Johnson Avenue, SEVEN HILLS 2147. Phone 9624 3329

Email: sevenhills-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: http://www.sevenhills-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/

Seven Hills High School A member of the Nirimba Collegiate group of schools

Newsletter

April 2018

Upcoming Events April 11th P&C Meeting 12th Chinese Gardens Excursion – Year 7 13th Last day of Term 1 30th School Development Day

May 1st First day of classes for Term 2 2nd ‘Elevate’ study skills program School photographs 3rd ANZAC Day ceremony 9th School photographs for absent students P&C Meeting

Year 7 Taronga Zoo Excursion

On March 13, Year 7 students attended the Taronga Zoo excursion as part of the Science Unit of Work ‘Living Things’. Students had an opportunity to experience, and appreciate, the diversity of animal life found on our planet. They visited a recently opened tiger encounter, enjoyed the bird show and participated in the interactive presentation given by zoo staff, covering topics such as diversity among vertebrates and invertebrates, classification and adaptations.

Irina Sidorovich

Science Faculty

P&C Meeting - Wednesday, 11th April, 7.30 pm in the library At the meeting: * Mrs Rodd, Head Teacher English/HSIE will be discussing and providing information on how you can support your child in developing the literacy skills they need for high school and beyond.

All parents, carers and community members are welcome!

Shave for a Cure From March 14 to 16, the Student Representative Council (SRC) conducted fundraising activities to raise money for the Leukemia Foundation who support people diagnosed with blood cancer and their families.

The SRC, led by our School Captains, Alanna Kaufmann and Amneh Chaker, collected donations for coloured hairspraying in the mornings and at recess.

During lunchtimes, volunteering teachers, Mr. Erwin, Mr. Maclaren, Mr. Burgess and Mr. Way, had their heads shaved by students who had successfully bid for the honour. Students who collected donations, had their heads shaved on Friday.

It was a fantastic event and we raised over $1200 for the Leukemia Foundation.

Daniel Way

SRC Coordinator

Premiers Sporting Challenge On Wednesday, March 28, Seven Hills High school held the Premier Sporting Challenge ‘Learn to Lead’ Program.

Students from Seven Hills West and Seven Hills Public Schools participated in several activities relating to netball, basketball, newcombe ball and soccer-touch, in lessons prepared by our Year 10 coaches. There were also a number of Year 7 and 8 students, identified by their teachers as future sporting leaders of the school, involved as participants.

A great day was had by all and the students learnt a great deal about sports leadership. The Year 10 coaches from the Physical Activities and Sports Science classes did a great job in planning and running the sessions.

Year 10 coaches: Jack Bradley, Amneh Chaker, Paige Corsiatto, Jeremy Frary, Rebecca Godbee, Liam Howarth, Tevita Kabuyawa, Alanna Kaufmann, Rachael McDermott, Lewis Schmid, Marko Stojanovic, Jaidon Walsh, Shikorah Way, Kupa Puloka and Hasan Zaidi.

Year 7/8 students: Jack Black, Ziah Burns, Yasmin Howarth, Aiden O’Connell, Raymond Takau, Christine Douglas, Teneal McDermott, Jessica Sands, Caitlin Sinclair, Mariah Finau and Meigan Tjiu.

Daniel Way

Premiers Sporting Challenge Program Coordinator

Careers News WHITECARD– ONLY $50.

The safety course is being offered at school. Payment and permission note is due by Tuesday 10th April 2018. A minimum of 10 students MUST pay for the course to run. See me if you are over 14 years old and are interested.

FREE FIRST AID COURSE

We have been offered an extra 25 places in the free First Aid course. Please see me if you are still interested – ONLY 6 places left.

HEALTH CAREERS INFORMATION DAY

Any Year 10 student interested in a career in Health Care please see me to put your name down to attend a day at Westmead Hospital on Tuesday, 5th July 2018.

APPRENTICESHIP INTERVIEWS

Parramatta 10th April 2018. 3:30pm – 6:00pm

Take your resume and be interviewed for existing apprenticeships. See me for details.

Tonnie Slater

Careers Advisor

Chinese Update Ni hao!

Well we have been very busy this term. Students have been working well and continue to show interest in improving their skills in Chinese, both in the classroom and at home. All students have now completed their first speaking task and although this was daunting for some, everyone gave it their best. We have recently started learning about the Chinese number system and have reinforced content with activities including bingo in Chinese. Students are currently competing in a class/individual based competition and have been working hard to be on top. To the side are the current top three students and the overall class statistics.

Stay tuned, we are off on an exciting excursion to the Chinese Gardens and I will report on the students’ experiences in the next newsletter.

Mark Harper

LOTE teacher

Visual Arts Update It has been a great start to the year in Visual Arts and I would like to welcome our new member of staff Ms Patel. Our students have been very busy creating wonderful pieces of art and photography. Please enjoy a small sample.

Operation Art 2018: Once again we will be entering some works into this exciting initiative. Works entered have the potential to be exhibited in the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. All entries are due before May 11th. Please see myself or Ms Patel for details.

Kim Clemson

Head Teacher Secondary Studies

A friendly reminder: All students require a Visual Arts Diary in each class. These can be purchased for $3.50 from the front office.

