Narrabri High School Community News Educational Excellence and Innovation in a Unique Caring Environment

Meetings 19 March in Library 6.00pm Canteen Committee 6.30pm P & C Meeting

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Principal’s Report

The new administration area We have an official handover date of 29th March! There are still some things to be done before then, and it will take time for the office staff to move back into the area and the AEO to return to the demountable building. It is likely that the area will be fully functional from the start of next term. It looks very modern and impressive.

Swimming Carnival Once again, the students responded to the challenge and we had a great swimming carnival. A number of records were broken: three by Nick Tomlinson and one by Ella Tomlinson. Currong were the Champion house once again, and they have enjoyed a lot of success in the pool in recent years. The main reason for this is participation, rather than just having champion swimmers. A very special thank you to Miss Robinson for all of her hard work…and Ms Manchee as Currong patron! Now that I am Principal I have to be a little more objective about the sport houses, but being in Currong for 31 years makes it a little hard. Why Currong? This is an easy answer, when the school went from roll call in class/year groups to vertical rolls (students from mixed years, based on the alphabet and year cohort) in 1988 I was given C2…which I kept until 1997, when I became a Head Teacher. There were many “lean” years in the 90s and the 00s for Currong, with Lowana and Marrara dominating for extended periods on land and water…some parents will remember this. What about Aranda? Let us just say that they have won the odd event over the years and their glory days are ahead of them!

School Plan 2018-2020 In the last newsletter I outlined the three likely strategic directions. Since then we have consulted with the P & C, and began drafting the new plan. Please have a look at the summary page later in the newsletter, and I would appreciate your constructive comments on it: are we heading in the right direction, are there areas that need to be addressed, or made more prominent? Please contact the school by email, in writing, or a phone call to one of the Deputy Principals. I have also set up a small online survey, which is quick and easy : http://bit.ly/draftschoolplanNHS

Lillian Hulbert On Saturday 24th February the Narrabri Shire Council held a reception to announce the winner of the Lillian Hulbert award. This competition is open to any student who was born within a 55km radius of Narrabri. Students are nominated in at least one of the following categories: bravery/heroism, community involvement, sporting excellence and educational achievement. The prize is $10,000, which is available on the person's 21st birthday. This is a very generous, ongoing commitment by the Hulbert family, in memory of Lillian who loved our local area. Eight

C a l e n d a r March 20 School Photo Day 23 Lennox 1000 (charity afternoon) 26 Namoi Zone Winter Trials 28 Year 7 Welcome BBQ & Parent

Interviews 30 Good Friday (Public Holiday) April 2 Easter Monday (Public Holiday) 4 North West Winter Trials 8-10 CHS Swimming Championships 13 Last Day of Term 30 Staff development Day May 1 Students Return for Term 2

students nominated, and were outstanding ambassadors of our local youth. Dylan Dixson of Wee Waa was the overall winner, with Georgia Dickinson-Graham, also of Wee Waa, Jenna Baxter, Adam Hennessy, Bella Stewart and Blake Ryan of Narrabri High, along with our former students, Paige Fielder and Jessie Ross all doing a great job.

Lions Youth of the Year What a great night at the Lions Youth of the year competition on Monday, February 26th. Our five students did us proud, as well as their parents. Jenna Baxter, Matt Nash, Emily McFarland, Layten Smith and Auley O'Shea showed all the good things about our school and town. Congratulations to Jenna as public speaking winner, and Layten as overall winner. He progressed to the District stage at Wee Waa and

did a great job, but lost by one point! A big thank you to the Lions club, NAB (sponsor) and particularly the organisers Rob Gilbert and Melissa Hancock.

Wireless tech rollout

Our school has been included in the Connecting Country Schools (CCS) project, which is delivering upgraded wireless connectivity and internet access to more than 900 schools around the state. Planning for installations at our school has commenced with former student, Aaron Stoltenberg appointed as our assigned Technical Officer from the Department’s IT Directorate, who are managing this project. CCS will deliver upgraded and reliable wireless access in all our learning spaces, assisting teachers to deliver future focused learning to prepare our students for digital age jobs. Improved wireless and internet services will also give students more chances to connect and collaborate and greater access to online knowledge databases, streaming media, educational institutions and experts. We are working with our Technical Officer to ensure that disruptions during the installation are kept to a minimum. External contractors who will visit the school to undertake work are required to have a Working With Children Check. The attached fact sheet has more information on Connecting Country Schools. The school is in the process of getting Wi Fi into the hall, which will assist with future testing, as online assessment is increasing. This will cost us around $14,000, and will allow up to 60 people to be connected at one time. I would like to thank SANTOS for donating some of their Ipads to the school. We will be looking to use them in practical areas to take video of sport or drama performances to aid in further refinement.

