YASS HIGH SCHOOL€¦ · learning, stronger communities, it is a great opportunity to promote the wonderful work that every faculty is doing in our school and the achievements of

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Aug 5 2016

YASS HIGH SCHOOL W e v a l u e r e s p e c t , r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , s a f e t y a n d l e a r n i n g .

Principal: Sandra Hiscock Relieving Deputy Principal: Ruth Riach

From the Principal

As we celebrate Education Week with the theme shared stories, better

learning, stronger communities, it is a great opportunity to promote the

wonderful work that every faculty is doing in our school and the

achievements of our students across the school and in the community.

This week’s Intouch will do just that.

We farewelled our Korean Exchange students from Eungye Middle

School on Sunday with a breakfast and many stories of the great

experiences had over the last 10 days. Thank you again to host

families, students and teachers who made this annual event so

memorable. We are now looking forward to our trip to Korea in 2017.

Congratulations Zach Johnson and Charissa Cresswell on their

outstanding dance performances with the Quantum Leap ensemble in

“Connected”, performed at the Canberra Theatre Centre. It was a great

achievement to be selected for such a prestigious event.

Students were well prepared for this week’s Talent Quest and Archie

prize. Congratulations to all students that got involved and to our prize

winners. It is also good to see staff getting involved and displaying

some hidden talents it seems.

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The Tell Them From Me Student Feedback Survey

I am delighted that this term, our school, like many other public schools in the

state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From

Me student feedback survey. The survey aims to help improve student learning

outcomes and measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement

and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student

wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices.

You may remember that our students also participated in a Tell Them From Me

student survey in Term 1 this year. Asking students to complete the survey twice in

one year allows us to identify trends in student responses as well as track

engagement and motivation across the school year.

More information about the survey is available at:

http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents

The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and

quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with

school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia

and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help improve

how they do things at school.

I want to assure you that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online

and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered

during school hours between 22 August and 21 October. Participating in the survey

is entirely voluntary.

A consent form and FAQs for parents/carers about the survey is included in this

Intouch. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the

form to school by 19th August 2016. Copies of the form and FAQs are also

available from the website above.

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The Partners in Learning Parent Feedback Survey

This term, our school will also be participating in the Partners in Learning parent

survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher

and parent surveys) on student engagement. The survey asks parents and carers

questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and

engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’

perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication

between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer

views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback

will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online, at home or on public computers. The

survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely

confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between 22 August and 21

October. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, however, your responses

are very much appreciated.

More information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents

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Captain’s Corner

G’day! Hope you’ve settled into school for Semester Two at YHS.

This week’s Teacher of the Week is our resident librarian, Ms Rajchert! We’d like

to thank her for all of the hard work she puts in to running Breaky Club each and

every day. As well as that, she organises Yass High students for the annual Red

Cross Calling to help raise money for Red Cross and she has been the driving

force behind the YHS Talent Quest for a number of years.

Not only does Ms Rajchert strive to help organise these events, she is our

BOSTES Coordinator and Distance Education Coordinator, being the go-to for

senior students to ask all sorts of HSC and Distance Education related questions.

Thank you Ms Rajchert! We really appreciate all the hard work you put in for us!

Joke of the Week

Q. What do you call it when a shoemaker drops his vegetables?

A. Corn on the cobbler!

Did you know??? A lion's roar can be heard from over 8 kilometres away!!!

Let YOUR voice be heard! Speak to your SRC Representatives or your 2016

School Captains - Daniel, Alyssa, Lucy and Edward - to have your voice heard at

YHS! SRC Meetings are held each Monday Lunchtime in F2!

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QL2

Last Thursday morning, July 28th, a group of students travelled to Canberra to

attend the opening matinee performance of the region’s Youth Dance Theatre

Troupe, QL2 (Quantum Leap).

The overarching theme of the performance was Connected which was a

presentation of three separate ensemble dance acts, developed by three different

choreographers and based on the concept of connections and how they develop

between individuals and groups.

