Newsletter Term 3 Week 9 2022

Principals Report

Creating a Safe and Inclusive Online Environment

Here at Killarney we strive to create an environment in which all community members are accepted and valued. Many of you would have noticed the recent media coverage regarding school students creating online chat groups that propagate hateful, misogynistic, homophonic and racist opinions.  These views are abhorrent to the school community here at Killarney and to the vast majority of Australians who wish to live in a harmonious society in which everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

What can be done about protecting our children from such channels and how can we promote a culture of tolerance and respect in our youth?

The principals of diversity and inclusion are embedded across our curriculum here at Killarney and we work with students to instil the values of respect and acceptance. We foster ethical use of technology with purposeful lessons in every learning area, particularly in our timetabled ICT, PDHPE and Wellbeing classes. Inappropriate sites are blocked here at school by the Department of Education’s internet filters. This means that students are protected from harmful content when logging on through the school’s internet.

However, some students bypass the controls, using mobile phone data to access unsavoury materials and apps. Limiting data plans means that students can access the internet only through the WI-FI network, thus students will be protected through the filtering on the router. Limiting phone use at night, for example charging the mobile phones in the kitchen may reduce opportunities for unsupervised use of these devices.

It is also vital that parents monitor their young person’s internet access at home to ensure they are not engaging with content that is inappropriate or harmful. There are internet filters such as NetNanny that are accessible and customizable so that unwanted content is not available. A further way to protect your child is for them to use the computer in a common space like the dining room table to ensure that you are aware of the material they are accessing. The e-safety commissioner has a website for guidance 

While it is not possible to shield our children from all dangers, we have to teach them how to behave with respect, compassion and dignity in all settings. We have to teach them how to behave online, just like we teach them how to behave in the classroom. Education is one way that we can tackle this problem. The cyber safety unit has online webinars that parents can access to learn more about digital technologies and mental health. You can register for one on 12^th October, through this link.

Above all, we must work together as a community to ensure all our young people understand the importance of creating a harmonious and safe environment in which all community members are accepted and valued regardless of their race, culture, gender, sexuality or disability. Through a combined effort where we all teach and guide both at school and home the concepts of respect, responsibility, empathy, resilience and critical thinking we will be able to guide students safely to adulthood with a sense of social justice and community responsibility.

Hayley Emmerton
Principal

Dates to Remember

Warringah Youth Ambassadors

Killarney Heights School captains, Priya Gokani and Leo Bassi attended a Youth Ambassador Forum with Zali Steggall, Federal Member for Warringah at the Queenscliff Surf Club last week.

CAPA

Visual Arts

Year 7 - Cubism
Year 7 have been creating clay self-portraits influenced by the art movement Cubism and the works of Pablo Picasso. They have been focusing on geometric and irregular shapes, bold colours, sharp angles and distortion. For many Year 7s this is their first-time using clay. They have worked very hard and have created fantastic ceramic pieces!

Year 8 - Surrealism
Year 8 have been creating three dimensional 'Fantastic Beasts' using clay. Their Fantastic Beasts are a combination of three different animals. They have learnt clay skills such as coiling, pinch pots, joining, scoring and slipping. Once completed, students chose different glazes to paint their sculptures. We are very lucky to have two Kilns at Killarney - the ceramics room has been very busy! We have fired over 100 artworks in the Kiln so far and have about another 200 to go! 

Year 9 - Street Art
We have a very talented cohort of Year 9 students this year. Two large classes have just submitted their artworks for their Street Art task. We have studied artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and students have created one large scale artwork in the style of Neo-Expressionism. Characteristics of this style are bold, expressive with lots of layering. Student's artwork was a self-portrait that explored three different aspects of their personal identity.  Students used a wide range of materials such as spray paint, collage, oil pastel, acrylic paint, stencilling and charcoal. Here is Arta Dehghan’s brilliant artwork. He worked day and night on this painting and his effort really shows!

Year 9 have also created a small mural on the wall outside one of the Visual Arts rooms. It has been lovely to see students showing their stencilled self portraits to friends, or seeing students try to guess which students are there!  

Year 10 - The Human Body
Year 10 are creating drawings exploring the human figure. Students were challenged to consider their subjects from an unusual perspective and focus on tonal variation. They have done exceptionally well in this task and their drawings skills are extremely sophisticated!

