Penrith Selective High School
March Newsletter 2021
From the Principal
Welcome to our final newsletter for Term 1, 2021. We are enjoying the long standing tradition of School Spirit Week and I would thank the students and staff involved in making the 4 days of Week 10 such an enjoyable experience. It is a fitting way to end the term.
I hope you enjoy this newsletter, it once again captures so much of what has happened in the last month and it continues to be a highlight to see so many student contributions.
Rain and Floods
Thank you to all students, families and staff for working with the school last week. As a school community we had the full range of impact and I hope everyone is returning to some normality. If we can help at school, please contact us.
2020 HSC Results, Awards and Scholarships
The Class of 2020 achieved at a very high level. The Dux for 2020 is Eugenia Kim with an ATAR of 99.80.
Holly Epps, Holly Gerrard, Sophia Hadjimichael, Eugenia Kim, Junyi Ma, Hasanga Malasakera, Erick Rajan, Ethan Shackley and Anna Sharma all attained the top band for all HSC courses and will be included on the HSC Excellence Honour Board in the hall. This is the largest number of students in this group for many years.
The list below reflects how many high performing students were recognised at and beyond school and are a credit to themselves, their families and the school. A special thanks to the Careers team of Natasha O’Regan and Chris Buchli, our Head Teacher Co-Curricular Program, Antoinette Pipio, Year Adviser Tom Hoekstra and all of the staff who supported students with their large number of applications, reference statements and all that goes into receiving these awards.
In summary:
· The Class of 2020 had a median ATAR of 92.00
· 160 students graduated in 2020, and 100% of these students have received an offer to an Australian University.
· There were a total of 250 University offers made through UAC.
· 86 early entry offers were made through either: The Macquarie University Leaders and Achievers Program, UAC Schools Recommendation Scheme or The University of Sydney E12 scheme.
· 141 students received an offer in the main round of offers. The remaining 19 students had already consolidated their offers during the early round offerings.
· 1 student accepted a medical placement at UNSW - Jun Ma
· 1 student accepted a position in the very prestigious UNSW Cooperative Scholarship program - Nicole Huang
· 1 student accepted a position at The College of Wooster Ohio, USA on a NCAA (Women’s Soccer) Sports Scholarship - Zoe Peters
· 1 student received the Inspired By Business Scholarship by The University of Sydney
· 3 Sydney Scholar Scholarships were awarded by The University of Sydney
· 19 x E12 University of Sydney Scholarships were awarded.
· University of Sydney Leadership Award – Ethan Shackley and Eugenia Kim
· ANU Tuckwell Scholarship (Final Round) – Sophia Hadjimichael
· ADF Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award - Hasanga Malalasekara
· Rotary Club of Nepean Youth Award – Eugenia Kim
· ADF Future Innovators Award – Alan Raphel
· 2020 Dame Marie Bashir Peace Award - Sophia Hadjimichael
· Ministers Award for Excellence in Student Achievement - Sophia Hadjimichael and Wendy Li
· Lions Club Citizenship Award – Imran Sarwar
· Caltex Award for Best All Round Student – Holly Epps
· Susan and Isaac Wakil Foundation Scholarship –Ricardo Irving
· The Unions NSW Jeff Shaw Memorial Scholarship – Eugenia Kim
· 2020 Stuart Ayres All Rounder Award – Lizaveta Drozd
More details about the achievements of the school will be in the Annual School Report which the Department of Education has advised will be published in early Term 2.
2021-2024 Strategic Improvement Plan
After extensive consultation over the last 12 months and a particular focus in term 4, 2020 and this term, our new 4 year plan has been developed.
This school plan has 3 Strategic Directions to shape our work as a school community for the next 4 years and has strong alignment between the Department of Education’s plan, current research into High Potential and Gifted Students and the feedback provided by students, families, staff and members from our local community.
The 3 Strategic Directions are:
· Growth and Attainment (set for public schools in NSW)
· Teacher Excellence (school developed)
· Student Agency and Talent Development Opportunities (school developed)
I look forward to discussing this more at our P&C meeting (via zoom) in Term 2.
