Model Farms High School

NEWSLETTER ISSUE 7 Term 1 – Week 9 Monday 19 March 2012

Gooden Drive, Baulkham Hills Telephone: (02) 9624 3133 Facsimile: (02) 9838 8407 Email: modelfarms-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE…

Student Successes Congratulations to Jake Bohan who has been selected for the Combined High School‟s Baseball Team. Jake will now play a series of games against other regions and we wish him all the very best. Make us proud Jake!

We often hear about Katrina Swavley‟s sailing skills and she has been at it again, notching some more wins and trophies in her cabinet! Over the last two weekends Katrina has competed in the NSW Heron Junior State Championships where she crewed with Jerome Watts from Georges River as the Skipper. On the first weekend there were two races. Katrina and Jerome finished with a first place and second place in these races. There were three races on her second weekend of competition. And again they finished in the top three with two seconds and a third place result. This placed them in first place overall for the entire regatta. Well done to Katrina who (along with Jerome) is now the NSW Heron Junior State Champion! What a wonderful achievement.

Castle Hill Show If you are looking for something to do this weekend why don‟t you pop along to the Castle Hill show and see what our students are up to? We will have animals entered in some categories as well as an educational stall and student entries in the baking sections. I have seen their entries and I think they will do very well. The students are excited and we are hoping that they come away with some ribbons for their efforts. Good luck guys and thanks for the tremendous work you do at promoting our wonderful school. Executive Conference This weekend the entire executive of the school gave up their private family time to attend a conference we organised which centered on school planning. A lot of preparation took place to ensure that the time was productive and worthwhile. Head Teachers examined their roles as leaders of faculties and explored various scenarios that stretched their skills and abilities. They were then led through a session on using data to drive improvement at faculty and school level as well as designing performance documents that reflected the professional standards. Our Saturday was spent planning for the changes in curriculum, some which have already occurred and some that are still to arrive but will be with us soon. I thank them all for their hard work, but importantly thank their families for allowing us to take their precious time to devote to Model Farms High School. Christina Bennet Principal

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FROM THE DEPUTY… Holiday Dates Please note the last day of first term is 5 April with school resuming on 24 April. Easter public holidays run from 6 to 9 April. Community languages courses still open Late enrolments are still open for the Saturday School of Community Languages. This course gives high school students the opportunity to study the language they speak at home, if a course in that language is not offered at their school or college. Students follow Board of Studies syllabuses in a choice of 25 languages. These languages are assessible as part of Stage 5 and Higher School Certificate studies. Enrolment forms are available from the school principal on 9886 7505 and from www.sscl.schools.nsw.edu.au/how-to-enrol. Please use Appendix 1 available on the website for this late enrolment. Lost Property: Please ensure that all items of clothes that students wear to school have their names written on each item. Each term hundreds of dollars of uniforms are found, washed and stored awaiting collection. If there is a name on the item the student is called to collect it. If not then the best is kept for reallocation to needy students. There must have been 10 pairs of shoes left behind after the camp. This was displayed near the lockers for the past 2 weeks with very few items being reclaimed.

Mark Anderson Deputy Principal

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NOTICE OF P&C ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The P&C AGM will be held at 7pm on Wednesday 4th April 2012 in the main administration building staff room. The following positions will be appointed: President, Vice President (2), Secretary, Treasurer, Committee (6). The P&C is keen to find a person willing to fill the position of Treasurer. Nominations for all positions are requested and will be accepted up to and including the evening of the AGM (nomination form available on P&C web page). The regular monthly P&C meeting will follow the AGM.

Any questions regarding any of the positions please contact P&C President Peter Grosskopf (9674 8998).

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P&C Position Holder

Nomination Form

I __________________________________ hereby nominate

__________________________________ to the position of:

President Vice President

Secretary Treasurer

Committee Member

_____________________________

Signed (Nominator)

_________________________

Contact Number (Nominator)

_____________________________

Signed (Seconder)

_________________________

Contact Number (Seconder)

_____________________________

Signed (Nominee)

_________________________

Contact Number (Nominee)

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From the faculty that counts!

