hunter sports high spectator · the release of this year’s hsc results. and last night we joined...

Hunter Sports High School Pacific Highway Gateshead NSW 2290 www.huntersports.com.au

T: 4943 5755 F: 4942 2565 E: [email protected]

A Message from the Principal

Another year comes to a close and what a year it’s been! We’ve had some big changes and introduced many new initiatives at Hunter Sports High which have seen our students engaged on a whole new level and make me very excited about the years ahead. Students, staff and community members came together last Friday for our annual Presentation Assembly where we saw hundreds of students acknowledged for their academic achievements. This special assembly is always the highlight of the year and it was beautifully hosted by our new school captains and leadership team. See further in the newsletter for a full wrap-up of the day. The celebrations continued yesterday when we welcomed many of our Year 12 students back for a celebratory barbecue to mark the release of this year’s HSC results. And last night we joined with our ATSI students and community to celebrate the many incredible achievements of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students – a wonderful way to cap off a great year! We forge ahead with the redevelopment of the school with preliminary electrical works currently underway as we await final planning approval and the announcement of the construction tender. With demolition of a number of buildings due to commence early in the new year, staff have been busily preparing during the final days of school. This marks the beginning of a very exciting few years at Hunter Sports High over which we will see our school transform from old to state-of-the-art. It will be a time of much change and we appreciate your understanding and support as we embark on the redevelopment journey. Please don’t hesitate to contact the school if you have any concerns or questions and keep an eye on our school Facebook page and website for further updates. Semester 2 student reports are now available on the new online Parent Portal. If you haven’t registered yet, please follow the instructions in the flyer towards the end of the newsletter and use the unique codes that you should have received in the mail to link your child to your account. If you have any trouble registering or downloading a report, please contact the school. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated staff for the incredible job they do each and every day to educate and support our students. As technology in education takes off our staff are constantly changing the way they think and teach to ensure our students are prepared for the jobs of the future. We will farewell a number of staff this year and welcome new faces in 2017 – see inside for more details. Remember that Lowes at Charlestown Square now exclusively stock and sell Hunter Sports High uniforms. Lowes are offering a 15% discount from January 3-8 so this would be a great time to stock up and ensure that your children start 2017 in style and in full school uniform. Finally, I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday period. Thank you for your efforts throughout the year to support and guide your children in their education and for your support of our school. Enjoy the break with your family and friends and I look forward to a big year ahead at Hunter Sports High in 2017. Rachel Byrne – Principal

Hunter Sports High Spectator

2016 TERM 4 – WEEK 10

BALANCING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE WITH SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT

A Sad Loss for our School On behalf of Hunter Sports High School and its community, our thoughts and condolences are with the family, friends

and colleagues of Jennifer Bates who passed away as a result of a tragic accident at Wickham on Wednesday. Jen has

been the Project Manager of our school redevelopment for the past two years and has been the driving force behind

providing our community with what will be a state-of-the-art educational facility. She will be sorely missed.

Top: Our 2017 leadership team did a wonderful job hosting our

Presentation Assembly last week. Above: We’re getting closer to our new school with the redevelopment due to commence early in 2017.

Hunter Sports High Spectator 2016 TERM 4 – WEEK 10


Staff Changes for the New Year As the year draws to a close we wish a fond farewell to a number of staff. Ms Georgie Sainsbury (Relieving Deputy Principal) will take up an 18-month Learning & Engagement role on the Central Coast, while Mr Darren Fromson (Relieving Head Teacher TAS) will commence a three-year Senior Pathways Advisor role in the new year. We also say goodbye (for now) to our Librarian Mr Peter Gordon, CAPAL teacher Ms Svensk, TAS teacher Mr Barry and Merrilyn McSporran from our administration team. We wish them all the very best.

2017 Orientation Day We had some special visitors to the school last week, with our incoming Year 7 students joining us for Orientation Day to help prepare them for life as a Hunter Sports High student. The students participated in activities to get used to a typical high school day, ranging from reading a timetable, a scavenger hunt finding answers to questions about the school along the way, and learning activities in our innovative learning spaces. Our Year 11 students acted as mentors on the day. They did an exceptional job as ambassadors for our school and made all the students feel at ease in their new surroundings. We saw lots of smiles on their faces and are looking forward to welcoming them all to our school next year.

