Flannofest Success · will be investigating their own area of interest. One example of this is the project being investigated by Chelsea Fyffe in Dr Rae‟s class who is investigating

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news@gphs

Email: [email protected]

July 2013

Flannofest Success

Congratulations to Ms Casey and Ms Brazewell for their recent successes in the Performing Arts. The drama students gained a Highly Commended in the Flannofest competition and our dance students received a Highly Commended at the McDonalds Challenge. It‟s wonderful to see our students achieve this recognition in such a competitive field. A wonderful consistent effort from all. We look forward to seeing many of these students in our upcoming musical production “All Shook Up”.

Thank you to all the parents who attended our Parent/Student/Teacher Interview Evening. The online booking system has been very successful and attendance has grown so much that our teachers were booked out for the five hours.

Our P&C, as always, have been working hard to support the school. A big thank you to Mark Geerin for his application to build more seating for our students and Glen Geerin‟s donation of plants and turf for the school grounds. I encourage parents to attend our P&C meetings. The discussions are lively and informative and a good way to meet other parents.

This term is the final term for Year 12 and on behalf of the staff, I wish them success in their HSC exams.

Natalie Brookton

Principal

GPHS Drama Group


Welcome back to all students for Term 3. It is hard to believe that we have reached the middle of the year already! At the time of writing, all students should have been issued with their Semester One reports. These reports are designed to give parents the most meaningful progress possible on their child‟s achievement and progress. These reports should give a strong platform for setting the path for future improvement. We have also just completed our Years 7, 8 and 9 Parent/Teacher evening. It was wonderful to see such a large and enthusiastic attendance by parents, despite the cold evening! This evening saw the trial of our online booking system for interviews. We have worked hard to fine-tune the system to be as “user-friendly” as possible. It seems that it has made the whole system more convenient for parents. On Tuesday 30

th July, our Year 10 into 11 Information Evening will be held. This is a

vital evening for finding out everything that you need to know about senior studies. The evening will be held in the school hall and run from 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm. This night begins the process of planning for the challenges of senior school for our Year 10 students. The process of finalising student choices will now continue over the next two terms. Finally, we would like to commend parents in their support of our uniform policy. Our school community and P&C have made clear their commitment to ensuring that our uniform is worn proudly and correctly. We will continue to ensure that these wishes are supported. Our best wishes to everyone for the term ahead!

Lisette Gorick and Stuart Harvie Deputy Principals

From the Deputies

Students meeting NSW Blues before State of Origin game in

Sydney


During the early part of the term students from Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 will be submitting their Science home projects to their teachers. Year 7 will be reporting on either their investigation performed in their home kitchen or about the effects of music on their heart rate; Year 8 will be germinating sunflower seeds under different conditions, Year 9 are water testing using chemical indicators and Year 10 will be investigating their own area of interest. One example of this is the project being investigated by Chelsea Fyffe in Dr Rae‟s class who is investigating the growth of bacteria colonies under different conditions. Numerous keen students have already handed in quality pieces of work which have had the Science teachers buzzing with excitement!

In Term 3, Year 11 Science students of Biology, Chemistry and Senior Science will be finalising their preparation for their Preliminary Certificates. Notable mention to Brad McGee in Year 11 Senior Science who after a stint in the workforce, has returned with newfound enthusiasm to be performing amongst the best students!

Year 12 finalise their assessments during this term and are busily preparing for their HSC exams. Indications are that Glenmore Park High will follow up from the successes gained in the various Science subjects of last year. It is encouraging to see hard work done by students such as Laine Williamson, Blake Langer and Carl Ramirez, beginning to pay off with some great results in the laboratories. Kevin Radley Head Teacher Science

News from Science

Bacterial growth investigation – Chelsea Fyffe Dr Rae’s

10L class

Year 9 students collecting water samples for laboratory

testing

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=microbes+in+agar+plates&safe=active&hl=en&biw=941&bih=559&tbm=isch&tbnid=3n_fqsYOrVxrhM:&imgrefurl=http://www.colourbox.com/image/microorganisms-on-the-agar-plate-image-3778556&docid=IKe-WATM0NJL4M&imgurl=http://www.colourbox

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=water+testing&safe=active&hl=en&biw=941&bih=559&tbm=isch&tbnid=WlV4dAcGtiuSDM:&imgrefurl=http://www.biology.washington.edu/HHMI/k12.php&docid=wkq3H5u9mdF2OM&imgurl=http://www.biology.washington.edu/HHMI/images/water_testing.j