Thank you to all who were involved in developing this key document. Families will be advised when this document is published on the school website.
School Contributions and Donations
A big thank you to everyone who has paid school contributions and/or made donations into our Tax Deductible Funds (Building Fund and Library).
We are immensely proud of the large offering of programs and opportunities that students are provided with and these contributions ensure these are available, alongside the significant upgrades that the school has undergone over the last 4 years.
We know that it has been difficult to be onsite to see many of these improvements and we have more taking place in the next school holidays, but a special newsletter with before and after shots will be sent to all families soon.
For families in need of financial support, please feel free to contact the school at any time to speak with the Deputy Principals, our Business Manager, Maria Ryan or myself. These conversations are confidential and we will do all we can to help.
P&C
Thank you to all of the parents who have attended our first two P&C meetings of the year. Our Week 7 forum was a big success as over 100 people hear from 5 of our 2020 HSC High Achievers.
P&C meetings are held in weeks 3 and 7 of each term and will now move to zoom for the rest of the year following parent feedback in 2020.
The new committee is listed in this newsletter and a P&C page will be added to the school website in the coming weeks.
A special welcome to our new President, Mr Shiv Ramachandran and thank you to our outgoing President, Mr Praba Maheswaran for 4 years of outstanding service and support to the school.
Staffing
Our staffing has been very stable from 2020 which has been wonderful. Congratulations to Dr. Melissa Royal who has been appointed Head Teacher Science at Macarthur Girls HS and to Mr Grant Newell who has been appointed for 3 terms (returning in Term 1, 2022) to Trangie Central School as part of the Rural Experience Program. Dr Royal has been an outstanding addition to the school and will be difficult to replace in the faculty and as Year 7 Adviser. We wish her all the best and will advise families and students of the new Year 7 Adviser very soon.
Long serving Physics Teacher, Mr Andrew Nemeth has retired but we are looking forward to seeing him back next term for some casual work and also on Year 9 camp. Thank you for all that Andrew did around the school. Not only a skilled teacher, he was key to our sound and lighting for special events and took so many of the official photos shared with families over the years.
I wish everyone a relaxing break and look forward to Term 2. Students return to school on Tuesday 20th April.
Warm regards,
Mark Long
Principal
Year 7 and Year 10 Deputy Update
Year 7
Well done on making it through your first term of high school! By now many of you have completed your first high school assessment tasks. Our Year 7 Prefects are in the process of finalising the ‘Meet the Year 7 Teachers’ document and it will be distributed to families in the first week of Term 2.
The school break is an important time for you all to rest and recover and we hope that you make the most of this time. The Year 7 Junior Representative Council are currently in the process of organising school holiday catch-ups. We believe that it is important for students to stay connected, so each school holiday, the SRC and JRC arrange student catch ups to places such as the movies, bowling etc. We hope that these are able to happen this break. If they do, Mr Long will send the important details.
Year 10
By the end of Term 1 most of Year 10 should have completed their HSC Minimum Standard Test for Writing. In the final weeks of Term 2 and Term 3 they will complete the reading and numeracy tests. For those students who may have been absent for the writing test, there will be an opportunity to catch up. However, the catch up sessions will run before school. Please keep an eye on your emails Year 10 and the Sentral notices for details of these catch-ups.
During Week 8, several Year 10 students ran a fantastic wellbeing session focused on team work. Thank you to these students who ran very well planned activities which have been captured in a few photos below.
Jaclyn Cush
Deputy Principal
70th Anniversary Luncheon
At this early stage Penrith High's 70th Anniversary Luncheon hopefully will go ahead this year.
WHEN: Saturday 11 September 2021 with a fall-back date 18 September.
WHERE: Penrith Paceway which comfortably holds 200 persons at the Covid restrictions existing at the moment.
There will be a committee meeting on Saturday 24 April 2021 after gathering more data.
More details will follow when available.
