Another term of great teaching and learning

As term two ends

Some roads are soft and some are bumpy

Some roads you really fly

Some rides are rough and leave you jumpy

Why make it tough by getting grumpy?

Plenty of roads to try

‘Merrily We Roll Along’ by Stephen Sondheim from ‘Merrily We Roll Along’’

School Plan update

One of the key features of Strategic Direction #1: respectful, responsible and successful learners is our restructured curriculum which allows students to connect more regularly with their learning, their teachers and each other.  Students have fewer subjects and fewer teachers, who they see more often.  This means that Year 7 students have now completed their mandatory Stage 4 studies in Music or Visual Arts and will switch into their other course (ie, Visual Arts or Music) for the second semester.  For Year 9, they have now completed 50% of their elective course as they complete one full Stage 5 elective in Year 9 and their other Stage 5 elective in Year 10.  These changes are influenced by Standard 1 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, namely, ‘know students and how they learn’ as teachers will get to know their students more quickly under this compressed model.

One aspect of Strategic Direction #3: leaders as community change agents is ensuring we have a positive public profile for our school.  We have an amazing school our reputation in the community is outstanding.  One of the reasons our school is growing is due to the fact that parents who currently send their children to private schools are switching to Cecil Hills High School as they value the education we provide.  I would like to thank the work of our Community Engagement and School Promotions team which is doing wonderful work in this space including work on our new website, new app, Facebook page, school newsletter and much more!  Stay tuned for more information on our new app and website.

Punctuality

Our new 5 minute warning bell is working well and I would like to thank students and parents for their assistance in helping us ensure our students act ‘responsibly’ (one of our three FOCUS words) by being punctual.

School News email

There is a significant amount of debate in education circles about a range of topics.  This includes Gonski, school funding, mobile phones in schools, NAPLAN and more!  A great way to keep up to date with these discussions is to subscribe to the ‘School News’ digital newsletter issued weekly:

https://www.school-news.com.au/newsletter-signup/

Subject Selection Evening

This important event will be held on Monday, 30 July 2018.  Year 8 will attend at 5.00pm and Year 10 will attend at 6:15pm.  This is a very important evening to learn everything about subject choices, curriculum requirements, NESA rules and different pathways.  In terms of my introductory quote, there are “plenty of roads to try” in choosing subjects but it is very important that Year 10 students in particular take lots of advice and choose the right road to travel.

Staffing news

I am very pleased to announce that Mr Nathan Collins has been appointed to Cecil Hills High School in a permanent capacity.  Mr Collins has worked with us for many years in the Social Sciences faculty and

has coordinated a number of programs including after school tutoring and rock and water.  He also creates our exam timetables and currently is one of our Year 7 Advisers.  I am very pleased to have Mr Collins join us in this new permanent role and I know you will congratulate him on his appointment.  We have amazing teachers at Cecil Hills High School and we are very fortunate to have positive, hardworking and dedicated staff like Mr Collins at our school.

P&C Meetings

Our next P&C meeting will be held at 6:30pm on Monday, 6 August 2018.  There will be a repeat session at 9:30am on Thursday, 9 August 2018.

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