Dance News

Term 3 Dance Commitments so far: Dance Night: Monday 5th August @ 7.00pm. $5.00 entry or family ticket (4) $20.00 PVPAF: Monday 12th August Dress Rehearsal & Evening Performances for “Run” & “Skyfall”. Tuesday 13th August Evening Performance “Salt”. Blue Mountains Dance Festival: Information coming out ASAP Hawkesbury Eisteddfod: Monday 26th August Barb Brazewell Dance Teacher

Sydney Eisteddfod

On Sunday 21st July, Glenmore Park High School Dance Ensemble competed in the McDonald‟s Sydney Eisteddfod School Contemporary Classical section. The group performed “Skyfall” and received a High Commendation, which was an excellent results, as there were 40 dance troupes to compete against. Some of the comments the adjudicator wrote were: “Great costume choice”. “Good use of space and the choreography follows well with the energy of the music with patterns that convey the meaning of the chosen song.” “Good idea to have the group divided into red and black”. “Interesting lifts and it’s wonderful to see the girls taking risks with their lifts”. “Great commitment by both girls and boys to their dancing”. “Lovely ending and lovely performance”. Congratulations to the Ensemble for a wonderful performance!! Barb Brazewell Dance Teacher

Students participating in Empower U Workshop


This year six local schools were invited to compete in the Nepean Junior Masterchef Competition on Tuesday 4

th June. The schools were asked to select two of their

finest and most outstanding Year 10 Food Technology students to represent the school. Kayla South-Austin and Chelsea Fyffe had a small amount of time to practice for the event and with the help of our talented Food Technology staff prepared for day one in the kitchens of the Penrith Outback Steakhouse.

On the first day they worked as a team to complete three menu items and their efforts were rewarded as at the end of day one the news arrived that both girls had made it to the finals the next day. On day two they competed against Kingswood and Nepean High preparing meals individually; their food was judged and awards were presented. When they returned to school they were beaming as Chelsea was awarded first place and Kayla fourth.

What an outstanding result for our students!! We would like to thank the staff from Penrith Outback Steakhouse and Clinton and James from Panthers for joining in with the fun.

Junior Masterchef Competition


On Thursday 27th June, 2013 Patricia Henson, Jessica Campbell, Liam Hantos and Jordan Murray, members of the Senior Leadership team, attended the Political Summit at Penrith High School. We were split into different groups to discuss current issues including sport, environment, media and education. In our groups we were asked how the media may overshadow important issues and how it affects our opinion, the students and our communities. We were also asked to think of not only the problems in our government‟s strategies and media, but to also come up with solutions. Attending the summit was Youth Governor, Geeth Geeganage, who spoke about why we should be involved in the community and leadership programs at a young age. The summit gave us a better understanding of the global issues surrounding us. The summit provided us with ideas on how to improve our school community. Jessica Campbell and Patricia Henson Student Leadership Team

Political Summit

International Student

Hello, I‟m Natacha and I am an exchange student from Belgium. I am here to discover about the Australian culture and landscapes, to meet people, have adventures and have fun. I hope I‟ll have an excellent year with you. I‟ll be happy if I can do some new things with you. Natacha Loiseau


Last Term, Drama students from across Western Sydney competed in the Flannofest Festival. Nine schools were asked to perform a piece of theatre in a particular style. The students were then given the opportunity to showcase their performance at the Q Theatre, Joan Sutherland Centre of Performing Arts. Glenmore Park High School was asked to perform in the style of Mask. Students from Years 9, 10 and 11 joined together to create a piece of theatre called „Mind, Body or Soul‟. The students were mentored by a professional from the Arts, Laura Turner and worked all term in and out of school hours to build a piece that employed physicality, logic and spirituality. The group from Glenmore Park High School was commended on their efforts for „Stagecraft‟. This is use of staging in their performance. It was a challenging but rewarding experience. Shelley Casey Drama Teacher

Flannofest


Junior Norta

Our junior students learning indigenous craft

Parent Involvement in Children’s Education

The most accurate predictor of a student‟s achievement in school is not income or social status, but is the extent to which that student‟s family is able to create a home environment that encourages learning, becomes involved in their children‟s school education and in the school community, and expresses high (but not unrealistic) expectations for their children‟s achievement and future careers (Henderson & Berla, 1994, p.160). Parent involvement in children‟s learning is positively associated with increased achievement and academic performance, improved self-regulation, fewer discipline problems, stronger homework and study habits, improved work orientation, more positive attitudes toward school and higher education aspirations (Fan & Chen, 2001: Masten & Coatsworth, 1998).