Paul Hansen
P&C AGM 2021
At the 2021 AGM of PSHS's P&C the following people were elected:
President - Shivkumar Ramachandran
Vice President-1 - Praba Maheswaran
Vice President-2 - Priya Rodrigues
Treasurer - Hema Anand
Secretary - Soma Goswami
Asst Secretary - Tanzin Ahmed
Committee Members:
Malcolm Heath
Manish Sharma
Jay Sadeg
Mini Mathew
Jagadesh Subburayalu
Sri Pillai
Congratulations to all!
P&C Student Forum Topic: 2020 HSC High Performers Panel Discussion
Ethan Shackley - School Captain 2020.
Having transferred to Penrith Selective High School in Year 10 from my local Comprehensive High School, I have experience in both selective and non-selective education. During my HSC years at Penrith, I studied English Advanced, English Extension 1, Mathematics Advanced, Mathematics Extension 1, Chemistry, Biology, and Legal Studies. Through this schooling, I have been lucky enough to enrol in a combined Bachelor of Veterinary Biology and Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Sydney - a long term goal of mine that will allow me to practise as a veterinarian in the future. Until then, however, I plan to spend my next few years doing what I've always done: balancing work and fun, and taking any chance I can to merge the two.
Sophia Hadjimichael - School Captain 2020.
I am Sophia and I was the School Captain at Penrith Selective High School in 2020. During the HSC I studied English, English Extension 1, Music 2, Mathematics, Biology and Studies of Religion. This year I have accepted a position at the Australian National University to study a Bachelor of Psychology Honors.
Eugenia Kim - Senior Prefect 2020 and DUX 2020.
I have accepted a position in the Bachelor of Laws (Comm/ Law) at the University of Sydney on a scholarship. I studied Accelerated Business Studies, English, English Extension 1, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 2, Economics and Legal Studies. Whilst studying law, I am also currently working as a legal assistant at a personal injury law firm.
Holly Gerrard - School Vice-Captain 2020.
My name is Holly Gerrard and I was the Vice-Captain at Penrith Selective High School in 2020. During my HSC I studied English Advanced, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, PDHPE, Studies of Religion, Society and Culture and Italian. I also feel very privileged to have had my English Extension 2 piece shortlisted for publication in the Young Writers Showcase 2020. I am currently undertaking a gap year but I will be studying a Bachelor of Arts/Law at the University of Sydney in 2022. My plans for 2021 include working in order to move into the city next year. Despite COVID, I hope to be able to travel to New Zealand at some point as well.
Candy Ma - Prefect 2020.
I'm Candy Ma and I recently graduated from Penrith last year. I am currently on a gap year and I will be undertaking a Bachelor of Medical Studies/Doctor of Medicine at UNSW next year. My plans for this year is to take a break from studying, earn money for university and undertake some volunteering work. For the HSC, subjects I took were English Advanced, Mathematics Advanced, Mathematics Extension 1, Biology, Chemistry and Business Studies.
Eugenia Kim - Dux 2020
Ethan Shackley
National Young Leaders' Conference
Thank you to Ms Xibberas and Mr Serrato for organising and attending with the students.
Mathematics Update
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (C.A.T.)
The Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) Competition is a one-hour problem solving competition designed to encourage student curiosity and promote multiple modes of thinking. Neither teachers nor students will need computer programming ability, but the competition will help identify students’ computer programming potential—something that they might not normally have the opportunity to demonstrate. The competition is an ideal activity to encourage students to solve real-world problems. It is suitable for any mathematics class and the process helps students become more confident as they take on interesting new challenges.
The competition has a mixture of multiple-choice and integer answers and incorporates unique ‘three-stage tasks’ that encourage students to develop informal algorithms and apply them to test data of increasing size or complexity. The original problems are designed to be quick to solve and highly approachable, and range in difficulty from very easy to challenging. Some questions test the ability to perform procedures, others require logical thought, while the more challenging problems require the identification and application of algorithms. The CAT has four divisions: Upper Primary (years 5–6), Junior (years 7–8), Intermediate (years 9–10) and Senior (years 11–12).
