Bayala - Term 1 Week 5 2023

'Bayala'

Welcome to our Newsletter 'Bayala'. 

'Bayala' is a Darug word meaning yarning or conversation. 

Our Vision

Upcoming Events

• Pulse Alive Combined Choir Rehersal - Friday 24 February
• Year 7 Camp  - Monday 27 March to Wednesday 1 March 
• Year 7 Vaccinations - Friday 3 March
• Halogen National Young Leaders Day - Monday 6 March
• Year 7 Cultural Group - Monday 6 March, 20 March, 3 April 
• Open Night - Tuesday 7 March 
• Year 7 Meet the Teacher afternoon - Tuesday 7 March
• WSU Pathways to Dreaming - Stage 6 - Friday 3 March  
• Zone Swimming - Monday 13 March
• Year 12 English Advanced HSC Symposium Excursion - Tuesday 14 March
• NAPLAN - from Wednesday 15 March
• Parent Advisory Council Meeting - Student Behaviour Support Policy - Tuesday 21 March
• Sydney West Swimming - Tuesday 4 April 
• Cross Country Carnival - Wednesday 5 April

Principal's Update

I would like to welcome all students, parents and community members to a new school year. I would also like to warmly welcome all new students and parents, particularly our Year 7 students and all students who have joined us for the first time in other year groups.

Every new school year brings high hopes and expectations that things will be better than the previous year. This is a good thing. We all want what is best for our children, and every year we strive to raise the bar, make improvements, challenge our students and help them get ready for their chosen paths in life. As a school, we have come a long way in the last few years, despite the many challenges we have faced as a community, and the path to improvement and high standards will continue in 2023.

This year is also the 40^th Anniversary of Hawkesbury High School which was established in 1983 – first on its temporary site at Ebenezer, and then on the current site from 1989. I would like to invite any community members who would like to be part of the 40^th Anniversary Planning Committee, including ex-students of Hawkesbury High School, to contact us on 4579 6800 to register your interest.

I also hope that 2023 will see us re-form our P&C which temporarily stopped meeting in 2020 due to COVID restrictions. I encourage any parents and citizens interested in joining the P&C to contact the school and register their interest.

The school is in the process of reviewing its Behaviour Support and Management Plan (previously known as Discipline Policy), to reflect Department of Education policy changes introduced at the beginning of Term 4, 2022. All parents and community members will have an opportunity later this term to attend a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meeting where I will go through the draft Behaviour Support and Management Plan and seek community feedback. The draft plan will be made available to all parents prior to the PAC meeting. This will also be an opportunity to ask any questions related to the Behaviour Support and Management Plan which will be finalised by the end of Term 1.

I would also like to take this opportunity to summarise the school’s 2022 HSC results, which continue the growth trend of the previous 5 years. In the 2022 HSC, 37% of all results were in the top 3 bands, with 11% in the top two bands. While this is a slight drop compared to the previous year, considering the circumstances students faced, it is not statistically significant. There were only three instances, or 2%, of Band 1 results. These results continue the trend of moving students from bottom bands into middle bands. Value added is expected to continue the significant positive trend of the last 5 years.

It was very pleasing to see a Band 6 result in Advanced Mathematics (this hasn’t happened in a long time) and 70% of students scored in the top 3 bands in Mathematics Standard 1 (compared to 40% in the State).  Other notable results are in Music where 3 out of 4 students achieved Band 5 (well above State), Society and Culture where 70% of students achieved in the top 3 bands (compared to 60% in State), Visual Arts where all students achieved in the top 3 bands, Ancient History and CAFS where 67% of students achieved Band 4, English Advanced where 67% of students achieved in the top 3 bands. There are also many individual success stories that cannot be contextualised with raw data. I would like to congratulate Year 12 students and their teachers on their achievements. I would also like to extend my thanks to parents and family members without whose help and support our students would not have been as successful.

This year we can also look forward to the revised Reward and Recognition Procedures and our Student Mentoring program. The school will also continue with its explicit  focus on literacy and numeracy, including the introduction of the MURU reading comprehension scaffold which will complement the WALU writing scaffold which was introduced in 2020.

I expect that 2023 will be a year full of new challenges, but I am confident that all parents, students and staff will work together to ensure we continue on our journey of improvement.

From The Deputies

Uniform

I would like to thank parents and students for maintaining the school’s STAR values by wearing the correct school uniform. Correct uniform is an important safety consideration that allows the school to manage risks around unauthorised people on the school grounds.

