Inside this Issue Parent Newsletter Issue 5 2021 · 2021. 7. 9. · Inside this Issue Principal’s...

Inside this Issue

Principal’s Message

Deputy Principal

Student News

Extra Curricula Events

Events and Organisation

Attachments

Community Messages

Welcome to Menai High School.

We are a proud comprehensive high school with a tradition of outstanding academic results. Our school values are based around Care and Commitment where we create a learning environment driven by student wellbeing. Our school vision encompasses the development of Skilled Learners, Skilled Citizens who are Skilled for Life. Our wide ranging curriculum caters for the diverse learning needs of all students, with opportunities to succeed academically, creatively, socially and emotionally. We develop students who are equipped to thrive living in the twenty first century, willing and able to make valuable contributions to our society.

Coming Up

School Council Meeting—Monday 12th July

P&C Meeting—Monday 12th July—6.30pm

Year 12 Trial Exams—Monday 19th July to Friday 30th July

Contact Us

Phone Number 9543 7000

Fax Number 9543 5513

Email [email protected]

Website menai-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MenaiHS/

Parent Newsletter Issue 5—2021

Menai High School


Student Attendance – Every Day Counts Students with below 90% attendance are educationally at risk. It has long been accepted that there is a direct correlation between good school attendance rates and successful educational outcomes and life opportunities. The better the attendance the better the outlook for student learning and opportunities after school, when attendance is bad the outlook

is not so good. More recent research paints an even clearer picture and reinforces beliefs about the correlation between student attendance and the achievement of quality academic, socio-economic and health outcomes. The latest research goes even further and tells us that students with an attendance rate below 90% are educationally at risk. This probably comes as a surprise to most people. We generally think of 90% as being a good thing. 90% in an exam or a 90% success rate is generally perceived as a positive thing. With regard to school attendance though, we have learned that 90% attendance is the bare minimum a child needs to truly be successful in their education. When you work out the maths, the child with 90% attendance does NOT come to school for 1 day in every fortnight. Over the six years in high school this equates to 120 days MISSED schooling. In other words more than 2 whole school terms. The child with 80% attendance MISSES more than a full year of schooling over the six years of high school. When we think about attendance in these terms, the research makes sense. This is why the NSW Department of Education is working hard to ensure all student attendance rates improve and has set 95% attendance for every child as the expectation. As a school we will continue to communicate closely with our community regarding students’ attendance as we strive to lift attendance rates for every student. We will continue to send SMS alerts when your child is not at school and follow up unexplained absences via letters sent home. Staff will also phone home to discuss your child’s attendance if their attendance rate is of concern in order to identify any barriers there may be to your child’s attendance and what we may be able to do to help. We look forward to working with you to lift attendance rates to ensure all our students get the most out of their schooling that they possibly can. In closing I would like to thank all our staff and students for another successful and productive term. I wish everyone a very happy and restful holiday. I urge our whole community to stay safe during the latest COVID-19 flare ups across Sydney and the state. Please be sure to follow advice from the Department of Health, check updates regularly and ensure you are informed. Practice social distancing, comply with any travel restriction and avoid hotspots! I look forward to welcoming everyone back safe and well to Term 3. Principal’s Recognition Maximos Papacostantinou (Year 7), Kostas Sainasas (Year 7), Channary Royal (Year 9), Sarah Arnold (Year 11), Jonah Lewis (Year 11), Kylan Archer (Year 12), Zak Ogle (Year 12) and Alex Manea (Year 12) - these students will participate in the State Cross Country next term. Congratulations.

Deputy Principal

Mrs R Allen—Years 8 and 10

Academic Excellence Awards Congratulations to the following students in Years 8 and 10 who received Academic Excellence awards at the Year Assembly held on Friday 18th June, 2021.

Year 10 and Year 8 Subject selections will be happening early term 3. A letter and subject selection booklet for both years will be sent home with your child before the end of term . The booklet and information night are very important in guiding students in the subject selection process. The information night for Year 8 and Year 10 parents and students is planned for Wednesday 14

th July in the school hall from 6pm.

