Hello Parents/Guardians and Community Members,

We are now over halfway through the term and have commenced the new academic year for our compressed curriculum. Students are settling into their new year and our senior students are all commencing their senior subjects. Our previous Year 10 cohort of students are now commencing their first senior year, and we hope are more informed and prepared after having attended the updated ‘Successful Seniors’ program. More details and photos of this program held last week are below.

Narrandera Shire Council providing workplace training courses to youth of Narrandera Shire and some of our Year 12 Graduates

Thank you to Narrandera Shire Council Youth Coordinator Nyoka Prior who has worked with Narrandera TAFE to offer the youth of Narrandera Shire Council courses in Responsible Service of Alcohol and Responsible Conduct of Gaming. These two micro-credentials will enable our students and the Youth of Narrandera the opportunity to seek out employment for the upcoming festive season. We thank Nyoka Prior - Youth Coordinator for NSC, and Fee Smith of TAFE, for all their hard work in setting up these opportunities.

Year 10 Successful Seniors Week

Held last week

Last week we implemented an updated version of our Successful Seniors Program for our Year 10 students to enable them to make a smooth transition into their senior years. This year students participated in new initiatives and sessions designed to support our year 10 students enter their senior years at Narrandera High School.

The following sessions were designed to help guide and support our students as they navigate the change from junior school to senior school and incorporated the following sessions:

Formal introduction to NESA requirements and the process for awarding the High School Certificate and how the compressed curriculum is structured as well as expectations for senior students. Ms Maddison
Academic Writing and Referencing Sessions – New in-depth sessions created by Mrs Beth Chappell in collaboration with Charles Sturt University on academic writing, referencing, using referencing tools, common assessment structures expected at NHS. Thank you to Mrs Beth Chappell who worked with CSU staff to design and run these sessions.
Computer skills, assessment structures and conventions for NHS, tips and tricks to set up your assessments and the use of AI. *More sessions will be rolled out throughout the year. Thank you to Mrs Beth Chappell and Mr Mark Chappell who ran these sessions.
All My Own Work - a compulsory NESA program to education students on referencing, plagiarism and sourcing reference materials for your academic writing run by the English faculty. *Students who missed these sessions must complete these in the next two weeks with Mrs Ing.
Study skills workshops – Session on all different study skills techniques and tools for the various subject areas across the curriculum. Creating routines, study schedules, keeping track of tasks and note taking, summaries, glossaries as well as improving study habits for senior students. Thank you to Mrs Kirsty Quilter and Mrs Sam Irons who ran this session.
Responding to high order questions & academic writing techniques for essays, and long response questions. ALARM/IDEA and other techniques across subject areas. Thank you to Mrs Kirsty Quilter & Mrs Sam Irons who ran this session.
Interpreting your subject syllabi documents for all subjects. An in-depth look at how to interpret, and understand the syllabus for each subject, and using the syllabus as a tool to improve your understanding and study in each course. Run by Mrs Sam Irons.
Physical Challenges – Importance of keeping physically active throughout your senior years, juggling skills (literally and figuratively) as a senior student. Thank you to Mr Tom Dore and Mrs Emma Sergeant for running these important sessions to remind students the benefits of physical activity for our health, wellbeing and brain functioning.
STEM Challenge– Bridge & Tower building competition encouraged, critical and creative thinking, teamwork, communication, problem solving & design skills. Thank you to Ms Cathie Webber who designed and ran this session.
Library – Senior Research and Resources session – We thank Mrs Gilmore for this important information session on how to find resources and research articles and references for your learning and senior assessments. Mrs Gilmore went through the many amazing resources our students have access to online as well as in our own library. These services are essential for students to succeed as senior students and really supplement the learning resources in our classrooms. Thank you, Mrs Gilmore.
Looking after your mental health & wellbeing as a senior student. These activities, were fun and engaging while important in their message, providing students the skills and knowledge of who students can ask for help and how to go about looking after themselves during moments of stress throughout their senior studies. Thank you to our School Youth Support Officer – Jacquie Birch and our School Psychologist Jess Buchhorn in running these sessions.
Year Adviser – Wellbeing check in and organising senior mentors. This was a full week, and our students were able to chat about the many important items learnt throughout the week and to also seek clarification on any issues or concerns they have as they transition into senior years, with their two, year advisers. Thank you Mr Jake Bailey and Ms Lizzie McLay for your guidance and support of year 10.
Ms Maddison upped the ante this year and went to great lengths to design an amazing scavenger hunt challenge. Students had to solve the riddles to identify the specific staff members to go to for the next clue. That teacher then provided the next challenge/puzzle for students to solve before they could move on to the next clue. Thank you, Ms Maddison, for running this session which was incredibly competitive and challenging.
Minimum Standards testing – Students all sat the three Minimum Standards tests throughout the week and we are pleased with students’ efforts and focus during these tests. Thank you to Mrs Priscilla O’Mahoney and Mr Jamie Gawne as well as other support staff in running these sessions.
The week culminated in an excursion to Griffith on the Friday where we visited the Country Unis Centre & then switched off with some fun Ten Pin Bowling, arcade games and a pizza lunch. Thank you to Mr Jake Bailey, Mrs Michelle Donaldson and Mrs Helen Langley who took the students on this excursion.

I wish to thank all the wonderful teachers at Narrandera High School who helped design and run these engaging and informative sessions sharing their many skills and expertise with our students. We also thank the many support staff who assisted with sessions or supported students with the testing during the week. We hope this has allowed our year 10 students to transition into year 11 with more knowledge about the structure and requirements of NESA and the HSC and with the tools they need to succeed as senior students.

Work Experience & TAFE Work Placement

Opportunities this term

Throughout this past term we have seen many students undertake various work experience opportunities with our local employers. Many of our senior students have made use of the time after their HSC exams to undertake work experience as well as some of our Year 10 students who have been exploring post school pathway options as an alternative to going on to their senior years. We have also had some keen Year 9 students going out on placement and being very proactive in beginning their careers exploration.

I would like to thank all the many businesses and organisations for all their support this term and in previous terms, hosting our students for work experience and for work placement. We cannot thank you enough for the time, knowledge and skills you have demonstrated and shown to our students who have all really enjoyed their time in your organisations and on their placements.

TAFE YES Animal Care

Last week this week

Our students have continued to enjoy all the activities up at the TAFE YES Program for Animal Care. This past week, students created healthy animal treats and learnt more about the importance of nutrition for animals and our pets. The previous week, students created stimulating play mats for their pets to encourage animals to engage, be active and to stimulate their natural explorative behaviours.

Students have really enjoyed these fun sessions working with real animals and learning from their expert TAFE teacher Tamara Percival. This Friday will be the last session for this program, and we wish to sincerely thank Tamara and Sheridan Scali for all their organisation and efforts to give our students this opportunity to explore tertiary study in the Animal Care fields.

Mrs Judy Ing

Careers Advisor

Library Matters

This weeks Book Review