NAPLAN results no longer linked to the award of a HSC. The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) announced on February 22nd that Year 9 NAPLAN tests would not be used as an “early way for students to demonstrate the (HSC) standard”. All HSC students will now be required to meet the HSC minimum standard only through “short online tests in reading, writing and numeracy” that can be taken in Years 10, 11 or 12. Education Minister Rob Stokes said linking the minimum standards to Year 9 NAPLAN tests had placed unnecessary pressure on Year 9 students. This change does not affect Year 10 students, so we will be organising for them to get the opportunity to sit the test to qualify for a HSC in 2020.When the school is provided with additional information, we will inform students and parents. Narrabri Shire Council audit on getting to and from school

The Council is interested to find out how students get to school, particularly if they walk or cycle. This is part of a broader strategy to encourage walking and cycling more generally in the shire. It would be good if you could take one of the short surveys. Parents survey link : www.surveymonkey.com/r/P36VTCX Student survey link : www.surveymonkey.com/r/PGLDNN9 These surveys are live and will close on April 9th.

Narrabri High School Plan 2018-2020 – Summary draft 1-incomplete

Strategic Direction: Teaching and Learning • Process:

o Data Analysis- teachers increase knowledge and skills in gathering, analysing and interpreting student data from external and internal sources

o Curriculum- build the capacity of teachers to incorporate future learning into programs and engage students to improve engagement in the classroom and improve learning outcomes for students.

o Assessment- increased understanding and incorporation of A4L in the classroom. Develop students and staffs ability to use self and peer assessment to improve student learning outcomes and improve teaching practice and the more effective use of feedback

• Practice: o Implementing professional development on

data analysis o Teachers are interpreting, analysing and

reporting on data collected at NHS o As evidenced in the staff meeting minutes,

professional learning logs and communication to the community

o Professional development to improve teachers understanding of Future Learning as organised by executive staff

o Teachers regularly review and revise lesson plans and programs to reflect the changing best teaching practice as evidenced by program supervision and feedback

o Faculties analyse Naplan and HSC data to monitor the effectiveness of Future Learning implementation over a three year period.

o Integration of Future Learning into all faculty curriculums as monitored by head teachers in faculty meetings.

o Implementation of A4L by all staff in Stages 4-5, to include learning goals, success criteria and peer and self assessment of students.

o Staff to supply effective assessment feedback to all students that can be used by the student to identify and improve areas within their learning

o Staff to undergo regular self reflection and analysis of programs based on student feedback to improve teaching practice.

o Professional development on self, peer assessment and effective feedback

• Product: o Communicate improvement of current

learning practices and student outcomes to the wider community

o Building a school wide culture of effective data analysis is evident through all programs, external and internal data, supported by evidence of change in SMART data

o Teachers demonstrate and implement currency of content knowledge and evidence based teaching practice in all their teaching areas

o An improvement in student engagement in their learning which is reflected in an increase in Naplan and HSC results

o Students and staff have clear explicit learning outcomes that are visible and assessments and assessement feedback are effectively used to lead to an improvement in student outcomes and teaching best practice. Qualitative evidence supports the implementation of effective feedback procedures in meeting curriculum requirements.

Strategic Direction: Fostering positive community

engagement with the school. • Purpose

o Create lasting, positive relationships between the school, students and parents, and the community to increase the educational outcomes achieved at Narrabri High School

o To actively inform parents of student progress and provide them with ways of supporting our aims for their children

o To promote, encourage and solicit constructive feedback from the community on school activities and operations.

o To foster parent/community involvement at school and further improve our use of the community as a valuable resource.

• Improvement measures o Data analysis will indicate that parents are

aware of our school plan and are contributing to its progress.

o Formal and informal data analysis will indicate that the parents and the community are actively involved in individual and whole school learning activities.

• Practices o Increased two way communication between

the community and the school o Visible involvement of the school in the

community and vice versa o Evaluation and data analysis used frequently

to obtain information for the purpose of validating activities and seeking advice on future directions.

o Parents engage with student learning using electronic systems

• Products o Positive, constructive relationships between

the school and the community. o Increased parent contact with the school o The creation of a diverse curriculum aligned

with community expectations • People

o Development of staff in strategies of community inclusion.

o Develop the community understanding of school operations and enhance their skills to enable parents to support their children.

o Foster an understanding with the students that by the school, parents and community working together we are improving individual and group learning opportunities.

