General School News

Mt Warrigal and Warilla North Transition

For the past two and a half weeks, Warilla North public school and Mt Warrigal Public school Year 6 students have been attending Lake Illawarra High as part of our Transition to High School program. During this time they have been working on two Project Based Learning projects and having lessons in various faculties within Lake Illawarra High School. Their first project was in STEM where they were working on a project titled, ‘What floats your boat?’ where they experimented with materials and designs to produce a boat that was able to float and use its own power to move. The other project was to design an activity day for their school and present one of their activities.

The program finished with a PBL Showcase day where the students presented both their projects to year five students from Windang Public school, Mt Warrigal Public school and Warilla North Public school. All students should be proud of their efforts during the program and we are sure they are now ready to begin Year 7 in 2020.

Year 7 Camp 2019 – Teen Ranch, Cobbitty

After nearly completing their first year of High School, Year 7 students enjoyed a couple of days of activities away at camp. An hour or so bus trip up the mountain found them arriving at a very smoky Teen Ranch, Cobbitty near Narellan, (one of the NSW bush fires was burning about 50 km further west).

A quick intro and explanation of what was going to occur over the next two days from one of the camp leaders, followed by the allocation and setting up of rooms, saw the students being divided into three groups and getting ready for their first activity.

Canoeing was a new experience for many. The students under instruction from a few camp leaders, paddled down the Nepean River for about half an hour. After a short period of learning the fine art of paddling as a team; a certain group decided it would be a good idea to ambush others, instigating a water fight. “All’s well that ends well’; no casualties, however one particular canoe with two male staff members and a student (Tyler) did capsize after being in the water for only a minute.

I’m not sure how many Robin Hoods’ there are amongst the group, but I’m sure wild life would have a significant chance of survival had we needed to hunt for food with ‘bow and arrows.’ The archery targets, where certainly not going to be replaced any time soon, however, everyone had fun, just the same.

There was time to take refuge from the heat in the swimming pool during free time.  Some chose to chill, where as others decided to burn off energy.

The ‘giant swing’ and particularly the ‘high ropes’ course were not for the faint hearted. Some students went in  “all guns blazing”, while others took a more apprehensive approach. Both activities tested ones resolve about heights.

After tea we had some evening activities in the hall, team against team. Dodgeball was a hit, especially for some and ‘pizza tossing’ had everyone licking their lips at an opportunity to show their skills.

All students enjoyed themselves, built some new friendships and have memories they will have for years to come. The camp staff were impressed with the behaviour of the students and LIHS teachers and myself wish to congratulate all students for representing our school with exceptional manners and behaviour.

Library News

Well no news this issue except to say that we have had a brilliant year in the library and I personally have been overjoyed to see all our students thrive.

The library space is steadily evolving into a fun and flexible centre for learning and personal development and students have been nothing but a pleasure to work with.

For the holidays I will only encourage you all to enjoy yourselves and, if it comes up, put a little bit of time aside to read a good book.

All the best from all of us here at the library and we look forward as always, to seeing you all next year

Merry Christmas

Mr Nairn 

9 IST class special guests

Our Year 9 Information and Software Technology class have been using their STEM skills to design and create robots, which they will later program using Python coding language on the Raspberry Pi computers. The students enjoyed adding their own personal touches to their robot and also made the most of the opportunity to showcase their work in progress to our visiting university students from Thailand.

Mrs Bartlett

IST teacher

University of Newcastle Business Plan Competition

In Term 3, Year 11 Business Studies sent away their Business Plan assignments to the University of Newcastle’s Business Plan Competition. Schools from all over the state entered the competition, with over 400 participating students and over 300 submissions. Lake Illawarra High School students performed extremely well in this competition and should be proud of their efforts.

Merit Certificates:

• Declan Da Silva and Blair White created a fast food restaurant called ‘Quick n Fit’ that catered to fit and health conscious people with high protein, low fat meals.
• Jordan O’Nains and Daniel Helton designed a company called ‘Charged Motors’ that can transform any vehicle into a hybrid.
• Dylan Davis designed a biodegradable Plastic bag called ‘EnviroSeed’ that plants seeds as it degrades.
• Claudia Balatti came up with an innovative idea for city dwellers- vending machines for pet meals. Making it easy for people working late hours to buy healthy food for their animals.
• Remy Marsh formed ‘Dull Automotive’ which uses augmented reality to create an electronic projection of maps, distance scales, and road markers, with the projections slightly opaque being displayed on the windscreen of the car.
• Jasmine Muldoon, Marina Bellef, Chantelle Hore and Hollie McCudden-Cann innovated the humble shopping trolley to calculate and scan products with an easy placement of the product in the shopping trolley.
• Daniel Kerr, Ty Lowe and Reece Castle created ‘DTR’ an online gambling platform where people can upload their personal assets      to play a variety of gambling games.
• Kate Thompson created ‘Codex Studio’ to transform the art industry.

High Achievement

• Amber Britton, Brianna Kerr, Lily Parker and Caieta Bazzano created ‘Pack Pal’ which has a built-in with a blanket, pillow and removable charger; suitable for both apple and android. With several compartments dedicated to toiletries and packaged food. 

