Whole School News

A Note from our Principal - Mrs Julia Heise

People and ideas. These are two key elements of learning in life, and at school. People and ideas can also give us hope and inspire us. In the current conditions of COVID in Sydney it is our friends and our family that give us hope. When our physical world may become restricted, we can still participate in a world of ideas that spans the globe, and we can still enjoy being with people - and for that we can be grateful.

As I look back on this term, we have much to be thankful for as a school community. While we have had to postpone some of our planned community events this week, we can still celebrate the many experiences that our students have participated in over the past few months - from the Year 3-6 music and art performance evenings, to students excelling in sport and academic competitions such as CDSSA and DaVinci Decathlon, to the everyday ‘aha’ moments as students learn a new concept in class.

Thank you to the many parent volunteers who have made a difference in our school including Home and School, Running Club breakfast parents, orchestra and strings tutor, Mrs Jameson, parents who help with reading groups, and the list goes on. You make a difference, and your time and effort are highly valued as it supports the learning and wellbeing of students.

Education is a lifelong learning adventure and I pray that you will enjoy the holidays – relax with family and friends and continue to learn from the wonderful world of ideas around us.

Shared Values in the Playground

As we continue to collectively develop a deeper understanding of how our core values can be made explicit at school and home, students and teachers have contributed to the development of what behaviours should be seen in the playground. Click here to download the following values in action posters: classroom, playground, library and canteen.

Calendar of Upcoming School Events

You can access the list of upcoming School events via the link below. The School Calendar is also available under the Parent Information tab on the School website.

Term Dates for 2021

Please click on the link below to view the school term dates and public holiday information for 2021.

Please note Term 3 commences on Thursday, 15th July 2021.

School News - Years P to 6

Chapel – Term 3

Junior Chapel service will continue to run on a Thursday morning from 8:50am – 9:30am in Term 3. Please click on the link to access the Chapel Schedule for Term 3.

NAIDOC – Chapel Service

This week we celebrated NAIDOC week in our Junior School Chapel service. Our prefect students assisted Pr Andy to host this special service. Zara R performed a special traditional dance for us. Pr Richie and Zara shared the importance of celebrating NAIDOC in our communities.

Primary School Creative and Performing Arts Evenings

Congratulations to the Years 3 to 6 Primary School Students for performing so well at the Creative and Performing Arts Evenings this week. Through the sale of their artworks students also raised $885 to put towards purchasing new musical instruments!

Photo credit: Brenden Lovett

Kindergarten Information Night

Early next term we will be hosting a Kindergarten Information Evening. This is an opportunity to come and meet the Kindergarten teachers for next year, to gain insight into school readiness expectations and to ask questions you may have about our Kindergarten program and our School. Further information will be communicated in the coming weeks.

CARES Day – Year 5 - Thursday 24th June 2021

On Thursday 24th June, all Year 5 students attended an excursion to learn about bike safety at the Community and Road Education Scheme Center. Throughout the day students learnt skills in how to be safe while riding near or on the road. Students enjoyed participating in various activities and had a lot of fun.

Parent Teacher Interviews

It was wonderful to see so many parents here for our Parent Teacher interviews last Tuesday night. I believe that communication between home and school is a vital component to student success at school. If you were unable to attend the interviews on that day or would like to speak with another teacher who may teach your child, please contact the teacher to arrange a suitable meeting time.

Primary School Sport - House Competitions

This week we held two House Competition Capture the Flag games. On Wednesday students from Years 4-6 competed against each other, but no one was able to score a point and it ended with a draw. Hunter significantly outnumbered the number of Phillip players and substitutions had to be used to keep the teams equal. On Thursday, students from Years 1-3 were invited to compete in another match. It was a very close game with Phillip on 3 points and Hunter on 2 points.

Primary School Athletics Carnival - Thursday 5th August 2021

The Primary School Athletics Carnival will take place on Thursday 5th August at Bannockburn Oval Pymble. We are still in need of more parent helpers, so if you are able to offer any help on this great day out, please complete the survey at https://forms.office.com/r/Rwxasn5wZb.

Upcoming Primary School Sporting Events

• 4th August - CIS Primary Girls Softball Trials
• 5th August – Wahroonga Adventist School P-6 Athletics Carnival
• 11th August - CIS Primary Girls Cricket (8-13yrs old)
• 13th & 14th September - CIS Primary Boys Cricket

Co-Curricular Program

During the School Holidays we will have Code Camp on offer at our school from 7-9 July. For more information or to book please click here.

In Term 3 some of the exciting new co-curricular opportunities for Primary and High School aged students are listed below. More information and how to book will be released in the School Holidays.

Primary School Students

• Football NSW Program – Every Wednesday
• Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders Basketball Program– Every Wednesday
• Code Camp – Every Tuesday
• Dance Element Studio Classes – many different classes to choose from
• Tae Kwon Do – Every Thursday
• Chess Club
• Choir and Bands

High School Students

• The Discovery Club
• Mountain Bike Riding
• Running Club
• Basketball Program
• Maths Club
• Choir and Bands

School News - Years 7 to 12

High School Captains Dinner

Our High School Captains, Billy and Grace, recently attended the High School Captains Dinner hosted by Alister Henskens at Parliament House. The students enjoyed the evening with Mr Henskens where they also met other School Captains from our neighbouring schools. They were treated to a tour before dinner were they ran into our Premier Gladys Berejiklian!

