Our trip to Canberra

It all began on Tuesday the 16th

of March 2010, year 10,

11 &12 art students met at school at 6:45am, for an excit-

ing yet exhausting day to Canberra. When everybody had

eventually arrived we all climbed aboard the bus and met

our bus driver for the day, Graeme.

Vincent van Gogh Portrait of the artist 1887

Before we knew it, we were already at Mc Donald’s! I

don’t think the employers were expecting such a huge

rush at one time, until the girls from Bankstown arrived!

A quick yet yummy breakfast and we were back on the

road again. Our next destination was The National Art Gal-

lery where we were coming to see an exhibit full of fa-

mous artworks by famous artists from Paris! The exhibit

held artworks by Van Gough, Claude Monet etc.

When we arrived at the Gallery, we were not expecting to

see so many people in line, waiting to see the great art-

works from Paris. But just like everybody else, we all had

to wait. This line set us back quite a bit in time, we were

hoping to get into the exhibition at 11:00 and view these

amazing artworks before our lunch break at 12:30. Unfor-

tunately, we were wrong. We did not get into this exhibi-

tion until 12:00; however it was worth the wait. It was

amazing to see the original artworks that we had studied

in class right before our eyes, there was so much to see,

yet so little time. Hypnotised by so many artworks, some

drew your eyes into the wonderful techniques while oth-

ers made you really think. Sadly, it was time to go..

The Buzz Art news

We all met in the foyer at 1:00 and back on the bus

with Graeme, who gave us a mini tour of Canberra!

We relaxed in a peaceful park for lunch, others played

on the sea-saw while some went down slides, and

then you had the two that were named princesses,

sitting side by side watching everybody down below!

THANK YOU TO OUR TEACHERS THAT MADE THIS EX-

CURSION POSSIBLE! We know a lot of time and effort

had to be put into making this day so great! Thank you

to our awesome bus driver Graeme who put up with

us all day!

Claude Monet Water lilies 1906

Iesha Haddad

Year 10

Puzzle CornerPuzzle CornerPuzzle CornerPuzzle Corner

A single digit number belongs in each circle

and it must equal the difference between the

two numbers it sits on. What is the largest

number that can go in the SHADED CIRCLE?

On the 29th

of March Year 9 Fast Forward students attended the UWS Fast Forward Ceremony; it was a night full of activi-

ties as we learnt about leadership and what university would be like. Attending the ceremony were other schools as well.

The speeches were inspiring as it showed us what we could achieve out of this program. Our evening at the UWS Fast

Forward ceremony provided us with a lot of information and taught us how to reach our full potential.

Thank you to Ms Hundy for organising the night and to the teachers and parents’ who attended also.

Shay Xayalith

Year 9

Year 9 Fast

Forward stu-

dents for

2010:

Vaioleti Fano-

lua, Epenesa

Fitu , Tuatetii

Mataio, Puli

Moala, Isabelle

Mun, Vy

Nguyen, Crys-

tal Peyroux,

Cindy Phan,

Cindy Phung, Jasmine Short, Laumoli Sooalo, Naomi Toaiti, Joanne Tran, Shaling Xayalith

Another student in Year 12 responded, “Today’s feed-

back was so helpful. It really opened my eyes to myself.”

A major finding of the assessment was the students’

need for positive role models and support for time man-

agement, goal setting and healthy lifestyle information.

In 2010, the school has again applied for CDSE funding to

support an after school program for a target group of

Pacific Islander students. The program will involve cur-

rent university students acting as mentors/tutors two

afternoons per week ( starting Term 3). A link has been

established with the Student Equity and Diversity Unit at

the University of Technology Sydney, who have under-

taken to support this initiative as part of their Outreach

programs.

S Cole

The Buzz Working to Strengths at BGHS

Fast Forward Year 9

A successful Community Development Support Expendi-

ture ( CDSE) Scheme funding application, supported by

Bankstown Sports Club, early in 2009 allowed Bankstown

Girls High School to implement a research project with a

significant number of students across the whole school.

The targeted group of students were drawn from the Pa-

cific Islander students (71 students) and the Year 10 cohort

(approx 100 students). Francis Vella, from Youth Start car-

ried out a detailed assessment of all students. Youth Start

has worked with young people over many years and has

developed a unique suite of solutions to aid in the devel-

opment of each individual’s capacity/potential to succeed.

At Bankstown Girls High, Francis worked closely with the

CLO, Mrs Siunipa Fifita and the Careers Adviser to deliver

the initial assessment and then a number of follow up indi-

vidual interviews.