Christmas Comes Early at the Café

Our Opal Support Unit class served up a Christmas feast last week to celebrate the last week of the Opal Cafe program for 2016. Staff and guests were treated to a delicious Christmas lunch including prawn cocktails, ham, chicken and salads, a range of desserts and a yummy fruit punch. This fantastic program has been a huge success again this year, giving our students an opportunity to learn valuable life and work skills. We look forward to another great year in the Café in 2017.

Upcoming Events DATE EVENT Thurs 15 Dec Minimbah Celebrations, 6pm-9pm @

Charlestown Bowling Club Big Picture Senior Excursion Fri 16 December Windale Wall Project Last Day of School for 2016 Sunday 25 Dec Christmas Day Sunday 01 January 2017

New Year’s Day

Thursday 26 January 2017

Australia Day / Public Holiday

Friday 27 January 2017

Staff return for 2017

Monday 30 January 2017

Term 1 Commences: Years 7, 11 & 12 only

Tuesday 31 January 2017

All other students return: ALL STUDENTS

Wednesday 01 February 2017

Swimming Carnival – Whole School @ Charlestown Pool

Thursday 02 February 2017

Student Leadership Camp

• Patricia Smith Memorial Awards: (for music/band)

- Daniel Beeton, Cayel McPhee, Dekota Reed-Lorrie, Thomas Harrison

• P&C Association Community Service Award: for a student who has made an outstanding contribution within the school community

- Shakyra Wells, Caitlyn Goldie & Danika Hugo (Yr 9)

• Silver Awards: (for students who have received three Bronze Awards in any area of school endeavor) - Year 8 Abbey Broderick, Tamika Bull,

Shayla Dwyer, Jasmin Evans, Demi Hilditch, Jai MacPherson

- Year 9 Emily Dumas, Brendan Knowles, Draye Patrick

- Year 10 Bianca Cheetham, Jarrod Fenech, Zac Griffiths, Teah MacPherson

- Year 11 Tazmyne Luschwitz



Celebrating Success at Presentation Day 2016 It was wonderful to see so many family and community members at Hunter Sports High School last Friday 9th December to help us celebrate the successes and achievements of our students throughout the year.

Hundreds of awards were given at the presentation assembly to acknowledge the efforts of our students, with certificates given to those who placed in the top 5% in each subject, those who achieved Positive Behaviour for Learning awards for their outstanding efforts in modelling our school values, and many who represented the school in cultural, academic and sporting pursuits.

We also recognised the dux of each year and presented major annual awards at the ceremony that was run by our incoming school leaders for 2017. Congratulations to the following students who achieved major awards on the day:

• Dux of Year Awards: for the highest academic achieving student across all subject areas

- Year 7 Ruby Jones - Year 8 Emily Winpenny - Year 9 Ellie Jones - Year 10 Jarrod Fenech - Year 11 Nicole Foote

• Principal’s Awards: for consistent application and commitment to all aspects of schooling

- Year 7 Alana Griffiths - Year 8 Jack Gillett-Faulkner - Year 9 Brendan Knowles - Year 10 Teah MacPherson - Year 11 Riley O’Dea

• Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards: for outstanding academic achievement

- Year 7 Noah Abrahams - Year 8 Jack Gillett-Faulkner - Year 9 Calista Schueppenhauer-Wells - Year 10 Jack Edwards - Year 11 Kye Abrahams

• Pat Sleigh Award: For leadership, commitment, and promoting Aboriginal Education to the school, peers and wider community

- Tazmyne Luschwitz (Year 11)

• Annette Heywood Memorial Award for diligence and consistency throughout the year

- Matthew Anderson-Thompson (Year 10)

• Pat Conroy Citizenship Award: for a student who has actively participated in many aspects of school life

- Jack Hemmings (Year 11)

• Jodie Harrison Community Service Award:

- Tazmyne Luschwitz (Year 11)



2016 has yet again been an exciting and busy year for our P & C committee. In February of this year the annual general meeting was held and our former President Kelly Sutton stepped down as family and work commitments meant that she was unable to continue with the fantastic work that she has done over the last couple of years. As a committee we are extremely grateful for all the hard work that Kelly has done and on behalf of the P & C I thank her sincerely for her dedication to the P & C Committee. At this meeting Jenni Whitehead took over the position of Treasurer and I moved into the position of President.

