The HGHS Old Girls Union held their AGM today with Mrs Linda Patten (President), Vice President Corinne Lodewijks, Mrs Joan Burke (Treasurer) and Mrs Hungerford (Secretary), Mr Bruce Hungerford (Database Administrator), Chris Edwards, Anna Evans and Pam Carey (Committee Members) voted in as office bearers. The OGU has 1066 members with an average age of 44. In July 2024 HGHS Class of 1962 Lynette Silver was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) medal by Princess Anne at Windsor Castle. Please see her story below.

Kind regards,

Justin Briggs (Principal)

Deputy Principals' Message

2025 School Development Days

As you may be aware there have been announcements from the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education in the media recently regarding changes to the start of 2025 for staff and students. There will be four School Development Days from Friday 31st January to Wednesday 5th February. These days will operate in a similar way to previous years where students are not required to attend so our staff can engage in professional learning and planning.

All students 7-12 will return for Term 1 on Thursday 6th February. We will stagger the start times as follows:

• Year 7,10,11- 8.45 am start
• Year 12 - Urban Challenge excursion (offsite)
• Year 8 and 9 - 10.20 am start

In 2025, Year 7 will commence the Year with a three day Transition to High School program. Year 8 and 9 will complete two workshops to commence our new Resilience in Our Teens wellbeing initiative. Year 10, 11 and 12 will complete this in their Building Strength, GRIT and Collaborative Challenge periods. More information on RIOT is provided later in this newsletter.

Year 10

This week Year 10 have been involved in the Life and Resilience Week program organised by the Wellbeing faculty. Activities include the Collaboration Challenge Showcase, Beach Safety day, Car Maintenance, Fitness classes and a range of wellbeing workshops that focus on Consent, Sleep, Drug Use and Positive Mental Health Practices. Thank you to the Wellbeing Team for organising this week of valuable learning experiences for our students.

Year 9

Congratulations to Year 9 for completing your Yearly Examinations. We were very impressed with the way you showed resilience with the uncertainty surrounding the examinations scheduled for Friday and rescheduled for this week.

Year 9 also engaged positively with peer support training on Tuesday and the Women in Shakespeare Workshop on Wednesday. Thank you to our Wellbeing Team and English Faculty for organising these opportunities for our students.

In 2025, Year 10 students will have the option to participate in work experience throughout the year. However, please be aware that students will not be allowed to undertake work experience during school activities, such as camps or assessment weeks. Furthermore, there will be a blackout period from Week 7 to Week 10 of Term 4 when work experience will not be permitted due to end-of-year activities. Students interested in work experience should consult the Careers Adviser and regularly check the Work Experience Google Classroom for updates.

Attendance

Our school monitors attendance including whole day and partial absences. If your child is regularly attending late, important learning time is impacted. The graphic below from the Department of Education explains the consequence in terms of time lost. We encourage parents to discuss lateness with their child and support them in arriving at school on time. If a student is repeatedly late we do discuss this with them and plan for better punctuality. If you have concerns regarding the attendance pattern of your child please contact your child’s Year Adviser through the school’s email address for advice.

Examinations

Year 12 Assessment Block:

Our 2025 HSC candidates will sit their first assessment tasks from the 2nd - 9th December. Arrangements have been emailed to students and their parents. Students are reminded to swipe in for each examination and swipe out again when leaving the school. If students are unwell on the day of an examination they should contact the school prior to 9 am and follow the illness and misadventure process. We wish our Year 11 students all the best for the Assessment Week.

Uniform Shop dates reminders:

Hornsby Girls High School uniforms are also available via the School Locker website. Shop online and choose to have your order shipped directly to you or collect it from the uniform shop during trading hours. The shop is open from 1.00 - 3.30 pm at HGHS every Wednesday during term time. Additional days that the store will trade on site this term and next year:

Term 4:

• Tuesday 10/12/24 1pm to 4pm
• Tuesday 17/12/24 1pm to 4pm

Back to school opening hours:

January 2025

• Wednesday 22/1/25 - 11am to 3pm
• Friday 24/1/25 - 9am to 1 pm
• Tuesday 28/1/25 - 9am to 2 pm
• Thursday 30/1/25 - 8am to 12 pm

Lunch Orders

Some students are frequently forgetting to collect their lunch orders from the canteen. Please make sure your child is aware that they have a lunch order and that they go to collect it.

To help students develop a sense of responsibility and independence, we have started sending emails to those who forget to collect their lunch orders. These emails will notify students to pick up their lunches from the office. We will also copy parents on these emails, allowing them to discuss the situation with their children. Please remind your child to check for their lunch orders and ensure they collect them promptly. Thank you for your support!

