Wee Waa High School Issue 1, February 16th, 2015

Contributions by Thursday prior to publication to: Email weewaa-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au ; Fax 02 6795 3005

http://www.weewaa-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/

Welcome to 2015, another exciting year at Wee Waa High School. On behalf of Mr Frangos and the whole school I would like to welcome our new students and their families to our learning community. The year started extremely well on Tuesday, 3 Feb-ruary as staff had a day of planning and professional learning. Students from Years 7, 11 and 12 arrived on Wednesday and it was great to see our Year 7 cohort all in uniform and settling in nicely as they begin their high school journey. Our Year 11 stu-dents commenced their preliminary Higher School Certificate (HSC) studies whilst Year 12 continued on with their HSC courses, quite excited knowing they only have three terms of classes left before they complete their schooling. On Thursday Years 8, 9 and 10 joined everyone to make the learning com-munity complete. It was fantastic to see students and staff catching up with each other and setting goals for the year ahead. 2015 has begun with a few staff changes. I wish Mr Neil Schneider every success in his new position as Principal of Casino High School. He has left very big shoes to fill and I am very excited about the oppor-tunity to lead such a great school for terms 1 and 2 until the position is permanently filled. Mr George Frangos has taken up his permanent appointment as Deputy Principal and together we aim to continue upholding the very high standards of teaching, learn-ing and behaviour that have been set by Mr Schnei-der. Mrs Kim Burgess will continue to act as Head Teach-er English/HSIE while Mrs Myers is on leave and Mrs Widauer will continue as Head Teacher Welfare. We also welcome Miss Theresa Predebon to the English faculty. Mrs Carmel Schwager has been appointed as our Learning and Support Teacher and she is al-ready overseeing several programs and assisting many of our students with their learning.

The start of the year is a great opportunity for students to start setting goals for the year and consider the op-portunities available at Wee Waa High School; school is a great place to experience new things! Why not try out for a sporting team, develop your musical talents or get involved in agriculture? These are just a few of the many opportunities available at WWHS. “Strive for Ex-cellence” in everything that you do and you will soon discover your true passion and hidden talents!

Over the holidays Tayla Gilmore, one of our 2014, Year 12 students, was recognised for her sporting achieve-ments and all round community involvement. Tayla was a recipient of the Narrabri Shire Young Person of the Year Award as part of Australia Day celebrations. Tayla is always striving to do her best and constantly looking for ways to contribute to our local community. A very well deserved award, congratulations Tayla!

I look forward to leading the school throughout this se-mester and wish everyone a happy and successful year. Ms Annabel Doust Relieving Principal

New Staff Members

Relieving Principal Annabel Doust & Deputy Principal George Frangos

Year 7 – First Weeks of High School

A group of 37 brave young souls have taken a step on their education journey; they have started at High School. They started going from room to room and teacher to teacher, changing classes every 56 minutes. With such a gargantuan change to their schooling life, this group has settled into their new routines with surprising ease. Already they have been preparing for assessment tasks and even last Friday, participated in force at the Wee Waa High School Swimming Carnival.

This week we have a BBQ for parents and students on Wednesday evening, held from 6pm-7pm at the school. This evening will give parents and staff a chance to meet face-to-face, and to build the very important relationships to make our 6-year adventure more enjoyable working together. We also have our Year 7 Camp at the Coffs Coast Adventure School coming up in week 6 (9th-13th of March), which students and staff attending are looking forward to.

Many of the students have already had some experience here, through our transition program, and it seems to have made the changeover a little less daunting than it otherwise could have been. As their year advisor, I am very excited to have these new students and families with us, and I look forward to watching us grow as a community.

Miss Freer, Year 7 Advisor

Year 7

Ag Roundup Edition One 2015 Well we’ve hit the ground running on the ag farm this year with busy and hot days on the farm! The Yr 11/12 Primary industries class have become acquainted with fencing, installing an electric fence to get the cowpea crop ready for the arrival of the cattle next week. We will strip graze them to make them last longer. Yr 9/10 Agriculture classes are studying pasture production this term. The introduction of a legume crop on our farm is timely for their introduction to the benefits of legumes in the rotation. The farm has had all holidays to recoup with no stock and there’s now plenty of feed! The forage sorghum is so tall students are getting lost in it. The cow peas have emerged and will make great fodder for the stock. Our improved pasture has established well and will provide plenty of feed options for the sheep and cattle on their return. Primary Industries and 9/10 ag have also been discing up the levee paddock in preparation for sowing another oat crop after last years success.