Year 11
Year 11 have had a busy year, studying Australian Landscapes, Modernism and Postmodernism. They are now on Year 11 Preliminary exams which they have been working hard towards this term. At the beginning of this term Year 11 submitted sculptures based off an artwork of their choice from the art movement 'Modernism'. This unit really extended students as we encouraged them to use materials they weren't familiar with. This helps them build their artmaking skills in anticipation for Year 12. Year 11 had fun with this task and persevered when artmaking got... challenging!

Year 12
A huge congratulations to Year 12 students on the completion of their Body of Work. It was fantastic to celebrate the efforts of our creative Visual Arts students with Showcase that took place at the end of Week 6. Students major works from TAS and Visual Arts were displayed in the hall, accompanied by Year 12 Drama performances and food prepared by senior hospitality students. It was lovely to see Year 12 students sharing their talents and efforts with family and friends.  

Photography Club

We are incredibly proud of our photographers in Photography Club this term. They learnt so many new skills in 6 weeks. These talented photographers have taken on extra responsibility by being our school event photographers. They took photos for Year 12 Showcase and the Wear it Purple assembly this term. Daanish Shariff in Year 10 has also been an outstanding member of photography club, photographing NAIDOC Week earlier in the year and additional school events. Thank you Daanish – we appreciate you!

Special mention to Sonia Balandina in Year 7 who won the Science Week Photography art competition. The theme of this photography competition was 'glass'. Congratulations Sonia – you are a talented young artist!

Ceramics Club - Term 4
Ceramics Club is our most popular Art Club and it has filled up quickly this term! It is commencing Week 3 next term on Thursdays from 3.30-4.30pm. It is suitable for beginner and intermediate ceramicists. If you missed out on a spot, Ceramics Club will be running again next year. Our after school art classes run in Terms 2, 3 and 4 and are run by the Visual Arts teachers. This year we have had printmaking, photography and ceramics club. Keep your eyes peeled for more art clubs next year!

NAIDOC WEEK Art Competition – Get Up, Stand Up, Show Up!

This years NAIDOC Week theme was Get Up, Stand Up, Show Up! Students were encouraged to create an artwork that reflected what this years theme meant to them.

Congratulations to Kaia Skjellerup in Year 9 who won the NAIDOC Week Art competition. Kaia will be presented with an award at next years NAIDOC Week assembly. Her highly detailed water colour artwork in currently displayed in the library.

Congratulations to Sonia Balandina in Year 7 who won the Highly Commended award for her NAIDOC week sculpture. Her skilful and engaging sculpture is currently displayed in the library.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to create artworks for 2022 NAIDOC Week and took part of this competition. We loved seeing your talented submissions and your personal engagement with NAIDOC Week.

And finally.. Farewell Ms Burton – Best colleague and Visual Arts teacher in the world
The incredible, funny, fashionable, talented, hardworking Ms Burton is leaving Killarney Heights High School.. to live in New York!

Ms Burton has worked at Killarney Heights High School since 2014. She has dedicated a huge amount of time, energy and knowledge to the Visual Arts department and the whole school. Not only is she a great colleague, she has a great relationship with students. She is quick witted, knowledgeable and keeps them laughing throughout the chaos of the year. Killarney won't feel the same without you Burton.. the kids in New York are so lucky!  You will be missed!!

Ms Slater
Visual Arts Teacher

Languages

Year 8 Japanese

Year 8 Japanese participated in an incursion during which they watched the globally famous Japanese animated feature film, 'My Neighbour Totoro' by Studio Ghibli. While watching the film, they tried various Japanese snacks and ate rice balls (onigiri), before participating in a lucky draw and movie quiz for prizes. Sensei dressed up as 'Kaonashi' from another Studio Ghibli film (pictured at the very back in the group photo). Students left the event having seen a Japanese classic film that they can talk about with Japanese friends in the future. 

Stephanie Rosier-Takeuchi
Japanese Teacher

Year 8 French Prior Learners

In Term 3, Year 8 French Prior Learners* started to learn the past tense in French. The first of the past tenses they have learned is the passé composé (perfect tense). This is a very difficult tense for non-French speakers to master, as it comprises several parts, with different rules depending on the verb used. Students are making good progress in their use of the tense and were able to write a "fait divers" article in French about a surprising event that took place at school. We hope you enjoy reading about the very surprising events!

