Newsletter No. 13

Page 2 PICSE Industry Placement Scholarships ‘Encore’ Nomination National Worldskills Competition Communication Database P&C News

Page 3 Sports News

Page 4 Farewell Year 12

Page 5 Farewell Year 12 (Cont)

Page 6 Electronic Communication Database

11 October 2012

Inside this issue:

Top of the Hi l l Newsletter of Duval High School

PO

Box 751, C

rest R

oad

Arm

idale

NSW

2350 Telep

hon

e 02 6772 1266 F

acsim

ile 02 6771 1766 E

ma

il duval-h.sch

ool@

de

t.nsw

.ed

u.au

DATES FOR THE DIARY: 18 October> Immunisation Dose 2 Hep B all Year 7

Dose 3 HPV Year 7 Girls 8 November> Year 7, 2013 Orientation Day 12-15 November> Year 10 Exams 10 December, 7.30pm> Presentation Night 13-19 December> Term 5 Activities

This term we are considering some of

our shared spaces (corridors,

toilets) and preparing for our

Celebratory Launch in Week 10.

PBL CO

RN

ER

Last term, 14 Duval students entered the PICSE (Primary Industries Centre for Science Education) Awards. The Years 7 and 10 students were given the opportunity to showcase the work they had done for their Science Student Research Projects by converting their work into a poster that they then presented at the awards day held at the University of New England. The students had to stand with their posters and answer questions posed by the judges who were all scientists working in various fields. Our students conducted themselves admirably and their work was all of a very high standard. This year’s awards attracted the largest number of entries yet with 175 students from schools around

the region entering the competition. The judges were impressed with our entries and, despite stiff competition, Duval students took out both the Junior and Senior UNE PICSE Scientist of the Year Awards and achieved a third place in the Best Primary Industries Themed Project category. Congratulations to all the students who entered and especially to Xavier Dean (Year 10 - Senior Scientist of the Year), Angus Gasbarri (Year 7 - Junior Scientist of the Year) and Erin Bourke (Year 10 - 3rd in Primary Industry Themed Project. More PICSE news on Page 2

Our Super Scientists

Angus Gasbarri (above), Erin Bourke (top), Xavier Dean (right)

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Uni

vers

ity

of N

ew E

ngla

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11 October 2012 Page 2

PICSE INDUSTRY PLACEMENT SCHOLARSHIPS Twenty students from schools in the New England/North West region were recently selected to complete the UNE PICSE Industry Placement Scholarship for 2012/2013. Congratulations to Alex Andrews, Fiona Brunckhorst, and Emma Devos-McLean for their selection to take part in this exciting program. The PICSE team was very impressed with the large group of students who applied. During December 2012 these students will attend a ‘Science to Industry’ student camp to gain an insight into the broad range of science savvy careers supporting primary industries. In January 2013 each student will complete one of their chosen industry placements, including placements with internationally recognised scientists and business innovators. This may cover areas as diverse as animal genetics, horticulture, agronomy, pasture and crop research, animal health and breeding, holistic farm management and molecular chemistry!

HSC ‘ENCORE’ NOMINATION

NATIONAL WORLDSKILLS COMPETITION

COMMUNICATION DATABASE Parents and carers are reminded that the school is seeking to create a new communications database to improve and speed up communication between school and home. A letter and response form can be found on page 6 and we urge all families to return the form to the front office as soon as possible. P&C NEWS It is hard to believe we are already beginning Term 4 of 2012! We hope everyone enjoyed the break and some downtime. Recently the Duval P&C has registered with the Community Mutual Group to become a Recipient Organisation. On 30 June each year the CMG calculates the average annual balance of accounts held by supporters of each Recipient Organisation. This amount is then used by the CMG to make a 1% bonus payment to the chosen Community Organisation. If you are a member of the CMG and have a Community Partnership account you can elect to support Duval High School. You will find i n f o r m a t i o n a t l i n k h t t p : / /www.communitymutual.com.au/cpa.html# The P&C is also very pleased to announce that we have made it to the bottom of the wish list and managed to fund the remaining items. The P&C agreed to fund a 3D printer to the value of $2,500.00. We were also able to provide $1,000 in funding to the sports budget to aid Pat Turley in replacing sporting equipment. Our capacity to do this is largely due to the canteen’s outstanding performance as a primary fund raiser for the school, and the very hard work and dedication by the staff and volunteers of the

