South Sydney High School 2023 Term 2 Week 2

Events and Achievements at SSHS

Well done to our state swimmers Bengt, Drew, James, Freddo and Riley who competed this week at Homebush - a huge achievement.

Learning with Friends and Forrest at the Homework Centre

Just a reminder that the Homework Centre operates every Tuesday afternoon from 2:45 pm till 4:45 pm in our school library. It is an informal way to get help, often in the company of your friends with school work and assessment tasks. We have University students who are our tutors, covering a range of subject areas and SSHS teachers providing supervision and assistance during this time.

It is important that when students have finished their work, they sign out and then make their way straight home.

Attendance Heroes

Gemma and Sara- Outstanding attendance well done!

Uniform Stars

Elijah and Mia

Good News Story

It’s wonderful as Principal to share with you the following email I received from a member of the community.

To the Principal of South Sydney High School I would like to bring to your attention two Year 10 boys and one Year 10 boy who left the School recently for Queensland who assisted an 80 year old man outside Pacific Fair today ( Saturday) at Maroubra Junction The three boys saw the man about to fall and rushed to his aid but he unfortunately fell before they reached him They were trying to assist him when a man and female and my husband arrived and helped him up and to a chair They stayed with him, however as soon as he told the adults that he was on his own and had no family and that he needed to get a taxi to the hospital as he was feeling dizzy and not well the boys quickly rang for an ambulance and stayed with him until it arrived They relayed all the pertinent details to the Ambulance Emergency Operators with a great deal of maturity The boys were amazing. Their parents and school Should be really proud of them In today's world many would have left him but they didn’t as they showed great compassion beyond their years for the old gentleman I asked for their names : They are Bogdan Theo Gabriel Regards Glenda

Students Giving Back

At the end of May, a team of South Sydney High School students will be competing in a surfing competition, the SurfAid-Cup in Bondi Beach. Representing our school will be Elias, Lewis, Tuomo and Bengt from Year 8, 9 and 10. In order to be able to participate, we have to raise $5000 as a team. The Not-For-Profit organization called SurfAid is running the event. All the money raised by the teams that have entered is used by SurfAid to support families in remote areas of Indonesia. The money helps the families to access basic services like healthcare, clean water and food security. Last year, more than 54 000 families were reached by this program! Indonesia is a world class surfing destination - a lot of Australians go there frequently to enjoy the awesome waves. We want to give back. Please show your support for us young and aspiring surfers of South Sydney High School, and also to SurfAid by donating through the link below ⬇️. You and your family's help means the world to us, and especially to the people receiving help by SurfAid.

https://surfaidcupbondi.com.au/southsydneyhighschool

Thank you from the South Sydney High School SurfAid-Team, Elias, Lewis, Tuomo and Bengt

A friendly reminder

Term 2 is a busy term with Half Yearly Assessments and we remind all students of the importance of taking ownership for their learning journey.

As our term progresses, think about the following words -

“Learn continually. There’s always “one more thing to learn.” - Steve Jobs

Have a great Term 2.

Regards

Janice Neilsen

Upcoming Events

• UAC Talks- 6pm 8/5/23 Year 11 &12
• P&C Meeting 7pm 9/5/23
• Austcorp One on One Day 16/5/23
• UAC Talks -6pm 16/05/23 Year 10

Pacifica girls group workshop

Our Pacifica girls group was very fortunate to participate in a cultural workshop with Harata Butler during the last week of Term 1.

Harata is a representative of both her country, New Zealand, and the All Stars Maori team in Rugby League. She also represented her Maori culture at the world championships in Canada in ‘Waka’ (traditional canoe).

Harata spoke passionately about her journey growing in schools that had the Maori culture as part of the curriculum in language, customs and learning.

She encouraged each student in the group to begin or continue their journey of discovery into their own cultural identity. Her powerful message which included some tears, inspired the group, and all in the room have committed to seek more understanding of who they are.

Our Pacifica Group come from many Polynesian cultual groups, Moari, Tongan, Samoan, Fiji, Cook Island and Niue. Harata’s big message to us was 'Before we perform traditional dances and rituals it is important to gain knowledge of what they mean, why are they performed and the importance of passing them on through each generation.'

Comments from our group:

Diana - Year 8 'The talk helped me understand more about what culture is & inspired me as we share a similar childhood and family.'

Luseanne - Year 8 'Good talk as I felt safe to share, and it was great to do that in a room with girls from similar backgrounds.'

Lannah - Year 10 'Harata was easy to relate to, friendly and inspiring and she spoke from the heart about our culture.'

Makayla - Year 7 'Inspiring and gave me courage to ask questions to help my cultural journey.'

SRC Youth Week

Youth Week is a week to celebrate being young. The SRC successfully ran fun activities in the first weeks of Term 2 to celebrate being young.

Students enjoyed activities such as Bubble Soccer, a photo booth, free food, a teacher vs student sport activity, movie afternoon, and bracelet making.

A big thank you to Randwick Council as this would not have been possible without a significant grant from them.

Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh Award News

We would like to congratulate the 5 Year 10 students who have completed and achieved their Bronze Award. They were presented with their awards and bronze pins at the school assembly. These young women all showed great effort, organisation and team work to complete their awards.

