NEWSLETTER

TERM 3

Principal Report

There is a growing excitement across the

school with the roll out of new technologies

into every classroom. Over the past two years

the school has built a stable IT network to

support the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program and increased

teacher use of ICT in the classroom as a highly effective tool to

enhance learning opportunities for all students.

At the recent secondary conference, it was evident that Ocean Reef

has fast become an innovative leader in technology. I acknowledge

school leaders and teachers’ commitment to improved outcomes for

students and the relentless focus on ensuring our students leave well

prepared to be future leaders.

Change to the configuration of the School Day

For 2019, we are considering a change to the school timetable.

Every Monday the school day will finish at 2.30pm and Tuesday

through to Friday each day will continue to finish at 3.05pm. We are

presently discussing these changed schedules with Transperth. We

are also seeking school community feedback about the proposed

changes. If you would like to do this, please contact Warren Smith

(Vice Principal) on (08) 9307 0222.

Karon Brookes

Vice Principal Report

On Monday, 20th August all staff at Ocean Reef SHS were involved in a Conference with three other schools in our region.

These other schools were Butler College, Belridge SC and Yanchep SC. This Northern Beaches Secondary Schools

Network Conference was an opportunity for our teachers to share teaching practice and develop their knowledge, skills

and attitudes to do with their teaching of students. Over 400 teachers were involved in the Conference. Feedback indicated

that the Conference has been very successful and we look forward to doing similar in the future.

Our school considers it important that our teachers are constantly reflecting on their practice and invested in looking at

opportunities to improve their practice. We have a teaching staff that is very highly regarded by other schools, however,

we live in a time of change and it is necessary that all teachers keep abreast of possible improvements that can be made.

Over that past year we have developed a Teaching and Learning Framework (Lesson Design) that all teachers are

expected to use in classrooms. This ensures that students have consistency in teacher instruction across the school.

Recently, our school has also implemented an Assessment and Feedback Framework to guide teacher actions in

classrooms when implementing assessment tasks. This Framework ensures that our assessment tasks are of the highest

quality and that students are provided with quality feedback so that they can improve their learning.

Teachers now have clear directions about where to focus their self-improvement. These strategies are just a few that are

proving successful verified by a significant positive improvement in whole school student achievement at Ocean Reef SHS

in recent years.

Warren Smith

IMPORTANT DATES 2018

Term 3 EVENT

Tuesday 4 September School P & C Meeting

Thursday 6 September Year 8 Immunisations

Wednesday 12 September Year 11 & 12 Dance Showcase

Thursday 13 September R U OK Day

Wednesday 19 September Colours Awards Presentation

HOLIDAY PERIOD 22 September – 7 October

TERM 4 EVENT

Monday 8 October Term 4 Commences

Tuesday 16 October School P & C Meeting

Wednesday 17 October Year 7 (2019) BYOD Parent

evening

Wednesday 24 October Year 12 Presentation Evening

Tuesday 13 November School P & C Meeting

Friday 23 November Year 11 Final Day

Tuesday 27 November Year 6 Orientation Day

Wednesday 28 November Jnr Music Awards Night

Thursday 13 December Last day of Term 4

Friday 14 December School Development Day (pupil

free)

HOLIDAY PERIOD 13 December 2018—5 February 2019

Senior School Events

Reward Excursions Our end of term reward excursions have been wildly popular and a terrific way to acknowledge and celebrate students

with high attendance and good standing. In Term 2 our year 11 & 12’s end of term reward excursion was to indoor beach

volleyball which was fun filled and enjoyable way to end the semester. The year 10’s participated in the reward excursion

to bowling and a movie. A chilled and relaxing way to end the semester.

Lunchtime Activities

Lunchtime activities have been a highlight and a wonderful opportunity to promote

some festive wellbeing activities aimed to reduce school stress and provide a fun

outlet during break times.

Ocean Reef is an official Act- Belong-Commit school. School based events are a great

way for students to be active in the school community. Some of the activities on offer

included, staff vs students’ games (grudge matches) of netball and soccer. Sparking

plenty of interest and spectators. Dance and Art club have been a new addition this

year and of course, the introduction to Milo Monday #mugday.

Fortnightly we open up the “pop up café” for all senior school students on the great

court. The students are awarded the opportunity to trade in their ORCA awards for

food and drinks. This event has proved to be very popular and we are pleased to

reward the positive values of being Organised, Respectful, Caring and Achieving.

