Penrith Selective High School
May Newsletter 2018
Principal's Address
With the first two weeks completed, I continue to be amazed, impressed and proud of what students are doing both in and out of the classroom. There isn’t a day that passes where staff aren’t working alongside students to create opportunities. At the same time, students are really looking for opportunities to excel and develop their interests across a range of pursuits. A snapshot of these are represented below.
The special P&C Meeting was held on Tuesday May 8 and the decision was made to advertise for a new canteen manager instead of moving to tender. This is a good outcome as the result of long discussions and the commitment from the P&C to continue with this model until the end of term 3. A decision about whether to continue to operate a P&C run canteen or offering the service to tender will take place in early term 3 following a review of the canteen performance. An advertisement for manager will be distributed via a number of platforms next week and your support in circulating this to any interested applicants would be greatly appreciated. I would like to thank Mrs Tracey Davies our Canteen manager for her many years of service to the school. As a mother of former Penrith students, Tracey started as a volunteer before moving into the manager position. A special thanks to the canteen staff, volunteers and parents who will keep the canteen operating while the position is advertised.
We farewell our Careers Adviser, Natasha O’Regan, who starts her Maternity leave for 12 months. Natasha will be back in 2019 and we all wish her a wonderful time with her new baby. Mr Chris Buchli joins us while Natasha is off. He comes from Baulkham Hills HS where he filled that role for 2 years. Mrs Rebecca Ross has also joined Penrith as the Head Teacher Educational Achievement and English teacher. Rebecca joins us from Hurlstone Agricultural High School and the Department’s High Performance unit. The Maths faculty have also welcomed two new permanent staff which means that the faculty is fully staffed once again. Mr David Huynh (Springwood HS) and Ms Lina Zhou (Asquith Boys HS) were both appointed through interview and we look forward to students working with both teachers. Mr Stephen Tan (Monday/Wednesday/Thursday) is job sharing with Mr Daniel Antone (Tuesday/ Friday) as he continues to support a family member.
There are many night events in the coming weeks, so I look forward to seeing many parents at our at upcoming Parent Teacher nights.
Warm regards,
Mark Long
Principal
Meet the Teacher
Rebecca Ross - Head Teacher Educational Achievement -(English Faculty)
There are some teachers who have joined Penrith Selective High School this term. These include:
Rebecca Ross - Head Teacher Educational Achievement -(English Faculty)
Rebecca began her career in public education as a teacher education scholarship recipient in South West Sydney after completing her Master of Teaching degree at the University of Sydney. She has been a HSC Marker for Standard, Advanced and Extension 1 English, delivered workshops and presentations at the ETA State Conference, Teacher Quality Forum, Deputy Principals Induction Conference and Principals Networks, led a statewide conference for beginning teachers in selective schools and was a judge for the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Writer of the Year Competition. From 2011 – 2016 Rebecca taught English at Hurlstone Agricultural High School, where she also served as a Debating Coach, Year Adviser and Academic Adviser, Relieving Head Teacher English and for two years relieved as Head Teacher Teaching and Learning. Most recently, Rebecca held a position as a Senior Education Officer in the Leadership and High Performance Directorate in State Office. In 2017 Rebecca received an Outstanding Professional Service Award for her volunteer work with the English Teachers’ Association of NSW. She is currently undertaking a Masters of Education by distance. Rebecca loves finding new ways to enthuse and challenge gifted students in the study of English. She believes that every student deserves to be known, cared for, and encouraged to discover and develop their gifts.
Chris Buchli ('ch sounds like 'sh') - Careers Adviser
I have worked as a Careers Adviser for the past year at Baulkham Hills High School and I am also a trained Ancient History and Society and Culture teacher. I have only been here at Penrith High School for a few weeks and I already love it. I’m a bit of a latecomer to teaching and before I was a teacher I was a music tutor who taught bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitar and singing. I can play a few chords on the piano and hold a beat on the drums as well. Aside from being musical, in my spare time I enjoy reading, listening to podcasts and chatting about philosophy and technology, particularly where those two things intersect. I have found Careers teaching indulges these passions as I get to spend a good deal of time considering the future of work and the effect that automation will have on our students. I love nothing more than seeing people do what they love to do and so this picture is me doing another thing I love: travelling. The photo was taken in Santorini at sunset last July and I’ll never forget it.
