Principal Report

The last week of the term saw the beginning of the long goodbye to Year 12, 2024. How wonderful it was to mark the end of their schooling with their graduation, being the first for the school, in our newly refurbished hall. They looked fabulous in their academic gowns and sashes and it was great hearing about each of their aspirations for their post school futures.  On the Friday, they continued the tradition of ringing the school bell at the front gate for the last time cheered on by all the students and staff of the school.

A massive thank you to Year Adviser Mr El Hafiane and Year Adviser Assistant Ms Wachjo who have led this amazing group of young people through their time here at Evans. As their Year Advisers, they have nurtured, supported and strengthened them across the six years through some unusual times including the pandemic along with personal challenging situations. We have valued the particularly strong relationship that we have had with the parents and carers of this group of students over the past six years which has been central to students’ success at school. 

Of course, there is still the HSC external exams and formal to go! The exams have commenced and the results will be available online from NESA on 18 December. As the first cohort of students going through the compressed curriculum model of the HSC, we are looking forward to a continuation of the excellent results from last year’s exams.

Welcome to our new 2025 school leaders who were presented to the school at the end of last term. We had an outstanding group of aspiring leaders applying for the senior positions.  All of them were well prepared and presented their speeches with confidence and enthusiasm and made selection very difficult. Congratulations to: 

Captains:  Bilal Mohammed and Tegan Thompson

Vice Captains: Venuk Koralage and Min Thein

Prefects: Moe Tevaga, Christian Fuerzas and Mico Gaita

Our new Volleyball Courts were opened with a powerhouse game between teachers.  Mr Amon HT TAS and Mr Sondaar PDHPE excelled and the surface had a good workout.  This continues the improvements of our sporting facilities and students have the opportunity play on state-of-the-art facilities.

We said farewell to Head Teacher Science, Ms Chitra Marasinghe, who has taught generations of Evans students over her 34 years here. Commencing as a Science classroom teacher to becoming Head teacher of the faculty, she has seen the school grow and change over the years.  She has been an amazing leader, colleague and mentor to many past and present staff. Her impact on her students has been enormous with many entering the Sciences career pathways. We wish her a wonderful, well-deserved retirement as she enters the world of grandmotherhood, still nurturing the next generation.  She will be sorely missed.

Community consultation commencing on 28 October and finishing on 6 December on two proposals concerning the future of Blacktown Girls and Blacktown Boys High Schools. One proposal is combining the two with the establishment of co-educational setting. The other is to maintain the two as they are now (single sex schools) and adjust the surrounding intake areas to provide all students guaranteed access to a co-educational high school.  This will influence our student enrollment intake. Public workshops will take place in a combination of in person and online sessions to gather insights from parents and carers, special interest groups.  Please look out for our online Friends of Evans meeting on Wednesday 13 November to find out more information and have your say.

As we move into Term 4, students are completing their final assessments ready to move into their next year in Week 6.  We mark the end of our academic year with Spirit Week (Week 5) and students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities both in school and on excursions culminating on Carnival Day on the Friday.  Students have been reminded at assemblies that attendance at Spirit Week events is based on their positive behaviour and adherence to our school values of being respectful, trustworthy and motivated. We look forward to a wonderful week with lots of fun, learning and celebrations.

Nerina Pretlove

Principal