Dear Parents/Caregivers,
Good News Stories
Metro Minds STEAM Challenge Winners!
I am delighted to finally be able to share the news with our parent body about our incredible Year 9 students who have won the Metro Minds Challenge; a real-world design thinking competition delivered by Sydney Metro.
Our Year 9 superstars, Katrina Koop, Kaitlyn Fong, Annabelle Tan and Grace Louey, with the dedicated guidance and mentorship of their Science teacher, Mr James, competed against students from public and independent schools to have their design, along with prototype, declared the winning entry. We are extremely proud of them.
I have included the link to the Department of Education website for you to read first-hand the very well deserved feature that was written about our students acknowledging their achievement in the challenge.
https://education.nsw.gov.au/news/latest-news/riverside-girls-high-steam-team-win-metro-challenge
State Dance Festival
Next week our talented dancers will be participating in the State Dance Festival at the Seymour Centre. The festival is a showcase of choreographed dance work from public schools across NSW. All performances must be selected to enter this event and have been assessed on choreography, technical skill, performance quality, cohesiveness of the piece and the age group of the performers. The Riverside dancers have been putting in long hours at school and before and after school to prepare for this festival. Thankyou to Ms Mitchell for her hard work in coordinating, choreographing and teaching these students in preparation for this, and many other, events. I am looking forward to attending to watch our young artists at work.
Preliminary Examinations
Our Year 11 students are one week into their final exams. We would like to continue to wish them well in their examination preparation and recovery. We look forward to seeing them back at school on Monday 11 September.
Year 12 Major Works
Our Year 12 students continue to finalise and complete their HSC major works. This week our Drama students had their practical examination at school and Society and Culture students finalised their Personal Interest Projects (PIPs). We have everything crossed for them in the marking process.
Year 12
Planning is underway for the final week activities for Year 12 from 18-22 September. These activities will be communicated to students and their parents next week via a year meeting and email. I would just like to remind all Year 12 students that formal learning will continue until this time with the same expectations of attendance, behaviour (including our no mobile phone policy) and uniform as always. This is a critical time for all Year 12 students to consolidate their knowledge and work with their teachers to prepare for their HSC written exams which begin on Wednesday 11 October. I would just like to remind all students to keep their eye on the ball and continue to make good choices about their learning, time management and behaviour.
HSC Markers
Many of our teachers have been selected as HSC markers (most of them for many years). This is a huge credit to them and recognition of the expertise and talent that they bring to their professional field. It is also a great benefit to our school as it enhances their knowledge and understanding of marking standards and student performance around the state. Congratulations to all of our staff who have been selected to mark HSC written and practical exams. It is a huge task as it takes these individuals away from their families, extends the working day significantly and requires structured weekend work, as well. This, on top of their regular school work. We are very lucky to have staff that put their hand up to mark and we say thank you.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Louise McNeil
Principal
Message from the P&C
Trivia Night is over!
A huge thank you to any and all who donated or sourced donations to make our Trivia Night such a success.
From all accounts, it was a fun night for all and the costumes were amazing - a great effort made, especially by the Best Dressed winners from KISS. Well done!
Many hours were put into the organisation, so a special note of gratitude to Mark for setting up the ticketing and the hall, Geoff and Jono for the amazing work beforehand and then being Trivia Masters and Carrie and Anne-Maree for chasing donations, organising me and for their flair and creativity.
Thank you to the staff who were able to come and and the front office staff are always so wonderful and deserve much credit for their assistance before the night. A heartfelt thank you from the P&C.
Thanks to Ms McNeil for your never-ending support for the P&C - we raised over $6000 on the night, so we hope to spend it well on our girls!
Here's to next year!