I’m looking forward to meeting and working with the staff, students, parents and community while I do the job of the clearly much-loved Careers Adviser, Natasha O’Regan, while she is on Maternity Leave.
David Huynh
Previous Schools: Springwood High and before that St Clair High
Subject Area: Mathematics.
University Education: UTS
Interests: Designing shoelaces and coaching basketball
Favourite Sport: Basketball
Favourite Food Dish: Chicken and brown rice
Anything Else? I look forward to the challenges of teaching at Penrith High School and contributing to the school culture, student academics and any school sporting endeavours.
Feel free to speak with me at the Maths staff room or if you see me wandering around on playground duty.
Lina Zhou
Previous Schools: Asquith Boys High School and before that Kingsgrove North High School
Subject Area: Mathematics.
University Education: USyd
Interests: Cooking, Painting and Singing
Favourite Sport: Swimming
Favourite Food Dish: Korean BBQ
Anything Else? I am looking forward to teaching the gifted and talented students of Penrith Selective High, learning and teaching lots of mathematics/enrichment/challenges. I am a gifted dumpling maker and I will keep the maths staff well fed! (Mrs Briggs is very happy).
Ms Zubaida Alrubai
Previous School: none
Subject Area: Mathematic
University Education: USyd
Interests: Watching bad movies on purpose, Arts/Foreign films, Gym
Favourite Sport: Soccer
Favourite Food Dish: Cheese on anything and everything!
Anything Else? I am friendly/approachable so come and say hi.
Anzac Day Ceremony
Penrith Selective High School held its annual ANZAC Day Commemoration Ceremony on Thursday April 12 during period 4 in the hall. Years 7, 10 and 12 were the audience. The guest speaker was Flying Officer Mitchell Harvey from the Richmond RAAF Base who spoke engagingly about the ANZAC spirit. Another highlight of the ceremony was a beautiful rendition of the song "Angel" by the Year 12 Music class.
Special Guest for the Anzac Day Ceremony
Special guest for the Anzac Day Ceremony was Flying Officer Mitchell Harvey from the Richmond RAAF Base, accompanied by Sinduja Sureshkumar (PSHS) representing the Army and Trishan Don Bernard (PSHS) representing the Air Force.
Introduction
Year 12 Music Class
Year 10 History Excursion to the Australian National Maritime Museum.
History students in 10H2, 10H4 and 10H6 visited the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour, Sydney on Thursday March 29 accompanied by Mr Stone, Mr Hoekstra and Ms Moore. This excursion enabled students to gain a better understanding of the role of immigration in post World War Two Australia. Students also had fun exploring the World War Two gunship, the HMAS Vampire. All students were terrific ambassadors for our school. Well done Year 10!
Careers Update
It has been a busy few weeks to start the term and there is plenty happening across the board.
Work Experience
Year 10 have work experience week three. They were well-prepared but could be forgiven for feeling a little apprehensive. It is their first foray into the world of the workplace and there’s a lot to learn and know. Students need to focus on building some basic ‘soft skills’ such as communication and initiative, and they also need to be reflective about their week. This process will be continued when they return to school so that they can get the most out of their experience. Hopefully they can pay attention to what they did and did not enjoy about their week, what was difficult or easy, and what can they do from here. Even a disaster of a week helps a student to perhaps reconsider a career that is not for them. I hope all students gain a lot out of their work experience and move quite a few steps closer to knowing where they’d like to go in their post-school life.
Max Potential
Four Year 10 students from Penrith High School, along with students from other schools, attended their first Max Potential sessions in week two. This is a leadership program designed to help students, with the help of a coach, form goals and take steps towards achieving them. This is an important life skill and one that is perhaps underrated. Our students engaged in activities such as defining what ‘success’ means to them but doing so only by drawing pictures. Students and coaches created and shared life mottos of which the highlight was one coach who asked “Is it ‘one day’, or day one?”. Students who wish to achieve their sometimes lofty ambitions would be well-served to take on such a proactive and accountable stance.