Please Note: this may change as the COVID–19 guidelines and regulations change to prevent a large indoor gathering, or if the hall maintenance work has not been completed by the 14

th July.

If the night has to be cancelled, I will load the Subject Selection presentation onto the school website. On arrival, Year 8 will move to Library for the subject selection information. Year 10 will move to the Hall. Head teachers will be available from 7.30pm in the hall to answer questions for both Year 8 and 10 students. This is a very important night as it provides opportunities for both students and parents to discuss questions concerning courses and requirements. The careers advisor will also be available to discuss any questions concerning transition from school to work/ apprenticeship/ TAFE or university. Semester 1 Reports for Year 8 and 10 have been published through Sentral for parents to access. So if you have not registered for the parent portal on Sentral please contact the school and we will be able to help in this process. Also thank you to parents for your support with your child’s uniform. With the colder weather, we do have more issues with students out of uniform. A reminder the uniform shop is open on Tuesdays 8am to 12 noon and Fridays 12.30pm to 4.30pm. For the extra layers of warmth include the green or red school jumper. The school uniform shop will hopefully take delivery of new style school jumpers very soon.

Jessica Arnold Year 8 Savannah Archer Year 10

Ava Barnett Year 8 Ella Badder Year 10

Mason Broughall Year 8 Lachlan Cameron Year 10

Tahlia Catts Year 8 Bree Clark Year 10

Gabriella Helwani Year 8 Amelia Domrow Year 10

Ben Khuu Year 8 Madeleine Grant Year 10

Luting Ma Year 8 Yang (Tony) Hu Year 10

Sophie McGloin Year 8 Isabella Liang Year 10

Charlotte Morrison Year 8 Soraya Mahafza Year 10

Anke Nagel Year 8 Sophie Morrison Year 10

Aryana Suvarna Year 8 Ryan O'Connor Year 10

Dawn Taripo Year 8 Amber Soo Year 10

Joshua Webster Year 8 Sophia Stojanovski Year 10

Chester Xue Year 8 Jay Towner Year 10

Jenna Tsakirakis Year 10

Marieta Van der Merwe Year 10

Brianna Yardley Year 10

Deputy Principal

Ms E Sayed-Rich—Years 7 and 9

Academic Excellence Awards It has been an extremely busy and rewarding term with great student achievements recognised. Congratulations to the students in Year 7 and 9 who received awards for academic excellence.

Thank you to our families for your support during the implementation of the Yondr Pouch initiative. I would also like to thank our staff for all their hard work teaching and leading their teams. We have an incredible teaching, SLSO and SASS staff at Menai High School.

Winter Uniform Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct uniform each day. As the Winter weather sets in, it is important that students are wearing the correct layers and correct uniform items.

Second Hand uniform Shop Please consider donating any uniform item which your child has outgrown. We are running low on some items and would warmly welcome any donations. Have a great break.

First Name Surname Year First Name Surname Year

Layla Amir Year 7 Hannah Al Koudmani Year 9

Ben Bui Year 7 Ellie Aros Year 9

Caleb Chen Year 7 Emily Boyd Year 9

Leila Connor Year 7 Kyan Cameron Year 9

Leila Connor Year 7 Rachel Chen Year 9

Vicky Huang Year 7 Thanay Gowda Year 9

Leila Kavazovic Year 7 Harry Heskett Year 9

Sophie Maddock Year 7 Ray Jiang Year 9

Maximos Papacostantinou Year 7 Hana Kheder Year 9

Yousuf Riad Year 7 Gemma Kingsnorth Year 9

Cejay Tannous Year 7 Laney Mulianas Year 9

Darragh Thomas Year 7 Kalani O'Brien Year 9

Olivia Watkins Year 7 Nathan Paes Year 9

Adam Williams Year 7 Jemma Richardson Year 9

Aleyah Zreik Year 7 Owen Stroner Year 9

Lily Thompson Year 9

Kallie Thompson Year 9

Mali Willoughby Year 9

Deputy Principal

Mr L Meagher—Years 11 and 12

Academic Excellence Awards

Congratulations to the following students in Years 11 and 12 who received Academic Excellence awards at the Year Assembly held on Friday 18th June, 2021.

