Year 9 Marine & Aquaculture Technology excursion
Yearly Examinations
Year 11 examinations continue in the last week of Term 3.
Year 10 Yearly examinations will be held during the first week of Term 4, Monday 14th October until Friday 18th October.
Year 7 examinations during the second week of Term 4, Monday 21st October until Friday 25th October.
Year 9 Examinations during the third week of Term 4, Monday 28th October until Friday 1st November.
Year 8 Examinations during the fourth week of Term 4, Monday 4th November until Friday 8th November.
Staff will then mark examinations; finalise assessment marks and ranks and write Yearly reports. I urge all students to keep their reports handy and read the comments of their teachers the day before they return for 2025, as the comments will outline what students do well and, what they need to improve!
Year 12 - Thursday 26th September
Year 12 students and 2 family members are invited to attend the Year 12 Graduation ceremony on Thursday 26th September at Souths Juniors. The evening will celebrate 13 years of schooling, especially (for most) 6 years of Secondary studies at Randwick Boys’ High School. The 2024 cohort will obviously be the final cohort to graduate from Randwick Boys’ and that will forever remain with them.
A reminder to students that the 2 family members who attend are nearly always mum and dad. Should an alternative be considered, please see me for clarification and approval. For catering purposes and to avoid exceeding the permitted limit of people in the auditorium, each student is restricted to 2 family members only. Security is strict at this event and will evict anyone who is additional to allowance.
On Thursday 26th, the P & C have kindly organised a breakfast for all Year 12 students, to be held outside the gymnasium from 8.30am. Year 12 students are encouraged to enjoy breakfast and then spend Period 1 in the gymnasium signing their school shirts (bring a Sharpie etc and do NOT sign their Year 12 jersey), before the traditional Clap Out which will take place during Period 2. Most students, with parent permission, leave after Clap Out and prepare for graduation at Souths Juniors in the evening. If Parents/Guardians decide NOT to allow their son to leave after Clap out, that is fine, as classes will be held, following the usual Thursday timetable.
We thank the P & C for once again providing refreshments for our students.
RAISE Program
The annual RAISE Program has been running at RBHS for over 5 years. Mr Benson, our Wellbeing Coordinator, initiated the program and has done a fabulous job working closely with the organisation to ensure positive mentorship for our students. The Program will come to an end next week for 2024 and I would like to thank the organisation for once again supporting our students. The mentoring, life advice and genuine interest from the trained facilitators enrich our students and their worth. Congratulations to all the Year 9 students who successfully completed the Program in 2024. Your dedication to the Program has been excellent!
Holidays
As there is never a newsletter in the last week of Term, I would like to wish our community a relaxing and safe holiday. I trust all students will come back rested and ready for their Yearly Examinations. Year 11 will begin their HSC studies from Day 1 next term and we wish Year 12 well in their HSC Examinations which begin on Monday 14th October.
In this final stretch towards the Higher School Certificate, our vocabulary as Year 12 students seems to have been reduced to words of academic reflection and academic improvement; revision, practice questions and past exams.
Our first exam is just 25 days away and now, in each period of each subject, we spend endless hours to reflect and revise, submit, reflect and revise, resubmit, write, rewrite, reflect, revise, rewrite and then try again. While tedious, it’s an interesting lesson to take out into the world beyond these school's walls.
Life itself consists of revision and reflection, but not the same revision we have been spending weeks and weeks on. Out in the real, competitive world, we constantly have to reflect on the past, see where we went wrong, and consider ways to improve whatever it is we are doing. While the HSC is a stressful, tumultuous period of our lives -- a stamp that ends our 12-year journey -- it is important to realise the lessons we learn as students, are also the lessons we are going to be learning as adults.
I am very proud of the diligence and determination of the last ever graduating cohort of Randwick Boys’ High School as we race to the end of this marathon. I hope we all use this time to not just reflect on our studies, but reflect on our time as Year 12 students as we 'submit' to what lies ahead.
With all of that said, I am saddened to say this is the final Captain's column for Randwick Boys' High School, ever!
