West Wyalong High School Newsletter SINCERITY Monday September 9th 2019 TERM 3 WEEK 8

30 Dumaresq Street West Wyalong NSW 2671 T 02 69722700 F 02 69722236 E westwyalon-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

MID TERM REPORT

A huge thank you to Mrs Kirkby and the teacher and student volunteers who made our West Wyalong Show school display a success. Our students were also involved in a variety of other volunteer work in both setting up and dismantling aspects of the show. The show society acknowledged our contribution and we are very proud of the commitment our school makes to a variety of community events.

I would also like to thank the billeting families who hosted students from the Nepean Rotary Club during their country experience. The Nepean Rotary exchange is a great opportunity for both rural and suburban students to experience different lifestyles and opportunities. Ms Forster has again organised quality experiences for seven students from Caroline Chisolm College and Nepean High School. There is always a mountain of paperwork and organisation in co-ordinating the various experiences and billets and the 2019 exchange was not an exception.

This year the Nepean students were able to visit Evolution mine, Lake Cowal Conservation Centre, Forbes sheep sale, Temora Aviation museum, West Wyalong Show and various farms including some sheep shearing. Thank you to Mr Langford (who was a late replacement for Mr Lees) for driving the bus and being the tour guide for the week. The feedback from our visitors was very positive and I am sure they had a time to remember.

Our Rotary exchange students will travel to Penrith early in Term 4 and have the opportunity to undertake work experiences that are not readily available in our community. I am sure they will enjoy and value this excursion.

SCHOOL LIBRARY Term 3 on Wednesday afternoons from 3.30pm – 5.00pm for students to do their homework or assignments. Students can access library computers to help with their research. This offer is available to all students from The School Library will continue to be open during Year 7 through to Year 12. The library will be supervised by various staff members. STAY CONNECTED A reminder to those students, parents, carers and family who have yet to “Like” our Facebook page, please do, so that you will receive notifications and important information about upcoming events. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WestWyalongHS/

School Website: http://www.westwyalon-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/

WEEK 8 Monday 9th September – 13th September

Year 11 Yearly Exams

WEEK 9 16th and 17th September Market Stalls – Lunch 1

Monday, 16th September U15’s CHS Girls Basketball vs Fairvale HS 6.00pm WW Sports Stadium

Tuesday, 17th September HSC Mathematics Standard Study Day

18th -20th September Girls Rugby League – St Mary’s Sydney Katrina Fanning Cup

Thursday, 19th September Henty Field Day Excursion

Friday, 20th September Year 7 Immunisations

WEEK 10 Tuesday, 24th September Murray Cod & Southern

Cotton Excursion – Griffith Year 9/10 Food Technology

Friday 27th September Year 12 Final Assembly MPU 10.30 – 12.30pm

SINCERITY Monday, 9th September 2019 TERM 3 WEEK 8

www.westwyalon-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

PERPETUAL TROPHIES Could all perpetual trophies from Presentation Day 2018 please be returned to the Front Office as soon as possible. Thank you. YEAR 11 MATHEMATICS STUDY DAY On Wednesday 28th of August, three year 11 Mathematics Advanced/Extension 1 students and Ms Momot attended a year 11 study day at Cowra High School. The day consisted of developing study skills and examination techniques and the role of motivation and hard work. Being in the third term, it is easy to forget those motivating techniques presented earlier in the year by teachers and this day was a great opportunity to become re-engaged with study techniques.

SUPPORTING AND LINKING TRADESWOMEN (SALT) PROGRAM Girls from years 8, 9 & 10 have recently had the opportunity to participate in the SALT program. This program delivers try-a-trade workshops for students in rural and remote schools. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be practical and hands on.

This program is all about advocating for women in trades, promoting diversity and acceptance in the workplace and calling for change with attitudes surrounding women in trades.