Kierstan Faulks Year 11 Dylan Archer Year 12

Hayley Goosmann Year 11 Siena Barnett Year 12

Felicity Jensen Year 11 Elen Belsen Year 12

Lana Mackney Year 11 Jade Brasch Year 12

Joshua McKeown Year 11 Anais Commons Year 12

Josiah Montoya Year 11 Mitchell Cooper Year 12

Abdullah Nakour Year 11 Jared Dean Year 12

Jennifer Nguyen Year 11 Jordan Faraj Year 12

Akeira O'Brien Year 11 Rachel He Year 12

Elisa Oda Year 11 Rayzha Hermawan Year 12

Nathan O'Sullivan Year 11 Christopher Hickey Year 12

Jorja Paes Year 11 Angelique Jones Year 12

Matthew Plummer Year 11 Oscar Ke Year 12

Adam Pogorzelski Year 11 Dylan Lam Year 12

Callum Pryor Year 11 Lori Lindsay Year 12

Luke Riches Year 11 Tahlia Martignago Year 12

Ashley Savage Year 11 Aaron Mitchell Year 12

Matthew Steele Year 11 Darcy Moses Year 12

Anthea Tsoulos Year 11 Thomas Nguyen Year 12

Akshay Uppal Year 11 Bonnie Nguyen Year 12

Lavanya Nolan Year 12

Eva Stojanovski Year 12

Amy Stokes Year 12

Alyssa Talakovski Year 12

Aiden Taylor Year 12

Larissa White Year 12

Vanessa Wong Year 12

Student News

Student Attendance It is a requirement of the Department of Education (DoE) that students attend school every day on time and for the duration of the school day. Student attendance must remain above 85% as is the DoE requirement and medical documentation should be provided where possible. Year Advisers have been instructed to make phone calls home to all parents of students who have an attendance below 85% and they commenced making these phone calls in Week 9. The Department of Education is striving to raise every child’s attendance to 95%. Thank you for your support in improving student attendance at Menai High School.

Feel Good Friday During Term 2 the Welfare Team introduced Feel Good Friday where our students were engaging in fun filled activities at lunch time that enhanced connectedness with our school. A huge thank you to all involved in making Friday lunch times even more enjoyable for our students. Feel Good Friday will return again in Term 4.

Ms B Stone Head Teacher, Welfare

Student News

Student Attendance

Student News

Boys Futsal Team Futsal Schools Nationals is a unique opportunity for schools to participate in a competition against a variety of schools e.g. State, Private and Independent Schools. This is an annual competition in which FNSW facilitate 14 regional championships across both Metro Sydney and Regional NSW. Champion schools from all 14 regions battle it out to be crowned state champions. Menai High School’s Open Boys Futsal team completed at the Regional Futsal competition on Monday 31st May. The team played really well and made the final but lost to Endeavour Sports High School 3-2. The team ended up coming second out of eight teams and qualified for the state competition later in August. Well done Luke Obey, Lewis Holmewood, Joshua Richardson, Adam Bryant, Andrej Starkovski (Year 12), Kosta Sapardonov, Marcus Mendes, Peter De Polignol and Josiah Montoya (Year 11). Mr S El Masri Teacher/Coach

