Sincerity , Scholarship, Service · Mathematics Visual Arts Welfare Excursions Yr 11 Legal Studies...
Transcript of Sincerity , Scholarship, Service · Mathematics Visual Arts Welfare Excursions Yr 11 Legal Studies...
SEFTON NEWS
Term 4 2019
Sincerity , Scholarship, Service
CONTENTS
Principal’s Message
Our Spectacular
Sport News
Faculty News
Mathematics
Visual Arts
Welfare
Excursions
Yr 11 Legal
Studies
Yr 10 Commerce
Acknowledgement
Of Country
Workshop
Competitions
Australian
Mathematics
National History
Challenge
HTANSW History
Mastermind
MusicEDU
Sefton Geographic
Society
Clubs
Coding
Photography
In Other News …
Yr 9 Commerce
Market Day
Year 8 Bandanna
Day
Sefton High
Shaves It Off!
SRE
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Is it possible that the older I get the quicker time seems to pass by? Well it certainly feels that way
amidst the busyness and the hustle and bustle of productive activity that is Sefton High School. I
cannot believe that the end of another school year draws near. Despite the school year drawing to a
close there is no respite from the purposeful teaching and learning that is the core business of your
school.
Currently
Students in Years 7-10 are either preparing for, sitting, or just completing end of year assessments.
Students in Year 11 are preparing for their first HSC Course Assessment in each of their subjects.
Year 7 and 8 Gala Days are occurring.
Preparations are under way for Music Night.
The first of our major end of year assemblies – Sports Assembly has occurred. What a magnificent
celebration of the vibrant and enthusiastic sporting culture that exists at Sefton High School.
Staff are evaluating and rewriting learning programs, units of instruction and new assessment
tasks.
All staff are completing their annual Performance and Development Appraisals.
Our timetabling team are busy establishing the best possible matrix to support student learning
for 2020.
Our Administrative Staff are busily processing reports, orders, and enrolments in readiness for
2020.
The list goes on. Suffice to say, Sefton High School is abuzz with productive energy as we seek to
finish 2019 well and begin 2020 stronger than before.
CONGRATULATIONS
I wish to congratulate Mr C Idle, Ms L Wood and all the staff who make opportunities for our students
not just to play sport but to represent their Houses (Bradman, Court, Cuthbert, Thorpe) and Sefton
High School across such a vast array of different sports (including, of course, Chess!). The rich
sporting culture that permeates Sefton High School was appropriately celebrated at our school Sport
Assembly on Thursday 21 November 2019. I congratulate the various award recipients as well as all
the other student and staff members who involve themselves in this vital co-curricular pursuit.
I also wish to congratulate Mrs A Hope, a crucial member of our fantastic School Administrative and
Support Staff who recently was acknowledged at the Strathfield Office Combined Networks Award
Ceremony which represents 80 public schools, for her outstanding contribution to Sefton High
School. Mrs Hope is a versatile, talented and committed member of our administrative team who has
been influential in establishing and maintaining our Facebook page and our new Web page.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
At our Term 4 Week 3 assembly, Mr Dimopoulos spoke to staff and students about our high
expectations. Now high expectations is something all schools say they have but what Mr Dimopoulos
did was to give a practical illustration of our high expectations in action – in this example –
punctuality. It is on this theme of high expectations that I need to reiterate our expectations. We expect
and will take action to ensure;
students are punctual to school and to class. Consequences will be imposed when students do not
comply with our high expectations that they be punctual.
students are in full school uniform top to bottom, head to toe, each and every day unless there is
a one-off letter from a parent to explain why this is not the case. Consequences will be imposed
when students’ dress does not comply with our high expectations of uniform. All student will be
in full school uniform every day.
students will behave in classrooms and corridors and in general play areas in accordance with the
Department of Education Behaviour Code for Students and the Sefton High School Code of
Conduct. Consequences will be imposed when a student’s behaviour does not comply with our
high expectations for a safe and productive learning environment for all students and safe and
productive workplace for all staff.
