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Mac Fields News Macquarie Fields High School
April 2010
2 Harold Street, Macquarie Fields NSW 2564 Phone 9605 3111 [email protected]
Issue 9 – Term 4 November 2017
Calendar Events
Week 8
Monday November 27- Yr 10 Work Experience Friday December 1 Week Monday November 27 Yr 11(12) Clearance P&C Christmas Party Wednesday November 29 LEAPS Graduation Art Exhibition Opening Ensembles Night Thursday November 30 Semester Awards – p2&3
Week 9
Monday December 4- Yr 10 STW Focus Week Friday December 8 Monday December 4 All My Own Work Tuesday December 5 Orientation Day – Yr 7 2018 Orientation Selective – 2pm Wednesday December 6 Fast Forward Parent
Evening Friday December 8 Yr 7 Clearance-p2 Yr 8-Clearance-p3 Yr 9-Clearance-p4 Yr 10-Clearance-p5
Week 10
Monday December 11 Presentation Day – 11am Friday December 15 LAST DAY FOR STUDENTS & STAFF
PARENTS PLEASE NOTE
Students absent from school
Please note changes to School Attendance Policy. Where a student is absent from school, a note explaining the absence must be received by the school within 7 school days. Where a note is not received the absence will be recorded as unjustified. This cannot legally be changed should a note be received after 7 days. Absences both justified and unjustified are recorded on school reports.
Recipient’s of PBL Raffle Prize Draw
NAME Year Wk/Term PRIZE Anita Neskoski 8 Wk3/T4 $20 Macarthur
Square gift card & $5 Canteen voucher
Pooja Kudva 10 Wk4/T4 $30 Event Cinema voucher
Brock Cupitt-Hart 8 Wk5/T4 $20 Macarthur Square gift card
Aneesha Ananda 9 Wk6/T4 $20 Macarthur Square gift card
From the Relieving Principal
Mrs Dolstra is currently on Long Service Leave
and returns to our school on Tuesday November
21.
Year 12 has now completed their Higher School
Certificate and we wish them all the best when
the results are released on December 14.
Executive Planning Day and Professional
Learning Meeting
Our staff have recently been involved in two key
planning sessions relating to the design of our
next three year school plan. The executive team
met for a planning day on November 1 and we
had a full staff meeting on November 8 where
our big ideas for school improvement were
presented. As a school we will continue to
engage in a process of consultation with our
school community and we welcome feedback as
part of this important whole school process.
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
State Selective Principal’s Conference
I had the privilege of attending the State
Selective Principal’s Conference at Terrigal last
week and this allowed me to work with principals
from a range of selective and partially selective
schools. This was a wonderful learning
opportunity and I will be sharing these lessons
with staff and students.
Semester Awards
Recognising the achievements of our students
within the school is very important. At our school,
we acknowledge this through both our Semester
awards, which will be held on November 30 and
Presentation Day which will be held on
December 8.
Annual Presentation Day
Parents of Award winners will be notified shortly
and receive an invitation to this event. The
History/Languages Faculty is organising this
year’s ceremony and I would like to thank this
faculty for their efforts in co-ordinating this
important calendar event.
Remembrance Day
Thank you to Mr Neale and our captains Mabel
Truong,Farid Faruq and vice captains Tegan
Sharma and Isaac Tiata for representing our
school at the Remembrance Day Ceremony that
was recently held at Ingleburn RSL. This
memorial day allows our school to remember the
members of the armed forces who have died in
the line of duty.
The Wide World of Social Science
This month our featured faculty is Social
Science. Enjoy reading about our passionate
staff and students. This article is an impressive
feature of the great teaching and learning at our
school.
Mr J Perrett
Relieving Principal
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
The Wide World of Social Science
Well it has been another exciting year for the
Social Science staff. We have been involved in
many whole school activities, a new syllabus for
Geography, excursions to the Riverina, Snowy
Mountains, Zoo, Aquarium and more. It has been
another wonderful year with many contributions
to our school. We continue to achieve excellent
HSC and RoSA results. Our faculty is committed
to student engagement and lifelong learning for
all students and we believe in school spirit and
the development of the whole student.
The 2017 Social Science Staff from top l to r: Mr Morales, Miss Barnes, Mr Celestino, Ms Wiecek, Miss Shakespeare and Mr Baker. This photo is on Miss Bell’s desk in History.
The 2017 Faculty
This year Miss Bell, a highly valued and excellent
teacher, finally got a permanent position at our
school! She has moved to the History faculty to
take Mr Hollis’ place. The above photo now sits
on her desk to remind her of her time up the
ramp with us! Congratulations, Miss Bell!
However, we all miss you a lot!
