© Greystanes High School 2007

The Mercury Greystanes High School's Newsletter In this issue.........not yet available                                                       The Principal Writes... Welcome to Term 2 I hope that everyone had a refreshing Easter Holiday. This term we are joined by new members of staff. Our Deputy Principal, Ms Katrina Middlebrook, Head Teacher English. Ms Rebecca Mahon and Head Teacher HSIE, Mr Christopher Crowley are now officially members of the Greystanes community in these positions. I expect that they will be highly valued members of our teaching staff in supporting and guiding the learning of our students as well as receiving the support of the community for their work. Term 1 Interim Reports for Years 7 and 11 Students had these reports distributed to them for their reflection and parent reference at the end of last term. The beginning of high school and senior studies is a challenging time for the student in coping with the heightened expectations for quality and quantity of work. There are students who need to put more effort into their work but most are progressing well. The greatest concern is where students are not in attendance every day actively involved in their learning. It requires full attendance, engagement and participation for success. Any parent who has concerns is welcome to contact the Rouse Group Leaders to discuss student progress and is encouraged to attend parent teacher nights this term. Anzac Day Ceremony On Tuesday 24 April, the school commemorated the service to our country of our forefathers and mothers during times of war and military actions. This solemn event was led by students who highlighted the personal commitment of those who gave their lives and served to preserve freedom and our way of life. The choral group led the singing of the National Anthem. It is very pleasing to have a school of students who honour and respect the generosity of those who made our lifestyle possible. Athletics Carnival It is very fortunate that the Blacktown Athletics Centre stand has been upgraded. It is terrific to have a facility where competitors and spectators can be undercover from the elements. This is always a great event for our school with high levels of participation in all events. Our sports organisers have ensured that every student can participate successfully in a wide range of field and track events. This carnival is not just for the champion athletes but for all students to explore their talents. 1100k forward to our high performing athletes being successful at the zone, region and state carnivals. Thank you to the parents who attended and supported the event. School Uniform The community expectation is that all students wear complete uniform everyday. As the weather cools it is important that the outer garment is the school jumper, jacket. Beanies are not school uniform and will not be accepted as head wear. There is a school cap if head protection is required. All uniform requirements are available from the school shop on Mondays each week of term. Contributions and Subject Fees I would encourage every family to continue to contribute towards the final payment of school fees as early as possible. If there is financial difficulty then regular part payments are welcome. If families have severe financial challenges then please make an appointment to discuss this with me so a plan can be established. The school has quality student resources because of the high level commitment of families to paying both the school contribution and subject fees. I look forward to many student successes in term two in all areas of endeavour. Michael Glenday - Principal   ......top of newsletter                 Deputy Principal's Report - Ms Middlebrook I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself in this edition of the Mercury. Many of you may not have been aware that I have been appointed here on merit as Deputy Principal, starting this term, and will working alongside Mr O'Brien our other Deputy Principal. I have felt very welcomed by school staff and recognise that I have come to a great school. I have come from Macarthur Girls High School where I have taught for the last four years. I am looking forward to working with both boys and girl again. Prior to this, I was a Senior Curriculum Adviser in at State Office providing support to PDHPE teachers around the state. I have taught at several other schools over my career including Cob High School, Hawkesbury High School and Hay War Memorial High School. My background in teaching is PDHPE and I am currently teaching Yr 11 PDHPE. I have a particular love of sport and I am interested in following the progress of our sporting students and enjoy seeing the high standards they achieve in their sports representation. I have had a number of students make themselves known to me since arriving at the school and I look forward to meeting many more students, parents and community members. Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) The school has been working hard to promote a positive learning environment for students where all students take responsibility for their behaviour and make the whole school a better positive place to be. We have established that this means the students, staff and community will: Be proud of their school, uniform and achievements, Be cooperative with staff and students, Be respectful of others and their property, Be an active learner. We are at the next stage of implementing this concept. In Week 3, the students will be distributed with a copy of the types of behaviours we would expect to see if they are being proud, cooperative, respectful and active learner (PBL Matrix). These are listed according to the various locations around the school. For example, a proud student will wear their full and correct uniform at school (everywhere), put rubbish in the bin (playground, classroom, corridors), accept awards with enthusiasm and grace (assemblies) and use polite language to create a good public image (bus bay, sport, excursions). Teachers will provide the students with the opportunity to understand what each of these key values look like and don't look like in practice The students will be asked to paste this matrix in their school diary. During Week 2, House group teachers will be ensuring that every student has a diary. If your child has misplaced or lost their diary, a new diary can be purchased from the D Block front office for $3 only. Please take the opportunity to read the behaviours expected of our students so that you are better able to encourage your child to work with the school in creating a positive learning environment.   Katrina Middlebrook - Deputy Principal   ......top of newsletter                                       Deputy Principal's Report - Mr O'Brien Welcome Back Already it's May and second term is upon us. SUCCESS FOR BOYS: At the recent Staff Development Day the focus of much of the day was on looking at the performance of boys in the school. Similar to the state wide trend, boys have a higher rate of suspensions, receive fewer academic rewards and have a lower retention rate into senior school. A number of strategies that teachers could use to motivate or involve boys more were introduced and discussed. The school has received a small grant which will be spent on mentoring programs and the development of ICT tasks and resources to improve the learning outcomes of boys. YEAR 12: Recently completed their Half Yearly examinations and now have the opportunity to reflect on their performance. Students need to review their preparation, time management and examination skills to ensure that any problems are eliminated before the HSC. It is essential students attend all lessons and maintain sound homework and study routines. Some students need to make far greater use of the time when they don't have timetabled lessons. Unfortunately students don't realize that they are competing against 60,000 others. Many of these students may get better results than them, not because they are smarter but rather because they work harder. Year 12 students should consult their teacher mentors to review their examination performance. HOMEWORK: Parents may have read recently of the debate concerning the value of homework being given to Year 7 and 8 students. A nearby high school has said that only work to be finished from the school day must be done at home and that the time freed up from homework should be spent exercising or with family. Other educators believe that successful work habits need to be established early in high school. During this year the school's homework policy will be evaluated and the opinions of parents, teachers, students and other members of the school community will be sought. NEW STAFF: A warm welcome to all new staff especially our new Deputy, Ms Katrina Middlebrook who I look forward to working with.   P.O'Brien - Deputy Principal   ......top of newsletter                                       Science Report   Year 12 Reports By this stage Year 12 have completed their half yearly exams. As parents and guardians you will receive a report outlining areas which your child is achieving a satisfactory standard and areas which require improvement. The Science Staff encourage all parents and guardians to attend parent teacher night if you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress. Parent teacher night in Term 2 is on Wednesday 27th June. We look forward to seeing you there. Year 7 open ended investigation All year 7 classes have now received an open ended investigation. Students were given a topic posed as a question or problem. They are then required to use scientific method and experimentation to find, an answer to this problem/question There will be two components to this project, a written scientific report and an oral presentation to your child's class. Both will be assessed by your child's teacher. Some class time will be given to clarify the problems and questions being considered. Otherwise students will complete the project out of school time. Science competition. The Science competition is on Thursday the 10th of May. This is an annual competition run by the University of New South Wales. All students are encouraged to participate as certificates are awarded to all students who enter.   Forensic Science Year 9 Written by Anthony B Forensic Science is a branch of Science that helps crimes to be solved. In year 9 you have a chance to choose forensics as one of your subjects. In forensics, some of the things that you do throughout the course include analysing fingerprints, shoeprints, fibres, bite marks and handwriting. You get to use equipment such as ink, chemicals, LIV lights, microscopes, and fingerprinting kits. Forensics is a fun subject and it's interesting. You use all the techniques and equipment that actual forensic scientists use.         ......top of newsletter                   Introducing Ms Rebecca Mahon I have been teaching for fifteen years and lit is a career that I really enjoy. I am trained in English and History, two subjects that I love very much. I began my teaching career in a South Western Sydney school called James Meehan High School. Teaching there taught me a lot about working with the community and how to provide the best and most relevant educational outcomes for everyone involved. After five years at The Meehan" I moved to Holroyd High School. I taught at Holroyd for ten years and during that time I had the pleasure of being a year adviser, relieving head teacher and working with lots of different students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. I am very excited about teaching at Greystanes and all of the students that I have met have been friendly and eager to learn. I have a lot of plans for the English Faculty and a few ideas on different things that we might want to start doing. If any students or parents have any bright ideas, I would love to hear them. I look forward to working with all of you and thank everybody for the warmth and friendliness of the welcome that I have received. ......top of newsletter                 Mobile Phones Policy   Students are not permitted to have mobile phones at school.  