Student & School Community Achievements

Announcement of Sue Holden's Retirement

By now the school community will be aware of Ms Sue Holden's decision to retire.  It comes after 14 years of service to the Canterbury Girls High School community and 26 years service in the NSW Department of Education as a Principal, where she also was Principal of Cleveland Street High School and Picnic Point High School prior to Canterbury Girls High School.

Last year the Canterbury Director of Educational Leadership,  Megan Kelly, nominated Sue Holden for a Principal's Award, presented at Term 4's Network Award Presentations. This was reported in our November newsletter.  In the first update from the Director's office this term, Ms Kelly included the following acknowledgement to Ms Holden:

"During the vacation break Sue Holden officially announced her retirement and closed this chapter of her life. Sue, as Principal of Canterbury Girls High School, was an exceptional leader who took the school from strength to strength. She had a relentless focus on improving the quality of teachers and, as a result, student achievement continued to lift. Canterbury Girls High School is highly regarded by all in the local community and Sue leaves behind a great legacy".

A function to thank and farewell Ms Holden will be held at the school on Friday 3rd April. UPDATE MARCH 15th: This event has been cancelled. 

HSC High Achievers

Congratulations to all award recipients and thank you to the special guests from Cantabrians, Zonta and Bailey family.  2019 proved another excellent year for the school in terms of HSC results: 69 students achieved at least one High Performance Band, and 37% of all results were placed in the High Performance Bands. 13 students were placed in the High Performance Bands for all subjects. These are tremendous achievements! The school performed above the state average in Ancient History, Business Services Examination, Chinese and Literature, Dance, Drama, English Advanced, English EALD, English Extension 1, English Standard, Legal Studies, Modern History, Music 1, and Society and Culture. Olga Makin was on the prestigious All Rounders list with all Band 6 results. There were 38 listings on the Distinguished Achievers list for CGHS, with stand out performances achieved by Stella Aroney, Anja Petkovic and Mexin Yu.  

Below are the speeches by Olga Makin, HSC Graduate 2019 and All Rounder on the Distinguished Achievers List, and Ly Lien, HSC Graduate 2014, who is now completing her Masters in Biomedical Engineering. We look forward to inviting Olga to return in early term 2 to deliver a workshop on managing time and study demands as a senior student, as part of our strategies to support Years 10, 11 and 12 to improve their learning and lift their personal best results.

Year 12 Hospitality - High Achievers Assembly

A special thank you to Year 12 Hospitality students - Christina, Grace, Jade, Jacinta, Marie, Mieke, Noor, Sabrina, Salam, Shaneice and Zainab for preparing and presenting a wonderful array of delicious dishes at the morning tea held after the High Achievers Assembly in the Cantabrian Hall on Thursday, 13th February, 2020. Feedback after the event was very positive with a request for the recipe of one of the dishes made. The students are to be commended on their enthusiasm and attention to detail in ensuring the food tasted great and looked attractive. Great effort.

 - Mrs J. Kastanias, Hospitality Teacher

House Captains and Vice-Captains

Ex-Student Anastasia Bampos stars in Go!

Congratulations to ex-student Anastasia Bampos, whose movie is in theatres now. In 2018, Anastasia took two months off her Year 12 studies to film in Western Australia. The school community are excited to see her grow in her career!

Click here for a Marie Claire article on Anastasia's experience.

Team Cerebrum

Zone Swimming Representatives

Year 7

• Jessica Nguyen
• Alicia Lee
• Piper Procter
• Ava Dirou
• Amelie Rimondi
• Violet Millar
• Rose Smith

Year 8

• Edie Crawcour-Smith
• Isabella Rossi
• Anna Vuong

Year 9

• Caitlin Grabham
• Poppy Procter
• Alex Spencer
• Marla Stevenson
• Kylani Koloamatangi

Year 10

• Jessica Sanderson
• Mae Mitsak
• Annabel Payne
• Genevieve Knighton
• Samantha Walker
• Rory Cotsios

Year 11

• Antonina Scheer
• Kiara Green
• Edie Harris
• Catie Broadbent
• Elena Costas
• Jessica Grabham

Year 12

• Erica Beattie

Simon Shreepaili article on recent bush fires

Great achievement by Simon Shreepaili, Year 8, has had her article, Australia's bushfire catastrophe in my eyes,  published online on South Asia, an Australian community news website.

Click this link to read.

Paris Cruz scores gold at NSW State Dancesport Championship

Paris Cruz competed on Saturday 14th December 2019 in the NSW State Dancesport Championship and won 2 gold medals. She won 1st place in Cha Cha and 1st place in Salsa. 

Open Night 2020

A big thank you to all staff and students for making Open Night 2020 a great success. Your time and effort is much appreciated.

Special recognition to our staff coordinators Ms Keirouz and Ms Michos who made sure tours and the formal program were an outstanding introduction to our school.

Prefect tour leaders, speakers and performers on stage - you were fantastic. The students working with teachers in classrooms to show our school in its best light - thank you for giving your time and making our prospective Year 7's feel welcome and excited about coming to high school.

Finally thank you to all Office staff for support of this event, and Daniella Antunes for all her work preparing the package. If you missed the Open Night, we have School in Action tours on Tuesday 3rd March from 9:30 am to 11:00 am. 

Congratulations and Thank you

• Ms Dunn and staff team for coordination of the High Achievers Assembly, including Hospitality (see story on this page from Ms Kastanias) and Music, as well as Office team.
• Ms Naisbett and staff for a fantastic day at the pool for 2020 Canterbury Girls Swimming Carnival; well done to House Captains, cheer squads and all participants in the pool, especially those continuing to Zone.
• Ms Connolly-Greig for managing School Photo Day. Best wishes to Ms Connolly-Greig as she departs for maternity leave!
• Our Police Schools Liaison Officer Senior Constable Anne Ferfolya for safety and wellbeing presentations to Years 7-10 in the opening weeks of term, helping all students make a positive start to school travel and mobile phone use in particular.
• Ms Andrews, Ms Venkatesan, Ms Houvardas for Assessment Information Evenings held in weeks 2 and 3 for Years 11 and 10.
• Ms Cooper for Duke of Edinburgh Parent Information Evening.
• Ms Andrews for coordination and management of Twilight Professional Learning with Ashfield Boys High School.
• Ex-parent Chris Dunstan for continuing support of the school's solar panel program including the Solar Analytics website now displayed on the school foyer screen (see article in next section for the link).
• P&C and volunteers for their welcome to Year 7 families morning tea on Day 1 2020, and BBQ at Open Night.
• Parent Tim Payne for speaking at Open Night on the parent perspective to prospective families.
• Ms Yassmin and Mr Fitzgerald for taking over teacher coordinator roles in Senior Prefects and School Environment Ambassadors (SEA), ensuring school leadership and participation opportunities continue seamlessly for our students!
• Maggie Pirangi in Year 12 who continues her success in being selected for Sydney East Volleyball
• To all the families who have made donations to the school building fund, enabling us to continue to improve resources and facilities at the school.