message from the principal · 2019-10-16 · which was my favourite. the first day at the...
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Message from the
Principal
Hello mid term. Yes, this week we are half
way through the term which means many
sporting competitions and many
assignments and assessments are
occurring. Teachers are currently
assessing classes for our usual mid term
evaluation of students’ placements.
Congratulations to our swimming team
who travelled to Tumut for the Zone
Carnival on Friday. I am impressed with
your exceptional behaviour and
performance. It is the largest team to
participate in a few years and their results
were fantastic. Special congratulations to
those that swam personal bests and to
those that have qualified for the Regional
Carnival in Albury.
We are very excited by the number of
expressions of interest for our interstate
excursions. Please watch this space. We
will be having a parent information night
very soon.
As the mornings are chilly, please ensure
students’ names are on their jumpers as
they tend to leave them behind when
they take them off in the warmer
afternoons.
Students are reminded that mobile phones are
to be in bags and only to be taken out when
teachers ask.
Students arriving late to school are to bring a
note to explain their absence. Those students
continually late will be required to make up that
time in after school detentions. One very
important attribute any employer requires is their
staff to be on time and ready for work. We are
dedicated to ensuring our students are ready for
post school options.
Plans are beginning for our school’s 50th year
anniversary. I encourage anyone that is or was a
student or staff to follow our Facebook page with
some exciting news about this wonderful event.
Have a fabulous fortnight and remember to take
every opportunity presented.
Kind regards
Mrs Fiona Jackson
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Communication
The school uses the free school app Skoolbag as its major source of communication with families. It works on all mobile phones and contains useful information about the school, the school calendar and the newsletter as well as provision for notifying the school about a student absence. Don’t forget to keep the school notified of any change of address or telephone numbers. Tumbarumba High School also has a website and Facebook page. Our Facebook page is a celebration of success. Our school newsletter is distributed fortnightly. If you wish to receive the newsletter by email, please ensure that the school has an active email address for your family and that you check it regularly.
Congratulations to Leah Edwards in Year 10 who won the first Healthy Food Canteen Voucher in the lucky draw on Friday!
Maths tutoring is on again this term, each
Wednesday afternoon in the school library from 3:30 –
4:30pm. Everyone is welcome – please bring some work
to do. We have also started a special Year 12 study
session on Monday afternoons in the school library from
3:30 – 4:30pm.
Pi Day is coming up in a few weeks on 14 March. To
celebrate this amazing number, we will be running some
special activities, including a Pi memory competition. The
current Guinness World Record is held by Rajveer Meena
from India who took nearly 10 hours to recite 70 000
decimal places of pi from memory. We don’t expect
anyone to achieve that incredible record, but if you want
to train your brain you may like to practise with the
pi memory trainer.
http://www.eveandersson.com/pi/pitrainer/
Good Luck!
A reminder that your child should have a scientific
calculator for Maths. Please help ensure that they
bring a NESA approved scientific calculator to every
Maths lesson. If your child does not have a calculator,
they are available for purchase from the front office for
$21.
Wondering what you can do at home to support your
child’s Maths education? MATHLETICS is a great
resource that gives students full access to activities
aligned to the Australian Maths curriculum. Accessible
either online or offline through a PC, laptop or tablet, it
includes interactive, video and print-based activities,
games and tutorials. Students are engaged with
instant feedback, rewards and encouragement. To
activate your free access to the Parent Console visit
www.3plearning.com/parents to enter your details,
along with those of your child’s Mathletics account,
which can be obtained from their Maths teacher.
Ms J Donovan
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Science Experience from
Mitchell Deluca
On 11 to 13 January I attended the Conoco Philips Science
Experience at Macquarie University in Sydney. The purpose
of the Science Experience was to demonstrate the different
aspects of science in real life applications. There was a
variety of different lectures and “Do Black Holes Shine”
which was my favourite.
The first day at the Experience had a large variety of
experiments and demonstrations, one of my favourite
experiments was extracting DNA from a banana which was
very interesting.
A science expo was held in the courtyard to demonstrate
intriguing reactions, demonstrations of cool technology.
Virtual Reality was a highlight of my trip! It’s when you wear
a pair of goggles that let you see a video game with real life
motions.
The second day was more focused on Chemistry including
hands on chemistry which was spectacular. We made Nylon
which was very entertaining because it had the weirdest
feeling.
The last day was by far my favourite mainly because it had a
very cool demonstration of a Solar Telescope. The Aboriginal
Tool Making was the most fun by far because the
demonstration was very interactive and fascinating.
This Science Experience was worth going to and opened my
eyes to the applications of science and I highly recommend
anyone to go next year.
Science Faculty News
A great start to the new school year. There has been plenty
of learning happening in our Science faculty classes.
On 8 March Year 11 Biology, Senior Science and Geography
will be attending a mandatory excursion to complete a field
trip to Berry Jerry State Forest near Wagga. This is to cover
the Local Ecosystem component of our topics, where
students will study the ecosystem and record data from the
site and then bring this back to the classroom to assist their
learning. Notes and money are due to be returned on 1
March.
