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Principal’s Report

As this is the last newsletter for Term 1, I thought that I would share with

you some of the ‘behind the scenes’ work that has been building the

foundations for continuous improvement at Yass High School.

I have been collaborating with Principals from Boorowa Central School

(Mrs Paula Hambly), Murrumburrah HS (Mr Dale Rands) and Crookwell

HS (Mr Vero Joseph) as part of the Yass Secondary Principal’s Network

to share best practice in our schools and receive constructive feedback

for further improvement. Each school has hosted a day where we look

at our HSC Monitoring practices in supporting our Year 12 students to

successfully complete their HSC.

At

YASS HIGH SCHOOL

We value respect, responsibility, safety and learning.

Principal: Linda Langton Deputy Principal (Rel): Ruth Riach

10 April 2019

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Yass HS we provide this support in the following ways:

Each Year 11 and 12 student has a teacher mentor with whom they meet once

a fortnight to discuss progress in their subjects, time management issues and

personal concerns. These teachers support the Year Advisers to ensure that

every student feels well supported in the final leg of their secondary journey.

Every teacher of a Year 11 and 12 course maintains an HSC Monitoring Folder

that contains the official documentation that underpins the delivery of each

course and the work of each student. This provides evidence that the teaching

is in line with NESA requirements and that student learning meets the

threshold for achieving the HSC credential.

‘N’ (non-determination) warning letters are given to students who fail to meet

course outcomes (due to non-engagement in class or attendance below 85%)

or submit assessment tasks on time. The purpose of this process is to detail

what needs to be done, when the work needs to be completed and who can

provide assistance. Students are aware of how well they are meeting NESA

requirements at all stages of their study.

Senior Review Panels are held at the mid-point and towards the end of Year

11 and 12. Students who are at risk of not successfully completing their course

of study are invited, with their parents/carers, to a meeting with myself, the

Deputy and Year Adviser to discuss any issues and develop an action plan for

improvement.

Elevate Education has been in the school for two days this week to run

effective study skills lessons with all year groups, as well as a Parent

information session on Tuesday after the Parent Teacher Interviews. The

feedback from students, teachers and parents has been very positive.

We have high expectations for the success of each student at Yass HS. With this

comes the expectation that sustained effort and responsible behaviour will drive the

learning of every student so that yearly improvement sets the tone of the school.

Together we can achieve wonderful outcomes.

I hope you all have a restful holiday after a busy yet productive term.

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Captain’s Corner

Our Teacher of the Week is Ms Rajchert!

Ms Rajchert is a key part of our school and its functioning. Her tireless work in the

library deserves recognition and certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. Her Info Skills

classes are beneficial and captivating for younger students and teach important skills

for the future. She assists senior students in organising a flexible timetable and study

periods. She also assists senior students in studying courses that interest them but

are not available at Yass High School.

Senior students, junior students and anyone who accesses the library before, after or

during lunchtimes has the pleasure of Ms Rajcherts support.

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Red Cross Calling

Over the last few Fridays, a group of students from Yass High (Kristen Bolton,

Jasmin Bolton, Grace Pollack, Aleksander Gajic, Jack Paterson, Sarah Sykes,

Mary-lara Oakey, Bronte Anderson and Jake Harrington) from the 9/10 Community

Class have been helping out raising money for the Red Cross Calling.

They have raised over $2500 by collecting donations and hosting a cake stall. The

lovely ladies from the Red Cross are very proud of them and thankful for their help

and are looking forward to next year.

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Wellbeing News

Dear Yass High School Community

My name is Bronwyn Ward and I want to introduce myself to you as the recently

appointed Head Teacher Welfare. I began at Yass High School last year,

establishing the Supported Learning Centre (SLC) and teaching Music. My job is to

ensure the wellbeing needs of our students are met and that families needing access

to support are assisted through our school links with the local and professional

services in our community. I work closely with our Year Advisers and our school

counsellor to help you help your son or daughter at school.

Its assessment time and students are busy finalising assignments and studying for

tests, while staff are marking and writing reports. If your child requires some

assistance with study or has fallen behind with their classwork or assessments,

please let us know. Your first point of contact should be your child’s teacher. Yass

High School teachers are all very approachable and keen to assist your son or

daughter to achieve the best results they can from their study.

If your child requires specific emotional or behavioural support, or is experiencing

difficulties with friendships or organisation, your child’s Year Adviser can help. Our

Year Advisers are well equipped to support your child and can act as a conduit

support between yourself and the school. They can also refer to myself, the Head

Teacher Welfare and the Learning and Support Team as well as being able to assist

you with referrals to our school counsellor.

