richmond high school newsletter

Issue 5, Week 6, Term 2, 2020 4 June, 2020

Safe, Respectful Learners

Maximising Student Potential Richmond High School Newsletter Providing quality education where all can maximise their potential

Lennox Street, Richmond 2753 Phone 45 78 1177 Fax (02) 45 88 5885

Email: [email protected] Website: https://richmond-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/


Welcome Back students!

Well done to Mr Harkins and Ms Bow who put on a welcome back lunch for Year 12 during Week 4. Our Year 12 cohort are to be commended for their hard work on their HSC studies from home (during the COVID pandemic). Special thanks to their teachers who tried their best to ensure that their learning continued via Google Classrooms, online platforms, Zoom or Teams meetings. This enabled some face-to-face teaching prior to their return to school.

Dates to Remember

Year 10 Senior Subject Selection Mini

Lessons

2 June - 11 June

2021 Subject Selection Evening

28 July

Year 12 Trial HSC Examinations

3 August - 14 August

Year 11 Yearly Examinations

17 September - 24 September

Year 12 Graduation

25 September (to be confirmed)

HSC Examinations

20 October - 11 November

Year 7 Gala Day

20 October

Years 7 to 10 Assessment Period

2 November - 13 November



Maximising Student Potential

Principal’s Message

Week 5 saw the return of all students to full time face to face teaching. While a few students have provided medical certificates justifying that they continue to complete lessons from home, the vast majority have adjusted to being back in the classroom well. From a learning and wellbeing perspective, having students back into the regular routine and seeing their class teachers will prepare them for the rest of 2020.

While the reported number of COVID-19 cases continues, we are expecting that their will be a gradual easing of restrictions. We will continue to make hygiene and distancing a priority. The school is receiving enhanced cleaning and additional cleaning - particularly after break times.

For the most recent information please use the following links:

Department of Education

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/school-safety/novel-coronavirus

Department of Health

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

Reconciliation Week

The publication of this newsletter coincides with National Reconciliation Week. While we have been unable to dedicate a school assembly to this important event as in previous years, Home Room teachers have been provided with access to an Australian film “In my blood it runs”. At Richmond High School we are committed to Aboriginal Education that is relevant to all students in recognising the contribution of our first people to Australian society. Thank you to Ms Flood and Ms Medley for their ongoing work with our Aboriginal students.

BYOD Program

Our BYOD program continues to be engaging students learning - enabling them to utilise the digital learning platforms. This is an important initiative at Richmond High School and it has uncovered some areas where our students are not skilled in using digital platforms for learning. The Technology Team have implemented a digital literacy program led by Ms Middleton and Mrs Gibbs. The experience of online learning from home during the end of Term 1 and the beginning of Term 2 has demonstrated the importance of having students ready for the digital world of today and tomorrow.

Richmond Agricultural College

Preparation for the first intake of the Agriculture Specialty students is well underway with the curriculum and professional learning for staff taking place across Terms 3 & 4. The class will work part time at the Centre of Excellence at Western Sydney University Hawkesbury and part time at Richmond High School.

The deadline for Expressions of Interest for the Agriculture Specialist Year 7 class for 2021 have been extended to 1 July 2020 to allow students in Year 6 affected by the pandemic to address each of the criteria and submit their application. There are 30 places available for the 2021 year group. Information on the EOI process and criteria can be found under Agriculture Specialty Stream at:

https://richmond-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment.html

Applications for the first Academically Selective class to commence in 2022 will be available in August with students sitting the Selective High Schools test in 2021.

Mr Cliff Ralph

PRINCIPAL










Deputy Principal’s Report accelerated our journey of using technology to enhance students’ learning experiences considerably. Our students will forever profit from this period of time, simply based on the professional development of our staff at Richmond HS over the last 9 weeks. As a leader in a school, it was most satisfying to see the teamwork and collegiality amongst staff to support each other and get a job done for the students we cherish.

