29 July 2016 - Moss Vale High School

Moss Vale High Newsletter
Issue 1 Term 3 2016
Moss Vale High School
Respectful, Safe and Responsible Learners
21 Narellan Road MOSS VALE NSW 2577 • PO Box 137 •
T: 02 4868 1717 • F: 02 4868 2787 •
E: [email protected]
29 July 2016
Moss Vale High School website : www.mossvale-h.schools.nsw.edu.au
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Moss Vale High Newsletter
Issue 1 Term 3 2016
Principal’s Report
Vale Antony Stott
It was with great sadness that I announced to our school community in the
first week of term that Moss Vale High School was faced with another
tragedy with the sudden death of our much-loved Mr Antony Stott. Antony
died suddenly during a soccer match at Thirroul on Saturday, July 16. We
held a memorial last Monday, July 25, to remember and pay our respect to
Antony. We were joined Antony‟s parents, Julie and Gary, his brother, Kevin,
Antony‟s girlfriend, Laura, and over thirty of Antony‟s friends and soccer
team mates. I want to thank all our staff and students for their
compassionate support of each other over the past two weeks. In
particular, I would like to thank and acknowledge the following students for
their outstanding work in assisting me with organising such a respectful
and loving memorial for Antony: Nic Wilson, Hugh Parker, Dale Young, Daisy
Schaefer, Alice Rough, Mackenzie Chesterfield, Kody Tozer, Sascha Marold,
Cameron Clay, Amelia Yeartsley, Jemima Huggett, Travis Neale, Tyla MullieLocke, Soiphie White, Cody Gray, Emily Christensen, Katelyn Hall, Verity
Evans, Maggie Sims, Jemma White, Ethan Krebs, Luke Webb, Year 11
Entertainment class and our school captains, Lucy Backhouse, Harriet
Snaith, Lachlan Williams and Hamish Schaefer.
I would like to thank Mrs Linda Johnston and Mr Andrew Drummond for organising the two tribute
performances by the Vocal Rollers and the Senior Girls Ensemble, One Note Longer.
I have included a copy of my speech that I delivered at the memorial:
I would like to extend my warmest welcome and deepest sympathies to Antony’s parents, Julie and Gary, his
brother Kevin and girlfriend Kerrie, Antony’s girlfriend Laura, his friends and members of the Thirroul Junior
Football Club who have joined our school community today to remember and show our respect for Antony.
Antony joined Moss Vale High School at the start of 2015 when he visited me to drop in his CV seeking casual
teaching employment. I was immediately impressed by Antony and asked him to cover an absent teacher the
very next day. From that day forward, Antony became a regular casual relief teacher and gained a temporary
position in Maths covering Ms O’Brien’s maternity leave. Antony was an immediate hit with our students. He
engaged them in their learning, went above and beyond with his teaching and always showed them that he
cared about them and was always prepared to share his wonderful sense of humour with them. After the
departure of Mr Haynes, I was able to advertise a permanent Maths position at the start of this year. Ms
Campbell and I were thrilled when we ran a merit selection panel in March and we were able to select Antony,
from numerous applicants, as a permanent Maths teacher at Moss Vale High School.
Antony was loved and respected by staff and students alike. He had a calm, caring and highly engaging
manner that instantly drew people to him. I would like to say to Julie, Greg and Kevin- THANK YOU for helping
to shape and nurture one of the finest young men that I have ever had the pleasure to meet and work with.
In today’s society our young people are often confronted by some very negative images and representations of
male behaviour. It is so important that our boys- and our girls- have key positive male role models in their lives.
That’s one of the many reasons why Helen Campbell and I were so thankful to have secured Antony at our
school permanently. Antony epitomised all that it means to be a true man - gentle, caring, respectful of all
people, curious about the world around him, inspirational to others and committed to making the world a
better place.
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Over the past week, I have seen more acutely the impact that Antony has made in such a short period of time
on the lives of so many young people. He has shown our young men and women what a truly good man looks
like! This is Antony’s legacy at Moss Vale High School. He has inspired his students to be better people, to
value their education, to always strive to be the best version of themselves, to always treat others with
kindness and to make a positive difference in their little corner of the world.
