School News

BREAKING NEWS: MOCK TRIAL TEAM DEFEATS CENTRAL COAST GRAMMAR TO PROGRESS TO THE KNOCKOUT ROUND 2!

We are very proud to announce that Henry Kendall High School is one of the top 32 scoring teams across NSW and the ACT after defeating Central Coast Grammar on Tuesday 24 July. We are the only public comprehensive High School from the Central Coast left in the competition and we are set to compete against Lambton High School in three weeks time. A big thank you to Gosford Legal Aid lawyer Christopher Murnane who stepped in as our Magistrate at the last minute when the scheduled Magistrate didn’t show.

Our triumphant team consisted of; Katie Lewis and Eli Clarkson as barristers, Alexandra Sidiropoulos as solicitor, Luke Mirfield and Leo Coleman as witnesses and our Magistrates Clerk was Tom Marsh.

Highlights from our trial with Central Coast Grammar included the outstanding opening and closing statements from our barristers who had the burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an assault had taken place. Our witnesses were excellent, and held up comfortably under cross-examination.  A big thankyou to Tom Marsh who did an excellent job as our Magistrate’s Clerk, out-scoring Central Coast Grammar’s Court Officer. The team not only won the trial on the score sheet, they also won the case, successfully proving that an assault had taken place. Finally, we’d like to thank Central Coast Leagues Club, who donated a function room for us to use at short notice. We look forward to our next trial.

Mrs Julia Kostalas

Mock Trial Coordinator

Decklan Rayner and Alexander McGavin -Legacy Junior Public Speaking Award

On Thursday 2 August, Year 7 students Decklan Rayner and Alexander McGavin represented Henry Kendall at the local final of Legacy Junior Public Speaking Award, held at Central Coast Grammar School. In this competition, students present a prepared five minute speech, and are also asked to present a two minute impromptu speech, with only five minutes of preparation time.

Both students are to be congratulated for their high quality speeches. They spoke with passion, confidence and sincerity. It is important to note that this competition is open for students from Years 7 - 9, and their competitors were all in Year 9!

Decklan’s prepared speech detailed how young people can change the world, and Alexander presented a very moving speech about refugees. The topic for their impromptu speeches was ‘Angels and Devils’.

Impressively, Alexander finished 2nd, gaining a ‘Highly Commended’ award from the adjudicator. It’s clear that both students have a bright future in public speaking!

Mr Blake Wawrzyk

Relieving Head Teacher English

Professional Learning

STEM - Ms Jennifer Lill and Mr Steve Guyot

Next semester, our Year 8 STEM classes will have the opportunity to use the Lego Mindstorms robots. We are looking forward to guiding our students through interesting and creative challenges such as making the robots dance in time to music, follow a curving line, negotiate an obstacle course and rescue an object.  These activities form part of the practical, integrated and collaborative approach of STEM, where students learn about technological and engineering concepts which are also intrinsically scientific and mathematical in nature.

Robot rescue test platform designed to test line following algorithms and robot design.

In preparation, on 5 July we attended an excellent training session at Cessnock High, organised by CASE (the Cessnock Academy of STEM Excellence) run by Jason Flood. Over the last ten years, Jason has volunteered to coach groups of students entering the national Robocup competitions.  Robocup is an international challenge that began in the 1990s with the vision of creating robots that can beat a human World Cup champion soccer team by 2050.

There is also the exciting possibility of a new stage 5 STEM elective program in 2019 which will provide our students with the opportunity to explore robotics and coding in greater depth within a topic called Mechatronics.

NAPLAN - Ms Patricia Muscat

This year was the seventh year that I have marked the NAPLAN writing task.  In order to qualify as a marker of NAPLAN Writing, I must apply for the position and, if approved, undergo two days of intensive training. All scripts are marked online.

Neither students nor teachers know beforehand whether the genre of the task will be “persuasive” or “narrative’. This year, the genre was “persuasive”. Students in Years 7 and 9 were directed to persuade the reader to try or buy a new electronic invention.  Of the 975 scripts that I personally marked, the vast majority of students chose to write about one of three topics: a driverless car, a drone, or a prosthetic limb.

I have noticed that, in general, the quality of writing has improved immensely over the past seven years. Students, currently, are structuring their writing more clearly with an introduction, a body containing at least three paragraphs, and a conclusion. Students are taking risks with vocabulary by using technical terms and more sophisticated words and phrases. Their persuasive techniques are many and varied; and they are persuading the reader.

Each year, I speak with students both informally during our lessons, and more formally on an individual basis. regarding methods by which they can maximise their marks for this task. In future, I would like to teach the skills and techniques that are needed in a more specific manner.

It is hoped that this improvement in writing will continue in years to come.

Visual Arts - Miss Janelle Wilkinson and Ms Dawn Keft

Miss Wilkinson and Ms Keft spent a day in the last holidays enjoying a Drawing and Painting Techniques course put on by S and S Creative Ltd learning who are one of our main suppliers of art materials. We learnt about lots of new exciting materials and techniques. We spent the morning exploring drawing with coloured charcoal, Inktense blocks, using masking fluid, coloured pigments and a variety of other interesting materials. The afternoon was spent learning about painting pouring mediums and resin. It was a fabulous day and we are both excited to be introducing some of these techniques and materials into our classrooms.