Byron Breeze tERM 4 | weEK 8 2025

Their win is not only well-deserved, but a huge inspiration to our whole school community. We are beyond proud of their achievements. Congratulations, Wild Rocket—you boys absolutely ROCK!

You can check out Wild Rocket's amazing Saturday performance here:

Mr Stu Black - Music teacher

Congratulations to Mrs Croft on achieving Highly Accomplished Accreditation

Byron Bay High School is proud to celebrate Mrs Leanne Croft, who has recently achieved her Highly Accomplished Lead Teacher (HALT) Accreditation. Leanne is the 8th teacher at BBHS to earn this prestigious recognition, highlighting the outstanding quality of teaching within our school community.

The Highly Accomplished Lead Teacher (HALT) Accreditation is a national endorsement that recognises teachers for their significant impact on student learning, as well as their leadership and dedication to excellence in education.

Leanne’s achievement reflects her commitment to fostering a positive and effective learning environment for all students at our school. We congratulate her on this well-deserved accomplishment. The talent and commitment of our HALT teachers make them a great asset to their classes, our school and the broader community. Great teachers matter!

Congratulations Leanne!

Year 7 2026 Orientation Day

Our new Year 7 cohort begins their high school adventure!

This week, on Tuesday 2 December, we welcomed our future Year 7 2026 students for their Orientation Day - an introduction to life at Byron Bay High School. It was wonderful to see the Year 6 students exploring the school, meeting staff, and getting a taste of what high school will be like.

Throughout the day, students participated in a wide range of taster lessons across our key learning areas, including: Food Technology, English, PDHPE, HSIE, Mathematics, Science, and Agriculture.

The Year 6 students were also treated to live music from our talented Year 9 Music students, a BBQ lunch prepared by the SRC, snow cones served by Year 12, and their first taste of making purchases from our school canteen.

The day ended with a Drama production, created and performed by our Year 10 students, exploring some of the common challenges and misconceptions students may feel when transitioning to high school.

Thank you to everyone involved for helping create such a positive and memorable day for our incoming Year 7 cohort. We can’t wait to see the students on their first day in 2026...!

A guide for Year 6 parents... everything you need to know about starting Year 7 at BBHS

Last week we emailed all incoming families with our Welcome Year 7 2026 – A guide to Byron Bay High School online document. It can also be accessed here:

This online resource includes everything parents and carers need to support a smooth start to high school, including information on:

• 2026 start date and what to expect in the first week
• Stage 4 subjects
• Uniforms
• Bell times, timetables, student ID cards and school map
• Workbooks and essential materials needed
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) guidelines
• Buses and bus passes
• How to order a locker
• How we will communicate with you
• Special Religious Education (SRE)
• Wednesday Sport and CHS sport representative opportunities
• The dates for the Year 7 Camp

We look forward to welcoming our new Year 7 students on Day 1, Monday 2 February 2026, as they begin their high school journey. In their first week, Year 7 students will participate in a 4-day Orientation Program (Monday to Thursday) to help them settle in confidently and connect with their new school community.

Families will also have the opportunity to meet teachers and key staff at the Year 7 (2026) Welcome BBQ on Tuesday 24 February 2026 at 5 pm. More information will be shared with families early next year.

If I don’t have the chance to see or speak with our future Year 7 students, parents and carers before the end of the year, I hope you all have a fantastic break.

Mr Murray Cronin - Deputy Principal and Year 7 Transition

Wrap-up from our CAPAL department

It's been a HUGE term for our creative and performing arts students!

'Firebringer' musical ignites the crowd with great success

The 2025 Byron Bay High School musical Firebringer ended its sizzling 2-week production season on Saturday 15 November, with the last 2 shows selling out! Guided throughout the year by the expertise of Director and Choreographer Adrienne Meg Lester and Music Director Felicity Wooltorton from our TAS faculty, Firebringer’s lighthearted and comedic messages about humanity, individuality, social responsibility and environmental issues, accompanied by quirky, fun songs and powerful visual imagery.

The production was thoroughly enjoyed by the audiences at every show.

Over 30 students alongside Meg and Felicity gave up many hours of their spare time on weekends, evenings and holidays throughout the year to bring this excellent show to life.

It was particularly wonderful to see so many eager and talented Year 7 students involved this year, and to have the added professional and exciting element of a live student band to perform the musical tracks. Students involved in backstage, front of house and technical roles worked tirelessly to enhance the show’s visual impact and smooth delivery.  On behalf of the whole school and community. I would like to congratulate this group of Year 7-11 students on their outstanding efforts and talent. Thanks also to Meg and Felicity for their creative vision and commitment to the project. Plus a special mention goes out to Brett Stephens for his beautiful photographs.

