Principal 

The Class of 2025

It was wonderful to see our Year 12 students celebrate their final week of schooling at the Graduation Formal held at Newcastle Town Hall. Theevening was a fantastic occasion, and the students looked absolutely amazing as they marked this special milestone together.

Today’s Graduation Ceremony was the final event in their journey at Francis Greenway High School. Congratulations to all award recipients, and in particular to Michael Jenkins, the recipient of the Principal’s Award for the Highest Academic Achievement in Year 12.

Congratulations also to the many students who have already received early entry offers into tertiary study across a range of universities. Their future pathways include primary and secondary education, nursing, mechanical engineering, and aeronautical engineering, among others. This is the highest number of early entries we have seen I am very proud of their achievements.

With hard work, determination, and the values they’ve developed during their time at FGHS, I am confident they will achieve great success in the years ahead.

Social Media Restrictions

The deputies have an article around this ban for students under the age of 16yo.

eSafety is offering brief online events for parents and carers:

30-minute webinars for parents and carers, with six sessions running from today to 15 December. 

Content includes:

• the purpose of the new age restrictions and how they aim to protect young Australians.

• which platforms will require users to be 16+ and what platforms they can still access.

• tips and resources to support online safety and wellbeing through the transition.

 More details and registration links here.

Parents and Citizens Association at Francis Greenway 2026

All parents and citizens are welcome to join the P&C. The P & C meets once per term at 6pm at the school.

Each meeting the P & C group discusses items including:

• Uniform assistance

• Canteen operations

• School improvement planning

• Excursion proposals and funding

The P & C contributes funds through operating the school canteen to the school to support learning and wellbeing programs, projects, school buses and resources.

Supporting Our Canteen in 2026

The P&C is looking for volunteers to help out in our Canteen.

Profits from our canteen are used to purchase items for the school to benefit students.  The more volunteers we have, the more funds flow through to the school.

Some of the benefits from volunteering include:

• Contributing to and being part of the school community

• Giving something to the school

• Learning about food and nutrition

• Increasing knowledge and skills in the areas of cooking and food preparation, food hygiene and safety, nutrition, customer service and cash handling and

• Making new friends and enjoying opportunities to socialise.

There are a wide variety of tasks that you can undertake and our Canteen Supervisors will tailor tasks to your level of skill and comfort level. No prior training or skills are required. It doesn't matter if you have a day or even just a couple of hours free, as any support is appreciated. Meet some new friends and make a positive contribution to our school community.

Parents, students and people from the wider community are all welcome.  If you or someone you know are interested in helping or you have any questions, please contact the school on 4964 1282 and our Canteen staff will be in contact.  Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in 2025.

End of Year Awards Ceremony

The school will celebrate the end of the year with an awards ceremony Wednesday 10 December in the school MPC from 6:00pm - 7:30pm.

Merry Christmas

I would like wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas break and look forward to another great year in 2026. Please keep up to date with information via our Facebook page and save the date:

Monday 2 February 2026, return to school of ALL students. 

Damien Brownsmith

Acting Principal