Your child is well supported at Yass High School. If you have any questions at all or

require support for advice regarding your son or daughter’s wellbeing, please don’t

hesitate to call the front office on 6226 1711.

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She Leads Conference

On Wednesday 20th March, several YHS current and upcoming leaders participated

in the She Leads Conference in Canberra. The She Leads program is a leadership

pathway for women who are looking to develop their leadership potential. The

conference is held annually and gives young women the opportunity to develop

practical skills in leadership, teamwork and innovative thinking.

Rhiannon Davis and Makayla Cameron both attended this event; this is what they

got from it.

Miss Bills recommended the course for both girls, although Makayla had attended

previously in Year 10. The conference is an awareness program with workshops and

strategies designed to best involve students in female leadership roles. The girls

stated that their experience was enriched with inspiration, teaching them how to

make it through the struggle to reach success.

While at the workshop a panel of successful women spoke to the girls attending.

There was Tina (academic achievement), Madi (performing arts-comedy), Georgia

(performing arts-musician) and Yasmin (academic achievement). The women spoke

about networking, making change, accessing skills while still working in a team,

overcoming gender stereotypes and how to put forward opinions and compromise.

Although the conference was extremely tiring with a lot of information to comprehend

in one day it was a memorable and definitely worthwhile experience for all who went.

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Yass High School Equestrian Team

Do you love to ride? Then see Ms Ward in the Wellbeing staffroom about joining the

YHS Equestrian Team. We have a number of events coming up on the local

equestrian calendar we will be involved with. Keep an eye on the Sentral daily

announcements for details.

In Equestrian news…..

In Term 4 last year, Yass High School was represented at the Canberra Interschool’s

Equestrian event at Bungendore.

The team consisted of Lucy O’Sullivan (Year 7), Keely Owen (Year 8), Kelaya Bogan

(Year 8), Darcie O’Sullivan (Year 9) and Naomi Kelly (Year 11).

All the girls rode extremely well, competing in show jumping, dressage, sporting and

rider classes. Each came home with ribbons demonstrating an outstanding

commitment to their horses and their sport. We look forward to bigger and better

things in 2019. Congratulations girls!

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Year 7 Camp

Year 7 2019 had a blast at their first high school camp at Borambola Sport and Rec

Centre.

The camp ran from 13th March to 15th March. Students participated in lots of

different activities like rock climbing, a mud run, kayaking, archery and the high

ropes course.

From what we have gathered the mud run was the students’ favourite activity.

Miss Kemp said that “kayaking was fun, good workout and lots of people fell out.” All

in all, it seems that the Year 7 camp was highly enjoyable.

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Yass High makes a splash at the Zone and Regional Swimming Carnivals

Yass High students swam with confidence and success at the Zone and Regional

Swimming Carnivals.

A large group of students competed at the Zone Swimming Carnival. Yass High was

once again named the Zone champions! Many students then made it to the next

level.

On the 12th March, 43 students went to Dapto for the Regional Swimming Carnival.

All competitors swam and behaved well. Kai Douven and Gus Hinds have made it to

State for the 100m breastroke. Chester is also going to State in 3 multiclass events.

Amelia Waters and Liam Barlow, both 12 year olds, swam well and just missed out

going to State by coming 4th. It was the last swimming carnival for three Year 12

students; Kai, Rhiannon and Shania.

Overall it was a great day. A thank you to all parents for driving the students down. A

big thank you Mrs Hansson for taking the bus down and Mrs Kemp for all her hard

work on the day.

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Year 11 Geography Excursion

From the 19th to the 21st March, Year 11, Miss Gerkens and Mr Roberts conducted a

field study of Mount Kosciusko.

The students and the teachers were investigating alpine ecosystems. They

conducted fieldwork research and photography at the Kosciusko summit, and did

more field research at Thredbo River and Lake Jindabyne. At the Snowy Hydro

Discovery Centre they learnt a lot. The group stayed in the Adventist Alpine village in

Jindabyne for two nights.

It is a requirement that senior students conduct field research in Year 11 and 12,

meaning seniors get to go on some good excursions.

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Fashion Tip

Backwards bag. Come on, you’ve got to wear your bag

backwards.

Wearing your bag backwards means that you can keep

track of what's happening with your bag and make sure

nobody is going through your stuff without your

permission.

If you wear your bag backwards then it helps you to be

responsible and prepared for class as all you have to do

is take a strap off and swing you bag around the front of

you and access your stuff. We don’t mean have your

bag on your belly we mean have the front of your bag

on your back.

Y-Tally

Congratulations to the following students who have received the most Ys in the last

fortnight. You can pick up your canteen voucher from the front office – but make sure

you do it before the next InTouch is published!

