Newsletter

No. 11

19 July 2017

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Publication of this newsletter is made possible through the generous support of the

Duval High School Parents & Citizens Association.

DATES FOR THE DIARY

25 Jul 15-years Girls Basketball @ Inverell

26 Jul Careers Festival

27 Jul Debating—”Flying Squad”

27 Jul Australian Maths Competition

28 Jul UNE Farming Futures

31Jul-4 Aug Year 11 Ski Trip

7-18 Aug Year 12 HSC Trial Examinations

COMMUNITY

- we are excited to show

the best of our school at

the Career’s Festival

Page 2 Compulsory School

Attendance Power Hour @ DHS Library

Maths Enrichment Day

Page 3 From Duval to Cambridge

Year 8 Food & Fashion

Page 4 Oceania Championships

Northern NSW Futsal

Page 5 Guyra Trout Festival

Page 6 Careers Festival

Top of the Hi l l Newsletter of Duval High School

HONOURS AT INTERNATIONAL COMP

Congratulations to Duval student,

Stuart Geddes (Year 12), for his se-

lection to carry the flag for the Aus-

tralian Regional Team at the Closing

Ceremony of the Oceania Athletics

Championships in Fiji.

Stuart was nominated for this hon-

our by his team members, in recog-

nition to his efforts on the track,

along with his team spirit and sup-

port of other athletes.

Well done for great sportsmanship!

19 July 2017 Page 2

C O M P U L S O R Y S C H O O L

ATTENDANCE

Attendance at school is really important- that is

attendance all day - every day!

The importance of arriving on time:

Ensures that students do not miss out on

important learning activities scheduled early

in the day

Helps students learn the importance of

punctuality and routine

Give students time to greet their friends

before class

Reduces classroom disruption

Lateness is recorded as a partial absence and

must be explained by parents.

You’ll never know what you missed unless you

show up!

POWER HOUR @ DHS LIBRARY

- Tuesday after school -

We are delighted to be able to support all our

students with the introduction of a POWER HOUR.

Students are encouraged to visit the library

on Tuesdays from 3.30 to 4.30 to get extra

support completing homework, assignments or

help with understanding what they are learning

in their classes. A teacher will always be

available to support and assist students.

Students will have access to the internet, via the

computers and laptops, and printers.

Our study centre will provide a secure,

supervised learning environment in space where

staff can assist students in managing their

homework, assignment and learning needs.

All students are welcome.

A light afternoon healthy snack of fruit will

be provided in our library kitchen

before students start working. We will be

starting on Tuesday week 2.

MATHS ENRICHMENT DAY

On Thursday, 22 June, a group of eight Year 10

students attended a Maths Enrichment Day at TAS

held for students from different schools across

Armidale. Throughout the day we partook in

puzzle solving competitions in pairs and were

taught various strategies of how to solve such

questions.

It was great to attempt challenging problems and

work alongside like-minded people from other

schools.

Belle Jedlicka & Adam Lucas

19 July 2017 Page 3

FROM DUVAL TO CAMBRIDGE

When I finished at Duval,

almost seven years ago,

some of my friends had

plans – they knew what

they wanted to study, and

they knew what they

wanted to do. I did not

have a plan. So, if you

told me back then that I

would be flying off to study economic history at

the University of Cambridge in a few years, I

probably wouldn’t have believed you (neither

would any of the history teachers at Duval,

probably!). But that is what I’m about to do.

Some of you might remember last year’s DHS

Musical, The Pajama Game? If you do, you might

remember that random guy who filled in for Shah

Biffin at the last minute, attempting to play Hanna

Kwan’s aged father, but forgetting most of his

lines? That was me! Others might know me from

Harwood Swim School, where I used to be an

instructor. Well, believe it or not, that young guy

just won a full scholarship to study at one of the

best universities in the world.

Since school I have studied International Studies

and Politics at UNE, worked as a researcher in

environmental law, studied and taught Political

Economy at the University of Sydney, and

presented my work at two international

conferences – one in Portugal, and one in the UK.