If your child participated in this competition, then you would have received a separate invoice for it. If you haven’t already done so, can you please pay the $6.50.
On March 23 we had our biggest ever team competing in the C.A.T. Competition before school; 22 talented male and female students from Years 7 to 12. We entered in the Junior, Intermediate and Senior divisions this year. Fingers crossed for brilliant results, which hopefully we will get in the middle of Term 2.
Our team was made up of:
Year 7
Anoushka Singhal, Shayaan Sayyed, Jeremy Tjiantoro, Heer Panchal, Kaviya Vignarasa, Sinthuri Prashanth.
Year 8
Prabin Ojha
Year 9
Tiana Kondal, Harry Le, Myat Noe
Year 10
Prabesh Ojha, Sean Kim, Parth Patel, Vedang Purohit
Year 11
Nathanael Tambunan, Gurveer Singh Khalsa
Year 12
Anaf Sayed, Keeno Mendoza, Jamieson Berida, Beonrik Pascual, Samuel Tint, Cedric Kutscera,
Fabien Malhotra.
Maths Enrichment
Maths Enrichment has been operating now for 7 weeks.
Noether for our capable Year 10 students is on Monday mornings at 8am.
Gauss for our capable Year 9 students is on Wednesday mornings at 8am.
Euler for our capable Year 8 students is on Wednesday mornings at 8am.
The invoices for these programs have been sent home and this covers the cost of the material, the tutors and the registration for the program. Please pay as soon as possible, but if you are having financial difficulties please contact Mrs Maria Ryan in the office for assistance.
Primary Peer Tutoring
In 2020, due to COVID we had to cut very short our Primary Peer Tutoring program that we operate with Penrith Primary School and Orchard Hills Primary School. This year, it looks like we might be able to start up again in Term 2 this extremely valuable program. The program not only benefits the Mathematically gifted and talented students from these two primary schools, but offers an excellent leadership training platform for our selected Year 9 students. All students develop communication, collaboration and creative thinking skills as well as a deep bond between the primary and high school students. Mrs Wilkes (Teacher PPS), Mr McMahon (Principal at OHPS) and Mrs Briggs (HT Mathematics PSHS) are looking forward to the journey that will occur if this program does go ahead in 2021.
Maths Peer Tutoring
Maths Peer Tutoring is up and running at full steam! The Year 12 Maths Prefects; Abhijith Maliakal, Yash Mishra and Leeanna Yao organised group study sessions for all of the juniors' Term 1 Tasks. These were held in A.1.5. The Maths Prefects will organise similar events in Term 2 in the week/s leading up to the Term 2 Tasks.
The Prefects will also match students up with a peer tutor if your child is struggling with their Mathematics. All the students need to do is send an email to mathspeertutoring@gmail.com and in the email, say their name, year and the topics that they are finding difficult. The Prefects will find them a tutor and then contact the student.
Naplan Preparations
Year 7 and Year 9 will be undertaking the Naplan papers in May, (Term 2). They have already had some wellbeing lessons dedicated to learning about The Naplan English and Mathematics Papers. In Mathematics, at the start of the school holidays I will upload to the Year 7 and Year 9 Google classrooms some sample papers with worked solutions. Every student should have a go at these papers in between relaxing and catching up with their friends.
General News in Mathematics
The mathematics staff was victorious in the Photo Booth challenge taking out 1st prize!
On March 15 Mr Ferrarin’s wife gave birth to their son, both mum and baby are doing very well.
I hope all staff and students have a relaxing holiday break and I look forward to seeing you all in Term 2!
Mrs Briggs
Head Teacher Mathematics
The Penrith Perception
Aim:
The aim of The Penrith Perception is to appeal to the changing social media landscape of our students, and provide a platform for students and teachers to give advice and inspire students in an entertaining format.
This term, the Prefects and multimedia team kickstarted “The Penrith Perception”, consisting of two sub-podcasts: PrefecTalk and the Penrith High Press. Several prefects and the multimedia team have been working very hard to release an introductory and 2 official episodes.