This policy has been endorsed by the P&C and the School Council. Any mobile phones confiscated by staff will be retained by the school for 7 school days, and will only be returned after an interview with parents.  This policy is being enforced and exceptions can be requested, in  advance, but are unlikely to be approved.       ......top of newsletter                                                       Sports News   Greystanes has a great sporting reputation and in 2007 we are looking to cement this. Greystanes has two Sports Organisers -Ms Chiew, who is based in Science (bottom of A block), and Mr Parnis, who works in Industrial Arts (C Block). Any questions you have about Sport should be directed to the Sports Organisers. Recreation Sport Costs for 2007 Sport Cost Bus Total Coolibah Weights $6.00 $5.00 $11.00 Coolibah Squash $6.00 $5.00 $11.00 Indoor Rock Climbing (Blacktown) $6.00 $5.00 $11.00 Indoor Soccer (Girraween) $5.00 $5.00 Boxercise (Girraween) $5.00 $5.00 Ice skating (Blacktown) $6.00 $5.00 $11.00 Ten Pin Bowling (Blacktown) $6.00 $5.00 $11.00 Dance/Pilates (Giraween) $5.00 $5.00 Girls' Weights nil Power Walking nil Swimming (Guildford Pool) $2.00 $5.00 $7.00 Year 7/8 Dance $2.00 $2.00 Gardening $2.00 one off payment Meditation, Beauty and Health nil Housesport nil Bus Cards Bus cards need to be purchased if traveling to and/or from sport by bus. They can be purchased from D block office in amounts of $25 or $50. Each bus trip is worth $5.   GREYSTANES IN THE POOL Our swimming carnival on Friday 16 February 2007 at Merrylands Pool was a huge success. A big thank you goes to all the staff and student helpers that worked hard all day in an effort to ensure students had a safe and enjoyable day. We would also like to thank all the parents and spectators that created a great atmosphere and supported the day. The results of the swimming carnival are as follows: 1st place: Gilmore - 784 2nd place: Bradman - 707 3rd place: Monash- 398 4th place: Parkes- 320 Gilmore were able to defend the title they claimed last year and win the crown again in 2007. Well done to Gilmore and their team of champion swimmers. PROSPECT ZONE & SYDNEY WEST REGIONAL Once again GHS dominated the pool winning at zone and placed 4th at regional out of about 50 schools. We had about 50 GHS students represent Prospect Zone at the Sydney West Swimming carnival. Being placed 4th school in the Area is a sensational achievement. CROSS COUNTRY The carnival which was competitors only was a huge success. We selected a great team of about 60 competitors who will go on to compete at the Zone carnival held at Parramatta Park on Thursday loth Once again Bradman proved it had too many great runners to be meddled with. They won the carnival with 229 points. Monash were hot on their trail on 183 points and Gilmore and Parkes battled it out for third and fourth places on 160 and 158 points respectively. Mr Parnis and Ms Chiew - Sports Coordinators   LOOP THE LAKE - By Jamie D (Year 8)   On the 11th of March 2007, a bicycle challenge was held in the lake Macquarie area called Loop the Lake. I participated in it with my grandfather in the first of the races which was the 80km ride. It started at Spears Point and went Anti Clockwise around the lake going through Teralba, Fassifern, Toronto, outskirts of Wangi Wangi, Dora Creek, Morriset, Nords Wharf, Swansea, Belmont, Warner's Bay and back to Spear's Point. We traveled along the Pacific Highway and Wangi Rd the whole way. It was a very challenging ride with many steep hills and long stretches but nice steep downhill (no feet on the pedals) slopes. Altogether this was a very exciting and eventful day for everyone and I am looking forward to next year.   ......top of newsletter                     CHS SAILING REGATTA By Tiane B - Yr 11 During the first week of the school holidays, 10th-14t' April, my brother John, Natasha , myself and the rest of my family went up to Belmont 16ft Skiff Sailing Club to sail in the CHS Sailing Regatta (Combined High Schools) sailed in conjunction with The NSW Secondary Schools and Australian Secondary Schools Championships. The first day was for registration and an invitation race but I didn't sail in it because I had been sailing for the past few days over Easter in the NS14 State Titles at Toronto Natasha crewed for me in our Heron called Blondie and John sailed his Spiral called Stormbreaker, we were both competing in Division 2, the slower monohulls, which consisted of about 90 other boats. Both boats were considered small boats. Natasha and I were entered in the All Girls crew. In the whole regatta we were sailing against about 200 other boats ranging from sabots (the smallest) to an etchell (the largest). Natasha and I came first in the Heron class and won a beautiful trophy and gold medallions. John sailed well but there was more competition in the Spiral class and he ended up 55 in the Spiral class (he was coming =4 until the last race). The weather was a bit lighter than we would have liked and some of the races had to be postponed until the wind came in, even then it was still very light.