ACU)

9/6/20 (WK7A) Yr 12 Spirit Week

16/6/20 (WK8B) TBA (Torrens or ACU)

23/6/20 (WK9A) TBA

TBA – UAC Talk & UAC Guides distributed

Thursday 25 /6/ 20 (Wk9A) - Careers EXPO Excursion – Western Sydney Careers Expo – Homebush

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INFORMATION FOR THE 2021 TALENTED

FOOTBALL PROGRAM

Crestwood High School is an official 2021 Sydney FC Academy school. This program is aimed at the incoming Year 7 for 2021. The program will consist of training two (2) mornings a week and during the Junior Sport session. Coaching will be conducted by Sydney FC coaching staff.

Successful applicants are required to represent the school in any NSW CHSSA carnival, game or competition for which he / she is selected. It is expected that Talented Football Program students will compete to the best of their ability at the School Athletics Carnival, Cross Country and Swimming Carnivals and represent the school at Zone, Regional and State level if selected.

Students may be interviewed and / or photographed by the media throughout the year. Crestwood High School is proud of the achievements of their students and these may be celebrated in print and / or electronic forms of publication. Please contact Mr Capano on 9639 7422 if there is a reason why your child cannot be included in related media.

The attached application forms must be completed and returned to the school by Thursday 8th May 2020. The application must be accompanied by:

a. Copies of the last two school reports b. Current clear headshot (photograph) of your child.

Offers of placement will be made to students after the practical trials. The selection panel includes Mr Capano (CHS), two representatives from Sydney FC and School Principal, Mrs Hourigan.

All coaching occurs at school or at local facilities.

Students who are selected into the Talented Football Program are required to pay an annual fee of $800. This covers the costs of coaching, equipment, and a training uniform. The training strip must be worn to all training sessions. Fees are not a voluntary contribution and program fees must be finalised by end of Term 1 2021 in order to continue to participate. If you have difficulties paying these fees, assistance is available and part payment options can be arranged by contacting Ms Olivia Coyne, School Administration Manager.

Mr Vince Capano Ms Leilani Martin

Talented Football Program Coordinator Head Teacher PDHPE

TALENTED FOOTBALL PROGRAM

newsletter date 6th march, 2020 crestwood infoline · 2020-03-06 · from the principal …...

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