General Information

Year 10 Information and Software Class

Our Year 10 Information and Software Technology class have been working on a variety of STEM projects this term, including Robotics using Lego EV3 Mindstorms, Virtual Reality, and Python programming using Raspberry Pi computers and electric circuits with LED traffic lights, buttons and buzzers. The students selected their own projects from a range of options and have excelled in their chosen area. The students have thoroughly enjoyed these activities and have showcased their projects to visiting Year 6 students

Year 6 Orientation

On Tuesday December 4th Lake Illawarra High school was privileged to have over 100 Year 6 students attend the school for their orientation day in preparation for 2019.

The students were welcomed by Mr Hicks and their Year Adviser for 2019 Mr Gillespie and his assistant Mr McAndrew. The students were separated into four groups where they spent time rotating through four different activities.

The students were treated to a BBQ lunch and at the end of the day they attended a Q and A session where the students had any questions about High school life answered.

All students were well behaved and engaged in the day’s activities. We are excited to welcome this cohort in 2019 and work with them over the next six years.

Illawarra Mercury 'Design an Ad.' Competition

Congratulations to Laura Carrol in Year 9 Visual Design for achieving second place and two hundred dollars for Lake Illawarra high School in the High School section for the Illawarra Mercury 'Design an Ad.' competition.

Laura used felt tip pen and fluorescent markers to create a vibrant design for the Shellharbour City Council Carols by Candlelight event.

Well done, Laura.

Special Provisions for HSC Examinations 2019

Disability Provisions for the 2019 HSC examinations are now open.

Disability Support provisions are practical support for students with a disability. Students’ special examination needs may include learning (literacy difficulties), medical (including diabetes, epilepsy, chronic pain), vision or hearing difficulties.

Examples of provisions available include: braille or large-print papers, use of a writer and/or reader, use of an oral interpreter, extension of test time, rest breaks, separate examination supervision and permission to take medication.

If your child is considering applying for Disability Support (formerly known as Special Provisions), here is some important information from NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) regarding changes to Disability Support:

Evidence should be no older than term 4 of the year prior to the HSC.
Students experiencing an anxiety disorder should seek appropriate treatment or therapy prior to applying for provisions to ensure they have adequate strategies to cope in an examination situation. A course of evidence-based treatment often removes the need for disability provisions. Applications are likely to be declined unless the student has first undertaken treatment or therapy. If treatment has not adequately addressed the issues, only then should provisions be sought to assist the student in an examination situation.

Year 8 Creating Chances Excursion

On Monday, 3/12/18, select Year 8 students participated in the Creating Chances program at the University of Wollongong. Our students represented our school in a variety of sporting games and activities, working along side students from other schools in the Illawarra. Creating Chances is an important program, focused around building resilience through different collaborative activities. It was a fantastic day with a lot of laughs! Well done to our students.

Special Provisions for HSC Examinations 2019

Disability Provisions for the 2019 HSC examinations are now open.

Evidence should be no older than term 4 of the year prior to the HSC.
Students experiencing an anxiety disorder should seek appropriate treatment or therapy prior to applying for provisions to ensure they have adequate strategies to cope in an examination situation. A course of evidence-based treatment often removes the need for disability provisions. Applications are likely to be declined unless the student has first undertaken treatment or therapy. If treatment has not adequately addressed the issues, only then should provisions be sought to assist the student in an examination situation.
Examiner aware - speaking or performance: for a student in a speaking or performance examination who may require accommodation where, for example, the student:
has a stutter or is unable to maintain eye contact
lip reads and needs to face the examiner
is on the autism spectrum and may miss drama cues
requires enlarged stimulus material where appropriate

NESA prefers that applications for existing conditions are submitted to them by the end of Term 1, 2019. It is, however, possible to lodge a late application.

If you have any queries regarding Disability Support applications, please contact either W. Chandler or M. Jeuring Learning and Support Teachers (LaST) 42963844

Mr. W. Chandler

Learning and Support Teacher

Harbour Centre

What’s been washing in the Harbour?

The student’s of the Harbour Centre have been very busy with a variety of activities happening this term. From starting a new project-based learning program involving designing houses for people in the year 2050 to using their English skills and writing poems that have been printed onto coffee sleeves for coffee lovers to enjoy.

The athletes amongst the Harbour Centre have also recently participated in the ‘Sky’s the Limit Mini Olympics’ at Beaton Park Wollongong. All of our student’s who participated were standouts. A special mention does go to Jarred Dyer who won 4 Gold medals! Taking out the 50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m sprints.

Lucky Usain Bolt has retired.

Mathematics Escape Room

The students of 9.1 Maths took part in an Area and Perimeter Escape Room. But instead of being locked in a room, the prize was padlocked in a box. The students had to use their critical thinking skills to complete a series of problems. Each solution lead them to a code that opened the padlock to the next problem. This activity tested not only their mathematical knowledge, but also their ability to work collaboratively, communicate their ideas and follow a series of complicated instructions to open the key chest and score the goodies inside. Congratulations to the winners, who completed the challenge with 16 minutes to spare.