Macquarie Career Ready Day
A further 23 Year 10 students attended Macquarie Career Ready Day where they heard from experts and engaged in activities all across the university. They sampled the university facilities and received information about how to progress from here towards university. As a new teacher here at PHS I have to say I was so pleased to see the exemplary behaviour of our students during the presentations. The room for our opening and closing sessions was quite warm and it was hard to focus, so many students became talkative and disruptive. Our students were without a doubt the most attentive and responsible of the group of approximately 150 students and I was impressed with their diligence all day. They also looked smashing in their new blazers.
Year 12 Talks
Year 12 have had talks from Macquarie and Sydney universities which were well attended and productive. UNSW attended on May 11 as well and I am expecting a full house again for that.
UNSW will be back again to talk about their Coop scholarships. Any student who would like a career in Business, IT, Engineering or Mathematics and who can demonstrate excellent leadership skills should absolutely apply. Applications are already open, and they close at the end of September. I will be running workshops for students before then to assist them with this.
Professional Cadetships Australia – Business
PCA business cadetships closed on Wednesday May 16. I will not be accepting further applications and Year 12 have had multiple reminders about this. I do have some applications in draft form which have been submitted to me for feedback. I will have those back as soon as possible and students will have a further day to update and submit those. There are at least a few application that look very good.
Macquarie Co-op Scholarships
The Macquarie Co-op Scholarships in Actuarial Studies and Commerce are now open as well. Interested students should listen out for scholarship application-writing events that I will be running.
For parents who might be new to this, Co-op Scholarships are very prestigious and competitive scholarships aimed at students with excellent leadership skills, passion, motivation and drive to succeed. They typically involve a number of internships across the degree and have a cash prize of just over $18,000 per year. With the work students do in the internships, it is absolutely earned. The industry experience and networking are priceless for graduates moving into the world of employment, post-university, and many students end up with offers of employment from the companies with whom they interned. I recommend this for students who are highly involved in extra-curricular activities and who expect to get an ATAR in the 96+ range.
Congratulations Keiran!
PSHS Student Recognised at Youth Awards
At the Rotary Club of Nepean Annual Youth Awards Night, PSHS student, Keiran Ha, was amongst six recipients to receive an award. The students are chosen by their Principal and Year Leader as leaders within their school in demonstrating community participation both within and outside of the school community - students who give their time to help with fundraisers and school activities that benefit both the charities involved and their fellow students. Congratulations Keiran!
Congratulations Ricky Rangra!
Final Round of the Blacktown Youth Ambassador Selection for 2018/19
On Thursday April 12 last term, I had the opportunity to address the councillors of Blacktown City Council, at a dinner held at the Blacktown Civic Centre.
The speech that I gave was on the topic ‘How do the disengaged youth re-engage with leaders of society to have their voices heard?’, and this was as part of the final stage for the selection of the 2018/19 Blacktown Youth Ambassadors; this is a prestigious program that Blacktown council has run since 1984.
(https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Community/Youth-Ambassador-Program).
The selection process consisted of various rounds, being an online submission, then a written application, followed by talks with an interview panel including the mayor and finally the dinner speech. This year, around 80 people applied for the program and 8 were chosen to present at the dinner.
My speech was centred around the political tools of social media & technology, activism and advocacy that our youth can utilise to deconstruct communication barriers that they have with our leaders, and so that they can convey their beliefs more effectively. I have a fair amount of experience in speaking, whether through school debating, model UNs or even public speaking competitions (in fact before I wrote this I was preparing for the Sydney West Regional Finals of the Rostrum Voice of Youth Competition held at Baulkham Hills High next week), but I can fully say that those experiences didn’t draw parallels to this. Why? Well the privilege of being able to talk about your passions and opinions in front of so many important people, including your parents, your deputy principal and council executives is something that feels deeply rewarding personally because it facilitates a sense of self significance that you feel mildly proud of.
