School Management and Communication

School Contributions

Thank you to families who have paid school contributions.  See our letter to all families about invoices here:

Dear Parent/Caregiver

A statement of account showing the amount owing for school contributions or excursions/performances accompanies is emailed regularly to all families.  Please note that the following issues are particularly important in relation to this invoice:

General Contributions are voluntary contributions which greatly assist in maintaining and increasing the quality of education for your daughter.  Contributions are used for the purchase of library books, student recognition programs, teaching resources, SMS message system, and other resources.  General Contributions also enable CGHS to undertake purchase of additional capital items such as electronic white boards and printing facilities.

Subject Contributions pay for materials used by students in practical classes such as Technology, Food Technology, Business Services, Hospitality, IST, Visual Art, Music, Drama, Dance and payment is vital for the effective delivery of these classes.  When elective subjects are chosen by students, it should be with the understanding that elective subject contributions need to be paid.

Refundable Textbook Deposit  - due to the ongoing increases in the costs of textbooks and to ensure the safe return of all books we ask all students to pay a refundable textbook deposit of $25 for students in years 7-10 and $50 for senior students.  This money will be refunded when your daughter leaves the school and returns all her books. Students continuing from Year 10 into 11 need to pay an additional $25.00 this term.

Extra Curricular Ensembles (eg Dance, Drama, Music) require that students can only maintain participation in these ensembles if fees are paid. These activities are additional to the standard program and payment ensures that we can maintain the staffing of these important and popular programs.

Grade Sport - If students choose to do Grade Sport, bus costs must be paid in order for the school to cover the ever increasing cost of buses.  Please note in 2019, Grade Sport costs are invoiced.

Sport Levy – this is to cover costs associated with implementation of the Sport program within our school.   It will be used to upkeep our excellent sporting facilities, replace equipment, pay zone levies and cover all costs associated with swimming, cross country and zone carnivals.  This is a compulsory levy which is applicable to all students in Years 7 – 12.  The $25 levy covers:

·         The compulsory St George Zone affiliation sport levy (payable for each student enrolled at Canterbury Girls High)

·         Entry to the compulsory school carnivals (swimming, cross country and athletics)

·         Bus costs and entry fees associated with  Zone swimming, cross country and athletics carnivals

·         School Knockout team entry fees and payment for home game referees.

Technology Levy – this is to cover the increasing cost of managing technology in schools.  Canterbury Girls employs Technical Support Staff to assist with network management and BYOD implementation.  In 2019 this levy pays one fifths of these costs.

Please note we are happy for families to pay $50 deposit for camps and then pay off over a period of time, but full payment must be received by the beginning of Term 4 of each year.

If families are experiencing financial difficulties we are able to provide some support through the Student Assistance Scheme.  Please speak to the School Administration Manager (relieving), Bahieh Chami, on 9718 1805 (press 106 for the extension) if you require assistance under this scheme. We have maintained all fees as low as possible despite ongoing rises in costs and appreciate all payments in instalments. We have not raised voluntary and subject fees for 10 years.

Contributions can be paid before school, at recess and at lunchtime at Office C.  The school also has credit card facilities and the online payment system on our website, as well; you can pay these contributions by phone. We also stress that small regular payments are more than acceptable.

We thank you for your continued financial support which allows us to provide the best possible education for the students of Canterbury Girls High School.  As a School we are very well supported financially by families which means our facilities and program continue to be of a great standard.

Yours sincerely

Sue Holden

Principal

Communications Update

ALL FAMILIES PLEASE NOTE WE ARE NO LONGER USING SMS Text Messaging except for notification of absences.

Please register for Schoolstream App and follow us on Twitter & Facebook. 

All social media details are on front page of school website; see final section "Reminders, Flyers etc" in this edition for Schoolstream download guide.

