strive for excellence - woolooware high school · 2019-07-17 · pack your bag with everything you...

18/11/2016 Woolooware High School p.

TERM 4 WEEK 6 18 NOVEMBER 2016

STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE 2R Woolooware Road North Woolooware NSW 2230 Phone: 9523 6752 Fax: 9527 3412

Website: www.woolooware-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Our week began with the Sydney East Blues

Awards. Once again, this year, we had three

recipients of this prestigious sporting award.

Congratulations to Lili, Christian and Blake for their

outstanding sporting achievements. Lili was also one

of only two Premier's Challenge Award winners.

These outstanding young athletes have displayed

incredible commitment and drive, while 'striving for

excellence' in their sports.

This week two of our staff members were

acknowledged for their excellence at the Ultimo

Directorate Network Awards. Congratulations to

Mrs Luchi for her outstanding work in leading the

implementation of LMBR systems in administration

at our school and for supporting the work and

professional learning of School Administration

Managers and Officers across schools.

Congratulations too, to Ms Bunting who received

her award for excellence in teaching. She is an

effecting teacher who inspires a love of learning

science in her students. We are all very proud of

both your achievements.

We also received good news about the roll out of

additional school zone flashing lights, by the NSW

Government. These additional school zone lights

will be installed on Woolooware Rd/Restormel St.

The safety of our children is paramount, and with the

large number of vehicles and pedestrians in this area,

it is a welcomed announcement. Thank you to

parents and residents who participated in the

surveys.

Next week is White Ribbon Week. Our White

Ribbon Team has been busy preparing activities and

information for the week. As you know, this year we

will be leading the inaugural Sutherland Shire White

Ribbon Walk. This will be an amazing community

event and we are very proud to be acknowledged for

the work we have done in this area over the last 4

years. Please consider joining us on the walk on

Friday, 25 November, meeting at Sharks at 10:00am.

Our school will be joined by Woolooware Public

School and at this stage, at least 12 other Sutherland

Shire schools (still growing). Business and

community groups, parents, police and local health

services will also walk with us. You can join the

walk from Sharkies or Cronulla Golf Club. We are

looking forward to walking with you.

Woolooware High School is a recognised White

Ribbon School. We are active participants in the

Breaking The Silence School program. Show your

support and walk with us to end violence against

women in our community.

MS SIOKOS

PRINCIPAL

18/11/2016 Woolooware High School p.2

STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE

2016 INDUSTRIAL ARTS - MAJOR PROJECTS

During term 3 a team of Board of Studies HSC

markers came to the school to mark the Industrial

Technology Timber Major Projects. The projects

were all presented in the staff common room.

Students undertaking these courses are required to

present a Major Project which is used to showcase

each student’s skills. This year we had a wide range

of Major Projects including coffee tables, hall

tables and even a medieval themed throne.

The display this year continued the outstanding

quality that has now become consistent for

Woolooware High. Congratulations to the Timber

and Furnishings students. Well Done !



2016 INDUSTRIAL ARTS - MAJOR PROJECTS



SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY

DANCING STARS!

The Year 7 & 8 junior dance team, competed at

'Sydney Stars on Show, 2016’ on Saturday, 29

October and placed 1st & 3rd for 2 dance numbers!

They also achieved a Highly Commended for another

dance.

A special thanks to Jenna Taylor, our external dance

teacher, who teaches one of the groups every week.

Her enthusiasm and skills are highly appreciated by

both the students and dance coordinator.

A big thank you to our parents also who support &

encourage the early morning starts on Fridays for the

kids. Furthermore, your support to the students in

performance opportunities like this does not go

unnoticed.

Thank you for contributing to rewarding experiences

for these young performers.

R.MAKHOUL

DANCE COORDINATOR

On Tuesday, 25 October, Year 9 & 10 elective

Dance students attended Sydney Dance Company’s

live performance ‘Untamed’. The girls had the

opportunity to both view a professional dance

performance and participate in an engaging

question & answer hosting with the dancers.

Opportunities like this are beneficial to student

learning. Students are able to see the level of

professionalism in building a dance work and they

are exposed to styles of dance they learn about in

class. Workshop activities & analysis, on par with

the work viewed, provide a richer learning

experience for our students and invite them to

explore their own creativity when composing their

own works.

