deputy PRINCIPALS' MESSAGE

Year 12 - Congratulations to Year 12 on completing their HSC Examinations today. We are very proud of Year 12 for their hardwork and effort over the last few weeks. The HSC Class of 2023 Morning Tea will be held at 10 am on Tuesday 6th February 2024. Please remember to RSVP by the 31st January 2024. We look forward to hearing stories about your adventures since graduating and what the future holds in 2024 for you.

Year 10 - Having completed their Yearly Examinations today, Year 10 will be engaged in a range of end of year activities in coming weeks. This marks their transition from the junior years to senior students. Life and Resilience (Week 7), The Illuminate Enterprise Challenge (Week 8) and Work Experience (Week 9) are exciting opportunities which will build student wellbeing, life skills and enterprise skills. We hope that you enjoy the programs offered over the coming weeks.

Uniform Reminder - Please remember that Summer Uniform includes white socks. Students are encouraged to wear white socks and in the event that students do not have white socks available, Ms Gilmore and Ms Wallwork have a good supply of these in their office. Students who are out of uniform should obtain a uniform pass from the Bank Office and bring the note to a Deputy Principal for signing.

We are also informed that in 2024, School Locker will provide three days for the purchase of uniform on site at Hornsby Girls High School. These days will be:

Mon 29th January - 8am -11:30am - Tues 30th January- 12pm-3pm - Wed 31st 8am-11am

School Locker will provide further information later this term. The uniform shop operates out of the Print Room.

ASIST training - In week 2 of this term 11 staff members from HGHS participated in the ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) program. This two day intensive evidence based training gave staff the chance to increase their willingness, confidence and capacity to provide suicide first aid.

Livingworks also offers a 90 minute online course as a starting point that helps participants with recognising when someone may be thinking about suicide and how to connect them to help and support. The course can be found via the following link:

https://livingworks.com.au/training/livingworks-start/

We highly encourage members of the HGHS community to give this training a go you never know when it may be useful.

Tell Them From Me Survey - Students participated in the Tell Them From Me Survey this week. The survey will provide us with valuable feedback on what our students think about our school, their engagement and areas for improvement. This information is then taken and used to enhance programs and support students. The survey is run by the independent research company, The Learning Bar. The survey is confidential and staff in schools will not be able to identify individual student responses.

Parents are also invited to complete the parents survey. You can access this via the link below or via the previously sent out email. The survey cut off is Friday 3rd November at 4.30pm.

https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/survey/splash/52kmv

Check in Assessments - During week 6 and 7 Year 7 and Year 9 will be completing the Check in Assessments. These assessments are designed to provide the school with valuable information about student learning particularly in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy. These allow the school to monitor students progress and identify areas of strengths or weaknesses to individual students, grades and the school.

Year 9 - In week 6 students in Year 9 begin their Yearly Examinations. The timetable has been sent out to all students via the student portal. Year 9 have worked hard over the year and these examinations give us an important summation of their progress so far.

We wish them all the best of luck.

Ms Gilmore and Ms Wallwork

STUDENT MOVEMENT IN 2024

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

If your child is currently in Year 7 - 10 and is going to another school next year can you please contact the school 9476 5711 so that we can fill the position from our extensive waiting list.

Thank you for your cooperation - School Administration

Something’s Brewing! Year 9 Students' Barista Training Excursion

Year 9 students who successfully applied to be HGHS Café Gratitude baristas for 2024 had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience on Friday 13th October.

The excursion involved a day of barista training, where our Year 9 students became coffee connoisseurs for a day. They stepped out of their comfort zones to learn the art and science of crafting the perfect cup of coffee.

The students were eager to roll up their sleeves and dive into the world of coffee. The friendly barista trainer, Lauren, guided them through the entire process, from bean selection to mastering the espresso machine. Students learned to grind coffee beans, froth milk to perfection, and create latte art designs.

Beyond the fun and excitement, this excursion was an excellent opportunity for Year 9 students to acquire valuable life skills. While most may not pursue a career in the coffee industry, the skills they learned are transferable to various aspects of life. Attention to detail, time management, teamwork, and communication are essential qualities in any profession, and they were all emphasized during the training.

The new Café Gratitude team has already begun serving coffee to the teachers at HGHS and have been met with rave reviews.

Ms Michelle Carroll - English Teacher

HOUSE LEADERS 2024

At a recent school assembly we recognised the 2023 House Leaders and presented the 2024 House Leaders with their badges.

The 2023 House Leaders showed outstanding leadership throughout the course of the year. It all started with the Swimming Carnival back in February, where the school was introduced to the likes of the Incredibles, Gru, Shrek and Buzz Light Year. We then moved onto the Cross Country and quickly followed up with the Athletics Carnival, where we saw unprecedented levels of participation across both track and field events, driven by the enthusiasm of the House Leaders. House Choir was next with impressive performances from all Houses.