The dance troupe consists of 32 young dancers aged between 13 and 26 and

includes two of our own Yass High School students, Charissa Cresswell from Year

11 and Zach Johnson from Year 12. These two amazingly talented and dedicated

dancers contributed to an exciting, strenuous and fascinating ensemble

performance which flowed from robotic, disconnected movement through lyrical

and organic connectedness to a face-paced, dynamic conclusion inspired by

physical theatre. Charissa demonstrated her exceptional skills in this last high

energy, high impact piece, while Zach participated in all three acts, finishing with a

beautiful solo and duet cameo before the full ensemble finale. Congratulations to

both of these talented students and we look forward eagerly to their next

production. Photo credit: Thomas McCoy (Yass Tribune)

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Science and Engineering Day

Last Friday, Yass High School participated in the Regional Science and

Engineering Challenge, presented by the University of Newcastle, at the Goulburn

Soldiers Club. In the challenge, students experienced a range of activities that they

would not usually see in a Science, Technology or Mathematics class. Selected

students from Years 9 and 10 travelled by bus to Goulburn Soldiers Club and

despite arriving 40minutes after the other 6 schools, gave the competition a run for

their money. The day was made up of 3 all-day activities and 4 half-day activities.

In the half day activities, students had to design, plan and construct a solution to a

problem in a given timeframe with limited resources. These included building a

tower that would support weights during a simulated earthquake, constructing an

artificial hand out of plastic straws and solving energy crises due to increased

demand for electricity. Students were awarded points on their designs and how

well their solutions worked at their intended task.

Building bridges, closely monitored by Pru Goward MP.

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The all-day activities tested the student’s abilities to think outside the box and get

truly creative with solutions to the problems they were given. Mars Rover saw

students constructing a ‘cart’ that could traverse difficult terrain while carrying

delicate cargo. Hover Frenzy got students building their own remote controlled

hover crafts and the Bridge task asked them to construct a mine-cart bridge using

limited resources.

Out of the 7 schools that participated, Yass High School placed 3rd despite arriving

late and being the smallest group involved. Our students are to be congratulated

on their achievement and outstanding effort and we wish Trinity Catholic College

good luck in representing our region at the University of Newcastle later this

month.

We are at a crucial point in Australia’s history and programs like this nationwide

STEM outreach challenge show that our current students are up to the task.

Hopefully it inspires some students to consider a future career path in Science,

Technology, Engineering or Mathematics, or at the least, choosing one or more to

further study in their senior years at Yass High School. As an educator, it has

shown me that instead of asking students what they want to be, maybe we should

be asking them what problems they wish to solve.

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Open Girls Football Reach Final Of Their Group

This year saw a lot of

changes to the Open

Girls Football team

after 9 players from

last year’s squad

finished at YHS.

After so many

changes it was an

outstanding effort for

the girls to reach the

final of their group.

This was the first

time that Yass High

has reached the final

which was well

deserved after playing some excellent football in their previous three matches.

Round 1 YHS v Queanbeyan 9-1, round 2 YHS v Karabar 2-0, round 3 YHS v

Crookwell 3-1

The Group Final had to be held in Canberra on a synthetic pitch due to bad

weather. This was the first time the girls had played on a synthetic pitch where the

ball plays a lot faster, advantaging the six South Coast representative players from

Wollongong. Our girls started out well, but the experience of the visiting team

started to shine though resulting in the first goal of the game. Although being out

played, Yass kept their heads high and began to get some position and played

some good football which resulted in Victoria Alley levelling up the score at 1-1. As

the half went on, Wollongong started to maintain more possession and to capitalise

on their chances with their striker using her speed to get in behind the Yass

defence. Even though the final score did blow out it was not a true reflection of the

game.

A huge thank you needs to go to the coach Mr Barrett for his support and giving

up his own time to train the girls. Well done to all the following girls who were part

of the team during their run to the final:

Victoria Alley (C) Shannon Wright, Caitlyn Douven, Breanna Lennon, Hailey

Lennon, Molly Freeman, Annabelle Hansson, Amy Kelly, Rhiannon Davis, Isobella

Campbell, Stephanie Witt, Sarah Rampton, Deana Nasralla, Lucy Bucknell,

Amanda Hansen, Kali Rattenbury, Eleanor Boehme, Charli Henderson, Karissa

Guest, and Elysia Mackay.

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5th August 2016

Dear Parents and Carers

This term, your school is taking part in the Tell Them From Me student survey. The survey will provide us with valuable feedback on what our students think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help them improve. The survey is completed on-line and is run by an independent research company, The Learning Bar, which specialises in school-based surveys.

