school newsletter · 2019-09-16 · year 7 – music assessment task and history assessment task...
TRANSCRIPT
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T3 Week 7 (A) Week 7 Starting 2 September
Monday 02/09/19
Year 11 – Geography Excursion – IEEC – Minnamurra River Year 10 – Youth Frontiers Mentoring –P5 & 6 Year 10 – Minimum Standards Test – P5 Year 9 – History Assessment Task Year 7 – Vaccinations Year 7 – Music Assessment Task Stage 4 Band Rehearsal 3:00pm-4:15pm
Tuesday 03/09/19
Year 12 – Economics UOW Lecture Day Year 9 – Links to Learning Year 9 - History Assessment Task Year 7 – Music Assessment Task and History Assessment Task – P3 (7C) P5 (7U) Illawarra Schools Trades Roadshow
Wednesday 04/09/19
Year 9 – Top Blokes – P1 & 2 Year 9 - History Assessment Task Year 7 – Music Assessment Task Year 8 and 9 – Girls Shine Program - Sport CHS Athletics – Homebush HSC Visual Arts and Music Showcase from 5:30pm
Thursday 05/09/19
Year 9 – Legacy Week Volunteers activity Year 9 - History Assessment Task Year 7 – Music Assessment Task and History Assessment Task – P1 (7L) P5 (7I) 50th Anniversary Student Celebration –Day 1 Young Women’s Forum – P2 CHS Athletics - Homebush
Friday 06/09/19
Year 9 – History Assessment Task Year 7 - Music Assessment Task 50th Anniversary Student Celebration – Day 2 CHS Athletics - Homebush
Saturday 07/09/19
50th Anniversary Open Day 10am-2pm 50th Anniversary Celebration Dinner 6:30pm
T3 Week 8 (B) Week 8 Starting 9 September
Monday 09/09/19
Year 10 – Youth Frontiers Mentoring P5 & 6 Year 9 – History & Spanish Assessment Tasks Year 7 - Music Assessment Task Stage 4 Band Rehearsal 3:00pm-4:15pm
Tuesday 10/09/19
Year 9 – Links to Learning Year 9 - History Assessment Task and Music Assessment Task – P3 & 4 Year 7 - Music Assessment Task and History Assessment Task – P4 (7N) P5 (7E)
Wednesday 11/09/19
Year 9 – Top Blokes – P1 & 2 Year 9 - History Assessment Task Year 7 - Music Assessment Task Year 8 and 9 – Girls Shine Program - Sport
Thursday 12/09/19
Year 9 – History Assessment Task Year 7 - Music Assessment Task Young Women’s Forum – P2
Friday 13/09/19
Year 10 – English Assessment Task Year 9 – History Assessment Task Year 7 - Music Assessment Task Year 7 – 12 – AIME Excursion at UOW Illawarra Multicultural Youth Conference Year 7 and 8 – Mathematics Enrichment Lesson – P5
T3 Week 9 (A) Week 9 Starting 16 September
Monday 16/09/19
Year 11 – End of course Examination Year 10 – Youth Frontiers Mentoring- P5 & 6 Year 10 – Food Technology Assessment Task Stage 4 Band Rehearsal 3:00pm-4:15pm Year 7 & 8 Boys/Girls NSW Touch National School Series excursion
Tuesday 17/09/19
Year 11 – End of course Examination Year 9 – Links to Learning
Wednesday 18/09/19
Year 11 – End of course Examination Year 10 – Information Software Technology Assessment Task Year 9 – Top Blokes – P1 & 2 Year 8 and 9 – Girls Shine Program - Sport
Thursday 19/09/19
Year 12 – HSC Music Performance Examinations Year 11 – End of course Examination Year 9 – International Studies Assessment Task – P5 Young Women’s Forum – P2
Friday 20/09/19
Year 11 – End of course Examination Year 10 – Food Technology Assessment Task
Year 12 Purple Year 11 Olive Year 10 Blue Year 9 Red Year 8 Green Year 7 Orange
Thoughts from the
Principal
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Term 3 Week 7, 3 September 2019
Address: 2 Gibsons Road, Figtree NSW 2525 Phone: 02 4271 2787 Email: [email protected] Fax: 02 4271 6626
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FIGGY HIGH TURNS 50
This week Figtree High School is celebrating 50 years of
quality public education. I am hoping to see ALL OF YOU
this Saturday at our giant celebration.
