February

2018

OUR SCHOOL - COMMITTED TO QUALITY AND EXPECTING THE BEST FROM EVERY STUDENT

HOLSWORTHY HIGH SCHOOL Website: http://www.holsworthy-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

It is with great excitement that I welcome you all back to 2018. In particular, I would like to welcome our new Year 7 students and their families, as well as the significant number of recently enrolled students across all other year groups. We look forward to watching you learn, grow and contribute to our school over the coming years. In my final Newsworthy article for 2017, I reflected on a number of highlights from the year including our collaboration with our feeder primary schools and a number of new initiatives we introduced to acknowledge outstanding student effort. One of the more significant highlights for the year, however, occurred after that article was published when we received our HSC results. Leon Lendoudis achieved first place in the state for Information and Digital Technology – a phenomenal result. I would like to congratulate Leon and his teacher, Mr Ponton, for this outstanding achievement. I would also like to congratulate every other student at Holsworthy High School who achieved their very best last year.

2018 marks the beginning of a new three year school planning cycle focus-ing on high expectations, leadership, curriculum and assessment. These new directions will allow us to reflect on and evaluate the effectiveness of what we are doing in order to make improvements. At the core of what we do, however, will always be supporting the wellbeing of our students and encouraging them to do the best they can. The primary purpose of this edition of Newsworthy is to provide our students and their families with important information and dates for this year, including a variety of extra-curricular opportunities available outside regular school hours. The remaining editions, published at the end of each term, will include numerous articles from faculties and year groups outlining highlights of your children’s journey through 2018 at Holsworthy High School. We look forward to sharing this journey with you throughout the course of the year.

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Did you know that you can make

payments to our school online?

We launched a new online payment portal last year linked to our school’s website to make it easier for you to pay for school related payments. This is a secure payment page hosted by Westpac.

What expenses can be paid online?

Voluntary School Contributions Subject Contributions Excursions Sport Creative and Practical Arts Sales to Students Other

How? Log onto the school website on www.holsworthy-h.schools.nsw.edu.au Click on “Make a Payment” and follow the prompts to make a payment via Visa or MasterCard.

Students across all stages have made a great start back to the New Year with teachers establishing clear expectations for student behaviour and learning. A settled start to the year has meant that all students have had an opportunity to engage in the curriculum and establish strong study habits from the outset. There are also a wide range of extracurricular activities available to students, allowing them to pursue their personal interests whilst establishing positive relationships with other like-minded students.

Uniform is an important outward representation of school commitment. Students are strongly encouraged to maintain high standards, in terms of their uniform, throughout the school year. It is good to see students returning to school in full school uniform. Attendance is also another important factor that can influence students’ success at school. Wherever possible, students should try to be punctual and maintain strong patterns of attendance. As Deputies, we will be emphasising the importance of full school uniform and good attendance to students throughout the school.

Some Year 10 students have expressed concerns about NAPLAN and minimum standards. Year 10 is the first group that requires band 8 results in Reading, Writing and Numeracy to qualify for their HSC. There are several options relating to literacy and numeracy assessments and students can complete these assessments up to the end of Year 12 to qualify for the HSC if their NAPLAN result was below band 8 in any of the 3 domains above. For a summary access the website http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-minimum-standard or contact Mr. Grew.

The staff and students will continue to focus on Student Responsibilities over 2018. These clear expectations are strongly correlated with students reaching their academic potential and relate simply to effort, organisation and interpersonal characteristics. A student’s academic performance can be measured in many ways but the relationship between a student’s Student Responsibility Average and Grade Point Average is clear.

We would also like to welcome all of the new stu-dents to our school this year. These students bring with them new skills and experiences that will benefit our entire community.

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Math Lab is a Year 7 initiative to address the following: Introduce students in Year 7 to the many

aspects of Mathematics found in diverse contexts

Make Mathematics more fun and hence engaging

To steer away (for one period) from regular class work and make the students look forward to diverse concepts in the subject

Introduce skills such as ‘Thinking Mathematically’ and ‘Problem Solving’

MATH BOOST The concept here is to provide professional

and free Mathematics tutoring to students at HHS

Target students will be Years 7-10 and at all levels.

It will run for approximately 1 hour between 3.00pm and 4.00pm on Wednesday afternoons in the Mathematics Block and will be staffed by at least two Mathematics teachers.

It is expected that students will come prepared with questions and/or concepts they are having problems with.

