Welcome back to all students, parents and staff! I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday and are ready for the year ahead. Our 2017 HSC results were outstanding. The school attained 416 Band 6 results from 126 students (372 Band 6 results from 122 students in 2016). Our highest ATAR was 99.85 achieved by Nishka Tapaswi. Seventeen students reported ATARs of 99 or above (up from 15 in 2016) - Hannah Chen, Kia Collins, Shanaya De Silva, Elisabeth Henke, Coco Huang, Echo Huang, Jiang Teresa, Yusun Lee, Okayama Sakiko, Freya Osterberg, Naveena Sankaran, Shirin Shaban, Nishka Tapaswi, Annie Jian Tu, Rebecca Wang, Jenna Yim, Jennifer Zhao Thirty two students achieved Premier’s All Rounders (up from 29 in 2016). Alisha Mathias, Ammu Punnackal, Ayesha Earey, Beatrice Au-Yeung, Coco Huang, Echo Huang, Elisabeth Henke, Ellen Wang, Emma Leong, Fiona Jiang, Freya Osterberg, Hannah Chen, Jenna Yim, Jennifer Zhao, Jerri Wang, Julia Mokdsi, Kia Collins, Louise Zhang, Meher Mehta, Melissa Linardy, Nantheka Nandakumaran, Naveena Sankaran, Nazli Bahtigur, Nishka Tapaswi, Sakiko Okayama, Shanaya De Silva, Shirin Shaban, Song En Yeung, Tanya Gunawardana, Teresa Jiang, Amy Yan and Yusun Lee. Seven students achieved top-twenty state placings - Nikki Chao ninth in Food Technology, Annie Tu eighth in Mathematics Extension 1, Nishka Tapaswi eighth in Mathematics Extension 2, Pu En Yeung sixteenth in Mathematics General, Jenna Yim fifth in Society and Culture, Elisabeth Henke third in Spanish Beginners, Karen Cheng fourth in Textiles and Design.

Congratulations to the Class of 2017!

Peoly Gunaratne, Katherine Bui and Rachel Line of Year 11 represented the school at the ANZAC Memorial Centenary Project hosted by the Hornsby Historical Society Museum and Alister Henskens NSW member for Ku-Ring-Gai. Thank you students! I visited the Year 7 Camp on Friday morning. The students were enjoying themselves with the various team building activities and making many new friends. Thank you to Ms Peters the Year 7 Adviser and to her team Mrs Marriott, Mr Marshall, Mr Hughson, Ms Coggins, Mr Re and Ms Lech.

HORNSBY GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL

Term 1 Issue 1

9 February 2018

Email Address: hornsbygir-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au Web Address: www.hornsbygir-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Phone: 9476 5711 Fax: 9482 2525

I look forward to meeting the Year 7 Parents at the P and C’s ‘Meet the Teachers’ Evening from 7pm – 8:30pm on Wednesday 21 February. Year 7 teachers will be in attendance to meet Year 7 Parents in an informal atmosphere with food provided by the P and C. Year 7 students will also be in attendance so that they can introduce the teachers to their parents. Year 10 Peer support leaders will also be in attendance. When the P and C meeting commences at 7:45pm the Year 10 Peer Support Leaders will do team building activities with the Year 7 students and extend on the activities learnt at the camp. The P and C meeting will conclude at 8:30pm. It is always an enjoyable evening. Please see the attached flyer. The first Grounds Day or Garden Day for the school will be held on Saturday 3 March from 8am – 11am. We will be working on the front garden area – re-mulching and re-planting. Please see the attached flyer. Thank you to Mr Roberts (P and C member) and Mr Robert Dyer (P and C member) for their organisation. Staffing - In Science Mr Arthur is our new Physics teacher. In PDHPE Ms Roberts is our new PDHPE teacher. In Languages Mrs Brown is our new German teacher. In Creative and Performing Arts Mr Sohier (a targeted graduate teacher) is our new permanent Visual Arts teacher and Ms Neil is also a new Visual Arts teacher who is here on a part-time basis. In English we welcome two new permanent members of staff Ms Carroll and Ms Thomas who are both targeted graduate teachers. Our Relieving Head Teacher of English is Mrs Mallison (from Cherrybrook Technology High School) while Dr Green is Relieving Deputy Principal (Years 8, 10 and 12) for term 1. Our Relieving Head Teacher of Mathematics is Mrs Tourikis while Mr Marshall is Relieving Deputy Principal (Years 7, 9 and 11) who replaces Mrs Drayton who is on leave for term 1.