Sport and PDHPE 2018

2018 has been an outstanding year in PDHPE and sport. Chelsea Ezeoke flew north to Cairns in December for the Australian All Schools Championships where she entered the 400metre event. Not only did she bring home gold, but she also broke the national record for the under 14 girls.

The PDHPE staff would like to make special mention of the Sports Committee Representatives. The students assist weekly at the breakfast club, assist at carnivals and represented the school at the ‘Sky’s The Limit’ Mini Olympics. The Sports Committee is a group of outstanding students, who volunteer their time to assist in many school programs.

The PDHPE staff would also like to thank Kellogg’s Australia for the kind donation of cereal. This will be used at our Breakfast Club in 2019.

The Sports Assembly was held on the 18th of December. Congratulations to all the students who received awards. Lake Illawarra has some outstanding sportsmen and women.

Finally, a few exciting things are happening in 2019. Sport will be changing from an integrated model to outside school sport options. Students originally had their sports lessons integrated into the school’s normal timetable and in general under the supervision of teachers from the PDHPE faculty. Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 will be offered a range of school and outside school sport options. To participate in outside sports students must pay the amount of the sport and bus travel (where relevant) at the Office. Students select sports each term during a special assembly.

Have a safe and happy Christmas from all the PDHPE Staff.

Chicken Arrival

We are excited to announce the arrival of six, 6-week old pullets. The pullets will be under the care and supervision of the current Year 9 Agricultural Technology class, who will carry this responsibility into the next school year. Students will be handling the pullets frequently, running weekly checks including monitoring food and water consumption and tracking their weight to ensure development is adequate.

Students will be selecting the best three pullets for entry into the 2019 Sydney Royal Easter Show. They will be participating in the Egg Laying Competition across the Shows 10 days period, where their egg quality will be judged against commercial standards.

The class will also create a group Powerpoint presentation detailing how the pullets were raised and prepared for the Show. This project will run alongside the students growing of giant pumpkins, decorative pumpkins and the district display, also for the Royal Easter Show.

Year 8 Great Debate!

Should smokers be eligible for organ transplants?

This was the question recently posed to 8 SCIL as an in-class discussion topic. It was clear from the outset that each student held varying viewpoints on the topic, contributing relevant and engaging beliefs with passion. It was decided that a debate was necessary to create an appropriate platform for students to express their views on the subject.

Two separate debates took place, with a judging criteria of

speaking style and organisation
strength of supportive arguments and rebuttals
use of examples to enhance arguments

Judges of the debates included 8L Science teacher Mr Overton, Deputy Principal Mr. Wilson and Mrs Atkinson, Mrs Gagnuss and Mrs Hancock, all from the Science faculty.

Students from both sides delivered hard-hitting facts, engaging arguments, thought-provoking hypotheticals and tightly refined rebuttals to try and sway the judges in their favour. In the end, the first debate was determined a draw and the second debate was won by the affirmative side. Regardless of results, each team and every student conducted themselves in a responsible manner, showing respect to other teams and their speakers during both the research stage and the debate itself.

Well done Year 8!

The Year 10 Marine and Aquaculture Technology

Boat Smart Program successfully conducted last week with students Thomas

Blanch, Declan Da Silvia and Ky Rallings completing the extensive program and

receiving their NSW General Boat Licence. The Boat Smart Program focused on providing students with the theoretical and practical based knowledge and skills to safely skipper a

boat on NSW waterways and the open ocean. The program was conducted as a joint venture between the RMS, Marine Teachers Association of NSW, Lake Illawarra High School and Five Islands Senior College.

A Day with Maths Nerds Adam Spencer and Eddie Woo

The Eddie Woo and Adam Spencer excursion was an amazing opportunity. The lessons that we received were challenging and fun at the same time. We were fortunate enough to get a signed copy of Adam Spencer’s new book and we also got Eddie Woo to sign our calculators. Eddie Woo taught us that Maths is play, exploration and teamwork. Whilst Adam Spencer taught us that it is close to impossible to shuffle a deck of cards the same way twice, and a square peg can fit into a round hole.

Year 10 Forensic Crime Scene Investigation (CSI)

Last week Year 10 students participated in solving a murder mystery as part of their Forensic Science topic. Students had the opportunity to work collaboratively, apply their critical thinking skills and use their knowledge and understanding of Forensics to solve a crime.

Students;

Took photographic evidence of the crime scene
Collected hair samples from the victim’s blood pool to analyse who the suspect may have been and matched this evidence to a sample of four suspects.
Analysed blood splatter to predict how the victim was stabbed
Analysed footprints and fingerprints of the murderer against the four suspects
Identified the murder weapon
Identified Mr Overton as the murderer!

Overall, the CSI was a huge success. All students were proactively involved in the engaging inquiry-based learning activity.