Newsletter

No 7

6 June 2012

Page 2

Principal’s News

Tamworth Careers

Expo

Former Captain

Returns

Page 3

English Faculty

News

Page 4

Athletics Carnival

Page 5

Careers Festival

Page 6

French Film Festival Red Day @ the Canteen NAIDOC Assembly

Mental Health Support

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 Telephone 02 6772 1266 Facsimile

02 6771 1766 Email d

uval-h

.school@

det.n

sw.edu.au

DATES FOR THE DIARY: ♦ 7 June - Immunisation second dose HPV Girls. First

dose of HepB Yr 7.

♦ 15 June - North West Cross Country at Coolah

♦ 27 June, 10am - NAIDOC Week Assembly

♦ 25 July - Careers Festival

♦ 30 July to 3 August - Ski Trip

This term we are looking at the very real

issue of bullying and other behav-

iours in our shared spaces outside the

classroom. Students are encouraged

to share ideas and design logos for

our corridors that could win

them big rewards. PBL CORNER

RECORD-BREAKING

ATHLETES

Several school athletics records were broken at our recent Athletics

Carnival. Congratulation to our record-breakers, Age Champions, and to

all students who participated in events and entered into the spirit of the day.

Kieran Davies

12 Yrs Discus - 27.55m

(old record set in 2004

25.24m)

Xavier Dean

15 Yrs 200m - 25.31sec

(old record set in 2001

25.62sec)

Kourtnee McFarlane

14 Yrs 100m - 13.25sec

(old record set in 2006

13.44sec)

N’Dea Rumble

Open 3000m - 12.13.81

(old record set in 2008

12.49.61)

Winona Rumble

14 Yrs Discus - 27.11m

(old record set in 1993

26.84m)

HOUSE COMPETITION

RESULTS

Gardiner 870

McIntyre 761

Walker 688

Crane 769

Athletics Carnival continued on Page 4

6 June 2012 Page 2

PRINCIPAL’S NEWS

As I write this, it’s a bitterly cold day in Armidale, and a large number of Duval High

School students are out and about representing the school in a variety of events. Year 10 are out

in the community on Work Experience, a fair

number of Year 12 are at HSC Booster Days (Senior Science or Chemistry) or attending a

Geography excursion, and the Futsal team is, no

doubt, enjoying the warmth of Coffs Harbour, where they are currently competing.

Meanwhile, out at UNE, the girls’ hockey team

have beaten Oxley High 1-0, (9-a-side in golden goal extra time), and are now to play Tamworth

in the regional finals. Coach Nathan Craven

tells me that today’s game was a hard-fought affair, and it must have been quite a struggle

considering the conditions!

This morning I also had the chance to see some

of our Class Ensembles competing in the Armidale Eisteddfod at the Old Teachers’

College – I was very proud of our kids and the

obvious effort they put into their music, and the enjoyment they get out of it. Well done to all of

the staff members who have made these

opportunities available.

I shouldn’t really be surprised that the students

here are such a versatile bunch – the scope of events happening just today are a reflection of

the breadth of the curriculum we try to offer for

the benefit of the students, as well as the great range of extra-curricular activities in which they

are able to participate. Just another day at

Duval really, but look at what they can do!

Stafford Cameron

STUDENTS ATTEND TAMWORTH

CAREERS EXPO On Wednesday, 16th May, some of the Year 10

11, and 12 students went to the Tamworth Careers Expo. The Expo was held in the

Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre

(TREC), which was a big venue, with a lot of stalls spread around the place. The stalls were

advertising all the university options we had for

our future. Some of the universities represented were University of Sydney, University of

Canberra, University of RMIT, and also our local

university, University of New England. At each university stall there were people to help guide

us through our options for the future. They were

happy to give us booklets and all the

information we needed to know about the universities, including what ATAR we would

need to get into each course at their university.

Overall, it was a fun and exciting experience. Kasumi Scott

FORMER CAPTAIN RETURNS

Former Captain Oliver Finch:

“Economics got me to where I

am today”.

Oliver Finch, the

2005 Duval High School Captain,

recently returned

to have morning tea with the staff.

On leaving Duval

Oliver attended the University of

Technology in Sydney where he

graduated with a

d e g r e e i n P r o p e r t y

Economics in

2009. He is currently living in

Paddington and is

the Development Manager f o r

Stockland Sydney.

MONEY MATTERS

Parents and carers, please note that when paying by cheque for school fees or an

excursion for one or more children, please pay

on the one cheque, rather than separate cheques for different payments. Thank you.

School Administration Manager

6 June 2012 Page 3

ENGLISH FACULTY NEWS

Public Speaking Year 12 Student, Matt Barton, has won through

to the State Finals of the Sydney Morning Herald

Plain Speaking Competition after a convincing win in the North-West Finals held at Farrar last

month. Matt’s prepared speech on “The Nanny

State” referred to the importance of laws to protect the weak in society by drawing an

analogy with Mary Poppins, while his impromptu speech was on the topic “It’s Time to Take a

Stand” and saw Matt argue on the importance of

Australia taking a stand for financial security to prevent the spread of the Global Financial

Crisis.

