Head of Primary School's Message
A Celebration of Activities: The Power of Participation
A core value of our school is providing a holistic education, one that transcends traditional classroom boundaries. Our students have the privilege to engage in a diverse array of activities, from sports and music to personal development and community service programs. Each of these opportunities play a crucial role in enriching a student's school experience, provide essential breaks from academic routines, help students to relax and return to their studies with renewed focus and energy. They allow students to develop various skills that are not necessarily covered in academic curricula including leadership, teamwork and problem-solving.
Participation has the power to expose students to new people, interests, and perspectives and is invaluable in nurturing a well-rounded personality, enhancing social understanding, and fostering inclusivity. Activities beyond academia provide a platform for students to interact and form friendships outside of their immediate educational circles with these social interactions proving crucial for building communication skills and emotional intelligence.
To see the joy and excitement visible on the faces of our Primary students as they competed in their Athletics Carnival this week has been a reminder of the richness that experiences beyond the classroom bring to education. Let us continue to encourage and support our children in exploring their interests and talents as they grow not just academically, but also personally and socially.
God bless,
Mrs Anne-Marie Deppeler - Head of Primary School
Upcoming Events
The Push Up Challenge
Join a team, push out some pushups and be involved in this nationwide challenge that raises awareness for mental health and provides funds to support companies like, Lifeline, Headspace and The Push for Better Foundation to help people struggling with mental health.
If you or your student would like to be involved then simply use the QR code above or link below and join a team. Depending on your House colour choose from the following teams: Blue@WAS, Red@WAS, Yellow@WAS or Green@WAS.
Jasper S - School Captain 2024
Calendar of Upcoming School Events
You can access the list of upcoming School events via the link below. The School Calendar is also available under the Parent Information tab on the School website.
Term Dates for 2024
Please click on the link below to view the school term dates and public holiday information for 2024.
Whole School News
The Biggest Morning Tea
This morning was our Big Breakfast! It was a great morning raising money for the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea! Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the event! We raised over $1200!
A big thank you to Anne and Tina from The Golden Bakehouse, South Turramurra, for their amazing pastries and to students and staff from the Student Representative Council (SRC) for putting on such a successful event!
Georgia Ah-You - Primary Teacher and SRC Co-orindator
Primary School News
da Vinci Decathlon - Year 5 & 6
Our Year 5 & 6 teams did an amazing job facing completing tasks across the 10 disciplines of: English, Mathematics, Code Breaking, Art & Poetry, Science, Ideation Creative Producers, Cartography and Legacy (General Knowledge) at the da Vinci Decathlon held at Knox Grammar School in Week 3. Over 1,500 students participated in the Year 5/6 event with our students demonstrating excellent teamwork throughout the day and persisting through the challenges. A special thank you to Mrs Karen Koolik for coaching our Year 5 & 6 teams every year and a 'well done' to our brilliant Year 5 & 6 team!
Miss Reiko Kohama - Primary Teacher
Growing Hair for Charity
Abi G, Year 7, has given a donation of her beautiful hair for the third time to the Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation. Abi grows her hair and gives her long locks to the Grant A Wig for Kids grant program and to change the lives of Aussie kids with alopecia. Well done Abi for supporting this beautiful charity.
Primary Sport
Year 5 & 6 Basketball Gala Day
The Year 5 & 6 Basketball Gala Day had both teams making the final but unfortunately not coming away victorious. That's now 2 years in a row we have made the grand final at the Basketball Gala Day. All of the work our basketball coaches and students put into the basketball program is certainly paying off with the student's skills improving each year.
Primary Athletics Carnival
The Primary Athletics Carnival was a massive success with all of the Primary students attending. Participation and house spirit was high during the lovely day out in the sun where students enjoyed being outside in warm weather with their friends.
Special Mention
Alex K, Year 5, represented the Australian Drop Bears Ice Hockey team during the school holidays in the 2024 East West International Youth Tournament in Hong Kong. Alex showcased his skills as goaltender, winning Bronze in the 11U division and Gold in the 13U division. Alex has also been selected to represent the state of NSW in the 2024 13U National Ice Hockey Championships and will be competing for the prestigious Philip Ginsberg Trophy in Newcastle in July. Wish him luck!