Literacy Peer Tutoring Program I would like to congratulate the following Year 10 students who are participating in our Literacy Peer Tutoring program during Roll Call. They are doing an excellent job and consistently demonstrate their commitment to the wellbeing of their fellow students. In addition to being a wonderful role model for their younger buddies, they always demonstrate a positive and caring attitude. They are also to be commended for their conscientious, consistent work ethic—Savannah Archer, Alysha Cannon, Bree Clark, Amelia Domrow, Abigail Korcekova, Ann Kotlobayeva, Marcus Li, Isabella Liang, Andreas Lygdas, Tanaya Mani, Tayla Margetts, Noah Mariani, Arwen McGloin, Sophie Morrison, Yifei Pan, George Papacostantinou, Ayushi Sharma Kharel, Amber Soo, Sophia Stojanovski, Alicia Stojevski, Isabella Urrutia, Marieta Van der Merwe, Keira White, Brieanna Yardley and Angel Yeung. Mrs S-D Wakely Teacher

Good News Reports

Good News Reports (continued)

Student News—continued

Good News Reports (continued)

Careers News Ms Graham accompanied Sarah Doskey, Anastasia Voytenko, Mahahil Mahmood and Ieysha Bahsa ( Year 11) to a recent Nursing Careers Seminar at the University of Wollongong Loftus Campus. Ms L Graham Relieving Careers Adviser

Creative and Performing Arts Faculty Mrs Imer and Mrs Millington commend the Junior Dance Ensemble, Sport Dance Ensemble, Junior Dance Company and Senior Dance Company for their wonderful performances representing Menai High School at the Sutherland Dance Festival and “In the Spotlight’ Dance Festival. Also Mrs Millington would like to congratulate Hannah Barrie on being chosen to compere the Sutherland Dance Festival.


Reconciliation Day

On Friday 28th of May, Menai High School celebrated Reconciliation Day. The assembly was run

by our First Nations students Mitchell Cooper, Dakota Davies, Hayley Williams, Mali Willoughby, Olive Ernst, Chloe Sharp and the Menai High School ATSI Team. This year’s theme is ‘More Than a Word. Reconciliation Takes Action’ and reflected on the experiences of the past and the steps we need to ‘Take Action’ towards further reconciliation. Menai High School staff and students took action by pledging to take action towards Reconciliation such as “calling out racism”, “listening to first nations stories to acknowledging the past”, “learning about the country we are on” and “supporting our First Nations peers and friends”. These pledges filled the path in the Grass Quad towards the Aboriginal Flag and Australian flag, showing our support and as a symbol to take action for Reconciliation Day.

During lunch time, as part of the Welfare Team’s ‘Fun Friday’ the ATSI team led activities of bottle flipping, skipping, writing pledges, receiving temporary tattoo’s and listening to First Nations artist’s music. There was a great atmosphere amongst the playground on May 28

th and we hope

students continue to acknowledge the past and take proactive steps towards a brighter, more united future for all Australians. Mr S Riorden and the ATSI Team


NSW Table Tennis Challenge Cup—2021

Left to right: Ben Ryan, Caleb Chen, Maximos Papacostantinou and Lachlan Leung On Monday the 31st of May, Caleb Chen, Ben Ryan, Maximos Papacostantinou and Lachlan Leung represented Menai High School at the 2021 NSW Secondary Schools Boys Table Tennis Challenge Cup competition at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Halls. We played lots of exciting games- some were won, some were lost, and some were gruelling 5 set matches. We competed against 20 schools across the whole of NSW and many teams travelled a long way from Gosford High, Central Coast and Blayney High, Central Western Region. Here was a total of 190 competitors. It was lots of fun! We arrived early to warm up to give ourselves lots of preparation time, and even ate lunch as quickly as possible to play more games! Team 1- Lachlan Leung and Maximos Papacostantinou Lachlan and Maximos paired up and played against Gosford High School and St Johns High School but unfortunately, we were outplayed and got knocked out in the first round. Team 2 - Ben Ryan and Caleb Chen Caleb and Ben were a duo showdown with 2 other schools but unfortunately Ben and I lost to one of them. The second team we competed against was really close and I felt determined to try my best to win. In the end we lost against. Maximos Papaconstantinou: The first round of the repechage was in a group of 5 where you had to play to 11 points with all other players. The player with the most wins in the group goes through to the next round. I beat people and went through to the next round. In the next round I was sadly and unfortunately matched up with Lachlan Leung. He then savagely smashed me…