Victoria He Year 12 has been awarded Junior Player of the Year 2017 by Badminton Australia. This is a wonderful achievement. She has been consistently achieving exceptional results in both local, nation, and international tournaments by representing Australia numerous times. The requirements

to be selected for this award is highly difficult, with only one player being selected every year within Australia. School Photograph Day will be on Friday 23 February. Please see Dr Green’s notice in this edition of the Torch. Dr Justin Briggs, Principal

Year 12 Camp

To start off the 2018 school year, Year 12 went to Baden Powell Scout Centre in Pennant Hills for a day of goal setting and team work. Year 12 was honoured to be able to listen to a talk given by Juanita Phillips, an extremely inspirational woman who has been able to make amazing accomplishments in her life despite many obstacles. Juanita Phillips is a journalist and news presenter, having worked for BBC and CNN in the UK and is currently presenting the weeknight ABC news. Her passion for her profession is evident in the way she speaks, and it is motivating to us all in our last year of high school as we begin to think about our aspirations for the future and the hard work we will have to put in, in order to achieve this. She encouraged us to take as many opportunities as we possibly can, embracing

what life has to offer whilst being able to deal with the setbacks that may come along. Juanita taught us the helpful saying of “never wrong for long”, a motto she learnt whilst working in the UK on CNN news.

It is valuable to us for this year and further along in our lives as it reminds us that while we may make mistakes, we readily have the ability to remedy and subsequently learn from them. Her speech was the perfect way to start off the year of our HSC, with her presence a motivating and exciting representation of what life has to offer after formal education. For the rest of the day, Year 12 partook in fun team-building exercises such as the Scout Centre’s high ropes course, the flying fox and orienteering activities. Overall, it was a relaxing yet constructive start allowing us to get into a focused mindset for the rest of the year.

Poppy Morandin, Year 12

UN Youth American Political Tour Over these past holidays, I had the fantastic opportunity to embark on a four week tour of the United States. In January 2018, UN Youth Australia ran its inaugural tour to the United States, with a focus on US domestic politics and its implication on the concept of democracy. I was incredibly lucky to be one of 16 delegates (students in Year 11, 12 and just graduated) selected for this experience - the American Political Tour. We travelled to San Francisco, Sacramento, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. In these cities, we learnt about the importance of demographics in decision making and an emphasis was placed on challenging our preconceived ideas of American democracy. All of the educational content was encouraged by workshops and consultations in which we engaged with non-governmental organisations, think tanks, and members of Congress. (This of course was interspersed with some classic touristy fun and a LOT of really good food!) Some of the highlights included meeting with the New Orleans branch of ‘The Innocence Project’ (an NGO providing legal aid to exonerate those wrongfully convicted), ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’ – a non-profit advocacy organisation, the New York City Office of the Mayor and the Australian Mission to the UN. A few of the most interesting consultations were; Michael Whitney – Bernie Sanders’ Digital fundraising

Manager, David Sipress – a political cartoonist at the New Yorker and Abe Sutton a Republican Healthcare policy adviser we met at the Eisenhower Building. In free time we explored the cities we were in and experimented with their public transport, were exploited by their tourist traps, discovered their hidden gems, and spent far too much in cafes, restaurants and diners whilst trying to work out tax and tip. Finding a secret market and jazz club in New Orleans, seeing a musical on Broadway, exploring the Castro district of San Francisco, walking on the frozen reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial and having midnight feasts of indulgent American snacks with new friends - are just a few of the memories that will remain personal favourites forever. This experience has undoubtedly been one of the best of my short life and I want to thank the school and the P and C for supporting me in this endeavour. I left the tour with new friends, unforgettable memories, both life and career inspiration and a newfound sense of perspective, independence and confidence. I would strongly encourage other students with an interest in global citizenship and leadership to investigate and apply for future UN Youth events and international programs! Avan Daruwalla, Year 12