Upcoming Sports Events
Our next event is the Cross Country on Monday 27 May starting at midday on the school oval.
Mr Jack Fulton - Primary Sports Co-ordinator
Secondary School News
da Vinci Decathlon - Year 7
Our Year 7 students attended the NSW State da Vinci Decathlon on Tuesday 14th May and competed against schools from all over NSW in different subject domains; Science, Engineering, Maths, Art and Poetry, English, Ideation, Code Breaking, Cartography, Creative Producers and Legacy.
Mrs Laura Taylor - Director of Teaching and Learning
Year 8 Camp
Crusaders Camp on Lake Macquarie hosted our Year 8 students for their annual camp. The students undertook a vast range of activities including fishing, raft building, sailing, rock climbing and archery tag. A group favourite was caving in an artificial cave! Students also spent a night under the stars, sleeping in tents, as preparation for their outdoor adventure camp which will be take place in Year 9.
Special thanks also goes out Mrs Crouch, Miss Wu, Mr Coyte and Mr St Mart in helping out on camp. Also a big thankyou to the photographer from Crusaders camp who took the most amazing pictures of the students' adventures. All photographs below copyrighted by CRU Educational Camps. www.cru.edu.au. Used with Permission.
One student commented about the camp - It was heaps of fun and I absolutely loved it. The thing that I enjoyed the most was going sailing and sleeping in tents. Can't wait for next year's camp!
Mr Luke Metz - Secondary Teacher
Museum of Human Disease Excursion - Year 12
Year 12 Biology students travelled to the Museum of Human Disease at UNSW where they explored hundreds of diseases including HIV/AIDS, cancer, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, genetic diseases and the effects of drugs. They enjoyed a presentation covering three key disease processes: cirrhosis (alcohol and viral hepatitis), atherosclerosis (smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise) and tuberculosis (bacterial infection). An interesting excursion for all of the Science students.
Mrs Leisly White - Head of Department - Science
Romeo and Juliet – Year 10 Riverside Theatre Excursion
Students from Year 10 had the exciting experience of attending a live performance of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. Highlights of the performance included the sense of humour infused by the actor playing Mercutio and the intrigue created by theatre special effects such as fake blood. Students also attended a Q&A with the cast and director after the performance in which they learned that the cast only required five practice sessions before they were ready to perform!
Miss Rachelle Chapman - English Head of Department
Year 11 and 12 Ancient History Excursion – Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs
Senior Ancient History students had the once in a lifetime opportunity to see 3000 year old artifacts from ancient Egypt. Students visited the Australian Museum in Sydney to attend the ‘Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs’ exhibition. There were many highlights of the exhibition, including two colossal statues of Ramses II (arguably the Pharaoh who best used PR to create his legacy), mummified cats and a model of Abu Simbel which lit up to simulate the clever design which harnessed the movement of the sun.
Miss Rachelle Chapman - English Head of Department
Wayside Chapel Excursion
Our Year 11 and 12 Community and Family Studies students recently paid a visit to the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross to tie in with what they have been learning in class about individuals, groups and the community. The Wayside Chapel is a community service centre that assists the most disadvantaged members of the inner-Sydney community and has been providing these services since it began in 1964.
They heard first-hand stories from people who have experienced difficulties throughout their lives, and how Wayside has helped them in many ways. Students braved the cold for a walking tour around Kings Cross, which highlighted other local support services and historical landmarks. The day gave students a great insight into the experiences of some members of our community and what we can do to help.
Year 7's Mini History Museum
Year 7 had a blast creating their own mini history museum exhibits. They have been learning about different aspects of Ancient Egyptian life and it was great to see the students getting their creative juices going bringing in sarcophaguses, tombs, examples of houses, canopic jars, jewellery, ancient attire, weapons and much more!”
Mrs Jessica Metz - Secondary Teacher/Year 7 Homeroom Teacher
Secondary Sport
CSSA Zone Football (Soccer) Gala Day
On Thursday 9 May, our school participated in the CSSA North Met Zone Football Gala Day. Our school fielded an U15s Boys, Open Girls and Open Boys teams. The day was filled with competitive attitudes and some amazing resilience. Congratulations to our football athletes.