We started the year with a new canteen supervisor, Melanie Hall. Mel went straight to work transforming our canteen menu by including more fresh and healthy options and some daily specials. These changes seem to have been well received by both students and staff which has meant that the canteen has been nice and busy. With fewer volunteer helpers this year in the canteen the committee made the decision to employee another paid helper with Donna Murray joining us in March. Donna has been fantastic in her support of Mel and we are very grateful to have both of these fantastic people in charge of the canteen.

The canteen is the major fundraiser of the P & C committee with funds raised being put back into the school for the benefit of all students of Hunter Sports High School. This year our fundraising activities were boosted with a Trivia Night held in July and again the Diana Ferrari fundraising night at their Kotara store. The show of support from HSHS staff for the trivia night was fantastic with the Science department taking out the trivia night title and almost $3000 raised on the night. The other major fundraiser was the Diana Ferrari night where the shop opened after hours to allow us to shop till we dropped. They then donated part of those sales back to the P & C committee to the amount of just over $1,000.

The P & C committee this year have donated back to the school and the students for the following:

• New shirts for the band • Musical instruments for the music department • Prizes to the school Art Competition which were

awarded at the recent school presentation day • We have also agreed to support the school in the

purchase of some new sporting equipment and sheltered seating for the school grounds in the new year.

These things would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of the committee and our volunteers. So if you have some spare time please come along to our P & C meetings which are held on the first Tuesday of each month from 6pm to 7pm. We also would love anyone that has some time (even if only an hour or two every now and then) to help Mel and Donna in the canteen. Your help makes it possible for us to help the students of Hunter Sports High School.

HSHS P&C: A Summary of our Year

Members of the HSHS Band sporting their new shirts provided by the P&C Committee.

First in PDHPE: A Family Affair Hunter Sports High acknowledged the academic success and positive contributions of numerous students in our Annual End of Year Awards Ceremony last week. Across all subjects, students who placed first or in the top 5 per cent of the course were recognised. For the first time in history, Stage 4 and 5 PDHPE first place winners were sibling combinations. Ruby and Ellie Jones took out first place in Years 7 and 9 PDHPE, while Jai and Teah Macpherson placed first in Years 8 and 10. I’m not sure if this will ever occur again so I’m glad I was around to witness this phenomenon. Congratulations to all award winners.

Ms Wilson Relieving Head Teacher PDHPE

TSP Raffle Winners The TSP raffle was drawn at our Presentation Assembly last week. Thank you to all families and community members who supported our students by purchasing raffle tickets and in turn helped our students reduce their TSP fees.

The lucky winners were:

• 1st: Hisense LED Television Jo Jennings • 2nd: $300 Rebel Voucher Meg Vile • 3rd: $150 Coles/Myer Voucher Pat Thompson • 4th: Hungerford Hill Harrison Frendo

Food & Wine Tasting • 5th: $50 Rebel Voucher Mimi Davis

A group of girls from Year 9 and 10 PASS classes took part in the Sport NSW ‘Girls Get Active Day’ at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility last Thursday 8th December. It was a wonderful day where our students listened to a panel of elite athletes who shared their inspiring stories and then participated in a series of six different sports sessions. The panel of consisted of five athletes: Matilda Chloe Logarzo (Football), GWS Giant Erin McKinnon (Australian Rules), Paralympian Erin Cleaver (Athletics), NSW Breaker Maisy Gibson (Cricket) and Jillaroo Caitlin Moran (Rugby League). Erin is a current student at Hunter Sports High School, while Maisy and Caitlin are both former students. The common message from the panellists was that sport provides many benefits and is a good outlet, particularly for teenagers as they progress through high school. The Hunter Sports High girls – Kayla, Bianca, Abbey, Teah, Tiara, Georgia, Taylah, Kimberley, Emily, Renee, Skye, Annalee, Kiara, Sophy, Ashley, Hailey and Maja – were fantastic ambassadors for our school and were an outstanding reflection on the quality of students within our great school.

