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The Morissetian

Successful Learning – Responsible Living www.morisset-h.school@det.nsw.edu

July

Term 3, 2019

Principals Report

Mr Graham Eather

Deputy Principals Report

Evelyn Wilson-Babic, Darren Mitten and Geoff Flemming

ANZAC Day provided a wonderful start to our Term 2. Morisset High School was strongly represented by our staff and

students. The day was a complete contrast from 2018 when it rained! This year our local Scouts did a wonderful job of

handing out water to keep our students well hydrated and our thanks goes to them. Morisset High School staff are truly

appreciative of being part of this annual community event.

From ANZAC Day we moved quickly into NAPLAN. NAPLAN was completed during May for all our students in Years 7 & 9.

This year it was a completely online test and our students met the state ICT challenges with determination and a positive

attitude. Our congratulations goes to each of them. NAPLAN provides a ‘point in time’ result on students which teachers

will use to inform their practice addressing literacy and numeracy within their lessons.

During this Term, Year 7 applications arrive from our primary schools. If you know someone who is planning on enrolling

their child at Morisset High School and hasn’t yet applied for a position, please ask them to contact the school as soon as

possible as our planning is well underway.

As we move towards the end of Term 2 our focus moves to Year 12 and our students who will be sitting their Higher

School Certificate this year. Our tips for students includes ensuring they have an appropriate study space, plan focused

study times (especially if they are working too), follow class notes and work on developing subject summaries.

Mrs Cheri McDonald is currently absent on leave and I will relieve as principal for the

remaining two weeks of this term. I was previously principal of Callaghan College for five

years and principal of Hunter River High in Raymond Terrace for six years before that. Also, I

have worked in a variety of roles inside the Department of Education, including in school

improvement and the state leadership unit, and have represented the NSW Secondary

Principals Council in the areas of Legal Services, Vocational Education, Curriculum and

Professional Learning.

I look forward to working with the wonderful staff, students and community of Morisset High

School.

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Our Deputy Principal Darren Mitten has spearheaded Elevate Education delivering 6 Study Skills workshops during Term

4 in 2018 and Terms 1 & 2 in 2019. Elevate are Australia’s leading provider of Study Skills tips to Year 12 students.

Presenters have recently completed their HSC placing them in a very powerful position to connect with current Year 12

students and coach for success. Over the 3 terms of delivery Year 12 students have been coached in: Study Sensei, Time

Management, Student Elevation, Memory & Mnemonics, Ace Your Exams and Finishing Line. To further consolidate

these skills, Year 12 are continually applying these skills during 4, 20 minute mentoring sessions per week. Led by

experienced HSC teachers Miss Neal and Miss Miller, students are applying Elevate Education skills to specific subject

areas to consolidate crucial subject specific learning.

Add to our ‘tips list’ is revising HSC past papers and practice the questions on their website

https://tinyurl.com/yxf4hlfh

The target is to set your goals and plan your achievements!

For the parents may we suggest a few ‘tips’ for supporting your child. Avoid any big decisions that could affect your child

such as family holidays and changes in living arrangements, if possible ensure your child eats well and gets enough sleep

and exercise, help your child balance work and play – many students have part-time jobs – make sure the hours are

manageable and don’t interfere with school work. Finally, stay in contact with the school, especially if you have

concerns. Year 12 teachers want their students to achieve the best possible results and appreciate parents who are

interested and supportive. Contact the year adviser if you are worried about your child's emotional wellbeing or how

they're handling Year 12 studies. Remember, the HSC focus is only for a short period of time. And an ATAR is only the

start of your child’s post high school studies and options.

In week 6 of this Term, Years 7 to 10 took part in presentations from our School Liaison in Police Officer, Snr Constable

Nathan Johns. Each year was given in depth information about social media, cyber bully and for the older year’s safe

partying information. It was an informative day with all students leaving with an improved understanding of what makes

a responsible social media user.

In Term 3 Year 9 will be undertaking training in Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM). This is a department program that

Morisset High School was successful in gaining for our students. YAM covers 6 main topic areas; What is mental health?

Self-health advice, stress and crisis, depression and suicidal thoughts, helping a friend in need and who can I ask for

advice. This will be an informative day for all our students and a platform from which to build their adult lives.