Staffing Update

Welcome to new staff joining Canterbury Girls in 2019:

Classroom Teacher in HSIE, Science and Mathematics Ms Helen Wang

Classroom Teacher in HSIE Ms Natalie Szymanski

Classroom Teacher in Science Ms Mandy Cheung

Head Teacher PDHPE Ms Kate Dunn

Head Teacher HSIE (Relieving) Ms Christina Houvardas (Mon, Tues, Wed)

Wireless Ear Buds BAN at CGHS

At the start of the 2019 school year all students have been informed that wireless ear buds may not be used at school.  Please see the links below for latest research and commentary on this issue which has informed our school's decision to not allow wireless earbuds.  We believe this decision is in the best interests of students for learning, health and safety. Please continue reading for more information.

Mobile Phones, Earphones and Wireless Ear Buds

NSW Education Department  did a review of the  use of mobile phones  by students in 2018 and students having mobile phones at school has been banned for 2019 in Primary Schools. Secondary Schools have been left to make local decisions on this matter.

We believe that the appropriate use  of mobile phone is most defintiley something for students to learn in high school. Students at CGHS are allowed to carry  mobile phones in their uniform pocket and on silent during class time, unless the teacher has indicated  they need them for some learning activity. Students are free to use  mobile phones at lunch and recess.

Earphones consistently cause issues in school because:-

 1. Often students listen to music and not what is happening around them, this distracts them from whatever the learning is, whether that be with peers or a teacher - DISTRACTION FROM LEARNING

2.  Students take calls during class which is inappropriate and disruptive to others - INAPPROPRIATE USE

3.  Student safety is compromised when they have earphones in,  both on school site and travelling too and from school- STUDENT SAFETY

Teachers  ask for plug in earphones to be put away in class, unless there is a learning reason to use them. For example, students using the School Learning Centre are allowed to use ear phones while doing private study in the Learning Centre.

Now in 2019 the wireless ear bud creates a whole new scenario and set of difficulties for teachers for the  reasons listed above, with the added complication that you cannot necessarily see that students  have ear buds in, at least with standard earphones you can see the wires and request that they are removed.

There is a myriad of opinion  and medical viewpoints that wireless earphones potentially can cause  harm to peoples health  as well and a quick google search can give you a myriad of view and debate on this topic.

We have asked that students do not use wireless ear buds at school for the reasons listed above and reinforce that students leave phones away in pockets on silent, unless requested for use in class by a staff member.

We thank families and carers in advance for supporting us on this.

Seeking Live Donations for the CGHS Birdcage

Three students Evie Juchau, Peta Soilemezis and Milena Pavlovic have volunteered to be responsible for maintaining and improving our school bird cage in the Inner Quad.  A fantastic student-driven initiative. 

Year 7 BYOD checks Thursday Feb 21

2019 BYOD Checks

Term 1 Week 4

Thursday 21st February

On This Day Students must:

1.     bring their computing device to school

2.     have their username and password for both the network and internet prior to this.

·        see Teacher-Librarian for any login issues before the 21st February

3.     get name marked off in class and go to Library Area 1 for the period allocated to their class and device type

4.     complete the BYOD register survey before returning to class

CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO SEE THE SCHEDULE for Windows and Apple laptops, tablets  & iPads.

Students with Other Devices (Android, ChromeBook, Other):

Go to the IT Helpdesk in the library on Tuesday 26th February 2019 (Week 5A) at any break time including before school.

POSITION VACANT:

POSITION VACANT: Islamic Special Religious Education teacher - seeking a community member to be the SRE teacher @GirlsCanterbury Tuesdays 12.10- 12.40pm, call 9708 0880 or email INFO@ISRE.ORG.AU, training is included, syllabus provided and Working With Children Check is done.

2019 School Musical Production - save the dates

Solar Savings

After School Homework Centre - ASK

On Mondays in Period 5 3.15-4.30 in School Library

Enquiries to Mr Safi, Youth Worker

All students 7-10 welcome

Afternoon tea provided

All subjects catered for, teachers and volunteers staff the HW Centre

Access to computers and library resources

HSC Disability Provisions Applications deadline

Year 12 students who wish to apply for disability provisions in the 2019 HSC must arrange to have their applications ready to submit by the last day of Term 1, April 12.

Please see Learning and Support Teacher Ms O'Sullivan for advice and assistance URGENTLY if you have not yet done so, and plan to submit an application.  A specialist diagnosis of disability is required, and teachers complete comments to verify the impact of disability on exam performance.