Alstonville High School Newsletter...2019/06/05 · Alstonville High School Newsletter: Issue 8, 5...

Alstonville High School Newsletter: Issue 8, 5 June 2019

Alstonville High School Newsletter Developing future citizens and leaders of the community – life long learning!

Cawley Close Alstonville Phone: (02) 6628 5222 Web: alstonvill-h.schools.nsw.gov.au Fax: (02) 6628 1223 Email: [email protected]

Issue 8 05 June 2019

Values

We value and support: • A positive, healthy and safe

learning environment • Respectful attitudes and

actions • Diversity • Pursuit of personal excellence • Service to community • Team work • Quality learning and teaching • Initiative, leadership and self-

discipline

Learning

We aspire to be: • Life-long learners • Creative and critical thinkers • Effective communicators • Skilled in literacy and numeracy • Independent and organised • Competent and innovative with

technology • Environmentally, socially and

culturally informed • Caring and compassionate

Alstonville High School Our community values integrity

in all aspects of life

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

6 June Thursday Wollongbar TAFE Open Day (yrs 10, 11,12) 19 June Wednesday WPO Regional Roadshow Yr 11 9am 21 June Friday World skills practice day at Richmond River High NC Cross Country 24 June Monday NC Lawn Bowls trials Yr 8 team building camp 26 June Wednesday P&C meeting Youth Frontiers IT session – Ballina Coast 11am 5 July Friday Last day Term 2

Term 3 23 July Tuesday Students return for Term 3 24 July Wednesday NC Tennis trials P&C meeting 7pm


Principal’s report

Thank you to the parents and carers who attended our last P&C meeting. This once a month opportunity to discuss the ways we can work together to support our students and our school is a very important partnership and your contribution is greatly appreciated. Thank you to our partners from Alstonville Rotary for the continued support of our students. Recently I attended the Rotary youth meeting where scholarships were presented to two of our students. Mrs Gordon and our Mini United Nations Team (MUNA) reported back on the marvellous experience they had, and their success as best dressed table. The report was informative and highlighted enthusiasm, hard work and commitment demonstrated by Mrs Gordon and the students who formed our team.

Last week Rotary visited our school to take some older style lounge chairs as a donation for the soup kitchen in Lismore. A group of our students helped the Rotary Volunteers carry the chairs from the staff common room down to their truck (see attached photo). The chairs that we are donating come from our staff common room which we are remodelling so that it can become a more flexible (and attractive) learning space to be used by staff, students and families. Rotary will be collecting the remaining chairs to be donated to one of Rotary International’s overseas charities.

Exam week This week students in years 7 to 10 have been engaged with some formal exams across a range of subjects. Whilst the school has moved to more class based formative and summative assessment tasks there is still a place for students to sit more formal group exams. We have reduced the number of these and this year are attempting to run the exams over one week to minimise disruption. We wish our students all the best and I thank the staff who have done so much work preparing tasks, and who will follow this up by marking tasks and providing feedback to students. We also have some of our students helping out reading parts of exams to some of our students and this contribution is important and appreciated.

School building improvements update Since the last newsletter work on the student toilets has continued and is close to completion for inside the toilets. The Tiered Learning Space has been replastered and painted. One of our kitchens has been renovated and the flooring finishes inside and outside this area have been replaced. Over the next few weeks the remaining floor finishes in the student movement areas outside the rooms used for cooking, textiles and music will be replaced. We are also installing a new pathway from our front carpark to the school entrance area to improve access to the school from this parking spot. Over the next month the school will be fitted out with tactile indicators on the pathways, ramps and stairs to help support students, staff and other visitors with a visual disability. Other student toilets will be renovated and the library will receive new floor coverings.

The Importance of Mindset AND bringing the right tools to school We want all of our students to experience growth in learning during their time at school. The term ‘learning’ is a really big term and is often described by terms like knowledge, skills and attitude. Most recently the term competency has been used to describe those essential attributes of learning.


Alstonville High School aims to develop future citizens and leaders of our community who are active, life-long learners. We aim to develop individuals who are:

Values Learning

Happy, healthy, safe and confident Literate and numerate

Responsible, disciplined and resilient Independent and organised

Valuing excellence and achievement Creative and critical thinkers

Providing a fair go for all Effective communicators

Caring and compassionate Capable and innovative with technology

Environmentally, socially and culturally aware

Vision At Alstonville High School, our vision is to nurture a love of learning. This vision will be achieved by focusing on high expectations for personal success, quality relationships, quality learning experiences and a commitment to ongoing improvement. Improvements in student achievement will continue to be our central goal. Our strategic focus is shaped by our desire to answer the following guiding question:

“How can we ensure that our students achieve at least one year's worth of learning growth from one year's worth of teaching?”