Although I wasn’t chosen as one of the two Youth Ambassadors, I’m certainly more than content to have been a finalist because first of all, I took so much away from the experience, and secondly, who wouldn’t enjoy a free lovely dinner hosted by the council?!
I had an amazing time through the Youth Ambassador process. In hindsight, I must admit that it would have been nice to get the position, but I also realise that me myself conceding that I gave it my best shot and that I was unsuccessful is just as fruitful, because it lets me learn that as a young person who’ll be in university soon, I’ll have my fair share of achievements and also my fair share of shortfalls.
If you’re a parent or guardian reading this, who lives in the Blacktown Council area and whose child will be between the ages of 15 and 18 next year, then I’d strongly recommend that you encourage your child to keep an eye out for this program next year.
You can find my speech here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VgqAf4WoYNqfIF2BnAHWCjecLOzgtZSd/view?usp=sharing
Ricky Rangra
Prefect
Penrith Selective High School
Congratulations John Maddock!
Last term John Maddock was awarded the Year 10 Academic Excellence Award at the University of Sydney for his results in 2017.
As an additional Penrith touch, Victoria Hospodaryk (class of 2016), gave the keynote address alongside the Deputy Vice Chancellor.
Congratulations John!
Years 7-10 Recognition Assemblies
During the last week of Term One and the first week of Term Two students from Years 7-10 had special Recognition Assemblies to acknowledge their academic progress and initiative as well as achievements in other areas including Social Justice and Citizenship. Tanish Patil and Lachlan Braikenridge did the Acknowledgement of Country and Joel Goh and Leanna Yao performed items on the piano along with Isaac Zhao. Congratulations to all students!
Yr 7 Recognition Assembly Awards
Yr 7 Recognition Assembly Awards
Isaac Zhao performed Reverie Miriam Hyde.
Mathematics Update
Term Two has started off with a few changes to our Mathematics staff.
Firstly, we farewelled two staff members: Miss Jing Lu left for Gymea Bay Technology High and Ms Elena Efimova left for Blacktown Boys High. We wish them both all the best in their new ventures. This means that we welcomed two new members of staff: Mr David Huynh (from Springwood High) and Ms Lina Zhou (from Asquith Boys High). Both new teachers are now permanent members of the Mathematics staff.
Our Euler and Gauss Enrichment programs are well under way for Years 8 and 9. Students are reminded that the first question is due in week 4!
From Week 11, Term One the Mathematics staff have organised a maths roster whereby they will spend lunch (recess on Wednesdays), in room 4 and will help any Year 12 student with any maths homework or class questions. The roster is up outside room 4. Students are welcome to attend any lunchtime (or recess on Wednesdays) on any day and seek help with their mathematics.
Peer Tutoring is also up and running. If you are in Years 7 to 11 and need help with your maths work, please email Mustafa or Tommy or Victor at mathspeertutoring @gmail.com and they will match you with a tutor who will help you with your maths for free.
* The AMC (Australian Maths Competition) is a compulsory exam for Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and optional for Year 11/12 Mathematics students. It will be held on Thursday August 9. Students need to pay $6.50 asap. These results go towards Years 7 to 10 yearly reports.
* The ICAS Mathematics Competition is on Tuesday August 14 and costs $9. It is also compulsory for Years 7 through to 10. These results also go towards Years 7 to 10 yearly reports. (If you require financial assistance, please contact the school)
* Challenge questions:
1. Which maths teacher can tell you what day any date falls on?
2. Andrew arranged the numbers 1, 2, 3,..., 11, 12 into six pairs so that the sum of any two numbers in a pair is prime and no two of these primes are equal.
Find the primes and the pairs?
3. Which maths teacher has lived in Norway for 12 months?
The first person from each year group to present a correct solution to the maths department will get a chocolate or two!
Sue Briggs - Head Teacher Mathematics
Library Update
Another great start to the year! We were up and sprinting from Week 1. The Library is the hub of the school community and as such it is extensively utilised. We usually have about 150 students in before the first bell in the morning, sometimes over 200. Recess and lunch are also very popular times with students reading, researching, printing, discussing, watching a news feed or just relaxing. Mrs McIlwhan and I have added over 300 resources to the Library this year and over 500 textbooks for the faculties. We aim to create a welcoming, learning environment. This can only be achieved with the co-operation of the students. Considering the vast numbers attending the Library I am most impressed with their behaviour and their consideration for their peers. The students make the Library a wonderful place to work. I recently emailed you a list of wellbeing resources I have compiled. Don’t forget to access these if you need them.