PREMIERS DEBATING CHALLENGE YEARS 7 AND 8 On Thursday 29th of August the West Wyalong High School debating team travelled to Coolamon Central School to participate in the year 7/8 Premiers Debating Challenge. The team consisted of Charlotte Manton, Katie McCullough, Prudent Sanga and Thomas Jordan-Downes. We faced teams from Coolamon, Ardlethan and Temora. Students had to

SINCERITY Monday, 9th September 2019 TERM 3 WEEK 8

www.westwyalon-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

argue some difficult topics, including “Commercial TV should have more Aussie content” and “Australia should open its doors to more refugees”. The “commercial TV” topic proved difficult, as neither team watches commercial television anymore. As a result, the team lost its first debate narrowly, but took the adjudicators advice and used it to win their second debate convincingly. It was a great experience as students learnt some valuable skills and built their confidence speaking fluently in public.

WHETHER CHALLENGE – DUBBO

During week 6 Mrs Kirkby and Miss Maslin, together with ten students and seven wethers, travelled to Dubbo to compete in the 2019 Schools Wether Challenge which was run in conjunction with the RaboBank Dubbo National Merino Sheep Show. Over 60 schools attended the event with a total of over 400 wethers generously donated by Egelabra Merino Stud. Competition classes included Production, Wool Value, Meat Value, Champion Team and Best Presented School.

West Wyalong High School presented and conducted themselves exceptionally, to be placed 21st and 34th out of 66 teams overall. Jorja Hill was successful with her individual wether earning a 3rd place in the production class. West Wyalong High School was also awarded ‘Best Presented School’ with only five other schools indicating impressive showmanship, willingness to help throughout the show and communication. Our students were also invaluable to smaller schools helping both Ungarie and Molong present their wether teams.

Team members included; Jorja Hill, Chloe Worner, Rebecca Morris, Lilly Spackman, Charlotte Whiley, Alana McKenzie, Connor Davies, Jaxon Lemon, Mitchell Rath, Leslie Quarman. Unfortunately Lachlan Worner and Rhys Sandow were ill and unable to travel to Dubbo.

SINCERITY Monday, 9th September 2019 TERM 3 WEEK 8

www.westwyalon-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

2019 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION and ASSESSMENT FOR SCHOOLS (ICAS) DATES

Subject

Competition sitting day

Writing Tuesday, 10th September Spelling Thursday, 12th September English Tuesday, 17th September Mathematics Thursday, 19th September

Dear West Wyalong High School community, As part of her self directed learning project Sarah, a Year 9 student, would like to create a recipe book that showcases our community’s favourite recipes. We are asking for anyone who may be interested in sharing their favourite recipe to get in touch. Sarah would like to include a range of sweet and savoury dishes. She would particularly like to include recipes that are family favourites passed down through generations or ones that have a special story behind the recipe. If you have a recipe to share, can you please email it to Elizabeth.Perry3@det.nsw.edu.au or drop in a copy to the office. Please be sure to include your name and story behind the recipe so that these details can be included within the book. Thanks for your help.

SINCERITY Monday, 9th September 2019 TERM 3 WEEK 8

www.westwyalon-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Take Charge – Riverina Leadership Forum

Our Year 10 Leaders Tiarne Lloyd, Rebecca Cumming, Ethan Tough and Will Crossman took the opportunity to attend this forum at CSU Wagga Convention Centre. They heard the stories and experiences of a number of guest speakers as well as workshops that challenged them. This forum was provided free of charge to students from a variety of schools across the REROC (Riverina Eastern Regional Organisation of Councils) area. The first speaker, Ethan Butson, at just 22 had taken his science projects to a whole new level. He spoke passionately about how his annual science projects from primary school had put him on the path to inventing items to assist people. He created the VisionMaster system, a camera based device that helps people overcome stroke and vision impairment. Ethan is also developing a new way to aid the treatment of cancer using radiotherapy with a device that can reduce the radiation dose delivered to a patient’s skin. Ethan was named the National Australian BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Young Scientist three times and represented Australia at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair on numerous occasions. In 2014, he won first place in the world for best medical invention to aid humanity for the SMART System and in 2015 was a finalist for NSW Young Australian of the Year. He urged our young leaders to take on a challenge or an opportunity. (Source: REROC agenda) Our first workshop was using Sphero robotic toys and the app to create a mini version of battle bots. It was impressive to see their ingenuity in redesigning their bot covers to provide a better chance of success. Our next speakers were Shane Baldry and Blake Hingerty - Goldenfields Water. Shane is the Mechanical Coordinator for Goldenfields Water and spoke about his career path at Goldenfields Water. Blake Hingerty is an apprentice Fitter/Machinist at Goldenfields Water and spoke about his apprenticeship with Goldenfields. They presented an insight into the career paths the company provides