I invite all current parents, carers, staff and students
together with any former parents, staff, ex-students or
interested community members to attend our Open
Day this Saturday, 7 September between 10am-2pm.
There will be a special memorabilia display in the
common room highlighting significant moments
throughout Figtree High School’s history. Past and
present students will be performing and there will be
free activities including laser tag, bubble soccer, water
tag, a mobile video game arcade, indigenous games,
science experiments and food stalls available.
The day will close with the planting of a new Fig Tree.
This small tree has grown from a cutting from the
original town Fig Tree. Celebrations will culminate with
a celebratory dinner, which will be held at Wests
Illawarra, on Saturday 7 September from 6:30pm. If you
are still looking for tickets, please contact Figtree High
School’s Front Office on 4271 2787.
The Open Day and Dinner will give past and present
students, staff, parents and carers the opportunity to
come together to celebrate the achievements and share
wonderful memories of Figtree High School over the last
50 years.
We hope that members of our school community, both
past and present, will join us this coming Saturday
morning at 10am to celebrate our 50th year!
SOUTHERN STARS starring stars of FHS
I was fortunate enough to be at WIN Entertainment
Centre last Friday night to see Southern Stars 2019
Come Alive. The show was absolutely amazing and had
everything from rock, choreographed dance, pop, circus
acts, hip hop and soloists.
After so much preparation and many months of
rehearsals, twenty-nine students and one teacher (Ms
Murphy) from Figtree High School performed in
Southern Stars this year, displaying their many varied
talents in music and dance.
Congratulations and thank you to our talented teachers
who enabled our students to be involved in Southern
Stars. Ms Murphy worked with our seven students in
the choir and all of the students in the NSW Millennium
Marching Band, and Ms Bennett worked with our
twenty dancers. These teachers were heavily involved
and led many different aspects of the professional and
high quality show. I would also like to thank a number
of our staff who assisted with supervision of students
during the rehearsals and performances; Mr Walsh, Ms
Szoboszlay, Ms Henderson and Ms Lapham.
You can visit the Southern Stars – The Arena Spectacular
Facebook page to take a look at some of the action from
this year’s show. I highly recommend Southern Stars as
one of the best variety entertainment shows in the
country. An annual event you can take the family to
next year for a great night’s entertainment.
HSC SUCCESS FOR ALL – Years 10-12 study skills
As part of the Figtree High School HSC Success for All
strategy, all students in Years 10 -12 will participate in a
structured and comprehensive study skills program
across their three years of senior schooling.
Last Wednesday 28 August, Year 11 completed a study
skills and exam preparation day. Across four periods,
students participated in four individual workshops
structured to support them in preparation for their
Yearly examinations. The workshops included:
Study skill techniques
Examination preparation and strategy
Time management
Wellness
Many thanks to our Head teacher Teaching and
Learning, Ms Glasgow, for coordinating this day and to
all of the teachers – Ms McCarthy, Ms Parr, Ms
Karykides, Mr Joseph and Mr Smart - who ran the
workshops.
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READING AND COMPREHENSION
As kids progress through primary and into high school,
they face a whole new set of comprehension challenges
that can be difficult even for kids who ‘read well'. Every
subject relies on students having the ability to
understand what they are reading and then use the
information in a certain way. Without good
comprehension skills children will finding learning and
inference a struggle.
To support the students at Figtree High School, all
teachers recently participated in professional learning
on the SUPER 6 comprehension strategies. Teachers
were led through the six specific comprehension
strategies and engaged with sample strategies using
text from all curriculum areas. The SUPER 6 strategies
include:
Making Connections: Learners make personal
connections from the text with something in their
own life (text to self), another text (text to text) and
something occurring in the world (text to world).
Predicting: Learners use information from
graphics, text and experiences to anticipate what
will be read/ viewed/heard and to actively adjust
comprehension while reading/ viewing/listening.
Questioning: Learners pose and answer questions
that clarify meaning and promote deeper
understanding of the text. Questions can be
generated by the learner, a peer, parent or the
teacher.
Visualising: Learners create a mental image from a
text read/viewed/heard. Visualising brings the text
to life, engages the imagination and uses all of the
senses.