Madame Robins

*French Prior Learners is a class for non-French speaking students who studied French in primary school for at least three years.

PDHPE

CHS and BEYOND

This year we have had some amazing sporting performances across the three carnivals. These athletes have been highly organised, spending extensive hours training while maintaining their studies. Many athletes had achieved PB’s or have had success at CHS (Combined High schools). This means they made our school team and competed at Zone. This was followed by representing our zone (North Shore) at the Regional carnival and then either coming 1st or 2nd to qualify for CHS which is every school/region in the state.  In this carnival students are representing Sydney North, or, if they qualified for a relay, they wear their school colours. Usually after this event they have a chance to participate in All Schools and then Nationals.

Here are the wonderful results with pictures:
Swimming:
Skye Kito - 2nd 400IM
Sydney Kito - 1st 400IM 3rd 100backstroke
Laetitia Everingham - 5th in 100 breaststroke , 6th 400IM

Cross Country: (These results are combined with both private and catholic schools)
Angus Pike 12/13 age 3km - 110th out of 206
Lilyana Rayner-Harvey 13 age 3km- 41st/209
Amelie Hunziker 13 age 3km- 79th/209
Cooper Horley 16age 6kms 43rd/189

Athletics:
Jasmine Rintel 13’s 200m 6th
12 yrs Boys Relay 3rd in the State
Tara Laytham open 3km walk 6th 
Elizabeth McMillen open 3km walk 1st (Broke the record by 6 seconds)
Cooper Horley 16yrs 1500m 4th 
Cameron Nicholas 16yrs 400m 4th
Ivan Prizmic 1st 16yrs High Jump 192cm Jump!

Elizabeth McMillen broke the carnival record for the 3km walk which had stood for 27 years.  The record was previously held by ex Olympian Natalie Saville.

Having both Elizabeth and Ivan winning was an incredible achievement, but the 12s relay seemed like a fairytale. The relay team consisted of Angus Pike, Lincoln O’Conner, Byron Borchert , Ed Hammond. It was about 10am with the race to start at 1pm when the boys said, “Sir, Byron is not here he has COVID”.  We were frantic, as not many 12-year-olds meet the specific qualifications. The boys thought long and hard and came up with Pierre Vosloo. They snap-chatted him, he said yes, his mother picked him up, raced to Homebush, and they arrived 15 minutes before the start of the race. Ed gave him instructions, the gun went off, and they came 1st! Now off to STATE! Then more problems occurred as Byron was fit again and we had to condense 5 into 4. The boys were brilliant and so supportive of each other. Pierre volunteered to step down but remained a supportive team member. This team came 3rd  in the state and were beaten by two sport high schools. Well done to all athletes, and we farewell Laetitia and Elizabeth and wish them well for the future.

TAS

HSC Design and Technology

The following pictures show some of the projects on display at the Showcase on 25th August 2022.

Year 10 Food Technology

The following cakes were made by the Year 10 Food Technology classes studying 'Food for Special Occasions' with a design brief to design and make a children's themed birthday cake.

BushLink

BushLink is a wonderful program that gives students the opportunity to work together as a team to improve the school's natural environment as well as promoting positive attitudes for inclusion and expand learning experiences across the curriculum. The BushLink team have been working with some of our students on Tuesday's and so far, it's been an enriching experience all round.

Band News

Senior Regional Band Tour

Our Senior bands recently had a three-day musical tour to the Bathurst/Orange region.  With performances and workshops at Scots All Saints College, the Orange Regional Conservatorium of Music, and the Orange Civic Centre.  Bonding with fellow musicians during the music trivia night was a highlight for many. 

NSSWE Spring Festival

On Sunday 11^th September our talented musicians played at the Chatswood Concourse as part of the NSSWE Spring Music Festival with numerous schools in the area.  It was a great experience for the students to play in a professional environment in front of large paying audiences. 

Upcoming Events

An upcoming exciting event is the Big Band performing with the Tuesday night Jazz Orchestra at Lazybones Jazz Club on Tuesday 20^th Sept.  This is a ticketed event – please come along and support our talented students if you can. 

Ticket Link below:

Both the Guitar Ensemble and the Big Band have been invited to perform at the upcoming Manly Jazz Festival on Sept 24.  We hope you can come down and support our students. 