The findings of the assessments were communicated to

the students, and included much discussion regarding the

accuracy, relevance and meaning of the findings. Students

readily acknowledged the “truth” of the findings and were

assured and often enthused and motivated about the pos-

sibilities for themselves that the information revealed.

One Year 11 student commented, “What Francis said

about me was 100% true. I hope I can use it to help me.”

The Buzz A day at UTS

We arrived at Bankstown Station at 7:45am looking as like zombies but also, very excited and looking forward to see what

uni is really like. On 5th

May 2010, students travelled to the city to participate in a new program, specifically designed by

UTS for Year 10 students. The programme was to give students a taste of university. Seeing what students were doing in

faculties, invloving hands on work, theory and informative facts about Uni. They had faculty options to choose from; Sci-

ence, Communications, Law, Business, IT and many more. Overall, the most popular faculties were Science and Design.

The programme was attended by many students throughout the NSW region. We all had our fair share of the experience,

enjoying the new company of others and of course, the catering provided by UTS.

The girls who attended enjoyed this day. It really helped us to think about our futures. A BIG thank you to Miss Hundy, for

the organisation of the trip, and a thank you to those girls who represented our school.

Genaya

Fuimaono

Year 10

On Thursday, 6th May, music students from year 8 with year 9 and 11 music attended their first Introduction to

the Ballet at the Sydney Opera House. It was a glorious Autumn day and everyone was excited, even though

they weren’t sure why. Everyone was so well behaved and cooperative it was a pleasure to escort these girls

out and about. Thank you girls we also had a lovely day with you and the Ballet was good too!

MERCI AND THANK YOU Mrs Salerno, Miss Cash, Mrs Stevens and Ms Hardy.

An Introduction to the Ballet

The Buzz A Day at the Ballet

As we arrived at school, anticipation of an exciting day was

present in every Year 8 student’s face in the chilly morning.

Four teachers and several Year 9 students accompanied us

including Mrs Salerno, Ms Cash, Ms Stevens and Hardy to

the city to watch ‘Coppelia’ at the Opera House, performed

by The Australian Ballet.

After the roll was marked, we set off from school, excited.

Throughout the whole train trip we were occupied with

chatter and musings on how the ballet will appear as for

many, it was our first time. That included me, so we were

enthusiastic about the day out and going into the Sydney

Opera House for the first time!

The train stopped at Circular Quay and we alighted the

train, immediately faced with the amazing view of the city.

From there, we began the 10 minute walk, grabbing hot

chocolate and some snacks on our way to the Botanic Gar-

dens for lunch. It was warm and sunny as we ate and took

pictures next to the water. We then made our way to the

Opera House and entered the crowded room. Laughing

while running up the steps was not a good idea as we ended

up puffing at the top of the stairs!

Once inside properly, I marvelled at the architecture as

unlike most buildings, there were sharp and odd angles.

Trying not to get lost in the crowd, we arrived at the theatre

door and trying not to stumble in the partial darkness, went

up winding red carpeted stairs. I then entered the theatre

and what a sight that was! Going up more stairs, we ac-

quired a good view, looking straight down at the stage.

At first, we watched the ballet dancers warm up and do ex-

ercises which is a necessity for any dancer before a show to

keep their body fit and in a flexible state. Talking us through

each exercise was their instructor. He kept us entertained

and informed us of the names of each twirl, jump and rou-

tine. I recognized the fact that he was using French termi-

nology, as the point of this excursion was to educate us on

Ballet and its French terms.

Afterwards, the orchestra came in and tuned their instru-

ments. The lights were dimmed and the curtains were

raised where the stage was turned into Dr Coppelius’s room.

The action of Act 2 took place here and the stage was trans-

formed into a alchemist’s room, full of surreal objects.

Swanilda, the main character played by Rieko Hombo, enter

with her six other friends to find the doll Coppelia which is

beautiful and enchants every boy including her lover, Franz.

However, Coppelius played by Mathew Donnelly, returns

and chases them out except for Swanilda who hides in the

doll’s cupboard and pretends to be the mechanical doll.

Franz, played by Tzu-Chao Chou, arrives searching for the

doll but is caught by the alchemist who wickedly takes his

spirit to put into his ‘daughter’ the doll who was actually

Swanilda who was already alive. She fools him and in the

end escapes with her reunited lover, leaving Dr. Coppelius

broken hearted.

Throughout the performance I remained captivated, not

only by just the story line, but the dancing and acting which

went with it. The choreography by Arthur Saint-Leon was

brilliant and matched the orchestra music so well. Every

mechanical move made by Swanilda as a robot and human

went with the music, creating that feeling of reality, as if

you were there. My eyes were focused on the ballet dancing

and my ears listened to how it went in time with the music.