Electives subjects (Visual Arts and Photography Years 9 & 10) are fee-based courses, please ensure all fees are paid.

Developing your child’s numeracy skills To be numerate is to confidently and effectively use mathematics to meet the everyday demands of life.

Why is numeracy important?

Numeracy enables you to develop logical thinking and reasoning strategies in your daily life. We need numeracy to solve problems and make sense of time, numbers, patterns and shapes for activities like cooking, reading a map or bill, reading instructions and even playing sport.

Ways to support a child’s numeracy development

Research has shown that children’s motivation and achievement improve when their parents or carers are involved in their education.

There are many everyday things you can do to encourage numeracy learning. These include:

• encouraging your child to use mathematical language — how much, how big, how small, how many

• discussing the use of numbers, patterns and shapes in your day-to-day life — numbers found on library books, spatial patterns or shapes in sporting grounds, in the home and architecture

• talking about occasions when you are using mathematics in daily jobs and real-life situations — cooking, map reading, building and playing sport

• exploring situations using money such as shopping, budgets and credit cards

• estimating, measuring and comparing lengths and heights, how heavy or light things are and how much containers hold

• talking about different ways to solve a problem • using everyday tools like tape measures or kitchen scales and

discussing the units of measure • asking ‘does that make sense?’, ‘is the answer reasonable?’ or

‘what other ways could we do this?’ • observing and using timetables, calendars and clocks for

different purposes like study periods, holiday planning and catching public transport

• helping your child to work out how much things cost and what change they will receive

• playing number games using magazines, books, newspapers and number plates

• organising, categorising and counting collections of things like toys, books, clothing and shoes.

• discussing strategies in games, sports matches, board games, cards and dice activities

• elapsed time, “If the movie starts at 4.15pm and goes for 132minutes, what time should I pick you up?”

Joanne Andrew

Head Teacher Mathematics /Numeracy Coordinator

Environmental Club It is great pleasure to introduce to you the members of the newly established Environmental Club: Ziah Burns, Rachael Banks, Christine Douglas, Isabellea Bambury-Turner, Riley Green and Yasmin Howarth.

The aim of this group is to help make Seven Hills High School a more environmentally friendly place.

Throughout the year, students will be looking at establishing and maintaining: recycling in all classrooms, compost for the Agricultural farm, participating in the Return and Earn initiative and much more!!

With your support, Seven Hills High School can become a leader in fighting the war on waste.

If students are interested in joining the Environmental Club, then please see me in the English/HSIE staffroom.

Stay tuned for more exciting news.

Gina Walker

HSIE Faculty

Wyndham College – Q&A from Year 10 Subject Information Evening 1. Difference between Board Developed Course`s and Board Endorsed Courses.

Board Developed courses are the large number of courses set and examined by Education Standards that also contribute to the calculation of the ATAR. View a list of all Board Developed Courses broken down by subject. Also see individual course descriptions.

Board Endorsed courses are developed by schools, TAFE and universities. They count towards your HSC but do not have an HSC examination and do not contribute towards the calculation of your ATAR.

2. Explain how students will pick courses for Taster Days

All 7 - 10 students will complete an online survey so that Wyndham Collegian establish the subject that the Collegiate can offer subject that the majority of students would like to experience. From then the Collegiate Deputy Principal will develop a system that is fair and transparent for all students so that they may experience Year 11 subjects that will assist them in making an informed decision on the subject they would like to study in 2019.

3. How many courses are required to receive a HSC? To successfully complete the HSC, a student must satisfactorily complete 10 units of study and meet the minimum requirements within Literacy and Numeracy.

4. What you require for an ATAR? To be issued with an ATAR a student must satisfactorily complete at least ten units of Board Developed Courses. Two of these units must be English.

5. When will the online booking be opened? The online booking for year 11 2019 subject selection will open on Monday June 4 and close Friday July 5. This will only be opened to year 10 students form the collegiate. Students will be able to enter their subject selections at school on 28th June during Session 1.

6. When will parent/student and Careers Advisor interviews be held?

Anytime you can attend an interview with Mrs Slater you can book an interview. She is not available on a Friday. Please contact her on (02) 9624 3329.

7. When are the enrolment packages due? (Yellow envelop)

Return to Mrs Slater by 5th July 2018. This secures your place at Wyndham College.

Enrolment envelop check list – Return to Mrs Slater by 5th July 2018

‘Application to enrol in a NSW Government School’ – parent MUST sign page 13

Code of Conduct (White) – student signs

‘Bring your Own Device’ (Pink) – parent & student sign.

Language Survey (White)

Paracetamol Permission Card (Small Green) – parent signs

Student Study Tip No.2: TIME MANAGEMENT Being ORGANISED means managing your time. One of the best ways to manage your time is to make a study timetable. Your Study Timetable • Your study timetable should be personal and flexible enough to meet your needs. Your study

timetable should show how you spend all your waking hours • The following activities need to be included in your timetable:

• Meal times • Social activities/sporting activities • Homework • Study • School • Jobs • Free time

Timetable Tips Keep these points in mind when you are making up your study timetable.

• Study difficult subjects first. The rest gets easier.

• Spread your study over the whole week. Don’t try to do it all in one night!

• Take breaks between subjects (5-10mins), have something to eat or go outside and get some fresh air. This helps to improve your concentration.