German Home Stay

Over the recent holidays I was lucky enough to have the chance to improve my German by attending Eichenschule Gymnasium in Scheßel in Northern Germany, approximately midway between Hamburg and Bremen. There were several major differences between school life in Germany and Australia, school starts at 7:30am and finish at 1:30pm and of course getting to school in near zero temperatures. However I found school life, class sizes and subject choices in Germany to be very similar to Hornsby Girls. While I was there my class had a history excursion to Neuengamme WWII concentration camp about 1 hour outside of Hamburg. We learned of the horrors of

the Nazi SS and one of the darkest periods of human history. However in Germany today, the country and its citizens welcome all kinds of people from all walks of life and in my village of Rotenburg there were a number of Syrian families who had fled the civil war. I am looking forward to returning someday soon and further improving my speaking skills.

Laura with Host Family

Laura Wunderlich, Year 11

Japanese Sister School Visit

Every year our Japanese sister school, Shukutoku Yono, visit Hornsby for 10 days. The girls practise their English while building friendships with our students. During this time, they stay with Hornsby Girls’ families. This year the Yono girls arrive on the 22nd of March and depart on the 31st. If you would like to host one of

our sister school students this year, please contact the school and ask for

Trent Wilson, Head Teacher Languages

Hornsby Girls High School

P and C ASSOCIATION

"Excellence in Girls' Education"

INVITATION TO YEAR 7 PARENTS and Year 7 STUDENTS

to

our February P & C Meeting

on WEDNESDAY 21 February from 7.00pm

outside the Agnes Brewster Hall

‘Meet the Teachers and Year 7 Parent Information

Evening’ This will be followed by a P and C Meeting

In the Agnes Brewster Hall From 7:45pm – 8:30pm

Light refreshments will also be served, so please come along and meet other

parents in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. All welcome!

February, 2018 On Friday 23rd February, Academy Attendance and Photography will be available at the school to photograph all students from Years 7 to 12 inclusive, both for an individual photograph and a group portrait. In addition, they will photograph various musical groups within the school, including the Concert Band, String Orchestra, Jazz Band, Senior and Junior Choir and the Flute Ensembles. A Year 12 informal photograph will also be taken. Individual student photographs will be used to provide, at no cost to students, new student identification cards for Years 7-12. Family portraits, consisting of siblings enrolled at Hornsby Girls High School, may also be arranged. Any student wishing to be photographed with her sibling should advise Dr Green directly. A roster of times in which musical groups and year cohorts will be photographed as well as payment details will be communicated to students in the coming week. All students are to wear correct school uniform for these photographs, including black leather lace-up shoes and ankle length white socks. No jewellery should be worn. Yours faithfully, Dr S Green Dr J Briggs Rel. Deputy Principal Principal

HGHS P&C

Grounds and Garden Day SATURDAY 3 March 8am -11am The main tasks will be planting, weeding and mulching the gardens along Edgeworth David Ave. The MEETING PLACE will be out the front of the School, (near front steps). The TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT you will need to bring are:

gardening gloves, hat/sunscreen, solid footwear (shoes/boots, not sandals) and appropriate

clothing (We will try to run it even if it rains a little, so perhaps bring a raincoat if it looks a bit

drizzly))

Shovels, crowbars and mattocks (for planting trees)

Weeding tools

Buckets, rags, sponges with light scourers, and a bit of detergent

Rakes (spreading mulch) and brooms (cleaning up)

Wheelbarrow if you have one (for transporting mulch)

If you have a hedge trimmer or shears, it would be useful to bring them too

Please bring a bottle of water to prevent dehydration. You will need to sign on when you start and finish for the day (to ensure that you are insured). We will stop for morning tea. Please note the early start – this is to avoid the heat. If you cannot get there by 8, don’t worry, just turn up as soon as you can, and sign on in the book which will be inside the front door of the School. Please note that we will go ahead unless it is REALLY raining, the wet ground makes weeding much easier. If we do decide to call it off, we will send you an e-mail by Friday evening. Looking forward to seeing you! Andrew Roberts and Robert Dyer (Grounds Co-ordinators)