General School News
Sad News
During the school holidays, we received the sad news that Terry Rankmore, one of the agricultural assistants, passed away. Terry has been at Lake Illawarra High School for approximately 30 years. Terry was a well-loved and respected person by all staff and students. Terry loved his role as a farm assistant. Every day he would feed and talk to the animals. He knew the animals by name, even the chickens. His favourite was Jennifer, and she was hand-fed by Terry every day.
Many students loved going out to Terry in the garden or farm area. The students loved having a chat with him about the animals, vegetables, and bush tucker. Terry was always willing to assist anyone at school, whether with students' assignments, helping in the classroom, Expo nights, NAIDOC celebrations, and even having students work experience or work placement. Terry was involved in creating our Rainbow Serpent and assisted in our Royal Easter Show displays. Terry always gave his time to our Harbour Centre support unit students. When our students were feeling anxious, we would take them to Terry and the animals. Terry was extremely knowledgable and passionate about all areas of plants, vegetables, and animals. Nothing was ever a problem to Terry.
Every student knew Terry; he walked around the school with his wheelbarrow. Terry was always in for a chat about the Dragons, Liverpool Football Club, Landcare, bushwalks, or his grandchildren. Terry will be sadly missed by all staff and students at LIHS.
Students Can Get OFFICE 365 for free!
Here is the guide:
Welcome, Year 7!
Last Monday, Year 7 attended a Team Development excursion at the Lake Illawarra Foreshore, run by the Illawarra Environmental Education Centre. The students undertook a number of different activities including kayaking, canoeing, and paddle boarding as well as learning survival skills throughout the day. They also engaged in some team building and initiative activities which were the highlight of the day for many of the students.
Everyone had a great time and were extremely appreciative and thankful to all staff from the Environmental Education Centre who attended the day. Thank you also to all staff involved and all students who attended the day.
LIHS Expo Night
Talented Lake students visit Mount Warrigal Primary School
At the end of last year, a number of talented Year 8 Visual Arts students visited Mount Warrigal primary school to help beautify the junior school play areas. This involved painting some huge, colourful, yet educational murals directly on the playground area. Despite the warm weather and difficulties involved in working on the ground, students worked really hard over two days to achieve some fantastic results. The supervising teacher from Mount Warrigal was full of praise for our students and was delighted to work with, what she described, as some of the best, most hardworking and polite students with whom she’d had the opportunity to work.
We certainly have some wonderful students at our school!!
Year 12 Aboriginal Studies
Year 12 Aboriginal Studies students are working on their Major Projects at the moment. The assessment task is worth 40% of their overall mark, so they are excited to present their best work! This class has students from both Lake High and Oak Flats, so it's great to see the students coming together to discuss the course.
The project involves selecting an issue that is relevant to the Australian Aboriginal community. Students have to research and carry out community consultation to investigate the real issues in Australia. Students then select a presentation medium to share what they have learnt.
Here is some information about the projects:
Bailee - My project is about Indigenous representation in the modern media. I am finding it startling how prominent racism is in the mainstream media.
Angel- My project is about the Dreaming and how it is still relevant to the Indigenous identity today. I find it important because I am a young Indigenous person who wants to promote the Dreaming.
Cilla - My project is about the Dreaming story of the black swans. I chose this because it’s a really cool story and it inspired the singing group at LIHS.
Mikayla - To me, it is important to continue to do traditional Aboriginal art. I have chosen to do Aboriginal weaving to learn about and promote Aboriginal culture in Australia today.
Chantelle - My project is about the injustices that Aboriginal people face in the criminal justice system. This is important because it is not talked about enough and the problem still exists.
Logan - I am studying the fundamentals that need to be addressed in order to improve Aboriginal health. I chose this topic because I wanted to learn more about the changes in Aboriginal health from prior to invasion to now. I want to help bring about positive change.
Liam - I have chosen to do a family tree. I want to see how far back I can go. I have a really big family and I find it really interesting and half of them, I don’t know yet.
Brodie - I am looking at local sites of significance. I chose this topic because I want to know more about our local Aboriginal history.
Jake - I have been looking at Aboriginal medicine plants. I hope to create a display box of the plants in the local area to showcase my work.
Isabelle - I am looking into what is breaking down rural and urban Aboriginal communities and assessing initiatives taken to deal with it. I am exploring the importance the communities have to Australia and what would happen if they were lost.
Tallara - I am doing my project on Bangarra dance company, specifically the Brolga dance which is about the dancing bird. I have done Aboriginal dancing before and it is a big part of Aboriginal culture, so I really wanted to explore this art form.
Visting our Local Primary Schools
Last week saw our Transition Adviser, Mr Chaseling, and Ms Robinson, the Year 7 Year Adviser for 2022, visit our Community of schools with a few ex-students from each school to start the transition process for students in Stage 3. They talked about what to expect in high school, from what subjects they will do, to how long class periods are, as well as the many opportunities they will have to join various clubs and teams to partake in extra-curricular activities. The visit ended with a paper plane competition where students shared what they were looking forward to most in high school. The Year 6 students were then invited to our Expo night on Wednesday 24th February.
Fun in History Class
On Friday 7HisL experienced the process of Archeology. Their task was to play the role of an archeologist who has uncovered a ‘Poop from the Past’. (fake of course)
By recording the measurements, uncovering some very specific contents and choosing their tools for their dig, our archeologists must make some decisions. After some discussion and debate with fellow archeologists and using some clue cards on what people may have eaten in the past, our budding investigators decided if they had found the ‘poop’ of a Viking, a Roman or a Tudor.
They discovered for themselves some of the processes that take place on a dig and what it was like to be a young Indian Jones.
LIHS Easter Show
