Volume 3

The Link Issue 4 March 2019

Lurnea High School Hilview Pde, Lurnea, 2170 ph: 9602 5704 Fax: 9822 5094 Email: Lurnea-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Year 7 Geography

Creation of water

filters

Our first newsletter for 2019 is our opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of our HSC students of 2018 and welcome the newest members of the Lurnea High School community, Year 7 students and families. I am also very pleased to welcome our new teachers and administrative staff and I am confident they will comple-ment and support our school’s strong culture and values.

Congratulations to our 2018 HSC students:

Shaineez Hassan- Band 6 Design and Technology and Band 5 English Advanced

Sarah Mc Dougall- Band 5 Design and Technology, English Advanced, Legal Studies and Society and Culture

Zlatko Asprov- Band 5 Design and Technology

Zakariya Almaged- Band 5 Information Processes and Technology

These students have demonstrated that high levels of achievement are possible with commitment and perse-verance and we are all very proud of their achievements.

Year 7 students have made a very successful transition to high school life and by all accounts, thoroughly en-joyed the first three weeks of project based learning. It was pleasing to see a large number of parents attend the showcase event on Thursday 14 February to watch their children present their ideas to revamp some areas of our school playground. Many thanks to the teachers, student advisers, SLSOs and peer support leaders who supported their transition to high school.

During Week 4 we trialled an SMS alert system to notify parents and care givers of Year 9 student absences. As you know, parents and care givers are responsible for ensuring their child attends school every day. We know that there are times when students cannot attend school. When this happens you must ensure that you contact the school to explain the absence. The SMS sys-tem alerts you immediately to an absence and allows you to respond immediately to explain your child’s ab-sence. We hope this dramatically decreases the number of unexplained absences we have on our rolls and in-creases the number of students we have in our classes!

From Week 5 onwards, the parents and caregivers of all absent students will receive an SMS informing them if their child has been marked absent. I urge you to re-spond to those messages to explain to us why your child is absent from school.

Did you know that being 15 minutes late each day is the same as missing almost two weeks of school over the year?

The school swimming carnival was a wonderfully suc-cessful event that brought together students from right across our school. The atmosphere was a credit to all involved and particularly Ms Watson who led the organi-sation.

Currently, a team of teachers is reviewing the school’s student behaviour management procedure. We will be seeking input from students, teachers and community members and look forward to having a shared under-standing of what appropriate school behaviour looks and sound like and what the consequences for poor behav-iour will be.

It is equally important that we acknowledge and cele-brate student achievement. To this end I have asked the student leadership team to review the student award system and I look forward to hearing from our school captains on the progress of this initiative at our next full staff meeting.

There are many fabulous things happening over the next few weeks. Please take the time to talk to your children about their school experiences and when you can, join us at community events.

Tracey Cross

Principal

Year 7 have settled into High School life but it started off a

little different to what they expected. The Year 7 cohort of

2019 will always remember the time between Wednesday

30th January and Friday 15th February, not only was this the

starting weeks of high school but it was the time that they

had an opportunity to make a difference.

Students, after some great team challenges, were placed in

to groups and the Designer Blitz Challenge was revealed. In

groups of four, they redesigned a space in the school, making

it a space students could learn in, socialise in and recharge in.

To expand their thinking, students went on two excursions,

first into the city where they saw some great spaces and ide-

as for the school and secondly to Beverley Hills Girls High

School were they took a tour of their new outdoor facilities.

Students produced a design plan, physical model, virtual

model using Minecraft and a budget plan. All groups had an

opportunity to deliver their ideas to the year 10 Peer Support

leaders before the finalists presented at the Year 7 showcase

on Thursday 14th February.

This project based learning task is a critical element to our

transition program for Year 7 students each year. The team of

staff who work closely with the students develop a great rap-

port with them and very quickly make students feel safe and

supported. Along with getting to know the students, all stu-

dents completed the BEST START literacy and numeracy as-

sessment. With all the key information about each student,

the teaching team were able to allocate students to classes

that best suited their educational needs.

As Year 7 students settle into classes, Ms Cahill (Deputy Prin-

cipal, Year 7) and Mrs Mahdar (Year Advisor, Year 7) encour-

age parents to contact the school if there are any concerns or

questions. All Year 7 students have received a “Welcome to

High School” letter, which outlines key information about

teachers who are teaching each class. Please ensure you

check your child’s bag regularly for any notes that are sent

home.