We are building future creators and the more they

are exposed to in the dance realm, the greater their

level of knowledge and repertoire to work from

becomes.

A special thanks to Miss Lena Gersbach, for taking

the girls on the excursion after the dance

coordinator fell sick. They had a great day! Your

efforts & willingness to help is very much

appreciated by both staff & students.

R.MAKHOUL

DANCE COORDINATOR

SYDNEY STARS ON SHOW



MUSIC NIGHT



PERFORMING ARTS SHOWCASE

Dance, Drama and Music students performed

for a big crowd at our annual Performing Arts

Showcase. The showcase provides an opportunity

for students to perform on stage and for parents to

gain an insight into what we do in performing arts

classes.

I would like to congratulate all of our students on

their wonderful performances. Thank you to our

families and student body who supported the event.

(you were a great audience).

A further thank you to the teachers who organised

and helped out on the night: Ms Micos,

Ms Makhoul, Mr Creagan, Ms Porteous and

Mr Cox. Georgia (11) also did a great job on video

and Joshua (11) took these fabulous photos. Enjoy!

MRS COX

HEAD TEACHER,

CREATIVE & PERFORMING ARTS

Junior Drama Group

Year 9 elective Dance

Rhianna impresses with a dance solo

Year 9 Drama perform their own version of Romeo & Juliet

Year 11 Drama

Riley



STUDY SKILLS

The morning of the test or exam:

Visualise success. Before you get out of bed close

your eyes and picture yourself going into the exam,

doing well and coming out pleased with your efforts.

Review your notes. You are not doing intense

study at this stage, just looking through and

reminding yourself of the main things you want to

remember.

Eat breakfast. Your brain needs fuel so eat a

hearty breakfast so you can focus and concentrate in

the exam.

Be on time. Make sure you leave enough time for

contingencies so you won’t be late.

Avoid negativity. Don’t stand around in the group

discussing what you did and didn’t study.

You can learn more about exam techniques at

www.studyskillshandbook.com.au by logging in to

our MOODLE site. Click ‘eXtreme Learning’, then

‘Study Skills’ then you will see the LOGIN link with

our school’s Username and password.

STUDY SKILLS HANDBOOK

TEST-TAKING TECHNIQUES

What do you do in the few days before an examination?

At least a few days before the exam, make sure you

do the following:

Plan out how much time you should spend on each

section of the test.

By looking at past papers, get a feel for the types of

instructions that will be on your paper.

Do some exercise so you can burn off the pent-up

stress that can come before exams.

Look after your body – lots of water to juice up your

brain, healthy food, decent sleep.

To calm nerves, make mental pictures of yourself

sitting down and doing well in the test.

Purchase any equipment you may need, extra

calculator batteries, pens, rulers etc.

Ensure you know what equipment is allowed in the

test or exam.

Focus on reviewing the key points, perhaps a

condensed version of your summaries.

Practice as many past test papers as you can get

your hands on.

Check the timetable to ensure you have a clear

picture of when each exam is being held.

The night before the test or exam:

Pack your bag with everything you will need for the

next day, ensuring you have all necessary equipment.

Plan what time you need to leave to ensure you have

plenty of time for unexpected delays.

Don’t go to bed too late – you need to make sure

your brain is fresh and alert.

Don’t ring friends and discuss your preparation or

the examination.

Just before you go to sleep, look through your notes

briefly.

If you have a number of exams, check the timetable

to doubly confirm the date, time and location of the

exam.



WHATS NEW IN THE LIBRARY?

The driving force behind most of the changes made in

the Library this year has been our students’ responses

to the Library survey conducted in Term 1.

Overwhelmingly, students asked for more small

spaces with comfortable seats/lounges. They also

asked for new computers and laptops. Behold, the

new PCs have now been installed with up to date

software, wider monitors and smaller keyboards.

Reactions from our regular Library users are very

positive and the study groups before school, at Recess

and Lunch breaks as well as during Senior Study

periods are working well. It is great to see the Library

buzzing with activity every day.

MS J MAYNE

TEACHER LIBRARIAN

WHAT’S NEW IN THE LIBRARY?

The answer is “Lots!”