Elevate Webinar- Setting Your Child Up for Success

Elevate Education will be hosting their next parent webinar on December 11th. This session will show you how to set your child up for success in the new year.

Elevate works with our students, delivering high-impact workshops on study skills, motivation, wellbeing, and exam preparation. By tuning into their webinar series, you’ll learn how you can help support your child at home by reinforcing the skills they’re learning at school.

Sign up for the session below to learn how you can help your child succeed next year with essential study skills and goal-setting strategies. ​​​​​​

Live Parent Webinar: How You Can Set Your Child Up for Success

Wednesday 11th December 6:30-7:30pm (AEDT)

Click here to register for free

Here’s what Elevate will be covering on the night:

✅ Helping your child to avoid last-minute exam preparation with effective note taking

✅ Setting specific, performance-orientated goals with your child

✅ Boosting your child’s results with extra reading.

Ms Vanessa Gilmore and Mrs Amanda Wallwork Deputy Principals

Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiad (APSMO) 2024

The annual APSMO Maths Olympiads have been operating since 1987 and approximately 100,000 students from around Australia and New Zealand were involved. The Olympiad consists of four separate contests held approximately one month apart between May and September. The overall aim is to encourage students to develop important mathematical problem solving skills in an enjoyable environment. Although students are competing against other members of their team and teams from other schools, they are primarily trying to achieve their personal best.

In 2024, all of Year 7 and Year 8 participated in the Olympiad as a team within their Maths class. 8MKQK and 8MTXT and all four Year 7 classes ranked in the top 10% of participating teams earning each class a Team Achievement Plaque.

7T ranked 55th overall, 7X 46th, 8MTXT 26th and 8MKQK ranked 17th. What a fabulous achievement!

The highest scoring individual students were presented with a High Achiever Medal from APSMO at a whole school assembly. Congratulations to the following students who scored 18/20:

Year 7: Gemma Lee, Xiaotian Qian

Year 8: Cathy Wang, Lindsay Low, Atrin Bagherian, Shelly Chen

Tanika Sivasuthan who scored 19/20 and

Two students with perfect scores of 20/20: Zinat Abdullah and Olivia Ryu, who receive a High Achiever Medal and a Perfect Score Medal

Students in the top 10% were awarded with a pin from APSMO. In order of merit, they are:

Year 7 Xiaotian Qian, Gemma Lee, Yixuan Wan, Hailin Lu, Chanya Rupasinghe, Elaine Cho, Michelle Jin, Kate Liao, Emily He, Younseo Lee, Sophie Lee, Choi Yee Tsang, Nethuki Hettiarachchi, Kelly Diep Anh Ha, Saptorshi Datta, Monica Liu, Erica Liu, Summer Zou, Yuxuan Zhang, Reggy Wu, Teresa Lu, Jolene Jackson, Evelyn Lee, Xiyu Fan, Ruoyu Sun, Teresa Han, Olivia Henderson, Jodie Setiawan, Esther Park, Haiqi Lu, Charlotte Wang, Claire Yang, Jinna Lee, Marrisa Yang, Naduli Kariyawasam, Meredith Tan, Emilia Matthews, Ryana Reza, Ananya Karthik, Rose Jung, Juliet Jennings, Zhiyao Xi, Hannah Lee, Aarika Bhatia, Vanessa Dong Peng, Seo Jeong Kim, Yeonwoo Lee, Jemma Soukhavong, Xinyao Wang, Jade Zi Shan Ip, Erina Hossan

Year 8 Zinat Abdullah, Olivia Ryu, Tanika Sivasuthan, Atrin Bagherian, Shelly Chen, Cathy Wang, Lindsay Low, Sophia Zhou, Leyan Xu, Kashfia Khaled, Katelyn Jin, Navya Patel, Alexa Lin, Phoebe Wu, Isha Balaji, Yiyun Wang, Annette Kang, Viha Mithun, Leona Fang, Angela Zhang, Sakura Tamezane, Tara Gilkeson, Yuqing Jiang, Beien Zhan, Seah Yu, Seoyoun Kang, Jennifer D Qin, Soomin Eun, Aarna Mayooran, Divya Varathan, Vanessa Li, Amanda Zhang, Eva Still, Haram Lee, Susanna Lau, Aerin Chien, Thanmaya Santhosh, Violet Cho, Zi Ge Qiu, Jessica Chen, Hsin-Tzu Tsai, Allison Fan, Weilai Yin, Evelyn Wang, Katelyn Sirimat

And students in the next 15% were awarded with a cloth patch from APSMO. In order of merit, they are:

Year 7: Eva Zhang, Rhea Pillai, Jasmine Liu, Katie He, Bijun Yan, Lucy Seo, Angela Zhang, Claire Zhang, Elsie He, Sivani Karthikeyan, Emily Zhang, Arya Maharjan, Alice He, Xin Yu Mao, Elena Oh, Jessica An, Zihan Lin, Isabella Yuan, Prisha Sunil Gargeshwari, Margaret Xu, Irina Wang, Xinyue Wei, Irene Park, Elise Lee, Riyaa Thejaswi, Yiru Wang, Maitreyi Tere, Matilda Warwick, Nicole The, Amanda Mao, Saanvi Mehra, Aanya Singh, Sophia Zhai, Sabrina Degros, Lyra Janine Lucas, Mengling Yang, Raavi Gujar, Dhiya Ranjith Kumar, Adhithi Srinivasan, Zoe Li

Year 8: Elizabeth Hale, Thenumi Hewafonsekage, Yik Zeng, Meera Pudipeddi, Stephanie Su, Alice Yang, Ashley Vella, Sreenidhi Manickavasagan, Yuexi Zhao, Aurora Goodwin, Yiyao Chen, Shivon Chakravarti, Anshika Sahay, Ritika Prasad, Maya Otalora Caliman, Abigail Le, Christine Yao, Jesselyn Tedja, Ruixi Sun, Xiaoman Yuan, Elissa Fan, Suhani Duhan, Alina Chen, Hannah Croaker, Sylvia Lau, Rose Liu, Annebelle Kang, Riyashini Gouthaman, Tinny Lo, Shania Guo, Casey Ahn, Nandita Nair, Gultaj Sidhu, Vanessa Chang, Jingyun Zhang, Ahyun Bae, Yeha Kim, Chloe Lee, Mio Foley, Nusaiba Ayan, Molly Baek, Chloe Huang, Shubhavi Kanade

Congratulations to all participants and award winners.

Maths Challenge 2024

The Maths Challenge is a problem-solving activity organised by the Australian Maths Trust (AMT), which is aimed at stimulating the mathematically interested students in their year level.

The Maths Challenge takes place over three to four consecutive weeks. Students receive a problem book containing six problems and are required to present written solutions to as many of these problems as they can. The problems are challenging and require time and persistence, but are based on maths that should be known at that level for students in the Junior (Year 7-8) and Intermediate (Year 9-10) levels.

This program takes dedication as well as mathematical ability and is ideal for students who want to extend their mathematical knowledge and understanding. The Maths Challenge is designed to be an enjoyable and valuable learning experience for students.

Year 7

• High Distinction: Reggy Wu,
• Distinction: Sophie Lee, Zhiyao Jada Xi,
• Credit: Esther Park, Eva Zhang, Bijun Charity Yan, Ananya Karthik, Ananya Kumar, Riyaa Thejaswi, Aanya Singh, Mia Li,

Year 8

• High Distinction: Lindsay Low, Tanika Sivasuthan, Atrin Bagherian,
• Distinction: Zinat Abdullah, Isha Balaji, Navya Patel, Aarna Mayooran, Cathy Wang, Yiyun Amy Wang,
• Credit: Sreenidhi Manickavasagan, Maya Otalora Caliman,

Year 9

• Distinction: Janani Vijaya Raghavan, Aditi Sundar Rajan,
• Credit: Nysha Riyadh, Zifei Isabella Chen, Yashita Mohan, Jessica Tan, Jenny Xu, Jasmine Yuan, Roselina Zheng, Sriya Danda,

Year 10

• High Distinction: Jessica Zhou, Yihe Lucy Wang, Winnie Harzenko,
• Distinction: Rian Son, Zeyu Zoey Jiang, Annie Hu,
• Credit: Hiya Ganatra, Elysia Zhao,

Congratulations to all students who participated in the Maths Challenge program this year and I look forward to your continued involvement next year.

Ms Kathryn Murray - Head Teacher Mathematics

16 Days of Activism

On Wednesday, 15 HGHS students and 4 teachers participated in the annual Walk the Talk. Walk the Talk is part of the 16 Days of Activism aimed at spreading awareness and preventing domestic and gender based violence. 

We started the morning at about 8.30 at PCYC Hornsby. Despite the scorching heat, we marched to raise awareness about these important issues, promoting it with not only signs, but also numbers. We were joined by Normanhurst Boys, Pymble Ladies and Knox Grammar as well as many volunteers from the community who were all passionate about the topic.

After arriving back to PCYC, we were inspired by captivating speeches. This included a speech by one of our Year 11 Students. These were followed by a one minute of silence for all those who lost their lives this year due to domestic violence.