Summarising: Learners identify and accumulate
the most important ideas and restate them in their
own words.
Evaluating: Learners make judgments and give
value to the text. They form and express opinions.
Providing students with explicit instruction in
comprehension strategies is an effective way to help
them overcome difficulties in understanding texts. The
more explicit the comprehension strategy and self-
regulatory instruction, the higher the likelihood that the
learner will make significant gains in comprehension.
The SUPER 6 comprehension strategies will be a
continued focus at our school across all curriculum
areas to help ensure students are not simply reading the
words on a page but are taking meaning from each
sentence, paragraph and story.
What can you as a parent do to help your child with
comprehension?
1. After your child has read at home, ask them to
explain the text to you.
When children put what they have read into their
own words, it helps in two ways:
Firstly, you know they have understood what
they have read.
Secondly, putting it into their own words
actively helps them to comprehend and
remember the information.
2. Ask them questions
If they can't explain the text to you, break it down
by asking them questions like:
What do you think this story/page is about?
Are there any words here that you did not
understand? (Then help them to look the word
up in a dictionary or through an online search.)
What do you think the main points were?
(Perhaps underline them if the book is yours or
make notes. Some kids might even prefer to
draw quick sketches if they are very visual.)
3. Wait – take a breath, and let them answer in their
own time
When we ask the above types of questions, the
temptation is to rush in and answer, or to point a
finger at the answer on the page. Don't.
Learning is a process. Your child needs to make the
connection from A to B to C in their own brain in
order to be able to repeat the process later. If you
point to "C", they haven't created this pathway in
their own brain, and so they haven't fully
comprehended the text.
If your child seems to be taking a long time to answer,
wait. Silence can be frustrating, but it's actually a sign
your child is trying to make the connection from A to B
to C in their brain. Give them the time to successfully
find their own way there. If they still do not have an
answer – and any answer is a sign they are doing the
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work and trying to make the connection – calmly ask a
slightly different version of the question. Often just
changing one or two words suddenly makes the answer
obvious. You can do this with TV shows, TV news and
advertisements too.
Next newsletter will be full of photos from our 50th
Anniversary events. 50 YEARS OF WONDERFUL
EDUCATORS, SUPPORTING WONDERFUL FAMILIES AND
STUDENTS FROM A WONDERFUL AREA OF THE WORLD.
Daniel Ovens
Principal
Expectation of the Week
WEEK 7: BE SAFE – Corridors/Ramps/Lifts Access lift with approval
WEEK 8: BE SAFE – Corridors/Ramps/Lifts Sport equipment in bag
WEEK 9: BE A LEARNER – Corridors/Ramps/Lifts
Move to and from class promptly
Deputy Principal Report
Years 7, 9 and 11
The last few weeks have very busy for students at
Figtree High School. Year 7 students had a Science
excursion to Taronga Zoo on Friday 16 August. Students
and staff had a great day of learning. Students were
able to reinforce their classroom learning with the
experiences they had during the excursion. Year 7
students also attended Rail Talks at the school to raise
awareness of safety and legal obligations when using
the rail network.
A group of 55 Year 9 students were at the NSW
snowfields from Wednesday 21 August to Friday 23
August. They left at midnight Tuesday and returned
safely at 8pm on Friday. All students attended lessons
twice daily as well as free skiing within designated
boundaries to reinforce their learning and further
practice their skills. Our student’s behaviour was
fantastic and they were a credit to themselves and our
school. A huge thank you to the staff who attended –
Mr Smith, Mr Herbert, Mr McGavock, Ms Dzida, Mrs
Harvey and Mr Sargent-Wilson for providing this great
experience for our students.
Year 11 end of course examinations are being held from
Monday 16 September to Friday 27 September
inclusive. Students will be issued with their individual
timetable for the examination period on Monday 2
September. As these examinations are formal
assessment tasks, students need to ensure they follow
the school’s procedures for illness and misadventure if
they are not able to attend their timetabled
examination. If a student is absent from an
examination, the school needs to be phoned in the
morning to explain the reason for absence. The student
then needs to complete an Illness and Misadventure
form and attached relevant documentation, such as a
medical certificate for illness, and submit this with the
form. The school will then endeavour to arrange a time
during the examination period for the student to
complete the missed examination.