The great court has been the venue of great vibes with the many activities on offer

and the atmosphere it creates. It has been a brilliant way for students to spend their

break time with their peers and interact with the senior cohort as a whole.

Keti D’Angelo

Lower School Events

Act Belong Commit – Year 7 Cross Country

This term we are excited to announce that all year 7 students will be running a cross country

on Friday 7 September. It will run during period 5 for all year 7s and points will go towards the

House total for the year. Individual champion runners will be recognised after the run. Students

will be encouraged to wear their House colours for the event. More information will be provided

to the students prior to the event.

Staff vs Student Netball

Every Friday, our staff have had the opportunity to play mixed netball during

lunchtime against our wonderfully talented netballers. The results so far are

swaying in favour of the staff team; however, after 3 rounds of

dodgeball…anything can happen!!

Reward Excursions

At the end of Term 2 we rewarded some of our students with an excursion to Zone Bowling and Grand Cinemas in

Joondalup. It was a fantastic day to celebrate with wonderful young members of our community in a non-curriculum

environment.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, unfortunately the Year 7 Reward Day ‘Incredibles’ movie was cut short so Grand

Cinemas have offered all Year 7 Reward students a free ticket to attend a movie of their choice. These will be distributed

to the students as soon as they arrive. Thank you for your patience with this matter.

We look forward to our next Reward Excursions at Latitude in Joondalup which will be on the following days;

Year 7 – Tuesday 18th September

Year 9 & 10 – Wednesday 19th September

Year 8 – Thursday 20th September

Gemma Novotny

Science

It’s been an action filled year with plenty of great work going on in science. Staff have been flat out writing new assessments

for our Year 7 to 10 students, improving their quality and updating the content. We are focusing on our student’s writing

skills. We are also enriching our curriculum with new experiments and practical work and increasing the number of

excursions and incursions. You might notice this as you read some of the stories below, please enjoy.

Staffing Changes

Our resident Chemistry teacher, Mr Bryans, left us at the end of Term 2 to pursue work in

the mining industry. His replacement is Ms Lise Fouche who has been lecturing

undergraduates in Chemistry at Curtin University for the last six years. She’s doing a great

job here with our senior students, providing expert advice, making sure they’re on task and

getting ready for their exams. I’d like to welcome her to Ocean Reef and wish her every

success.

Semester 1 results

Our data from Semester One has been pleasing to read. Most of our senior students are succeeding in their studies

achieving C grades or higher. I’d like to thank my staff for their efforts in this regard; the amount of work that goes into

teaching, assessing and reporting is complex and sometimes challenging but we all met our deadlines and produced plenty

of quality feedback for our parents to read and respond to.

National Science Week at ORSHS

As part of National Science Week, Ocean Reef invited Scitech to our school. They presented their ‘Beyond the Beaker’

show to our years sevens and eights which explored the future world of work in technology industries like robotics, gaming,

coding and virtual reality. We also had Mullaloo Beach Primary School come on two separate days. Their year six students

did some hands-on science in a real laboratory with our year ten students guiding them. There was plenty of fun to be had,

as they made and exploded Hydrogen gas.

Northern Beaches Secondary Schools Conference

Ocean Reef SHS was lucky enough to host this conference for Science staff this year. We had teachers and laboratory

technicians come along and share ideas and resources with our staff. We also had WA’s Chief Scientist, Professor Peter

Klinken address the audience, challenging us to re-think how education should be structured to produce the best outcomes

for students. Laboratory technicians from all three schools presented some great workshops for staff demonstrating the

latest data-logging equipment and engaging experiments. The four major universities also came along and promoted their

latest science courses and pathways that students should consider for the future. All-in-all, it was a great day to network,

hear some of the latest science and share ideas. A big thankyou to the Principals, Associate Principals and their

administration teams for making this happen.

Tuesday Study Club

Every Tuesday morning the year 7 and 8’s enjoy a nice hot chocolate

and a piece of cake while Mr Donegan and Mrs Bevan help them out

with their homework, assignments or private study. The students also

have an opportunity to ask questions across all their learning areas.

The session is great fun while getting work completed. Thank you to all

the students who have attended these classes throughout the year.

