Dates for your diary
August
- Aug 20-22 CHS Statewide Lawn Bowls Knockout
- Tue 20 Aug Book Week Dress-Up
- 20-22 Aug AgQuip
- Thu 22 Aug AECG Meeting
- Tue 27 Aug Year 7 Transition
- Tue 27 Aug P&C Meeting
- Wed 28 Aug Young Drivers Expo - Tamworth
- Thu 29 Aug Year 10 Subject Selection Night
- Fri 30 Aug Wear it Purple Day
September
- Sep 1-3 Year 11-12 Clontarf Excursion
- Mon 16 Sep Year 7 Rewards Excursion
- Tue 17 Sep Year 9 Rewards Excursion
- Sep 23-27 Year 10 Gold Coast Excursion
- Thu 26 Sep Year 12 Farewell Assembly
What's On
Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club runs Monday-Friday from 8:15 am outside of the canteen. On offer are ham and cheese toasties and hot or cold Milos. We have also introduced hash brown Wednesdays! So why not come down and grab some brekkie with friends?
Book Week Dress-Up
Wear it Purple Day
We'll be participating in Wear It Purple Day, the annual LGBTIQA+ awareness day for young people based in Australia. On Friday 30 August staff and students are encouraged to wear purple and donate a gold coin towards this great cause!
James Knight inspires during 'Writer in Residence' program
On the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Week 3 (August 5-7), journalist and published author Mr James Knight came to our school for a Writer in Residence program that was organised by our English Faculty in partnership with Westwords, which is a non-profit organisation that is based in Western Sydney that focuses on promoting literacy and storytelling in the community.
The workshops were held in the library and English classrooms, and James also held an author talk talking about all of these publications with over 30 students attending at lunchtime. James was a natural storyteller, having us all engaged as soon as he introduced himself, he even told us stories about being in Year 7 when he was a student at Gunnedah High School in the same classroom a workshop was being held, in D10.
We had some students from Curlewis Public School also join us for our workshops as well as a guest lecture to Year 11 students for Education Week.
James often writes and reflects on his experiences of growing up in Gunnedah, and he explained that his writing journey really started when he was playing around with his brother and it went from there!
James helped us learn things like how we can tell stories using a simple image of a front gate or a chair, how things can inspire us and hands-on activities like the background stories, helping us understand what being an author is all about and what our young minds can do as an author one day. James took time and helped us with a fun morning of writing activities and stories, all that we can do is tell our story. What’s your story?
The Writer
A country man from our town
Born and bred in Gunnedah
Schooled at Gunnedah South
‘Pumpkin Head’ they called him
Transitioned to Gunnedah High School
School Captain Honour Board they saw him
Now returning to us, the cycle repeats
Activities of writing stories
Publishing them to the world, to ourselves
Creating a workshop for our students
A fun day it was
We too became writers
Laughing and thinking
Telling our stories through poems and rhyme and images
This is me, this is you
We took what we learnt
Now we cherish it
We thank James Knight
For the workshops he gave us
And for the impact and lessons he shared
Mary Baker and Erin Mitchell, Year 9
In the Classroom
Students dive into authentic science
Students in Year 7 and 9 have been busy exploring authentic science activities through a series of practicals both inside and outside the classroom.
Year 7 is studying the living world and classification and Year 9 is studying body coordination systems.
New space for Clontarf
Our Clontarf boys began the day on a high note by preparing a delicious breakfast for teachers and staff. 🍳🧃 The boys also proudly showed off their new room, complete with their own table tennis table! 🏓🙌
Sport
Congratulations to our Athletics Champions and Runner-ups
Congratulations to all our students who competed with passion and determination at the Athletics Carnival. To our champions and runner-ups, we are equally proud of your performances. You displayed tremendous spirit and gave it your all, pushing the competition to new heights.
Under 12s
Under 13s
Under 14s
Under 15s
Under 16s
17s+
Week 2 saw the start of our Future Pathways and Rugby Tackle Life programs. These programs allow students from Years 9-11 to engage with our external provider ‘Creating Chances’ who use sport as a way to achieve social impact in health, education, employment and community cohesion. The students throughout the term will undertake in weekly sport and interactive workshop activities to inspire young people to believe in themselves, try new things, share their ideas and build healthy relationships. Thus far, the programs have been positive, as students have been engaging with the content and collaboratively working with one another to achieve each lesson outcomes.
NRL Well-Being session
In Week 2, former NRL players Trent Hodkinson and Brad Takairangi delivered a well-being program to Year 7 students as part of their sports activities. The students listened to the players’ experiences and participated in a variety of activities.
The workshop included both on-field and off-field activities, designed to help students understand the importance of good mental health and recognise the impact they can have in this area. The students were highly engaged from the start, captivated by the players’ stories from their time in the NRL.
North West athletes going to State
At the end of Week 2, Gunnedah High School had a handful of students travel across to Tamworth for the North West Athletics Carnival. The students well-represented the school with many students partaking in a number of events across the day. All students did their best in their events throughout the day. For several of our students, the day was successful, with the following students finishing in the top 2, qualifying for state in Sydney.
