Learning together

Tomorrow spring will come and then

There will be blue skies my friend

Bright eyes and laughter

Tomorrow there will be sun

But if not tomorrow, perhaps the day after

‘There Will Be Sun’ 

by Tim Minchin from Groundhog Day: The Musical

25th Anniversary

In 2021, Cecil Hills High School celebrates its 25th anniversary.  We now expect to hold our celebratory events in Term 4.  We will advise of our revised date when confirmed.

Staff Appointments

Congratulations to Ms Noor Naim and Ms Rasha Kamil who have both been appointed to permanent positions at Cecil Hills High School in Science.  Ms Naim does a wonderful job coordinating our Arabic speaking community group and spends a significant amount of time engaging with many parents. 

Ms Kamil has been with us in 2021 and previously taught at Homebush Boys High School. She has been a welcomed addition to our school and we have already benefited from her expertise in Science. 

In addition, Mr Dan Luzinsky from Westfield Sports High School has been appointed to a permanent position in the TAS (Technological and Applied Studies) faculty.  Mr Luzinsky was our school captain in 2002 and I know he is very much looking forward to returning home, but this time, being at the front of the classroom.  Mr Luzinsky will commence at Cecil Hills High School at the start of next year.

Learning from Home

As the case numbers continue to rise, I expect that learning from home will continue for some time.  I appreciate the current situation creates a sense of uncertainty for students and I am hoping that all families are now in a routine and are balancing the demands of students learning from home and parents working from home.  In terms of my introductory quote, “there will be sun” in the future when the pandemic is over and while this may seem far off in the distance, it will come to an end and normal life and normal education will resume at some stage.

I encourage families to reach out to the school if you need any support as we are here to help.  It is important to ensure you keep up to date with information we send in relation to learning from home.  We keep our messaging consistent across our school website, app, Facebook and email so please make sure you regularly check one of these sources of information.

A reminder of these useful parts of our website:

• School blog:  This part of our school website has our communication with families.
• Student wellbeing:  This part of our school website outlines some wellbeing services.
• Online learning handbook:  This document details our approach to learning from home.
• Literacy and numeracy:  This part of our school website has a range of literacy and numeracy resources for students to use.

It is essential for students to log into Microsoft Teams on time at the start of each lesson to ensure students receive explicit teaching and continuity of learning.  In addition, students need to log into their grade assembly at the following times to ensure they receive important announcements:

Year 7: Tuesday and Friday

Year 8: Monday and Friday

Year 9: Monday and Friday

Year 10: Monday and Friday

Year 11: Tuesday and Friday

Year 12: Monday and Friday

Parents may receive a reminder text message a few minutes before the grade assembly is about to commence.

Year 12 Matters

This is obviously a difficult time for Year 12 as they prepare for their HSC exams.  

The NSW Department of Education and NESA are working to ensure that students are still able to obtain their HSC credential, despite our current challenges. We will keep you updated as information is provided.

Parent Information Sessions

Our next online Parent Information Session will be held at 6:30pm on Monday, 

6 September 2021.  This will be followed by a short P&C meeting for those who wish to stay online.  Information on logging into the Zoom meeting will be emailed to parents.

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