Court Street GILGANDRA NSW 2827

Phone: 6847 2276 Fax: 6847 1288

Principal Mrs Erica Burge (RLG)

Deputy

Ms Sheryn West (RLG)

Head Teachers:

English/HSIE Mrs Fiona Lambell Mathematics Mrs Michelle Keogh (RLG) Science Miss Ilana Austen (RLG) TAS Mr Russell Woollams Support Mrs Di Irvin

Year Advisors: Year 7 Mrs Nadine Wilkin Year 8 Miss Nicola Murphy Year 9 Mr Andrew McCutcheon Year 10 Mrs Laura Jordan & Mrs Di Irvin Year 11 Miss Breanna Patton Year 12 Mrs Stacey O’Neill

P & C President Mr Chris Riley AECG President Ms Deidrie Naden ARCO Mrs Meredith Schier

Principal’s Report Welcome back to the new school year and the first edition of our newsletter for 2021. We are all hoping that we will experience fewer disruptions to all aspects of our schooling this year and that we are able to see many extra curricular events take place as the year progresses. New Staff I would like to formally welcome all our new staff who have come to us from many locations across the state. They come to us with enthusiasm and varied experiences to enhance delivery of education and support at Gilgandra High School. Please make them feel welcome as they begin their Gilgandra journey. New staff include Annabelle Hoy (Science), Grace Jones (Science), Jane Le (Mathematics), Lesley Sheldon (Casual support), Megan Townsend (Student Support Officer), Cathryn Worthington (Counsellor), Hope Campbell (SRE), Caitlyn Jubb (Support Faculty). Will Godber and Maddeline Jewell, staff that you may already be familiar with have been made permanent members of staff beginning 2021. We also have a number of new casual staff who will be doing day to day relief and we welcome them to our school. COVID Intensive Learning Support Program The NSW Government has committed to providing support for students who may benefit from some academic support following the disruptive 2020 COVID year. Significant funding has been provided to our school to employ staff to engage a significant number of students in small group tutoring to ensure that literacy and numeracy skills are supported as they move forward in their educational journey. If you have questions please call the school and speak to the Principal or Deputy Principal. School Improvement Plan progress Our staff and P & C worked at the end of 2020 to develop a ‘School Vision’ statement that describes a school’s shared values and high level aspirations for ongoing school improvement and a ‘School Context’ which describes the school’s unique features and includes information that reflects on the educational, geographic and social characteristics of the school. Staff have since engaged in two significant planning sessions to develop the detail of the School Improvement Plan as we prepare to consult with the community. We have worked to develop our strategic directions which identify initiatives, improvement measures, success criteria and evaluative processes for each activity we put in place to achieve our targets. Attendance at School The GHS school day begins at 8.55am and concludes at 3.30 pm for ALL students. Please ensure that you are supporting your child to arrive on time so that their day begins smoothly. Missing lessons can cause students to feel anxious about work they have missed and results in lack of continuity of learning. It is important to remember that when your child is at school they are learning essential skills to prepare them for life beyond school. P & C P & C meet in the Gilgandra High School library on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 pm. All are welcome to attend. The AGM will be held in March. Please follow our Facebook page for regular reminders. Mrs Erica Burge Principal (RLG)

Welcome to the Year 7s for 2021 and their Year Advisor, Mrs Nadine Wilkin

Email: gilgandra-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.gilgandra-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

NEWSLETTER 9TH FEBRUARY 2021

GILGANDRA HIGH SCHOOL

Deputy Principal’s Report Welcome back to what is sure to be another jam-packed year at Gilgandra High School. It is important that students come prepared and ready to learn each day. Bringing required equipment can help support their learning. Some essential pieces of equipment include: Bag, pencil case, black pen, red pen, pencil, eraser, ruler, workbook and a calculator. Other desirable pieces of equipment are glue, scissors, coloured pencils, USB and a diary. If you are having trouble sourcing the correct equipment, book packs are still available at the newsagency or you can contact your child’s Year Advisor to see how we can help. Events at GHS Students have started the year completing orientation (Year 7) and Life Ready (Year 11 and 12), a program that spans 25 hours that is designed to prepare and support senior students as they encounter situations related to health and safety as they become more independent and gain more responsibilities. It focuses on offering opportunities for students to build functional knowledge and skills for life post school. Year 7, 8 and Year 12 SLR students participated in the Roads to Region workshop and had the opportunity to meet former Roosters player, Mitch Aubusson. Our annual swimming carnival will occur on Friday 19th February. I wish Cunningham, Oxley, Phillip and Sturt all the best in pursuit of the 2021 House Cup. Sheryn West Deputy Principal (RLG)

