Year 12 Work Experience

I did work experience for

Work & Community at

Kmart, Burwood, for one

week.

On the first day of work

experience I had to sign in as

a visitor and I received a

Kmart sticker which had to

be placed on my shirt. The

Manager was called to the

front & introduced me to

another worker who looked

after me on the first day in

the kitchenware department.

I had to unpack boxes and

place new stock on shelves.

I also had to keep the area

tidy and clean.

The following day I had to

do the same process as the

day before, sign in and take

a sticker. Then a worker

from Kmart told me I will be

working in the shoe and

lingerie departments. I had

to tidy up the areas all day,

sorting bras and undies in

the correct order and

colour. I also had to make

sure that all grounds were

clear of any items.

Wednesday and Thursday

were quite similar and again,

I was responsible for the

shoe and lingerie

departments. I had to

ensure that all items where

in their correct places.

During these days, I also

assisted customers with

their needs.

Finally, it was the last day

and I was placed in

Manchester, the bedding

department. I had to get a

trolley and go to the store

room. I placed new items on

my trolley then put the new

stock on the shelves. When

the day was finished I had to

get my paper work filled out

by the supervisor.

Work experience had both

good and bad aspects. At

times it was a little boring

however, I must admit that I

learnt what it is like to work

in the retail industry.

Shanice Goetze

Year 12

The Buzz

Shanice on location in Ladies

Lingerie, Kmart Burwood

Yassmeen El-Achrafi In action

at Bankstown Public School

Sabah Akkaoui busy

at work at the BGHS

Library

Van Chau stopping work to

strike a pose at Dr Andrew

Lam’s Medical Centre,

Bankstown

Avei Kome stopping

to smile during

work experience as

a Teacher’s Aide at

BGHS , PDHPE

department

Work Experience is

coordinated by

Ms Hundy &

Ms Amin in the

Careers

department.

Junior Spelling Competition

This year we are running our first

BGHS Spelling Competition for

Years 7, 8 and 9.

The first elimination round of the

competition was held in Term 1.

The Year 7 winner of this round

was Jennifer Vo, the Year 8

winner was Amara Khan and the

Year 9 winner was Kristina

Korunoska who was the only

student to spell the thirty

challenging words correctly. Well

done Kristina!

The second elimination round has

just been completed. This time

the girls had to spell fifty words

correctly. Kristina Korunoska

again triumphed with 100%

correct. She is amazing! Amara

Khan has repeated her

performance with 48 words

correct and this time Jenny Pham

won the Year 7 section of the

competition with 46 words

correct. Many of the girls scored

very well in this round so the

competition is very exciting.

Congratulations to these students

for their great efforts.

Here are some of the tricky words

that the girls had to spell:

• drawer

• jettison

• draught

• reign

• taffeta

• fuchsia

• resuscitate

• lacerate

• indecipherable

• unnecessary

D Dymond

Literacy Coordinator

The Buzz

Congratulations to Esther

Akaveka (Year 10) and Rakelle

Khoury (Year 11) who have been

selected to participate in the

South Western Sydney Talent

Identification Program. As a re-

sult of their successful auditions,

the girls will now have the oppor-

tunity to participate in a number

of vocal workshops and perform

in a concert at the end of the pro-

ject. This is a great opportunity

for them to work alongside other

talented students. We look for-

ward to hearing them perform

later in the year. Well done also

to those who took part in the

auditions but did not make it

through this year.

V.Cash

Music teacher

Music News

With so many fabulous books in the BGHS Library, Ms Hawkins had a hard time

picking a top ten. With some help from our girls, here is a list of the favourites for

Term 2.

Remember that everyone is welcome in the Library, before school, recess and at

lunch. Borrowing is easy and reading is fun, so get familiar with our Library in

Term 2. Of course, you must remember to return your books on time!