Eric Syme

Marine and Maritime Studies – Coral Bay Excursion

At the end of Term 2, twenty Marine and Maritime Studies students from Year 11 and 12 were lucky enough to attend the

annual Coral Bay Camp. We spent a week exploring the Ningaloo Reef through activities such as diving, snorkelling and

sight-seeing. The students were given a number of presentations from various organisations such as Murdoch University

and Ningaloo Marine Interactions. These presentations helped the students learn about the health of our reef system and

challenges for the future. A number of students became newly qualified SCUBA divers while others got the opportunity to

improve their diving skills in waters much warmer than what we find off Perth. This temperature change was WARMLY

welcomed. It was a week full of wildlife from Whale Sharks, Humpback Whales, Tiger Sharks, Turtles and many more.

Once the week was complete, we all returned to Perth happy but completely exhausted. A thankyou goes out to all involved

including our outstanding students, Matt Bartlett, Miss Snedden and Miss Cook.

Rachel Cook

SEAC News

The first 5 weeks of the term have flown by and all the groups have got off to a fantastic start with their respective projects

and topics.

Year 7 and 8 are currently investigating their virtual water footprint and are about to start a group project with the aim of

encouraging others to reduce the amount of water they use. All the pupils thoroughly enjoyed the recent trip to the crystal

caves at Yanchep and I hope they now understand the detrimental effect humans are having on the groundwater supplies

around Perth. I am excited to see the innovative ideas and products that they come up with over the next couple of weeks

for their next water use project.

Last term year 9 expressed an interest in studying psychology and so we have spent the first half of this term

researching the main areas of this subject. Students have been particularly interested in the psychology of famous

criminals and to what extent they are in control of their own actions and this has led to some fascinating debates. In the

second half of the term we hope to carry out an investigation into developmental psychology and look in more detail at

the structure of the brain.

Year 10 were also given a choice about what to study this term and they chose to look at

anatomy and in particular dissections. They have all got off to amazing start, becoming

experts in an organ of their choice and then leading the rest of the group through a

dissection of that organ. I have been so impressed with their expertise and excellent

dissection techniques. In the final part of this term we will be looking at art and anatomy

and I hope that the year 10s can get very creative with a project that incorporates; art,

anatomy, and technology. I once again look forward to seeing the amazing and original

pieces they produce.

Helen Kemp

Waste Wise Grant

Thanks to the efforts of Mr Cade Donegan and

the Waste Wise Committee our school has been

awarded a $2200 Waste Wise grant. This money

will be used to establish more recycling bins

around the school, including inside classrooms. It

will also help fund some promotional material,

posters and messaging to help encourage our

students to reduce, reuse and recycle. Well done

to those involved in developing the Program.

Cade Donegan

The Arts

The Crown Towers Performance

We headlined at Crown Towers grand ballroom. Our year 11 and 12 students

who have formed their own bands were invited to open the WA Council of State

School Organisations ball. In front of hundreds of audience members, students

performed, 'Piece of Mind' and After Midnite', and wowed their audience finishing

with roaring applause.

Little Shop of Horrors Musical

This year we put on our ‘Little Shop of Horrors Musical’ which was the first musical

to be performed at Ocean Reef Senior High School in 12 years, it was worth the

wait! Directing this musical has been such a pleasure as I have worked with 7 incredible graduate students; Amy O’Regan,

Laura O’Regan, Brayden Neilan, Bailey Edwards, Laura O’Donnell, Brooke Credaro and Isabelle Brewer. They have put

countless hours in for rehearsals, costuming, directing, staging, prop organisation, technical sound assistance, lighting and

moral support. I could not be more proud of the talented and dedicated adults they have become.

This has been such a fun project to work on and all the students have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. They all

struggled to understand the idea of an alien plant coming down from outer space and eating humans and how I would

incorporate it into a musical but they trusted our vision. The musicians worked tirelessly to write, rehearse and learn a

new way of performing. They sounded absolutely fantastic.

A huge thank you to everyone involved. There were so many volunteers, too many to mention however we appreciate all

your time and effort.

Kate Thumwood

Physical Education

Surfing Ocean Reef won two champion school trophies and had several student’s progress to the State Finals at the 2018

secondary schools surfing competitions.

In the boys’ competition we defeated Shenton College, All Saints, St Stephens Duncraig, Mindarie SC and CBC

Fremantle. The boys had grins on their faces all day, their behaviour was impeccable and there was no sign of any

teenage angst or pining for mobile phones and technology. Great to see! Matt Powis and Joel Makings progressed to the

State Final for junior Bodyboarding.