Wellbeing News It is great to see students back after the break, ready to get to work. They are ready for the year, but, are they really ready? A day at school is busy and requires students to concentrate and expend a lot of energy. During their introductory Year Meetings on their first day back, all students were informed of five points that they could focus on, to ensure they were really ready for school. This will put themselves in the best position to have a great day of learning and positive experiences. There is checklist attached to this newsletter and it may provide a starting point for you to have a conversation at home about how many of the five points are being met, but also some areas that may need to be worked on to help students really get ready for a day at school. Students also received a blue 'Student Contact Details' sheet which listed their Year Advisor, classroom teachers and other contacts. Please keep this sheet as a reference guide so they (and you) know who to contact with questions and queries throughout the year. Mrs Meredith Schier Head Teacher Wellbeing

New Staff for 2021

This year we welcome Ms Megan Townsend (Student Support Officer), Ms Lesley Sheldon (Inbuilt Relief), Ms Jane Le (Mathematics), Miss Grace Jones (Science) and Ms Annie Hoy

(Science).

Upcoming Events:

9th February

P & C Meeting 7pm in Library (First Tuesday

of each month)

11th February

Year 7 Vaccinations

16th-18th February

Year 7 Best Start Trial

18th February AECG Meeting @ 1pm

At GHS

19th February

Swimming Carnival

8th March School Photos

18th March Shearing &

Woolclassing Skills Day

Extending In English For the first time in over a decade, Year 11 students have elected to study English Extension. This course is run in addition to their work in English Advanced and will allow them increased opportunities to enhance their literary knowledge and abilities. Clayton, Madison, Ella and Abby have commenced studying Texts, Culture and Value with Head Teacher of English Mrs Fiona Lambell. For Term 1, the class is reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. Definitely a novel for them to sink their teeth into! Mrs Fiona Lambell Head Teacher English

Welcome Year 7 Year 7 have hit the ground running at GHS, literally. Their first day consisted of timetables, meeting new teachers, getting lost around the school completing the Selfie Scavenger Hunt. During this activity, students were encouraged to get lost with the support of our wonderful Year 11 students to find their way around the school. During this time, they were able to ‘Strike a Pose’ with the Principal, ‘Pull a Funny Face’ with Deputy West, ‘Shoot Hoops’ on the basketball courts, ‘Chill Out’ on the back oval and ‘Strike up a Tune’ with Miss Murphy in Music. Students wrote letters to their future selves, and these will be handed back to each student upon their graduation in 2026. Year 7 are to be congratulated on their seamless transition into high school. You are such a fun and happy year group. I can not wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for us. Mrs Nadine Wilkin Year 7 Advisor

2021 Information

Student Wellbeing In response to students making direct contact home, without the school’s knowledge in regards to illness, we request the following procedure be followed: If your child becomes unwell at school, we ask that the student inform their teacher, who will then direct the student to the front office. The office staff will add the student on the system into Sick Bay to account for their time and then make contact with the parent to seek instructions eg ‘come and collect’ or ‘send back to class’. Please encourage your child to come to the office in order for the school to make contact with parents or carers.

Medication Under the DoE guidelines the school is not permitted to supply non-prescribed medication (i.e Panadol) to students. When a medical practitioner has prescribed medication that must be administered during the school day, parents are responsible for bringing this need to the attention of the school.

If your child needs to take prescribed medication at school, please contact the school office regarding the paperwork required for the administration to be carried out safely.