Yr 9/10 ag students discing with the tractor in the levee paddock

Yr 7/8 tech have been busy getting the vegie plots ready for the new season vegetables. They will be sowing eggplant, pak choy, some green beans and lettuce to be raised in the greenhouse and planted out in the plots in coming weeks. We hope to continue to stock Palmers produce with our produce this year so keep your eyes out to support the local business and your schools ag farm! Yr 7/8 have also become acquainted with the school dorpers, learning how to handle them and teach them to lead. Yr 7/8 tech catching and leading the Dorpers

The steers kindly donated by the Slacksmith family arrived on the farm this week. A huge thank you to the Slacksmiths for this kind donation. The steers have settled in well and will be a valuable addition to the show team for the year. Students will be breaking them into halter and leading, in preparation for the local shows working towards the Northern Schools Cattle show later in the year. Students will learn about feeding requirements to prepare steers for competition as well as all aspects of animal handling.

Year 7/8 tech setting up our brand new cattle feeder for the arrival of the steers.

A dozen meat chickens will be arriving on Friday. The school will be participating in the Sydney Royal Easter Shows meat chickens competition, with classes involved in the rearing and feed trial of these chickens. Chickens are supplied by Steggles and are to promote the concept of meat chicken rearing in schools and dispel the myths of the need for hormones in their production. Yr 7/8 tech working the vegie plot up into rows to plant.

The show team are preparing for a camping trip to Coonamble this weekend. The girls will meet our stud Limousin steer, purchased last year and spend the weekend working with him and the cattle from the Myona Charolais stud in preparations for exhibiting and competing at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in March. Our first fundraiser will be on Monday 23rd February with a car wash and sausage sizzle at the farm. Please bring your car along for a wash if you can to support our school ! See notice below for details. We will be holding a cake stall and 100 club in coming weeks also so keep your eye out for that and please come along to support WWHS agricultures first trip to our royal show! Please remember students need to be coming to school prepared for their agricultural lessons. Students are required to wear covered leather shoes to all technology subjects, for their own safety. Leather shoes will protect them when using gardening tools and working with stock. Students will miss out on critical practical lessons if they do not have the correct footwear. Also remember to bring a hat and water for practical lessons! Verity Gett Agriculture teacher

SHOW TEAM FUNDRAISER !!! Carwash

Monday 23rd February 9, 2015

Bring your car along or drop it off to the ag farm for the show team to wash it!!.

$10 per car

1pm til 3:15 pm see you there!

Sausage Sizzle

Monday 23rd February –Lunchtime 12:38 – 1 pm The show team will be cooking sausage sandwiches for lunch so please bring along $2 for a sausage sandwich at lunchtime and support the

schools show team trip to the Sydney Royal Easter Show!

Monday 16th February 2015

Welcome Back

I would like to say a big ‘welcome back’ to our student for this New Year of school. I hope you all had fun with your family during the holiday break. It is good to see our Aboriginal kids in the right uniform and also having the equipment that’s needed for classes.

acting PrinciPal and dePuty PrinciPal

The Wee Waa High School has a new acting principal, Mrs Annabel Doust, and a new deputy principal, Mr George Frangos. We would like to welcome them both to our school and if parents would like to talk to them, please don’t hesitate to contact them to talk about any issues you are concerned about.

year 7 StudentS

It is pleasant to see that Year 7 have settled into classes well which is pleasing to see. If parents are confused about whom they are supposed to contact regarding their child, please call the AEO on the Murri Mobile: 0455 060 177. This is a direct link to the Binaalbaa room.

aecg meeting

The AECG will be holding our first meeting of this year on the Wednesday 25th of February at the HACC Centre, Cowper St, at 3:30pm. We would like to encourage parents who are not familiar with the AECG and its role to come along and be members have a voice in their child’s education. To be a member, it will cost $2.

the “BinaalBaa” room

The Binaalbaa room was officially opened at the end of last year. If you are not sure about the meaning of the Binaalbaa room, its meaning is ”Place of Learning”. The room has a limited supply of resources available at the moment, but students may come here if they need a quiet place to study. It is also a place for any student to have time out.

