Principal's Report

Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground

Got to figure out a way to keep the young ones moral after school

‘Ya Got Trouble’

by Meredith Wilson from ‘The Music Man’

Exploring Liverpool and Parenting Ideas

We live, work and play in the wonderful city of Liverpool. As you know, we will be on the fringe of the new Nancy Bird Walton International Airport at Badgerys Creek which brings with it opportunities for jobs, training and innovation. In terms of my introductory quote, it is important for children to develop a range of interests while still young to strike the right balance between being “idle” on the one hand but being overwhelmed on the other. The most successful students I have seen have diverse interests outside of school. In talking with parents over the years, many of you have stressed the importance of keeping children ‘busy’ with after school activities to ensure they have a well-rounded upbringing. Liverpool City Council has a community directory with information on clubs covering everything from art, Lego, drawing, sports, genealogy (family tree), Scouts, dancing, fitness, martial arts and local libraries. As an example, I took my own family to the Liverpool Regional Museum last weekend and felt very old showing my children a stamp collection, a record player, a video of how the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built, the original Monopoly (which hasn’t changed much) and a Polaroid camera. It was great to explore our local area and I encourage you to use the Liverpool community directory to help us continue to produce well-rounded Cecil Hills High School graduates.

I recently read an article about ‘concierge’ parenting which is worthy of a read. It is good to give your children responsibilities at home. Last weekend, my 8 year old son offered to make lunch for the family, which he did successfully. It’s important to ensure your children are contributing to the family unit in some way, shape or form as this teaches them responsibility and respect for the work you do as parents.

New Staff Appointments

I am very pleased to announce that three of our fantastic teachers have received permanent appointments to Cecil Hills High School.

Ms Kathy Ha is a Social Sciences teacher who has been a quiet achiever over a number of years. She regularly volunteers to help out with many programs like our afternoon study sessions and works incredibly hard inside her faculty and across the school.

Ms Marando works very hard for our students and staff, both inside and outside the classroom. She has taught a number of senior Hospitality classes, been an active member of our staff Wellbeing Committee and helped design and set up our new cafe.

Ms Occhiuto has worked with us for a number of years and has contributed to many whole school efforts, most notably, coordination of the Student Representative Council. She currently teaches across a diverse range of key learning areas, namely, English, Languages, History and Social Sciences, including VET. I know you will join me in congratulating all of these teachers on attaining these positions.

Proposed School Rebuild

You can keep track of any official developments in relation to our proposed rebuild here at this website

In the coming weeks, the proposal will be submitted for consideration and assessment by a range of stakeholders including the NSW Department of Education and the NSW Treasury. I will continue to update the community on the status of this important project.

Breakfast is coming

Cecil Hills High School will be setting up a breakfast program in Term 2! A nutritional breakfast has been shown to:

improve speed in short-term memory tests
assist with problem solving
help children do better in creativity tests
improve alertness, which may help with memory and learning
help children pay more attention in class

Research shows approximately one in seven children skip breakfast. For our school, this would be around 200 students. The breakfast program will be open to anyone, is free and I will be encouraging our teachers to take part as well. I look forward to sharing more details of our breakfast program with you soon.

Staff Roles

Ms Mel Scott has supported our school and senior executive in so many ways a number of times as relieving Deputy Principal. Ms Scott is missing the classroom, her faculty and teaching too much and she will return to her substantive position of Head Teacher – PD/H/PE from Term Two. I would like to thank Ms Scott for her amazing work as Deputy Principal. I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside her as my next door neighbour at school and I look forward to continuing to work with her as Head Teacher – PD/H/PE. I would like to thank Ms Lisa Saliba who has relieved as Head Teacher – PD/H/PE during the last term and a half and for all her efforts. We are fortunate to have skilled teachers who are able to work in these higher positions.

I am pleased to announce that Ms Stephanie Haskett will take over the role of Deputy Principal, with responsibility for Year 8 and Year 11. Mr Sean Griffiths will relieve as Head Teacher – History and Languages. I am looking forward to working with both Ms Haskett and Mr Griffiths in these new roles.

Thank you

Cecil Hills High School enjoys significant support from our parent community. We are able to offer innovative and enriching opportunities that help us develop the whole child. Our hardworking staff provide many activities to support your child as "we believe in success". We are able to provide such programs to students through a strong commitment by our parents to paying school fees and for this, we thank you . We are very fortunate to have very high levels of parental support in this regard and as a result we are a well-resourced school with excellent facilities and technology. We ask that school fees are finalised to help us provide the best possible learning experiences for your child and facilitate a faster sign-out process at the end of the year. If you have changed your email address, please update your family details using the form attached and return it to the school office as soon as possible.

P&C Meetings

Thanks to our P&C members and parents who helped out with our NSW state election BBQ which raised $1,233.85! Our next meeting will be held at 6:30pm on Monday, 6 May 2019. There will be a repeat session at 9:30am on Thursday, 9 May 2019.

I look forward to continuing to work with the staff, students and parents of Cecil Hills High School, the best school in NSW.

Mark Sutton, Principal

Field of Mars

Earth and Environmental Science