Students must not carry medications, unless there is a written agreement between the school and the student's parents that this is a required part of the student's health care support, e.g epipen, asthma.

Disability Parking Space Please consider the needs of others when collecting students from school. The disability parking is designated parking for those with an appropriate parking permit. Parents are required to present at the administration office to sign students out if leaving early. Students will not be released from school without a parent or carer signing them out.

Contact Details It is important that during this time the school has current contact details for parents/carers, so we can keep our school community informed of any updates. This especially includes any information regarding remote learning strategies for your children. We ask that you please provide a contact mobile phone number and email address (should you have access to internet) if you believe the school may not have your current details. This information can be sent to our school email: gilgandra-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Student Absence It is important to tell the school if your child has to be absent from school and to provide a reason for the absence. Principals are legally responsible for keeping accurate records of student attendance. Principals are also responsible for deciding if the reason given for the absence is justified. Wherever possible, parents and carers are encouraged to provide an explanation for absences before the absences occur. The Principal of the school has the right to question a parent’s requests for their child to be absent from school. The Principal also has the right to question an explanation given for a student’s absence from school. To explain an absence, parents and carers may:

• Send a note, fax or email to the school

• Telephone the school or

• Visit the school If you receive an SMS message from GHS regarding absence, late arrival or truancy of your child you are able to reply to the message at no cost to yourself. This service is very reliable and a prompt response from parents/carers provides GHS with the confirmation required to justify the absence of your child and adjust our records accordingly. If you would like further information about acceptable reasons to be absent from school, we are happy to provide further information.

Are you ready?

A good night’s sleep?

- No devices, relaxed.

Breakfast?

- Something to fuel your body and

brain, preferably not too sugary.

Personal hygiene under control?

- Clean body, clean clothes, teeth

brushed, deodorant, sunscreen.

Bag packed?

- Books, pens and pencils, lunch.

Organised?

- In uniform, on time (school

starts 8:55 am).

Yes, you are! Or No, get some help.

KRISTY’S KITCHEN

Gilgandra High School

Canteen

Menu 2021

Sandwiches & Toasties $4.50 Chicken, lettuce & mayo

$4.50 Chicken, lettuce & mayo

$4.50 Egg, lettuce & mayo

$4.50 Ham, cheese & tomato

$6.00 Ham or chicken and salad

Sandwich, roll or wrap

$4.00 Chicken sandwich

$3.00 Ham & cheese toastie

$2.50 Cheese toastie

Salads $8.00 Large with meat

$5.00 Small with meat

$6.00 Large no meat

$4.00 Small no meat

Order at the Canteen Different varieties available

Snacks & Ice Creams $1.00 Fruit

$1.00 Muffin

$1.50 Chips

$1.00 Popcorn

$1.50 Yoghurt tub

$2.00 Fruit cup

$1.50 Chocolate mousse

$2.50 Bulla ice cream cup

$2.50 Paddlepop

$1.00 Custard cup

$1.00 Snap Stix

$0.50 Quelch Fruit Stick

All snacks and ice blocks subject to availability

Hot Food $3.00 Flame grill chicken

$2.00 Sweet chilli chicken tender

$4.00 Beef traveller pie

$4.00 Pizza rounda

$5.50 Curry pie

$5.50 Cheese & bacon pie

$5.00 Plain beef pie

$2.00 Small sausage roll

$0.80 Chicken nugget

$1.50 Garlic bread

$2.00 Cheesy garlic bread

$3.00 2 Minute noodles – beef or chicken

$5.00 Chicken chilli wrap

$5.50 Flame grilled chicken, lettuce, aioli or mayo burger

$5.00 Pasta bolognese

$5.00 Butter chicken & rice

$5.00 Chicken & vege pasta bake

$5.00 Honey mustard chicken

$4.00 Fried rice

$6.00 Nacho’s

Drinks

$2.00 Water

$2.00 Pop top juice

$2.00 Small M2Go milk popper

$2.50 Big M medium 300ml milk

$4.00 Classic large 500ml milk

$2.50 Juice bomb

$2.50 Up & Go