2016 has been a big year for new furniture, carpet

and shelving in our school library. Students have

been enjoying the bright new colours of the

ottomans in the Connected Classroom along with

the new white tables. Our intention has been to

develop the Library areas into flexible learning

spaces, the new furniture enables all sorts of

configurations to achieve this and even works well

for Debates.

Our P&C Association have been very generous in

meeting the cost of our new mobile shelving units,

which finally arrived at the end of Term 3. With the

P&C’s support, we were able to purchase a

combination of double and single bay bookcases

which move easily around the space to create areas

for students to read, work or study in small groups

either at a table or on a couch. While it has taken a

little time to organise their placement, the new

shelves add to the flexibility of the larger Library

space which is also used for big groups of students,

staff and parents in meetings after school. The solid

end panels help us to display new books and will

hold new signs to help patrons find relevant

information books, magazines and DVDs.

To top it all off, we also got new, grey carpet

throughout the Library, in the Term 3 school

holidays! What an impact! All the lounges and

ottomans we already had, now stand-out and the

smell is so inviting.


WHS SCHOOL COMMUNITY INFORMATION


WOOLOOWARE WOOLOOWARE P & C P & C Next Meeting:

Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 6:30pm

Library

WOOLOOWARE AUXILIARYWOOLOOWARE AUXILIARY

Next Meeting:

Tuesday, 29 November 2016, 9:30am

Common Room

SECONDHAND CLOTHING

STORE

Open each Tuesday from *8:45am to 9:45am.

The shop is located on the righthand side of the

main entrance to the MPH.

~ Donations appreciated.

~ Help always welcome. Contact school office.

* the store may be closed during examination periods

Christmas Presents for the

Needy

Over the past eight years Woolooware High

School has contributed presents for those in less

fortunate circumstances at Christmas.

Students and staff are asked again to extend

their generosity to those less fortunate by

placing a present under the Christmas tree in the

office foyer.

If you can help, Rotary will distribute the

presents for us to local charities.

Please just note on any present the gender and

age group it is suited.



PREMIERS READING CHALLENGE 2016

58 students from Years 7 to 9 completed the

Premier’s Reading Challenge in 2016. All of

these students will soon receive a Participation

Certificate acknowledging their efforts. We also

wish to congratulate the 8 students who will receive

Gold Awards, in recognition of their fourth year of

the Challenge, and another 9 students receiving

Platinum Certificates because they have completed

7 challenges! Finally, Kristen in Year 9 will be pre-

sented with her PRC Medal for completing the

Premier’s Reading Challenge every year since Year

2. This is an outstanding effort!

The Premier’s Reading Challenge runs every year

between March and August. Students choose to

read 20 books to complete a Challenge each year.

Woolooware High School will kick off 2017 with a

Summer Reading promotion so more students can

reach the 20 book target next year.

Congratulations to all participants in the Premier’s

Reading challenge, especially our Award winners

who have clearly shown their love of reading.

MS J MAYNE

PRC COORDINATOR

Year 7

Annika Gold

Hannah Gold

Sophie Gold

Joshua Gold

Georgia Gold

Luke Gold

Lily Gold

Natalie Gold

Kynan Platinum

Keira Platinum

Alex Platinum

Joab Platinum

Joshua Platinum

Tulley Platinum

Karli Platinum

Kobe

Charlie

Daniel

Brooke

Jasmine

Bianca

Joshua

Anne

Caleb

Ellie

Emily

Emily

Riley

Renee

Sarah

Jax

Dewi

Ryan

Jordan

Cameron

Joey

Felicity

Anika

James

Jade

Ella

Tom

Lucy

Mia

Lucy

Jonah

Harry

Aimee

Macy

Grace

Charlotte

Rachel

Anika

Cameron

Amy

Year 8

Matthew Platinum

Year 9

Kristen Medal



FILEMON

We recently received a letter from our sponsor child Filemon and would like to share

the letter with the school community. Filemon is making great progress with his

education and is thankful for our support.



