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South Sydney High School 2022 Term 4 Week 2

In this issue

  • Principal's message
  • Science news
  • VALID Test - Year 8
  • High Potential & Gifted news
  • Year 8 Tech
  • Visual Arts news
  • School travel 2023
  • Library news
  • Year 8 Gala Day

Principal's message

Welcome back to Term 4, I hope all students and their families have enjoyed the holiday break. It is a busy term, the HSC exams are underway, Year 11 students have now begun their HSC journey and our other year groups will be preparing for their Term 4 assessments.

Year 11 into Year 12

While Year 12 are in the middle of their final HSC exams our Year 11 students have now started the HSC course. It is often said that the HSC is a marathon not a sprint it is important that students start the course with the right attitude, including attending school every day and on time and ready to give their best in every class.On Tuesday night Year 11 and their parents received information about the Year 12 requirements including illness and misadventure procedures.

Homework Club

The Homework Club will be available to all students in Term 4. The homework club operates in the school library from 2:45pm - 4:45pm every Tuesday and is staffed by four students from the UNSW and one teacher from South Sydney High School. All the staff are able to cover most subjects 7-12 and provide individual and group help with specific subjects or general help with study and organisation.

Timely Reminders- Mobile Phone Use

Our mobile phone policy is simple: they should be “off and out of sight in buildings” unless directed by the teacher. If students have their phone out in class they will be asked to put it away, protesting to the teacher may lead to their phone being locked away in the Deputy’s office. Detentions and other consequences may result from repeated infringements. Mobile phones will be confiscated if it becomes an ongoing disruption to the learning process, has been a medium for a breach of privacy, or holds information pertaining to a crime.

Parents or carers needing to contact their child during class time should contact the school office.

COVID - 19 Update

I want to provide you with an update on our COVID-smart settings, particularly with the latest change to isolation requirements and what this will mean for our school. Please review the following information and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have further questions.

On 30 September, National Cabinet announced that from Friday 14 October 2022, people who test positive to COVID-19 do not need to isolate. In line with this announcement, the NSW Department of Education have worked with NSW Health to support all schools to adapt to this change while continuing to prioritise student and staff wellbeing by minimising the risk of COVID-19 transmissions.

Students and staff should continue to stay home when sick.

Students, staff and visitors should only attend school when they are symptom free. We strongly encourage all students, staff and visitors to follow the guidance issued by NSW Health

https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/management/self-isolation-covid-and-close

We will continue to send home students or staff displaying symptoms.

Anyone who believes they have been exposed to COVID-19 is strongly recommended to monitor for symptoms and test if they have any concerns, as well as wear a mask. We will continue to support our families to use rapid antigen tests (RATs) if symptomatic or if you believe you have been exposed to COVID-19. RAT testing may help identify the infection early and is important if you are in contact with people at greater risk of serious illness if exposed to COVID-19. Our school will continue to operate with our baseline COVID-smart measures in place throughout Term 4 to minimise transmission and keep our school open. This includes a combination of layered safety measures such as maintaining hygiene and cleaning practices, using rapid antigen testing (RAT) when experiencing symptoms, maximising natural ventilation, strongly encouraged vaccinations and strongly encouraging mask-wearing particularly when indoors and/or physical distancing is not possible.

Please continue to notify your school if your child tests positive to COVID-19 as we will continue to notify the school community of any known positive cases to prioritise student and staff safety and wellbeing.

As Term 4 moves forward, some words to reflect upon in our daily work.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” –Jim Ryun

Vaping

Vaping is illegal for those under the age of 18 years. Vapes are a Schedule 4 drug in the Poison Standard, thus requiring prescription. They contain nicotine which is an addictive substance with harmful side-effects. Any student in possession of a vape will face a consequence in line with the Department of Education suspension policy.

Science news

Year 8 VALID test

All Year 8 will be sitting their VALID (Validation of Assessment for Learning for Individual Development) test on Monday 24th October during periods 3 and 4. This is a mandatory test on Science learning for all Year 8 students in NSW. Please see the attached information letter below for more information. This letter was also emailed to parents/carers. A catch-up session will be held on Monday 31st October during periods 3 and 4 in case any students are away on the test day. Students should bring earphones that can be connected to the computers at school.

9Y and 10Y ANSTO Excursion

These students attended an excursion to the ANSTO Nuclear Reactor in Lucas Heights. They were lucky to go on a tour around the ANSTO grounds to visit the OPAL reactor. Students learnt about the scientific and medical research happening at the nuclear research reactor as well.

