WHAT’S COMING UP?

APRIL 3 – 6 Yr 12 Half Yearly Exams

9 – 11 Yr 12 Crossroads excursion

11

ANU visit

12 Merit Assembly – 11.30 am

13 Stage 4 maths excursion –

Zoo

END OF TERM 1

TERM 2

MAY 1 Students return – Term 2

3

Tertiary Info Day

5

P&C street stall

11

Athletics Carnival

14 – 18

Wingham Beef Week

14 – 16 CAFS Excursion - Yr 12

18

Interest Groups

22 Parent/Teacher evening

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT We have had a number of opportunities underway this term to improve school culture and support student development. One of these areas is the Girls Academy Program which will be in operation from the beginning of Term 2. The Academy positions have been

Narromine High School Newsletter Phone - 6889 1499

Email - narromine-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Webpage - www.narromine-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Term 1 Week 10 Issue 2 Wednesday 4 April 2018

filled by Karlene Middleton and Erin Payne who have been working hard to get the room ready for the Academy girls to take part.

Another area of focus in our school plan is building staff capacity to improve Teaching and Learning. The Narromine High learning community participated in an external eye process to review our structures around Teaching and Learning. There were opportunities for a number of people to have input and as a result, the conclusions from this process are outlined below.

Student learning and performance

Moving towards a school culture in which executive and faculty meetings regularly involve a clear, collaborative focus on supporting and tracking improved teaching and learning practices.

Team effectiveness

Meetings and forums in which participants working collaboratively, reflecting, sharing and learning with and from each other will be beneficial to building staff capacity and confidence and a stronger sense of ownership.

Building the effectiveness of key teams to achieving sustainable and consistent improvements in classroom practice and student learning.

Consistent practice

Building the capacity and confidence of staff needs to be a consistent focus of executive, faculty and staff meetings.

Growth in leadership and teaching must be supported, tracked and celebrated.

Measures across teaching and learning in all classrooms need to be a priority and increased consistency in these matters is fundamentally important.

This is a fantastic opportunity moving forward to build staff capacity and improve the teaching and learning across Narromine High School. Over the next twelve months, these findings will support and direct our professional learning focus across the key areas and this will be supported through -

In-school capacity building for executive staff every five weeks.

Collaborative leadership processes to build staff ownership and a team based culture.

Evidence based classroom practices and implementation of explicit, agreed classroom actions.

Consistent & sustained implementation in all classrooms.

Ongoing reflection & negotiated, planned sharing.

Initial, mid-year & culminating evidence gathering and reports.

Many thanks to our parent community for their continued support with our school uniform across each year group. When you look out across the school, it’s wonderful to see students in the correct uniform. I am asking all of the parent community to please support the school’s procedures and ensure that your child follows the uniform expectations. If you require support to purchase school uniform items, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Keep in touch on our Facebook page. There is a lot of school information posted throughout the week. If there is something you would like to see from our school please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss. Principal Phil Rufus ENGLISH Language….. we use it all day every day and it’s the way we make sense of our world. The internet is only adding to our language; researchers say at the rate of 8,500 words per year!!

Without strong resources in language, students struggle to succeed in secondary school. The explicit teaching of Vocabulary has been shown to have a strong impact on improving student achievement. This is why across the school we are starting our new school plan with a focus on the teaching of ‘subject vocabulary’. School is a language rich environment and in English we are working to build vocabularies, student confidence and competence in language.

The most effective way of doing this is by READING Students read regularly, each lesson across all years and the junior classes have a reading time in most of their lessons. Years 7 and 8 have been reading and writing ‘Survival’ stories this term. Years 9 and 10 have been reading ‘Media’ texts and are currently writing their own ‘Feature Articles’ on topics as diverse as gun laws, food waste, pollution in Bali, the Russian spy controversy, domestic violence and war horses! Year 11 have begun a new syllabus, where the whole focus is on Reading and Writing. Year 12 are busy preparing for their half yearly exams through their study of Discovery. IF you want to support your students in English, get them into reading regularly and read yourself. And remember, they’re never too old for you to read to them!!!

LOTE Languages Other Than English is a mandatory part of students’ education in Stage 4 across the state. We are pleased to have launched this year a Wiradjuri Language program, which is engaging students in their local Aboriginal language. Mrs Iris Reid comes in once a week to give students direct instruction and students participate in a video conference, once a week from Dubbo for further direct instruction. The school has just purchased resources to support this program and we look forward to the growth of Wiradjuri throughout the Narromine community.

STUDENT INVOICES Student invoices have been mailed out.

This has been a mammoth task as we have changed over to a new financial management system.