We congratulate the 2024 House Leaders and know they will do a great job representing and leading their Houses. The 2024 House Leaders are as follows.

Duke Of Edinburgh Report

At our whole school assembly, we recognised the achievements of all our Bronze and Silver award recipients so far in 2023. The Duke of Edinburgh Award can play a vital role in providing opportunities for young people to develop essential life skills, increase their employability and foster their creativity and innovation.

The Award is about individual challenge, variety of activity, duration, support and teamwork and recognition. As every studentl is different, so too are the challenges that young people undertake to achieve their Award. With guidance from supporting adults such as their Award Leader, activity Assessor or other Award volunteers, each young person is encouraged to look at themselves, their interests, abilities, and ambitions, then set themselves challenges in the four different Sections of the Award (Voluntary Service, Skill, Physical Recreation and Adventurous Journey).

The students who have achieve their Bronze and Silver awards have set personally challenging goals for improvement and demonstrated effort as they strived to reach their goals. The challenges required persistence and determination to overcome. Along the way, students may want to give up but at the end of their Award Journey, they have the satisfaction of knowing they overcame the challenges they faced and succeeded, learning about themselves, their hidden depths of character, and developing as human beings in the process.

Congratulations to all Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award students, Khyati Lingerker, Alicia Rodrigues, Arya Patel, Rachelle Wu, Maya Singh Grewal, Menaal Hassan, Lauren Wilson, Elaine Wang, Celestine Sutanto. Also Meena Valliappan, Hea Singh, Phoebe Lim and Bonnie Wang.

Junior State Debating Try-Outs

Last week, we were both fortunate enough to be selected to attend the Junior State Debating Championship Try-Outs at Asquith Girls High School! It was an incredible learning experience, where we were able to engage in a series of debates and receive extensive coaching on our speaking skills. Thank you so much to Ms De Meyrick for providing us with this wonderful opportunity!

Sara Chen and Helen Bui -Year 10

Congratulations to Helen on being selected for the Northern Sydney Representative Team! They will be competing at Sydney University in December with teams from around NSW.

Women in science Mural

Our incredibly talented artist in residence Reuben Boughtwood today completed our school mural depicting the portraits of three of the most inspiring Australian female scientists - Professor Fiona Wood, Associate Professor Kaye Morgan and astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg as chosen by our students. The painting of the mural has certainly excited everyone who has witnessed it being painted over the last six days. What started with a bunch of squiggles that were cleverly used as registration marks has transformed into an artwork worthy of a place in the Sistine Chapel. The mural has inspired us to look further into the field of science, physics, biology, chemistry and consider the opportunities that this field of study can provide through exciting research, invention, creativity and exploration. It has opened our minds to the world of art and how through images stories can be told, learnt and inspire, and most importantly, bring people together.

The mural design and consultation team would like to thank the P&C for their generosity. The mural will bring joy and inspiration to the school community of HGHS for many years to come.

Ms Isabella Pozzolungo HT Creative and Performing Arts

To view the Mural creation please see the following video: https://youtu.be/DdfHVcR1Nmo

To view the interview with the artist please see the following video: https://youtu.be/fwEbiIQ2dVA

P&C NEWS

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Hornsby Girls High School Parents and Citizens Association will be held in the Staff Common Room at Hornsby Girls High School on Wednesday 15 November from 7:30pm until 8:30pm. All office holders will vacate their positions at the AGM and then elections for all positions will occur. Once the positions are filled a regular P and C meeting will then commence. At this meeting members of the P and C will discuss proposed events and planning for these events, and the school will request funds from the P and C to assist the school in the many teaching and learning activities that occur in the school and also explain their importance to achieve the goals of the school. Members of our community are encouraged to attend and join the P and C in the vital work they do for our students. We hope to see you at the P and C meeting.

Rhythmic Gymnastics NSW State Championships 2023

A huge congratulations to Year 7 student Olivia Ryu who placed first for: Overall Champion of Level 6 Division B in Rhythmic Gymnastics Intermediate at the NSW State Championships.

From this amazing result, Olivia was selected to compete at the 2023 Nationals Club Carnival in Rhythmic Gymnastics which was held in the Gold Coast last month. As a result, Olivia continued with much success and was placed Overall Level 6 Senior Runner-up Champion with a Silver Medal awarded from completing 3 rounds of Freehand, Ball and Ribbon for Rhythmic Gymnastics. An exceptional result! Congratulations again to Olivia Ryu.

Ms Tracey Hoang - PDHPE Teacher