Congratulations to the following Maths merit recipients:

Year 7 Brandon Chow, Ezra Teh, Year 8 Shrangi Agarwal, Emma Charlton, Dylan Cramb, Isabelle Gillooly, Jake Krnel, Tim Martin, Vivienne Wang Year 9 Kendall Gregory, James Hinton, Ben Kahane, Jessica Marsh, Daina Marsh, Zahra Nasiri, Year 12 Tahnee Cook, David Critchley, Alol Elba, Minh Ngo, Rachel Robinson x 2 This week‟s news… ‘Assignment Season’ The due date for the Year 7 Assignments on „Famous Mathematicians‟ was Tuesday 13th March. The Year 8 Assignment on „The History of the Calculator‟ is due on Tuesday 20th March. The Year 9 Algebra Assignment is due on Thursday 22nd March. World of Maths Our Year 7 students had a great time exploring mathematics this week in the „World of Maths‟ incursion. This encourages our students to „work mathematically‟ and see how mathematics is applied in the real world. Mathletics Thanks again to the P&C for funding Mathletics for all classes from Year 7 to Year 10 this year. All classes should have their user names and passwords now. Please encourage your students to use it. It is intended that during the year that some homework will also be set that will require students to be familiar with the Mathletics website. Free After School Maths Tuition Free Maths tuition is provided by the Mathematics faculty every Thursday from 3pm to 4pm. Students from Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 can go to room 8-07 and Years 11 and 12 to room 8-06. It is fully supervised by the Mathematics Faculty.

Calculators: Please make sure that all students have their own calculator. The Casio fx-82AU is sold at the uniform shop for $35. Students need this calculator from Year 7. It is vital for their progress that students are familiar with their calculator and know how to use the different functions.

Coming Events Year 12 have their half yearly exams in weeks 10 and 11 of this term. Fun with Maths Draw a straight line across the clock face so that the numbers in each of the two parts add up to the same number. Can you draw a line so that the sum of the numbers on one side is twice the sum of the other side?

Answer to last week‟s question: The smallest answer is 1, 9 for 19. The largest answer is 10 for all multiples of ten. Have a Mathematical week, From Jackie Dalton and the Maths Faculty Staff

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Merit Award Recipients

Year 8

Stephen Burns Bronze Olivia Beasley Citizenship James Norcott Citizenship Holly Palmes Citizenship Ognjen Radovic Citizenship Aleysha Roughley Citizenship Angela Tsounis Citizenship Reuben Widjaja Bronze

Year 9

Frasier Bailey Citizenship Benjamin Kahane Bronze Ritwik Misra Bronze Erin Taylor Citizenship Jessica Tsering Citizenship Amy Watson Citizenship

Term 1 Calendar

Week 9 Mon 19/3 Area Swimming Carnival

Yr 10 Drama Yr 11 Modern History Yr 11 Physics Prac Exam

Tue 20/3 Yr 9 Laptop Night 6.30pm Yr 11 Food Technology Yr 7 Food Technology Food Safety Assig due Yr 8 Maths Assignment 1 due

Wed 21/3 School Cross Country P1-4 Thurs 22/3 Yr 11 Ancient History Source

Task Yr 11 English Task Yr 11 SAC Research Task due Yr 12 Music Day Music Study Day at Rooty Hill HS Yr 7E & 7R Geography World Heritage Assign due Yr 9 Maths Assignment 1 due

Fri 23/3 Yr 11 Photography Task due Yr 7 Science Test Yr 11 Legal Studies Parramatta Court Visit

Week 10 Mon 26/3 Yr 11 Food Technology Food

Selection Assign due Yr 11 PDHPE Assess due Yr 11 Surrealism Assess due Yr 9 Melodrama Assess due

Tue 27/3 Yr 9 Science Test Thurs 29/3 Yr 10 Commerce

Yr 11 CFS Excursion Fri 30/3 Yr 11 Legal Studies Week 11 Mon 2/4 CHS Swimming Carnival Tue 3/4 CHS Swimming Carnival Thur 5/4 Last Day Term 1

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From LOTE …

Bijoux De France Report, January 2012 – Part 2

Everyone got over their jetlag very quickly – there simply wasn‟t time to be jetlagged! In our first 5 to 6 days in Paris we visited the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre art museum, Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe and the Sacre-Coeur Basilica in Montmartre, where we rested momentarily to enjoy the serenity of a Mass being held. As we stepped outside the view of Paris was awesome. From