Stage 4 English & History

Students in Year 7 met their teacher for the first

time in Week 4. They have started the English

course successfully and will be studying poetry for

the rest of this term. Through this, students will

be introduced to a variety of different forms of

poetry and will come to an understanding of how

poets use certain devices to reveal ideas. Students

will also be writing their won poems to show their

understanding of these devices and their ability to

create imaginative texts.

Year 8 students will also be studying poetry and

building on their knowledge and skills from last

year. They will be studying Asian poetry and ex-

amining the themes that are important to these

poets. Students will be working on their ability to

analyse the use of devices in these poems, focus-

ing on how these reveal the concerns of the poet.

Year 8 also begin studying History for the first

time in high school. They will be introduced to the

nature of historical investigation and how histori-

ans investigate the past through primary and sec-

ondary sources. They will then use this knowledge

to investigate the colonisation of Australia and the

impact on Aboriginal peoples. They will also study

a further example of colonisation from another

part of the world.

Stage 5 English and History

Year 9 students have started the year with a study

of visual literacy. They will be learning that we

read visual texts similarly to how we read written

texts. To explore this, they will learn about visual

techniques and then use this understanding to

study at least one picture book. Students will cre-

ate their own images that show their understand-

ing of visual techniques. They will also practise

their formal letter writer this term.

Students in Year 10 will be studying an Area of

Study which focuses on cultural diversity. They

will analyse different types of texts including fic-

tion and non-fiction. The prescribed texts for this

study will be poems that reveal ideas about cul-

tural diversity. Students will annotate these po-

ems, identifying poetic devices and the respond to

questions where they explain how these devices

highlight ideas.

In History, students will be studying Australia’s in-

volvement in World War I. This includes learning

about why Australia became involved in the war,

why men enlisted, where they fought and how the

war ended. They will look at primary sources such as

soldier’s diary entries and use their understanding to

create empathy tasks that show their understanding

of this monumental part of history.

Stage 6 English

Students in Year 11 and 12 English courses will be

studying a range of academically challenging texts.

These will be fiction and non-fiction, written and vis-

ual. Senior student have a solid foundation in identi-

fying devices in these types of texts and will be ex-

tended throughout the year through a focus on es-

say writing and responding imaginatively to various

types of stimulus.

Stage 6 History & Society & Culture

Year 11 and 12 History students will study a variety

of depth studies where they will use their under-

standing of historical knowledge and skills to investi-

gate the past. They will continue to develop their

source analysis skills and essay writing skills. In Soci-

ety and Culture, Year 11 students will be learning

about concepts, types of research and the im-

portance of ethical research. In Year 12, Society and

Culture students will continue working on their ma-

jor work, focusing on completing their primary re-

search methods such as interviews and question-

naires.

Excursions – Ms El-Debal is organising the annual

excursion to the Australian War Memorial in Canber-

ra. This will be open to students from all year groups

and will help prepare students for the Anzac Day

Commemorative Assembly at the beginning of Term

2.

Welcome back to all our Year 10 students, and an even warmer welcome to the new students who have joined us for 2019. As Deputy Princi-pal, I will be working closely with Ms Watson as Year Adviser, Ms Cross as Principal and the par-ents & carers to ensure every student is eligible for their RoSA. The RoSA is a cumulative credential, meaning it contains a student’s record of academic achievement up until the date they leave school. This could be between the end of Year 10 up until and including some results from Year 12. The RoSA is useful to students leaving school prior to the HSC because they can show it to potential employers or places of further learning.

Students have already received their assess-ment booklets outlining the importance of as-sessment and the due dates for tasks in each subject. A parent information session will be organised later this term, allowing parents the opportunity to become familiar with and sup-port the expectations of our Year 10 students. Study skills sessions have been booked for later in the year, with the aim of improving students’ time management skills and developing effec-tive study habits as they move into their senior years. A parent information session will be made available too. For more information visit https://au.elevateeducation.com/ and keep an eye out on facebook for dates.