An even better performance was achieved by the girls. This competition included some of the states most prestigious

and large schools such as St Marys, PLC, St Hildas, Churchlands and cross Hodges rivals Prendiville. Some of these

schools have surf programs and are kitted out in full surf team apparel. Ruby Harwood, Caylee McKenna, Amy Franklin

and Daisy Jackson all progressed through to the State Final for body boarding. Those students who progressed to the

state finals will now take on the best schools from across Western Australia.

Many of our students are ocean “all rounders” as opposed to just being surfers and body boarders. The above results are

testament to the schools Marine, Surf Cadet and Outdoor Education programs which challenge our students in many

diverse water activities and extend even our strongest students.

Bradley Utting

Student Achievements

Kobi Aiesi was selected in the Western Australian Under 15s State Rugby league team to play in

National Championships held in Mackay, Queensland over the holidays from 30 June to 6 July.

Kobi Aiesi was one of 6 players from the WA team selected for the Australian Schoolboys CAS

team (Combined Affiliated States). It is the highest honours for his age group in Rugby league in

Australia. Congratulations to Kobi Aiesi and his family.

Juan Scheffer has been appointed by School Sport WA as a talented junior umpire for Hockey and

will be officiating at the David Bell Cup Final on 30 August 2018 at the Perth Hockey Stadium.

Well done Madison O’Boyle in representing WA in Brisbane at the National Weightlifting Competition

in September 2018. Wishing you all the best.

Library

Book Week In Term 3 we celebrate Book Week in the Library. The theme this year is “Find your

treasure…” Each year across Australia, the Children’s Book Council of Australia brings

children and books together celebrating Book Week. During this time schools, libraries,

booksellers, authors, illustrators and children celebrate Australian children's literature.

For Book Week this year the Library is running lots of fun activities, including a Treasure

Hunt for golden tickets, a Book in a Jar competition, a Reading Challenge and a Book Quiz. There are lots of lovely

prizes to be won!

The book club meets in Area 2 of the Library every Thursday during Lunch break. Dymocks

(Joondalup) will be visiting the Book Club every month to discuss the best and latest YA fiction.

Chess Club The Library is once again hosting a Chess Club. This club meets during Break 2 (Lunch break) on Tuesdays in the

Library. Anyone interested should speak to Mrs Betteridge and come to the Library at this time.

Parent Volunteers

We are always on the lookout for parent volunteers to help with our shelving, book covering and other tasks in the library.

Please contact library staff if you would like to volunteer your time to help. We can be contacted on 93070224.

Follow the school Library on Instagram @orshslibrary and Twitter @ORSHSlibrary to see new books that are added and

https://www.instagram.com/orshslibrary/ https://twitter.com/ORSHSlibrary the latest library activities.

Sarah Betteridge

Workplace Learning

Skills West Expo

Year 12 Workplace Learning students attended the student day on Friday 17th August. The event, which

is WA’s largest Careers Expo, offered students interactive seminars and skills areas to participate in

practical activities. Students also had the chance to explore real job opportunities and tertiary and VET

course options, find traineeships and apprenticeships, plan new career pathways and source essential

information from WA’s Universities, training providers, and over 100+ exhibitors and top growth Industry

Leaders.

Workplaces Wanted

We are always looking to increase the numbers of suitable employers on our current database for Work Placement. If you are able to assist and can offer Ocean Reef Senior High School students a ‘Work Placement’ on either a Wednesday or Thursday, please call the VET & WPL office at school on 9307 0234.

Maggie Glover

P & C

is now at Ocean Reef Senior High School Canteen and online ordering is now possible! The new Qkr (pronounced ‘quicker’) app is now live for families of students at Ocean Reef Senior High School. Qkr by MasterCard can be downloaded for free from Apple’s app store for iPhones (for iPads download the iPhone app) or from Google Play for Android phones and tablets. Qkr! is a MasterCard product and comes with all of their security features.

After downloading the app and registering, simply select Ocean Reef Senior High School from ‘Nearby Locations’ on Qkr or type ocean after tapping the magnifying glass in the top right of the home screen on Qkr. Set up a profile for your child and you are ready to order. You can order and pay for recess and lunch items up to 2 weeks in advance. This new system will be run in conjunction with the existing system. Students wishing to continue to buy and order lunches in the traditional way will be able to continue doing so.