Principal’s Report

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Year 8 Report 2

Sport 2

Year 9 Report 3

Music News 3

School Musical 3

Library News 4

Careers News 5

Community News 6

WEEKLY eNEWSLETTER 1 6 M A Y 2 0 1 1 T E R M 2 W E E K 4

W H A T ’ S O N I N

C O M I N G W E E K S

Mon 16 Yr 9 at ACTII— Respectful Relationships Workshop

Yr 12 English speeches

Tue 17 Yr 9 at ACTII—

Respectful Relationships

Workshop

P&C Meeting

Yr 12 English speeches

Wed 18 Yr 9 at ACTII— Respectful Relationships

Workshop

Yr 12 English speeches

Thu 19 Yr 10 Start Smart Financial Workshop – Pds 1 & 2 in school hall

AIME tutoring – Pds 2-3

Fri 20 Free Concert at lunchtime

in Hall

Tue 24 Yr 10 Police Liaison talks

Yr 11 Legal Studies Half

Yearly Exams

Wed 25 Yr 10 Half Yearly Exams

Thu 26 Yr 10 Half Yearly Exams

AIME tutoring—Pds 2-3

Fri 27 Yr 10 Half Yearly Exams

Ph: 4284 1513 Fax: 4285 1485 Web: http://www.woonona-h.schools.nsw.edu.au Email: woonona-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

CANTEEN HELPERS THIS WEEK

Mon 16 M Elphick Tue 17 HELP NEEDED Wed 18 J Eardley Thu 19 J Hobbs, I Rasch

Fri 20 HELP NEEDED

Careers Expo – This event which is organised by the Illawarra Careers Teachers is an extraordinary event. Nearly 5000 secondary students attend the expo over 3 days. Our Year 10 and Year 12 students attended last Tuesday afternoon. The students had the opportunity to find out about an enormous number of career options. Mrs Crump, one of our Careers Advisers, was the chairperson of the event and we were also represented at the expo by our Year 11 Hospitality students. These students with their teacher, Mrs Chambers, were responsible for feeding the sponsors and VIPs at the expo as well as providing a special lunch for Principals. They were outstanding ambassadors for the school and the standard of their service was praised by all who were there.

NAPLAN – The students in Year 7 and Year 9 completed the NAPLAN assessment last week and we will look forward to the results so that we can assess our teaching programs and the learning of the students. A big thank you goes to Mrs Pike, Mrs Harris and Mr Caldwell for their organisation around this event.

ACT II – This week Year 9 will be participating in a program designed to promote healthy, positive and non-violent relationships. I hope all students support this initiative organised by our school counsellors and Ms Sharp, Year 9 adviser.

P&C Meeting – our first P&C meeting for the term will be held on Tuesday 17th May commencing at 7:30pm in the Teachers’ Common Room.

Sport – our students have been performing at a high level in a variety of sports recently. See Mrs Sim’s report later in the newsletter.

Courtney Loxton (Year 12) – There was a wonderful story about

Courtney in the Mercury last week. Courtney is an outstanding music

student and the story was about her achievements in song writing

and music in general. Congratulations, Courtney!

Martin Arrowsmith

P A G E 2

Sport

U/14 Rugby League

Year 8 Report

W E E K L Y E N E W S L E T T E R

The following students have achieved Green Merit Status and are to be

congratulated:

Sarah Armour, Teegan Baker, Keiran Daunt, Jack Dugan, Brenna Petrolo,

Tim Pollock, David Prescott, Renae Smillie, Mathew Theobald, Stephen

Wallace.

I would like to inform parents that I will be on leave from school from May

19-June 8. In my absence, Ms Packer will be relieving Year Adviser and you

may contact her if you do have any matters that you wish to discuss.

With my best wishes

Ms Epton

This is a very busy time in the school sports calendar.

Boys Hockey: Congratulations to Scott Govers and Flynn Ogilvie on their success at

the Australian Titles in Tasmania recently. Scott and Flynn both were valuable players and won the Australian Championships. Flynn was also named Player of the

Tournament.

Cross Country: This Friday we have the Zone Cross Country Carnival at Dalton Park. 120 of our students will run in this interschool event. Good luck to all runners.

Girls Basketball: Our girls basketball team is in the final 16 schools in the knockout competition. The next game is an away match against Temora High school. If the girls

win this game they will compete against the best 8 in the State.

Senior Girls Touch: Our senior girls touch team travelled to Ulladulla last week and came 3rd in the South Coast competition. Thanks to all the parents who helped with

transport and Mr McDermott for managing the team.

Rugby Union: Congratulations to Jordan Decelis and Kyle Heycott on their selection

in the Open South Coast Union team. Both Jordan and Kyle will travel to the State carnival and will hope to gain selection in the CHS team.

Congratulations also to Ben Ridgeway on his selection in the U/15 Country Rugby squad.

Mrs Sim—Sports Organiser

Our Buckley Shield side defeated Bulli High 22-14 at Bulli on Thursday May 5 in a close and exciting game.

Special mention goes to Reece Matheson, (Captain), two runaway tries, one 75 metres, another 30 metres.

Also to forwards, Jake Cooper, Ben Brien, and Austin Brooks and backs, Chad Butterworth and

RyanThomas. The team should be proud they worked hard all game as a cohesive unit and they all

deserve congratulations.

The boys are looking forward to their next clash which will be sometime in the next fortnight.

