Respectful, Responsible, Successful 

Student Leadership Day success

The student leadership day was a great day to plan and prepare for 2022!

Our Student Representative Council (SRC) and the House Leadership Team staff representatives mapped out a plan to drive student leadership. The day began with our school captains being interviewed about student leadership and an exciting team challenge.

Our staff members in charge of the SRC and the House Leadership Team were then given the opportunity to design a year calendar, plan for future events, design a 2022 scope and sequence and nut out several student leadership initiatives. We are so proud of all the students that go above and beyond to lead our school across all school areas and look forward to watching them thrive.     

Year 9

  A cohort of fun, fabulous and fantastic students who make a difference every day!  

Our Year 9 students must be commended for their positive attitude to learning. It has been an extraordinary year with several challenges for our students. I commend their resilience, drive and ability to push on through remote learning.

All reports will be distributed to our Year 9 cohort on Friday, 10 December. Reports are an important way of informing parents the level at which their child is achieving the outcomes of the course/subject. They also indicate areas of the course/subject where students may require additional support or practice. It is important that students focus on those areas of improvement and identify goals to improve their knowledge and understanding. 

Be sure to use the SMART goal setting tool to design short, intermediate, and long-term goals related to both school and home life.  Our Year 9 students certainly benefit from structure and guidance and meaningful life experiences here at Cecil. 

Here are some interesting points of research related to this age group

School activities are less likely to arouse curiosity and engage Years 9 students than students in earlier years. 

Students' motivation and engagement is influenced by tasks, context and classroom matters which have a significant impact on learning outcomes. 

Student academic achievement improves with improved facilities, particularly with facilities design that create environments conducive to learning. 

Curriculum should be challenging, integrative, and exploratory. 

Vary teaching and learning approaches. 

Give students choices and control over their learning. 

Develop lessons that students can relate to meaningful life events, experiences and questions that are of concern to them. 

Year 9 Presentation Day Awards - High Achievers

I would like to commend the following students for placing in the top three of their cohort. An achievement you should be so proud of! The Cecil Hills High School community certainly are. 

Dominic Nguyen - 1st place DUX!    |     Ngoc To - 2nd Place   |    Irin Byju - 3rd place         

Pizza Reward Day

Congratulations to all 44 students that worked consistently hard in class this year and produced outstanding results. We hope you enjoyed your pizzas at our reward luncheon.  

Thank you to Mr Faga and Miss Phan who continue to be outstanding Year Advisers. Student wellbeing is at the forefront of everything they do, and they are incredibly devoted and dedicated to all students and the delivery of several innovative programs and initiatives across the school. 

Well done to our wonderful Year 9 students and Year Advisers. You deserved a fun pizza lunch with your peers and teachers.  

Teachers at Cecil Hills High School

I have been extremely fortunate to work with all the Cecil Hills High School staff face to face over the last 8-week period. It is very rewarding to see our staff interact in such a positive way with all our students. It has certainly been a year like no other and I will always remember my start to my Deputy Principal's role at Cecil with 14 weeks of lock down.  

Our Dynamic Wellbeing team

We are blessed to have such a vibrant and dedicated wellbeing team.  We have seen so many activities linked to improving our wellbeing this year due to the impact of Covid-19. Many of these activities will be Covid-keepers that stay with us to keep students well-rounded and healthy.  

Holidays are the time to stop and reflect on what we have and take time out to foster positive and holistic wellbeing. Make sure you take the time to practise the ‘winning ways’ to wellbeing and of course don’t forget the importance of sleep to recharge your body and mind.  Without enough sleep your brain cannot function properly. Make sure you get between 8 to 10 hours each night.  

Thank you

I would like to provide a very special thank you to our extremely talented Head Teacher Welfare, Mrs Alison Randall.  

Mrs Randall, we have been incredibly fortunate to have your talents at our school for a long time and you have made such a difference.  We will see you back next year one day a week in a casual capacity and will certainly look forward to learning more from you during that time.  

White Ribbon Day

As seen in the article on the previous page by the SRC leaders and Ms Occhiuto titled White Ribbon Day, on Thursday 18 November, four of our Student Representative Council members took part in an online event for White Ribbon. 

Our SRC members had the opportunity to work closely with our Director of Educational Leadership, Marianne Siokos, and the White Ribbon Education Ambassador for the breaking the silence respectful relationships program across NSW schools, Dale Palmer.  

Our students contributed valuable ideas and opinions on the topics, violence, gender roles and racism. They designed a pledge with key words to foster respectful relationships. Respect, equality, unity, stronger, better together. 

Congratulations to the following students for their successful representation of our school:  Kuber Thakur and Kwairah Sahib (Year 10),  Andrew Gewargis and Jessica Narvaiza  (Year 12)

Year 9 PASS

I had the privilege of visiting a Year 9 PASS class taught by Miss Fagan. The class presented to me an interesting project where they designed a world using Minecraft. The world was designed to promote physical activity and exercise and all students worked collaboratively in small groups! 

It was great to see a high level of creativity and higher order thinking!  Well done to Year 9 PASS. 

Christine Lord

Deputy Principal - Year 9