This excursion was also to listen and view the performances

of professional dancers and musicians onstage. The cos-

tumes by Kristian Federickson were also truly amazing as

well including the other dolls in the room who performed

like puppets, moving whenever Dr Coppelius told them to.

To me, this is definitely a worthwhile experience which I will

remember. Not only was it educational but I also thoroughly

enjoyed the remarkable performance by the Australian Bal-

let. This is the first time I’ve been to an event like this so it

was also a lot of fun.

Anna Tran

Year 8

Khoury Sisters at the Music Theatre Workshop

The Buzz

On 22nd

of April my twin Rakelle Khoury and I went

on a singing and dance workshop at the Seymour

centre. What we thought was one thing, also turned

out to focus on theatrical performance so it was a

great opportunity and experience for my sister and I.

We started off our day by meeting up there at

8:45am with the other students — around 30 boys

and girls between the ages of 14 and 17.

The classes started off with the students being put

into 3 groups, Rakelle and I were separated which

was quite unfortunate, but it allowed us to become

more independent and meet new people.

My group started the classes off by singing the song

“Oh the things you can think!” from the Dr Seuss mu-

sical and the group was separated into soprano and

altos. After memorising the songs’ lyrics we added

choreography and attempted to act out what we

were trying to express in the song.

The role of students in this musical excerpt was to act

mad and crazy, almost as if we just broke out of a

mental institution. This section of the day was actu-

ally quite fun and very informative and the teachers

provided a huge amount of feedback.

Next I went to an acting and expressive section of the

day, where some of peers got to perform a song they

chose to sing. While they were singing we were supposed

to listen and try to understand what mood they were try-

ing to convey. The teacher was amazing at understanding

the meaning of the song and helping the students ex-

press it through their singing and performing.

Our last and my most challenging lesson was the dance

session, we danced hip hop to the song “Fame”. Don’t

get me wrong, I love dancing and consider myself a

pretty good dancer, even though I’ve had no training.

This dance very challenging and fast paced. Our dance

instructor was part of the cast of “High School Musical”.

After most of us got the choreography we had to sing

while dancing and then later split the group in half and

watched the other groups in order to give them feed-

back, and swapped. After our session came to an end we

could exit and wait for our parents to pick us up.

Overall the day was very fast paced, enlightening and just

a touch intimidating. But was a huge opportunity for me

to grow as a person, gain confidence and positivity and

meet new people. I thank Ms Salerno and Miss Cash for

applying for us and allowing us to experience such an

opportunity, we also thank the school for paying for us to

be able to go.

Ajelle Khoury

Year 11

As it was an introduction to the ballet for first timers like us, during the first half of the performance we watched the dancers

warm up and show us movements. The names of the movements were in French and they were

amazing!

Both girls and boys were on stage and danced really well. They had an orchestra with incredible music that entertained us.

The dancers and the music matched the tempo, meaning they kept in time and they both had lots of emotion.

We all had such a great time and it was a beautiful day.

Holly, Isabella, Nadia, Amara, Fatimah, & Serena. Year 8.

We arrived in the Theatre to see the dancers already on stage and practising their steps. This was narrated by Colin Peasely,

who directed the rehearsal and explained some of the French terms and told us the story of the ballet they were going to

perform.

The lights went down and the orchestra entered the pit below the stage and began to play. The curtain lifted and the dolls

began to dance……the music and the dancers were in sync.

The Ballet is set around a room full of dolls and the doll maker is trying to put life into them to come alive. The dancers really

looked and moved like mechanical or “Rag” dolls they were SOOO flexible, it was amazing to watch. The dancers mimed the

play the emotions were expressed through the dancing and music.

Melanie Ngo, Suzanne Lam, Jasmine Vu, Christine Ly, Christina Lam, & Lovely Rose. Year 9 music.

“On the 6th May, Year 8 and 9 Music went on an excursion to the Opera House to watch a ballet… It was awesome”.

Katrina Jiang, Houda Fadila Riem and Dianne Year 8 & 9

Some Thoughts on the Ballet

Parents you are invited to celebrate

50 Years of Education

at

Bankstown Girls High School

1960 – 2010

PUBLIC EDUCATION DAY 27TH

May 2010

2010 marks 50 years of education at Bankstown Girls High School.

To celebrate this significant and important anniversary the school has

planned a number of events in which former students, staff and parents

may wish to participate. A formal assembly will be held on Public Education

Day to open the Birthday celebrations and to thank parents and local com-

munity organisations for their on going support.

