WEEK 1, TERM 3, 26 JUly 2019
On Thursday we hosted 23 teachers from Shanghai, China who are on a study tour of Sydney educational institutions. They were taken on a tour of the school by our students and visited a number of classes. We are having a tour of Korean educators on Tuesday next week and a further tour by another group of teachers from Shanghai on Monday 5 August. Our visitors are always impressed with the school and the excellent teaching and learning provided for our students. Our final tour for Term 3 is on Friday September 6 with the Class of 1969 visiting HGHS from 10 – 12pm for their reunion with a tour of the school led by our students.
Eight Year 9s visited Regis Aged Care on Wednesday during P2 to share stories and music and to read poems with the residents. Today ten Year 11s worked with elderly members of the Indian Community at the Hornsby Community Centre during P3 and shared their knowledge of iPhone use particularly on how to take a good photo using an iPhone and sang 'Country Road'. On Saturday our senior students will be working with a local charity ‘Support the Girl’ to assist local homeless women from 9 – 4pm. Our Social Justice Group has organised gift packs donated by our students to be given to these women who have fallen on hard times. Well done to all our volunteers.
Grounds and Gardens Day is on this Saturday from 8 – 11am. We will be spreading mulch near the canteen and potting plants in the Central Quad in preparation for our Community Fair. If you have an hour or so on Saturday morning please come along.
Parent Teacher Interviews continue next week with Years 7 and 8 parents on Wednesday 31 July.
Our Creative Learning Space to replace the derelict drama room has now been fully approved by the DoE and Hornsby Council and the tender process has been completed with ‘Royal Contractors’ meeting with the school on August 5 in preparation for the demolition and construction of our new learning space. It is anticipated that the build will take six months. This will mean some disruption to drama classes and year meetings during this time. Again thank you for your patience and your financial contributions via our tax deductible School Building Fund which have fully funded the demolition, design and construction of this important project.
Justin Briggs, Principal
ABC link
An interesting recent article on the history of Selective Schools in NSW published by the ABC.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-22/why-nsw-has-the-most-selective-schools/11330424
INSPIRATIONAL Art
Our school has been selected to participate in the Hornsby Community Awards with our community art which is on display in Thomas St. Please see the link below.
https://mycommunityproject.service.nsw.gov.au/project?projectId=cjy158ehd1gl108949hmn6v6v
P and C
I came across this article in Forbes and I thought it would be a good read for the teachers and students. Please share.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/10/05/different-types-of-meditation-change-the-brain-in-different-ways-study-finds/
Thank you
Gai Ramesh P and C President
trivia night
Trivia Night is an annual event organised jointly by the Hornsby Girls and Normanhurst Boys Prefects, which this year took place on Friday 28th June. Junior Trivia was at Hornsby and Senior Trivia at Normanhurst. Both events consisted of trivia rounds that were broken up by games (including a Lip Sync Battle, a planking challenge, and a spaghetti tower-building game), which gave teams points on the board, enabling them to win. Overall, it was a really fun event to both organise and participate in, and it promoted more school spirit and connections between us and our brother school.
Rujuta Banhatti Year 12
Golf
From 24 to 26 June, I represented Hornsby Girls/Sydney North Region in the NSW Combined High Schools State Golf Championships held in Yamba, which is 700km north of Sydney. Yamba Golf and Country Club hosted this year’s competition.
There were 92 players who competed, which included 56 boys and 36 girls. I am happy to advise that the Sydney North girls team won the team competition and I received a Gold medal. As there were no age groups, I competed against students from Years 7 to 12. I was the youngest competitor in the entire championship.
Throughout the three days the weather conditions were very challenging as there was extremely heavy rain and powerful winds. The first day of the championship was officially the wettest and the coldest day in Yamba for the last 10 years. It was a great learning experience to play in such conditions against much older opposition.
I want to thank my parents for their support and for taking me all the way to Yamba so that I could compete. I would also like to thank the teachers and the students of my school who supported me with their encouragement.
Golf is a character building sport which teaches persistence, discipline and hard work and it is amazingly fun to play. I would encourage everyone to try this wonderful game.
Nikhita Arora Year 7
Table tennis
Congratulations to Sue Bin Oh who competed in the Table Tennis Junior National Championship 2019 held in Wollongong during the school holidays.
She won a silver medal for the U18s Girls team, a silver for the U18s Doubles, a bronze for the U18s Individuals, and a bronze medal on U18 Mixed Double event.
Her order of merit is No 3 in Under 18 Girls with over 90 per cent of team matches won.
Sue Bin has also been selected to represent as an Australia National Junior team player for the ITTF Oceania Junior Championship held in Tonga in August.
managing Your digital footprint
Year 11 and Year 12 attended a workshop on managing their digital footprint positively and curating their online image. This presentation was delivered by Kirra Pendergast from Safe on Social Media. I hope to have Kirra back for future presentations for students and parents.
Kirra also provided some information sheets that will be published in the Torch throughout the year. Please see the attached Social Media Tips for Parents from Kirra.
