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Hills Adventist College Newsletter - 6th March 2018, No.2

Contents:

Principal's Message

Construction Update - Kellyville Campus

With the completion of plumbing works associated with the Middle School we have begun some landscape projects, beginning with rolling out of turf (bright green highlight on the plan below). Once permanent pathways have been constructed we will continue the landscaping to create a space for student movement across the campus and for use in recess and lunch breaks.

Ray and Steve laying the turf

Chaplains Corner

Pr Ian and Pr Nick - School Chaplains

Have you ever been shopping and grabbed something that you just had to have, only to find out later in the day that it was cheaper elsewhere or there was something else of equal value but better, in another shop? I remember I did one day when I saw these awesome basketball shoes I just HAD to have. I had only been in the shops for about 30 minutes when I saw them in the display window. Without hesitation I grabbed them before anyone else. Later that day I walked past a huge sports outlet store and I couldn’t help but notice my shoes going for half the price I had previously purchased. You can imagine how upset I was at myself; if only I had waited. In fact I was so upset I never really enjoyed those shoes I had purchased because it always reminded of the bargain I missed out on.

Life can be like this at times, we make a mistake one day and that one mistake ends up haunting us for a long time, sometimes for the rest of our lives. But the one good thing about mistakes is they teach us valuable lessons. My one was to never grab the first good thing I see, but to shop around first. It’s never fun stuffing up, but when we do it’s important to learn from our mistakes and when we do, we can move on and enjoy what we have in front of us.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal.” Philippians 3:13-14

God bless you all

Pr Ian Cangy

Welcome to New Staff

Mrs Linda Taskis - Communications Officer

We have recently welcomed a new staff member, Mrs Linda Taskis, who has joined us as our Communications Officer. Her role will include public relations, handling enrolment enquiries, assisting with marketing, and general communications, including the newsletter, website and school app. Mrs Taskis has a Bachelor of Arts from Griffith University, and has also completed a course in Public & Media Relations through the University of Sydney. Mrs Taskis has extensive administrative experience, and has previously worked at two of our sister schools in Melbourne and Albury. We know the school community will welcome and support Mrs Taskis as she settles into her new role at Hills Adventist College

HSC 2017

During our opening convocation we had a visit from some of our year 12 students from 2017 and it was a great experience for our students to hear from them, particularly those who are about to embark on the HSC. They were able to tell the students that even though it is a challenging year, it is all worth the effort and hard work. We congratulate our 2017 Year 12 class, who are venturing into the next stage of their education. A number of students have been accepted into various apprenticeships, some are taking the opportunity to experience a “gap year”, while 73% have been accepted into various universities. We wish them well with whatever path they have chosen.

Here are a few quick statistics on the year 12’s results from last year:

Number of Students: 30

Top ATAR: 98.05

Band 6’s: 22

Band 5’s: 50

We would also like to give a special commendation and recognition to the following students for their achievements;

• Josie Jakovac, who made the HSC All-Rounder list for 2017 and achieved an ATAR of 98.05

• Emily Savage, who achieved 1st place in NSW in Textiles and Design

• Emily Sheriff, who had her Textiles and Design major project selected to be displayed in the TexStyle exhibition. This is on display from the 8-11 March at Rosehill.

We also had the opportunity to hear about a service project that two students from this class experienced. They spent their holidays in Africa volunteering at an animal reserve. It is great to see our students continue to uphold the values that we spend so much time focusing on, even after leaving the College.

Mrs Deppeler interviewing former students from the class of 2017

Parent Teacher Interviews

Middle & Senior School

Our first parent/teacher interviews for Year 5 to Year 11 are to be held on Wednesday 14 March from 3:30 pm until 8:00 pm in the Multi-Purpose Centre (MPC). We would be delighted if you are able to attend to meet with your child’s teachers and discuss their progress so far this year. The booking portal opened on Monday 26 February at 8:00 am, and will close the day prior on Tuesday 13 March at 6 pm. Please note: If a teacher teaches your child for more than one subject, you may wish to book two successive interview time-slots. This should ensure enough time to discuss each subject.

Parents and guardians are invited to book an appointment time via our online portal by clicking the link below:

Castle Hill Campus News

Kindy & Yr 4 Book Buddies

Kindy students have begun reading with their Book Buddies in Year 4 each Tuesday after Chapel. Students are enjoying the opportunity to read together and are developing a lovely rapport with one another. We are pleased to see the Year 4 students looking out for the Kindy students in the playground and establishing a mentoring role with them.