If you have any questions or feel there are any discrepancies, please phone the office on 6889 1499

THIS YEAR WE ARE GOING ONLINE FOR NAPLAN Years 7 and 9 completed a practice test last week and we will be among the first schools to do the actual test online. You will be receiving a letter this week with more information about the test. If you would like to check it out for yourself, please go to the website below.

https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND HOSPITALITY A reminder that both of these subjects incur a fee for consumables. These fees can be paid at the office in whatever format best suits your family. For more information or for assisstance in paying these fees please do not hesitate to contact the school. Thank you for your continued support.

Year 10 completed their cake decorating assessment tasks today as a component of their ‘Food for Special Occasions’ Unit. These are just some of the fantastic creations they have planned and executed. Simone Googe

P&C NEWS Our AGM was held on Tuesday 13 March where we said farewell to our Vice President, Fiona Walker and Treasurer, Sandra Monaghan. These ladies have been on our committee for a number of years and we would like to thank them for their time and dedication to our P&C and school. Our current committee is as follows –

President - Phil Simmons Vice President - Kieran Turnbull Secretary - Tanya Harding Treasurer - Sharanne Turnbull Publicity Officer - Jo Fountain Canteen Treasurer - Sharanne Turnbull

We will be holding a street stall on Saturday 5 May and would love donations of baked goods or plant cuttings. If you can help out in any way, please contact Jacqui Geyer, Simone Googe or myself at school on 6889 1499. Thank you, Jo Fountain. GAP YEAR All people are different. Some like to jump straight into tertiary study after finishing high school, whereas others might want to start working immediately. Perhaps they want to travel or maybe they have no idea what they are going to do. Taking a gap year can be a fantastic option to revitalise students before they begin their tertiary study, gain life experiences, meet new friends or maybe experiencing a new culture. Defence Force GAP year-now open ADF Gap Year applications for 2019 have opened. It's a unique opportunity for students to try out a career in the Navy, Army or Air Force and get a feel for a military life without committing for a longer period. Start the application now- don’t miss out!! For more information refer to the following website: https://www.defencejobs.gov.au/students-and-education/gap-year Other GAP year opportunities: https://lattitudeaustralia.org/ https://campamerica.com.au/ https://gap.year13.com.au/ https://www.gviaustralia.com.au/gap-year-volunteering/ http://www.yfu.com.au/go-on-exchange/18-programs/ PUBLIC SPEAKING TEAM - CWA PUBLIC SPEAKING – TUESDAY 22 MAY 2018 Topics – Years 7 & 8 Years 9 & 10 Years 11 & 12 1. Space 1. Speak for Yourself 1. Fake News 2. Things I could have done 2. Robots – can they replace us? 2. Values 3. Speaking up 3. Education needs to be creative 3. Over the hill Time limit – 3 minutes Time limit – 4 minutes Time limit - 4 minutes GOLD COAST EXCURSION Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 From Monday 17 September – Friday 21 September $50 deposit and permission note due Wednesday 4 April

EARTH MODELS

YEAR 8 COMMONWEALTH GAMES – SOCIAL PERIODS Students were divided into four teams where they selected the country they wanted to represent. The Year 8 Commonwealth Games runs from 5 March till the end of term, where we will celebrate and reward the country receiving the most medals. Compulsory Medals each week will be awarded to:

Highest attendance rate

Attendance Growth

Positive draw

Number of online RRC’s

Uniform Each week we have a draw for a student who has demonstrated positive or improvement to behaviour during the Year 8 Commonwealth Games - the country will receive the gold medal and the student an individual prize. This is a great chance for Year 8 students to develop teamwork skills, have some fun and also show their competitive side. Ms Althofer Year 8 Adviser

NARROMINE SOCCER CLUB – POSITION VACANT - REFEREES Narromine Soccer Club is looking for any interested and keen soccer players from age 14 years and up to become referees. This is a great way to be involved and also earn some pocket money! You may choose when you want to ref and where. Please phone or message Lauren for more details on 0448 720 079 or email L.a.cale@outlook.com

SCHOOL JACKETS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE- ORDER We are now taking orders for a navy and gold NHS school jacket. The cost is $65, which includes the NHS logo embroidered on the front. They are a great all-round sports jacket with contrast panels and a detachable hood, 120gsm shower proof nylon talson outer and 210gsm 100% polyester polar fleece lining. They are also reversible. Please place your order together with a $30 deposit at the office before Thursday 12 April. Expected delivery is between 14 – 25 May. Full payment will be required when collecting the jacket. We have a small and a medium sample jacket for you to view and try for sizing. Sizing guide as follows –

Size ½ Chest Body Length

14 55 cm 65 cm

16 57 cm 68 cm

S 59 cm 71 cm

M 62 cm 74 cm

L 65 cm 77 cm

XL 68cm 80 cm

2XL 71cm 83 cm

3XL 74 cm 86 cm

YEAR 12 EXAM TIMETABLE