We love to see the enthusiasm that our new Year 7 students
are bringing to the science classroom.
This term Year 7 Science are learning the topic: Safety
Matters and Scientific Method. Students learn and develop
safe habits in the Science classroom. Students are learning
to identify equipment and correctly associate its use for
investigations and will learn the basic skills relating to science
method and report writing.
As part of our new subject STEM, both Year 8 classes have
been combining so that we can explicitly teach students the
skills required to be a successful STEM student.
We have been learning skills such as: teamwork, presentation
skills, engineering design, puzzle solving strategies and
listening skills. Once we have taught the students these skills
we can then start to tackle our STEM projects. We look
forward to applying content knowledge from multiple subjects
in an inquiry-based way.
Any questions regarding subjects from the Science faculty,
please contact me at the school.
Megan Finnimore
Head Teacher Science
Egg Drop
Fish are smarter than you think!
Discovering Invertebrates
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Archaeological Experience from Gus Taylor
During summer break I went to work in Sydney with my mum, Mitch Deluca, and my Uncle Jared to work on an archaeological dig. My mum is an archaeologist and it was her job we went to help out on for work experience. We worked in North Parramatta at a very historical area that included many institutional care facilities including the Parramatta Female Factory, old Parramatta Gaol, Insane Asylum, Parramatta Girls and Boys Home and all with a pretty sad history. In order to pay for these historical buildings to be conserved the State Government is selling off the land (which is currently used as a Mental Health institute) to develop four apartment tower complexes. The company my mum worked for, Comber Consultants was running the Aboriginal archaeological investigation part of the project. They had to excavate the areas the towers are going to go to see if there is any Aboriginal heritage that would get destroyed by the building of the 60 storey apartments. Jillian Comber, our boss was a very nice lady who allowed us to work for her even though we were amateurs. Mitchell and I learnt how to dig a hole like a pro. First you get a grid reference so everyone knew where our hole was in the big area we were working in and how to refer to it in the report. Then you stake out a 1m by 1m perfectly square area by using string and two measuring tapes. You then have to photograph it before you start digging and also the area around it for referencing. Then you start to dig very carefully with a pick axe and square shovel so the edges stay straight and go down 5cm at a time, this is what we called a spit. We would put the dirt from the spit into single coloured buckets one colour per spit so that we couldn't confuse one spit from another and it was easier to tell what layer the artefacts came out of when they were found. After each spit you have to take observations of the hole. First there is the PH level, which tells you how acidic the soil is. The first day it was so hot (42 degrees) that the PH reader didn’t work very well, then note the soil type (such as sandy loam or silty sand or sandy silt...trust me this is a big deal) then you note the colour of the soil using a Munsell chart (greyish brown or brownish grey it matters, it really does). Jared was a geologist which came in handy. Finally, you needed to note any noteworthy things and describe the hole and layers in detail. Such things included the presence of insect burrows (which could move artefacts between layers),
charcoal (indicating fire), and presence of historic artefacts which could show that Aboriginal people and European settlers coexisted in the same area. While we were excavating by hand Mitchell found an artefact, it was a flaked bit of stone (the bit they throw out as they are making a tool). It was still really cool to find. The dirt we dug up and put in buckets was taken to the wet sieve. We hosed the dirt down and that’s where most of the artefacts were found as it’s easier to see when the dirt is washed away by water. While we were on the sieve one of our fellow archaeologists, Rivers, found a really cool bit of worked glass. This shows that Aboriginal people were living in the same place as the British and using new materials. Mum says that it is quite rare to find “contact pieces” and it is very exciting. Also after we left, right near the hole we were digging, the archaeologists found a “flaking floor”, which is where an Aboriginal person was sitting as he was making a tool and all the bits of flaked rocks were flying off the rock around him. Overall me and Mitch had a great time, and learnt a lot. We can't wait to go back and do it again.
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We have been very busy this past 4 weeks. Staff have
been assisting me with becoming familiar with the
school and our Faculty.
To begin the year all English staff are delivering
intensive language courses to students in years 7-10. All
students are reading novels in class and completing
novel based activities to improve their comprehension
and language skills.
Preliminary Year 11 have made an excellent start to the
year and are well into their core unit, Area of Study. The
central concept of this unit is Journeys. If you have any
interesting Journeys that you can discuss with your child
this will help them in developing their understanding of
how Journeys affect our lives.
Study periods for all students 7-10 are now running.
Each class has 1 study period per fortnight with Vanessa
McGrath. This is a chance for students to catch up on
missed class work, work on extension activities or
receive assistance in learning areas where they are
experiencing difficulties.
All Stage six students in English have now been issued
with assessment tasks and should be allocating time at
home to work on completing them on time.
Ms Rhynehart’s music classes are buzzing with students
enthusiastically learning how play instruments and
compose basic music/songs. I have noticed many
students wandering around with guitars and requesting
recess and lunch admission to the music room to
practise their skills.