as well as ongoing learning and training courses that are part modern jobs. (Source: REROC agenda) Our next session was with the Mindfulness Warrior, Anna Gannon who provided us with a meditative experience on channelling our thoughts to positive achievements. She encouraged students to work toward study and assignments and build on their strengths. Our final speaker was Tayla Martin, a young regional artist who graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Creative Arts and Design (Photography & Graphic Design) from Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga NSW. Growing up in rural NSW, in the small country town of Nyngan influenced much of Tayla’s photographic practice and her understanding of the need for arts in Regional NSW. Tayla received a Young Regional Artist Scholarship, with her latest work being a result of this ongoing series. (Source: REROC agenda) Using the media effectively was our last workshop with Evolutionize Media. The goal was to make students aware of the importance of film skills in producing even their own video resumes. The workshop took a practical turn when we could use the equipment provided to make short personal introductions and get used to speaking to the camera. The day gave our leadership team members a range of differing options and ideas in how to empower and inspire others in their year to take on a few challenges. The students appreciated the opportunity offered by our Local Councils.

Enjoying lunch

SINCERITY Monday, 9th September 2019 TERM 3 WEEK 8

www.westwyalon-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Creating battle bots

Working through our filming checklist

FOOTY COLOURS DAY As part of their SDL project, Izzy and Beth chose to run Footy Colours Day with the goal to raise as much money as possible for the Fight Cancer Foundation. On Tuesday 3rd September, students and staff were asked to wear their favourite Footy colours and the girls ran a cookie stall at lunch time. As a school we have managed to raise $495 to be donated to the cause. A special thank you to Dough Re Mi cookies for supplying us with some awesome Football shaped cookies to support our fundraising and to everyone who wore their footy colours, made a donation or purchased a cookie.

MARKET STALLS Year 9/10 Business Studies students have been working hard to prepare for their upcoming market stall businesses. These businesses will be operating in the Quad during lunch times on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th September (Week 9). The businesses provide an awesome hands on learning experience, putting theory we have been learning in the classroom into action. The market stalls include a Mexican food stand, sausage sizzle, homemade lemonade and bakery treats. Students will be able to purchase food and drinks from these stalls during lunch one on both days.

1

NSW Department of Education – Youth Aware of Mental Health – Parent Information sheet

Youth Aware of Mental Health

The Department of Education is working with

the Black Dog Institute to run a school-based

peer support and mental health literacy

program called Youth Aware of Mental

Health (YAM).

What is YAM?

YAM is a program aimed at addressing the

mental health needs of young people.

YAM involves discussion and role play.

It aims to get young people involved and

talking about mental health. By doing this

young people will learn problem solving skills

and gain knowledge about mental health.

This is a free program for all Year 9

students. The Department of Education has

funded all costs associated with the YAM

program.

Who is it for?

All Year 9 students

What is in the program?

There are 6 themes addressed in the

program

What is mental health?

Self-help advice

Stress and crisis

Depression and suicidal thoughts

Helping a friend in need?

Who can I ask for advice?

How will YAM run in our school?

YAM will run over 3 weeks and is delivered

in the classroom setting (up to 30 students)

by accredited trainers external to the school.

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

Opening

session Role play 2

Closing

session

+ +

Role play 1 Role play 3

Students will be given a booklet to keep. It

will include a guide of local health resources

as well as a list of different organisations

who work with youth in the local community.

Who can I contact to discuss YAM?

The contact for YAM in our school is Leonie Meredith

When will YAM be delivered in our

school?

YAM will be delivered on Tues 15 October, Tues 22 October and Tues 29 October.

Where can I find more information

about YAM?

http://www.y-a-m.org/