Principal's Notes

Year seven and nine students completed three days of NAPLAN testing during this past week. All students who sat the tests were well behaved, focused and engaged in their tasks. When results are received by the school the data provided will allow us to assess our teaching programs and progress achieved, and reflect on the teaching and learning occurring. In particular, the year nine results, when compared with the year seven results of two years earlier, provide a clear indication of student academic growth and allow us to assess the effectiveness of our teaching programs in the areas of literacy and numeracy.

All students in Years eight through twelve will shortly complete a series of mid-year examinations. This examination period supports the school focus upon academic achievement and excellence, provides students regular opportunities to show their knowledge and skills in testing conditions, and prepares students to concentrate for longer periods of time without distractions.

Annual report

For those interested the 2017 Healesville High School Annual Report to the School Community is now available to be viewed on the school website. On the website under the section ‘About us’ click on ‘Annual Report’ in order to view the report in its entirety. Whilst visiting the website you might consider purchasing tickets to this years’ musical production, Rock of Ages!

Instrumental Music

The student members of the instrumental music program, as well as their teachers and the co-ordinator Ms Morrison, are always busy, and over the next few weeks are even busier than normal. Next Tuesday, May 22nd many members will be involved in the North East Victorian Regional Youth Concert at Hamer Hall. This will be a full day of rehearsals followed by evening performances. Again this year our sax ensemble has been chosen to perform in the foyer of Hamer Hall. Congratulations to the sax ensemble on this honour. In addition many students have been selected to participate in various performances on the stage. Shortly after this, on Tuesday June 5th the annual ‘Work in Progress’ concert will be held in the Performing Arts Centre from 7.00pm until 8.30pm. All are welcome at this enjoyable evening.

Pupil-Free Day (May 22nd)

A reminder that on Tuesday of next week all members of staff will be involved in a full day of professional development activities and as a result, no classes will be operating. I am mindful that pupil-free days cause inconvenience to some families so I would like to thank all parents in advance for your support and understanding. I hope and believe the outcomes will justify any inconvenience experienced by families on the day.

Thank you once again for supporting the school and understanding the need for such days.

Open Night

Recently a highly successful Open Night was held at Healesville High School. Feedback received from visitors to our school was overwhelmingly positive and heartening as it showed that the excellent work being completed, and progress made by students and staff is being recognised in the wider community. The night itself provided parents of current grade four, five and six students with an opportunity to visit our school, hear from various speakers who explained many school programs and meet with our staff and many of our students. It was with great pride that all staff members and many students showed our school and its programs to our visitors. The success of the night was as a direct result of the work of Chloe Jackson, Head of Junior School, our staff and a large number of students.

The school captains, Tiani Heatherich and Rory Ferguson each took a prominent role in the formal part of the evening and represented our school, as always, with distinction.

Marc Jones and Ivy Lambeth also spoke proudly and impressively about their experiences as current students. Our home economics classes prepared and served delicious finger food under the expert guidance of Ms Gayle Shelley, and teachers from each domain area worked with students to present interactive displays for our visitors.

A sincere thank you to everyone involved in preparing for and presenting on the evening. The most impressive aspect of the evening, I believe, was the teamwork and sheer hard work of staff and students. Well done to all!

Allan Rennick

Principal

Dates to Remember

Tuesday May 22

Student free day- Teacher curriculum day

Monday June 11

Queen's Birthday

Wednesday June 6

Year 10/11 Exams

Thursday June 7

Year 10/11 Exams

Friday June 8

Year 10/11 Exams

Wednesday June 13

GAT

Monday June 25 through to Friday June 29

Year 10 Work Experience week

Community

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Reconcililiation