Siblings Secure Silver at All Schools The MacPherson family capped off an outstanding year with Teah and Jai achieving fantastic results at the Australian All Schools Athletic Championships held in Canberra from 2-4 December. Both came home with silver medals – Teah’s for the 200m hurdles and Jai’s for the long jump and 4 x 100m relay. Teah also placed fourth in the 100m sprint and the 100m relay and fifth in the Swedish relay, while Jai also came seventh in his 100m sprint final. Congratulations to them both on a very successful year, both on the track and in the classroom.



HSHS Girls Get Active:



Merry End of Year for Music Students The end of the school year has seen some incredible student efforts and achievements in music. The School Band competed in the 2016 Bandfest competition this term and was narrowly beaten. Coming in second was just one of our amazing achievements this term. Our partner primary school were treated to a great concert in Week 5 when the band toured our three local schools to drum up new members who are coming to HSHS next year. The band’s final performance this year was at the Lakeside Special School End of Year Concert where they played Eagle Rock and some of Lakeside’s students performed for them in return. It was definitely a fun day!

All music classes have been working hard completing many and varied projects this term. Some Year 8 classes have been working on Green Screen activities and Year 11/12 students have handed in their first assessment task for their HSC year. We were overwhelmed by the standard of rock compositions that were submitted – one of the groups ended up with a well-deserved 10 out of 10!

The whole CAPAL department is sad to announce that one of our hard working team members will no longer be with us next year. We want to wish Ms Elizabeth Svensk all the best in her future. She will be sorely missed. The CAPAL department would like to wish all students and their families a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Students Make a Splash for Positive Behaviour

Twenty-four lucky students made a splash at Wet & Wild in Sydney on Wednesday as a reward for reaching the upper echelons of our school’s Positive Behaviour for Learning level system. It was the perfect place to be on a hot 36 degree day and all students were outstanding role models for our school. Special thanks to Ms Meisenhelter and Mr Scully for taking the group down to Sydney.

The HSHS Student Representative Council (SRC) plays a crucial role in ensuring our students have their voices heard as well as coordinating a number of fundraising activities for the school and various charities.

In the past year the SRC has been involved in the coordination of the 40 Hour Famine, Beanie Day and Harmony Day, and we are looking forward to making 2017 another successful year for our chosen activities.

This year’s Raw Challenge leadership camp at Doyalson was not only amazing for building our team spirit and leadership skills but was also a lot of fun as you can see in the pictures above.

Our final HSHS community team-building activity involved all years and focused on raising money for our own school. We held a ‘Kahoot Day’ for all years this week with a gold coin donation entry fee. Kahoot is an online quiz that our students use regularly. The SRC representatives for each year conducted the quiz for their year group and the winners of each year took on their year advisors at the end of the day. A great time was had by all and the money raised will help us out next year to buy something that we think the school is in need of.

Thanks to all members of the 2016 SRC for a great year!

Student Representative Council 2016



Fun on Fairy Bread Day

Big Picture students celebrated Fairy Bread Day at the end of last month! Students were presented an Exhibition on the origins of the Aussie classic (historically eaten by the Dutch), learnt the fairy bread song, and were challenged to calculate the number of hundreds and thousands that could fit in a jar, on a slice of bread and in a mouthful! This activity provided a great opportunity for all classes of Big Picture to come together to learn and have fun.

Hunter Sports High Big Picture Academy staff attended two days’ of professional development at Cooks Hill Campus earlier this term where they met and learned from Big Picture founder, Elliott Washor, who designed a bold new school dedicated to educating one student at a time. His innovative style of teaching and learning is now an educational success known as Big Picture Education.

On the second day, several of our Year 10 students joined over 40 staff including several principals as well as representatives from New Zealand and interstate. Maja Deans, Angus Doolan and Sophie Buller accompanied Michelle Handyside (Big Picture Coordinator), Paula Quigley (Senior Advisor) and Dave Staley (Year 9 Advisor). Each student recounted their experience and journey in the Big Picture Academy and had an opportunity to talk about any challenges being faced. The group brainstormed ideas not only for the Year 10 students but had time to apply Big Picture design to whole school matters that the program could contribute to.