We concluded the event by receiving a complimentary morning tea and returning to school.

As a year 7 student, it was a new and exciting opportunity to raise awareness about this difficult topic. I highly recommend others to join in future. Also a huge thank you to Ms Guan and Ms Thompson for giving us the opportunity to participate in this event. Thank you also to Mrs McGuire and Ms Huang for joining us on the walk. Overall it was a meaningful day raising awareness on a topic that the community strongly believe against.

Jemma - Year 8 Social Justice member

Five of our Year 11 Social Justice students were part of the committee working with the other schools and community leaders to bring awareness to this event and the 16 Days of Activism. They put in an immense effort and did an incredible job. We would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication.

Social Justice Team

HGHS Zonta-CLUB News

It's almost a new year, meaning it's time for new beginnings at HGHS Z-CLUB!

At the end of last term, we said goodbye to our 2023-2024 ZONTA board (we will miss you!!!), and at the beginning of this term, we welcomed our NEW ZONTA 2024-2025 board!

In week 5, they were officially inducted by Janine, a Zonta official from Hornsby’s associated district, and she informed and updated the club on Zonta’s initiatives, and advised and introduced the new board on their roles and responsibilities.

The 2024-2025 board consists of…

• President Amber McLean (Y10 2024)
• Vice President Sidhi Saxena (Y10 2024)
• Secretary Yujin Johnson (Y11 2024)
• Treasurer Netli Siriwardana (Y11 2024)
• & Non Official Board Members Archismita Deb, Eleanor Chim, and Shelah Prasanna (Y11 2024)

A big congratulations to our newly elected board members! Hope everyone is excited for what the new ZONTA year will bring!

Venessa Viner - HSIE Teacher

Year 10 and Year 9 Japanese Students Shine in 2024 Japanese Video Matsuri Short Film Contest!

We are excited to announce that one of our Year 10 Japanese groups has won the Junior High School Division in the 2024 Japanese Video Matsuri Short Film Contest! Their outstanding short film, Delivery Mystery, was selected from a wide array of submissions from all over Australia and New Zealand. A heartfelt congratulations to Olivia Baek, Olivia Gouw, and Hayden Wong for their exceptional creativity and hard work!

In addition, one of our Year 9 Japanese groups earned Special Mentions for their impressive short video, A Wheelie Sketchy Business. The group skilfully incorporated special effects and ICT, showcasing their innovation and technical expertise. Congratulations to Ananya Amaravathi, Lexine Ang, Alice Yoo, and Jasmine Yuan for their remarkable achievement!

We are incredibly proud of the efforts and talents demonstrated by our students. If you would like to watch the winning entry, head over to the Japan Foundation website https://sydney.jpf.go.jp/language/for-learners/contests/video-matsuri/2024-results-and-online-cinema/ to enjoy Delivery Mystery and see the creativity of our students.

Mrs Lawson - Japanese Teacher

Year 12 Drama - Playwright Talk

Year 12 Drama students were lucky enough to hear from Michelle Law, a playwright they are studying in their HSC Drama course. Students are studying Law's text 'Single Asian Female' as part of their study of Contemporary Australian Theatre. Law talked to the students about her writing process, working with actors and directors to stage the play at Belvoir Street Theatre, and the intention and origins of her work. This was an invaluable (and rare!) opportunity for students to talk about their learning and experience of a play with the writer to expand and consolidate their ideas.

Ms Carroll - English and Drama Teacher

Prefect News

We are thrilled to announce that the beloved "Feel Good Friday" event has made a triumphant return, thanks to our dedicated prefects! As a wellbeing initiative, the prefects will be running weekly events for the school body. Last Friday, the school grounds were buzzing with excitement as students and teachers alike gathered to kick off the first Feel Good Friday of the year.

The highlight of the day was the exhilarating netball game, where our energetic students faced off against our spirited teachers. With upbeat music setting the perfect backdrop, everyone enjoyed the opportunity to unwind, socialize, and just chill. The atmosphere was filled with laughter and cheers as the game progressed with friendly competition and enthusiastic support from the spectators.

Feel Good Friday was a wonderful success, bringing our school community together for a day of relaxation and enjoyment. We look forward to many more Feel Good Fridays to come, creating lasting memories and strengthening the bond within our school community.

Toys and Tucker is an ongoing donation drive that has been fundraising food and gifts for the community through Anglicare. Please see the live update below to track the amazing community donations our students are participating in.

Live Update here

A huge thank you and congratulations to all the students and staff who have contributed.

The Prefects

Community announcements