Mr Colless has now moved in with us and done
an excellent job teaching Geography, History,
Commerce and especially Earth Science and
Psychology. He has been a wonderful addition to
our faculty. Mr Colless is a great teacher and a
wonderful team player!
Mr Celestino has led the successful Social
Science faculty for another year. This year we
had wonderful initiatives with the new Geography
syllabus and continued the exciting Earth
Science subject.
Mr Morales, the computer genius, has in addition
to his fantastic Economics teaching, helped our
school immensely as the SENTAL computer
coordinator. This is a massive job and Mr
Morales has totally excelled in it. He has also
contributed with his wonderful commerce
innovations and helped with the new geography
courses.
Mr Baker, with his infectious laugh, unlike no
other, has also completed another successful
year. He became a father last term as well! Mr
Baker’s passion for Economics and Human
Rights shows in his great teaching and wonderful
lesson strategies. He has been a major
contributor to the new Geography course
programs for Years 7 and 9 this year. Mr Baker
also works with the WHS committee, Formative
Assessment committee and High Resolves.
Ms Wiecek, who is here three days a week, has
continued to shine with her passion and
knowledge of Psychology. She has presented
awesome lessons this year as well as taking on a
Year 11 Business Studies class. The mother of
three young girls has shown that the balance
between a young family and teaching can be
done! Ms Wiecek has also worked with Ms
Buckler with our students on transition from High
School.
Miss Shakespeare is the school’s SRC
coordinator and has worked with our school
leadership team choosing school captains and
working with the principal on the new prefect
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
program. She is an awesome teacher in every
respect and this year teaches two Year 12
Business classes (one offline) currently. She has
also done a fantastic job coordinating our Year
10 Mandatory Geography RoSA classes.
Miss Barnes has spent most of her year between
the HT Welfare role and her classroom duties
with Social Science. She had three senior
classes this year in Business Studies and
Economics in Year 12 and Economics in Year
11. She also has worked very hard with the
faculty on the popular Earth Science class which
she has taught for the last two years.
Our 2016 HSC results were very good as we had
seven Year 12 classes last year. We led most
schools in our area with both three Economics
and Business Studies classes. This is a massive
number of students
Year 12 Society and Culture
Our 2017 Year 12 finished their HSC early in
November and were happy with their
examination. Society and Culture deals with how
people live, behave and deal with their social
existence. A major task in this course is the
Personal Interest Project, which makes up 40%
of the students HSC result. As always there were
many engaging topics which reflected the
multicultural nature of MFHS.
This year PIP topics included visual
anthropology, ethnographic topics on Fiji Indians,
Indian Women, Samoan Matais, Tongan Culture
(are they the Friendly Islands?), African culture in
Australia and many more. Mr Celestino wishes
this wonderful group all the success and
happiness in the future.
Year 12 Society and Culture 2017
The Future Teachers Club 2017
The 2017 Future Teachers Group at the Great Hall at The University of Sydney. We presented three lectures to the Education faculty at USyd and are the first High School to ever do this!
This year the first Future Teachers high school
initiative in Australia has had another exciting
and ground-breaking year. We had about 150
members sign up during the year and our
activities included the University of Sydney
lecture day where we presented to Master of
Teaching students. We also had another teach
week at the end of semester one which was
successful with many dynamic lessons prepared
and taught.
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
This year the first Future Teachers high school initiative in Australia has had another exciting and ground-breaking year. We had about 150 members sign up during the year and our activities included the University of Sydney lecture day where we presented to Master of Teaching students. We also had another teach week at the end of semester one which was successful with many dynamic lessons prepared and taught. The Future Teachers group also travelled to the Riverina again where we visited Hay War Memorial High School, Barellan Central School and Narrandera High. Students observed and saw what some rural and remote education settings were like. We have teaching awards up and coming in December and have a wonderful group of about 90 for next year. We are also starting the first Executive Team for next year. Some of our group will become leaders of the FTC and take on some exciting responsibilities in our school. This wonderful initiative will be in its fifth-year next year and we will have more university and school visits, work with the primary school, and travel back to the country, plus many more great opportunities.
FTC in Barellan, NSW, Home of Evonne Goolagong
Mr Celestino’s Travels 2017
Travel is the best educational experience and
always will be. This year Mr C journeyed to
Tasmania and Oman in January, back to China
in April, Java and Bali, Indonesia in July and
USA in September. All of these trips were
culturally and geographically different and
produced great material for future geography and
society and culture lessons!
The amazing landscapes of Yangshuo, China. These limestone formations were once underwater. It’s called karst topography in geology.
Borobudor located in Central Java, Indonesia is the largest Buddhist monument in the world. It’s about 1000 years old.