Happy Campers

Big Picture students from Year 8 through to Year 12 were rewarded for their commitment to their Big Picture studies mid-way through this final term. Students spent an action-packed three days and two nights at Ferndale Park, Dungog, accompanied by their trusty advisors. While students had to take care of their own campsites, participate in activities and enjoy the peaceful riverside location, staff ensured students were well fed, got to know each other better, and shared in a range of day and night activities including a bush walk, group games and scary campfire stories!

Staff and students enjoyed interacting with each other in a different learning environment, making friends with the wildlife, becoming more familiar with local history and geography, and creating many memorable moments along the way.

Big Picture Staff Train with Founder



Rugby Sevens Western Success

Several members of the Hunter Sports High community competed at the National Youth Sevens tournament in Perth last weekend. This was the first time the championships were held in Perth with a huge travel and recovery demand placed on all.

Ngalika Barker represented the National Indigenous Girls team who played a solid tournament, ending up a credible eighth overall. The team enjoyed some attacking flair over the weekend exciting the thousands watching with Ngalika setting up many opportunities for her team mates with her strong runs.

Floyd Tighe was a crucial member of the Boys Plate Winning National Indigenous team, who pulled out a stunning win over NSW White Boys in the Plate Final, winning 33-7. Floyd stunned onlookers and national selectors with his skill and pace.

Emma Bradford joins Floyd as a plate winner as part of Mr Scully's NSW White Girls team, proving too strong for the Victorian Rebels, winning 44-0. Emma was one of the youngest members of the team and hit harder than most, setting an impressive tempo in defence.

Likewise, these students have proven themselves as crucial members of training squads for their states and drove NSW Blue Girls to a narrow Runners Up position, and NSW Blue Boys to State Champions (including former student Tristan Reilly).

These students have proven critical in several of the school's sevens successes over the year in many school gala days and competitions, and their efforts have been rewarded with these wonderful results. Well done!

On Friday 25th November Year 11 student Hamish Thomson was the very first Big Picture student across the nation to present his senior project through his portfolio and a powerful exhibition demonstrating tertiary readiness. Hamish is aiming for acceptance into a Bachelor of Law/Bachelor of Business double degree. David Parsons (Year 11) also presented his senior project to a panel of university academics, admissions specialists and our Principal Ms Byrne. David is striving for entry into Biomedicine. Last to present was Year 12 student Sophie Nenadovic, a pioneer of the Big Picture Graduation Portfolio pathway. Sophie presented her ultimate exhibition and displayed extensive knowledge from her detailed research into aspects of physiotherapy. She showcased her practical understanding and personal experience in both clinical and sporting settings.

Big Picture Tours TAFE

One of the Big Picture commitments as students GATEWAY into the senior institute is to become familiar with local educational centres such as TAFE, the University and private colleges to gather information on post-school options and career planning. On Friday 2nd December Senior Advisor Miss Quigley accompanied 15 students to Tighes Hill TAFE campus for a tour of their facilities. Students were provided an hour long guided tour of the world-class music rooms, including seeing a mixing desk that is used to produce albums for a host of recording artists. They were also given a CSI-style education in the testing laboratory, seeing machines used to test everything from water, soil and air. Students were also given a look at areas within the construction, metals and fashion classrooms, as well as the hair and beauty school.

Portfolio Entry to Uni Presentations

STUDENT WELFARE at HSHS: Keeping Our Students Safe This student welfare his page lets students, parents and carers know about some of the great programs and support services that are available to students and their families at Hunter Sports High School and in the local community. We hope you find it helpful and informative.