I want Julie, Gary, Kevin, Laura, Kerrie and all of Antony’s loved ones to know that the collective love and
thoughts of our school community surround you and wish you comfort. You are all now part of our Moss Vale
High School family. We will never forget Antony and the joy and special warmth he brought to our lives.
Rest peacefully Antony.
I would also like to acknowledge Hugh Parker and Nic Wilson of Year 9 who wrote the following tribute to
Antony and bravely delivered it at last Monday’s memorial.
Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you. These as most of you know are the 1 st two lines of a coldplay
song. This song always seems to come to me in times of grief.
Mr Stott, teacher, ex-Newcastle United player (probably) and influential ginger was taken away from us on the
16 July in unthinkable circumstances.
I was called by Nic on that night at about 10. I will never forget the feeling when I realised it wasn‟t a joke. I
hope it‟s something I never experience again. It was this mix of confusion and shock and just overall upset.
This is stuff that happens in dreams, nightmares. Something that I‟ll wake up from and everything will be ok.
Young fit men just don‟t leave the world like he did. Why we ask. Doing something he loved. No one has an
answer.
Mr Stott wasn‟t just a teacher he was a mate. He has always happy to have some banter. He was good at that
with his witty humour.
He loved maths and his students but he loved Newcastle and his football more though he was a terrible
manager just like all of England's. There was one game, a 7-0 loss, which definitely wasn‟t the players fault. I
still think I‟ll see him in the playground and talk to him about last night‟s game, discussing the EPL and if he
was actually Jack Colback.
There are little things about Mr Stott that will stay with us forever. I remember things like his gold watch,
which was his grandfather‟s which he wore every day. Things he said such as good lad or that he won
Leicester‟s Got Talent twice for Irish dancing to techno music.
Things he did such as giving me 55 minutes of detention for asking if we could watch Newcastle highlights the
day after they got relegated or when he offered to pay for my concert ticket so I wasn‟t in his class.
I keep expecting him to walk around a corner, walking on his toes like he did, pushing his watch back up his
arm, looking at me through his shades before saying a word that he couldn‟t even say properly because of his
bloody pommy accent which “is nothing like Dizzy Rascals.”
I can remember when Mr Stott first taught our year 8 maths class. Our first impressions were far from the
normal good teacher, bad teacher ones. I remember confusing my parents by saying “There‟s a new English
maths teacher.” One day Nic pointed out that Mr Stott looked a little bit like a mouse so we took it upon
ourselves to buy this new pommy mouse man a block of cheese, specifically extra mature cheddar, his
favourite. We had big plans of taking it into the classroom and making a very funny cheese presentation but
Mr Stott had other ideas. Upon entry, he told me to give him the cheese. So not only do gingers possess
powers of fire and head warmth but they can see the future too.
We had many unique experiences with Mr Stott. Like the time we bought him a Newcastle United jacket off
eBay as a leaving present from our class, or when we made a petition to keep him teaching at our school, or
just the last Tuesday before we had holidays I bought him a box of tissues to comfort him after England‟s loss
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Issue 1 Term 3 2016
to Iceland at the Euro‟s with Simon and Garfunkel‟s classic Sounds of Silence playing in the background. He
took all of this in his stride as we built a friendship that will never end as will the memory of him in our school
community.
Especially his smile, it was unique. I bet that every person here can picture his cheeky grin as he strolled past,
bathing in his own swagger.
He had a positive impact on everyone. If you had told us at the start of the year that we would be doing
extension maths twice a week before school you‟d be shot through the roof. But we did and it was only because
of one man. I don‟t know how I‟ll do maths without him walking laps around the classroom, always willing to help
in such a way he made maths fun and so easy to understand. His activity week showed how popular he was, 75
students to go on a sport & rec camp!