These matters are not negotiable. When consequences occur, should students choose not to comply
with the imposed consequences, then additional consequences will follow. Our very high expectations
in these areas are foundational to ensuring a safe, cooperative and productive learning environment
that allow teachers to teach and students to achieve.
Our focus is and will continue to be students achieving their personal best academic standards and
involving themselves in the wide variety of co-curricular pursuits offered by the school that contribute
to the holistic development of students.
NAPLAN 2019 – A SNAPSHOT OF OUR RESULTS
In 2018 and 2019 the NAPLAN testing regime has come under fierce criticism from many sources.
In 2018 and 2019 the waters of NAPLAN have been muddied with some schools using pen and paper
testing whilst others have trialled adaptive on-line testing. These two testing regimes are very
different and as such comparisons between schools must be treated with extreme caution.
Sefton High School will regard NAPLAN for what it is able to tell us and for what it was originally
intended. The key areas we will focus on are:
What do NAPLAN results for individual students reveal in terms of areas for ongoing
development?
What do NAPLAN results for Year groups reveal to us in terms of broad item analysis eg in
writing, in grammar and punctuation, in aspects of numeracy?
Do our broader NAPLAN results support our strategic directions or indicate areas for greater
concentration?
In 2019, our results reveal
Year 7
69.9% of students scored in Bands 7, 8, 9 and 10 for Reading (State average is 54.5%)
67.6% of students scored in Bands 7, 8, 9 and 10 for Writing (State average is 36.5%)
75.1% of students scored in Bands 7, 8, 9 and 10 for Numeracy (State average is 55.4%)
Year 9
78.1% of students scored in Bands 8, 9 and 10 for Reading (State average is 47.5%)
64.1% of students scored in Bands 8, 9 and 10 for Writing (State average is 31.6%)
80.3% of students scored in Bands 8, 9 and 10 for Numeracy (State average is 48.0%)
We are delighted with this measure as it is one of the key indicators of the success of our school plan
and intentional focus upon the explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy in junior years. There is a
very high expectation placed on our teachers and students in Years 7-10 that their focus will be upon
core foundational skills in reading, persuasive and narrative writing, guided scaffolds to support
student writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and detailed feedback by staff to students.
UPCOMING DATES
2019
3 December Year 6 into 7 Enrolment Day
6 December Year 10 Fundraiser
9-12 December Year 7 Swim School
13 December Presentation Day
16, 17, 18 December Student reports Years 7-9 posted home.
2020
29 January Years 7, 11 and 12 commence
30 January Years 8, 9, and 10 commence
7 February Swimming Carnival Birrong Pool
Finally may I wish all of our Sefton High School community – students past, present and future, staff,
parents, neighbours a wonderful Christmas and a safe relaxing holiday.
See you all in 2020.
Mr K Humphreys
Principal
OUR SPECTACULAR – SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
On August 29 this year, close to 50 students from Years 7 to 12 made their way to the Sydney Opera
House for their final rehearsal and performance of ‘Seasons of Love’. After a successful audition
earlier in the year the Dance Troupe, Stage Band and Vocal Ensemble combined to create a very
unique and engaging performance. Of all the Primary and Secondary schools performing, Sefton High
was the only school to combine 3 groups in the one item.
After many lunch time and after-school rehearsals our students took their place on the stage to stand
where so many extraordinary and inspiring performers have stood, taking in the grandeur of this
iconic venue and managing the expected nerves when performing to a ‘full house’. With their
professional behaviour and committed attitude it was little wonder that the audience response was
thunderous!
Congratulations to all students involved and special thanks to Ms Zadro, Ms Kacopieros and Mr Atton
for their work throughout the year in preparation for such an event.
Ms Frugtniet
SPORT NEWS
2019 was another successful year in Sport at Sefton High School. The 10th annual sports assembly
ran smoothly with a number of houses and students receiving awards. As a recap in the three big
carnivals for the year, Court House won the Swimming Carnival whilst Bradman House were
successful in winning both the Cross Country and Athletics Carnival in 2019.