here we walked around the corner to the Place du Tertre, the artists‟ square in Paris. Some students had their caricatures drawn by local artists – and became very good at bargaining in the process. And the “chocolat chaud” (hot chocolate) was delicieux! Dinner that same evening was in a quaint local restaurant a short distance away. This enabled us to discover the little back streets of Montmartre and to walk past the famous “Moulin Rouge” cabaret (the Red Mill). This whole day was an experience the kids and adults enjoyed immensely. The students also became very adept at using the Metro rail system – after only a few days they knew exactly which Lines to take and which stations to change at. The Metro must be one of the most efficient underground rail systems in the world – there are no timetables, you simply go down onto the correct platform where the indicator board tells you how long till the next train (usually only 2-3 minutes!). And we walked….LOTS!! One particularly long walk was along the Seine River from Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower, which ended up being a lot further than we‟d calculated and it certainly tested the fitness of us “oldies”. However, the pay-off was that that walk was, in fact, the highlight of the whole trip for one student, who loved that we saw the Paris lights come on in the evening and we also got to see the Eiffel Tower lights sparkle from a close vantage point. Paris certainly lives up to its name as “The City of Light”. After a very busy schedule in that first week it was wonderful to sit and relax in the TGV train (Train a Grande Vitesse ie; very fast train) for the 3 hour trip to the university town of Montpellier, almost 900 km away in the south of France. The TGV can reach speeds of up to over 300 kph, so the French countryside “whooshed” past very quickly. There was, of course, enough time to take in the changing views of distant mountain ranges, farming lands and quaint villages tucked away in hillsides… (…to be continued) A la prochaine! Mrs Ulla Hietamaki

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FROM THE ENGLISH AND DRAMA FACULTY . . .

Congratulations to the following students whose hard work earned a Faculty Merit this week: Year 7 – Brandon Chow, Mitchell Da Silva Pereira, Liam Munroe Year 8 – Emma Charlton, Tim Teh, Rebecca Watson Year 11 – Vienna-Rose Simiana Year 12 – Tim Hill, Cassidy Forbes, Sidney Ramos, Tara Fitzsimons, Caroline Bourke, Bria Auzins, Heajin Chong.

DRAMA at the Farms Congratulations to HSC Drama students for completing Stage 1 of their Individual Projects and Performances.

They have also demonstrated strong focus and commitment to a role in further classroom workshop exercises. All our other Drama students are working hard toward their assessment tasks in the coming weeks. Junior Drama Ensemble members have been stunning in their focus and excitement to challenge their skills in after school Drama classes. We are currently beginning our piece in preparation for FAME and various Regional festivals. Keep up this focus guys. Great work! 12EAL are to be commended for their dedication to their Module A, Text in Times studies. Analysing two in depth texts such as Frankenstein and Blade runner in 8 weeks has highlighted their excellent work ethic.

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COMMUNITY NEWS... The Constitution Hill Leadership group (C.H.I.M.E.S) is running a FREE community event on Saturday the 24th March. Attached is the flyer with the details for the event which is running from 2pm-5pm at Toongabbie East Public School. This is a family event, the theme this year being sport. There will also be entertainment and free food tasting. Is it possible to advertise the event in your Newsletter for this week and/or next? Kind regards, Deneille Lee Chairperson of C.H.I.M.E.S Ph: 0433 223 502

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COMMUNITY NEWS... (Cont.)

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SPORT BUS PASSES CAN NOT BE PURCHASED ON WEDNESDAYS

Sports Bus 052-001

Please indicate preferred pass:

A 5 trip pass for $37.50 No. of passes ______ Total $________

A 10 trip pass for $75.00 No. of passes ______ Total $________

Name of Student/s _______________________________________Year/s____________

Payment by: CASH CHEQUE

PAYMENT BY MASTERCARD OR VISA SLIP Please circle the appropriate card

Please debit my Mastercard / Visa Account No: / / / 4 digits 4 digits 4 digits 4 digits

Amount in figures _____________________________ Expiry Date: _______________ CCV: ___________ Name of Credit Card Holder (as shown on card) _______________________________

Signature of Credit Card Holder: ____________________________________________

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The office may need to contact you urgently please complete the form below and

detach from newsletter and return to the front office.

CHANGE OF CONTACT INFORMATION MODEL FARMS HIGH SCHOOL

Name of Student: ____________________________________ Year ___________

New Address: ________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________ Postcode: ______

Correspondence: ______________________________________________________

___________________________________________________ Postcode: ______

Email Address: _______________________________________________________

New Home Phone No. __________________________________________________

Mother Mobile: ________________________________________________________

Mother Work: _________________________________________________________

Father Mobile: ________________________________________________________

Father Work __________________________________________________________

Emergency Contact if changed: _________________________________________

Phone No. ____________________________________________

Any change in Medical Condition e.g. Allergy, Asthma etc.

Details _______________________________________________________________

Bus Pass: YES / NO

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