H Hawkins

Teacher Librarian

The Buzz from the Library

Blue Bloods Series, Melissa de la

Cruz

The Last Song, Nicholas Sparks

Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia Evermore, Alison Noel

Hush Hush, Becca Fitzpatrick City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare

Dear John, Nicholas Sparks Chosen, PC & Kristin Cast

Hour Glass, Claudia Gray Tempted, PC & Kristin Cast

2010 Cross Country

The cross country carnival was

held on Friday, 30th

April. The

day started looking a bit

dreary, but the skies opened

up for a while and spared us of

the rain. It was a perfect day

for running. The year 9 & 10

PASS girls were admirable.

They were organised, under-

taking jobs such as recording,

timekeeping and checkpoint

supervising.

The year 7 and 10 students

ran the course in period 1,

while year 8 did activities in

the middle of the oval, with

Mr Majanggil and his Year 11

SLR girls. Some of these games

were sack races, the cat and

the mouse, relay races, dress

up races and many more en-

joyable activities.

The Year 7 and 10 girls

achieved good times and en-

joyed the competition. The

fastest runner of the first race,

and overall for the day, was

Emma O’Reilly, with a time of

14 minutes and 25 seconds.

Congratulations Emma!

During week 2, year 8 & 9 &

competitors from year 11 & 12

Ran the course. While they

competed, year 7 had the

chance to take to the oval and

participate in the fun activities

with Mr Majanggil and year

11. The second fastest runner

of the day was Brianna Vosota

from year 9. Good work

Brianna!

We would like to thank all the

staff and students who helped

make this carnival run so suc-

cessfully. We can’t wait until

next year. Good luck to all the

girls who made the Zone

team.

Do Bankstown Girls High

School proud!

Saja, Emma & Mariam

Year 10 PASS

12 Years 13 Years 14 Years

Leanne Hammoudi Noura Alkadmani Hoai Nguyen

Fatmata Bayoh Isabella Wright Tidankay Musa

Elizabeth Dao Taylor Stoten Marwa Ayoubi

15 Years 16 Years 17 Years

Emma O’reilly Rita Danso Sonia Kokuro

Brianna Vosota Shalome Gunasekera Natalie Stamkov

Nora Youssef Hawraa Haddad Wafa Ayobui

The Buzz

Our 2010 Age Champions

Resulting from parent feedback from P&C Meetings, parents have indicated that they would fully support paid

recreational sport from Years 9, 10 & 11, as they believe that this will motivate and continue to develop positive

lifestyle choices for our girls. Due to overwhelming success in 2009 the following activities have been set up on a

Term by Term basis in order to give students opportunities to be active.

Unfortunately, even though many permission notes came back, there are still a large number of students who

have failed to pay a deposit or the full amount by the due date. These excursions cannot run without the full

support of parents and the students. Venues have been booked and health professionals have been paid. We

encourage all students to ensure that their sport fees are paid by the end of the week 4 so that all the activities

can go ahead as planned.

The activities and time frames are stated below:

TERM 2 - Week 5 & 6 – During Period 4

TERM 3 – Week 5 – Period 2 Onwards

TERM 4 – Week 5 – All Day Excursion

THIS IS A COMPULSORY ACTIVITY FOR ALL YEAR 9, 10 & 11 STUDENTS

& A VITAL PART OF THE ACHIEVEMENT OF OUTCOMES FOR YOUR DAUGHTER!

If parents or students require more information, please do not hesitate to ring the school on 97906788 and

speak to Miss Pistolis or Mrs Clarke in the PDHPE staffroom.

Yours in Sport,

PD/H/PE Faculty

SPORT/ACTIVITY COST VENUE DETAILS

CARDIOFIT

$5.00

Per stu-

dent

Bankstown Girls

High School

School Hall

Cardiofit is exercising to the latest music with a

mixture of boxing and aerobic exercise. Equip-

ment is supplied (boxing gloves, pads and hy-

giene slips) however please bring a bottle of wa-

ter and towel.

SPORT/ACTIVITY COST VENUE DETAILS

BOWLING

&

LAZER SKIRMISH

$30

Per Stu-

dent

AMF &

M9 Lazer Skir-

mish Villawood

State of the art bowling and lazer skirmish cen-

tre, 24 lane, fully air conditioned with full café.