Matt clearly won in both sections for the second

year in a row, with the adjudicator commenting

on his depth and breadth of knowledge and his clear and entertaining manner. Matt’s victory

will see him travel to Sydney on the 15th of June

for the State Finals.

Inside the HSC Training Day Members of Duval High’s English staff spent last

Saturday at school undertaking an English

Teachers Association professional development program on the HSC English Exam. The

program saw them share in a videoconference

with teachers from around the state on how the HSC English exam is constructed and what

markers are looking for in the responses.

Teachers and experienced markers from

Armidale, Inverell and Tamworth, led by Ms. Hoddinott, then undertook shared marking of

previous papers, which helped them gain a

greater understanding of what HSC English markers are looking for and how we can help

our students develop better responses to help

them gain better marks in this subject.

Many useful ideas were shared and will be

brought back to benefit our students this year and in years to come. The English Faculty

would like to thank Ms Hoddinott for her organisation of the day.

HSC Author talks to Year 12 via Video-

Conference J.C. Burke, author of the novel the Story of Tom

Brennan, spoke to our Year 12 Standard English

students last Monday about the choices and

issues involved in her novel. Students from

Duval asked questions about the text and many

found the answers interesting and unexpected and all students found the experience of the

video-conference helpful to their HSC studies.

National Year of Reading Celebrations continue. We are lucky enough to have acclaimed Australian author Sophie Masson

working with our students on creative writing on

Wednesday, 6 June. This is a great way to hone our students’ skills, and workshops for Years 12,

11, 7, 8 and 9 students have been organised.

Sophie is a great friend to our school and we know we will all have an inspiring day with her.

In Term 3 we will be having Nette Hilton visit

our school as part of the National Year of

Reading. Nette is an illustrator and author and we hope to have her work with Year 8’s, as part

of their work in Term 3 will be on creating their

own picture books.

DARK at Duval We are starting up (or at least, reviving)

DARK—Duval Avid Readers Klub. So for all the

avid readers in the school, stay tuned on when we will be meeting.

Debating Success continues for our senior Duval Red

Team who are off debating Glen Innes High School this week.

This is your chance to be part of something big. The HEYWIRE competition is now open to

people aged 16 - 22, to submit a story about life

in Australia outside the major cities.

Your story can be created in any form of media:

text, video, photography or audio. And if you

are selected as one of our winners (roughly 40) your story will be featured on ABC Local Radio,

ABC Radio National, triple j and abc.net.au.

Entries are open now for the 2012 Heywire competition. Upload your story before Monday,

September 17.

See Miss Cotton in the English Faculty for more details.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL (Cont. from Page 1) 2012 AGE CHAMPIONS

12 Years Girls Breanna Stace 12 Years Boys Kieren Davies

13 Years Girls N’Dea Rumble 13 Years Boys Callum Evans

14 Years Girls Winona Rumble 14 Years Boys Jake Whiteley

15 Years Girls Bethany Jedlicka 15 Years Boys Xavier Dean

16 Years Girls Madeleine Sauer

16 Years Boys Corey Stace

Open Girls Katie Munro

Open Boys Hayden Freeman

Page 4 6 June 2012

Sheridan Boney in action in the shot put

William Vince-Moin leaping in the long jump

The human carrots: Evie Weir, Kasumi Scott,

Caitlin Grafton

Page 5 6 June 2012

InvitationInvitationInvitationInvitation

Year 10, 11&12

Duval High School Careers Festival

Date: 25th July 2012 Time: 4.30pm to 7.30pm

Location: School Gymnasium

It is with great excitement and pleasure that I invite you to Duval High School’s very

first Careers Festival.

DHS Careers Festival is a new and engaging event aimed at providing our students

with the opportunities to explore career/vocational options and identify future career

pathways.

DHS will host representatives from various local businesses, government departments

and education organisations to highlight what is available to our students beyond secondary school.

There will be interactive displays where students and parents will have an opportunity to discuss careers with local employers and educational organisations.

The Festival aims to provide students with sound career information and knowledge

prior to subject selection. Students use this experience to choose courses that reflect

their career planning.

As parents and carers you are very influential in young people’s career decisions.

Take the time to attend, bring your children and support our School and the Local Community!

Celebrate this occasion with canapés made by our hospitality students in tandem

with the Goldfish Bowl, keep warm with easy as coffee and hot chocolate,

feast on our complimentary sausage sizzle, and be entertained by Soo-Wee the

Magician and Dunbar the Clown AND indulge in copious amounts of fairy

floss and popcorn!!!

Let’s plan your child’s future together!!!!!

Lana Hardman

Careers Advisor

02 6772 1266 Email: svyetlana.hardman@det.nsw.edu.au

RSVPRSVPRSVPRSVP by

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Page 6 6 June 2012

NAIDOC WEEK

ASSEMBLY Wednesday, 27 June - 10am

NAIDOC Week Theme -

Spirit of the Tent Embassy:

40 Years On

RED DAY @ THE CANTEEN

Friday, 22 June Fundraiser for a groovier look for

your Canteen.

Wear RED and donate $1

Sausage sizzle $2 Soft drinks $2 Assorted confectionery