Principal's Report

Term 2 in Review

There have been so many wonderful highlights this term. Here is a short summary:

Mary Poppins the Musical – I cannot begin to rave enough about the success of this year’s musical. As many parents would know, EHS is renowned for the musicals we put on every year and this year was no exception. A huge thank you to all the staff from the Creative & Performing Arts faculty but most importantly to the cast and crew of the show. I personally think it was one of best we’ve ever had. Thank you also for all the families that supported us and for our wonderful P&C for running the kiosk. I was also delighted to have the State Member for Camden, Mrs Sally Quinnell and the Director, Educational Leadership for Camden in attendance on the Friday evening. Both dignitaries were thoroughly impressed with the show!

The Elderslie High School Wellbeing Expo – This was our very first wellbeing expo and it occurred in Week 7 in conjunction with Camden Council and a wide range of community exhibitors. Check out the video showing what a wonderful day it was and how well our students engaged with the agencies on offer. We were told that our kids were one of the best groups Council had visited. Thank you to Mrs Garner, our Relieving Head Teacher Welfare for organising this wonderful event.

Trial HSC exams – Weeks 9 &10 mean Trial HSC exams at EHS. Our teachers have been preparing our students for weeks and all students have plenty of access to Ms Malcolm who is both the Year 12 Year Adviser and the Senior Learning Mentor. We encourage all students to avail themselves of every opportunity that teachers put in front of them for revision.

Wests Tigers Partnership – Its been very exciting for our Year 8 and 10 boys to work with representatives from the Wests Tigers in the last few weeks for the Unite Harmony and the Careers Pilot programs. More of this to come in the weeks ahead.

Staffing Changes

Term 2 has seen some significant staffing changes in our Support Unit as we continue to build towards our seven full classes. We have appointed three new teachers in Mrs Melissa Rennex, Mrs Julianne Massimiani and Mrs Godley Shaji alongside three new Student Learning Support Officers, Mr Keaton Bates, Mrs Kay Power and Mrs Kellie Hogan. 

Mrs Natalie Robinson was appointed to the role of Deputy Principal Inclusion & Support. This is a relatively new role within public schools and we are only eligible for this role to be added to our staffing because of having seven support classes. Mrs Robinson will be working with students with additional needs in both the Support Unit and the mainstream. EHS is so lucky to have Mrs Robinson in this role and we know her expertise will be of great benefit to many students across the school.

Student Successes

At EHS, there is always plenty to be proud of with our students getting involved in so many incredible opportunities. Most notable has been our students performing in the “In the Spotlight” Dance Festival at the Seymour Centre in Sydney. Our Dance Ensemble performed on 19 June while our combined troupe of performers from across the Greater Macarthur Secondary Education Network performed on 25 June. I thoroughly enjoyed the latter performance and thank Ms Martin for attending the former in my absence. A huge thank you to our wonderful Dance Teacher, Mrs Grimston-Eason for the choreography and leadership of both groups!

I was also thrilled to be able to showcase the talents of two of our top performing arts students in Year 12, Jessica Furnari and Noah Douglas at the Secondary Principals Council Annual Conference in Week 7. Jess and Noah impressed a room of over 400 NSW principals and I had many colleagues approach me to tell me how wonderful they were – which of course, I already knew! A big thank you to Ms Dennis for bringing the students into Sydney for their performance.

I am also super proud of our various student leaders this month. Our Senior Leaders including our Prefects and Captaincy Team ably led the primary school leadership forum in Week 6 which was held at EHS. Students from Elderslie, Mawarra and Cobbitty Public Schools participated in a range of leadership activities and were mentored by our students to be able to generate and plan for idea for a school-based initiative, pitch it and prepare to go back to their schools to unpack it.  I was delighted to see the mature way our students led the younger students through inspiring and encouraging them. The primary school teachers in attendance were full of praise for their work. A huge thank you to Mr Atterton for leading this activity.

In other realms of school life, the fostering of leadership also abounds. I loved watching our First Nations students lead the children from our partner primary schools during National Reconciliation Week Activities. We have had lots of students working on their advocacy skills by finding causes that are meaningful to them. One fantastic pitch was made to me by a group of Year 9 students who were inspired by the “Walk The Talk” workshop they participated in for PDHPE which was focused on domestic violence. These wonderful students were so moved by this workshop that they wanted to make a difference and are now in the early stages of planning an activity for Term 3.

Hilder Oval Renovations 

I have been contacted by Camden Council to inform me that the long-awaited renovation to Hilder Oval is about to start. The plans for this have been in the pipeline for several years and the project is now about to get underway with works expected to impact the site from sometime this month until December. For those who are unsure, Hilder Oval is the council oval next to the school and right near Camden Pre-School. It will be a great improvement once the renovation is complete but it will impact us while works are in progress. Fencing has now been put up around the site and that means our students who walk through this space on the way to and from school will not be able to do so. Students will have to use the main entrance on Hilder St. I know this will be frustrating but we will just have work around it. We are also expecting that the school will also not be able to use the space for PDHPE practical lessons in this time. I would ask families to encourage their children who do walk this way to leave a little earlier in the morning so that they make in time for the bell each day.

Parents & Citizens Association Meetings

Our next P&C meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 6 at 7pm in the school library. As always, there will be a faculty presenting and this time, it will be the CAPA faculty.

Kind regards,

Mrs Jenny Lawrence

Principal