In Year 11 your child will be expected to work harder and be more proactive in their study. It's a big step up from Year

10. It's vital you attend parent-teacher information events this year. You'll receive important information on exactly

what's happening this year and how you can help your child cope and succeed. Homework, study and assessments

Students are expected to complete regular study in all subjects each week, without nagging them into doing it. It’s also a

short year, with only 3 terms in the Preliminary course before starting HSC studies in Term 4. Encourage a regular and

consistent study schedule from the first week of Term. 1. Use a study Timetable which allows students to schedule time

after school and over the weekend to revise, write summaries and practise sample questions. At the beginning of the

year your child was given an assessment schedule, with the dates and weighting of all assessment tasks for the course.

Review this together and add all tasks to a term assessment planner for Terms 1, 2 and 3. Make sure it’s kept in a highly

visible place so you can remind your child when tasks are coming up. Adding tasks to their smartphone calendar with

notifications before the due date will also help remind them of upcoming assessments. Wellbeing Physical activity is still

important when study ramps up at school. This is the age many students drop sport, but it's important for them to

continue to incorporate exercise into their schedule to help them manage stress as they prepare for the HSC. Monitor

your child's technology use. Research shows that the quality of study and learning suffers when students are frequently

interrupted by texts, emails, phone calls or by flicking between homework and Facebook screens. Instead, tell them to

schedule 10-minute breaks every hour to catch up on their social lives, if needed. Some students begin driving in Year 11

and social lives increase. Keep talking honestly with your child about alcohol and drugs.

Semester 1 Reports for Years 7-10 are currently being compiled and will be released to students in Week 1 of Term 3.

This is a good opportunity to discuss academic progress and educational goals with your child based on the report

outcomes and teacher recommendations. The timing of the Semester 1 Reports release supports our next

parent/teacher night which occurs on Wednesday 7th August from 3.30pm - 6.00pm. Information about bookings will be

available soon.

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Support Unit Report We have had a great work experience program this year with students undertaking placements in a variety of

businesses. Two of our students are enjoying placements in Aged Care, we have other students in fast food, retail,

construction, mechanics and hairdressing. Each of these businesses offer a great opportunity to experience what is

required in the work place and to discover the skills and qualities that are necessary to be successful in each industry.

We are very grateful to all the employers who have so generously accepted students for this valuable program.

Shout out to At Call Hire Morisset, Dominos Morisset, Gates of Eden Morisset, Lush Hair and Beauty Bonnells Bay, IGA

Wangi, Bolton Clarke RSL Care, Rathmines Auto Dismantler, DA &SA Kearns Builders.

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OPEN BOYS AND GIRLS TENNIS STATE

KNOCKOUT On Wednesday May 22nd, our Morisset boys and girls tennis teams competed in round 3 of the State knockout at District

Park, Broadmeadow.

The boys were playing the top seed Great Lakes from Forster who are like the Park Lane and Mayfair to our Pall Mall,

whilst the girls played Whitebridge High who aren’t too dissimilar to a Piccadilly or Coventry Street. Both of our teams

put in a solid effort and after some quality battles were unfortunately eliminated. The highlight being Eddie Westfall’s

mammoth struggle against the Great Lakes number 1 seed, in which Eddie came out victorious 7-6 in a tie-break. Other

memorable moments included some great rallies between Lachie and his singles opponent, Olivia B. running down

plenty of ball even if it meant falling in a drain and Josh drawing blood after diving for a swinging forehand.

Being my first time as the interim coach (Mr Bettison was unavailable due to professional development), I was amazed

and impressed that the students were entrusted to be the lines people, ball boys/girls and chair umpires in all of their

games, (the competitor inside of me couldn’t help but call the 50/50 ways in my favour). Much to their credit, all

students did a wonderful job keeping score accurately and fairly and made the tough calls when challenged by the

opposition.

Throughout the day I witnessed exceptional sportsmanship from all of our team, brilliant behaviour and wonderful

comradery for team Morisset. Furthermore, to my monopoly analogy earlier, I would have no hesitation making any of

the ten students from the team the banker in any Monopoly game as unlike me they call the 50/50 ones fairly.

Thanks for the wonderful day team.

Proudly,

Gracie, the one off tennis coach!

L to R – Aiden Fealey shielding the sun and defending the baseline, Charlotte Hill serving whilst Kayla Renata guards the

net during their doubles match-up, Joshua Yee showing of his lateral movement.

L to R – Olivia Hebai probably acing some poor girl, Charlotte Hill with an effortless top spin forehand and Olivia Bartha

with a casual backhand about to hit a clean cross court winner.