Mindset is incredibly important and something that students can make their own to guide their approach to learning. The phrase ‘not yet’ as opposed to ‘can’t do this’ is one example of how mindset can focus us on continued growth, one step at a time. A positive mindset is a powerful tool for learning.

Routines and bringing the right equipment to school each day is equally important for students. Our high school students are moving quickly into becoming young adults and we expect them to work hard at ensuring they bring the right notebooks to class each and every day. We expect them to bring pens and pencils (including spares), rulers and calculators (if needed), assignments and resources that teachers have handed out for them to bring to class. It is very hard for any student to be able to realise the advantages of a positive mindset if they do not come to school with the basic equipment needed.

There is a significant body of research that demonstrates the advantage that comes to students who spend a period of time each evening (or morning before school) reflecting on what they covered and what they learned during the day. This time can then be used to quickly prepare for the next day. They can check that they have given notes or other information to parents or carers. They can check that their bag contains the books and equipment needed for the lessons. This not only ensures they are prepared but it demonstrates a level of commitment to growth and success that is vital. It also is an area where students can be in control of what is happening around them simply by developing a quick routine. Parents and carers can help by taking an interest in this routine and occasionally checking the level of preparedness your child is demonstrating. You never know what you might avoid – think mouldy PE gear or forgotten food! The following link goes to a short article that provides similar advice: Five simple student routines for school success

Canteen Volunteers Remember:

Please volunteer for our school canteen. We need you – our students need your support

https://parrishlearningzone.com/2018/05/02/five-simple-student-routines-for-school-success/

https://parrishlearningzone.com/2018/05/02/five-simple-student-routines-for-school-success/


Careers Communication Corner

What will the future of work look like? How well are we prepared? It’s time to find out. The world of work is evolving. The jobs and careers of today are constantly changing, leaving us in uncertain territory when it comes to educating and preparing the next generation. So, how do we keep up with these changes so we can engage in meaningful careers conversations? We learn. Join us for an 8-part series about the future of work, led by Triple J’s Tom Tilley. Each fortnight we’ll tackle new subjects and hear from a panel of industry experts, career advisors and students, helping to create a new perspective around #Work2030.

• Year 12 - Don’t forget to gather information now ready for applications to Uni and Tafe in coming months….do not leave it until it is too late and you are in the middle of exams and major assessments. Keep researching websites for the most up to date information. Year 12 Careers chats are still happening over coming weeks.

• Year 10 to 11 - Subject selection or school Leaver options-Site to Help Students/Parents with Career Choices through our Google Analytics, we can see that information for parents is highly sought after when it comes to helping their children with their career choices. For that reason, we have developed an Assist your child feature page containing links to the articles that provide tips and advice for parents and carers to assist their child with their career development. The link to the new feature page can be found on the Assist others page via the website footer. Visit ‘myfuture’ at https://myfuture.edu.au/

• REMINDER - Those students who are NOT attending the Year 10 Snow Excursion next term are expected to do a 5 day Work Experience block as the alternative educational school approved activity. School based trainees may be able to approach employers to gain extra days during that week. Students are not permitted to go to their casual jobs but are to find an area they are researching for future post school planning/subject choices or potential employers for Apprentice or Traineeships. Kits will be issued to students over the next couple of weeks to take to potential employers to complete. Useful website for students and parents: https://www.myskills.gov.au/rightnow VET. It's Right Now.

Useful Careers Website for Parents and Students

Literacy and Numeracy Skills for Australian Apprenticeships & Traineeships

When starting an apprenticeship or traineeship, you will not be expected to have specific skills and experience in the industry – you learn this on the job and through your training. However, this does not mean you do not need any skills at all before starting!

Literacy and numeracy skills are important for everyone, but they are sometimes underrated by people looking at apprenticeships and traineeships. The training for Australian Apprenticeships requires both literacy and numeracy, but in ways that are specific to your job.

For example, someone starting a traineeship in retail will need to be able to deal with money, but in carpentry, you will need to understand lengths and angles. Different occupations might require different types of literacy and numeracy skills. Across all areas, reading, writing and verbal communication will be important as you learn your job.

The Australian Apprenticeships and Traineeships Information Service have developed short online quizzes to help you self-assess your literacy and numeracy skills. The questions are related to an industry you might be looking to do an apprenticeship or traineeship in. For example, you will get different questions depending on whether you do the Animal Care and Management quiz, compared to the Electrotechnology quiz.