Some outstanding achievements by students were:
- Xavier Rosendale receiving Zone Age Champion in Swimming
- Sultan Aljabery receiving Zone Age Champion in Athletics
- Julianne Cinco receiving Zone Age Champion in Athletics
Grade and Recreational sport best and fairest were also presented to students at the sports assembly,
the winners are as follows:
Grade Sport - Best and Fairest (Season 1 and 2, 2019):
Season 1 Name Sport
Grade Male Favour Akuete Soccer
Grade Female Thai Quynh Nguyen Oztag
Season 2 Name Sport
Grade Male Christopher Fallah European Handball
Grade Female Angeline Hoang Basketball
Recreational sport - Best and Fairest (Season 1 and 2, 2018):
Season 1 Name Sport
Rec Male Brandon Ly European Handball
Rec Female Stephanie Duong Volleyball
Season 2 Name Sport
Rec Male Jaffar Kabaili Soccer
Rec Female Katrina Meng Yoga/Pilates
2019 saw yet another seven Sefton High School Grade Sport teams take out the premiership this year
in excellent fashion. These teams were:
- Senior Mixed Netball
- Junior Mixed Netball
- Junior Girls Volleyball
- Junior Boys European Handball
- Senior Boys European Handball
- Senior Girls Basketball
- Senior Boys 8-a-side Soccer
Sefton will again strive for success in the Bankstown Zone to continue our prowess and dominance
over the surrounding schools.
This year’s 2019 Premiers Sport Challenge medal winner was Victoria Nguyen in Year 10, who was
recognised for her commitment to fair play, achievement in swimming and athletics and her overall
positive contribution to Sefton’s weekly sporting program. This is an excellent achievement by
Victoria and the school commends Victoria on her efforts.
Finally, Sefton High School’s House Games Shield was awarded to Cuthbert House for their
excellence in both Basketball and Volleyball.
Yet again Sefton High School staff and students have shown their dominance over the Bankstown
Zone and their continued commitment and enthusiasm towards sport. As Sports Organiser, it has been
extremely pleasing to see participation levels increasing from 2018. I look forward to yet another
successful year in 2020. Excellence in Education for all our Students.
Mr. Idle
FACULTY NEWS
MATHEMATICS FACULTY
"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas” Albert Einstein.
It has been a fantastic 2019 in Mathematics this year with a lot of hard work from the staff, parents
and students. Overall, there has been outstanding results across the cohorts.
The Mathematics Staff have successfully rolled out the new senior programs for Advanced, Extension
1 and Extension 2 Mathematics aligned with the new syllabus for Year 12 -2020.
Students that are taking the Extension subjects for the HSC are required to know all the Stage 5.3
content including Circle Geometry, Polynomials and Functions and Graphs.
We have ended the year on a positive note with our Year 12 students completing their Mathematics
HSC exams including the new Standard 2 HSC Examination. The passion and eagerness they have
displayed towards there mathematics has been exemplary and we are confident that they will be
achieving pleasing results.
We are looking forward to another successful year in 2020 and encourage all students to start off the
year with a positive mindset. We endeavour to instil confidence in all our students to try their best in
Mathematics, to always try new things and to not be afraid of making mistakes. As Albert Einstein
states: "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."
Have a fantastic holiday!
Ms Najem
Head Teacher Mathematics
VISUAL ARTS NEWS
Congratulations to Gordon Wang Year 12, his HSC Visual Arts Body of Work, Earth’s Ephemeris
has been nominated for consideration for inclusion in the 2020 ARTEXPRESS exhibition. Gordon’s
thought provoking Body of Work, a series with a focus on graphic design explores a futuristic,
alternate reality for planet Earth.
This is an outstanding achievement as ARTEXPRESS is an annual and prestigious exhibition of
exemplary artworks created by students for the HSC examination in Visual Arts and it represents the
high standards and diversity achieved by Year 12 Visual Arts students in New South Wales schools.