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L to R – Lachie Westfall with a solid backhand, brother Eddie Westfall showing off his talent at the net, Eddie and Lachie

strategizing during their doubles match up.

LANCASTER CORNER There are some people in the school that don’t understand Big Picture and think that no one does any work.

As a BP student myself, I know this isn’t true.

The first thing we do at the start of each term is to figure out what our project is going to be. My projects are centred on

becoming a fictional author. The next step is to develop a learning plan that makes sure our project sticks to the basic

school subjects through learning goals. The learning goals are:

Empirical Reasoning: What is the science behind it? What research and thinking will we have to do?

Quantitative Reasoning: What is the maths behind it? What are the measurements and numbers?

Communication: What reading and writing will we have to do? What media and art relates to our Project?

Social Reasoning: What is the history behind it? What is the geography, economics and politics of our Project?

Personal Qualities: How will I work with others to improve myself?

Afterwards, we write out a Proposal for our work that asks and answers certain questions that others might ask. We do

this by using the 5A’s:

Authenticity: How is it real and helpful?

Active Learning: How will we complete the work?

Academic Rigour: Is it challenging? What is the process?

Assessment: How will we mark it? Are there any drafts or models?

Adult Relationships: Who and what can help us?

Once that is done, we start our Projects. This term, my Project has been learning about the technical aspects of writing.

But that’s not all we have to do. On top of all the work our Projects bring, we also need to write 3 full-page journal entries

a week. And if we don’t already go to a mainstream maths class, we do 3 periods of online maths a week. Year 10 students

have to read 5 books in a year and do a book review on 4 of them while seniors have to read 6 books and do the 4 book

reviews.

We also have to document all our work, save drafts, and print copies to put into our portfolio.

We are also required to go on 13 excursions a year plus go out of school into a workplace for an LTI, (Learning through

Internship). My LTI is with my sister, whose taking me behind the scenes of the Young Writer’s Festival to meet some of

the writers and expand my knowledge on all aspects of writing.

At the end of each term, we must showcase all of our work and progress in an exhibition to our advisor, family, friends,

and anyone else we want to invite. They give us feedback on our presentation and give us suggestions on how to improve.

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After that, we write a reflection on how we went and how we’ll do better next time. Lastly, we write everything that

happened that term in a narrative before getting ready to start over again next term.

One of the great parts of Big Picture is that because it’s the same people year-round, we create stronger friendships with

them. Instead of a teacher standing up the front and telling you what to do, we have an advisor that helps us when we

need it. I would describe it like a family where everyone has their bad days, but we all get along most of the time.

Home-made Minestrone Soup is now on the

menu at Morisset High At school this winter we are encouraging students and staff to make healthy food choices at the school canteen.

Mrs Dekker and her volunteer Year 10 Food Service and Catering students have been arriving to the commercial kitchen

early each Wednesday and making fresh minestrone soup to be sold at the school canteen. The delicious soup is served

with garlic bread and is sold for $4 a serve. It has proved to be a popular item on our winter menu.

Coles at Morisset Square have kindly offered to sponsor this initiative and so fresh produce is provided weekly for the

soup. Thank you Coles, Morisset

and

Year 10 Food Service students

Joshua, Charlee, Taiah and Mrs Dekker

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Project Rockit Thursday of week 8 I had the absolute pleasure of taking a group of students from our Junior Aboriginal Education

Consultative Group and Student Representative Council to Hunter School of the Performing Arts to participate in the

Project RockIt workshop. Project RockIt is an online platform to tackle bullying; it is designed by young people for young

people. They seek to empower young people to actively participate in the positive use of social media to create a safe

and respectful environment. Our students were amazing and as you can see by the pictures were pumped and ready to

actively engage in all aspects of the workshop. We even had Destiny bravely get up on stage and discuss that small

strange looking dinosaur for as long as she could without pausing. The organisers said how impressed they were with

our school and how willing they were to put their hands up to offer their thoughts. We have walked away with more

than one practical idea of how to incorporate their ideas throughout the school – stay tuned.

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Open Afternoon On the 20th of June, we held our Open Afternoon and invited all local year 5 and 6 students as well as their parents/carers.

They saw and experienced all the fantastic opportunities Morisset high has to offer. Thank you to all of our SRC leaders and

staff who showed our community around and a huge thanks to all parents and students who came along.

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Star Struck Some of our talented Star Struck students, making Morisset High school proud as they performed at the Newcastle

Entertainment Centre. They have had an awesome time at Star Struck 2019 🌈⚡️👩🏼🎤 No Limits.