A big congratulations to all Year 11 Business Studies students on their efforts this year!

Olympic Visit

On Friday 6th December our year 9 and Harbour Centre students were audience to a visit from Alexandra Croak, Australian Gymnastics/Diving Olympic Champion! This visit was part of the NSW Government ‘Olympics Unleashed’, which is a program taking Olympians and NSWIS Athletes into New South Wales schools to inspire and motivate young Australians ahead of Tokyo 2020, and beyond.

The students were a captive audience and were amazed at all that Alexandra has achieved and by the sacrifices she has made to achieve her goals. Many students had questions for Alexandra and they all had the opportunity to try on her Olympic and Commonwealth medals.

Alexandra encouraged the students to think about someone they admired or who had influenced them, and to think about what qualities and characteristics made them admirable. She also had the students think about their own goals and achievements, whether it be academic, sporting, music, arts etc.

The students remarked that they enjoyed the presentation and many felt inspired and motivated to work towards their goals. An enjoyable experience was had by all.

Mrs. Norman

Harbour Centre

On Monday 11/11/19 Mr Dunkerly and myself had the pleasure of attending 2019 VET Awards evening at Villa Dora Function room.

Shae Foster from our Harbour Centre was nominated by Mr Dunkerly for VET student of the year for special needs.

Shae attended an interview with workplace learning and met other criteria for the award. Shae received a certificate on the night.

During the term, three of our students participated in the Edge workshop. This programs teaches etiquette for job interviews and general interview skills. Students got to dress up in interview clothes, apply make up and moisturiser and some students were lucky enough to have a haircut.

Also this term, Justin and Jai attend Tafe doing a welding and bricklaying program.

Colour Run

On the 21st of November, Lake Illawarra High conducted our 3rd annual Colour Run. SRC Coordinators Scott McAndrew and Joshua Price set up a challenging course for the students with a huge slip and slide the focal point at the end of the course. Was great to see so many students and teachers covered in coloured powder with smiles on their faces. A great day for the school that we hope continues to grow every year.

Scott McAndrew, SRC Co-coordinator

HEaRd Women’s Group

Year 9 girls involved in the 2019 ‘HEaRd’ women’s group recently celebrated their graduation. This was after a very successful Donation Drive initiated by the group. The Donation Drive received hundreds of helpful donations which were taken oven to a local refugee and distributed by the charity organisation SAHSSI. A huge thank you to all the staff and students at Lake Illawarra High School for helping make the lives of homeless women and children a little easier through your kind donations!

SAHSSI also visited our school during the HEaRd graduation and presented the girls with graduation certificates. This has been a fantastic initiative and it has been great seeing the girls, within the Year 9 cohort, bonding over a shared cause. Congratulations to all of the girls involved!

Ms McLoughlin

Students comment on helping SAHSSI, a local charity, as well as the LIHS Donation Drive.

“Helping SAHSSI made me think of the quote, “there’s always a light in the darkest of corners.” This line has really helped me personally, because my mother and I went through experiences similar to that of the people SAHSSI helps. So, knowing I’m helping people in need makes me feel grateful and happy. Especially because, as women, we are changing lives and helping each other.”

“Helping people in need felt amazing and it’s changed how I feel about my own life. I’ll never take anything for granted again.”

“I really enjoyed being part of a team, representing my school in something so positive, and helping those in need.”

“We chose SAHSSI as the charity we would help because they are helping local people in need. HEaRd, our Year 9 girl’s group, thought up the idea of a donation drive because we wanted to collect items and goods which some people might not have access or be able to afford. It was a powerful feeling, working together to make a difference. It really brought the girls in my year group together.”

“I had fun collecting donations for SAHSSI. It was also great being able to spend time with my peers and make new friendships.”

“I enjoyed helping a charity, as it makes me feel happy. I know I was helping to make someone else feel happy and comfortable.”

“I wanted to help SAHSSI because they are helping women and children start a better life. I’ve started thinking about it a lot now, and I really want everyone to live in a safe environment. It’s what everyone deserves.”

“It was a pleasure working with SAHSSI and running the Donation Drive at our school. It really touched my heart, because I realised not everyone gets the same opportunities in life and we all deserve o be happy, with a place to live and food to eat. It’s been eye-opening.”

Terrific Time for Top

Attenders - Clontarf

Words and Photos by Matt Porter

Some of the students from Lake Illawarra had their Top Attenders Trip to Pambula and Moruya from the 2nd to the 4th of December 2019.

Even with the adverse conditions and the cancellation of some planned activities, the boys had an amazing and action-filled time.

Some of the highlights of the trip were the wildlife at Pambula, the high ropes course at Magic Mountain, dad jokes by Glen and getting to catch up with the Moruya Academy to catch some waves at Broulee beach.

After getting a taste of what surfing is like, the boys are keen to get back in the water next year and give it a real go.

Due to the fires, the camp had to be cut short so the boys had to miss having dinner at the club with Moruya.

Even with this set back it was a terrific time that the boys are still talking about.