Earth’s Ephemeris by Gordon Wang Year 12
Visual Arts and Visual Design students were engaged with finalising their various artworks and
building on their knowledge of the Visual Arts through their critical and historical investigations this
semester.
Year 11 Visual Design students designed and created their own children’s storybooks. There were
many aspects to consider such as developing characters and plot, illustrations, formatting and text
and finally covers and titles. The Year 11 Visual Design students embraced this unit of work and
produced some very engaging storybooks.
Timid to Brave a storybook written and illustrated by Quynh Anh Le Year 11
In addition, these students completed a unit of work related to a graphic design module - publications
and information. Their critical and historical study of the work of designers, particularly those with
an interest in graphic design informed their practice.
Students designed a series of magazine covers for an identified audience using the colour blue as a
focus. They used a range of digital visual design procedures and techniques to complete their
successful designs.
Magazine covers by Sofia Tran, Quynh Anh Le, Harry Liu and Joshua Luu Year 11
Year 9 Visual Arts students examined how art can be used to communicate contemporary issues in
society. They created sculptures using recycled materials and throw away items, exploring the theme
of waste and sustainability. Students researched the effects the materials they used are having on the
environment and challenged their audience to think about our over-consumption, waste management
and sustainability practices. They studied the works of artists such as Choi Jeong Hwa and Melissa
Hirsch to inform their own artmaking.
Year 9 students Nancy Nguyen and Amy Tran, Qasim Khan, Victor Lee and Charlie Phu
developing their sculptures
A selection of materials used and sculptures created by Year 9 Visual arts students.
Ms Simic
Visual Arts Teacher
Year 10 Visual Arts students have been working progressively on the topic Landscapes for Term 4.
Students explore either abstract expressionism or contemporary Landscapes by a variety of artists.
Students used canvas paper to create their acrylic paintings using the natural colours of the
environment as a form of inspiration. Students worked really hard to complete their artworks and
more images of their completed Landscapes will be posted to Sefton High School’s Facebook page
so please keep a look out.
Miss Unwin
Visual Art and Photography Teacher
Martin Tran- Landscape, 2019.
Hannah Aluad- Landscape, 2019
Sana Bukhari- Landscape, 2019
Katherina Le Landscapes, 2019.
Erin Kim Landscapes, 2019.
Annabella Luu Landscapes, 2019
Jiaen Lin Landscapes, 2019.
WELFARE
Prefects
We have recently been introduced to our new cohort of Prefects. A warm welcome and
congratulations to
School Captains - Sheela Bhattarai and Raymond Mai
Vice Captains - Jennifer Mati and Andy Tran Le
Senior Prefect - Favour Akuete
Prefects - Stephanie Duong, Andy Le Tran, Daphne Ly, Vivian Nguyen, Prasanna Rajouria, Zaid
Shadid, Cindy To, Jessica Tran, Emma Trinh, Day Day Tun Myint and Vanessa Yip.
These 15 Student Leaders will be busy organising a range of events in the next 12 months to
demonstrate Sefton High School spirit. The Prefect and SRC Annual General Meeting is on December
16 to get the planning started.
Mr Beggs
EXCURSIONS
YEAR 11 LEGAL STUDIES EXCURSION
In Term 4, Year 11 Legal Studies students had the opportunity to visit the Local, District and Supreme
Court in Sydney as part of their HSC Course Crime syllabus. They were able to experience and listen
to real life cases and see the criminal trial process in action. It was a great experience for students to
practise court etiquette and behaviour, as well as to broaden their legal knowledge in a real world
legal context.
Mr Ma
HSC Legal Studies Co-ordinator
Social Sciences
YEAR 11 LEGAL STUDIES EXCURSION STUDENTS
On 31 October, our two Year 11 Legal Studies classes took a trip to the Downing Centre that houses
the District and Local Courts of Sydney. After trekking through the stifling heat from Museum train-
station to the Downing Centre, we were relieved to enter an air-conditioned foyer, only to be put
through uncompromising security and stern police officers. Upon spotting barristers and judges, our
heads had leaned together and we chuckled: their wigs were a bad fit. We had barely grasped the
formality of the environment before we explored the six levels of the building to view cases in
different courtrooms.