Date: 27th

May 2010

Venue: School Hall

Time: 10am parents and guest to meet in the checkerboard area

10.30 - Formal Assembly

Morning Tea: 11.20am in Checkerboard area all parents and special

guests welcome.

The Buzz Community News

The Buzz Community News

Term : 2 Calendar Updated 19th Oct 09

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat/Sun 19 Apr 20 Apr 21 Apr 22 Apr 23 Apr 24/25 Apr

1A

School Develop-ment Day 2

Faculty

Assembly each Wednesday 1.02pm Welfare Meeting Learning Support Team Meeting

Executive Business Meeting

Subject fees 2010 to Princi-pal Week 2

26 Apr 27 Apr 28 Apr 29 Apr 30 Apr 1/2 May

2B

ANZAC DAY

Faculty Yr 12 report to HT

Finance meeting Welfare Meeting Yr 11 Life skills 2011 students identified

Executive Focus Meeting Morning Tea Gp 6 School Cross Country

Yr 12 report to FO

JUNIOR REVIEW INTERVIEWS

3 May 4 May 5 May 6 May 7 May 8/9 May

3A Yr 12 reports to YA Yr 10 report info to HT Admin

Staff meeting OHS Meeting Period 2 Technology Team Meeting

Welfare Meeting Learning Support Team Meeting

Executive Business Meeting

Yr 12 reports to P

Yr 10 2011 booklet to YA this week

10 May 11 May 12 May 13 May 14 May 15/16 May

4B Decision – Making Program Begins Year 10

Faculty NAPLAN

Yr 12 Parent teacher interviews reports dis-tributed NAPLAN Welfare Meeting

NAPLAN Executive Focus Meeting Morning Tea Gp 1 Science Competition

NAPLAN Catch up Day

17 May 18 May 19 May 20 May 21 May 22/23 May

5A Year 8 Numeracy Day

Management Teams P & C meeting 9.30am Technology Team Meeting

Yr 10 reports to HT Reserve date Athletics Welfare Meeting Learning Support Team Meeting

Executive Business Meeting

SENIOR STU-DENT REVIEW WEEK 6 RE-TURN SHEETS TO DP

24 May 25 May 26 May 27 May 28 May 29/30 May

6B Faculty

Yr 10 reports to FO Finance meeting Welfare Meeting

Executive Focus Meeting Morning Tea Gp 2

31 May 1 June 2 June 3 June 4 June 5/6 June

7A

Staff meeting Yr 10 reports to YA Technology Team Meeting

Yr 11 reports to HT Welfare Meeting Learning Support Team Meeting

Executive Business Meeting

Yr 10 reports printed Yr 9 reports to HT Year 7 Immunisation program

Yr 8 2010 book-let to YA this week

7 June 8June 9 June 10 June 11 June 12/13 June

8B

Yr 10 Reports to DP Year 9 team meeting

Faculty Yr 11 reports to FO

Yr 8 reports to HT Welfare Meeting Zone Athletics Carnival

Executive Focus Meeting Yr 10 Transition night BSLO 5.30-7.30 & Parent Teacher Night Yr10 Yr 10 reports Morning Tea Gp 3

Yr 9 reports to FO Yr 7 reports to HT Yr 11 reports to YA

14 June 15 June 16 June 17 June 18 June 19/20 Jun

9A

Queens Birth-

day

Management Team Meetings Yr 8 reports to FO Yr 9 reports to YA P & C meeting 9.30am OHS Meeting Period 2 Technology Team Meeting

Yr 11 reports printed Year 9 team meeting Welfare Meeting Learning Support Team Meeting

Executive Business Meeting Yr 7 reports to FO Yr 9 reports printed SWS Cross Country

Yr 8 reports to YA Yr11 reports to DP

Yr 8 2010 book-let to DP this week

10 B

21 June Yr 7 reports to YA Yr 9 reports to DP

22 June Faculty Yr 8 reports printed

23 Jun Finance meeting Yr 8 reports to DP Welfare Meeting

24 Jun Executive Focus Meeting Yr 7 reports printed Morning Tea Gp 4

25 Jun Yr 7 reports to DP

26/27/Jun SENIOR STU-DENT REVIEW WEEK 6 RE-TURN SHEETS TO DP’S Junior Review inter-views

11 A

28 Jun 29 Jun Staff meeting Technology Team Meeting Last Day for mail in the Front Office

30 Jun Parent teacher interviews Yr 7,8,9,11 3.15pm – 6.30pm Welfare Meeting Learning Support Team Meeting

1 July Executive Business Meeting

2 July Final Day School resumes 19 July

3/4 July