- Portia Woodhouse 100m, 200m and 800m
- Maverick Flewell-Smith Shot Put
- Keaton Walters Shot Put
- Rhyse Frost 100m, 200m & 800m
- Isabelle Bieman 200m and 400m
- Lacie Kleinschafer Discus, Javelin and 200m
Big thank you Mr Goddard, Miss Wicks and Kaz Fulwood for accompanying the students and ensuring they made it to their events.
Northwest U15's Basketball
The boys came 2nd in the Gala Day – unfortunately losing to Coonabarabran - but they played well as a team and had a great day.
- Game 1 – Quirindi 38-35 WIN
- Game 2 – Coonamble 20-20 Draw
- Game 3 – Coonabarabran 31-21 Loss
Knocked out in round 4, but ready to ‘check’ back in next year
Gunnedah High is excited to re-introduce the chess team in 2024! A weekly competition occurred in Terms 1 and 2 where the best players were selected to represent GHS in the NSW Country Chess Championships.
Round 1 was against St Mary's College Gunnedah with Isaac Vallada, Erin Mitchell, Braidyn Campbell and Ekam Sahota taking on some very competitive Year 10 and 11 students. Boards 1 and 3 were won in close games by Braidyn and Isaac, eliminating St Mary's from the main competition and progressing us to the next round. St Mary's were kind enough to have a morning tea with us after which all students (and staff) were extremely thankful for.
Round 2 occurred online against Inverell High School, and with Braidyn absent Linkin Turner stepped up to fill his place. Unfortunately, Inverell's full team of experienced Year 12 students proved too much for our junior team, eliminating us from the main competition. Isaac Vallada lasted an impressive 25 minutes against Inverell's best player.
Round 3 was meant to be against Manilla Central School, however their senior team were all in assessments and could not compete which allowed GHS to progress by forfeit.
Round 4 was played against Holy Trinity School in Inverell with a face-to-face match. Ekam, Linkin and Erin braved the trip up north to compete against a highly skilled and experienced finalist team, however, were unfortunately eliminated in quick succession. The team and their coach offered Ekam, Erin and Linkin some coaching advice for future games and prepared a morning tea for us to relax after the game. We thank Holy Trinity School, Inverell for their hospitality and support in this competition.
With our loss at round 4, Gunnedah High School has been eliminated from the competition, however all students are keen to give it another crack in 2025.
– Mr Moore
Library staff have introduced a new library loyalty card!
Come grab one from the library and read any 10 resources from the range we have including magazines, picture books, easy fiction, YA novels, non-fiction books, poems, eBooks, or even the newspaper! To get a holepunch you'll need to leave us a small review and a prize will be awarded at the end!
How many loyalty cards will you fill up this term?
Positive Rewards
Maths Rewards / Years 7-10
How it works
Vouchers • 10 classes • 16 prizes per class
Each lesson you can receive raffle tickets for:
- Great behaviour
- Super work ethic
- Homework
These will be placed in a container and will be drawn for your class at the end of each week.
- Runs for the rest of the term.
- New draw begins each week.
- The more tickets you get, the more chance you have of winning!
- YOU CAN DO IT! Let’s do our best & make our classes awesome to learn in!
CAPA Rewards / Years 7-10
How it works
$50 vouchers • 12 classes • 8 prizes per class
Each lesson you can receive raffle tickets for:
- Great behaviour
- Super work ethic
These will be placed in a container and will be drawn for your class at the end of each fortnight.
- Runs for the rest of the term.
- New draw begins each fortnight.
- The more tickets you get, the more chance you have of winning!
- YOU CAN DO IT! Let’s do our best & make our classes awesome to learn in!
PDHPE Rewards
- Week 1 Cordelia Esther and Cleal Bender
- Week 2 Rebecca Partridge and Maverick Flewell Smith
- Week 3 Braidyn Campbell, Erin Mitchell and Jacob Bennett
Well-being
Enja empowers girls through mentorship program
Local boxer Enja Ryan has generously extended her time to also mentor a group of Year 7 girls at GHS. Through a weekly program, the girls engage in exercises, journaling, boxing skills, team-building activities, and more. This experience is helping them build friendships, resilience, strength, and empowerment. Thank you, Enja!
P&C News
Next P&C meeting: Tuesday 27 August, 6pm in the Library
We invite all parents, carers and community members to attend our P&C meetings. We value and encourage your feedback, so come along and have your say.
To add an item to the agenda please email gunnedahhighschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au
Community
Free internet for eligible families! 💻 🙌 The Australian Government has introduced the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) to provide free internet access to eligible families. Find out more here: https://brnw.ch/21wLxNd
SAFER DRIVER'S COURSE
Next course: Monday, 26 August, 6pm-9pm
PCYC Gunnedah is offering the Safer Drivers Course for learner drivers who currently have 50+ hours of on-the-road driving experience. (Please note: credits gained under the 3-for-1 scheme cannot be included.)
Participants who complete the course will have 20 hours recorded in their logbook.
The session includes a classroom component, where participants discuss and learn about road safety with the course facilitator, and a one-hour driving session with a driving instructor.
To book, visit www.pcycdrivereducation.org.au
Questions? Contact PCYC Gunnedah at 6742 1586 or email gunnedah@pcycnsw.org.au