ScholarShiP

Congratulations to Isabella Orcher who received a youth scholarship program of $2000 to be used to help her with her education in high school. Well done, Isabella!

SWimming carnival

Last Friday 13th of February, the high school held its annual school swimming carnival. It was pleasant to see most of our Aboriginal students attend and participate in this exciting event. Congratulations to those who had a go and got points for their house. It was great to see good sportsmanship and to see senior students encouraging our younger students to compete in different events.

P&C Report We welcomed back another year on 12th February, with our first meeting for the year. 2015 has started well and looks to be one in which we can again work together to assist the students, teachers and school community. This first meeting was a great time to meet and hear from the incoming Principal and Deputy. To learn about the past experiences they bring and some ideas they have for the future of our school. We offer them our support as they seek to do the best for our students. In order to raise funds that can be put back into the school community, the P&C are planning a Charity Golf Day for Sunday, 29th March. Please save the date and join us for a fun day. More details will follow. The commencement of the canteen lease arrangement was discussed. The feedback so far is positive, from both students and teachers, to the healthy canteen options now available. Uniforms were discussed and it was agreed that a review of the Uniform Policy was needed to help streamline new enrolments to the school and avoid confusion. At this stage there are no changes planned just formalising what is already in place. The next meeting is planned for 19th March. This will be the AGM. Please consider coming along to help or support the P&C and ultimately the School Community. Remember that new members are welcome any time throughout the year. Alison Downes WWHS P&C President

Mrs Helen Cathcart

with artists from Bangarra Dance Theatre

Aboriginal students from NSW Public Schools are invited to participate in these one day workshops run by the Department of Education and Communities in collaboration with the internationally renowned Bangarra Dance Theatre. Students will learn contemporary Indigenous dance repertoire from some of Bangarra’s leading artists. These workshops aim to foster the development of dance skills and cultural significance in talented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, both boys and girls from school years 7-12.

Students with exceptional talent and potential will be identified from these workshops to join the 2015 NSW Public Schools Aboriginal Dance Company. This involves commitment to attend workshops in Sydney at least once or twice a term and performing in the State Dance Festival and the Schools Spectacular.

In 2014, the Aboriginal Dance Company and Schools Spectacular Aboriginal Dance Ensemble performed to great acclaim at a range of high profile and televised events. Not only does this company extend the skills, experiences, commitment and confidence of students to a level of excellence but it may also inform a future career path. Students from the 2012, 2013 and 2014 company have been successful in gaining a place at the NAISDA dance college.

The cost for each full day workshop is $22 per student including GST

Please note – this is a highly motivational program that is recommended for all students, particularly those who are at risk of disengaging at school or are disadvantaged in some way. It satisfies the current educational priority areas of rural and remote, gifted and talented, career pathways and Indigenous engagement. School Principals are encouraged to support these students through their school or wider community avenues. For more information, please see Mrs Grellmen

2015 Arts Initiatives NSW Public Schools

Aboriginal Dance Workshops

ENGLISH

National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy 2015 Test Dates Dear Parent or Carer The test dates for the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will be as follows:

Test name Includes Date of test

Language Conventions test

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Writing test Writing task Tuesday 12 May 2015

Reading test Reading Wednesday 13 May 2015

Numeracy test (Years 3 and 5)

Number, Algebra, Function and pattern, Measurement, chance and data, and Space. There is one numeracy test for Years 3 and 5. (No calculator allowed.)

Thursday 14 May 2015

Numeracy tests (Years 7 and 9)

Number, Algebra, Function and pattern, Measurement, chance and data, and Space. There are two numeracy tests for Years 7 and 9. (Calculator allowed followed by non-calculator.)

Thursday 14 May 2015

Catch-up day For students who missed a section of the test or were absent on a particular day.

Friday 15 May 2015