Hunter Marsh of Year 11 recently competed in the Retail category of the 2012 WorldSkills Australia VET in Schools National Competition which was held at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. Our congratulations to Hunter on his 4th place result.

Sheba Boyd has been nominated to audition for the HSC ‘Encore’ concert to be held at the Sydney Opera House on 25 February 2013. Each year ‘Encore’ showcases the most outstanding HSC Music performances in the

state. Sheba is a Recorder student of Zana Clarke, and will now submit a video of her four performance pieces, including the technically challenging ‘Music for a Bird’. Congratulations

canteen. The canteen has had a bit of a freshen-up over the break. A big thank you to Ronnie, Vicki and Suellen for all their hard work to get the painting done! (see photos) The P&C is continuing to focus on ways to improve communication across the school community. We are looking at Phone Apps at the next P&C meeting. If you have not filled out the form for electronic communication please do so. Keep a look out for the order forms for Duval Arts Cards and for announcements related to working bees. We are hoping to get the soil spread and some trees planted on the Monroe Street side of the school.

SPORTS NEWS CHS ATHLETICS Last term several students participated in the Combined High Schools (CHS) State Athletics carnival in Sydney. Congratulations to these students for achieving the following excellent results:

N’Dea Rumble: Bronze Medal in 13 Years 800m (2:23:41sec) Winona Rumble: Bronze Medal in 14 Years Discus (29.49m) Xavier Dean: 6th 15 Years 200m (23.97sec) Alice Rummery: 6th 16 Years High Jump (1.5m) Edward Harland 9th 17+ 400m (53.46) Madeleine Sauer 12th 16 Years Discus (23.27m) 12th 16 Years Shot Put (8.40m) 14 Years Girls 100m Relay (Kourtnee McFarlane, Anisha Rajanathan, N’Dea Rumble, Winona Rumble): 7th (55.25sec) 17+ Boys Relay 100m Relay (Xavier Dean, Hayden Freeman, Edward Harland, Anil Rajanathan) 8th (46.14sec) HOCKEY The Duval High Girls CHS Hockey team performed well this year. The first game against Armidale High was well attended, with the unprecedented problem of having too may girls to effectively manage. Duval won that first game easily. In the second round game Oxley High School come to Armidale and played in bitterly cold conditions. The strong wind and sleet only made the effort the girls put in more significant. At full time the game was tied. Under competition rules this then meant a six-minute period of 9-a-side, golden goal. Fortunately for Duval, we scored after about two minutes, bringing an end to the massive effort by all players. The third round game was played in Armidale again, this time against Tamworth High. The Duval girls showed some fight and great teamwork and at full-time the game was, again, tied up. The six-minute, 9-a-side period came and went, resulting in another six-minute period of golden goal play, this time with 7-a-side. At the end of that period of play the score was still locked at 2-2. This meant that the game was to be decided by penalty stroke. Tamworth High proved to be more adept at penalty strokes than DHS, thus winning the game. The state hockey knockout took both finalists into the next part of the draw. After a first-round bye, the Duval girls had to attend their first away game - in Murwillumbah. On the day, the hosts proved to be a better team, winning 4-2. I am proud of the solid effort that the girls put in, in all their games, and I am thankful for the support that we enjoyed from parents, family and friends who cheered our girls on. Mr Craven

Page 3 11 October 2012

Farewell Year 12

Page 6 11 October 2012

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