When we entered any courtroom, we bowed at the Judge and Coat of Arms, something that we found
extremely awkward but gave us a sense of relief because the Judges didn’t give us a second look after
that. Although we were self-conscious about being the youngest in the room, we found it interesting
viewing court cases about drug abuse, Domestic Violence Order applications and sexual assault. It
felt surreal to view a trial process and sentencing firsthand as it was something we would only see
and read about on media platforms. Regardless, we were happy to see the criminal trial process in
action, even if some cases were uneventful. We also found some of the legal terminology confusing
but nevertheless, the ideas and concepts were
already applicable to the criminal trial process
that we were learning about in class.
We were grateful towards our two teachers, Mr
Parameswaran and Mr Ma who organised and
guided us through the day!
By Stephanie Duong
Year 11 Legal Studies
YEAR 10 COMMERCE EXCURSION
On 18 October, Year 10 Commerce students headed to the city for an excursion. The three classes
recognised a familiar building across the road- the Downing Centre, renowned for housing local and
NSW District Court. After a short discussion, the students walked down to the Supreme Court.
Following lunch, the group split into two and half were led to the Reserve Bank of Australia whilst
the other half spent the time outside NSW Parliament House and State Library. While at the Reserve
Bank of Australia, the students sat through two interesting presentations on the world of economics
and the history of banknotes. Meanwhile, outside Parliament, the second group of students sat and
discussed why a state parliament is necessary and the benefits it holds for those within the particular
state. After the short stop at NSW Parliament, Year 10 walked to the State Library where they were
free to explore and returned with a variety of interesting and educational narratives. This adventure
concluded the excursion for the day and Year 10 Commerce headed back to school with changed
perspectives on the Australian Parliament, the legal system and ingrained with knowledge about the
world of economics.
Ms L Madrajat
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY WORKSHOP
Written by Susan Dao and Olivia Ta
During the first week of Term 4, Sefton’s Prefects and SRC members were joined by students from
Birrong Boys High School to partake in an Acknowledgement of Country workshop. This workshop
was led by Aunty Carol Brown, a local Aboriginal Elder who also works for the Department of
Education. Both she and Ms Castino enlightened us with their extensive knowledge about Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Throughout this engaging presentation we learned about rich
traditions preserved by the traditional custodians of the land.
In Aunty Carol’s moving presentation, she spoke to us about how Indigenous people lived prior to
and after British colonisation. We learnt about bush tucker, Aboriginal history and we learnt that
Sefton is home to the Cabragal people of the Darug nation.
Importantly, we learned why people today deliver Acknowledgement of Country speeches at the
beginning of significant events like assemblies. It is based on a tradition that dates back thousands of
years. Historically, crossing into another nation’s territory required permission to enter (like a visa)
and when this was granted a special welcoming ceremony would take place. We at Sefton High
School are proud to keep this tradition alive. It’s a way of showing respect to the original custodians
of the land and it helps us to appreciate the beauty of Australia.
Here is Sefton High School’s new Acknowledgement of Country that we wrote with the help of Aunty
Carol: We, the proud community of Sefton High School, would like to recognise the Darug nation,
the traditional custodians of this land, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. Their
everlasting legacy serves to remind us of the bond that we all share with the land and our promise to
uphold the Sefton tradition of Sincerity, Scholarship and Service by caring for the environment.
Phu Raymond Mai, Jessica (Nov) Tran, Sheela Bhattarai, Stephanie Duong, Jennifer Mati, Aayush Rajouria, Day Day Poe Tun Myint,
Favour Akuete, Emma Trinh, Zaid Shadid, Daphne Ly, Vanessa Yip, Vivian Nguyen, Cindy To, Susan Dao, Olivia Ta, Henry Yan and
William Huang.