Our Music and Live Theatre Production students entertain Year 6 on Orientation Day

On Tuesday this week, our Year 9 Music students and Year 10 Live Theatre Production students performed in a music concert and drama production for our incoming Year 7 cohort.

Students in Year 9 Music performed in the hall for the Year 6 students during their Orientation Day... giving them a glimpse of the creative talent we have here at BBHS.

Seasoned Battle of The Bands performers 2nd Priority, featuring Louis L, Acacia P, Eva B, Lily M and Audrey O, opened the show with some high-energy rock tunes. Newcomers to live performance, Gypsy S, Grace R, Albie P and Phoenix B, performed some very groovy neo-soul tunes in their first performance beyond the classroom. Coco H and Elia J added some guitar heavy alternative pop, with the show closing with Aurora Quinn performing a new original song.

Our Year 10 Live theatre Production students performed their play High School - You Got This for the Year 6s and their teachers at the end of the day. The play was originally devised by our Year 10 Drama class of 2021, along with teacher Ms Museth. The content was built around survey data from the then Year 6 students of 2021 (ironically some of whom performed in the play as Year 10 students this week!) regarding their feelings about starting high school and also stories shared by the then Year 7 students about what it was like once they got to high school.

Congratulations to our Live Theatre Production students Xavier A, Amarlie B, Rowon BvH, Ziggy N, Maddi R, Anya T & Coco W for their outstanding performances. Huge congratulations and thanks go to actor extraordinaire Archie D from Year 8, who stepped in to take on the multiple roles of 3 absent students, with energy and professionalism with only 3 weeks preparation. Plus, congratulations must go to Heidi K and Lily M in Year 9 for taking on the lighting and sound operation.

All students went above and beyond to take on extra roles at the last minute and performed their technical and acting roles to an outstanding level.

Springboard 2025 - Celebrating young musical talents

The inaugural 'Springboard' youth music event was held at the Byron Youth Activities Centre (YAC) on Saturday 22 November. The event was a collaboration between BBHS and the YAC, and was a huge success!

Designed to be a safe and inclusive event to celebrate the musical talents of local youth, this inaugural event exclusively featured performers from BBHS.

The show consisted of 28 Byron Bay High School student performers from across various different bands and ensembles, from 12 pm to 5 pm. After some very light rain just before the show, the sun came out and the weather for the remainder of the afternoon was spectacular.

A huge shout out to our Student Representative Council who manned the free sausage sizzle and soft drink station. The amazing bands and soloists who performed at the show were: Wild Rocket, No Commitment, Aurora Quinn, The Grannie Smyths, Blue Denim, Allouveurs, Nakiah, 2nd Priority, Jasmine, Mani & Tilly and Tha Bigg Boiz.

Here's a couple of the performances:

Congratulations to all our students who performed at 'Springboard'! We love seeing our talented students out there performing the in the wider community.

Year 7 Creative Movement Workshops with Mitch King

In Week 7, local performance artist, actor, director, musician, movement artist, rapper and theatre practitioner Mitch King visited Byron Bay High School for the 2nd time this year to run creative movement workshops with our Semester 2 Year 7 Drama students.

Year 7 Drama classes have been studying the use of mask and body movement in cultures around the world and have been working hard on their final performance project.

The project is a movement-based, masked, group-devised performance, where they communicate their connection to place and culture through choreographed movement, individually designed masks and accompanied by lighting and sound.

Ms Simone Museth - Relieving Head Teacher CAPAL

Calling for Christmas Hamper donations

One more week - donations due by next Friday 12 December!

The Kindness Project is once again organising their annual Christmas Hampers to support families in need through the Bunjum Aboriginal Corporation. Our Student Representative Council (SRC) is proud to partner with this important initiative to bring some festive cheer to those who may be doing it tough this year.

We invite you to join us in making a difference by contributing items to put together a hamper for a family in need. Whether it’s non-perishable food, toiletries, gifts, or school items, every donation helps create a brighter Christmas for this family in our community.

The family that we are collecting for consists of:

• Mum and dad
• 2 x girls (14 and 15 years old)
• 2 x boys (10 and 12 years old)

All donations can be dropped into the basket in our office foyer before Friday 12 December.

Please remember all items must be new, un-opened, in-date and non-perishable. No alcohol, scratchies or cigarettes... and please do not wrap any gifts.

New & Old School

What is the future of Byron Bay?

Our students studying Changing Urban Places worked with a local architect to consider how an area of the Byron Bay Industrial Estate could be reimagined to better serve the community. Their ideas were both creative and solutions oriented, and can been seen in the article linked below. 