North Met Zone Athletics Carnival - 17th June 2021

On Thursday the 17th of June, our High School athletics team, which consisted of approximately 100 students, competed in the CSSA North Met Zone Athletics Carnival. We had students enter in every event and compete at a high level against Northern Beaches, Pacific Hills, Christian Covenant and Oxford Falls. A special mention to the following students who broke records;

• Marco N jumped 1.45m in High Jump, beating the previous record set in 2018.
• Nathanael R threw 38.85m in Javelin beating a record set in 2001.
• James T jumped 4.65m in Long Jump, equalling a 7 year old record.

Wahroonga also had 2 students demonstrate outstanding athleticism across many events by achieving Age Champion! Congratulations to James T and Nathanael R for achieving 12 years and 13 years Age Champion respectively.

Wahroonga placed 4th in the points total, beating Covenant Christian School. Students who placed in the top 3 positions in track events, and top 2 positions in field events, will progress through to CSSA State, held on the 12th of August at SOPAC. More information coming soon.

Year 12 HSC Holiday Class Schedule

Student Spotlight - Year 12 - 2021

Meet William (Billy)...

1. How long have you been at Wahroonga? I have been at Wahroonga since Year 7. So, I came here in 2016.

2. What subjects are you studying in your HSC? My subjects are Industrial Technology, Visual Arts, English Standard, Maths Standard and PDHPE.

3. What’s your greatest life achievement so far (either in school or out)? I don’t think I have a life achievement worth the title of the greatest life achievement but if I had to pick one it would probably be all of my sporting achievements for my two main sports which are rugby and swimming.

4. What advice would you give your Year-seven-self who is starting high school? Get into a healthy routine and prioritise the right things.

5. What career would you like to do once you leave school? My dream career would be to become a professional rugby player. To this day I still don’t have a very realistic dream career.

6. Any school study/survival tips for those in younger grades? Purchasing the ATAR notes books for your subject is a very good way to learn what you need to learn if you don’t understand it in class.

7. Best thing you’ve ever eaten for lunch? I think the best thing I have ever eaten from the canteen for lunch would be the nachos with every option you can get as the toppings. If it had to be something not from the canteen it would be left-over KFC.

8. Favourite excursion? My favourite excursion would be the recent PDH excursion where we went to the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation where we were able to witness the Manly Sea Eagles train. We were able to experience the ice bath and hot tub as well as learn further about what we have been learning in school.

9. Favourite day at school and why? My favourite day at school would have to be the multicultural day last year because I was able to perform the haka with a few of the other boys.

10. A quote from you... IIIITSSS MAUI TIME, CHEEHOOOO! munyano

Meet Hamish...

1. How long have you been at Wahroonga? Since the start of Year 7, so over 5 years.

2. What subjects are you studying in your HSC? Biology, Standard English, Standard Maths, PDHPE and Food Technology.

3. What’s your greatest life achievement so far (either in school or out)? I do not have a greatest achievement yet but watch this space!

4. What advice would you give your Year-seven-self who is starting high school? I would tell him to not give up on swimming and continue to train every day. I would also tell him to start studying!

5. What career would you like to do once you leave school? I think I would like to do Psychology at University.

6. Any school study/survival tips for those in younger grades? Just start to study. Once a week is a good habit to at least start with, which I unfortunately didn’t.

7. Best thing you’ve ever eaten for lunch? I think my favourite thing was the burrito special from the canteen.

8. Favourite excursion? Best excursion was the Year 10 camp and hike. It’s one of the best things I have done, and it felt so rewarding to complete it.

9. Favourite day at school and why? Any day that we get to do sport.

10. A quote from you... It always seems impossible until it isn’t.

Schizencephaly Mufti Day - Friday 18th June 2021

The SRC held a Schizencephaly Mufti Day today to raise awareness of the condition. Students wore green and purple, bringing with them a gold coin donation to raise funds for Genetic Alliance Australia (GA).

The students enjoyed hearing from GA's presenter, and from Kanya (one of our students) along with her father, Mr Young, who shared a little of Kanya's story.

Genetic Alliance Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that provides support for families managing rare conditions.

Library News

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to Hayley R (5C), Iris L (2M), Sophie L (4R), Rebecca C (6C), Liza B (2B), Jaz B (4C), Emma L (1K) and Madison E (2B) who have all finished the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Great reading!

Remember, the Premier’s Reading Challenge does not finish until the end of August so there is still plenty of time to complete it. Happy reading!!

Library WebAPP

Wahroonga Adventist School Library has an online catalogue which makes searching for resources easy from any device with internet access. By logging on to your child’s personal details you can see what books they currently have out, due dates, borrowing history and much more. To visit our Library WebAPP go to bit.ly/waslibrary and follow the instructions on the guest page to access your child’s personal details.

Home and School

It is no surprise with the current Covid Restrictions we have made the unfortunate decision to postpone Laser Tag which was to be held on the 18th of July. Our hope is to still be able to run this event in Term 3. We will rebook and advise of the new date once Covid Restrictions have lifted.

We are also planning to go Ice Skating sometime in Term 3…..so keep your eyes out for further updates.

We are able to advise we will still be going ahead with the Parent Masterclass booked for the 17th of August which will run in the evening via a Webinar platform. More details to come but please place this date in your diary. This is a funded event from Home and School and it will be presented by UrStrong which is about navigating friendships.

Thank you Mel Harris!

Please join us as we give a Big Thank You to Mel Harris and family for going the extra mile. She has served on the Home and School committee for 14 years, was president for 3 years and has been tirelessly helping with our Beyond the School Yard community work. Mel is the Operations Christmas Child extraordinare. She has for many years mentored the SRCs, creating greater awareness of the needs of communities outside our school. We just want to honour an amazing woman who is always eager to help, encourage and build community. Thank you to her husband David for his labour of love as he has so diligently helped with Dad’s campout. We wish you all the best for the future.