Although I can't find all the words to describe you, I can say that you were a beautiful person, with the passion
not only to teach, but also to form a connection. Sir, the stars will shine brighter for you tonight than they ever
had before. Well they will to me anyway. So rest easy mate. You are forever in my memory.
You left us too soon. The man of the people, the Leicester lad. We love you mate! Rest easy, Stotty.
Hugh Parker in Red and Nic Wilson in black.
========== // ===========
Year 7 Portfolio PDHPE
I had the great pleasure of attending Mrs Wells‟ Year 7 portfolio PDHPE lesson last week where students were
presenting their tasks on the issue of „bullying‟. Students were able to choose from a variety of ways in which to
explore and present their ideas and messages about the problem of bullying. I was incredibly impressed by the
sophisticated and eloquent manner in which the students spoke about their tasks. Congratulations to the
following students who presented during my visit to the class: Mabelle Rivas, Matthew Johnston, Maizy Evans,
Harry Phillips and Thomas Gillis.
Thank you Mrs Wells and Year 7 Portfolio for inviting me into your classroom, I thoroughly enjoyed the
presentations.
Congratulations
I would like to congratulate two of our very talented students, Liam Reed and Louis Economos, on being
selected for the 2016 Urban Dance Crew as part of the New South Wales Dance Festival. This is a highly
competitive and prestigious festival and our school community is extremely proud of these two fine young men.
Patricia Holmes
Principal
Southern Highlands Campus Open Night: 17 August
A world-class university, right on your doorstep.
Find your why
Come along to our campus open night at the number 1 university in NSW and find your why. We'll answer
all of your questions about our courses, entry requirements and applications, pathways to uni, costs and
scholarships.
Wednesday 17 August
6.00 pm - 7.30 pm
UOW Southern Highlands Campus, Kirkham St, Moss Vale
entrance)
(second entrance after TAFE campus
https://highlands.uow.edu.au/open-night/index.html
— visit to register
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Moss Vale High Newsletter
Issue 1 Term 3 2016
Acting Deputy Principal’s Report
To our wonderful students, staff and parents of Moss Vale High School.
I began my teaching career in 1979, and Moss Vale was my third school. In 2016, I have been at Moss
Vale High School for 24 year (yes, I started here in 1993). In that time I have had many positions: teacher,
parent, P&C member, Year Adviser, Head Teacher, Deputy Principal and a couple of times as Principal! I
think that I am in a good position to make a judgement on Moss Vale High School of 2016.
I can honestly say that this school is now in the best place of all the years I have been teaching. I am so
proud and lucky to be in such as great position in my final year of teaching. At Monday‟s Memorial service
for Mr Stott, I made the statement that “in the worst of times, we often see the best of people”. What we
see in our wonderful students is that they show all the qualities the school aims to develop to enable them
to demonstrate the PBS values of Respectful, Responsible and Safe in their future lives as model citizens!
I have never been so proud to be a member of a school!
Moss Vale High School is a very special and unique community!
Quick Points
* Uniform
The uniform shop has a limited supply of the new Winter Jackets in all sizes. More substantial stocks will
arrive soon. Reminder that the “sports jacket” (two red stripes on sleeves) is for Tuesday only for Years 9,
10 and 11.
ALSO: Enclosed Leather shoes are a Department Requirement - (not just Moss Vale High School). Please
protect your children and support the teachers so that they can support quality learning! Parents saying
they will accept responsibility has no legal standing.
ALSO: If you have any surplus uniforms (too small etc) please donate them to our clothing pool (drop in at
front office).
* Metal Rulers
The DoE has clear guidelines on WH&S issues. Metal Rulers are not acceptable in state schools.
* Absences
The school is under immense pressure from the DoE to account for every student absence. Please supply
a note or submit on line, on the following day after the absence. Reminder that the reason must fall under
SICK (stating the nature of the sickness) or LEAVE (appointments other than medical, etc)
Finally - Important dates
Year 10 Subject Preferences for Year 11 2017- submitted (on line) by Friday 5 August
Year 12 Trial Exam Week 8 August to 12 August (Week 4)
Year 10 VALID On-Line Exam for Year 10 - Wednesday 31 August (Week 7)
Mr Craig O’Brien
ACTING DEPUTY PRINCIPAL
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Reading Matters
At the NAIDOC Assembly Kelsey Attwood spoke about one of the books that
she had read and enjoyed.