Fraser Williams-Martin, Editorial Director of NOW (and Creative Director for Creative Capital) accepted the challenge of leading an urban design class for the Senior Geography students at Byron Bay High School.

Fraser says, "I thought the voice of young people had been absent for a while locally, so I was keen to get a younger generation involved in the NOW concepts. Kids are often the smartest because they have such great ideas, so I was especially interested in hearing their thoughts.

Check out their online article here:

Our Peer Mentors are ready to lead and support Year 7!

Year 10 Peer Mentor training

Last week, from Wednesday 26 to Friday 28 November, 28 of our Year 10 students participated in Peer Mentor training. These students will be supporting the incoming Year 7 2026 cohort by leading Orientation Day activities and facilitating sessions during the Year 7 camp.

Over the 3 days, the group formed strong connections and demonstrated impressive maturity, compassion and enthusiasm in every task they undertook.

Mrs Connell, Mrs Murray and Mrs Miles were genuinely in awe of how the Year 10 students conducted themselves, and we believe they already possess many of the qualities needed to be outstanding leaders and mentors.

The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are excited to meet the new Year 7s and work with them when they start at Byron Bay High School.

Mrs Miles, Mrs Connell and Mrs Murray 

Year 7 Agriculture wrap-up

Growing young minds through hands-on learning!

Our Year 7 Agriculture students have been busy engaging in a variety of theory and practical activities to conclude their course. After nurturing flowers and vegetables in the Agriculture garden, the students explored creative soap making, using botanicals for colour, scent, and decoration. They also learnt about chickens and their anatomy by conducting caring health checks on our flock.

As the semester comes to a close, students are doing some last-minute weeding and watering in the gardens and enjoying tasting fresh cucumbers and radishes they have grown themselves. What a fantastic semester of learning and growth—well done Year 7!

Oz Tag highlights

Our Year 7 and 8 Oz Tag teams shine!

Congratulations to all our Year 7 and 8 students who represented Byron Bay High School at the Oz Tag Gala Day at Kingsford Smith Oval in Ballina last Thursday.

In balmy 35 degree heat, each of our 4 teams played 4 games, with 2 teams reaching the semi-finals... and the boys also made it to the grand final!

Everyone showed outstanding sportsmanship, effort and team spirit. Thank you to the coaches, staff and parents for their support and encouragement throughout the day. We’re very proud of how respectfully and positively our students represented the school. Well done to every player for their commitment and resilience.

Mrs Kelley Coayonan - Sports Organiser and PDHPE teacher

Buzz is QLD bound for baseball!

Byron Bay High School Year 9 student Buzz M has impressed the selectors and will represent Queensland in the upcoming Australian Youth Baseball Championships in Melbourne in January 2026.

Buzz will be 1 of 280 talented baseball players selected from across Australia to participate and will showcase his ability in front of Major League Baseball scouts for a possible pathway to American College.

This is an amazing achievement and we wish Buzz all the very best! We can't wait to hear all about it!

Years 7-10 Term 4 Sport update

End-of-term Wednesday Sport schedule – Week 9

Sport is NOT CANCELLED; however it will run in a modified format for the remainder of the term.

As we approach the end of the school year, please see below for an outline of how Sport will operate in for the next 2 (Weeks 9 and 10). Sport is NOT CANCELLED in Week 9; however, some adjustments have been made due to excursions, work experience, and other whole-school commitments:

Wednesday 10 December

• Modified sports at school
• Body Surfing, Open Beach Surfing, Bay Surfing and the Musical will continue as normal due to the high numbers of Year 7 and 8 students participating in these groups

Wednesday 17 December

• COLLAPSED CLASSES - no afternoon sport will run on this day. Students will remain with their supervising teacher for activities

All students will be informed in advance of the activities they will be participating in week 9.

Our aim is to ensure that Sport remains fun, engaging, and accessible for all students as we wind up the school year.

Mrs Kelley Caoyonan - Sports Organiser and PDHPE teacher

2026 Carnivals consent email coming to your inboxes!

Swimming, cross country and athletics

With our 2026 whole school swimming carnival happening in the first week back in the new school year - Friday 6 February @ the Byron Bay Swimming Pool - we are starting to prepare for this now! Due to department guidelines, we must obtain parent/carer consent for all students to participate in our off-site school carnivals.

To get a head start on the process of collecting consent for over 850 students, we will be releasing the 2026 online consent form to you on Monday. It would be appreciated if you can action it ASAP, ready for the new school year. There is no payment required.

Your consent will cover ALL the 3 major carnivals in 2026 - swimming, cross country and athletics.

Ms Kelley Coayonan - Sports Organiser and PDHPE teacher

NSW All Schools Triathlon & Aquathlon

Information for interested students