Junior Regional Band Tour Blue Mountains Event

The upcoming Junior Ensemble tour to the Blue Mountains – also including the Guitar and Strings Ensembles will be an exciting three-day, two-night trip including performances at Scenic World and the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre and a workshop with a guest conductor. 

Interstate Tour Planning

We are in the planning stages of our week-long tour of Tasmania that will take place in Term 2 2023 with the senior bands.  This will replace the international tour due to travel restrictions still in place by the Education Dept and will include some exciting performance opportunities and amazing experiences for the students.     

Careers News

Good luck to all Year 12 students who will be completing HSC exams in the next few weeks. I wish you all the best.  I want to reassure students that there are many pathways to achieve your desired future.

There are a number of HSC Preparation Courses available at the University of Sydney starting on Monday 26^th September. Please see the brochure attached.

In partnership with InspirED., UTS will also be running a series of free HSC workshops from Monday 26^th September – Friday 30^th September. Students need to register

UAC PINs

All 2022 NSW HSC and ACT Year 12 applicants have had their UAC PIN emailed to them back in April. To start their UAC application students will need their Year 12 student number (issued through NESA) and their UAC PIN. Once they have applied, students can then use their UAC application number and UAC PIN to log in and manage their application. You can check and change your application as many times as you want.

If students are having problems logging in to their UAC application, the quickest and easiest way to get help is to call UAC Customer Service on (02) 9752 0200, 8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday.

All on time UAC applications close at midnight on the 30^th September, after that UAC’s processing charge increases. Students can submit an application to any course and change their preferences as many times as they like, for free. Payment must be made, however, in order to have their application assessed and receive an offer.

Please remember that the SRS (School Recommendation Scheme) Early entry scheme closes on the 19^th September. The first SRS offers will be released on 11 November 2022.

Students are able to access a number of resources that may help them as they transition to the “World of Work”

The School Leavers Information service is available for school leavers aged 15 – 24, call 1800 227337 or click on the link below

FREE COURSES in RSA and RGA
Gain the knowledge and skills you need to succeed in the hospitality industry. Local businesses
in hospitality, entertainment and tourism are seeking skilled, certified and motivated workers.
Cafes, restaurants, clubs, hotels, parks, recreational facilities (just to name a few) offer both
part-time casual jobs and permanent roles with solid career pathways

A 3-day course in the holidays will enable you to complete the Skill set. 
Email: reception@ncve.edu.au 

These courses are very competitive so register and book in as early as possible

WORK EXPERIENCE for YEAR 10 students is on from the 7^th – 11^th November 2022.

All students are expected to find an industry placement that they are interested in and attend for the 5 days from the 7^th – 11^th November.

There are many options such as preschools, primary schools, retail, construction and hospitality to name a few.

If a student wishes to work on a construction site then they will need to complete a face to face WHITE card safety course. It cannot be an online course as the DET does not cover the insurance for an online course. Please ring me or email me to discuss.

A wonderful opportunity is available at

Work Experience at the Reserve Bank of Australia

The Reserve Bank’s Head Office in Sydney offers work experience for Year 10 high school students. A new program has been developed and is designed to give students insight into the work of economists.

During the one-week program, students will learn about the roles and functions of the nation’s central bank and how to interpret economic graphs, as well as shadowing one of the Bank’s economists as they complete a series of core activities.

The program will run from 7–11 November 2022, and is open to students in Year 10 who are interested in studying economics in Years 11-12.

The Bank is committed to equal opportunity and places will be offered to students from different backgrounds and school types.

Applications close 25 September 2022.

Please check the Careers website

for more information or email Julie.McDermott@det.nsw.edu.au

Julie McDermott
Careers Adviser

P&C News

In Term 3 the P&C welcomed Susan Thomas and Tim Banning to the committee, who were both elected as Vice Presidents. We thank them for volunteering to bring their time and experience in support of the school. 

The primary focus this term has been to mobilise a working group to support the school’s review of the mobile phone policy, which Tim has helped lead. Outside of this, at our last meeting we voted to provide funding to the school for outside furniture and murals, to further enhance the school environment. Providing funding to support the school is a key aim of the P&C. Lastly, we remain very busy providing ongoing support in the day to day running of the uniform shop. 

As always, we welcome any additional support, so please reach out if interested.

Henry Willmington
P&C President 

Community News