Staff in schools will not be able to identify individual students from their responses. To ensure confidentiality, participating students will receive a unique username and password. Where fewer than five students respond to a question, the results will be suppressed. The survey typically takes 30 minutes or less to complete and will be administered by the school during normal school hours. Once the surveys are completed by students, reports are prepared and in most cases are available to schools within three business days.

This survey will help your school better understand how to improve student wellbeing and engagement. It will help the school identify what works to improve student outcomes.

Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. Your child will not take part if either you or your child do not wish. If, during the survey, your child is uncomfortable, he/she can choose to stop the survey at any time. The majority of questions in the survey can be skipped.

If you do not want your child to take part in the survey, please complete the slip below and return it to school by Friday 19th August 2016.

Dr Jenny Donovan Ms Sandra Hiscock Executive Director Principal Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation Yass High School

……….……………………………………………………………………………….…………

Tell Them From Me Student Feedback Survey

If you do not want your child to participate in the student feedback survey, please complete this

slip and return to school by Friday 19th August 2016.

I (print name) .......................................................................................................................... DO NOT give consent

for my child/children (print name/s) ……………………..………………………………..……… Year:…………

……………………..………………………………..……… Year:…………

……………………..………………………………..……… Year:………… to

participate in the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey.

Signed………………………………………………… Date……………………

Tell Them From Me student survey:

Information and consent form for parents

and carers

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Korean Exchange Visit

Yass High School and families

from our community were host to

10 students from Eungye Middle

School. The students, along with

their teacher and principal arrived

in Yass on Thursday 21st July.

During the ten day stay the South

Korean students were involved in a

number of cultural excursions and

tater lessons to experience life in

the Australian country. They

participated in agricultural activities

and thoroughly enjoyed the

shearing demonstration by Year 12

Primary Industries student Travis

Ginders.

Some of the excursions included the National Zoo and Aquarium, visiting Brungle

Public School and being involved in Aboriginal cultural activities, and a trip to the

National Museum.

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Staff, students and families of Yass High School were also involved in the first

annual Canberra Raiders School Day out on 23rd July. This community day

involved schools from across our region attending the Raiders v Warriors game

and aimed to build school and community involvement in rugby league across the

region. We had the pleasure of taking the Korean teacher who “was very nervous”

for the safety of the players. Ms Hiscock found her first ever live rugby league

game highly enjoyable and has since pondered becoming a member for next

season!

Yass High School families did a fantastic job of hosting our billet students and showing them some extra aspects of Australian life. A big thank you to the families who were involved in this exchange program and to teachers and students who involved our Korean guests in their classes while they were here.

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Talent Quest

Congratulations to everyone involved in the Talent Quest on Thursday night. We had a wonderful evening thanks to extremely hardworking and talented students. The Talent Quest was organised and run by the wonderful Ms Rajchert – it would not have happened without her. Thank you to our fabulous MCs, Zach and Edward, our judges Marie-Nicole Roberts, Dimitri Yialeloglou, Anne Hind and Susan McBride. The results are:

ENCOURAGEMENT AWARDS: $50 each

Snow and Leaves: Lily Kelly Clark and Rose Lawrence

The Boys: Tom Girdler and Jack Fuller

Nova Mortem - Tane Allen, Pat Morton, Raj Singh

3RD PRIZE: $125 Corinne Greene

2ND PRIZE: $250 The Ginders Brothers

1ST PRIZE: $500 Holly Fleming

PEOPLES CHOICE AWARD: $250 The Ginders Brothers

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Artchi-Prize Winners:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

Braelie Jones Hope,

Sophie Lorkin

3RD PRIZE: $25 Lily Godding

2ND PRIZE: $50 Anna Betts

1ST PRIZE: $75 Amy Kelly

PEOPLES CHOICE: $150

Nick Fairweather

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Thank you to the Yass community for being a part of the evening:

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Promoting Positive Behaviour in the classroom

Each fortnight we will update you on the highest Y scorers in each grade. Bear in

mind that the numbers of Y’s issued can be affected by a variety of external factors

such as a school camp or number of classes being undertaken by the student.

Congratulations to Sarah Targett

Congratulations to Year 12 student Sarah Targett on being awarded the Yass Vet

Hospital Achievement Award at the Bookham Ag Bureau evening last weekend.

The award was presented by Mrs Kath Williams from the Yass Vet Hospital.