History — ”Jigsaw”

Year 7 History classes 7A, 7E & 7S worked collaboratively on a Viking Jigsaw activity where the students were sorted into expert groups. In their expert groups students had to review 4-5 sources on an aspect of Viking culture. The students then returned to their regular classes as experts and shared their knowledge with their classmates to build a complete picture of Viking Cultural life. Kaylene McCormick, Maria Salvia, Dianna Kupresak History Teachers


Year 8 Gold Awards

Congratulations to our latest recipient of an Academic Gold Award—Samantha McKechnie. This is a fine achievement and Samantha should be immensely proud of herself! Justine Drew Year 8 Adviser

Sydney West Cross Country Carnival

On Friday 14th June, 2013 twelve students represented the school and the Nepean Zone at the Sydney West Cross Country Carnival at the Regatta Centre. All the students performed exceptionally well and deserve much recognition for making it to this level of competition. Thanks to the students who competed for your fine effort and sportsmanship. A huge congratulations to Blake Langer, Luke Cooke and Cooper Sherrin-Green whose performances on the day led to them being selected in the Sydney West team to compete at the NSW CHS Carnival on Friday 19th July, 2013. The three boys ran strongly on the day against the best cross country runners from all over NSW and they have every right to feel incredible personal pride for their achievement. You are great ambassadors for the school and I thank you for your hard work throughout the cross country season this year. Justine Drew PDHPE Faculty


Links to Learning

Links to Learning students hosted a fundraising car wash at Glenmore Park High School on the morning of Tuesday 4th June. The students involved were Brianna Cassar, Michael Elhage, Anapesi Fainga‟a, Michael Hunter, Wendell Milgate, James Todd and Daniel Rivet. All the students worked great as a team and washed 9 cars in total. They also went to some of the classrooms and then the staffroom to raise more money for Little Wings. Angelika Cornish & Shauna Bernacki-Brown Careers Adviser & Links to Learning Consultant


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GLENMORE PARK HIGH SCHOOL

Learning for Life

Glenmore Parkway, Glenmore Park NSW 2745 Phone: 4733 0155 Fax: 4733 0984 Email: [email protected] Website: glenmorepk-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

PRINCIPAL DEPUTY PRINCIPAL DEPUTY PRINCIPAL Natalie Brookton (Yrs 7,9,11) (Yrs 8,10,12) Stuart Harvie Lisette Gorick SCHOOL CAPTAINS VICE CAPTAINS COORDINATOR Emily Duncan Pauline Amorada Paige Geerin Zac Murphy Blake Langer

YEAR ADVISERS ASSISTANT YEAR ADVISERS Year 7 Ms A Crawshaw/Mr T Dudley Year 8 Ms J Drew Ms A Elford Year 9 Ms C Payne Dr D Rae Year 10 Mr G Hebblewhite Ms K Smith Year 11 M K Bryant Ms M Salvia Year 12 Mr S Fryirs Mr J Thompson

HEAD TEACHERS

Creative and Performing Arts Ms H Caws English/History Ms Y Woodrow (Rel.) Mathematics Mr N Guinery PD/Health/PE Mr B Mackie Teaching & Learning Ms K McCormick Science Mr K Radley Support Unit Mr B Fox Technological and Applied Studies Mr J Newham Welfare Ms A Quiney Careers Adviser Ms A Cornish Librarian Ms J Dengate Learning and Support Teachers Ms A Crawshaw/Ms J Small School Counsellor Ms S Begg/Mr T Simms School Administration Manager Ms K Kearney


DIARY EVENTS TERM 3 2013

Tuesday 30th July Year 10 into 11 Information Evening

Monday 5th August Nepean Careers Forum

Tuesday 6th August Pulse Mass Choir Rehearsal

Monday 12th August 2013 PVDAF

Tuesday 13th August 2013 PVDAF

Wednesday 14th August 2013 PVDAF

Tuesday 20th August Sydney Dance Company

Thursday 5th September CHS Athletics Sports Award Assembly

Friday 6th September CHS Athletics

Monday 9th September Year 11 Exams

Tuesday 10th September Year 11 Exams

Wednesday 11th September Year 11 Exams

Thursday 12th September Year 11 Exams

Friday 13th September Year 11 Exams

Monday 16th September Cross Roads

Tuesday 17th September Cross Roads

Wednesday 18th September Cross Roads

Documents

Flannofest Success · will be investigating their own area of interest. One example of this is the project being investigated by Chelsea Fyffe in Dr Rae‟s class who is investigating