CSSA State Volleyball Gala Day
Over 2 days, our volleyball teams competed at the CSSA State Volleyball Gala Day at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium in South Windsor. Our 4 teams played at an elite level walking away with more experience and team camaraderie. Our Open Boys team won 2 games and the Open Girls secured a win against rival school Northern Beaches Christian. The Open Mixed team won 3 games but fell short against the eventual winners of the competition. The Junior Mixed Team went undefeated in the pool stage but lost in a fierce semi final 2 sets to 1. Well done to our volleyball teams!
Honourable Mentions
Zach P (Year 10) attended the CIS 15&U AFL Trials on Wednesday 8 May. He went through multiple trial games, drills and was tested against some of the elite AFL players in the state. Zach progressed extremely well and qualified for the Possible Vs Probable game later in the day which credits his fantastic ability.
Mr Ignatius Ah-you - PDHPE Teacher & Secondary Sports Co-ordinator
Library News
Premier’s Reading Challenge
Congratulations to Nicholas C (KD), Iris G (KD), Cooper M (KD), Jiayi Z (KD), Ruth E (2J), Elena N (2A), Samuel B (3K), Hudson M (3K), Flynn M (3R), Jonas F (4R), Madeleine J (5M), Zach P (5M), Joshua P (5M), and Nethya W (7W), who have all finished the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Awesome effort!
The Premier’s Reading Challenge does not finish until the end of August so there is still plenty of time to complete it. Happy Reading!!
National Simultaneous Storytime
On Wednesday, May 22, Wahroonga Adventist School students from Prep to Year 6, along with 2,359,147 other students from around Australia, tuned in at 12 pm to celebrate the book ‘Bowerbird Blues’ by Aura Parker during the National Simultaneous Storytime. The livestream of Aura Parker reading the book, explaining her inspiration, and drawing a bower bird led to a rich and rewarding learning experience for students and teachers. Students were encouraged to wear a blue accessory with their uniform and bring a small blue item to contribute to a bower bird collage in the library. It was wonderful to see our Year 5 and 6 students mentoring the juniors during their craft activity, whilst the Year 3 and 4 classes had fun with a treasure hunt, some ‘look and find’ activities and taking a bush walk to search for blue items
Mrs Leonie Savage - Librarian
Uniform Shop
Uniform Shop Hours
The options for purchasing uniforms during Term 2 are:
Shop Open Hours: Tuesday morning 8.20am – 9.30am and Thursday afternoon 2pm – 3.20pm
Online orders via Flexischools: Every Tuesday and Thursday Flexischool orders will be processed and available for collection. All orders close at 8pm the night before. Secondary School orders can be collected from the office. Primary School orders will be delivered to the student's classroom.
If you have any questions, please email uniformshop@wahroonga.adventist.edu.au.
Mrs Kelly Oldfield - Uniform Shop Manager
Home and School
Upcoming Events
A warm welcome to all families, parents and carers to join us for these upcoming Home and School events.
Come along and contribute to discussions at the next Parent Voice Evening where we will focus on developing your child's leadership potential, strengthening the school's mentor program and opportunities for students to contribute to school life in their own unique way. We welcome your input and ideas and hope to see you in The Wedge on Tuesday 28th May at 7pm.
And for some fun come for a showing of Migration at our Movie Night. Pre-order pizzas to support the Year 11 Fiji Service trip with all proceeds going to their fundraising. Use the QR code above to book your tickets, proceeds from ticket sales will go to the SRC Cancer fundraiser, and order your pizzas. See you on Saturday 1 June at 5.45pm!
Mrs Michelle Roberts - Home and School President (homeandschool@wahroonga.adventist.edu)
Bits and Pieces
Australian Girls Choir Open Day
Look no further than the Australian Girls Choir (AGC) because we encourage, challenge and inspire girls as they learn to sing, dance and perform. School aged girls are invited to come along to our June Open Day to try our fun and inclusive class and learn more about being part of the AGC! Please visit our website to register to attend our free Open Day: