WILLOUGHBY GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL A Leader in Girls Education

NEWSLETTER 29 April 2016

May Calendar

Red typeface denotes the event is open to the

public

Week 2B 2– 6 May Tuesday 3 Year 7 & 12 Parent/Teacher Night Wednesday 4 ‘In Concert’ rehearsal Year 9 and 10 Religious Seminars Saturday 7 Vocal Ensembles Music Heat Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh Sunday 8 Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh Week 3A 9 – 13 May Tuesday 10 Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN Year 10 DT excursion Wednesday 11 Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN Thursday 12 Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN Friday 13 Charities Day Week 4B 16 – 20 May Monday 16 In Concert choir performance Tuesday 17 ICAS Digital Technologies Year 11 Biology excursion P&C Meeting 7.00pm in the Staff Common Room Wednesday 18 Year 7 and 8 Religious Seminars Thursday 19 Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh Friday 20 Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh Week 5A 23 – 27 May Wednesday 25 Year 9 and 10 Religious Seminars Year 12 Advanced English evening excursion Friday 27 Year 9 English excursion

Principal’s Report

ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT The school’s Annual School Report for 2015 is now available on our website. This report differs significantly from previous reports as we are now required to document our progress on priorities as outlined in our School Plan. The report still includes student achievement and learning growth in NAPLAN and HSC measures, but is much more focused on analysing the impact of what we do on a daily basis to improve student outcomes. Willoughby Girls High School strategic directions 2015 – 2017 are: • Wellbeing • High quality teaching and learning to maximise student outcomes • Leadership for a self-sustaining, self-improving school. I am pleased to report that we are making progress on each of these priorities through various student wellbeing programs, significant investment in quality professional learning for teachers, and the broadening of leadership opportunities for students and staff. The process of writing the Annual School Report in line with the School Plan, has resulted in the School Plan being updated for 2016. The strategic directions remain the same, however, the processes involved in ensuring improvement, and the resulting products and practices we aim to achieve, have been refined. The updated School Plan is also available on the school’s website, from Week 2, Term 2. WELCOME TO TERM 2 It is hard to believe that Term 2 has already started. This will be another busy term for the Willoughby school community. Parent teacher interviews are being held this term and I urge all parents to attend to discuss your daughter’s progress and provide information for teachers that will assist them in supporting your daughter’s learning. While a five minute meeting is short, much information can be exchanged during that time. If you are unable to attend these evenings, and wish to talk to your daughter’s teachers, you are welcome to contact teachers by telephone. NAPLAN testing for Year 7 and Year 9 students takes place Tuesday – Thursday next week (10 to 12 May). I remind parents and students that these tests are intended to provide diagnostic information regarding students’ specific literacy and numeracy skills. While I encourage all girls to do their best in the tests so that the information is as accurate as possible, I encourage girls to remember that test information is not used as part of the regular assessment of learning within the school, and is therefore not included in school reports. P&C MEETING I remind all parents that the monthly P&C meeting is being held in the Staff Common Room, A Block at 7.00pm on Tuesday 17 May. All parents are welcome and I encourage you to attend. Your ideas are welcome and this is an opportunity to meet other parents and learn more about the school. For further information, contact the P&C President, Mr William Pape, at wghspandc@gmail.com .

Ms E Diprose Principal

Year 7 and 12 Parent Teacher

Tuesday 3 May from 4.00pm - 8.00pm

Appointments are made accessing the http://web1.willoughbg-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/portal/login

Sports spot…girls on the run!!!

Cross Country Festival of the Feet

On 1 April - no April fools jokes please - a teeming hoard of girls marched their way down to Bicentennial Park, physically and mentally preparing themselves for the battle ahead. A run that took them through bushland and a daunting hill, while attempting to stay out of the scorching sun. Unfortunately, the 7 and 8 year groups were required to run the track and weren't able to forfeit the race.

The ages groups for this perilous journey consisted of three groups, the first group was the 12yrs and 17yrs, then came the 13 yrs and 16yrs, last but not least we had our 14yrs and 15yrs. If you were taking a pleasant stroll that very day by the park you would have seen 200 girls mostly dressed in blue and white running desperately to make it to the finish line.

The reward for the first ten finishes was a prestigious place at Zone perhaps not the best prize considering they have to run again but they all seemed rather proud of themselves and so they should be. After the madding run was completed we packed up and headed back to our beloved school happy with all the effort that was put in and thankful that we didn't have to do it until next year.

by Julia Lin and Sarah Griffiths

The Age Champions for each age group were: 12 Years Meghan May 13 Years Sophie Woods 14 Years Clio Astridge 15 Years Jasinta Suardana 16 years Amanda Crowe 17 years Emma Hannigan

On 19 May our top 10 cross country runners for each age group will represent the school competing at Zone. We wish them luck and hope they perform to their best!

Ms N Best Head Teacher PDHPE

Schools Knockout Basketball Competition

After eliminating Pittwater in round one, the second round of Knockout Basketball was held on Tuesday 5 April at Ryde Secondary College. The match, between Willoughby Girls and Ryde Secondary College, was certainly nail biting.

The fast paced game definitely tested our fitness and teamwork. As the minutes counted down Willoughby held a 1-point advantage then managed to push to a 3-point lead. Determined to win, we held the leading position and won the game, 29-26.

Congratulations to all the girls and our coach Ms Kleindienst.

Bring on the round three in Terrigal! (we look forward to the challenge).

Allegra Pape Year 11

There were some fantastic performances on the day with the quickest run being recorded by Emma Hannigan. Faces were red and sweat glands were active. I would like to especially congratulate our best endurances athletes as below.

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Year 10 Music Recital On the last Tuesday night of Term 1, Willoughby Girls High School was the venue for a broad range of musical performances delivered by the girls of Year 10. From Mozart to Lukas Graham, from tuba to vocals, there was a great, wide range of instruments and singing styles to entertain all. Some outstanding performances of the night were Siobhan Lynch singing “Never Let Me Go” by Florence and the Machine. This song really suits her voice and was a wonderful addition to the range of styles in the night. Siobhan was well in time with the backing track, which was not too quiet or overpowering. There were little or no intonation issues and overall it was beautiful. Siobhan put in some feeling and good dynamics to the song, which made it very interesting and showed confidence. Ofri Einav entertained us with her brilliant multi-tasking, piano playing and singing “Blue Lips” by Regina Spektor. Although she had to focus on the piano as well as singing, both were as if separate people were playing and singing in perfect harmony. Claire Wilson on saxophone delighted us with some impressionism as she performed Ravel’s Habanera. The style and emotions were well captured. This is a demanding piece with complex melodies, trills and sweeping scales. This piece was a great choice for Claire, showing many of the saxophone’s unique colours. A few of the performances were accompanied either by Mr Burgmann or Michelle Leung, which added to the formality of the occasion. The evening wrapped up with Nellie Zydenbos singing the popular song “7 Years” by Lukas Graham, followed by Michelle Leung’s impressive and moving piano piece, demonstrating her talent and knowledge of the piano. Gabby Menge Year 10 Music

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Year 11 Visual Arts… inspiration! On 7 May, both Year 11 Visual Art classes went on an excursion to the ARTEXPRESS exhibitions held at both The Armory at Sydney Olympic Park and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. ARTEXPRESS is a showcase of HSC bodies of work produced by Visual Arts students at the making component of the HSC examination. This can act as a learning resource for all Visual Arts students. Works are selected by gallery curators and education officers, from a works that achieve High A in the HSC marking process. We visited ARTEXPRESS hoping that the works there would inspire us to come up with our own final work ideas, and we were certainly not disappointed! There was a wide variety of works to be inspired by, ranging from personal expression of experiences to the exploration of societal values. It was obvious that each student was extremely dedicated to their artwork. The pieces in ARTEXPRESS from the Year 12 students have really set an impressive benchmark. Hopefully, we are also capable of producing artworks of such high calibre! After visiting the exhibitions, we now have a good idea of the standard expected of band 6 works. It was truly an enjoyable learning experience for us. Shu Li LAU Year 11 Visual Arts student

Year 11Visual Arts students visited The Armory, Homebush Bay to view ARTEXPRESS

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