I am here today to talk to you about a book I have recently read, my dilemma
is there have been so many. Somehow I came to the conclusion that I was
going to talk about The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The summary of the
story is that the story follows a nine-year-old German girl named Liesel who
was forced to move in with Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the small town of
Molching just before World War 2. On her way there, Liesel’s younger
brother dies and she is constantly haunted by the nightmares of his death.
Once they had buried her brother, one of the grave diggers dropped their
handbook in the snow, in a desperate plea to remember this day, Liesel grabs
the book and hides it in her coat, the very start of her infamous ways.
The story is so eye opening to me because it is narrated by death, an unlikely
narrator. Yet personally I love that it transports us into the mind of Death
and how Markus believed death itself felt about it. And yes I am well aware of
the movie about it too, but I’ve seen it and read the book and there are little
illustrations in the book that shows the uniqueness of those who wrote it.
Ms Cripps also spoke about books that she had read and enjoyed
To celebrate NAIDOC Week I have chosen Kate Grenville and three of her books which explore the relationship
between Aboriginal people and the English settlers. If you like historical fiction or you just want to read an
evocatively imagined narrative which explores the complex relationships between the indigenous population and
those who were sent here to claim the land in the name of a King then three books are just what you want.
The Lieutenant was inspired by a real story that took place in the colony of New South Wales in the last years of
the eighteenth century. The story has been hidden for two hundred years between the lines of two shabby blue
notebooks stored in a London manuscript library. They record the extraordinary friendship between Lieutenant
William Dawes, a soldier with the First Fleet to New South Wales, and a young Aboriginal girl, Patyegarang.
Dawes - a scholar more than a soldier - set out to learn the language of the people of Sydney Cove, the Gadigal.
The notebooks begin with lists of nouns and verbs and grammatical forms, but gradually abandon that approach
for a more human one: Dawes recorded entire conversations that took place between him and Patyagarang.
Between the lines of the conversations it's clear that they developed a relationship that was mutually respectful,
playful, and warmly affectionate.
Dawes' friendship brought him on a collision course with the authorities. Finally, he had to choose between his
relationship with Patyegarang and her people, and the military machine of which he was part.
The Secret River was made into a series by the ABC and Sarah Thornhill examines the next generation of settlers
who follow on from characters in The Secret River. All three books are in the school library – so check them out if
they sound interesting to you.
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Issue 1 Term 3 2016
English Experiences
Year 9 English recently completed an illustrated story Assessment Task. One student in particular,
Breeanna Johnson, has continued to write and sketch in her own journal. Please enjoy two stories
that Breeanna has kindly agreed to share.
Summer is like Hot Chocolate
Summer is like a steamy cup of hot chocolate.
If it‟s too hot, no-one can enjoy it and you‟ll have to wait. If it‟s too cold, what‟s
the point in it being hot chocolate?
The peak of the hot steam is the winter frost evaporating to thinness up in the
clouds. The last of all that fruity goodness that comes in a summer smoothie is
like when you get to the very bottom of the cup and there is all that sweet
lasting chocolate pool waiting.
Sitting on a warm beach is the same feeling as a mini marshmallow melting
away your troubles in your mouth.
Yes, summer is definitely like hot chocolate and no-one can get enough.
The Cave
My cave is like a home, not just for me, but for everyone.
Things come and go as they please with no worries or troubles in the world,
just happy thoughts and feelings.
No-one is scared or ashamed of who they are or what they look like. People
say it seems like heaven with love, compassion and freedom.
My cave is a home of warmth.
It is a home for all who care and think. It’s like a force field held up by the
need and strength of others.
I keep my cave clean, neat and tidy, like my mind, just an open space with
imagination and creativity.