Valid Test - Year 8

High Potential & Gifted news

Enrichment Recognition 2022 for Y Classes

Pre-COVID restrictions, the enrichment classes at our school have traditionally been recognised at the conclusion of a school year by an Enrichment Recognition Assembly to which parents are invited. During this assembly students are presented with certificates as follows:

  • Participation Certificate: This is presented to each student who has completed an academic year in the enrichment stream.
  • Spirit of Enrichment: The student who has demonstrated a strong appreciation of the spirit of the enrichment stream: This student consistently makes an effort to work above & beyond what is required in the classroom & takes full advantage of extension and other opportunities offered in & beyond the classroom.
  • Most Improved: The student who has shown the greatest improvement in applying themselves to the expectation of students in this class. They work above & beyond what is required & take full advantage of extension and other opportunities offered in & beyond the classroom.

We hope to run Enrichment Recognition Assemblies on the following dates and these will be followed by a morning/afternoon tea for the parents of the students involved:

  • 7Y, 8th December @ 10.15 am
  • 8Y, 8th December @ 2.30pm
  • 9Y, 9th December @ 10.15am

Parents can expect to receive invitations and more information in the coming weeks.

Junior SSCIM Camp is back!

The South Sydney High Potential & Gifted team are delighted to announce that we are finally able to run a SSCIM Camp again (post COVID restrictions). Anyone interested should see Ms de Paor in the Drama Room or Ms Gore in the English staff room.

What is it? This is an opportunity to spend three days and two nights in a beautiful location where we will be engaged in Project Based Learning.

When? Not confirmed yet, but likely to be 23 – 25 November 2022

Where do we go? We go by public transport involving ferries and a bus to the National Park location of Pittwater’s beautiful YHA.

Who attends? The camp is open to International students at our school and to those in years 7 and 8 who attend SSCIM Club and activities &/or come up with a great project proposal.

What does it cost?

  • $180 covers food and accommodation as well as the private ferry that we take to and from Church Point.
  • You need an OPAL card with a minimum of $20 value.
  • f you are a competent swimmer and have your parents’ permission you can take part in a paddle boarding/ kayaking activity for an additional cost of $2

How is it different to other camps?

  • Students have the freedom to spend most of your time working on a project that you design. You just need to make sure you have everything you need for the project with you.
  • We travel to camp on public transport to save cost to parents.
  • We plan, buy and prepare the food for all of our own meals.
  • Students are organised into groups for meal preparation and clean up and this happens on a rota system.
  • We buy and carry the food for our camp en route in Manly (every student is expected to carry a bag of food).
  • Students are involved in making lots of the decisions about what we do at the camp, menu (& shopping list), who will be assigned to rooms etc. in the weeks leading up to the camp by attending SSCIM Club on a Friday.

Planning ahead: Summer programs for high ability students

South Sydney High School students with high aptitude in key areas such as creativity, the intellectual domain and high ability in the social emotional domain are encouraged to consider the excellent summer programs offered by Gerric – the Gifted Education faculty at the University of New South Wales.

GERRIC Student Programs 2023

We are excited to announce that GERRIC Student Programs will return in January 2023!

Scientia programs will be run both online and on-campus to provide students with the choice of what works best for them:

  • Online program dates: 9th, 10th and 12th January
  • On-campus program dates: 11th, 12th and 13th January

This is a school holiday program that expands the minds of bright, inquisitive individuals looking for an intellectual challenge that is more demanding and more fun than they may sometimes experience at school.

All courses are 3-day workshops. Registration will be available from 10th November.

Find out more on the website.

GERRIC Scientia Student Programs in Action

Year 8 Tech

Year 8 Food Technology have been cooking up a storm. These two exemplary students worked with tasteful eloquence as team to produce these nutritious burgers. Well done boys! Keep an eye out for their burger chain opening 2027 🍔

Ms Lopez, Teacher

Visual Arts news

Year 9

Year 9 Visual Art Students have just completed the ‘Best foot forward’ unit in Visual Arts. Students investigated 2D and 3D expressive forms such as drawing, frottage and ceramics. Using the three concepts of ‘self, representation & persona’, students’ explored what it means to present an aspect of oneself through the presentation of their shoes and how artists transform shoes into sculptures to tell a tale!