The majority of our students are also to be congratulated for their efforts during “ISO” 2020. The 30-50 students who continued to attend school everyday due to their parents being essential workers, all demonstrated our 3 core values of being safe respectful learners day in, day out. They quickly adapted to being in the same room each day and to working with the many different staff faces they would see from day-to-day and week-to-week. Their attitude, application and efforts in very different circumstances, is a credit to them as students and more importantly, people. They followed every instruction to ensure that they followed safety and hygiene guidelines. They were quickly adopted and referred to as the “essential worker kids”. As the deputy principal for the even year groups (Yr 8-10-12) I was especially proud of 6 students who we saw all 31 days and they worked so diligently for every one of those days. Well done to Olivia, Nicholas, Stella, Michael (all Year 8), Katelyn (10) and Hayden (12).

Welcome Back & Reflections from “ISO 2020”

It has been great to welcome ALL of our students back to school fulltime over the last 2 weeks - after 31 days of isolation from school over the previous 9 weeks due to the corona virus pandemic. The SAFETY of our school community has always been our number 1 consideration as demonstrated by our 3 core expectations of being SAFE, being RESPECTFUL and being a LEARNER.

Whilst unfortunate, terribly inconvenient and a challenge for our students and staff, as our 2020 school year was thrown into a quandary as to how to continue with teaching and learning in isolation, it was some of the systems and practices that we have worked so hard to develop over the last few years, that held us in a strong position to be able to continue to educate our students from home.

Congratulations to our staff who worked tirelessly to quickly build on the resources that we had developed over the last 3-4 years to ensure the success of our BYOD program. On top of that, in a few short weeks we had developed a range of guidelines, handbooks and tip sheets to support students, staff, and parents/carers. Every class in the school now has a Google Classroom and new applications, software and technologies were quickly adopted to enhance the educational experience and support for our students. Zoom, Teams, Screencastify, Classwork Zoom, Natural Reader, Drive File Stream & ABC Me quickly became common terminology amongst staff as new resources were found, implemented and shared. The online learning experience has




“Keyboard Warriors” is generally a term used with a negative connotation to refer to people who type negative messages on social media, however during “ISO 2020” here at Richmond HS, we truly had some keyboard warriors in the most POSITIVE of ways. The dedication and application shown to learning of many of our students whilst learning in a new environment—using technology at home—with all the distractions that go with working from home, was most impressive. Through a new APP developed by the Department of Education, we were able to track the hours of our students in their use of Google Classrooms and Google Drive each day and some of the student data of hours tallied by students engaged with their learning, was most encouraging. The Top 5 students in each year group are listed below:

These students have truly demonstrated what it means to be a ‘5 for Effort’ at Richmond HS. Well done!

Special thanks to our Administration Staff during this time as well, especially in coordinating the collation and distribution of hard copy work to those

students without technology or internet access at home during the isolation period. Their work was invaluable in meeting the needs of these students and thanks also to the parents/carers who picked up these work packages for their children.

Last but not least, THANK YOU to all our parents and carers who supported your children in their learning. It was very much appreciated by all the staff and hopefully your children. Thank you for reaching out to the school when necessary to ensure the needs of your child were being met to the best of everybody’s ability under the circumstances. As a parent myself of three daughters who have only recently finished high school, my favourite Facebook quote during isolation was:

I think we have all learnt from this experience that regardless of technology, “wiz-bang” apps, learning platforms, virtual classrooms or zoom meetings, whilst amazing tools to enhance and support learning experiences for our students, they are not the most important element in learning. The general consensus from the majority of our students and teachers is that there is no substitution for the face-to-face teaching and learning experience, where the rapport, connection and positive working relationship between student and teacher can be the key to student motivation, development and

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

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Charlotte.C

Kimberly.F

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Year 10 Year 11 Year 12

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ultimately, success. Teachers have said that the hardest part of teaching online during this period was the inability to observe students working: their body language, communications with peers, their idiosyncrasies, facial expressions and work habits. Some students thrive on that interaction with their teachers and peers; others thrive on listening to others; and some like that feeling of belonging that comes with sitting in a classroom with their peers. Trying to replicate that context online is what teachers I have spoken to struggled with the most, which was why we were so pleased to have them back even one day per week in the Phase 1 Return.

I have to reiterate once more that we are so pleased to have our students back and whilst everything is not totally back to normal as yet:

No Monday Assembly (except in video form)

Limited sporting activities in PDHPE

No Excursions

...it is great having our students back at school 5 days per week, 6 periods per day.