Meg Hudson
P&C President
Careers News
Southern Cross University Parents and Students Webinar
Wednesday 6th September, 6pm – 7pm https://elink.clickdimensions.com/m/1/48787675/02-b23236-3e89b26411b14740a0100457969e9277/1/110/36befe7a-ccd1-47e7-9034-4c3e26488527
Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)
Officer Training and UNSW Degree Courses - Applications close soon https://adfcareers.gov.au/students-and-education/australian-defence-force-academy/faqs
Women in Construction
“With $112 billion infrastructure pipeline in NSW alone the construction industry needs women to fill a range of roles, including trades and non-traditional roles to meet the growing demand of this ever-growing industry while positively impacting communities. Trade careers are rewarding and positively impact on the economic security of women.” https://thewmovement.org/
Australian Catholic University Early Guarantee Applications
Closes 18 September
https://www.acu.edu.au/study-at-acu/admission-pathways/acu-guarantee
University of Newcastle Teaching Degree Webinar 20 September https://www.newcastle.edu.au/events/future-students/webinar-teaching-as-a-profession
UNSW Young Women in Engineering Club (for high school students interested in STEM) https://www.unsw.edu.au/engineering/study-with-us/young-wie-club
Interested in Aviation and are in Years 9-12?
Two-day course 3 - 4 October at UNSW
https://www.events.unsw.edu.au/event/current-affairs-aviation-0
Years 10 and 11 Interested in life as an engineering student
6 October UNSW
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/explore-unsw-engineering-your-future-tickets-696447452077
UNSW New Bachelor of Education (Primary) (Honours)
Apprentice Traineeship Practice Aptitude Quizzes and Literacy and Numeracy
General industry-based literacy & numeracy quizzes illustrating the levels required when undertaking Australian Apprenticeships qualifications https://www.aapathways.com.au/literacy-and-numeracy-quizzes
Real Estate Institute of NSW - Certificate of Registration Course
A course developed to meet NSW Fair Trading requirements for you to become an assistant agent
https://www.reinsw.com.au/Web/Courses/Course-Display.aspx?EventKey=VETQ02OLIN
Deadline Approaching for National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA)
Applications start to close from the 13 September https://www.nida.edu.au/study/students/how-to-apply
Summer Jobs
All the Christmas casual jobs in Australia in one place
Mr J Gilford & Ms T Soares
Dates for the diary
Faculty News
English
Literacy Week
Last week was Literacy Week.
In English, it is a regular routine to begin each lesson with 15 minutes of reading. Each students brings in a novel of their choice and to extend upon this regular classroom routine during Literacy Week, students in Years 7 - 10 were encouraged to participate in a fun and creative activity. Students created book reviews of the novels they are either currently reading (or have finished reading) during Wide Reading. Student work conveyed their engagement and creativity and resulted in some very exciting creations. It was exciting to see a range of texts, subjects and genres!
Ms M Purisima
Write a Book in A Day Fundraiser - Raffle & Used Book Sale
Last Friday, a group of 37 students from Years 7, 8, 9 and 11 organised and ran their second fundraiser to raise funds for The Kids’ Cancer Project.
The fundraiser was a raffle ticket draw and used book fair which gathered a lot of excitement in the quad. Most books were wrapped and labelled with a few words to ignite curiosity and intrigue. Hidden within one of the books was a golden ticket which gifted our lucky student with a jar of choc chip cookies.
The raffle was also drawn during lunch which resulted in students from Year 7, Year 10, Ms Carollo in Maths and Ms Hendricks in PDHPE being gifted with a baked goods package.
The funds raised from both fundraisers (and from generous parent donations) will allow for our students to have their books judged upon submission.
Our girls will spend 9.5 hours on Tuesday in Week 10 of this term writing, illustrating and publishing their books for this project. Keep an eye out for a piece on this in the last newsletter of the term.
Thank you to the entire Riverside Girls community for supporting this student led project!
Ms M Purisima
Read her short story ‘Comforted by Delusion’ here, Final awards will be announced on 6 October 2023.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kcHvdXYHXCxvpa-3vNAhYVdmifX4jySi/view?usp=sharing
Well done, Annabel!
Co-curricula News
2023 Coen Fundraiser
Last week, Coen house held its annual fundraiser. Over 3 days, we raised over $500 for Tour de Cure, a not-for-profit cancer research charity. At our weekly assembly, Dr Lynne Mann, a breast cancer surgeon currently working as head of surgery at Auburn hospital, spoke to the school, educating us on her involvement with Tour de Cure and the many projects they have funded. Thank you Lynne for giving up your time. The bake sale was a huge success, and thank you to all the participants of the obstacle course on Friday. Congratulations to Mikayla, Tara, and Eve from year 12 (1st place), Liana, Thimie, Harmony, and Riley from Year 11 (2nd place), and Chloe M from year 8 (3rd place)!
Ms G Philpott