Principal's Message
Making Australian history and raising the profile of sport for girls and women was an inspiring example of Aussie grit from the Matilda’s. The same type of mindset that we value at school and I have seen it in bucketloads recently. From students competing in the NSW Science and Engineering Challenge to Year 12’s finishing their HSC trials; from students giving up lunchtimes for practice to parents and staff going the extra mile.
The musical and artistic talent of our students is outstanding and the CAPA Showcase was a real feast of sound and sight. We are blessed to have families who value diligence and support their children in the creative and performing arts. A heartfelt thanks goes to our CAPA staff and volunteers and the students themselves.
Great news! The construction of the cover over the sports courts (COLA) begins next week and will be completed by the beginning of Term 4. Home and School have made a significant contribution to the cost of the build for which we are very grateful and any donation that you make is tax deductible.
To ensure the safety of students, staff and families fencing will be erected on Wednesday, 30 August around Block D and the sport courts. During this time please slow down for the safety of all. Students will continue to have supervised access to the soccer field, and basketball training will be moved to the asphalt area behind the library.
Finally, I extend a warm invitation to all fathers and significant males in the lives of our students to join us for a Father’s Day Breakfast on Friday morning, 1 September.
God bless.
Mrs Julia Heise - Principal
Upcoming Events
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 2023
Please click on the link below to view the school term dates and public holiday information for 2023.
Whole School News
Creative and Performing Arts Evening
Matilda's Day
During the Matilda's campaign to win we held a Green and Gold mufti day in their honour and the school was awash with green and gold balloons, posters and food!
Over $2,000 was raised during the day with gold coin donations as well as the sale of ice creams, cupcakes and special donuts. This money has gone towards building materials for the Year 11 Service trip to Fiji. It was a day of high energy and excitement with everyone hoping for a great result in the upcoming game.
Science Week
National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. The Science Week theme for this year was Innovation: Powering Future Industries.
The week was launched with the Year 7 and 8 students enjoying the Kaleidoscope Science Show. Then representative students from Years 5, 6, 7 & 8 attended the STEM challenge day at Hills Adventist School. Students in Year 4, 5 and 6 had the Silly Science Show visit. To end the week 31 students from Year 9 and 10 attend the University of Newcastle for the Science and Engineering Challenge Day (see more details below). What a great week that celebrated all that is the fun and adventure of Science and Technology!
Mrs White - Head of Science
Science and Engineering Challenge Day
For the Science and Engineering Challenge Day students are involved in an exhilarating day competing against other schools in fun and engaging hands-on activities such as designing an earthquake proof tower, building a hovercraft or bridge, providing electricity to a city or creating an environmentally friendly house. Points are awarded based on their performance and the school with the highest point score at the end of the day is the winner.
We had 31 of our students from Year 9 and 10 attend University of Newcastle for this year's Science and Engineering Challenge Day. Our students challenged 7 schools around Sydney for the state finals with them coming third on the day. They had a wonderful time problem-solving and thinking critically.
Swimming for Hornsby Connect
Local heroes Hornsby Connect are an independent nonprofit organization established by a number of local residents to help those in need. They provide a safe environment, food distribution, and counseling, with a vision to provide a “hand-up for all in need.”
Recently the HALC (Hornsby Aquatic and Leisure Centre) team raised money to help Hornsby Connect feed 100 families for a week by swimming 100 x 100 meters (a total of 10 kilometers). Two of our students, Joshua, Aiden and Jude, were a part of the charity swim helping to raise $1,800 for this amazing charity. The boys swam a combined distance of 12km.
Well done boys, we are proud of your community spirit and determination!
Recognition for our Basketball Coaches
Our basketball program coaches, Jeremiah and Ella, have been recognised by the NSW Basketball League. Ella has been named Rookie of the Year and Jeremiah an All Star 5. It is a testament to their talent and dedication to basketball. Our students are very fortunate to have coaches of such professionalism and knowledge. Well done to Ella and Jeremiah.
Year 8 Cafe
Year 8 is very excited to welcome you all back to our Year 8 Café! It has been so great refining our skills and serving our teachers over the last few weeks, and we would love to have parents join us too! We are offering a range of tasty sweet and savoury treats to help you finish your week on a high.
Café is open on Friday afternoons, from 1:40 – 2:40pm. Please sign in at the front office before making your way up to the Textiles room on Level 3.
At this point we are cash only however keep an eye out for updates. We look forward to having you join us soon!
Sydney Academy of Chess
Congratulations to Wahroonga’s Primary Chess Team who came third place in a semi-final competition at Ku-ring-gai Town Hall on Wednesday. Special congratulations go to Benjamin and Ryan, who achieved first and third place in the individual scores, respectively. The team of 5 has qualified for the finals round to be held in a few weeks’ time. Best of luck!
Wahroonga’s secondary team also played valiantly but did not make it through to the finals round.
Garden Working Bee
We had a small but mighty turn out of helpers for the recent Garden Working Bee. Quality work was undertaken with chicken wire erected around the chickens and the Native Garden and Sensory Garden cleaned up and ready for the students to plant some new plants the following week. There is more to be done in this space but the contribution from certain teachers – especially Leisley White, Mildred Zuze and Pr Daron Pratt, has been so valuable.