Cost includes transport.

SPORT/ACTIVITY COST VENUE DETAILS

ICE SKATING

$ 20

Liverpool

Ice Rink

State of the art ice skating rink. Includes skates

and venue hire and transport

TOTAL COST FOR

2010

$55

The Buzz 2010 Recreational Sport

The Buzz 2010 Premier’s Sporting Challenge

We invite students to take up the Challenge -

and take the path to a healthier life.

So what’s in it for you?

Other than becoming more active, healthy and

social, there are many reasons why you should

get involved:

• Free rugby league game tickets

• Free passes to Fitness First Gym

• The setting and achieving of goals

• Awards will be issued when you have

completed the challenge

• A significant amount of funding gets given

to our school to purchase new sporting

equipment.

So far we have purchased new table tennis

tables, new backboards for basketball, a large

range of new sporting kits, aquatics resources

and equipment, dance and gymnastics appara-

tus and much more!

SO LETS GET ACTIVE

BANKSTOWN GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL!

The Premier’s Sporting Challenge is BACK

Students from Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 & 10

PASS electives and Year 11 SLR have been

entered in to represent Bankstown Girls High

School. These classes will be issued with their

recording booklets during PD/H/PE lessons,

however if you are not part of these classes

and wish to get a group together to take the

challenge, you are more than welcome. Just

see Miss Pistolis in the PD/H/PE staffroom.

The Challenge includes a range of initiatives

with one common purpose - to have more

students, more active, more of the time! The

Premier's Sporting Challenge aims to engage

young people in sport and physical activity

and encourages them to lead healthy, active

lifestyles.

Sport plays an important role in developing

regular physical activity, provides positive

health outcomes and is a fun and healthy

way to connect with your local community.

On guard, wakeful, wounds, bruises,

drained in blood, all for the sake of

Australia. Soldiers, who fought in

war, had a lot of courage and confi-

dence to stand up for this country.

What is ANZAC Day & why do we

commemorate it?

ANZAC stands for Australia and New

Zealand Army Corps. It’s a day when

we come together as a nation to re-

flect and acknowledge the sacrifices

and suffering that the soldiers made.

They served for our country to pro-

tect our freedom and to help our al-

lies. The least, we could is to remem-

ber what they did and to honour

their efforts.

Anzac Day ceremony

On Friday 23rd

April we had com-

memorative ceremony for ANZAC

Day. We started off with a warm wel-

come to all teachers and students

and the traditional, Welcome to

County, acknowledging our Indige-

nous history.

The assembly continued with

speeches by three year 10 students,

Mona Baddah, Hadeya Elnajjar and

Mirvat Abdulkader. They gave mean-

ingful speeches about ANZAC Day and

its importance to Australia.

The Ode was then recited:

They shall not grow old, as we that

are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the

years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in

the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest we forget

After The Ode, everyone stood and

“The Last Post” was played. Following

ANZAC Day at Bankstown Girls

that we had a minute of silence

where we reflected on the ANZACs.

We placed our heads down, opened

our hearts and minds, and stood tall,

thanking for all the soldiers who

helped save Australia.

The ceremony concluded with the

Australian National Anthem who was

performed by music students & Mrs.

Salerno.

Shimaila Afreen

Year 10

UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) ran their 6th Annual Young Women’s Leadership Academy at The Women’s College on the campus of the University of Sydney from Monday April 12 to Friday April 16. This scholarship-based academy provides an opportunity for developing leaders in Year 11 from across Australia to live at the Women’s College. For the fifty girls who ap-plied and were accepted, it really was a privilege to attend the academy, as it was an achievement in itself to be selected from a large group of 500 applicants. The application process involved a resume and a writ-ten application.