R Landy (Coach)

Year 9 Report

P A G E 3 T E R M 2 W E E K 4

Caption

describing

picture or

graphic.

BATS! The Musical

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Year 9 students on their settled start to this term, and in particular, on their positive behaviour during their NAPLAN examinations. Next week, they will be participating in a government funded one-day program about Respectful Relationships. An information letter was sent home on Thursday, please contact me at school if you have any questions. I would also like to commend Year 9 for their laptop use – the majority of students are very good at remembering to charge their laptops and to bring them to school each day. Students are reminded that this is a requirement, however, books and pens are also needed for each day.

Miss Sharp

During the last holidays, I was lucky enough to accompany one of our senior music students to Sydney for the “Music Count Us In” workshop. Courtney Loxton was selected as one of 12 students from a national song writing competition to attend the prestigious Sydney workshop. The students were divided into 4 groups and were given a day to work with industry professionals, writing a new song to promote music in our schools. Courtney was very lucky to have the lead singer of Australian band Thirsty Merc, Rai Thistlethwayte, as her mentor. After an exhausting day, the groups were required to perform their songs for John Foreman, and the song Courtney’s group wrote was selected as the winner. It will now be professionally recorded and arranged for all Australian schools to perform together in September. The entire experience was captured by a film and photography crew and will be featured on Saturday Disney. Courtney was also featured in the Illawarra Mercury, and will be interviewed by Dolly magazine.

Last weekend, another one of our senior music students performed at the annual Ride Around The Lake charity event at the Yacht Club. Ashleigh Defrenza entertained the crowd with two covers and two of her original songs, one of which won her a day’s recording time in a Sydney studio as part of our school song writing competition in 2010.

After the success of Battle of the Bands in 2010, Woonona High is staging another musical production this term – BATS! The Musical. Set in Transylvania, the comedy involves a variety of characters from zombies to gangsters, and will of course feature cameo performances from our School Captains, along with a cast of over 50 actors, singers, dancers and musicians. Hit songs include Thriller, Single Ladies and the Monster Mash. Evening performances will be on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd June, with a matinee for the local primary school students during school time on the Wednesday. Tickets will be on sale soon for $5 for children, $10 for adults and $25 for a family of 4.

Courtney Loxton – Year 12 (left) and

Ashleigh Defrenza – Year 12 (right)

Music News

Library News CHILDRENS BOOK COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Voting for the best children’s literature 2011 will begin shortly. The Children's Book Council of

Australia 2011 shortlist has recently been announced. The entries for older readers are as follows.

These books are for teenage readers and all are available from the library.

Author

Crowley, Cath

Hartnett, Sonya

Horniman, Joanne

MacLeod, Doug

Marchetta, Melina

Wood, Fiona

Title

Graffiti Moon

The Midnight Zoo

About a Girl

The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher

The Piper’s Son

Six Impossible Things

Publisher Pan Macmillan Australia

Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)

Allen & Unwin

Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)

Viking Books, Penguin Group (Australia)

Pan Macmillan Australia

If you would like your child to improve their reading skills while having the chance to win one of hundreds of great mystery prizes then why not encourage them to enter the Premiers Reading Challenge. All they need to do is read twenty books from the 1st Feb – 1st Sept from the Premier’s Reading Challenge List. For more details go to https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html We already have 30 students signed up this year.

Lots of fun was had by all at our fortnightly

Book Club. Mr Locke, one of our H.S.I.E

teachers, entertained students with his life

story and how it related to his love of

reading.

P A G E 4

Careers News

NSW Premier’s Volunteering Awards 2011

The Illawarra Retirement Trust Aged Care Program

This program involves Year 9 and 10 students assisting at the

Dementia Day Respite Care centre. Students help with a wide

range of activities such as playing carpet bowls and cards.

Pictured is Kade Lucich playing Snakes and Ladders with one of

the residents.

Mrs Roddis Student Volunteer Coordinator

W E E K L Y E N E W S L E T T E R

The University of Wollongong is holding an information evening for Year 10 students and their parents. Guests can expect to gain information on subject selection for Years 11 and 12, admission into university and information on how the ATAR is calculated. There will also be opportunities to talk one on one with UOW faculty staff. Dates and Venues: Tuesday 17 May 2011 and Tuesday 24 May 2011, Ray Cleary Lecture Theatre University Hall, University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong 6.30 - 8.30pm. UOW prefers that bookings are made in advance when attending this event. This will ensure that sufficient seating for all attendees is provided. Bookings can be made on the UOW Events website http://www.uow.edu.au/future/events click on the Year 10 Information Evening link or by calling UOW UniAdvice on 1300 367 869. ANNA REPETYLO CAREERS ADVISER

P A G E 5 T E R M 2 W E E K 4

Kids DIY at Bunnings Wollongong

FREE KIDS D.I.Y WORKSHOPS

Free Kids D.I.Y Workshops Every Saturday

and Sunday at 12pm

What’s On in May

Sat 7th Wheelie Funhouse 10-2

Sun 8th Clown and Balloon Animals

Sat 14th Clown Face Painter

Sun 15th Fairy Face Painter

Sat 21st 3D Plaster Craft

Sun 22nd SYMBIO WILDLIFE REPTILES

(10am-2pm)

Sat 28th Clown and Balloon Animals

Sun 29th Fairy Face Painter

P A G E 6