Grade Student Name Total Y’s

Seven

Elizabeth Gray-Bastock 8

Matylda Hoare 8

Eight Ayden Pothan 9

Sophie Lorkin 8

Piper McPherson 8

Jemma North 8

Nine Michael O’Neill 7

Thomas Rampton 6

Ten Shannon Lawler 16

Joshua Chapman 12

Eleven Natasza Johnston 9

Jonah Smith 9

Twelve Lachlan Butler 16

James Halley 14

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Technology Goes In Which Classroom?

While many of the senior software design

classes take place in a computer lab, several

students have begun using the integrated

learning environment for theory components of

the course.

Students in Year eleven were recently

introduced to the difficult metalanguage syntax

of Extended Backus-Naur form as

demonstrated below…

<hour> = 1 | 2 | 3 | …| 11 | 12 <minute> = 1 | 2 | 3 | …| 59 | 60 <time> = <hour> : <minute>

<pages> = 1 | 2 | 3 | … | 31 | 32 <InTouch> = <pages> {<pages>}

Time is defined as hour : minute InTouch is defined at least one page followed by any number of additional pages

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Gold Coast Adventure Camp

In 2017, all year eleven students will attend a camp to Queensland’s Gold Coast

designed to promote student rapport among the grade and better support them to

begin their HSC studies. Students will stay at a sport and recreation facility and

visit Warner Bros Movie World and Wet n Wild Water Park as part of a four day

adventure tour. The first deposit is due Friday 12 August to reserve a place.

In order to accomplish this at a reasonable price for each student, a fundraising

schedule has been implemented and will require the support of the entire grade.

Committee members will coordinate and prepare the events, arrange community

support and encourage all students to participate.

Date Event Committee Coordinators

Term 3 Week 6 Staff Breakfast Tyahn Bell, Amy Kelly

Term 3 Week 10 Pancake Day Tyahn Bell, Stephanie Witt

Term 4 Week 1 – 8 Raffle Prizes Jordan Forlonge, Amy Kelly

Term 4 Week 1 – 8 Lolly Jar

Guessing

Isobella Campbell, Stephanie Witt

Term 4 Week 3 – 6 Basketball

Competition

Sam Sellars, Gabrielle Davis

Term 4 Week 4 – 9 Minecraft

Tournament

Ryan Vaughan, Nicholas Fairweather,

Josh Chapman

Term 4 Week 5 Cake Stall Sarah Hearne, Esmae Barry

Term 4 Week 7 Sausage Sizzle Evelyn Johnson, Abi Grear

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iSTEM Is Building For 2017

In a recent InTouch, we outlined how students in Year Nine will be able to select

the board endorsed project based elective subject iSTEM in 2017 as part of their

regular load.

We have continued to build on this curriculum and prepare it for a successful

implementation. Working with local organisation FPV Australia, we are adding a

new component to the aerodynamics element – drone technology. Students will

undergo training and construction of drones with a view to attaining a remote pilot

operator’s licence certified by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

All students have a chance to attend a demonstration of the drone technology next Wednesday 10 August.

Students undertake a range of inquiry based learning and project based learning activities in fields such as:

Drone development

Light aircraft and aircraft design

Motor racing

3D and CNC router printing

Solar power vehicles

Rockets

Pneumatic and hydraulic systems

Robotics

Electronics and circuits For further information contact: Mr R Saville or Mr N Biddle

Modules covered through year nine and ten

STEM Fundamentals

Aerodynamics Motion 3D CAD / CAM

Mechatronics STEM Project

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Coming Events

Date

Wed 10 Aug HSC Trial Exams begin

Wed 10 Aug Drone Demonstration Day

Thur 11 Aug Year 10 Senior Subject Selection Evening 7pm

Fri 12 Aug Craft and Quilt Fair

Mon 15 Aug Small Schools Mini Olympics

Fri 19 Aug Aime Program

Mon 22 Aug Year 7 Aboriginal Infusion Day

Tue Aug 23 Selwyn Snow Trip

Wed 24 Aug Year 10 Careers Expo

Wed 24 Aug Years 7/8 Boys and Girls Touch football

Thur 25 Aug Crossroads Day

Fri 26 Aug Into the Woods

Fri 26 Aug Daffodil Day

Thur 1 Sep Year 8 Stage 5 Subject Selection Evening

Click on the school website for the online calendar

Remember Assessment tasks dates due are available on school website assessment

calendars