NSW Table Tennis Challenge Cup—2021—continued

Caleb Chen: After lunch, Ben and I went separate ways into the repechage (Solo Showdown). It all started when I played other people but sadly, I came second and only first could make it in. Maximos and I played table tennis together while we were waiting. Then I watched Lachlan destroy the semi-final kids and the final showdown kid. Ben Ryan: I got knocked out of the repechage, so I went to play for fun. Lachlan Leung: In repechage, Caleb was in a group alone. Maximos was in a different group. Ben and I were in a group together so I knew I would eventually have to verse my friend. I won 4/4 games and sadly knocked out Ben but that meant I was through to the quarter finals. In the quarter finals, I played Maximos and won. Then I went on and played against another in the semi-finals player and won, which meant I had made it to the finals. I couldn’t believe it! In the finals, played against a boy from Trinity Grammar High school. He was a really good player but I was really determined to win so I knew I had to focus. By the second set, everyone gathered around my table and watched which made me nervous but I miraculously beat him! This meant I came first in the challenge cup junior repechage!

Lachlan Leung won the 2021 Junior Boys Repechage Ben Ryan, Caleb Chen, Maximos Papacostantinou and Lachlan Leung

Extra Curricula Events—continued

Thursday Senior Study in the Library

Remember the library is open for year 11 and 12 students only every Thursday afternoon from the start of lunch until 2.30pm. This is offered specifically for our senior students to access extra support, study time and tuition. Don’t let this be you the night before assessments are due or near exam time!

We are very fortunate to be able to offer the assistance of two tutors on a permanent basis: Mr Redman, a former MHS Maths head teacher and Mrs Dounas, an English, History and Learning Support teacher. Additionally, until week seven we have Mrs Summerfield from HSIE and Mr Bean from Science to assist seniors in those areas. So effectively, FREE TUTORING!! We also offer help with organisational planning and summarising of your subject notes. To make the study time more welcoming, we are again offering (Covid safe) light refreshments such as tea, coffee and biscuits. We strongly urge all our year 11 and 12 students to make use of this wonderful opportuni-ty on Thursday afternoons.

#Improvement Movement #Improvement Movement


Why reading homework is mandatory for our Year 7 students.

The Importance of Reading 20 Minutes a Day The benefits of reading just 20 minutes a day have been proven by research.

*Early reading skills can affect children’s academic success Reading 20 minutes a day exposes kids to a vast quantity of words (1.8 million in each school

year, actually!). And this exposure makes children more likely to score in the 90th percentile on

standardized tests.

If you compare this to children who read just 5 minutes per day — and are therefore more likely to

score in the 50th percentile — it’s easy to see how reading time translates to academic success.

Meanwhile, a separate study involving almost 10 million students showed only those reading at

least 15 minutes a day achieved accelerated reading gains. And those reading less were at

risk of falling behind their peers.

If you’ve been unsure of the benefits of reading 20 minutes a day, these statistics should help

clear up any confusion!

*Reading often helps to improve writing skills Following on from our previous point, if there’s vocabulary benefits associated with reading 20

minutes a day, then writing benefits are there for the taking, too.

Essentially, the more words your kid reads, the wider their vocabulary is likely to be. And a wide

vocabulary makes a kid’s writing more interesting and impressive.

They’ll discover new ways to convey meaning, articulate their thoughts, persuade people,

use figurative language, and engage readers’ emotions. This can help them become stronger

writers, whether working on a short story age 10, an essay age 13, or a job application letter age

17.

Children who rarely read are less likely to expand their linguistic

know-how in the same way. And that could hold their writing back

significantly.