I am so grateful to have been given this platform for the last year, and I am even more grateful to have been the voice of the last graduating cohort. I wish my peers the best of luck, and I thank Randwick Boys' High School for giving my cohort a 6-year experience I will never forget.
So for the last time, with a tinge of melancholy, but with so much hope for the future...Goodbye and good luck!
Year 9 Marine & Aquaculture Technology excursion
On Monday 16 September the Year 9 Marine & Aquaculture Technology class went to Sea Life Aquarium to attend a Lifecycles workshop, followed by a self-guided tour led by Ms Simon and Mr Lam at the Australian National Maritime Museum. This excursion complimented the students' understanding and study of the "Fish Biology" and "Marine Mammals" modules.
“Yesterday was a very fun day and was totally worth it. When we first got to the aquarium, we were greeted by a kind guide named Silvie. When we entered, the first animals we saw were fish in a tank, but then I saw some beautiful coral. As I was admiring the coral, I noticed that something was moving. I then realised I was looking at seahorses. Another moment I really enjoyed was when Pig, the dugong, passed over my head in the tunnel. I also saw so many sharks, including a wobbegong and nurse shark. After the aquarium, we headed to the Maritime Museum, which turned out to be very fun. When we entered the HMAS Onslow Oberon class submarine, I loved how everything was preserved since its decommission in 1999. After that, we entered a daring class destroyer ship named the HMAS Vampire, and that was interesting too. It was more spacious, and I even got to sit in the captain's seat! Overall, the whole day was good. Thanks Ms Simon and Mr Lam!”
Year 12 Biology
Year 12 Biology dissections
In the past few days, students have been finalising the last HSC Biology inquiry question of Module 8 Non-Infectious Diseases and Disorders. To help expand on their understanding, both 12BIO1 and 12BIO2 classes completed an eye and kidney dissection.
Year 9 Assessment Task
The 2024 Show Sponsors
Randwick Boys' and Randwick Girls' High Schools express their gratitude to all proud sponsors of the 2024 production of the Show, "A Brand New Day."
Randwick Boys’ HS P&C Meeting - updates
The Randwick Boys’ High School P&C met on Tuesday evening to provide an update on current activities and also discuss some new ideas.
The new Randwick HS uniform will be available to purchase some time later in Term 4 (please note that the old Randwick Boys’ and Girls’ uniform will still be accepted!) and whilst all new uniform items will be ordered from an online platform, there will be a fitting room at the school where uniform items can be tried on. The fitting room will open once a week for an hour before school starts, and we are looking for a number of volunteers to help handing out uniform items for students to try on and store them back again. We are hoping for a reasonable number of volunteers so we can develop a roster with a rotational schedule over a month or longer to decrease the frequency of the shifts for each volunteer.
So, if you have an hour in the morning to help out in the fitting room, please get in touch with us (info@randwickboyspandc.org.au). We will need a particularly large number of volunteers in December once the new uniform becomes available and for events like Orientation Day.
Farewell BBQ for our Year 12 cohort - Thursday, 26 September 2024
Our P&C will be hosting a Farewell BBQ for our Year 12 students who will have their last official day of school on Thursday, 26 September. For their upcoming exams we wish them all the very best of success and hope that they will be able to realise their hopes and dreams in their future endeavours. They will certainly go into the history books as the last cohort of Randwick Boys’ High School.
School Absence Notification System
Regular attendance at school is essential to assist students to maximise their potential. At Randwick Boys' High School, we must ensure our school has effective measures in place to monitor and follow up students absences. We are required under Section 22 of the Education Act (1990) to undertake all reasonable measures to contact parents promptly and within two school days of absence. We have implemented additional measures to ensure we are upholding the NSW Department of Education standards here at Randwick Boys' High School. Our school absence notification system consists of a text message, follow up email and Sentral notification in the parent portal, to minimise unexplained absences. An absence is unexplained if parents have failed to provide an explanation to the school within 7 days. Thank you for your understanding and assistance.