Principal`s Message - Sydney Secondary College Blackwattle Bay

 Principal’s Message
Upcoming Events
School is in full swing at Blackwattle. Our students have settled in very well and are meeting the expectations of the senior campus. Year 11 progress reviews are currently underway and parents will be notified of any concerns in the next few weeks. Year 12 students have half yearly exams looming and are hard at work on completing their assessment tasks and study requirements. Congratulations Blackwattle ‐ Great HSC Results 2014 Blackwattle students again achieved wonderful HSC results. These results reflect the effort, commitment and determination of our students to do their best and to make our school proud. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding commitment of our teaching staff who worked so diligently with the students during 2014. To achieve these terrific results our staff devoted countless hours reading and re‐reading draft essays, assignments and assessments, assisting with individual projects and organising extra tutorials out of class time and even during the holidays. I would also like to thank parents for your support of your child’s education. Success in the HSC is very much the result of students, staff, parents and the community members working together. Week 8B 16‐18 March 2015 Diversity Day 17 and 19 March Primary School Tours ‐ 18 March 2015 SESSA swim carnival Week 9A 23 march – 2 April Year 12 Mid Course Exams 2 April Term 1 Ends 21 April Term 2 Starts Highlights of the HSC results include: 118 results (10%) were in the top band 6 410 results (33%) were in the second band 5 43% of all results were in the top 2 bands 75% of all results were in the top 3 bands – a remarkable achievement! Individual Results: Congratulations to Leanne Wang who achieved an ATAR of 98.65 making her DUX of Blackwattle Bay. Congratulations also to Sam Moraitis and Jasmine Jaffer who received the Premiers Award for Band 6 in all subjects. Congratulations to 20 students in the top band for two or more subjects: Zoe Brown, Inura De Zoysa, Eboni Fogarty, Ben Gough, Jasmine Jaffar, Dunja Karagic, Isac Kim, Julia Moraitis, Sam Moraitis, Elizabeth Morison, Brendan Ngo, Teresa Ngo, Flint O’Neill, Bokie 1 Ching – Wen Gamble – Chinese teacher replacing Sharon Zhang who has a permanent appointment Susanne Love – Acting Administration Manager replacing Usha Pillai who retired. Year 11 Parent Welcome Recently, I had the pleasure of welcoming Year 11 parents to the senior campus. The event organised by Blackwattle’s P&C and Stacie Connor, Year 11 Deputy Principal, was a great start to the year. It is always a pleasure to show off our beautiful school, introduce our staff and talk to parents. It was lovely to receive so many positive comments and to hear how well our new students are settling in. Please see the school’s website for the parent handbook which was distributed to parents on the night. Robertson, Ella Serhan, Lukas Sikes‐Gerogiannis, Radha Wahyuwidayat, Hang Wang, Li Yun Weng, Hannah Xue. It is most pleasing that half of the HSC results were above the state average. Special mention must go to English where all results were above the state average including English Extension 2 where all students received results in the top band – a fantastic achievement! Welcome to Blackwattle’s New Staff We are fortunate to have a number of new staff this year some permanent and some temporary. I would like to extend a warm welcome to: Sharon Laurence our new librarian replacing David Collyer who retired Mark Corbett – Head Teacher Maths (formerly at Balmain Campus) replacing John Matchett who retired Rob Bury – Head Teacher HSIE replacing Craig Anderson who was promoted to Deputy Principal at Concord High School Michelle Hudson ‐ replacing George Mack (3 terms) Helen Li ‐ Japanese and Senior Study teacher Geetu Vanjani – ESL teacher replacing Lee‐Ann Hellner who is on leave Lisa Del Popolo – Special Education teacher replacing Julie Smiles who is on leave Katie Small – Special Education replacing Sally McLennan (Term 1) who is on leave College Graduation ‐ A Wonderful Celebration Last week the three campuses of Sydney Secondary College united to celebrate student achievement in a range of fields including: academic, sporting, cultural as well as citizenship. As in previous years Sydney Town Hall was packed with over two thousand proud parents, friends, students and staff. A highlight for me this year was to experience the grandeur of the Town Hall organ as it rang out around the hall. I would like to acknowledge Year 12 Music student Oscar Sweeney who collaborated with the organist and the wind orchestra to produce a thrilling musical interlude. Congratulations to all students for their effort and achievement and sincerest thanks to the staff from all three campuses for a superb job in organising a wonderful event. 