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
Omani men in traditional costume in Muscat, the capital city.
The wonderful karst landscape along the Li river in central China. These formations are the inspiration for Chinese landscape painting.
Chinese popular culture on display in the town of Yangshuo. This has become a popular tourist centre for both overseas and domestic travellers.
Mr Celestino in Memphis, Tennessee, USA at the Stax Museum with the guitar of Blues great Albert King (1924-1994).
The New Geography Syllabus
This year the Social Science staff implemented
their new programs in Years 7 and 9 Geography.
They differ greatly from the old courses both in
structure and content. A main change is that the
new courses look at both physical and human
geography equally and include both global and
Australia content.
We have enjoyed these new courses this year
and look forward to the implementation of the
Years 8 and 10 courses next year. The student
feedback has been positive and we are looking
forward to developing many more interesting
resources over the next few years.
Student Feedback on the New Course
“The new Geography syllabus focuses more on
humans and our impact on the environment
around us. The old syllabus was too focussed on
Australian Geography whereas the new syllabus
is global based. With this we are able to
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
understand the cause and effects of human
interactions from around the world. The new
syllabus has only two topics per stage which are
more intensely covered with more detail.
Therefore the new curriculum is more engaging
for students. Thanks to Mr Celestino and the
geography teachers for taking the new syllabus
and making it fun for us”!
Serena, Nuzhah, Hemesha, Alice, Ivy, Rose,
Michael, Anarchy and Aarushi of Year 9.
The 9F Geography Class 2017. They are trailblazers with the new syllabus
Year 9 Psychology 2017 The Year 9 Psychology students are currently
studying Biological and Behavioural Psychology.
Essential learning has been to learn about
the different parts of the brain and their
associated functions. Students have been
involved in making models of the brain that
emphasise these different areas. Next they will
be involved in comparing the brains of animals
and humans.
Mr P Celestino
Head Teacher Social Science
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
School Spectacular Next week is gearing up to be an exciting time for
our talented students in 'Vocal Ensemble' who
will be performing in the School Spectacular.
This year, the school spectacular will be held at
the Qudos Bank Arena Olympic Park on Friday
24th and Saturday the 25th November. Our
students will be involved in 4 shows over the two
days, with two matinee performances and 2
evening performances.
In 2017 the 'Spectacular' is called 'Own the
Moment', this a valuable 'real' hands on
experience for our students who will be involved
in this awesome professional show which
showcases the talents of many students in the
ARTS. 5,500 students from all over NSW will be
involved in this massive production. The students
all unite together from metropolitan, remote and
rural regions to celebrate the Arts.
The 'Vocal Ensemble' members along with Mrs
Davidson who has supported and guided the
students, have dedicated many of their
lunchtimes. They have been working on this
performance since February to get their audition
piece polished and then moved on to learning
their performance pieces for next weeks big
show. Our Vocal Ensemble members are Abbie
Curran, Awen Davidson, Nathaniel
Explanada, Emily Garske, Zarifa Huq, Sarah
Ioane, Amisha Lamba, Jordyn Maddick,
Himani Pala, Radhika Rabade, Isabela
Rabling, Ria Shardul, Jordan Tonkin,
Rosanna Tupuo, Lavanya Viswanathan, Lizzie
Watson and Kiara Weeding.
Also performing is our very own accomplished
performer Year 12 student Sebastian Kelly-
Toiava, who is once again a featured vocal
soloist.
Mr Lee will also be venturing in on Friday with 30
of our CAPA students to watch and cheer on
their peers. I am certain all our students will
make us proud and I know they will enjoy
and own their moment in the limelight.
Best of luck to all our students involved.
Mrs K Metcalfe Relieving Head Teacher CAPA
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November 2017
Issue 9 - Term 4 October 2014
Our Environmental Learning Space
(ELS)
Our first day of working on the new vegetable
patch involved around 14 students. Two
Bunning’s workers came to our school and they
supplied us with materials to start our garden.
On international tree day we planted two trees in
the ELS. On this day we planted an olive tree
and a tamarin tree which is an indigenous bush
food.
One of the projects that we are proud of is our
entrance garden, it started off as an area that
was overgrown with vines and weeds. We pulled
out the weeds and have now planted a flower
bed.
We have a worm farm at the ELS. Mrs Meyer a
member of staff supplied us with the worms. She
gave us heaps of them and there must be
hundreds. Our newest addition to the ELS is our
windmill, we had a group of three people (Deon,
Youssef, Roger) built it from scratch. Mr Perrett
always tells us be careful to not get mulberries
on our shirts. We love eating the mulberries.
Yuin, Youseef and Deon
