Cecil Hills High School Newsletter

The best school in NSW

Scraping knees, tying shoes

Starting school, paying dues

Finding there’s no way

We can spend a lifetime playing ball

Part of getting tall.

 

Learning more, knowing less

Simple words, tenderness

Part of getting tall

 

‘Getting Tall’  by Maury Yeston from ‘Nine’

External Validation

On Thursday, 30 May 2019, our school completed the NSW Department of Education’s external validation process.  This involved a panel of principals reviewing our school and validating our achievements against the 14 elements of the School Excellence Framework.  The process takes place once in every five year cycle.  I am very proud to report that our school was validated as excelling in most areas.  Overall, there were:

  • 8 elements validated as 'excelling'
  • 6 elements validated as 'sustaining and growing'
  • 0 elements validated as 'delivering'
  • 0 elements validated as 'working towards delivering'

This is a truly outstanding result!  I would like to publicly thank every staff member in the school for their tireless efforts each and every day, as the validation panel clearly saw the enormous amount of work that goes into making our school successful.  The panel was very impressed with our school.  It is wonderful to have this recognition from the panel and validation that we are achieving great things as a school.

Subject Selection - Myth Busters

Subject selection season will be upon us very soon.  In terms of my introductory quote, subject selection is all about students ‘getting tall’ and making choices that will guide their future.  Year 7 and Year 8 students are mostly choosing subjects out of interest but Year 10 should give some thought to their future.  Every year, we provide the following subject selection advice but it is important to get these facts out there in relation to the Higher School Certificate:

  • Mathematics is not compulsory.  If a student has not enjoyed Mathematics from K-10, they are unlikely to suddenly start enjoying it in Year 11.
  • Students can complete a VET course and still obtain an extremely high ATAR.  In 2016, a VET Business Services student received an ATAR of 99.80 and a VET Entertainment Industry student received an ATAR of 99.20.  Completing a VET course does not ‘drag down’ a student’s ATAR.
  • Students are more likely to choose subjects that are too difficult than subjects that are too easy.
  • It is possible for students to complete an HSC pattern of study that does not require any HSC examinations to be completed at all.  One example would be English Studies, Exploring Early Childhood, Photography, VET Hospitality, VET Business Services and Sport/Lifestyle/Recreation Studies.

Approximately 90% of our students complete an ATAR pattern of study but only 66% of our students go directly to university.  This means that 33% of our students are completing an HSC pattern of study that is unnecessarily difficult and harder than it has to be.

 

Our subject selection evening will be held on Tuesday, 6 August 2019 with Year 8 at 5pm and Year 10 at 6:15pm.  In 2018, we held a special evening focusing on options for those wishing to leave school and those wishing to complete a non-ATAR pattern of study, apprenticeships, traineeships or TAFE. 

 

This year, similar topics will be covered at our ‘Skills and Thrills’ evening which will be held at 6pm on Thursday, 27 June 2019.  We already have more than 150 people attending this event so please come along to learn more about pathways for Year 9 to Year 12 students.  Please secure your spot to this free event by registering online.

Staff Appointment

I am very pleased to announce that Ms Tanya Bottrill was successful via merit selection for our vacant Science teacher position. 

Ms Bottrill has been teaching with us since last year and has made a very positive impact on her classes, colleagues and faculty.  Prior to joining our school, Ms Bottrill taught at Blaxland High School where she worked across a number of whole school areas including learning support, welfare and Aboriginal education.  We are very fortunate to be able to add her skills, knowledge and enthusiasm to our Science faculty.  I look forward to continuing to work with Ms Bottrill in her new role.

Homework

At Cecil Hills High School, students are expected to complete homework.  This includes revision, studying, assessment tasks, work set by the teacher and any other task that supports teaching and learning within the classroom.  Research shows that good homework habits can improve student progress by an additional five months over a calendar year.   How much homework are students expected to complete?  Please read my information to parents and carers here.

 

Research has consistently shown that a focus on reading at home and in fact, even just the number of books in a home, can have a positive impact on student achievement. 

 

Have a look at this article on Books at Home.

 

P&C Meetings

Our next P&C meeting will be held at 6:30pm on Monday, 1 July 2019.  There will be a repeat session at 9:30am on Thursday, 4 July 2019.

 

I look forward to continuing to work with the staff, students and parents of Cecil Hills High School, the best school in NSW.

 

Mark Sutton, Principal