These quizzes will help you understand the types of literacy and numeracy skills you might need when starting an apprenticeship or traineeship in the industry you choose. Once you finish the quiz, you will see what questions you got right and wrong and your score. You will also get information about what your next steps might be. This could include focusing on your literacy and numeracy skills or starting job hunting.

To explore these different tests and quizzes go to aapathways.com.au

https://www.myskills.gov.au/rightnow


Karen Horne, Careers Adviser – ([email protected])

SCU Robocup Challenge On Friday a group of year 7 and 8 students participated in the SCU’s Robocup Challenge. Schools from as far as Coffs Harbour participated and from our local area. The day consisted of 3 possible challenges where students had to build and code a robot to strict criteria. The robot challenges consisted of a maze course, Dance Bots and the Sumo Bot Challenge. We participated in the Sumo Bot Challenge. We had 3 robots that we built and one of our bots came in 4th over-all.

It was a fun way to engage in new technologies, attempt real world problem solving and share common interests with each other and students from other schools.

Mrs J Lee - STEM & Computing studies

Student Fees Could parents and carers please finalise any outstanding subject fees for students. This can be done through the Front Office.

Agriculture News

Casino Beefweek The cattle show team took our stud heifer “Alstonville Jan” to Beefweek. Nellie Witt led her to a first place in class 3 heifer division and also first place as the champion heifer of the show. She narrowly missed presenting Jan as the overall champion of the show. Students represented the school with pride and integrity and were also involved in a whip cracking event. A number of students volunteered to lead other breeders’ stud cattle during the grand parade ceremony – the list in the grand parade was Alahna Thompson, Cody Thompson, Lachlan Sampson, Aden Gow and Lennox Bird.

An article appeared in “The Land” magazine online describing the achievements for the school on the day. https://www.theland.com.au/story/6181977/stud-cattle-and-led-steers-a-highlight-of-casino-beef-week/#slide=8

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.theland.com.au/story/6181977/stud-cattle-and-led-steers-a-highlight-of-casino-beef-week/#slide=8


Year 8 Agriculture - feeding dairy claves prior to the athletics


Mr Holmes, Agriculture

Curriculum Initiatives in PDHPE The new PDHPE syllabus has been introduced and implemented for Years 7 and 9. Next year, Year 8 and Year 10 will also be implementing the new syllabus. The Stage 6 syllabus (for years 11 and 12) is currently under review and a new syllabus will be issued and implemented in the near future.

The new syllabus has been developed with respect to the NESA K-10 Curriculum Framework and Statement of Equity Principles and the Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians (December 2000).

The syllabus provides opportunities for students to develop, refine and apply PDHPE skills in three domains:

• Self-management skills • Interpersonal skills • Movement skills • Whilst key content will not change significantly, the new syllabus aims to provide the foundations for students to

successfully progress to the next Stage of schooling or post-school opportunities. • The syllabus is shaped by five propositions, organised into the three content strands of:

Health, Well-being and Relationships, Healthy, Safe and Active Lifestyles, and Movement Skill and Performance.

A new Physical Activity and Sport Studies syllabus is due to be introduced in 2020. More detail around this syllabus will be communicated once the PDHPE faculty have finalised our programming of the course, however again, the key content will be quite similar.

Sport News

2019 AHS Athletics Carnival Results Age Champions

Age Girl Year Boy Year 12yrs Yasmin King 7 Thomas Bowker 7 13yrs Trinity Sheridan 8 Joshua Young 8 14yrs Phoebe Hewetson 8 Lachlan Offley 8 15yrs Jeanie Ritchie 9 Jackson Minchin 9 16yrs Kiara Jobson 10 Angus Levot 11 17+yrs Brooke Hofmeyer 12 Jonathon King 11

House Point score

1st Maguire (yellow) 512 2nd Marshall (blue) 359 3rd Crawford (red) 340 4th Lumley (green) 335

New Records Rhiannon Avery – 17+ Years Girls shotput 11.17m, (old record Vivian McBurney 11.05m - 1991)

Some of the highlights of the day were:

A great canteen and BBQ organised by Mr Thomas and Year 12. The excellent social atmosphere that students and staff enjoyed at the carnival. Novelty events co-ordinated by the SRC and Mrs Bramley.


Congratulations to everyone on a great day.

The first two competitors in each event and first four competitors in the 100m (these 4 students compete in both the 100m sprint and the 4 x 100m relay) in each age division have qualified to represent the school at the Northern Rivers Zone Athletics Carnival at Riverview Park, Lismore on Friday 28 June, 2019 (Week 9, Term 2). A list of those students who qualified will be up on the PDHPE Staffroom notice board soon.