BUMP IT UP

Woolooware Woolooware

BBUUMMPPSS IITT UUPP!! Woolooware High School Teachers use

Super Six Comprehension Strategies to

Bump It Up! On Thursday, 10 November, 2016 two of our

wonderful BIU Team Members; Ms Fleming and

Mrs Field (aka Ms Rosher) presented an

insightful PowerPoint on the Super Six

Comprehension strategies to the entire

Woolooware staff, with the idea that teachers

across all Key Learning Areas (KLAs) may utilise

these strategies in order to improve their students’

Reading Comprehension skills. Every classroom

in the school has the Super Six strategies on their

walls as a visual reminder as well!

What are the Super Six?

There are two main components of reading –

deciphering and comprehending. Deciphering is

where we work out what the words SAY, and

comprehension is where we work out what they

MEAN. Students need to go beyond deciphering

to derive meaning from a text. To comprehend is

to go beyond the word level to get to the big

picture. There are lots of ways students can show

us that they understand the text – recall

information, give a response, answer questions,

interpret pictures and make connections. Research

has found that students, who are struggling to

read, focus more on word accuracy than

comprehension. Students are explicitly taught

comprehension strategies in class.

1. Making Connections

2. Predicting and Inferring

3. Questioning

4. Monitoring

5. Visualising

6. Summarising

(see the following 2 pages)

MRS J MOUNTAKIS & MR J HAJJAR

BIU COORDINATORS

MR R MCDOUGALL

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

To reinforce student learning, parents are

encouraged to utilise the following strategies at

home when reading with your child



BUMP IT UP



HOME ECONOMICS FACULTY

It has been a very busy few weeks in the Home

Economics faculty; we have had excursions, work

placement, final practical exams and assessment

tasks with many students excelling in these.

Year 11 Hospitality students had the opportunity to visit

Sydney Tower Restaurant to coincide with their unit of

work on Serving Food and Beverage to Customers.

They were able to watch the chiefs in action, observe the

different setting for meal service, plating and

presentation of food and finally able to sample the

lovely buffet.

Year 10 Food Technology student’s final assessment

task was to develop a dish suitable and present it for a

café in Cronulla using a list of ingredients, one of which

was fish. Year 10 presented a variety of fish dishes that

would not look out of place in any restaurant in

Cronulla.

It was party time for Year 9 Food Technology, part of

their assessment task was to plan and present a party for

a young child. In their design they need to design and

make a cake suitable for the theme of the party and

make fun, healthy party food suitable for the age group.



IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Mrs Glenys Welsh

PDHPE Teacher

Tell us about your teaching career.

After attending an all-girls Grammar school in the UK, I attend-

ed Durham University in the North of England where I did my

Physical Education degree. I started off at Randwick Girls HS

when I first arrived in Sydney in 1973. I then went on to teach at

Jannali Girls High and eventually Dover Heights Girls High for

12 years where I was the ‘Sports Mistress’ (that’s what they

called us back then). I had never held this position before and

really didn’t understand the role and no one filled me in. I was a

young teacher in a different system. So, after organising the

whole school, 1200 students, into different sports, we were

standing on the grass verge outside the school waiting to go to

sport when someone said, “Gee, the buses are late today”. I said,

“What buses?”!!!!

After teaching for 12 years I joined the NSW Police force for a

while and became a Crime Intelligence Officer. After leaving the

force I took up a job as a Junior Development Officer for the

Comets Basketball Association. I returned to teaching shortly

after having my son. In total, I have been teaching for approxi-

mately 33 of my 43 years in Australia.

What did you do in class this week that was really

interesting?

With my senior PDHPE class we researched the different over-

use injuries that various athletes suffer from and explored the

major causes of them. Students learnt to link the biomechanical

processes that caused such injuries and related them to the strate-

gies used to prevent them. We also discussed how pregnant

athletes engage in physical activity and the precautions taken to

prevent damage to the foetus.

With my Year 9 classes we looked at the pressure that teenagers

are under to have the ‘perfect body image’ using Photoshop im-

ages to explore the unrealistic expectations of the media and peer

groups.

Tell us something about yourself that we may not know

I love walking and I have walked The Camino De Santiago (800

km. across the North of Spain), The Mount Annapurna Trail in

Nepal, The Abel Tasman in New Zealand, The West Hyland

Way in Scotland, The Pennine Way in the United Kingdom and

The Dingle Way in Ireland. I want to walk the world before I

die! In my younger days I played both netball and basketball for

England, even scoring for Sweden in the European Champion-

ships (I was so excited to get on the court I forgot which way we

were going). I did some scary jobs in the Police Force and I’ve

seen some scary jobs in teaching. The jobs are not too different. I

think I’m the oldest teacher on staff (that must make me the

wisest!).