Mr Nathan Wilcox – Teacher Librarian
Laserwizard Visit
Students visited Laserwizard at St Marys recently to view the advanced manufacturing equipment which was used to fabricate the aluminium chassis for a small mobile Arduino controlled robot that they will be making this term. They were given a guided tour of the factory and viewed a computer controlled waterjet cutter capable of cutting steel up to 120mm in thickness, large lasercutters, bending machines and 3D CAD systems used to design components. We really appreciate the time that the staff at Laserwizard gave us and that they donated the cost of laser cutting the robot chassis.
The Talented Divinia Eather!
The ridiculously talented Divinia has made it to the next round of the Department of Education's Talent Development Program. This is an outstanding achievement.
Attached is a photo of Divinia at the International Screen Academy where she auditioned.
Students perform at the Sydney Conservatorium
Rohan Shead, Holly Vallester, Davinia Eather and Sophia Hadjimichael recently performed a composition at the Arts Unit, alongside other talented music students in NSW. They worked with a famous Australian composer and their final performance was at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on May 12. The performance was Romeo and Juliet Re-imagined. It was an original composition developed and performed without music or a conductor. The students were very comfortable with their performance and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Kerrie Ridgeway - CAPA
From a Student Perspective
On Saturday May 5 four PSHS students - Rohan Shead, Holly Vallester, Divinia Eather and Sophia Hadjimichael began a 5 day creative project with 28 other talented musicians from the whole of NSW. Inspired by Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ballet, the group collaborated under the guidance of the London Symphony Orchestra's highly esteemed animateur, Paul Rissmann, to create 25 minutes worth of stunning music. They also participated in performance and composition masterclasses which will greatly aid their future studies in music. At the end of the week, the students performed their fully memorised orchestral score in the Conservatorium of Music, accompanied by 14 dancers who had choreographed their creation with great vigour. This experience was extremely beneficial and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The whole process was closely followed by a production team, so stay tuned for the recording!
Rohan Shead and Holly Vallester
Excursion to Belvoir Street Theatre
Year 12 Drama enjoyed a visit to Belvoir Street Theatre early in May to watch an archival recording of Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller and directed in 2012 by Simon Stone. The recording provided students a practical understanding of the production and an opportunity to review a unique design interpretation of the script that will benefit them in their HSC examinations. Thank you to the staff at Belvoir Street Theatre for allowing us to visit.
Drama Co-Lab Program
Year 12 Drama participated in Co-Lab, a HSC workshop series hosted by Northmead Creative and Performing Arts High School focused on building students' skills in devising original theatre. Students participated in a range of workshops with artists from around Australia, including: Zen Zen Zo, Swoop Physical Theatre and international artist Matt Coleman. This exciting workshop gave students momentum to develop their Group Performances that will form part of their final HSC examinations."
Congratulations students on a job well done and to Mr Vassallo for all his encouragement and hard work!
Year 8 Science Forum
As part of their science assessment, Year 8 prepared a report and model on the development of new materials and their application to products. The assessment was based on student understanding of the properties of new materials and students were encouraged to apply the new material to a product of their choice. Students then displayed prototypes for their product at a Science Forum in the school hall to demonstrate their ideas and promote interest in their designs. Some student displays are shown.
Alan Burns - Science
Solar Cell for rural properties
Synthetic Skin
Materials used in Medical Technology
Science Forum in the hall
Graphene in Baking Utensils
Students' works on display in the hall
Year 8 Debating Enrichment Report
The past term has delivered multiple highly anticipated opportunities to Year 8 students – one of which being the Debating Enrichment Program. This program, occurring on a weekly basis, aims to deliver to us the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully participate in co-curricular debating programs. Despite requiring students to arrive an hour prior to the commencement of the school day, an abundant number of students expressed interest in such a beneficial program. Thus, the program commenced, and thanks to the assistance of our wonderful tutor (former school captain Victoria Hospodaryk) and Mr Bates, participants are now well equipped to progress further in the upcoming term.