Year 7: Yvette Lapworth (9)

Year 8: Tiarna Mitchell (17)

Year 9: Anthony Henderson (7)

Year 10: Jaime Burgess, Darcie O’Sullivan (11)

Year 11: Tristan Cupit, Talissa Polsen (11)

Year 12: Matthew Johnson (8)

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Maths Problem of the Week

Every InTouch, the Maths department boggle our minds with a new problem. The first student to show Mr. Duncan their complete solution to this problem before school will be awarded a prize.

Stage 4

Stage 5

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Cross Country

Last week five students from each year were interviewed about the Cross Country.

Questions included ‘will you be walking, jogging or running?’ and ‘why?’.

Firstly, we interviewed a Year 7 student, Maddi Bolton. She explained that she was

going to jog because she isn’t a very strong runner.

Next we interviewed a Year 8 student, Emily Young. Emily declared that she would

only be jogging because she is not a fast runner and walking would be too slow

After that a Year 9 student, Jake Bird, was interviewed. Jake enthusiastically stated

that he would only be walking because he doesn’t like running or jogging.

We then moved onto the Year 10 student, Jacob Garner. Jake has said that he

would be running because he wants to get fitter.

Second to last we interviewed the Year 11 student, Josh Sykes. Josh said that he

would be jogging just to “give it a go”

Finally we interviewed a Year 12 student, Naomi Kelly. Naomi said that she would be

running because she is Hume house captain and it is her last year doing Cross

Country.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Cross Country. Stay tuned for

more information on the results!

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Athletics Carnival

Just a reminder that the Athletics Carnival is coming up on Friday 10th May at

Victoria Park.

If you are not an athlete you can dress up and do the novelties and get points for

your house. The District Carnival will be held in Canberra for the athletes who

qualify.

Last year Hume were the winners, will they win again?

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Reading vs Roll Call

At the beginning of 2019 school year the reading program was replaced with the roll

call system. Most students liked the idea of roll call but as it was implemented, some

want to go back to the ways of reading.

On the 26th February a group of admirable Year 9 students set off to find the truth of

whether students really prefer reading over roll call. The results showed out of 108

students 38 people voted for roll call, that’s 65% of the vote that preferred reading

with 70 votes.

Some students said they prefer the simplicity of sitting down and reading, rather than

the planned lessons of roll call. Other people said that reading has helped them with

their learning and literacy skills and calmed people down after lunch so they could be

focused for learning. To put it plainly, some kids just enjoyed the simple joy of

reading.

However, a large amount of students really like the new roll call system which gets

them ready to learn. Others say they really like the quizzes.

Perhaps a way to appease both parties could be to have fun roll call activities on a

Friday during reading time.

M. Delander, C. Knox, J. Martin, D. Mann and B. Dunn

MOVIES

The following are some of the upcoming movies for 2019. Take your time to relax

and sit back after a hard term and go to the movies!

Us (release date 22nd March)

Dumbo (release date 29th March)

Shazam (release date 4th April)

Avengers: End Game (release date 24th April)

John Wick: Chapter 3 (release date 17th May)

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Banana Allergy

Bananas are a popular fruit. They make a healthy snack, are great

for breakfast and delicious in smoothies.

However, some people have an allergy to bananas that occurs

when the immune system overreacts to some of the proteins

found in them. These people need to avoid eating or, in more

severe cases, touching bananas. The most frequent signs of a

banana allergy are itchiness, redness, swelling (eyes, lips, and

tongue), hives, runny nose and shortness of breath. In rare cases

anaphylaxis can occur.

Banana allergies are relatively uncommon with less than 1% of the population

affected. There is a student at Yass HS who has this allergy so we all need to have

an awareness of this condition.

Easter Tennis Camp 16th, 17th, 18th April 2019

Venue: Hume Tennis Club, Yass

Games, skills and prizes available

for all participants. Qualified Tennis

Australia Coaches available.

Approved Active Kids provider.

Times: Red Ball: 1-2pm. Cost $50.

Ages 3-6

Orange Ball: 2-3pm. Cost $50. Ages 7-10

Green/Yellow Ball: 3-5pm. Cost $75. Ages 11-16

Registrations by 11/4/19 to:

scott.eulenstein@outlook.com or PH: 0421016365.

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Coming Events

Date Event

Friday 12th April Social Justice Clothes Swap

Friday 12th April Final Day of Term 1

Monday 29th April School Development Day

Tuesday 30th April First Day of Term 2

Wednesday 1st May Year 12 Celebration Assembly

Thursday 2nd May Girls Cricket at Crookwell

Friday 3rd May Boys Tennis Goulburn

Friday 10th May Athletics Carnival

Click on the school website for the online calendar

Remember assessment tasks dates due are available on school website assessment calendars