Mr John Masters

Teacher - History

Tell us about your teaching career.

I started teaching English out west from 1995-1998,

then moved to the Central Coast and taught at

Terrigal HS for 5 years. In 2003 I relocated to Syd-

ney and taught casually in the Eastern Suburbs for

six months before travelling around Europe for the

rest of the year. I then came back and worked at

Kirrawee High for 8 years as a History and Society

and Culture teacher before gaining a merit position

at Moorebank High, until I transferred here in

2016! During this time I also marked the HSC in

Modern History and Society and Culture for 7 years

What did you do in class this week that was really

interesting?

I have been using video clips of musicians and

bands from the 1950s-1990s to highlight the US

and UK influences on Australian Pop music. There

has been some great music coming out of my class-

room this week!

Tell us something about yourself that we may not

know

I have been a working musician since I was a kid

and have travelled all over the country and overseas

for gigs in my past. The most unusual place I’ve

played was Malaysian Borneo and the most out of

control was the dairy farmer’s ball at the Royal

Easter Show about 20 years ago. Don’t even ask….



FLOURISH WELLBEING

From the overwhelming response to my recent callout

for new Wellbeing Team members, it is clear that the

idea of ‘being well’ certainly resonates with our

students!

The Student Wellbeing team first started with a band

of Year 10 students back in 2013. Since then the team

has expanded over several year groups from

Year 9 – Year 11, with teachers also now on board.

Our new team, ranks bolstered by eager new recruits,

had our first meeting recently. ‘The level of

enthusiasm was just infectious,’ remarked Mrs Field,

(herself, a new recruit). After some great

brainstorming coordinated by Ms Mikhail, and

significant quantities of gummy bears, we have

actually compiled our very own mission statement!

MRS K MOON

Flourish 2016

This year’s Flourish program for high achieving

students in Year 11 is off and running. The

initiative, aimed to maximise the HSC outcomes of

these students, is being conducted over five weekly

sessions, where students come together after class,

partaking in group sessions on motivation, building

resilience, goal setting and study strategies.

MRS K MOON

FLOURISH COORDINATOR

Wellbeing is vital to build a strong community.

It builds a positive, nurturing environment for all individuals, which encourages resilience and

self-esteem.

We can achieve this by treating others respectfully,

and having pride and confidence in ourselves and our school.



AUTHOR TALK

The English Faculty also purchased each of the

novels pictured for Year 7/8 students to study in the

future. We are also in discussion with Will to get him

out to our school early next year (2017) so that more

students may have the opportunity to hear him speak

and hopefully inspire their reading and writing

journeys.

MRS J. MOUNTAKIS

HEAD TEACHER ENGLISH

WILL KOSTAKIS

On Wednesday, 26 October, 2016, Woolooware

High School was one of the lucky schools to be

selected to participate in an exciting enrichment

opportunity for talented student writers and/or

enthusiastic readers in Years 7 – 11, which featured

an Author Talk with Will Kostakis at Sutherland

Library.

Nine of our wonderful Woolooware students had

the chance to listen to Will and his journey to

becoming a published author at the age of 19 years

old due to his passion for writing and ‘never give

up’ attitude. The girls who attended the day;

Kristen, Tahlia, Lauren, Jaydan, Phoebe, Lily,

Georgia, Matilda and Chelsea appreciated the

experience and they were fantastic ambassadors for

our school. Jaydan Danes even won an autographed

copy of one of Will’s novels. Hopefully this will

further inspire our students into becoming prolific

writers so that we may see their names on a

published novel someday!

Photo courtesy of Brad Whittaker.



IN THE NEWS—ST GEORGE AND SUTHERLAND SHIRE LEADER

Both articles are sourced from the St George and Sutherland

Shire Leader edition dated Wednesday, 9 November 2016.


CALENDAR

strive for excellence - woolooware high school · 2019-07-17 · pack your bag with everything you...

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