The following are important reminders of the HHS school uniform procedures:

• Hooded tops (hoodies), jeans, leggings and non-HHS sport shorts are non-uniform items and cannot be worn to school.
• The tracksuit pants bought through the School Locker (HHS track pants) are the only track pants allowed as school uniform.
• A plain navy or black crew neck sweatshirt may be worn under the school uniform jacket if an extra warm layer is needed.
• If a student is out of uniform, they will be provided with appropriate uniform and be expected to change.
• Students who are out of uniform and without a note from parents, will be issued a recess detention.

Hawkesbury High School - Uniform Code Booklet

If you have any queries about uniform or require assistance, please contact the school on 4579 6800.    

Mentor Sessions

The 2023 school year has seen the promotion of updated Reward and Recognition procedures and House groups in addition to the introduction of Mentor Sessions.    

Small groups of students will meet with their mentor teacher once every three weeks. During the Mentor Session, students will work with their mentor teacher to identify and track progress towards a school based goal and personal goal and reflect on their engagement with learning in class. Students will record this information in a booklet called “My Learning Journey”. This booklet will be brought home ate the end of each semester.

Students are expected to bring any merit certificates awarded in class to the mentor session. Their teacher will record the merits on Sentral. Students and staff will monitor the accumulation of merits and students can then apply for Silver and Gold certificated as per Reward and Recognition Flowchart.  Each merit recorded automatically becomes a point for the students House group.     

The advantages of student mentoring include:

• Providing a sounding board to encourage student reflection and self-assessment of their abilities.
• Encouraging students to identify goals and track their progress towards achieving those goals.
• Developing student confidence and communication skills
• Strengthening a student’s connection with the school community and promotes a sense of belonging.
• Complementing existing learning and wellbeing programs within the school
• Improving engagement with learning
  

Mrs Kerrie Shortland

Literacy

Our strategy to improve literacy outcomes for students at HHS has three tiers universal, targeted and intensive. Universal approaches use the framework of the Hawkesbury Learning Journey – students are explicitly taught the skills to demonstrate understanding, practice critical thinking, and synthesis and evaluate information in all learning areas. We use the learning scaffolds of WALU and MURU to assist students to develop skills in reading and writing. WALU is a writing scaffold that has helped our students improve their writing to demonstrate knowledge, critical thinking and synthesis of ideas.

MURU is a new tool, we have introduced this year, to assist students with unpacking a text to improve comprehension and inferential understanding.  

Main Idea: Identifies ideas in a texts or sections of texts.

Inference: Use information and clues to infer from a variety of texts 

Making connections: Link information across and within texts to develop an understanding of the ideas in a text.

Evaluating texts and sources: Explore tools and techniques used to add authority to texts and assess credibility or apply to different situations.

Targeted approaches to improve literacy include our Year 8 Level-Up program, individualised tutoring and support within the classroom. All students in Year 8 participate in literacy classes that are designed to improve student outcomes. Students are explicitly taught a literacy skill e.g., identifying the main idea, summarising, analysing etc. and provided the opportunity to practice and assess their understanding. Tutors help individual students to unpack assessment tasks and examine coursework, when required.

Assessment Booklets

Year 7-10

Students have been issued with assessment booklets. The assessment schedules provide opportunities for teachers to gather evidence about student achievement in relation to syllabus outcomes. They are designed to clarify student understanding of concepts and promote a deeper understanding.

Year 11 and 12

Assessment booklets have been distributed to senior students. It is important that students familiarise themselves with the assessment policy and requirements of each of their courses. The booklet sets out the weightings of the component assessed in each course, as well as the value and nature of each task.        

Assessment booklets can be located on our school’s website under the Learning at our School tab.

Mrs Nicole Martirena

Term 1 has started off smoothly, the school has continued to improve our resources and spaces around the school. We have recently refurbished 7 more classrooms with new furniture to ensure our learning environments are safe and comfortable. The agriculture plot has finished its major refurbishment projects including: drainage and fencing improvements as well as new raised beds area  for students learning to grow different produce. 3 of our Science labs, our photography lab and our domestic kitchen have been completely refurbished. This provides our students with amazing learning spaces.

#Build is still an ongoing program that will recommence with students this year. We have been very lucky to have an engine and gearbox donated to the school by the Svenson family for the car. This program has come a long way and it is exciting and looking forward to this program continuing hopefully in Term 2.