It is not unusual to see high anxiety, low self-esteem, self-doubt and negative self-talk in young people. At 15-16yrs old, students are wrestling with their identity, experiencing physical & psychological changes, and making big decisions about their future. In less than 12 months time our Year 10 group will be Senior Students. To support them and our parents/carers, students in Year 10 will undergo a MyS-trengths assessment. The aim is to guide them towards a future that is focused on their strengths rather than their weaknesses. Our Wellbeing Team have a long-standing partner-ship with Young and Confident and parents can expect more information closer to the date. In the meantime visit their website http://www.youngandconfident.com.au/. The relationships between students, parents and their teachers will be critical in determining appropriate Senior Pathways for our students. Subject Selection Night will occur in Term 3 and again, parents will be invited to the school to participate in that process. Lastly, I encourage the parents and carers to feel comfortable in contacting me at school with any queries regarding your child’s pro-gress and/or wellbeing. I will find a time to talk to you when I can give you my full attention. Please remember that whilst I am in class or dealing with other matters, I may not be avail-able to answer your questions immediately. I am looking forward to working with you in support of our students.

YOUNG & CONFIDENT

Strength-based programs for High Schools

On Wednesday the 20th February, Lurnea High School held our annual Swimming Carnival at Mac-quarie Fields Leisure Centre. Even though it was a cloudy day, the Carnival ran smoothly and was a great success! We had lots of students attending and enjoying the use of the Splash Park, racing in all swim styles and participating in the novelty events. A big congratulations to team THORPE who won overall for the day. Congratulations to the following students for suc-cessfully making it through to the Zone Swimming Carnival: Adam Hachem Josiah Sadaka Younies Nasser Mousa Raza Fatusama Fuamatu Mohammad Alkabani Renzo Makaniue Vitaliano Juan Gunning Jayden Climpson These students will be invited to represent Lurnea High School at the Zone Carnival on Monday the 4th March. Congratulation to all students who competed in the Zone carnival. Danielle and Sarah Townley are age champions and LHS came 5th overall. They will now compete in the Regional Carnival. We wish these students the best of luck! Ms Watson

Wahaj Hussein Ghadeer Al- Jumaili Essam Zakout Lance Bardon Abdulrahman Alcharr Salmon Haider Trad Mourad Steve Fonohema

Volume 3

Page 6

Congratulations to Year 12 2018 Design and

Technology class for their outstanding

achievements in the HSC. Special acknowl-

edgment goes to Shaineez Hassan who

achieved a Band 6 and was placed on the

NSW HSC Honour roll. While Sarah McDou-

gall and Zlatko Asprov achieved very com-

mendable Band 5’s.

All the hard work at home, staying back

after school, coming in over the holidays

and the work in class paid off for all the

2018 Design and Technology HSC class. Not

only did every member of the class achieve

outstanding results in their HSC, they also

produce fabulously innovative design prod-

ucts ranging from medical devices to items

of fashion.

Zlatko Asprov

"Bibblio" a book holder device to assist studying

Ardwan Al Jumaili

"Al-Jewel" a medical alert jewellery with embedded QR

Code

Adyan Breesam

" Mandean Dress" a symbolic dress for Mandean to wear on

special occasion

Shaineez Hassan

"Lustre" a case for asthmatic puffer to encourage use by

teenagers

Breakfast kick-starts your me-tabolism, helping you burn cal-

ories throughout the day. It also gives you the energy you need to get things done and helps you focus at work or at school. Those are just a few

reasons why it's the most important meal of the

day. ...Breakfast helps replen-ish it.

Don’t forget to put you plastic bottles and can on the bin

with the green lids. They are placed around the school.

Please don’t put other rubbish in these bins.

Lurnea High School’s Homework Centre is

open every Tuesday and Thursday after-

noons from 3pm– 5pm. If you would like to

attend please see

Mrs Jeffs for an

application form.

The uniform shop is open every day from 8.30am and will close

at 2.30pm

Voluntary School Contribution What are Voluntary Contribution?

This is a voluntary payment from parents that is requested each year by the school to

supplement existing funding. Our school relies on these contribution to provide addi-

tional resources to ensure our students have the best possible learning opportunities

and learning environment.

How much?

Support Unit —$20.00

Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 —$40.00

Years 11 and 12—$60.00

All monies raised from these contributions will go directly towards the purchase of

school resources , to enhance student learning across our school.