A big thank you to parents donating instruments to the
music room. They are very much appreciated.
Tanya Hempstead
Head Teacher English/SLS/CAPA.
English Homework and
Assessment Tasks Due:
English Year 8 Green: Newspaper report due Monday
27/7/2017.
English Year 9/10: Should be completing various writing
tasks for homework or during study periods.
English Year 9/10: Reading, comprehension and writing
tasks on the concept of Resilience. In class 3 days.
Term 1. Weeks 10-11
English Year 11 Standard and Advanced: Reading
novels and completing reading journals.
English Year 11 Standard and Advanced Area of Study:
Responding and composing. Assessment Task 1. Week
10, Term 1.
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The term is disappearing quickly and we have a lot of
extra-curricular events of which I need to inform the
school community. Permission slips (if required) for
these events will be sent home next week, if not sent
already.
There are a number of events coming up between now and the end of term. I will list them in chronological order: 2 March: Danielle Elvy coming to talk to Year 7
students about the Indonesian Language Program.
3 March: Backyard League training for PASS students with NRL Officer, Dean Whymark.
8 March: Year 11 Geography/Senior Science/Biology Field trip to Berry Jerry State Forest, Collingullie.
10 March: Probable date for Davidson Shield cricket versus Tumut
17 March: Backyard League day with Year 9/10 PASS students coaching Primary School students at Tumbarumba Sports Ground. NRL to coordinate the day.
21 March: Year 7/8 Biodiversity/Cultural Heritage/High Country droving/Boggy Creek Show workshops at Webbers Travelling Stock Reserve, Rosewood and Boggy Creek Show site. Bus supplied – day free of charge for students.
24 March: Tumbarumba High School Athletics Carnival, Tumbarumba Sportsground.
28 March: Wodonga 9's Rugby League Carnival We are also about to confirm numbers for the interstate excursions that information was presented about in last fortnight’s edition. Numbers look very good, though there may be a need to open up just one of these excursions this year and the other in 2018. Doing this will help the school to get the numbers required for at least one of these excursions to run. More information to follow on each of these events in next fortnight’s edition. Derek Smith
Head Teacher: Teaching & Learning
Leather Tutorial
On Sunday 19 February, Rylee
Bramich and Ms McCallum
Participated in a leather skills
tutorial conducted by
Dave Mitchell of Tooma.
Dave kindly donated
his time and skills to impart
his highly specialised skills of
leather manipulation.
Dave currently lives in Tooma
working the family farm
but has a very successful side business making customized
saddlery. Topics addressed included the use of various
tools and techniques to suit end use. It was very
generous of Dave to share his time and knowledge. We
look forward to seeing some future work from Rylee and
Ms McCallum.
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Please contact our Career Adviser
Rebekah Pholi
for more information on 02 69482500
Tumbarumba Annual Show 18 March 2017
Please see Ms Pholi for assistance to enter.
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ROALD DAHL COLLECTION
With a recent short term subscription to the Daily
Telegraph the school has class sets of the newspaper
for two weeks. The newspapers are being used in
classrooms to help students understand and analyse
current events, learn how to write a newspaper
article and understand the graphs and tables printed
in newspaper articles. Some teachers are using quiz
questions to give students practice in finding
information within the newspaper.
The library now also has the twelve books in the Roald
Dahl collection including quiz and joke books as well as
the novels including The Twits, Danny the Champion of
the world, James and the Giant Peach. Favourites
include Esio Trot, a romantic tale about Mr Hoppy who
with the help of some cabbage leaves and one hundred
and forty tortoises tries to be a hero and win Mrs Silver’s
heart. The humorous stories and great illustrations by
Quentin Blake appeal to readers of all ages.
NEW BOOKS
For readers of fantasy there are two new novels
from popular authors Cassandra Clare and Veronica
Roth now on the library shelves. For Harry Potter
fans “Quidditch through the ages” and “The tales of
Beedle the bard” are also new in the library.
Harriet Shaw, Maddison Fisher and Triniti Hussell can’t wait to read the new Roald Dahl books!
Katrina Saunders is very excited about the new books!
2017 SRC Elected
Last week the 2017 SRC were elected by their peers.
Congratulations to the 2017 SRC!
Year 7 Alyssa Fisher, Paige Harvey, Emma
Thomsen & Brinley Wilesmith
Year 8 Maddison Fisher, Triniti Hussell, Piper
McKinnon & Brooke Wooden
Year 9 Courtney Jones & Mackenzie Mills
Year 10 Charlie Bergin, Kate De Abel, Mikayla
Jackson & Jaymeii Metcalf-Salter
Year 11 Jemma Lorimer, Jock Rixon, Nichole
Bowdler & Chloe Macdonald
Year 12 Kelsey McLachlan (Captain) Callum
Wilson (Captain) Monica Bowdler (Vice-Captain) &
Hannah Radford (Vice-Captain)
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Class 7B's first cooking prac
(breakfast omelette), which
they all enjoyed!
Class 8R with their
digestive system
models in Science!