COMPETITIONS
AUSTRALIAN MATHEMATICS COMPETITION
The Australian Mathematics Competition is a school-based maths competition with students in more
than 30 countries attempting the same problems each year. It is an engaging and thought-provoking
30-problem competition that demonstrates the importance and relevance of mathematics in students’
everyday lives.
Sefton High School thrives on challenging students academically and we were excited to be part of
the competition this year.
We would like to congratulate all the students who participated in the competition across Years 7-12
with 73% of the students who participated achieving a result of Credit, Distinction or High
Distinction.
Further, we would like to recognise the following students on their outstanding achievements:
High Distinction
Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 11
Jonathan Tran
Lucinda Ngo
William Phan
(recipient of the
Schools Highest
Standardised Score
Award)
Anh Nghia Le
Jennifer Tran
Distinction
Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11
Eddie Ha
Jack Li
Alexander Chan
Junehyuk Goh
Martin Doan
Brendan Cheng
Joshua Chung-Lu
Trinity Chau
Pau Phan
Jia Shao
Miranda Hou
Stella Tran
Hugo Chan
Grace Huynh
Natalie Lam
Justine Bui
Andrew Lay
Jayden Quach
Sharon Chea
Nina Huang
Ethan Duong Alan Nguyen
Martin Tran
Kevin Nguyen
Natalia Ngo-Ton
Norman Khou
Brayden Nguyen
Linh Thuy Nguyen Le
James Phan
Ms Najem
Head Teacher Mathematics
NATIONAL HISTORY CHALLENGE – First in the State
This year as part of their assessment Year 10 Elective History students had the opportunity to be
chosen to be a part of the National History Challenge. This involved long hours of individual research
and dedication to their ideas over the October holidays as our students worked on individual research
essays on the topic of 'People and Power'.
All our students did a fantastic job at staying motivated, developing their topics under the theme,
creating their own questions and using their initiative to conduct their own historical investigations.
At the end of the process, the six best entries were forwarded to the National History Challenge for
judging; with Anna Nguyen being judged to be the best in the entire state of NSW in the category of
Women's History.
This phenomenal achievement was
recognised and celebrated at an
official ceremony at the ANZAC
Memorial on Thursday 24 October.
Sixteen students across the state were
honoured for their achievements and
dedication to the study and
continual investigation that is
History.
All students were required to give a
short speech on their projects and their
inspiration, and Anna was able to
inform all present of Vida
Goldstein's story with the passion and
drive of a true historian.
HTANSW HISTORY MASTERMIND COMPETITION
On Friday 22 November, sixteen students from Years 7 and 8 were selected to participate in the
HTANSW’s History Mastermind Competition, along with 25 other schools from the Sydney region.
The competition was held at St Clair High School with trivia style games. It consisted of eight rounds,
semi-finals and a final. Topics varied from flags of the world to the history of Australian politics. A
fun day was had by the students as they enthusiastically engaged with history and put themselves to
the test.
Our Year 7 teams consisted of Henry Chao, Chelsea Dinh, Sarah Duong, Mahnoor Kazmi, Ryder
Ngo, Angeline Phan, Stella Tran and Terence Zhou. Overall they put in a fantastic effort and
competed extremely well. Our Year 8 teams consisted of Nicky Au, Alexandra Dinh, Wajeeh Fatfat,
Andrew Lay, Emily Nhan, Katelyn Siv, Christina Tran and Trist Wang. A strong first round saw each
of our Year 8 teams on the leader board early however a very difficult second round left each finishing
just outside the top four at the end of the competition rounds.
Well done to all of the students.
Mr D Collette and Ms E Brown
MusicEDU
Every Semester, various schools in Australia, who are part of the MusicEdu Music program, enter
their performances or compositions into the MusicEdu competitions. Only one school from each
category wins. Our Year 8 Music students entered the Performance and Composition categories in
The MusicEDU Semester 2 Competition, and won both.
