It's all coming back to me now

There were moments of gold

And there were flashes of light

I can barely recall but

It's all coming back to me now

‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’

by Jim Steinman from ‘Bat Out of Hell: The Musical’

25th Anniversary - Save the Date

In 2021, Cecil Hills High School celebrates its 25th anniversary. We expect to hold our celebratory events on Friday, 13 August 2021. We are in the process of forming a school committee to coordinate the event.

Revision, Study and Homework

Term 2 involves assessments for all students. For some subjects, assessments will involve formal examinations. Our website has a template for study notes to support memorisation and consolidation of learning. In terms of my introductory quote, it is important that learning can be ‘recalled’ and ‘all comes back’ to students at the right time. Preparing study notes is one of the best ways to ensure learning transfers from the short-term memory (which is lost) to the long-term memory (which is retained). Parents are able to monitor the completion of study notes using this simple template.

New staff

I am very pleased to announce that Mr Andrew Faga was successful via merit selection and has been appointed to the permanent position of Head Teacher - CAPA at Cecil Hills

High School. Mr Faga is currently our Relieving Head Teacher - CAPA, VET Coordinator and one of our Year 9 Advisers and he performs all of these demanding roles in an exemplary manner. Mr Faga is an incredibly hardworking, multitalented staff member and this promotion is well-deserved. I know you will join me in congratulating Mr Faga on attaining this position.

In Term 2, we welcome a number of new staff members:

Mr Richard Tait (TAS)
Ms Aurnina Moshy (English)
Ms Anna Do (Social Sciences)
Mr David Dang (Mathematics)
Mr Alex Tra (Mathematics)
Ms Mark Slobodzian (Social Sciences)

We also welcome a number of existing staff member into new roles:

Mrs Alison Randall and Ms Adia Sahid will share the Deputy Principal role for Year 9 in the first half of Term 2. Mrs Alison Randall and Ms Felicity Wicks will then share the Deputy Principal role for Year 9 in the second half of Term 2. Recruitment action is now underway for a new permanent Deputy Principal to replace Mrs James.
Ms Belinda Truong will relieve as Head Teacher – Social Sciences for the first half of Term 2.

Strategic Improvement Plan

Our 2021-2024 Strategic Improvement Plan is now complete and has been uploaded to our school website. We have three strategic directions with two major initiatives in each:

These initiatives will drive our work over the next few years.

Attendance Update

At Cecil Hills High School, our attendance rates have always been excellent. We have a whole school focus on attendance which has shown considerable improvement. We are paying very close attention to our attendance data and congratulations goes to Year 7 which had the best year group attendance in Term 1 of 94.17%. In Term 2 so far, all year groups have attendance above 90% which is wonderful to see. A significant number of students have 100% attendance. The key message from the NSW Department of Education is that ‘every minute counts’ and ‘every day counts’.

CHAMP Points

A massive 35,682 CHAMP points have already been issued to students so far this year. Using the Sentral portal, parents and students are able to view information on:

number CHAMPS points received
teachers who have issued CHAMP points
reasons for receiving CHAMP points

We will provide parents with an overview of the Sentral portal at our next Parent Information Session at 6:30pm on Monday, 3 May 2021.

Parent Information Sessions

Our next online Parent Information Session will be held at 6:30pm on Monday, 3 May 2021. These sessions are typically 30 minutes. This will be followed by a short P&C meeting for those who wish to stay online. This includes the Annual General Meeting where parents are able to nominate for executive positions including President, Vice President (two positions), Secretary and Treasurer. Information on logging into the Zoom meeting will be emailed to parents.

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

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