*** Advertisement ***
It gets a bit cluttered sometimes with every other person’s negativity. People
without eyes but just mouths and all they do is talk and talk and talk. Until I take in one deep breath and blow them
all away. Then my cave is my cave again: happy and clean.
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Issue 1 Term 3 2016
FREE FAMILY INFORMATION EVENING FOR Moss Vale High School STUDENTS AND
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE IN 2016
Student Exchange Australia New Zealand is a not-for-profit organisation, registered with all state and territory Departments of
Education around Australia and with the Ministry of Education in NZ. We are the first and only secondary exchange
organisation in Australia and New Zealand to be certified to ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) and we ensure the
highest standards of care and support to our participants.
We would like to invite your students and families to a FREE Information Evening in Wollongong on Wednesday, 3 August. The
session is being held at the Wollongong City Library and starts at 6:30pm.
Students can find out more about our exchange programs to over 25 countries, listen to former exchange students share their
experience and learn about our scholarships and discounts on offer in 2016.
We offer scholarships and discounts worth over $100,000 to students each year. These include 3 x Language, 3 x
International Affairs, 2 x Indigenous and 3 x Digital Video Scholarships and 2 x Volunteer and Community Involvement
Scholarships. Please note that the deadline is Thursday, 31st March 2016 for scholarship applications and early bird
discounts.
"You come back a different person, with so much more confidence & you feel that you can
conquer the world" Jessica, Semester Program to Italy
We would appreciate if you could please mention our upcoming information session in your newsletter or place the notice on a
study room noticeboard. You can copy the below text or download our pdf notice from here. If you would prefer to receive the
attachment in a different version, please respond to this email with your request.
FREE STUDENT EXCHANGE INFORMATION
EVENING IN WOLLONGONG
Hear from returned students, find out more about
discounts and scholarships available and ask questions.
Wednesday, 3 August - 6.30pm
Wollongong City Library,
Ground Floor, Central Lending Library,
41 Burelli St
Wollongong
Visit www.studentexchange.org.au or call 1300 135 331 for more information
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Darts Champions
Congratulations to …
Bonnie-Rae Byfield Year 11
and
Elizabeth Meredith Year 9
who are bronze medallists representing
Mittagong and districts in the Junior Girls
State Fours Darts competition.
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Issue 1 Term 3 2016
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Issue 1 Term 3 2016
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- Advertisement -
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TO : MOSS VALE HIGH
NOTE OF ABSENCE
Date : ___________________
Address : _____________________________
________________________________
Roll Class : ______________ Year : ___________
Please excuse the absence of my son/daughter : _____________________________________
on (dates) _____________________________________________________________________
Total number of days absent : ______________
The reason for the absence/s (this reason must be specific, not just "he/she was sick") : ________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Parent Name : ______________________________
Parent Signature : ___________________________
TO : MOSS VALE HIGH
Date sent : _______________
NOTE OF ABSENCE
Date : ___________________
Address : _____________________________
________________________________
Roll Class : ______________ Year : ___________
Please excuse the absence of my son/daughter : _____________________________________
on (dates) _____________________________________________________________________
Total number of days absent : ______________
The reason for the absence/s (this reason must be specific, not just "he/she was sick") : ________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Parent Name : ______________________________
Parent Signature : ___________________________
Date sent : _______________
CHANGE OF ADDRESS / CONTACT DETAILS
OFFICE USE ONLY
CHANGED ON
NAME :...................................................................
Roll Class : ........ .... Year : …. .......
NEW ADDRESS : ............................................................................... PO BOX .....................
....................................................................................................................................................
New Phone No's : Home : ......................................
ERN
EMERGENCY
CARD
BUS Co
Work (M) : .........................................
Mobile (M) : .......................... Work (F) : ............................ Mobile (F) : ..............................
RECEIVED
NEW BUS
Email : …………………………………………………………………………………………………..
DATE YOU CHANGED ADDRESS : .......................................................................................
PARENTS / GUARDIANS NAMES YOU ARE LIVING WITH :
................................................................................................................................................................................
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