 

HOMEWORK CLUB 

Homework Club allows students to access school             

resources and assistance from teachers who they 

would otherwise not have the opportunity to work 

with. A ending Homework Club will allow students 

to develop their skills and knowledge in any areas 

they are requiring assistance with: 

Homework

Assessment tasks

Research Skills

Homework Club is held in the Library every         

Tuesday a ernoon, star ng immediately a er 

school un l 4.00pm. It is supervised by different 

teachers each week, allowing assistance across   

various subject areas. Teachers will provide            

individual support where possible.  

As Homework Club may require students to alter 

their usual travel arrangements a er school, it is 

essen al that you are aware of your son/

daughter’s involvement. We ask that you sign a 

permission note available from the HSIE Faculty 

and return it to Ms. Stephens (HSIE Faculty) so that 

your son/daughter’s name can be added to the roll. 

We hope your son/ daughter finds Homework Club    

beneficial to their studies.  

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Parent tips

Starting high school

Here are some resources to help you and your child adapt to high school. The information includes articles and videos on homework planning, dealing with maths and

helping kids who are struggling with reading.

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/

wellbeing/development/starting-high-school-soon

Student conduct when

travelling

When travelling on the bus or train between home and school your

child must obey certain rules, such as giving up their seat to adults

and disabled passengers. Find out more:

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/content/student-conduct-when-

travelling

The Visual Arts department will be running an

Art Club – Art Extra every Thursday afternoon

from 3pm until 4pm in the art block.

Permission notes can be

collected from the Art department.

For further information please see Ms R Booker

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2018 YEAR ADVISORS

Ms Fenech Yr 8 Ms Mikhail Yr9 Mr Judge Yr9

Mr Spyroulias Yr10 Ms Booker Yr10 Mrs Harvey Yr11 Mr Wiles Yr12

Ms Siqueira Yr7 Mr Al Khuzai Yr7 Mr Di Martino Yr8

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Connect with your neighbours

If you are fortunate enough to live with a sense of community, where you know the people who live near you, share experiences and help one another, then you'll probably agree, your life is richer for

it. The Street by Street project is seeking community minded people to turn streets into

communities in your area, through simple social activities. We'll support you to do this.

Contact Irene Opper

at irene@streetbystreet.org.au or 0413 706 233. See www.streetbystreet.org.au for more info.

As an unfunded non profit project we rely on you to help spread the word. Your help would be much

appreciated.

Street by Street Project Manager Centre for Civil Society

Phone: 0413 706 233 Email: irene@streetbystreet.org.au Website: www.streetbystreet.org.au

Facebook: www.facebook.com/streetbystreet

P & C Meeting Dates 2018

The first meeting of the P & C for 2018 will be held

on 12 February 2018 at 6pm in the Learning Centre

We would like to encourage all parents to attend our P&C meetings to find out in more detail what happens at our school.

Please find below a list of the planned meeting dates

for 2018

12 March 21 May 25 June

27 August 17 September 12 November 10 December

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COMMUNITY EVENING

Together with Holsworthy, Hammondville, Wattle Grove and St. Christopher’s Catholic Primary Schools, Holsworthy High School would like to invite you to our Community Evening. The evening is designed to provide information about community organisations supporting all students in our area.

At this event organisations who work within our community come together to show how they can assist you and your child/children.

A list of organisations that will be attending on the night will be advertised on our Face Book page and school website in the near future.

Date: 21 March 2018

Time: 6pm – 8pm

At: Holsworthy High School

Huon Crescent, Holsworthy – Main Hall

RSVP: Complete and return the RSVP notice on the bottom of the letter sent home or contact Tracey Carr on Ph: 9825 2888

or

Email: tracey.carr5@det.nsw.edu.au

FOR CATERING PURPOSES (sausage sizzle)

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     fx 82AU Casio Scien fic 

 

Cost:$25.00 

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Please ensure Student and Family information

is up to date

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Dates to remembER - 2016

Reminder: Students need to arrive at school by 8:40am for roll call each day.

All Students must carry their Library ID Card with them at all times.

Monday 12 February  P&C Mee ng 

Tuesday 20 February  Vaccina ons Year 7 

Monday 26 February  HHS Swimming Carnival 

Monday 5 March  Yr6 into 7 Informa on A ernoon 

Tuesday 6 March  COS Challenge Cup 

Friday 9 March  HHS Photo Day 

Monday 12 March  P&C Mee ng 

Thursday 15 March  HHS Athle cs Carnival 

Friday 16 March  HHS Photo Day catch up 

Monday 19 March  Yr7 and Yr12 Parent Teacher Night 

Wednesday 4 ‐ Friday 13 April  Yr12 Half Yearly exams 

Friday 13 April  End of Term 1 

Tuesday 1 May  First day of Term 2 for students