If a student fails to complete an examination and they
do not submit an Illness and Misadventure form they
will be issued with an N warning letter for the course,
which can place them in danger of an N Determination
for this course if they already have an N warning for this
course. This could result in a student not being able to
commence the Year 12 course in Term 4.
Trish Morgan
Deputy Principal
Deputy Principal Report
Years 8, 10 and 12
Attendance at school has a significant impact on
student learning. One area that we have been focusing
on this term is reducing lateness to school. We have
started sending SMS messages to a parent/carer for late
student arrivals in the past few weeks. We encourage
parents/carers to respond to these messages, in the
same way they do for a whole day absence. Punctuality
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is an important life skill, and is something that is
necessary for employment as well. We seek the support
of parents/carers to work with the school to ensure that
your child arrives at school by 8:30am every day. This
will ensure that your child is ready for roll call, can listen
to daily school messages delivered during roll call and
then engages in learning at the start of our school day.
Congratulations to Year 12 on successfully managing
the Trial HSC examination period. Students are now
receiving their results and will be able to use this
feedback from their teachers to review their study
schedule and identify key content areas that need
further attention.
The major works for Society and Culture, Industrial
Technology – Timber, English Extension 2 and Visual
Arts have been submitted. These major works require
significant commitment from students, who use
ongoing teacher feedback and their own reflections, to
refine their work over an extended period of time, ready
for submission.
Year 10 students are deep into assessment in their
courses, with most students having at least two
assessment tasks due each week during weeks 8, 9 and
10 of this Term. Students need to ensure that they are
using the Year 10 Assessment Guide and the planning
calendar provided to them to organise their time to
ensure that assessment tasks are submitted by the due
date. There are several Year 10 students who still have
N warnings letters that have not been resolved.
Students need to ensure that they complete the
outstanding work requirements and continue to attend
school every day, so that they do not fall behind on
course work and they are fully prepared for assessment
tasks.
A reminder that the Homework Centre is available on
Monday afternoon after school, and Tuesday and
Thursday morning before school to provide additional
support for students. The flyer is available later in this
newsletter.
Ellie Donovan
Deputy Principal
IMPORTANT CHANGES FOR CONNECTING STUDENT OWNED LAPTOPS & DEVICES TO THE SCHOOL NETWORK On Wednesday 4 September, the school is getting an important network upgrade, improving internet speeds for staff and students at our school. As a part of this upgrade, there will be a change to the way personal (non-school owned) devices connect to the internet. After Wednesday, the steps to connect to the internet at school are:
1) Join the “detnsw” wifi network. If prompted, enter your Department of Education username (with @detnsw at the end) and password.
2) Open a web browser and type in the address http://detnsw.net
It is suggested that you make the above address a bookmark or desktop shortcut
3) Log in using your Department of Education username (with @detnsw at the end) and password.
If you are having difficulty connecting your device to the school network, please see Technology Support upstairs at the back of A Block.
SKOOLBAG APP
Have you downloaded the SkoolBag app? We use this
form of communication to send short messages about
school related events. It is a great way to stay informed
about school events for your child. Consider
downloading it today if you don’t already have the app
on your phone.
https://moqproducts.com.au/skoolbag/installation-instructions/
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Science Faculty
Report
It has been a typically busy time in Science. Senior
classes are nearing the end of their courses, with Year
12 building on feedback from the trial examinations as
they prepare for their last big task in High School
Science, the final HSC examinations. They have been the
first group to experience the new HSC courses, with new
content and depth studies to contend with. We wish
them well as they finish their studies.
Integral to the Year 7 Science program, the study of
classification is enhanced by our annual visit to Taronga
Zoo for students. It was a great day. Taronga cares for
over 4000 animals from over 350 species, many of
which are threatened. Students met many fascinating
animals on our visit, and learnt about how we are
contributing to global efforts to save species from the
brink of extinction.
Year 9 students have been investigating concepts
related to sustainable housing design using our new
STELR kits. STELR is a STEM resource that is hands-on,
inquiry-based, and in-curriculum. Students actively
pursue science knowledge through guided and then
open inquiry. The STELR Project is the key school
education initiative of the Australian Academy of
Technology and Engineering. Its aims are to show
students that science and maths are relevant to their
lives, increase student enthusiasm for and engagement
with Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM)
subjects, and provides career profiles which highlight
the study pathways necessary for jobs in STEM-related
industries. After experimenting with the kits, students
build their own design with a specific component
related to sustainable housing, and investigate the
impact this factor has on the energy efficiency of the
building.