Drawings and sculptures below: -

Year 10

The Year 10 students are focusing on exciting projects by studying postmodernist representations of the city in relation to the point of view represented in artists practices. They are currently working on individualised artworks based on the theme of Utopia and Dystopia. Their artmaking decision-making is autonomous, with each student choosing the specific media, materials, subject matter and support for their artworks via ongoing consultation. Student adds comment for Artwork 2: “This is the artwork I am currently working, I am in the process of experimenting with the colour palette, composition and lighting”.

School travel 2023

Library News

Welcome to Term 4!

Halloween is almost upon us. Come down to the Library to view the fantastic Halloween display Ms Drakoulis has created and check out the array of horror and suspense books we have to offer. As the sign says, “Witch book will put you under its spell?”

Featured Author – Maryam Master

Towards the end of last term, I attended the Sydney Teacher Librarians Network Meeting at Marrickville Public Library and had the pleasure of meeting Maryam Master. Master arrived in Australia from Iran at age nine. Encouraged by a teacher to write, she has written for television and stage. Master’s debut novel, Exit Through the Gift Shop, was shortlisted for CBCA and ABIA Book of the Year. Her latest book is No Words, a uniquely narrated, moving story about a young refugee trying to find his place in the world. Both books are available to borrow from the Library.

Recent Fiction Highlights

Click on the link to take you to the Library catalogue. All available to borrow now!

https://oliver-18.library.det.nsw.edu.au/4/home/resources/details/10a965080a1a8b216766fb060126625b

A dystopian novel with intriguing characters and a world controlled by the City Council, which allows no freedom of expression or thought. The Underground characters are fighting for freedom and the right to live how they want. This will be thoroughly enjoyed by students Year 9 and up who love an action-packed story set in an alternative world.

https://oliver-18.library.det.nsw.edu.au/4/home/resources/details/10aca7f60a1a8b217a5056980126694b

Winner of the 2021 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing. A feel-good romance about figuring out your place in the world, staying true to yourself and your friends, finding love and learning to embrace the obstacles life throw in your path.

https://oliver-18.library.det.nsw.edu.au/4/home/resources/details/109aa0d40a1a8b21374fb17e0126301d

Nearing 15, Zac Greene travels to Alaska to re-connect with the father he's only ever known from a distance. As Zac struggles to earn his father's approval, things spiral out of control forcing Zac to take his chances with the Alaskan winter. Zac is forced to hitchhike to escape the hostile weather and soon finds himself sharing a remote cabin with a total stranger... and his gun. A terrific mystery and suspense novel.

https://oliver-18.library.det.nsw.edu.au/4/home/resources/details/108ce5990a1a8b216e5cbc4d012608af

This is an unputdownable adventure story, which is fast-paced with unexpected plot twists. Set in the rainforest of Victoria’s Otway Ranges, A Walk in the Dark is about friendship, trust, identity and family, consent and boundaries, wrapped in a compulsively readable, suspense-filled adventure. Five head into the forest, but will all give make it out?

https://oliver-18.library.det.nsw.edu.au/4/home/resources/details/10962cbc0a1a8b2100a4885c012625b9

A fantastic time slip novel that is set around the whaling industry in Hobart. It highlights how our efforts, even that of one girl alone, can make a difference.

https://oliver-18.library.det.nsw.edu.au/4/home/resources/details/10b4f14c0a1a8b210bd95fd201267a9c

The by-line on the book cover is “A classic boy-in-a-wheelchair meets girl love story.” The author, Chaz Hayden, has spinal muscular atrophy and this makes his story of a high-school student with this condition who is determined to reinvent himself sing with real feeling.

Ms. Maddocks, Teacher Librarian

Year 8 Gala Day

Year 8 Gala Day Returns

After two years of not running due to COVID, it was wonderful to have the annual Eastern Suburbs Zone Year 8 Gala Day return to the sporting calendar.

Year 8 students participated in a sport of their choice in friendly matches against students from across the zone with the theme for the day being “Fun, Participation and Inclusion”.

Sports included Oz Tag, Ultimate Vortex, Netball and Five-a-side Soccer, with the focus being on movement and enjoyment. It was clear across the day that both of these were achieved with movement aplenty and a lot of enjoyment.

A special shout out to all the Year 10 PASS students who assisted on the day with refereeing and organising, you were all a great help!!

Community news & events

We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Bidjigal people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land we work on. We also pay respect to Aboriginal elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to other Aboriginal people.

Contact us:

Telephone | 9349 3868

Email | sthsydney-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

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