Here’s a rundown of the process and production:
Sinduja Sureshkumar, Alyna Arago, Zach Wan, Jahin Khandoker and Elizabeth Santoso are the coordinators of PrefecTalk, which is a podcast run by Prefects wherein they talk about various topics, both personal and professional, to give a new perspective on how our students perceive themselves, others and the world around them. Teachers may be involved in the podcast as ‘special guests’.
Kokulaan Santhakumar, Jamima Rumey Jiffrey, Shameer Iftikhar and Aditya Kumar are the coordinators of Penrith High Press, which is an interview series also run by Prefects through Zoom, where we interview famous Australian celebrities, chief executives and role models. The aim is to ask these renowned people questions that the school community may have about their profession or life to get their professional insight and provide a basis for individual decisions.
Multimedia Leaders - new leadership body - are in charge of editing, polishing and uploading the podcast to Spotify. Simultaneously, they are in charge of running the podcast’s instagram page @thepenrithperception and creating graphic designs to appeal to the younger generations.
If you have any suggestions to improve the podcast, please feel free to contact the instagram page or use the Prefect suggestion box to help us out.
Podcast link:
https://open.spotify.com/show/5XRsX7by50diB1FNBSkNhD?si=re3rTxddTAiKrVibvjC8BA&nd=1
Multimedia Leadership Body
See photos of the team below.
Soo Jung Yoo
School Tours
The next School Tour will be Friday 23 April 2021 at 11am - 12.00pm
Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=740727
Thank you
Kind Regards,
Biswas Simkhada
International Women's Day
Meanwhile back at school, the Social Justice Club provided delicious cupcakes to the staff at lunch in the Alumni Garden. Thank you students!
ARTEXPRESS 21
Thank you to Ms Clarke for organising the experience!
Ana Maksimovic and Madeleine Reeves
CAPA Prefects
Congratulations CAPA Students
Seoin Lee Year 7
Giselle Guo Year 8
Introduction into Digital Photography
Congratulations Gauri!
Congratulations Tarin!
Congratulations Open Knockout Boys Basketball!
We wish them the best of luck as they go on to represent Penrith Selective High School as one of twenty top teams in the state.
Karl Serrato
Coach
PSHS 3rd at Zone Swimming Carnival
Below is the Sydney West Swimming Team - some of the team are pictured!
Isaac NG - 100m Backstroke 15 year boys
Bianca Zhang - 100m Breaststroke 14 year girls
Joshua Chun - 50 m Free & 100m Breast 14 year boys
200m Age relay 14 year boys
Timothy Gonzalez
Ryan Wen
Joshua Chun
Hugh Driver
Age champion:
16 Year Old Women - Individual Scores
Amanda Exley
Women Team score:
Penrith High placed 5th
Men Team score:
Penrith High placed 2nd
Combined team scores:
Penrith placed 3rd
Ognjen Matic
Co-sports Organiser
Anzac Day Ceremony
There was a lovely rendition of "The Parting Glass" performed by the PSHS Choir. Eugene Chen, History Prefect, read the poem "For the Fallen" while Luke Boyes, History Prefect, read The Ode.
It was Lachlan Braikenridge's last performance at the school of performing the Last Post, The Rouse and Acknowledgement of Country. We thank him for performing over his time here at Penrith Selective High.
Thank you to all concerned especially Clark Stone for organising yet another successful Anzac Day Commemoration.
Lest we Forget
Troy Park, former SAS Commando Regiment, Special Operations
PSHS Choir
Troy Park with the Executive and Clark Stone
Troy Park with Lachlan Braikenridge
Troy Park with School Captain Kokulaan Santhakumar
Duke of Edinburgh - Prefect Update
As we progress and settle into 2021, Ms Andreatta, Zach Wan and I (Sinduja Sureshkumar) have been preparing for the new group of Bronze Duke of Ed students who are buzzing to begin their journey in this wonderful experience. We are looking forward to assisting their journey and helping Ms Andreatta organise their upcoming expeditions. We have also recently taken some time to check and restock equipment and organise new equipment which was nicely donated to us. Additionally, with the help of Mela Hoffman we’ve been hard at work assisting with the filing of all Dukes' documentation for our incoming Bronze students whom we are excited to welcome into the team! As the term comes to an end, we look forward to Term 2 and as always Zach and I are here if you have any questions or require help with your Duke of Ed journey.