Congratulations goes to Josie Bennetts, Sarah Rajab, and Michelle Lai for winning the Performance
category and Arkar Tun for winning the Composition category.
Ms G Zadro
SEFTON GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
On Friday 1 November, Sefton Geographic
Society organised a fundraiser for the non-
government organisation ‘Doctors Without
Borders’. It is an international organisation that
aims to provide medical aid all over the world,
where there is armed conflict, epidemics, famines
and natural disasters.
It was a successful fundraiser with the school
raising over $1300 to the great cause. At lunch
students sold ice cream, donuts, cakes, cheese
toasties and milk tea and there was even a station
where you could get your blood pressure tested.
Congratulations to all Sefton Geographic Society
members on their efforts during the day and thank
you to all of Sefton’s wonderful staff and students
who supported the organisation. The Sincerity,
Scholarship and Service of the school as a whole
is something to be really proud of.
Ms L Madrajat
CLUBS
CODING CLUB
The coding club has had a successful year in 2019. It was great to see the enthusiasm portrayed by
our students across Years 7-10. We were fortunate to have the STEM share kits supplied to us from
the Department of Education to give the students an opportunity to code more interactively and
dynamically. Students were also given the opportunity to code with different languages and be part
of some exciting competitions and challenges.
The NCSS (National Computer Science School) Challenge is a coding competition that ran over 5
weeks in August this year through the Grok Learning website. It is a competition that is open to all
school students and teachers.
Like all of Grok Learning’s competitions, the NCSS Challenge teaches students how to program as
they go, with the problems ranging from relatively simple, to very difficult.
Coding is a powerful skill that not only teaches students how to work with computers, but also teaches
them how to think about solving problems with systems. Programming is how sites like Facebook
and apps like Instagram are created.
The NCSS Challenge teaches students to code in a programming language called Python. Python is
an easy to learn language used for many different purposes such as web applications and scientific
research. Companies like Google and Facebook use Python in their infrastructure and web services.
If students would like to learn how to code, they can join the Coding Club which runs every Tuesday
afternoon or they can simply subscribe to the Grok Learning website and work through the learning
modules at home.
Congratulations to the following students who achieved a Distinction or High Distinction in the
Beginners Category in the NCSS Challenge during Term 3:
Year 8 Kendra Dang – Distinction
Year 10 Caitlin Dang – High Distinction
Year 10 Katherine Nguyen – High Distinction
Year 10 Kevin Tran – Distinction
Ms J Li
Coding Club Co-ordinator
PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB
Sefton High School’s photography club continues to demonstrate outstanding skills in using the
DSLR cameras in school and at home for various tasks. This semester students attended an excursion
to Sculptures By the Sea. Sculptures by the Sea at Bondi is one of Sydney’s most popular events with
over 100 sculptures by artists from around the world. This is staged on the spectacular Bondi to
Tamarama coastal walk and is a free public exhibition. Students have enjoyed this semester and I
encourage any new students to sign up next year. For more updates please be sure to follow our Sefton
High School Facebook page.
Miss Unwin
Visual Arts and Photography Teacher
Photography Club Students at Sculpture By the Sea 2019.
Sculpture by the Sea, 2019.
Sculpture by the Sea, 2019.
Sculptures By the Sea Bondi walk to Tamarama Beach Coastal Walk, 2019.
IN OTHER NEWS
YEAR 9 COMMERCE MARKET DAY
Year 9 Commerce students had the opportunity to act as entrepreneurs to design, make and market
products to sell to their fellow students as part of their Running a Business syllabus in Term 4. They
had hands-on practical experience spending time designing their product/s, advertising their products,
setting up a store and finally selling their products during lunchtime.
Mr Ma
Year 9 Commerce Co-ordinator
Social Sciences
YEAR 8 BANDANNA DAY
by Ms Castino, Year 8 Adviser
The Year 8 Leadership Team ran Bandanna Day this term in support of our chosen charity, CanTeen.