Mr Benn McEvoy

Open Night & Year 7 Meet the Teacher

Front Office Hours

Please ensure all queries are directed to our Administrative Staff durning the below hours: 

Monday - 8.15am - 3.15pm

Tuesday - 8.15am - 3.15pm

Wednesday - 8.15am - 2.00pm

Thursday - 8.15am - 3.15pm

Friday - 8.15am - 3.15pm

Student Absences and Leaving Early

On occasion, your child/ren may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

• being sick or having an infectious disease
• having an unavoidable medical appointment
• being required to attend a recognised religious holiday
• exceptional or urgent family circumstances e.g. attending a funeral.

If your child is required to leave school early, we request that a note be sent to school with your child in the morning of the absence. They will need to present to the Front Office and the note will be signed off by a Deputy Principal. The student will then receive an Early Leaver's slip from the Front Office, which they will show their teacher when needing to leave class. They will then proceed to the Front Office and wait to be collected.  

If your child is absent from school for the entire day, you can inform us of the absence using one of the methods below:

• Call the Administration Office during office hours with date of absence, child's name and reason for absence
• Responding to the absence SMS from the school
• Sending an email to the school with date of absence, child's name and reason for
  absence
• Sending a hand written note into the office on the day your child returns to school.
  Please include your name, you child's name, date of absence and reason for absence
• Completing an 'Absentee Form' in the SZapp App

If your child will be absent for more than one day, you will receive an SMS each day unless you specify the date range of their absence in your response.  

If your child will be absent for more than 5 school days, please complete an application for extended leave - travel and return the application to school. This form is located on our website under About our School - Notes

Parents must provide a verbal or written explanation for absences to the school within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence.

Where an explanation has not been received within the 7-day timeframe, the school will record the absence as unjustified on the student's record.

New School Bytes Finance Module

We are excited to announce our school will be transitioning to an upgraded School Bytes finance system on 7 March 2023!
In preparation for the transition to a simplified finance system for both you and the school,
we will be required to implement a short payment lockout period where we will not be able
to receive any online or EFTPOS payments.

What this means for you
• No payments can be made online or via EFTPOS from 4pm, Wednesday 1st March 2023
• We will advise you when payments can resume closer to the above date
• After the transition, a School Bytes portal will be available for you to register and begin using (Link: https://portal.schoolbytes.education)
• All previous payments made will be migrated to the new School Bytes finance system and portal

What is the School Bytes portal
The School Bytes portal provides flexibility for you to conveniently:
• Make school payments online (including paying for multiple siblings at once)
• Use a family credit to pay for an activity or school contributions
• Download a receipt for payments made
• View all historical payments in one place
• Complete and submit digital permission notes
• View the status of all permission notes
• Request a refund if required
This can be done where you want at any time: day or night.

Through the portal, you will easily be able to download a receipt once a payment has been
made and have access to view all historical payments when needed. Online payments are
processed in real-time and can be viewed by school staff immediately.
While our preference is for payments to be made via the portal, we will still accept payment
via cash, cheque and EFTPOS.

Introducing Schoolzine & the SZapp App

We would like to introduce you to our new interactive Parent Communication Platform - Schoolzine. 

Schoolzine allows us to provide our school community with a multi-functional, interactive platform that can be accessed wherever you have internet. At home on your PC, via your mobile or perhaps on your iPad - completely at your convenience.

By installing the SZapp App, parents and carers can receive instant alerts and news feeds, as well as our school newsletter, submit absentee forms and more.

Please view the below 'SZapp Presentation for Parents' powerpoint for instructions on installing the app.

NAPLAN - Years 7 & 9

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Each year students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

From 2023, NAPLAN is moving to Term 1 and will take place from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March 2023. The reason for this change is so that results can be returned to schools earlier in the year which will support teachers to understand the learning needs of their students and plan accordingly.

NAPLAN tests are just one part of our school learning assessment program and questions are primarily based on knowledge, understanding and skills gained from the prior year of schooling.

In preparation for NAPLAN 2023, our school will undertake activities to help students to become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked.

Students and parents can access the public demonstration site to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN and the types of questions and tools available. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended.

Macquarie Cup Soccer Tournament

On Tuesday 21 February, the boys showed some great courage in the heat to play 4 games. While the results didn’t go their way, they should be congratulated for their effort.