The strong foundation constructed over the past term has encompassed a vast array of activities, progressively challenging the participants to an increased degree. The early weeks focused upon providing us with the knowledge necessary to prepare and deliver speeches in an effective manner, and furthermore in accordance with correct debating structure. As participants gradually grew more confident in their ability, this knowledge was practically utilised in mock debates and impromptu speeches. These activities have been highly beneficial to our debating ability, and has also provided us an opportunity to connect with peers with similar interests. Together, we abandoned our comfort zones, and any apprehension we may have originally felt concerning public speaking. We now look forward to the upcoming term, and the opportunity it presents us to further develop our abilities.
Gabrielle Cant (Year 8)
Cross Country
The Cross Country Champion House was Blaxland. Congratulations! Mitchell House came in second, Wentworth house Third and Lawson House in fourth place. A fantastic effort by all students on a very hot day!
Below is the Age Champions and Runners up at the Assembly afterwards.
Winners and Runners up
Cross Country
12 Boys
1. McCann Owen
2. Shah Dev
12 Girls
1. Chang Guo
2. Daniels-Obiokolie Ogechukwu
13 Boys
1. Samuel Santhosh
2. Lau Cameron
13 Girls
1. Pramod Ankita
2. Paranthaman Harini
14 Boys
1. Tseung Yan
2. Kwon Christopher
14 Girls
1. Rishamsulkamal Halis
2. Bock Olivia
15 Boys
1. Boyes Luke
2. Michael Rynan
15 Girls
1. Peters Zoe
2. Dolamulla Hewa Kar Ashvini
16 Boys
1. Nair Rithvik
2. Premnath Amiru
16 Girls
1. Agarwal Anushka
2. Dhawan Srishti
17 Boys
1. Davey Andrew
2. Herbert-Rice Jem
17 Girls
1. Ranatunga Devindee
2. Sakthi Sivabalan Prithi
18 Boys
1. Madapatha Isuru
2. Mangahas Martin
18 Girls
1. Drayton Anja
2. McCann Emily
Athletics Carnival
Well done Penrith Selective High School for turning out in great numbers for our annual Athletics Carnival. Staff and students were lucky enough to witness some of the best racing and field events ever held at this school. Our students were fantastic and I’m sure their efforts made it an enjoyable day for all. A big thank you to all the staff who assisted on the day, espically Mr Grant Newell (Sports Organsier) for organising the whole carnival. Keep an eye out for the results of the Age Champions and Runners up and which house won in an upcoming newsletter.
Comedy for a Cause
" On April 12, Penrith High School hosted our third annual Comedy for A Cause event to help raise funds in support of our partner school - St Thomas Academy in Kenya. We successfully raised over $2,000 which will go towards emergency repairs to classrooms as well as the purchase of more textbooks so that more of the 178 students have access to these resources. We would like to thank all the students, parents and teachers for their ongoing support and generosity. We look forward to seeing you again next year for a night full of joy and laughter."
Miroula Elias
Girls' Soccer
Red Room Poetry Object Competition 2018
Red Room Poetry Object Competition 2018
Writing and reading poetry is extremely important for creating an original voice. Poetry defies rules by using creative expression through structure, rhythm and language.
The Red Room Poetry Object, is Australasia’s largest free poetry writing competition for students and teachers (Years 3-10). Poetry Object ignites imaginations by inviting young writers to create, publish and submit poems inspired by special and treasured objects.
If you are an inspiring poet or just believe your words are gold, then feel free to enter via the link below for a chance to win.
https://redroomcompany.org/poetry-object/submit/
Happy writing!
Dimity Scardanas
English Teacher
Penrith Selective High School
Email: penrith-h.school@det.nsw.ed.au
Website: web3.penrith-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/home
Location: 158-240 High St, Penrith NSW, Australia
Phone: 02 4721 0529
Facebook: facebook.com/penrithselectivehs/