Young Minds, Bright Futures
You won't find me
'Til the clock strikes three
You better be in by ten
I gotta go back, back, back to school again
‘Back to School Again’ by The Four Tops from ‘Grease 2’
Welcome Back
Welcome back! This promises to be an exciting year at Cecil Hills High School as we continue implementing our 2018-2020 school plan. In terms of my introductory quote, we are back in full swing and we look forward to building on our successes from 2019.
At Cecil Hills High School, our deputy principals move up with their grades so the same deputy principal maintains responsibility for your child’s education for their whole high school experience.
These are the grade responsibilities for our three deputy principals in 2020:
Mr Michael Lane – Year 7 and Year 10
Mrs Denise James – Year 8 and Year 11
Mrs Stephanie Haskett – Year 6, Year 9 and Year 12
Sources of Advice
Teachers work in partnership with parents. Our teachers have the knowledge of teaching and parents have the knowledge of their child. I encourage parents who have any questions or concerns to contact the school so that issues can be resolved quickly and fairly. As a large school, there are many sources of advice for parents who have questions:
| Head Teacher – English | Felicity Wicks |
| Head Teacher – Mathematics | Tom Cordin |
| Head Teacher – Science | Jason Brame |
| Head Teacher – Social Sciences | Kim Foo |
| Head Teacher – History and Languages | Sean Griffiths |
| Head Teacher – PD/H/PE | Daniel Carrozza |
| Head Teacher – Technology | Lee Miller |
| Head Teacher – Creative and Performing Arts | Antonella Verter |
| Head Teacher – Welfare | Alison Randall |
| Head Teacher – Support Unit | Mary Lukose |
| Year 7 Advisers | Nikolina Cupac Callum Wilcox |
| Year 8 Advisers | Vivian Phan Andrew Faga |
| Year 9 Advisers | Morgan Howard Nathan Collins |
| Year 10 Advisers | Marija Miletic Josh Dunn |
| Year 11 Advisers | Jenny Green Christina Kennedy |
| Year 12 Advisers | Trent Robinson Karina Fagan |
In the first instance, it is preferable to speak with the classroom teacher or subject-specific head teacher for classroom matters. For other issues, parents should contact the relevant year adviser who will be able to assist. We also have school counsellors and coordinators of other support programs including our diary program. It is always best to contact the school early if you have any questions or concerns.
HSC Results
I congratulate our teaching staff and students on another set of excellent HSC results. We are all very proud of the achievements of our most recent Year 12 group. In 2019, students at Cecil Hills High School received 45 x Band 6 results (a mark over 90%). In addition, our students received 161 x Band 5 results (a mark between 80% and 89%).
Special congratulations go to Winston Fok who came 5th in the whole of NSW for VET Business Services
and Felicity Olivares who came 7th in the whole of NSW for VET Business Services.
It has been a pleasure to hear from our HSC students and learn of the courses they received entry into and it is a testament to their collective hard work as a grade.
Our annual Year 12 Recognition Evening will be held on Tuesday, 11 February 2020 and we look forward to celebrating our fantastic results.
New staff
There are a number of new teachers joining Cecil Hills High School in 2020. We are very fortunate to have some experienced teachers from other schools joining us. I would like to welcome the following teachers to our school:
- English: Lily Nguyen, Jasmine Baonza
- Mathematics: Thomas Nguyen
- Science: Georgia Brook, Ray Sultan
- History: Nina Ishak
- Social Sciences: Nice Heng
- PD/H/PE: Daniel Carrozza (Head Teacher), Tim Nguyen, Jessica Fox, Lisa Bastide, Samantha Hyde
- TAS: Mitchell Becroft, Jonathan Vencore
- CAPA – Andrew Stevens
- Learning Support: Chris King
Bushfire
Our thoughts are with the family of Andrew O’Dwyer, who was one of the volunteer firefighters who tragically lost his life while fighting the Green Wattle Creek fire. Andrew was one of our students in the 1990s and we share our condolences with his family at this difficult time. It has been an extremely traumatic holiday period for many families across Australia and our sympathies go out to all those impacted. We look forward to running some school initiatives to support those doing it tough.
Permanent Appointments
Congratulations to Mr Sean Griffiths who has been appointed to a permanent position at Cecil Hills High School. Mr Griffiths has been teaching since 2013 and has supported our students in many ways during his time at our school. He has helped coordinate our afternoon homework centre, ‘Connect After the Bell’, and has not only assisted students in history but also in music as a talented instrumentalist. In his current role as Relieving Head Teacher – History, he has led the History and Languages faculty since last year.
Congratulations to Ms Marija Miletic who was successful via merit selection and has been appointed as our permanent Head Teacher - Administration. Ms Miletic has taught at our school for a significant amount of time and has performed many important roles. She has contributed to a number of school teams including community engagement, technology and now leads our beginning teacher team. In her current role, she has effectively ensured our school is well-organised each and every day and students have quality teachers in the classroom. I know you will join me in congratulating both Mr Griffiths and Ms Miletic on attaining these permanent positions.
We also welcome Mr Daniel Carrozza to our school as our new Head Teacher – PD/H/PE. Mr Carrozza comes to our school with a wealth of experience in a number of areas including sports coordination, transition, faculty leadership and administration and has served as a long-term relieving head teacher at Homebush Boys High School. I am excited to welcome Mr Carrozza to the Cecil Hills HS team and look forward to working with him in our executive.
Save the Date – Year 7 (2020) BBQ and Year 7 (2021) Information Evening
An information evening for Year 7 (2021) will be held on Tuesday, 25 February 2020. This will provide an opportunity for prospective parents and community members to learn more about our school and enjoy a guided tour of our state-of-the-art facilities.
Ms Karina Fagan and Ms Amy Preston, our year advisers for this year group, will be coordinating the event in conjunction with Mrs Stephanie Haskett, Deputy Principal. This will also coincide with our normal Year 7 BBQ. As a result, we invite both Year 6 (2020) and Year 7 (2021) students, parents and families to this double event!
Harvard University
I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to attend the Leadership for School Excellence course run by Harvard University at Sydney University in the January break.
There were thirty NSW public school principals selected for this course and the professors from Harvard University focused on the importance of classroom tasks and family engagement in schools. I look forward to sharing this research with our teachers and broader community.
P&C Meetings
Our first P&C meetings for 2020 were attended by a very large number of parents. Our next meeting will be held at 6:30pm on Monday, 2 March 2020. This will be the Annual General Meeting. There will be a repeat session at 9:30am on Thursday, 5 March 2020.
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