2 School Fees The prompt payment of subject fees and other contributions helps us to create the best learning opportunities we can provide. Generally, income collected by the school is used to support six key areas; subject specific materials, administration, technology, textbooks, the P&C and Library. Many parents are taking advantage of Blackwattle’s easy way to pay school fees online via the school’s website. Payments can also be made in full or by instalments by cash, cheque, and credit card. Should parents be experiencing financial difficulty they are encouraged to apply in writing to the Principal for assistance. Please contact the school for an application form. CAPA:Twist to Popism and Artexpress There is a buzz of excitement in the middle of C block as our Year 12 Visual Art students work towards completing their body of works. After an excursion to the Art Gallery of NSW to view ARTEXPRESS (an annual exhibition of exemplary artworks created by HSC students) and to the Pop to Popism exhibition they are motivated to get on with the job of making art. Our students are also looking forward to their excursion to ARTEXPRESS at The Armory, Sydney Olympic Park, to view Blackwattle’s Hyun Jee Cho’s paintings which were selected for the exhibition. Click onto the official ARTEXPRESS site for more information about exhibition dates, locations and artworks. http://artexpress.artsunit.nsw.edu.au/ Year 11 Visual Arts students have settled into their new environment, enjoying our beautiful location on the bay as stimulus for their artmaking this term. The students have been experimenting with different drawing materials and will, eventually, develop their drawings into a series of paintings based on the theme: the figure in the environment. Parents are reminded to keep Tuesday night 28 July free for the opening of Blackwattle’s annual Visual Arts Exhibition held at The Muse, Ultimo TAFE. 3 Hyun Jee Cho’s painting, Atari (Under the stones) exhibited at The
Armory,
Hyun Jee Cho with her grandparents at opening night at the Armory
Sydney Olympic Park, in front of Atari (Under the stones)
For more details about dates and times visit: http://artexpress.artsunit.nsw.edu.au/ Drama News On Monday 9th February, the HSC Drama students attended OnStage Performances at the Seymour
Centre. Our students were able to observe some of the outstanding Group Projects and Individual
Projects from 2014 HSC Drama students across the state. This experience allowed our students to
have direct knowledge of the performance values and standards required to achieve the most
engaging and memorable performances.
Our HSC Drama students have commenced work on their own Individual Projects and being able to
view such accomplished work in both Performance and Non-Performance Individual Projects was
inspirational to their process. They were able to gain valuable insight on the quality of the concepts
presented and the effective use of stagecraft. The critical responses from our students to these
performances can only enrich their own HSC performances in both Individual Projects and Group
Projects to be presented later this year.
Leo Sorbello
Drama Teacher.
English Faculty Update play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for the elective Distinctive Voice. The English Studies students are preparing the mandatory elective We Are Australians. They are currently nominating and researching their own Australians of the Year. Extension 1 English is focussing on the study of After the Bomb which involves the collection of related material from various periods throughout the time period. Extension 2 students are working on their draft of short stories for their major projects, which are due in August for external marking. We welcome all students back to Term 1. We would like to welcome Ms Geetu Vanjani as our ESL and English teacher replacing Ms Hellner who is on leave. We also welcome Ms Sharon Laurence, our new Librarian who has been appointed permanently to the school. Year 12 has settled back into the term and all students have commenced preparation for the Half Yearly exams. The Advanced students are currently studying the texts Julius Caesar and The Prince whilst the Standard students are focussing on the 4 Year 11 students have commenced the year successfully and are now coming to understand the demands of Stage 6 English study. These students will be commencing the study of new HSC texts when they start Year 12 in term 4. The texts studied in Year 11 will assist them in their preparation for Year 12. Advanced students are studying the play A Streetcar Named Desire whilst Standard students are currently studying the Australian play Gary’s House. This focus on drama is to enable students to write with a greater understanding of performance texts which is a required skill in the HSC exams. Extension 1 students have started their conceptual study of the Anti –Hero by investigating the rise of the Anti –