K – Yr 6 Swimming Carnival

Details of the Carnival are as follows:

When: Friday, 9 March 2018

Where: WAVES Fitness and Aquatic Centre

Time: 9:30am start for Swimming Carnival and 12:30pm start for Novice Carnival.

Dress: Full sports uniform – your child may choose to wear a plain T-shirt the colour of their house if they wish.

We are still looking for some parent volunteers to be house parents for Denison, Hunter and Phillip house. If you are willing to assist on the day and have a current Working with children check, please contact Miss Lee via email: j.lee@hills.adventist.edu.au

Premier's Reading Challenge

The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

Who: The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is available for all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 9; in government, independent, Catholic and home schools.

When: The 2018 Challenge kicks off Monday 5 March and closes Friday 31 August (midnight) for students.

If your child would like to participate in 2018, please email library@hills.adventist.edu.au (Kellyville Campus) or s.coyle@hills.adventist.edu.au (Castle Hill Campus), so that we can set your child up with new Hills Adventist College login details, or remind you of their details if they have participated with us previously.

Sports News

On Wednesday, 14 February, three Year 6 students were selected to represent our college at the ASISSA Basketball Trials held at Sydney University. The boys currently play at a representative level for the Hills Hornets Basketball Association. Eli Quintana-Mutia, Riley Brooker and Kai Strickland all made it through to the next level and trialled for the CIS Basketball team on Friday 23 February. At the trials Kai was selected to represent CIS at the NSWPSSA Basketball championships which will be held in Tamworth in May. We wish him all the best.

Year 5 Gala Day

On Wednesday Year Five attended an Oz Tag and Tee Ball Gala Day. Our three teams competed against other Hills Zone schools from the area. We played 3-5 modified games of Tee Ball and Oz Tag, under the supervision of the NRL development team. Thanks to Mr and Mrs Sunners and Mr McPherson for their supervision, encouragement and support.

We had a great time in the heat, catching up with old friends and making new ones from other schools. When we got back to school we really appreciated a cool ice-block, thanks Mrs Cobbin!

Swimming Carnival - Year 7-12

Mathematics Competitions

The Mathematics Department is organising the 2018 Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition (CAT) and Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC). Both competitions are problem-solving activities organised by the Australian Mathematics Trust, which is aimed at the top 15% of students in their year level. The competitions employ a mixture of multiple-choice and integer answers, and incorporate unique ‘three stage tasks’ that encourage students to develop informal algorithms and apply them to test data of increasing size or complexity. The original problems are designed to be quick to solve and highly approachable, and range in difficulty from very easy to challenging.

The CAT has 4 divisions: Upper Primary (Year 5-6), Junior (Year 7-8), Intermediate (Year 9-10) and Senior (year 11-12).

The AMC has 5 divisions: Middle Primary (Year 3- 4), Upper Primary (Year 5-6), Junior (Year 7-8), Intermediate (Year 9-10) and Senior (year 11-12).

The CAT competition will take place on Tuesday, 27 March and the AMC on Thursday, 9 August. Both competitions are held at Hills Adventist College. The registration cost is $10.00 (inclusive of GST), payable to Hills Adventist College, Mathematics Department.

For more information or to obtain a permission letter, please contact Mrs Hutanu (HOD Mathematics) via email: n.hutanu@hills.adventist.edu.au

Year 12 Visual Arts Excursion

This week the Year 12 Visual Arts class attended a lecture at the Art Gallery of NSW where they heard from students whose artworks were chosen for the 2017 ArtExpress exhibition. They attended the ArtExpress exhibition at the gallery and then viewed an installation artwork at CarriageWorks by Katharina Grosse. The installation was made up of 8000 meters of hanging fabric that had been painted a variety of colours. Both exhibitions were inspiring to the students who are in the middle of completing their own HSC Major Works.

Music - Upcoming Events

Band Camp (Monday 21 - Wednesday 23 May)

Greater Sydney Conference will be hosting the annual Band Camp again this year at Crosslands. The camp is open for students in grades 3-6 who have at least one year experience on their instrument. The ensembles this year will be:

• Concert Band (Piccolo, Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Percussion)

• Guitar Ensemble

• Keyboard Ensemble

• String Ensemble (Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass)

HICES Music Festival (Sunday 19 - Wednesday 22 August)

We are excited to be participating in HICES Music Festival once again. This is open for students in grades 7-12 who play a musical instrument. Please see link for more information and application forms. Alternatively, you can express your interest via email: e.thomas@hills.adventist.edu.au

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