*Reading stimulates and enhances children’s imaginations

Of course, it’s hard to get your child or teen to curl up with a good book— there’s just so

many other fun things to do.

But if we all commit to encourage and facilitate 20 minutes of daily reading by our young people,

the rewards will justify the effort.

https://www.learninglinks.org.au/why-children-must-read-20-minutes-each-day/

https://www.weareteachers.com/staggering-statistics-about-struggling-readers-and-reading-growth/#:~:text=2.,of%20falling%20behind%20their%20peers.

https://kidskonnect.com/language/persuasive-speech-topic-examples/

https://kidskonnect.com/language/figurative-language/


Careers News


Careers News—continued

Events and Organisation

Administration

Students online Year 10, 11 and 12 students must ensure that they have activated and regularly check their NESA students online account. The students online account gives students in these year groups access to their Minimum Standard tests results, the courses they are entered into, RoSA, personalised HSC exam timetable, ATAR eligibility and more. There are a handful of students in each of those year groups who are still yet to activate their accounts. I have attached 2 documents that outline the process of activating the account along with some general information about what the account gives students access to. Alternatively, students can go to https://studentsonline.nesa.nsw.edu.au and access the same information there. Students will need their NESA student number to activate their account. All students have been given their student numbers. If it has been misplaced, students can see/email me and I will give it to them again. If your child is in Year 10, 11 or 12 ask them if they have activated their account. Year 12 students in particular should have checked their personalised HSC exam timetable and alerted me if there were any anomalies. Mrs L Ferraro Head Teacher, Administration

P&C News Our next P&C meeting will be held on Monday 12th July in the school library and commences at 6.30pm with the Principal’s Report. All members of the school community are welcome, so please consider coming along to support your P&C and be involved in supporting our school community. Meetings take place on the second Monday of each month during school term. We look forward to welcoming you. Lisa Chapman MHS P&C President

School Leadership Team

Captains Capri Ireland

Jared Dean

Vice Captains Sally Gordon

Amelia Lamotta

Marcus Petrovski

James Peach

https://studentsonline.nesa.nsw.edu.au/

Attachments

Community Messages

Free Graduated Licensing Scheme Workshops for Learner Driver Parents in the Sutherland Shire Young drivers are three times more likely to be involved in casualty crashes. That's why the Roads and Maritime Services has introduced a new licensing scheme, with more supervised driving practice for learner drivers. To help parents in supervising learner drivers, the Roads and Maritime Services has set up a FREE 2 hour workshop for parents offering practical advice on how to help learner drivers become safer drivers. A FREE parents' workshop will be conducted by David Riches and hosted by Sutherland Shire Council on Wednesday June 23

rd at Sutherland Shire Council Offices in Eton Street from 7.00

pm – 9.00 pm. Early bookings are essential, by phoning Council on 9710 0341 now to reserve your place, or email [email protected]

Sydney Dance Company Get your child moving and grooving this winter with an exciting range of COVID-safe school holiday workshops for your people aged 5-18 years. From 28th June-9th July, Sydney Dance Company’s newly refurbished Wharf Studios will be the perfect environment for students to improve their technique and learn new routines under the direction of professional teachers and choreographers. Dance styles include Hip Hop, Jazz, Contemporary, Ballet and more! To book go to https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/classes/youth-program/school-holiday-workshops/

Community Messages

The Family Co. Youth Services is offering a FREE 6-week parenting course for parents of 10-18 year olds coming up in Term 3 (starting 27 July @ 6pm) called Tuning in to Teens. This workshop supports parents to recognise, understand and respond to their teenager’s emotions, as well as their own. Go to The Family Co. website to register (https://www.thefamilyco.org.au/Event/tuning-into-teens). Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

https://www.thefamilyco.org.au/Event/tuning-into-teens

https://www.thefamilyco.org.au/Event/tuning-into-teens

Community Messages

Inside this Issue Parent Newsletter Issue 5 2021 · 2021. 7. 9. · Inside this Issue Principal’s...

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