Duke of Edinburgh Award Training Hike

35 Year 9 and 10 students set out Wednesday to Friday Week 1 to complete their first overnight hike of the year as a part of the Adventurous Journey section of their award. The students completed a challenging section of the Great North Walk (which goes from Sydney to Newcastle). They showed grit and determination as they completed the challenging hike in their teams, carrying all their equipment and food in their backpacks. There were leeches, big hills, tricky terrain and heavy packs, but we had great views, perfect weather, friends and laughter to balance it all out. It was great to see the teams working well together and helping each other out. The final qualifying hike will be held in Term 4.

High Potential Gifted Enrichment News

SSCIM Camp, Cockatoo Island, 1-3 May

On Monday 1 May students equipped with everything they would need to complete three days of project-based learning left our school for Sydney’s beautiful Cockatoo Island. Staying in comfortable pre-erected tents and catering and cooking for themselves the group led by Ms Gore, Mr Benson and Ms de Paor enjoyed three days of sunshine and rich experiential learning in a beautiful environment. During the day students worked on the self-directed projects they had designed under the supervision of their teachers. Many of these projects were influenced by the rich history of Cockatoo Island. It was an important area to First Nation Australians subsequently becoming a penal and military site during colonial times. For most of the twentieth century it became a busy industrial site dedicated to boat building. The international students attending the camp were particularly interested in this rich history. They created a video and photographic record of many of the sites to be found on the island as they researched the history behind the buildings and structures they discovered.

It was the flora found on the island that captured the attention of some of our year 9 girls who pressed wildflowers that they collected into a book. Each plant was labelled with its correct botanical names, accompanied by a descriptive account of the plant’s uses and the location where it was found. A group of year 9 boys were engaged in a film making project based on the ‘survivor’ concept. We look forward to seeing the many hours of footage that they captured transformed into a short film through the careful editing that they will be engaged in during coming weeks. Rocco from year 9 did a beautiful painting inspired by one of the buildings on the island while two of our year 9 girls composed a haunting song dedicated to the convicts who would have inhabited the island’s solitary confinement cells.

Our year 10 students were mainly focused on preparations for the 2024 school production. They created lists of costumes and props that will be needed as well as making a start on choreographing the dance numbers to be included in the show.

As always, it was a very productive, creative, fun and rich learning experience for all of those who attended. We look forward to planning our Junior SSCIM Camp that will take place later in the year.

Year 7 Enrichment 2024 Parent Information Night, 27 April

On Thursday 27 April Ms Neilsen, Mr Patmore, Ms de Paor and Ms Gore welcomed parents and students interested in enrolling in our school’s enrichment stream for next year to South Sydney High School. Aryan from our current 7Y class was Master of Ceremonies for the occasion. He did a wonderful job of introducing the various speakers who spoke about the philosophy behind our enrichment stream as well as how it works on a practical level. The expectations of enrichment students both in and beyond the classroom were outlined as well as the process for applying to enter this stream at our school. It was wonderful to hear from Debs a year 10 student who spoke about her experiences in this stream since year 7 and the benefits she has gained. Her wonderful mother Elana also spoke offering a parent’s perspective. The evening finished with questions from the audience and an opportunity was also afforded for parents to examine the portfolios that had assisted Aryan and Debs to gain placement in this stream at our school. All who attended left with a better understanding of the process of application and the educational experience that students can expect in and beyond the classroom as enrichment students.

South Sydney Enrichment Program

Our SSEP program gets underway next week on Thursday 11 May when we will once again welcome those identified by their teachers as high potential year 5 students from local schools. This exciting program offers these students a valuable experience of high school life. Our own students from years 7 – 10 are also offered leadership roles as mentors to these younger students during the program. The topics to be covered include: The Mathematics of Strategic Games, Effective Communication, Robotics and a focus on Our Fragile World.

ICAS

Its now time to enrol for this year’s ICAS examinations that will be taking place over the coming months. Details below:

This link takes you to the ICAS website where parent can order the exams they would like their child to sit:

https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

South Sydney parent portal code: WLP015

Science News

This week we will be recording our second science podcast for the year. We have some very keen students who will be speaking with some interesting people from the wider science community.

Also, our first episode for the year has been edited and is almost ready to be released. In this episode, four of our bright year 8 students; Ace, Kailea, Ada and Rhys spoke with Dr Anne Mai-Prochnow about microorganisms and plasma technology. Keep an eye out and be sure to have a listen!

To listen to the podcasts we've done so far, access them by searching for 'SSHS Science Cast' in any of your preferred podcast apps listed below:

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Tune In or Google.

Library News

Chess Tournament

During Term One, the Library held its first lunchtime Library Chess Tournament. It started with 54 players with pool rounds and then knockout from the top 16. The final between Joshua (Year 12) and Karel (Year 8) took place on the last day of term one using the large chess set in F Block.

The final drew quite a crowd of student and staff onlookers and created a great atmosphere during lunch. There were many vocal supporters of every move and tactical discussions. It was a close match, with Joshua victorious with an eventual checkmate.

The next lunchtime Library tournament will start again next week.