All of that has led to me being awarded a

scholarship from the Cambridge Australia Trust,

to study for a Masters in Economic and Social

History, focusing on the role of export industries

in Australia’s economic development.

The thing is though, I’m not the only person from

Duval doing amazing things. I’m not even the first

person for DHS to go to Cambridge – Ray Siems,

from the year above me, has already been. In my

year of 2010, one of us is now a doctor (Joseph

Jabri), one is on a scholarship to do a PhD in

history (Steph Thompson), one of us is an expert

in indigenous languages, working extensively in

the top end (Tom Ennever), and another won the

University Medal at the University of Sydney

(Angus Brown). And that is just to name a few –

others are succeeding in other fields, as teachers,

physios, carers, and working on the land. The fact

is, Duval not only punches above its weight in the

HSC, but its students all go on to do amazing

things.

When I was at school, back in 2009 our Yr11-12

debating team made it to the State semi-finals,

where we came up against Sydney Boys High.

We put up a fight, but it’s hard to compete when

the other team is being coached by someone who

was Best Speaker at the world debating

championships a year earlier. Despite

improvements to school funding over the past

decade, we are nowhere near competing with

those big metropolitan schools on an even

playing field. And yes, this is a barrier to

overcome when applying to university, going for

cadetships or apprenticeships, and especially

scholarships. But those barriers do not make

success impossible – if anything, they make you

want it even more.

So, dream big, Duval. When I meet people at

Cambridge, who went to those big private

selective schools in the UK, and around the

world, I’ll be proud to tell them: “I went to Duval

High!”.

Matt Ryan

19 July 2017 Page 4

OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Duval had two Year 12 students, Stuart Geddes

and Will Vince-Moin, represent Regional

Australia at the recent Oceania Championships in

Fiji. Both students represented themselves,

school and Australia to the tenth degree and

came away with some great results.

Stuart won a bronze medal in the U18 3000m and

then followed up with a silver medal in the U18

2000m steeple in an Oceania record. Two hours

after his 2000m steeple he competed in the U18

800m finishing 6th in a time of 2:02:01, which was

his second fastest time.

Will Vince-Moin had a successful championships

winning a bronze medal in the Open Para 800m.

Will also finished 4th in the Open 400m.

Both Stuart and Will ran in the Open 4 X 400m

relay for Regional Australia team. This was not a

para event, but the team invited Will to run to

reward him for his efforts and to give him more

experience at this level. The team finished 7th and

enjoyed the last race. Stuart also was selected in

the open 4 X 100m relay team, which is a distance

that he is not use to, and helped the team to place

9th.

Both athletes showed great team spirit, which

showed in their selection in the relays and their

results. The results are even more impressive as

this was an International Championship against

24 other Pacific countries including Australia and

New Zealand.

The two athletes came away from the

championships with a better respect and

understanding of other athletes and their cultures

as well as better athletes. Both Stuart and Will

showed great sportsmanship, both to their team

and to other athletes and represented their

school to the highest level.

NORTHERN NSW FUTSAL

Congratulations to the following students who

have been selected for respective Northern New

South Wales futsal teams to compete at the 2017

National School Futsal in September.

Year 7

Cooper Heagney

Year 8

Harry Sinclair

Mehdi Ahsan

Year 9

Ben Dye

Jye Saxby

Alex Wiliams

Kayla Bramley

Year 10

Harry Rowbottom

Lachlan Williamson

Year 11

Dylan Ramsay

Lachlan Harris

Fahad Alghatany

Daniel Whiteley

Max Model

Max Westhorpe

Year 12

Izzy Winter

Lauren Acton

These students where selected as an outcome of

their performances in the Coffs Coast Futsal titles

early in the term. This is an unprecedented

number of Duval High School Futsal players

selected in representative squads, and an

outstanding achievement - not just these

students, but for the strength of futsal at Duval

High School.

The September National Futsal Titles will be

contested in Brisbane and from this tournament

Australian squads will be selected.

A big congratulations to these students and best

of striking for the remainder of the season.

Mr Model

Electronic copies of

Top of the Hill

can be found on the Duval High School website:

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

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