Some accommodations have already been made:

Year 12 Trials moved back to Term 3 (Week 3&4)

Modified reporting period for Years 7-11 this term

NESA have moved the HSC Exams back a week to October 20 start date—ending November 11

At this stage we are hopeful that our Year 12 Graduation Ceremony will still take place at the end of Term 3 on September 25, however that will depend on the government lifting the restrictions on mass gatherings.

We all just have our fingers crossed that we can get back to life as we know it for our students and staff at Richmond HS, with the multitude of extra curricula educational opportunities we present to our students in the areas of sport, creative & performing arts, agriculture, hospitality, leadership, gifted & talented, and community service; and the regular celebrations of student success, be it weekly at Monday Assemblies, Recognition Ceremonies, Graduation and Presentation Night.

“Uniform: Be In It”

As students have returned to school during the colder period of the year, we have been encouraging them to be in full school uniform each day. The majority of students have no problem with wearing the basic uniform items as shown below:

The main uniform indiscretions we see during the winter months are:

Coloured jumpers - only MAROON for juniors & NAVY for seniors acceptable

Coloured microfibre pants (often black or grey) - only NAVY acceptable (boys & girls)

Tights

Jeans

Please send your child with a note if they have a legitimate reason for being out of uniform on any given day. Students who repeatedly have uniform indiscretions without an acceptable explanation will be issued consequences.

Please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Cullen or I if you have any questions or concerns.

Mr Phil Gordon Deputy Principal




Online Payments

You can make payments via our website:

https://richmond-h.schools.nsw.gov.au

Click on: $ Make a Payment

Complete the required fields

Mathematics Report

The Mathematics Department would like to welcome all students back to Richmond High School 5 days a week. A big thank you to all students for working hard during our online and remote learning experience and a big thank you to all parents for supporting your child/ren through this challenging time.

As school resumes to normal students are reminded that they need to have a calculator for each Mathematics lesson to aid in their development of this course. They can be purchased from the school office for $23 if needed.

The Mathematics Homework Centre has recommenced each Monday afternoon in the Learning Centre from 3 – 4 pm. All students are welcome to attend to receive assistance with their mathematics .

The Mangahigh competition is on again! The student with the most points earned during the month of June will receive a $20 voucher. All students are encouraged to continue to work on their Mathematics using their Mangahigh account.

Year 7 and 8 students are also encouraged to practise their Mathematics using their Prodigy account.

The Problem of the Week is still running and it has been great to see students entering regularly in this puzzling competition.

Congratulations to Savannah B (Year 7) who was our week 5 winner. Savannah chose a netball as her prize.

2020

Principal Award Recipients

Congratulations to the following student on being awarded a Principal Award recently. He has been formally recognised with a Principal Award for earning 5 Head Teacher Awards or 5 Year Advisor Awards. These awards are recognition for the pursuit of excellence through both classroom and school based extra curricular activities such as outstanding school reports, positive behaviour, participation, citizenship or class effort.

Well done to:

Ryan B (Year 7)

Trey P (Year 7)

Savannah B (Year 7)

Faith L (Year 7)

Kaylea F (Year 7)

Zoe B (Year 10)

https://richmond-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/




When students are absent or late

Students who arrive late to school (after 8:35am) must report to the Front Office where they will sign in via our electronic kiosk and be issued a late pass. Students without a note to explain their late arrival will be placed on detention.

Each day SMS messages will be sent to parents of all students who are not present at Roll Call and for whom we do not already have an explanation. Parents will be asked to respond to the message and explain the student absence.

When students need to leave early

All students requiring Early Leaver Passes need to present a signed note from their parent/caregiver to the Deputy Principal in the morning BEFORE SCHOOL COMMENCES and have a parent/caregiver sign him/her out at the Front Office at the time of departure. No student will be allowed to leave without a parent/caregiver signing them out personally.

Parents/Caregivers: Please ensure notes are provided in the morning so your child is aware you are picking them up. The teacher can then release them from class at the required time and it will help avoid delays in locating the student.

Support classes back to school

Pictured below is S6 back at school and working on their individual English programs. They are enjoying being back in their usual routine.