The intense week of activities began with a surprise. We did not know we were to be billeted by college stu-dents in their single bed rooms; however, I truly en-joyed this experience because, to an extent, we were included in the life of the college. Another comfort we enjoyed was having two student coordinators who at-tended Sydney University as our group leaders. They conducted daily evaluations of the program and pro-vided us with a trivia night and movie session over sup-per. We began the week with a Myer Briggs Type Indicator, a theoretical personality test that is used widely in the workplace, to discover how we relate to people and to better understand ourselves. Our sessions throughout the week were run by successful women in senior posi-tions in the corporate world and other high achievers. This included Wendy McCarthy, a much admired and thriving woman in the business industry. We had sessions on impact and influence; vocal and physical presence; utilizing the first ten seconds; women’s leadership -its role and development in soci-ety; styles of leadership; goal setting and motivation; job search process and ethical leadership (dealing with controversial issues/ complex situations). In addition, we participated in debating and yoga activities, Pilates, a visit to the Art Gallery of NSW, formal meals with the college principal and enjoyed a personal training ses-sion which broke up the week with much-needed exer-cise.

The Buzz Achieving Your Potential

Later during the week we travelled to the UBS office located in the city, where we spent the entire day learn-ing about the company and work life. We ended the day with a Canape Function with UBS staff, who gave us the opportunity to talk and practice presenting our-selves. Staff consisted of economists, trades workers, investment bankers etc. One of the major aspects of the entire week was the graduation dinner in which I had the rare opportunity to be chosen to dine with the college principal, the sex discrimination minister -Elizabeth Broderick and other women in leadership, at the Senior high table as a result of my good efforts and participation throughout the course of the week. This required me to present a speech in front of all the guests. The range of speakers throughout the week in conjunc-tion with the fun activities and challenging tasks pro-vided us with valuable experiences for both our leader-ship and our career goals. These skills that we are de-veloping now in everyday life open up more and more career options. The more we know about ourselves and the more chances we take, the more accomplished we will be throughout our lives. I encourage younger students to take the many opportunities and apply for the UBS Young Women’s Leadership Academy as it is indeed a worthwhile experience that will commit to your memory in the years to come! One of the emphasized messages of our week is that the networks of friendships and associates we create now will aid us in the future so don’t take your friends and teachers for granted, get out there and achieve your full potential.

Mona Omais

Year 11

Our Bankstown Girl

Mona doing us proud

at the USB Leadership

Academy

Left: With Elizabeth

Broderick, Sex Dis-

crimination Minister,

(left) and a USB staff

member

Just a quick note to let you know that Mrs Alembakis will no longer

be looking after The Buzz.

Over the years, Mrs Alembakis has given up much of her spare time

compiling and editing this publication. She has made it an interest-

ing read that we’ve all enjoyed. Thanks a million Mrs A, for all of

your efforts over the past few years!

I have officially taken over The Buzz for 2010. Please don’t hesitate

to contact me, or any member of staff, to offer your suggestions. If

there is something that you would like to hear more about, or if

you have something to advertise, please let us know and we’ll do

our best to accommodate your requirements.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my Buzz commit-

tee members. I was greatly assisted by year ten’s Layall El-

kobaitry, Shimaila Afreen and Esther Akaveka. Layall was responsi-

ble for official photography and layout, Esther conducted a number

of interviews and Shimaila also conducted interviews and produced

an excellent article about Anzac Day. Please look out for Shimaila’s

insightful article on social networking in the next edition.

Thanks team for helping bring together this issue of The Buzz.

Looking forward to another fabulous term at our fabulous school!

B Arambatzis

English/Support Teacher

The Buzz Thank you Mrs Alembakis

Another HSIE Baby

A HSIE baby was born recently. Well, not in the staffroom,

but to our lovely HSIE teacher Mrs Stournaras. Baby boy

Theodore was welcomed to the world on Wednesday, 31

March. He weighed in at 3.8kg and is doing wonderfully well!

Photographs and a baby update will follow in the next edition.

And another bub...

Mr O’Keefe, Head Teacher Ad-

ministration, became a Grandpa

for the first time when baby

Liam James was born in Febru-

ary. Congratulations Mr O’Keefe

and family.