• Processes o Professional learning-communication and data

analysis, successful interview techniques etc o Establish regular protocols to obtain

community feedback

Strategic Direction: The wellbeing of students, staff and the community.

Some draft ideas are shown below: • Engagement of at risk students-attendance, reward

system, behavioural referrals • Use of community agencies and other specialists to

support staff and students. • Explicit/consistent teaching of expectations • Focus on the wellbeing framework toolkit to gather

data and direct the school to meet the needs of the community.

• Tailored support for Narrabri High School staff • Increased systems and practices • Improved school environment-

classrooms/equipment, murals, gardens • There has been a significant increase in students

presenting with complex needs-strategies to support and directly address.

• Aim to increase attendance rates-linked to wellbeing

• Bullying- P & C raised as an issue. Current policy needs some work, but more importantly students must be aware of it and the staff apply it consistently.

• Policies for Discipline and Welfare need to be reviewed and updated.

• The school has a culture of supporting teachers to pursue higher level accreditation

• Workforce planning supports curriculum provision and the recruitment of high quality staff.

SRC for 2018 Congratulations to the students from year 8, 9, 10 and 11 that have been elected as the 2018 Student Representative Council. This group of students will be working together to be the voice of the student body. They will be part of organising many fundraising events and aim to create a positive school environment. The newly elected SRC are: Year 8 - Poppy Smith, Martha Harvey, Sarah Stiller, Erin Flower, Riley Longworth, Millicent Bruce Year 9 - Amara Grant, Charlie Thomson, Charlotte Penberthy, Maddie Russell, Cliff Petersen, Keltan Williams Year10 - Bree Smith, Mae Harvey, Jesse Strong, Andrew Coleman, Lachlan McGregor, Jacob Sunderland Year 11 - Jenna Baxter, James Madden, Matthew Nash, Emily Stiller, Layten Smith, Georgia Goodhew

Year 7 Bush to Beach Camp The excitement was brewing as the two buses pulled away for the adventure of a lifetime. The first video for the trip, a classic “SpongeBob Square Pants” had the whole bus singing along, even the teachers. Our only stop was Scone for a quick food and drink top up, another film “Mr Bean” and then it was onto The Great Aussie Bush Camp. We arrived and straight away Year 7 were allocated their tents and the teachers whisked away for lunch (Seafood…). The first activity for the three groups varied, Raft Building, the Flying Fox and Indoor Rock Climbing. That night, we had a Trivia competition, which the teachers joined in with great enthusiasm, and to this date, I think the teachers won…? The next day consisted of a leisurely walk along the beach at Hawks Nest and involved a further two hours building

sandcastles, watching dolphins and playing football on the water’s edge. For some it was the first time they had visited a beach. Lunch in the park followed by a trip back to camp and another rotation of activities were completed. Thursday night’s activity “Commando” was the night of nights. The students were eager to prove their abilities in claiming back their hostages, while the teachers were hiding in bushes waiting for their prey. Mrs Magann did a wonderful job keeping the hostages safe even when Bernard O’Connor’s group came very close; however, they were spotted by eagle eye Mr Rumsby hiding in the bushes. Mr Silver was making sure there was no cheating going on at base camp while Mrs McGregor spent time stumbling over logs, trying not to fall into the swamp and managing to spot a few of the students; however, Mrs Ford had a prime position spotting the enemy in the early stages of their mission.

Our last day consisted of canoeing, overcoming our fears with the Giant Swing and The Flying Fox. We again had another lovely lunch before we got on the bus for the trip home. Although we were all tired after such an action packed three days, the memories will remain with us all forever. The teachers would like to thank Year 7 for making 2018 camp such a fantastic event.