Rugby Union Congratulations to year 11 student Angus Levot for his selection into the NSWCHS 16 Years boys Rugby League Team. Angus was selected into the team after his outstanding performances at both the 16yrs Rugby Union Discovery Day held in Grafton and the NSWCHS 16 Years Boys Rugby Union Trials held at Earlwood in Sydney. Selection into the NSWCHS team comes with extensive cost with team levy, travel and accommodation as well as a huge time commitment and strict dress codes when attending games and functions. On Saturday 1 June Angus will attend the NSWCHS Rugby Camp. On Sunday 2 June at Camden Rugby Park, Angus will compete as a member of the NSWCHS 16 Years Boys Team against the NSW Combined Catholic College (CCC) Team in the first trial for selection into the NSW All-schools 16 Years Rugby Team. On Wednesday 5 June at St Pius X College Playing Fields, 1 Dreadnought Road Oxford Fall, Angus will play against the Independent Schools Association (ISA) 1sts Team as the second trial for selection into the NSW All-schools 16 Years Rugby Team. Well done Angus.

Soccer Recently three of our talented footballers; Jake Balfour yr11, James Fleming yr12 and Harry Hampson yr12 returned from the NSWCHSSA Secondary Boys Football Championships held at Berkley. The boys enjoyed representing the North Coast Region at the State Championships and put in a strong effort as part of the North Coast Team. The North Coast were put into Pool A. The North Coast had a nil all draw with Western Region in their first game and lost their second game 7 to nil against Sydney West. North Coast won their next 3 games defeating West Darling 3 to 0, North West 3 to 0 and Riverina 1 to 0, to finish 9th out of the 12 Regional teams that competed at state.

Paul Francis / Representative Sports Organiser.

Winter Water Polo Training Ten keen and enthusiastic students arrived at the pool on a very chilly Tuesday morning yesterday for the very FIRST WINTER water polo training session. After a few moans and quick dash to the pool due to the wind chill factor they were soon laughing, renewing friendships and developing new skills as the water was quite WARM. This training will take place every Tuesday morning at 7 am during June before the pool closes for July. Full training will begin after the pool reopens. Many thanks to Ballina Shire for extending the season. As always the school appreciates the efforts of Greg and Kelly in setting up the pool and to the many lap swimmers who reschedule their swims to allow us to use the pool for water polo. Many thanks to Mr Hair for passing on his vast experience. We hope to see more students next week. Any skill level is welcome and it's not that early or cold.

Mr Christopher Hill

TAS Information

TAS Subjects Term 2 The TAS students are fully absorbed into their term’s projects and we look forward to bringing you more pictorial updates as the term comes to an end. This week we have some Year 8 Technology Manadatory – Materials. The work they undertook was to create bunting, see the great results.


The students are also working hard at their metal projects.

The 3D printer has been running and making a part for a year 12 Design and Technology project. Eager Stage 4 onlookers watched this taking place.


The exciting TAS kitchen upgrade continues taking place. I apologise for any inconvenience to students, however I am sure you will agree the short term disruption will be well worth it. The new kitchen is coming along nicely and will provide many years of happy TAS food memories. See the attached picture for the latest in the construction works.

Recycle 10c Bottles at school

Please encourage your children to use the new 10c bottle collection cages located in the school. Return their used bottles and poppers at the end of recess and lunch. The school environmental group will collect and ensure that money is then used to improve the environment at Alstonville High School. Our next endeavour is to plant a new set of herbs into the herb garden. This money helps to complete these projects. KEEP RECYCYLING THE BOTTLES The Environmental group and Mrs Christmas/ Ms Varella

Vanessa Christmas / Relieving Head Teacher TAS


MOVIE MONDAYS ARE BACK! Every Monday in the lower library.

LEGO MINDSTORMS We have three available to all year groups to be used in all breaks.

OLIVER LIBRARY LINK APP Do you ever dream of an app that lets you access the library catalogue and your loans, including reserving books and electronic resources, specifically designed for use on mobile phones and BYOD devices? See Ms Varela for help setting it up.

Borrower of the Month Yr 9 student Bree Harris - always smiling, always kind.


Term 2 Homework Centre ONLY

When: Every Monday

Time: 3.20pm to 5pm

Where: AHS Library

Come along please bring your latest H/W and assignment tasks. Provide: Fresh fruit and biscuits

Mrs Christmas TAS Head Teacher relieving

Alstonville High School Newsletter...2019/06/05 · Alstonville High School Newsletter: Issue 8, 5...

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