Quote of the Week:

Student Feedback We have had great success this term with our wellbeing programs that support our students at Hunter Sports High. Most students gave these programs a huge 4/5 rating for being helpful and would recommend these programs for others. Here are some of their quotes below:

• “Most of the time at school I feel supported a lot.” Year 9 student (Rock & Water Program)

• “The program was very fun.” Year 8 student (Rock & Water Program)

• “This program is good and helps me think about who I am and to help others.” Year 9 student (Hunter Health Program)

• “It’s really good.” Year 9 student (Hunter Health Program)

Thank You I would like to personally thank the Youth Team and the Wellbeing Team for another wonderful year. The amount of students that each and every one of these great team members helps is significant.

Kylie and Keira, our Youth Workers will both be back next year and we will welcome Miss Linden O’Brien as our Year 7 Advisor.

Please have a safe, happy and healthy holiday and we look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Mrs Ward Welfare Coordinator





2017 Swimming Carnival Details

Rugby League Program Sponsors:

Thank You to our Sponsors Special thanks to our valued sponsors for their support of our Talented Sports Programs in 2016. We look forward to another great year with them on our team in 2017.





Disclaimer: Advertisements included in this newsletter are a source of revenue to offset bulletin costs and are not in any way considered recommendations by the school.

TO GET INTO THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT AT HUNTER SPORTS HIGH THIS YEAR, WE ASKED OUR

STAFF AND STUDENTS A FEW CHRISTMASSY QUESTIONS! HERE’S WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY:

My best moment or memory of 2016 was…

Year 11 student Erin Cleaver winning a bronze medal at the Rio Paralympic Games.

Mrs Stone (PDHPE Teacher)

My first time camping. I went with Big Picture and it was an

amazing experience!

Jessica Hanson (Yr 8 Big Picture)

When my parents came home from hospital after a head-on car crash and being in JHH for 4-5 months.

Belinda O’Hearn (Student Services)

Being a part of Starstruck 2016!

Jai Pascoe (Year 11 Big Picture)

Go on my cruise and have fun in Perth!

Jess Corrigan (Year 8)

Continue my winning form as a member of the championship winning HSHS Golf

Team (golf and best dressed!) and go on a few more family holidays as well.

Mrs Streatfeild (Support Unit Teacher)

Be enjoying university life and starting my tertiary education journey. David Parsons (Year 11 Big Picture Student)

Finish renovating my house and hopefully buy a bigger car!

Mrs Lewis (English Teacher)

In 2017 I hope to…

Succeed in TAFE (Applied Fashion Design &

Technology).

Emilly Woods (Year 11 Student)

See some action happening with the redevelopment and take my kids on a holiday!

Ms Byrne (Principal)

Meeting George Mason! (Home &

Away star)

Lucy (Year 8)

Being with the people you love. Harvey Byrne (Year 8 Student)

Hanging out with family and

friends, getting presents and

having fun.

Lucy Montgomery (Year 8)

Joyful, fun, love,

family, friends. Tara Hobbs-Ladd (Year 8 Student)

When the family comes together and celebrates with presents.

Kody Papa (Year 8 Student)

To me Christmas means…

Spending time with my family and going

to the beach.

Mrs Lewis

Family coming together,

lots of love and good food.

Mrs Hoffman (PDHPE Teacher)

If I could invite anyone to my place for Christmas it would be…

Either Santa Claus himself or Paul Walker (the actor from Fast & the Furious who sadly passed away a few years ago).

Mrs Hoffman again!

Steve Smith or David Warner! Drew Mulligan (Year 8)

Harvey

Jess Corrigan (Year 8)

Jess

Harvey Byrne (Year 8)

Jamie Oliver so he could cook all the food!

Trent Colley (Deputy Principal)

For Christmas I wish…

They would find a cure for cancer.

Karen Van Wyck (Student Services)

Everyone a happy, safe and relaxing break from school

spent with family and friends.

Mrs Streatfeild (again!)

To get time off work to visit

my Dad.

Jacob (Year 8)

For a new cricket bag. Drew Mulligan (Year 8 Student)

To get tickets to a concert. Jai Pascoe (Year 11)

That my family is the happiest and everyone has a joyful time

Jessica Hanson (Year 8)

Robbie Williams Karen Van Wyck

My Dad Grace Ballagh

(Year 8)

George

Mason! Lucy

(Year 8)

hunter sports high spectator · the release of this year’s hsc results. and last night we joined...

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