“Now I understand why we had to put insulation in the
roof!”
“If I build a house, I will have a passive heat sink facing
north”
The STELR equipment and teaching resources have
been developed to assist students to learn about the
scientific inquiry process and then to design and
undertake their own investigations.
STELR incorporates contemporary teaching and
learning practices. Through the context of renewable
energy technology, students learn about research,
forming and testing hypotheses; planning and
conducting robust investigations; collection and
analysis of data and evaluation of scientific propositions
as outlined in the Australian Curriculum – Science. The
STELR resources incorporate inquiry-based pedagogies
that:
• involve students in initial exploration before ideas
are introduced and explanations developed
• incorporate students’ own questions
• involve students making decisions as part of the
investigation
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• use activities to explore and develop ideas rather
than simply demonstrating previously presented
ideas
• allow for genuinely new knowledge to be
developed.
The inquiry-based learning approach engages and
challenges students and teachers. It allows teachers to
tailor the learning to meet the varied interests and
abilities of their students. Students are encouraged to
think and work scientifically around issues that are
relevant to them. In doing so they develop a positive
disposition to engage with science and technology.
In addition, through the study of global warming and
the investigation of renewable energy resources, STELR
demonstrates how the unifying ideas of sustainability,
energy, evidence, models, explanations and theories
can be developed. Moreover, STELR fosters the eight
general capabilities considered to be inherent in
science, while the knowledge and skills learned in other
areas such as English and mathematics, technology and
design are developed throughout.
YEAR 7 SCIENCE EXCURSION AT TARONGA ZOO
Taronga Zoo was a great experience! There were lots of
animals to see and enjoy!
I went around Taronga Zoo with a group of four. We
looked at a lot of different animals and had so much fun.
We were all talking and laughing and having a great
time! We discovered so many different species of
animals that we probably had never even heard of! All
the animals were so fascinating and fun to see and
admire. Unfortunately, there were some animals we
did not get to see because their exhibit was closed, like
the penguins.
My favourite animals to see were the seals, wombats
and the giraffes. We saw other interesting things like
crocodiles, hippos, a fishing cat and many more! We
also at times ran into other groups from our school and
said hello.
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We did so much more except we missed out on the bird
show, but that was just one little thing out of all that we
actually saw. When Taronga was over, the bus ride back
was pretty good too! We were all talking and laughing
and doing fun things and it was really good.
Overall, I think Taronga Zoo is a great place for people
who like animals and want to experience the different
species which can be very unique and fascinating. I also
think we should definitely do it again soon!
Zara Kortikis Year 7
Chris McGavock
Relieving Head Teacher Science
WARRAWONG INTENSIVE ENGLISH
CENTRE - 40TH ANNIVERSARY OPEN DAY &
GRADUATION CEREMONY
Congratulations to Soe Reh, Dee Reh, James Exposito
and Grace Umutoniwase for attending the Graduation
Ceremony at the Warrawong Intensive English Centre
(IEC) on Friday 9 August. Parents and students were
invited to visit the office and classrooms to look around
and chat with their teachers.
Special guests included Sharon Bird - Federal MP,
Gordon Bradbery - Lord Mayor of Wollongong, Bill Field-
Director Educational Leadership Lake Illawarra North
and Christine Tiekle - Intensive English Programs
Advisor. The celebration included African, Eritrean,
Karenni, Kurdish, Fan cultural dancing and African
drumming performances and ended with an
International Morning Tea.
All graduating students should be so proud of
themselves for their amazing achievements in learning
English at the Intensive English Centre. We welcome
and wish them the best in their studies at Figtree High
School.
The Warrawong Intensive English Centre is intended to
provide English language instruction for newly arrived
high school students (11-18 year olds), namely those
who enter Australia with very little or no knowledge of
the English language but wish to continue their
schooling. The Warrawong Intensive English centre
provides a valuable and highly valued educational
service to our non-English speaking migrant, refugee
and temporary resident community.
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