Both Year 9 & 10 enjoyed their recent Mind

Matters Days.

Year 10 by sharing in their ‘Respect’ Work-

shops then going off with Ms Salerno, Ms

Hardy, Ms Cash and Ms Theodoridis to en-

joy a ‘bonding picnic’ in the Botanical Gar-

dens and Year 9 attending workshops on

‘Cyberbullying’ and watching the presenta-

tion of ‘Burn’, a play about not getting in-

volved in trouble, even if your friends do,

then also going to the Botanical Gardens

with Ms Yang, Ms Hardy, Ms Tsoutras and

Ms Martinsons to picnic and relax.

What to look forward to?

Year 7 will have their first lot of vaccina-

tions this year on Friday 4th

June –hpv and

Hep B

And

A merit excursion to see Eclipse has been

organised for Thursday 1st

July – just 20

merits, earned since the beginning of the

year will get you a permission slip

And

Ms Pistolis is planning an exciting Mind

Matters Day for Year 8.

And

The LIMS (Leadership in Middle School)

Program will be starting soon for Year 8.

Listen in Assembly for further information.

And finally

Look out for an exciting ‘Attendance Com-

petition’ that will be run between the dif-

ferent years. Excellent prizes for the year

with the best attendance.

J Hardy

Head Teacher Welfare/Music/Art

Welfare Buzz

On Friday, 30th

April, we went to the

Greater Union Cinemas at Burwood.

Year 10, year 11 and Year 12 were

lucky enough to attend this great

day.

We walked from school to Bank-

stown station where we bought a

train ticket to Burwood and we

watched the film, The Last Song, star-

ring Miley Cyrus and Liam

Hemsworth.

The movie was a love story between

two people and it described how

they met. Without giving too much

away, there was lots of heartbreak

The Buzz The Excellent Excursion

and tears but there was happiness at

the end.

After the movie finished, the teach-

ers, Ms Lane and Mrs Arambatzis

allowed us to go and have lunch in

the food court. We had a great time.

Upon arriving back at Bankstown sta-

tion, we walked back to school. We

talked about the movie while we

waited for the bell to ring.

Overall it was an excellent day out

and a great movie.

Kristina Cingoska & Marina Fabri

Year 11

Welcome again all parents to Bankstown

Girls High School for 2010, especially our

new parents. Your active participation in

your daughter’s education is vital for her

success.

P&C Executives for 2010

President: Mrs Siunipa Fifita

Vice President: Mrs Maha Hablos

Secretary: Ms Maya Camelia

Assistant Secretary: Ms Emily David

Treasurer: M r s M a r g a r e t

Goneis

Assistant Treasurer: Ms Emily David

Our second parents meeting, was held on

Tuesday, 23rd

March 2010 where we all

celebrated Harmony Day “ YOU + ME =

US.”

We would like to thanks all the parents for

their big support on the day. It was good

to see our community all come together in

harmony. Parents were dressed in orange,

(the official colour of Harmony Day) and

we also had some orange food such as

sweet potatoes, persimmons and oranges.

We would like to thank the Year 11 hospi-

tality class for preparing the delicious

pumpkin soup that everyone enjoyed.

CLO Corner

Mothers’ Day Celebration

The first parents meeting for term 2 was held on Tuesday 4th

May

2010. We would like to thank all the parents who attended this

meeting as we celebrated Mother’s day morning tea. The P&C ex-

ecutive donated some items to sell at this meeting to help fund the

Parents activity at the end of the year. The rest of the items were

given to the school SRC for their Mothers Day raffle. A special

thanks to Mrs Margaret Goneis and Mrs Maha Hablos for their hard

work on the day.

Our next parents meeting will be held on Tuesday 8th

June 2010, in

the School Library at 9.30 am.

Siunipa Fifita &

Ghazwa Dennaoui

Mothers Day items

Some of our

dedicated parents

at our last P& C

meeting