Book Club is Back! Grab a flyer from the Library.




English Update

Year 7E English – In Term 1, After reading and completing activities on ‘Smart Ice-Cream’, a funny short story by Paul Jennings, 7E students created their own ‘super-power’ ice-cream and told the class what their special ice-cream does, and got to actually make and eat their special ice-cream! There were a variety of ideas, all very funny, creative and unique! Pictured below: Kira-Lee H, Luke M, Noah S, Bradley D, Dallas C and Alex I.

Year 8P English – During our Term 1 Novel Study of J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, students engaged in a class House Cup Competition, earning points for their houses by successfully completing classwork, homework and assessment tasks and demonstrating qualities of Safe Respectful Learners. Congratulations to Ravenclaw, the winning house! Prizes were a Harry Potter Cup filled with Harry Potter themed-goodies! Stay tuned for the upcoming Quidditch match, which unfortunately has had to be postponed until further notice.

Pictured below: Jack B, Stella D, Nicholas C, Felix H, Ethan T, Olivia B, Kealey L and Maddison D.




Second Hand Clothing

We would like to remind our parents and

carers that we happily accept any unwanted

items of uniform that your students may

have grown out of. If you have anything

suitable please drop it into the Front Office.

Year 9 Photography

It may look like a long lost photo of some students sitting on the grass... but it’s an example of one of the pinhole photographs taken by the Year 9 Photography class. Using the humble cardboard box, students made their own camera and took pictures with exposures of around 11 seconds. They then made a contact print in the darkroom which resulted in some eerie images. Mr Wyatt.

School photos will be coming home in the next couple of weeks.




Richmond High School English Hub!

CLOSED FOR TERM 2 - RE OPENING TERM 3

Is your son or daughter struggling in English? Do they need a little bit of support with homework or class assignments?

Every Tuesday afternoon from 3:00pm-4:00pm there is an English Homework and Study Centre at the Learning Centre for those students who would like a little bit of extra support and assistance with homework and assessment tasks.

Please let us know if your child plans on attending by registering your place with the coordinator Mrs A. Koller. Alternatively, you can contact the school to secure your position.

I look forward to assisting your son or daughter in the near future. Mrs A. Koller (English)

News from the Ag plot

We are so excited to have our students back toiling away in the Ag Plot over the last week or so. Year 7 have jumped straight back into working hard to ensure that their gardens are still able to be harvested with some amazing produce at the end of the term. We are looking forward to starting the tractor driving lessons with Year 8 as soon as they have completed their lessons on tractor safety. Mrs Hoeflake and I are confident that all Year 8 students this semester will earn their tractor driving licence! The citrus trees are producing fruit like crazy and we are looking forward to sharing some of our delicious fruits and jams with those keen to give them a try.

Keep up all the hard work.

Mrs Gray




RICHMOND HIGH SCHOOL P&C NOTICEBOARD

COMMITTEE

President

Amanda Peters

Vice President Sam de Araugo

Secretary

Christine Duffy

Treasurer Karen Worrell

The P&C committee meets on the second Tuesday of every month with the exception of school holidays. Our next P&C meeting will be held:

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

6:30pm in the Staff Common Room

(via the Front Office)

New members always welcome!

Email Address: [email protected]

Richmond High School is willing to support advertisements for local businesses and community functions for our youth, however

parents will need to assess for themselves the quality of products and services advertised and the suitable management of

functions attended by their children.

Our School

canteen is now

open!

PH: 0404 084 833




These things require

ZERO talent

Taking personal responsibility for your

learning

Adopting a ‘can-do’ positive attitude

Practising every day and doing extra

Seeking feedback and advice

Observing people more advanced than you

Being on time and ready to learn

Working with focus and intensity

Paying attention

Eliminating distractions - turning off the phone, computer game or TV

Getting back to work

Getting more sleep

Getting more exercise

Reading more books

A healthy diet

Not quitting

Ask for your Brynorm's School Fundraising Card

5% loyalty points for your family

Every 100 points will reward you with a $5 gift voucher

School Uniform Specialists

Shop 2, 328 Windsor Street Richmond Ph: (02) 4501 1143

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