Suzanne McGregor Year 7 Year Advisor

Lions Youth of the Year

“Lions Youth of the Year is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership in conjunction with other citizenship qualities in our youth, at the age when they are about to enter the fields of employment or higher education, and provides students with the incentive to pay greater attention to the general qualities, so vital in developing our youths into first class citizens. The qualities sought, apart from academic attainments are those of leadership, personality, sportsmanship, public speaking and good citizenship. The students meet in fellowship and have the opportunity of open discussion, exchange of ideas and meet professional people of a community service Club organisation.” (http://lionsclubs.org.au/activities/youth/yoty/about-yoty/). On Monday night at the Narrabri RSL, five students from Narrabri High participated in the final step toward becoming Narrabri’s 2018 Lions Youth of the Year. Jenna Baxter, Emily McFarland, Matthew Nash, Auley O’Shea and Layten Smith each had to speak for two minutes on two different impromptu topics – and believe me, two minutes can be a REALLY long time! The topics this year were: ‘I’m coming to Australia, what should I expect?’ and ‘What will I be using in 20 years time – money, digital currency or cryptocurrency?’ The students then had to present a 5 minute prepared speech. All this was the finale after rigorous interviews on Saturday afternoon. The three judges deliberated for quite some time before returning with their verdicts. Jenna Baxter was awarded the Public Speaking prize and Layten Smith was named as Narrabri’s Lions Youth of the Year. All the participants agreed that it was a worthwhile, enjoyable (and perhaps nerve wracking) process, and the runners up are keen to enter again next year! Layten progressed to the District final in Wee Waa on Saturday the 10th of March where he was pipped at the post by the entrant from Tamworth. The judges were most impressed and Layten clearly won the impromptu section. Hopefully, we will do better next year.

Swimming Carnival

The annual twilight swimming carnival was held at the Narrabri Aquatic Centre on the 22nd March where the four houses battled it out for the 2018 title. This year saw many keen students participate throughout the evening in various races and some new events were introduced; including the handicap race and teacher relay. There were four records broken by Nick and Ella Tomlinson of Marara. Nick broke the 17 year boys 50m backstroke, breastroke and freestyle records. The freestyle record was set in 1976 by Jeff Hardy. Ella broke the 13 year girls 50m Freestyle record. Congratulations to the following students who won age champions: 12 year boy- Luke Longworth 12 year girl- Holly Ford 13 year boy: Miles Campbell 13 year girl: Ella Tomlinson 14 year boy: Josh Taylor 14 year girl: May Krishna 15 year boy: Ayden Hunter 15 year girl: Charlotte Penberthy 16 year boy: Andrew Coleman 16 year girl: Meagan Dampney 17 year boy: Nick Tomlinson 17 year girl: April Smith The Teacher vs Year 12 relay was a success with the teachers taking out the win! The winning house this year was Currong closely followed by Marara in second.

North West Swimming Trials

On Tuesday 6th March 10 Students travelled to Armidale to attend the North West Swimming trials. On a miserable day they swam their hearts out with many doing PB’s on the day. Nicholas Tomlinson, Andrew Coleman, Megan Dampney, Jorja Bakhuis, Lucy Gordon, Ella Tomlinson and Alex Mison will now attend the CHS Championships in Sydney in April as part of the North West team. We wish them the best of luck.

Young Endeavour Youth Scheme

Are you interested in being a part of a voyage in the national sail training ship Young Endeavour? A voyage in Young Endeavour is an exciting experience and a unique opportunity for youth to develop skills for life. The internationally recognised development program builds self-awareness, develops teamwork and leadership skills, and fosters a strong sense of community responsibility. This scheme is available for young Australians aged 16-23. To apply for The Young Endeavour Youth Scheme or even to find out more information visit www.youngendeavour.gov.au .

Are all your kids back at school?

Are you looking to do something different this year? Maybe Volunteer or give back to your community? The Raise Foundation have been running a successful mentoring program for our students in Years 8 and 9 since 2015. Raise are currently looking for volunteers from the community to raise their hands to mentor for one hour a week at Narrabri High School. If you would like to become a mentor during terms two and three - you can contact Anna Dugdale on 0458050189 or anna.dugdale@raise.org.au or apply directly to be a mentor online via raise.org.au/volunteer

Reminder to parents to notify the school about

your child’s health We welcome information from parents about your child's health, even if you are not requesting specific support from our school. Our school asks for medical information when you enrol your child. It is also important that you let us know if your child’s health care needs change or if a new health condition develops. Information about allergies, medical conditions such as asthma and diabetes and other health care related issues (including prior conditions such as medical procedures in the last 12 months) should be provided to the school by parents. Please provide this information in writing to the principal. This will greatly assist our school in planning to support your child’s health and wellbeing. Please also remember to notify staff in the school office of any changes to your contact details or to the contact details of other people nominated as emergency contacts. We appreciate your assistance in this regard and assure you that any information you provide the school will be stored securely and will only be used or disclosed in order to support your son or daughter’s health needs or as otherwise required by law.