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Rotary Dinner

Each year, MHS hosts over 100 community members from Rotary clubs (from as far as Cessnock), Quota clubs, Loins club, golfers plus many more. Our year 11 and 12 Hospitality class prep, cook and serve a delicious 2-course meal. Everyone in attendance always sing their praises. Thank you to Mr Post, Mrs Dekker and Mrs Kerr for supporting our students. Also, a huge thank you must go to our parents, support from home is a vital component of its success.

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English Report Year 12 have been working on a new module called ‘The Craft of Writing.’ From Xenya in Year 12: “Learning about the

process was interesting and trying to experiment with new things was fun.”

Some extracts from student writing:

Shawn: She can feel the swift breeze coursing through her body and hear nothing but the wind humming with her.

Sam: And so, he went, necklace in hand and heart in the other. He raced back to his quarters, thinking about the look on

his mother’s face when she sees it the next day.

Aaron: You wish to know the past of my present? How my world came to be? What it once was? Well then let share

with you my story, or rather, his story.

Chris: Seventeen years tomorrow, Roman had remarked to himself, having successfully finished assembling the circuit

board in front of him. An expert in electronic capacitors with a passionate display for craftsmanship it was indeed soon

to be Roman’s seventeenth anniversary of working at Electron Eyesight Co. A testament to his character of unchanging

loyalty and stubbornness he thought. A lot had certainly changed in the odd decade since his arrival – once a young

thriving spirit, Roman was now a senior engineer tasked to fabricate artificial eyes.

Emma: You are in for a real awakening. My deepest, most inner thoughts are expressed on these pages. But luckily, I can

only see this. Otherwise I think people would call me slightly crazy or even “The contemplative type.” Yes, I overthink,

well get lost in my thoughts a little but that’s just what makes me… well me.

Debating – our Stage 4, 5 and 6 teams have been preparing for and competing in debating competitions under the

guidance of Mrs Miller and Mr Tamlyn. Congratulations to those students and well done for step up and competing.

Shakespeare Studies – Students in years 8 and year 10 have been working on group projects about Shakespeare. They

had to create a project together and then present it to the class. The English staff have been very impressed with the

effort of the students and the tasks they have submitted.

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Drama - A great day was had by all at the performance of ‘Winyanboga Yurringa’ a play that beautifully explored

Aboriginality and connection to Country in the 21st century.

Class 7R have been looking at camera angles as part of their ‘Adventure’ Unit in English. Students had the opportunity to

head down to the School Oval and spend a lesson recreating different perspectives, angles and techniques in the sun.

“I really liked the activity because we got to go outside and use our phones” - Isabelle

“I loved the activity because the teachers were really encouraging and it was also really active for all of us” – Chloe

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Music WSLA rock band project goes from strength to strength in our community primary schools Bonnells Bay, Dora Creek, Wangi and Wyee. A budding contingency of around 50 students are working towards honing their ability to entertain and dazzle an audience through the power of rock. Students are learning proficiency in drums, guitar, bass, keyboard and vocals as well as support from ukulele and wind instruments. Envisioned by Mrs McDonald, supported by our WSLA principals, developed and lead by Mr Ryan, the program aims to develop students’ musical abilities in a supportive and collaborative environment, improving self-confidence and team work skills. All students involved LOVE the program and cannot wait to showcase their efforts in the near future - watch this space!’

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NSW Term Dates 2019

Period Start Finish

Term 1 - Eastern division Tues, 29 Jan Fri, 12 Apr

School holidays Sat, 13 Apr Sun, 28 Apr

Term 2 Mon, 29 Apr Fri, 05 Jul

School holidays Sat, 6 Jul Sun, 21 Jul

Term 3 Mon, 22 Jul Fri, 27 Sept

School holidays Sat, 28 Sept Sun, 13 Oct

Term 4 Mon, 14 Oct Fri, 20 Dec

School holidays - Eastern Sat, 21 Dec Mon, 27 Jan 2020

School terms

Term dates include school development days (PDF 56.04KB) at the start of Terms 1, 2 and 3, and

the last 2 days of the school year in NSW public schools.

Staff Development days for 2019 are:

Term 1 Tuesday 29th January

Term 2 Monday 29th April

Term 3 Monday 22th July

Term 4 Thursday 19th December

Friday 20th December

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Major sponsors of

Fund Raising Event

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