Hero in a variety of texts, including One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Students in this course are learning the importance of student‐centred research, which is ongoing and an essential element of the course. English Studies students have started to explore the elective on contemporary families. Our ESL students in both Years 11 and 12 are settling back into the school year and have commenced their courses with enthusiasm. We welcome our new International Students to the school, and hope that you soon feel part of the school community. It is important for all students to remember that course work preparation for this subject is ongoing and includes detailed notes and practice responses which take the form of essays and creative writing. It is expected by all classroom teachers that students use their Study Periods at school, either in the Library or Year 12 Study Centre the EDGE, to formulate their conceptual understanding of texts. Many students are using this time to receive feedback from the tutors available to assist them, or making times to see their classroom teacher for individual support. We urge students to use the expertise of Ms Laurence, the school Librarian to assist their planning of related texts. Ms Hill has commenced Quick Bites for her Extension 1 students at lunch time and Ms Vanjani is offering two lunchtime revision sessions: Monday for text study and Friday for essay writing for ESL students. Essay writing support has commenced on Monday lunchtimes in B3 for Standard and Advanced students with Ms Foulkes and other English staff members. Finally we would like to congratulate the Year 12 cohort for 2014 on their outstanding HSC English results. All Extension 2 students achieved a top band for their major work. Furthermore we were delighted with the Extension 1 results that saw all of our students receive a result in the top 2 bands. Both Standard and Advanced cohorts were above State average with a significant increase in the number of Band 5 and 6 grades. These outstanding results can be attributed to the partnership developed by each student with their teacher and the opportunities students took to seek feedback on their work. We look forward to an exciting year and are confident students will find their courses engaging and challenging. Kerry Foulkes Head Teacher English 5 Japanese 2015 Already most of the way through Term 1 and we've come so far in Japanese Beginners and Japanese Continuers! The Year 11 Japanese Beginners students have worked hard in Term 1 to learn how to read and write Hiragana which is one of three scripts in Japanese. We have a huge Year 11 Beginners class with many students who are already showing signs of great potential in Japanese. Three of our Beginners students and two Continuers students have offered to host Japanese students in the LABO Exchange Programme (July 23‐August 14). Thank you to the students and their families who will be participating. The Japanese students will attend all of their host buddies classes at Blackwattle Bay and will integrate into family activities after school and on weekends. I hope that not only the hosts but also other students in our school get to know the Japanese students and make life‐long friends. This year we are fortunate to have foreign exchange student Tomohiro Ichinose, from Japan, study at our school. Tomo, as we like to call him, joins our Year 11 Continuers class and often imparts his wealth of knowledge on all things Japanese. It is wonderful Tomohiro
having Tomo with us in class, assisting us with our Japanese studies. On Sunday February 15 the Japan Education Fair was held at UTS. The Fair offered students the opportunity to talk with representatives of various Japanese schools and Universities about study options in Japan after Year 12. Some of our Year 12 and Year 11 students attended and received some valuable information. Students who did not get the chance to attend may wish to speak with Ms Goodman about study options in Japan. For four weeks in Term 1, we were lucky to have Mr Shoichi Ueda join our Japanese classes as a Japanese Assistant. Mr Ueda was particularly interested in 'Tanka' (a type of short Japanese poem) and he introduced our Year 12 Continuers class to the art of 'Tanka'. Thank you Mr Ueda for the time you spent with us. Japanese Assistant Teachers are an invaluable resource for our studies in Japanese. In the April and July school holidays this year there will be HSC workshops for Year 12 Beginners and Continuers students. In April, The Beginners workshops will run from April 9‐10 and the Continuers will run from April 14‐15. The dates for the July workshops are yet to be released. Students who wish to improve in their Japanese skills and/or who wish to excel in the HSC examinations should all be encouraged to attend. The 2 day workshops cost $110, this includes 'obentoo' lunch box. Students who wish to travel to Japan in the December‐January school holidays as part of the LABO Exchange 3 week programme should start saving up since the 3 week trip is likely to cost approximately $5000. Please see Ms Goodman if interested. With Terms 2, 3 and 4 still to go we certainly have a lot to look forward to in Japanese studies this year. As well as all the fun that we have in class, students in Years 11 and 12 Beginners and Continuers need to realise the importance of studying vocabulary and grammar at home. Three classes a week do not provide enough time to process and remember large quantities of information. Time spent at home reinforcing language concepts is paramount to success in Japanese. 皆さん、頑張りましょう！ (Ms J Goodman) 6 Safe and Sound in the Workshops, Kitchens and Textiles Lab. The adherence of students to our uniform code with regard to the wearing of black leather shoes in the workshops and kitchens has been welcomed by all TAS teachers. The wearing of inappropriate footwear (non‐leather shoes) has been a safety concern in the past, but this year all but a small minority of students have complied with this WHS requirement. This has meant that teachers can easily identify those students who don’t have correct footwear and hence lessons start sooner and run more smoothly. It is worth noting that students undertaking VET courses also need to comply with the wearing of enclosed leather shoes to attain competencies in their field of endeavour. are now listed on the Board of Studies website. Students need to be aware that these dates are arbitrary, no extension can be offered since all projects are externally marked by HSC board of studies marking teams. The dates are: Industrial Technology Timber and Multi Media ‐ 9.00am Thursday, 6th August 2015 Design and Technology Major Projects ‐ 9.am Thursday, 20th August 2015 These projects are considered a component of the students HSC examination and hence all exam rules apply as with any written exam held during the HSC in Term 4. Students will be able to take their projects home toward the end of Term 3 when marking is completed and various school displays and celebrations are concluded. In the coming months parents are encouraged to monitor their child’s progress. It is expected that all students invest extra time outside of scheduled lessons to complete practical projects in the workshop; times can be negotiated with individual teachers. Supporting documentation (folios) must be completed by students at home. The TAS staff would like to thank all parents and care givers for ensuring students wear appropriate full covered black leather shoes. This code is also necessary in Art and Science where students also are involved in practical processes. TAS HSC Major Projects Students of Year 12 are mid‐way through their HSC courses and dates for marking HSC Major Projects Example of Year 12 Industrial Technology, Major Work 2014 by Jack Humphreys. Students must display the process of project development as well as the final product. Our current students are producing their projects now. 7 Aiden American Ash and Cherry stationery cabinet. This Major Work incorporates a range of exotic timbers from all over the world. Students develop a true appreciation of design and artisanship when working with quality cabinet timbers. Example of Year 12 Design and Technology. Grace Forbes’ school uniform, exemplifies state of the art textiles to achieve a lightweight, stain resistant skirt that is both comfortable and fashionable. The Garment Guard, designed by Lawrence Marychurch. The concept was to produce lightweight luggage for cyclists to ensure ironed office clothes were not crushed by the morning commute.
The Norwegian Royal Visit. On Wednesday 24 February 2015 three Year1 2 Blackwattle Bay students were part of the NSW Public School singers who performed for the Norwegian Royals. The event was held at Government House and they performed their own version of Waltzing Matilda, Rachel by Idea of North and even managed a great version of Happy Birthday for the King. Congratulations to Raylene Zhang, Oscar Sweeney and Mendy Atencio. 8 Music Music is growing in Blackwattle Bay Campus. In Term 1, Music students studying Music 1, Music 2 and Extension Music have already been exposed to several different opportunities covering composition and performance, 2 of the key areas of Music pedagogy. On Friday 13th February, the students were engaged in a compositional workshop as a part of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Meet the Music series at Monkey Baa in Darling Harbour. As a part of this workshop, students were given a presentation by composer and educator Jim Coyle, Director of Artistic Planning of Sydney Symphony Orchestra Benjamin Schwartz and questions were asked to Australian composer George Lentz, whose composition premiered in Australia at the first of four Meet the Music Concerts at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 18th February. At the workshop, students were given background information in understanding the music of Berlioz and his use of pitch sets as well as the background information in the composition of George Lentz’s premiering work Jerusalem (after Blake). Furthermore, students studying preliminary/HSC Music 2 were engaged in a compositional workshop on Thursday 19th February to further supplement their ideas for the HSC core composition representing Music of the last 25 Years (An Australian Focus). This workshop is a continuation from 2014, where Ms. Rosalind Carlson informed the students about how nature and the surrounding environment could be used as influences. This year the workshop was presented by Australian composer Drew Crawford, whose compositions include more contemporary influences including: electronic compositions, film composition, cabaret, and jazz ensembles. The Year 12 Music students presented two lunchtime concerts this term. These lunchtime concerts provided students with an opportunity to practise their HSC repertoire in readiness for their first performance task at the HSC Evening Concert on Tuesday 3rd March. Toi Toi Toi to our HSC musicians. Students at Monkey Baa in Darling Harbour for the Meet the Music Composition Workshop Year 12 Extensive Sectional Compositon Workshops with Australian 9 10 11