These students enhanced their teamwork and communication skills by selling bandannas and running
various stalls at lunch – including food stalls, a flower crown stall, games and a photography stand –
to raise money for charity. Their efforts certainly saw results, as Year 8 raised an amazing $2500 for
CanTeen, a local Australian organisation that assists young people whose lives are affected by cancer.
On behalf of Year 8, thank you to all of the students, staff, parents and community members who
supported our event and helped us raise funds for this important cause.
SEFTON HIGH SHAVES IT OFF!
For the World’s Greatest Shave, in support of the Leukaemia Foundation, Sefton High School
teachers and students shaved, cut and coloured their hair on the 20th of September.
In the lead up to this event, students across the school formed teams and volunteered their own time
to promote and advertise. More teams of students were involved in the setting up and packing up to
ensure that we were able to accommodate for the masses of spectators who eagerly awaited the
shaving and chopping of hair on the day.
Students gathered at lunch time to watch teachers get their hair shaved and chopped off, including:
Mr Dimopolous who shaved his head
Mr Blaker who bleached his hair blonde
Mr Atkinson who shaved his head and beard
Ms Auzins who coloured her hair
Mr Beggs who shaved his head
Mr Collette who shaved his beard
Mr Elley who shaved his head
Mr Holt who shaved his head
Mr Idle who shaved his head
Ms Tran who cut her hair
Ms Um who cut her hair
Students also got behind the charity, supported by massive contributions from their friends and
family, including:
Lewis Truong (Year 12) who shaved his head
Sarah Chea (Year 11) who cut her hair
Kathy Nguyen (Year 11) who cut her hair
Jasmain Wood (Year 11) who cut her hair
Arif Azimi (Year 10) who shaved his head
Kevin Jiang (Year 10) who shaved his head
Johnathan Meng (Year 10) who shaved his head
Yanick Godinet (Year 10) who shaved his head
Zinphyo Swe (Year 10) who shaved his head
Michael Tang(Year 10) who shaved his head
Sunni Vuong (Year 10) who shaved his head
Brian Wu (Year 10) who shaved his head
Albert Ly (Year 10) who shaved his head
Justine Bui (Year 8) who cut her hair
Serina Huang (Year 8) who cut her hair
Michelle Lai (Year 8) who cut her hair
We raised a whopping $10,807.50!
A special heartfelt thank you to Rich from Ultrafade by Rich for coming into Sefton High School and
helping us shave heads, cut hair and raise money!
Thank you to all teachers and students who participated and raised funds!
Ms Q Tran
Mr Elley, Mr Holt and Mr Collette’s transformations
Sarah Chea (Year 11), Kathy Nguyen (11), Kathy Vuong (Year 10) and Jasmain Wood (Year 11)
Ms Um’s transformation
Mr Idle’s
transformation
From Left to Right:
Back row: Mr Elley, Mr Holt, Mr Atkinson, Mr Collette, Mr Idle, Sunni Vuong, Arif Azimi, Zinphyo Swe, Brian Wu,
Johnathan Meng, Michelle Lai, Serina Huang, Jasmain Wood and Sarah Chea.
Front row: Lewis Truong, Rich from Ultrafade by Rich, Ms Tran, Kathy Vuong.
SRE FOR 2020
In 2020 there will be an additional approved provider offering SRE at Sefton High School - the
Islamic Council of NSW. Sefton High School applies the Department of Education processes as
required for each new Year 7 cohort and advice of offerings at Sefton High School in 2020 for
incoming Year 7 students has been issued to all families in their information packages. This will also
be reinforced on enrolment day.
However for the 2020 Year 8-10 cohorts, our obligation to host the additional provider represents a
change. A parent may at any time notify the school in writing that they wish to change their decision
to either participate or not participate in SRE or change to undertake SRE with a new or different
provider. Any change of decision must be in writing signed by a parent.
Students will continue the same arrangement as the previous year unless a parent has requested a
change in writing. At the time of publication it is anticipated that SRE will continue to occur on
Mondays during periods 2/3, however this is subject to change if numbers change and therefore
associated rooming demands change.