LOTE Prefects Update
Hello from your LOTE Prefects, Sara Saleh and Cedric Kutschera. Currently we are setting up for a massive language trivia competition next term that will include many languages - languages studied in class and languages spoken at home by students. We are also in progress of planning a LOTE incursion next term for year 7 & 8 students (more information will come out on this after the details have been set). That’s all from the LOTE Prefects. Have a great holiday!
Volunteering Prefects Update
Hello again, we are your Volunteering Prefects, Cedric Kutschera, Isaac Chang and Jola Canlas.
The Volunteering Club has been hard at work this term. Thank you so much for all your support. We are currently in preparation for the Blanket and Beanie Appeal that will begin next term, so please look forward to this. The Blanket and Beanie Appeal is a drive that gathers warm items of clothing for the homeless in preparation for the Australian winter season.
We will appreciate any support you can give to us during this period.
Volunteering Club meets on Tuesday Lunches in T.1.1 every week. Feel free to join us!
Fair Trade Prefects Update
Fair Trade Club has had a great Term 1. We have had events during School Spirit Week that went really well!
Thanks to the help of our Fair Trade Team, we sold Fair Trade products to raise awareness.
Please look out for what we have planned for Term 2 and Multicultural Day.
Thank you,
Cedric Kutschera and the Fair Trade Club.
Social Justice Club Prefects Update
The Social Justice Club has had a busy term!! As mentioned previously in this newsletter, firstly we planned our celebration for International Women's Day, where we gave the teachers and staff of our school a cupcake and shared a message of appreciation to our female staff and teachers. We are currently planning numerous events to fundraise donations and access to food for refugee communities. Through this, we would like to share the message of the positive attributes refugees have made on the community and the sacrifices they have made to create a better environment.
We hope to see everyone at our future events!!
Ashvini Dolamulla and Jamima Rumey Jiffrey (Social Justice Club Prefects)
Congratulations Zoe!
Michael Handley - PHS -'85-'87 - Finished Army Service as a Lance Corporal
WERE YOU A STUDENT OF PHS WHO SERVED IN THE DEFENCE FORCE OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO DID?
Would you like to be recognised on PHS Defence Force Service Honour Board? Or, have your friend or relative recognised who attended PHS?
The servicemen and woman shown are a few whose names have been recognised or are on the list to be updated.
If you are interested please email the school on: penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Attention Cathie in the library for further details
NOTE: the school was not established until 1950 so bear this in mind
In addition, if the Alumni listed below could also reach out to update some details:
Harry Grimes
Jason Peterson
Alan Jones(Somalia)
Stephen Thompson
Brian Carney
Alan Ormerod
David Stevens
John Glennon
Bill Wheeler
Barrie/Barry Brown
Mark Dengate
PHS -1972-'77
Paula Macdonald
PHS - 1976 -'79
Finished Army Service as a Corporal
Norman Griffiths
PHS - 1949-'53
Finished Army Service as a Major
Updating Honour Boards/Sports Records
We would like to confirm the Duxes:
1.from the 50s
2. 1966
3. 1989
In Addition, we are also trying to find the Junior Sportsman and Junior Sportswoman of the year for;
1987
1990
1991
1992
1993
If you can help please email the school on:
penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Attention Cathie in the library.
Thanking you
Penrith Selective High School
Email: penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Website: http://penrith-h.schools.nsw.gov.au
Location: 158-240 High Street, Penrith NSW, Australia
Phone: 02 4721 0529
Facebook: facebook.com/penrithselectivehighschool