Mrs Michelle Roberts - Home and School President
Primary School News
100 Days of School - Year 4
Year 4K has celebrated 100 Days of Learning through participating in English, Maths and STEM activities revolving around the number '100'! For STEM, students were given the task of designing and creating the tallest free standing tower using 100 pipe cleaners. All the designs were creative and well thought-out, with the tallest tower being 65cm!
Sydney Science Trail - Year 4
In Week 5, Year 4 participated in the Sydney Science Trail 2023. Students explored the expo at the Australian Museum learning about robotics, aerodynamics, cells, animals, sustainability and more! They also participated in different interactive workshops and enjoyed an exciting show about endangered bird species!
Primary School Sport
It’s been a busy two weeks for the primary school students. Touch football trials have been finalised with teams announced. The teams will be representing our school at the Touch Football Gala Day. The Matildas fundraiser day was a hit where both Senior and Primary raised over $2000 for the Year 11 Service Trip to Fiji. The Primary Athletics Carnival was also a great success with a lot of records being broken. ASISSA athletics is up an upcoming event with over 30 students attending. Our students have been excelling in sport and they should be proud of their sincere sportsmanship and enthusiasm in competing.
Mr Jack Fulton - Primary Sports Coordinator
Secondary School News
High School Sports
CSSA State Athletics
On Thursday 24 August, ten students from our school competed at the CSSA State Athletics Championships. The day consisted of some amazing performances across the track and field events. Congratulations to Jude G, Toby P, Jimmy T and Nathanael R who have qualified to attend the CIS Athletics Championships next month. Special mentions go to Toby P for placing first in long jump and Nathanael R for once again achieving 16 Years Boys Age Champion. Well done!
Commonwealth Youth Games
In early August, Salani S had the pleasure to represent the country of Samoa and compete at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad as part of the swimming team. She spent a week overseas competing in her specialised event of backstroke. Salani enjoyed herself immensely and found the experience of swimming her very first international swim meet invaluable and super positive. The opportunity to represent Samoa at the Commonwealth Youth Games was such a privilege and she’ll be honoured to do it again. This is a fantastic achievement and congratulations to Salani.
Salani found the distance travelled and heat to be challenging, but still raised up to swim close to her best times, ranking in top 15 in 100, 200 and top 20 for 50 backstroke events.
National All-Schools Swimming - SOPAC
Not long after she returned from Trinidad, Salani again was in the pool. This time, representing the State of New South Wales in the National All-Schools Swimming Championships at Sydney Olympic Park – Aquatic Centre. Salani completed her heat swim where she qualified 3rd for the final – 100m backstroke. Congratulations Salani on your spectacular month of swimming!
Mr Ignatius Ah-You - Secondary Sports Coordinator
Library News
Premier’s Reading Challenge
Congratulations to Jocelyn C (KD), Maxwell Z (KD), Archie R (KD), Kiko T (KD), Harvey F (KW), Elliot Z (KW), Tyler L (KW), Milana A (1C), Isla N (1C), Judah P (1C), Austin Z (1C), Natalie D (1J), Evan L (1J), Zaley V (1J), Lissy G (2A), Sienna M (2A), Radin T (2A), Cole A (2J), Molly C (2J), Osiane D (2J), Ava M (2J), Emmett R (2J), Sabir C (3K), Jax R (3L), Aarav S (3L), Felicity L (4K), Alex L (4K), Ian M (4K), Declan R (4K), Ian W (5C), Roary O (6A), Mabel R (6A), Sebastian B (7W), Amellia D (8A) and Samantha M (9S), who have all finished the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Well done to all 177 students who have completed the Challenge this year!
PLEASE NOTE: Student access to the Premier’s Reading Challenge has now closed!! Mrs Savage will have access to the PRC website until Friday, September 1, so if you missed the cutoff date please send her a list of the books you have read so she can enter them for you - email Mrs Savage (library@wahroonga.adventist.edu.au). Entries can no longer be accepted after September 2.
Book Week 2023: ‘Read, Grow, Inspire!’
Book Week Performance ‘Way too Cool!’
Last Friday our Prep to Year 4 students enjoyed the first of our book week celebrations when they attended the live production ‘Way too Cool!’, a lively and interactive performance featuring three of the CBCA 2023 Shortlisted books. During the show the students learnt how to solve their differences using empathy, kindness, and a strong sense of humour.
Dress-Up Friday
The Primary School was buzzing with a vast array of inspirational book characters that turned up for our annual Book Week Dress-up Parade. Students were asked to use their incredible imaginations and come to school dressed as a book character that inspires them to fit in with our Book Week theme of ‘Read, Grow, Inspire!’ As usual the children amazed us with their creativity and enthusiasm.
2023 Children’s Book Council of Australia Shortlist Winners
Last Friday the winners for the CBCA Shortlist were announced for each of the 6 categories. Discover more about these books on the Library WebAPP (bit.ly/waslibrary):
Mrs Leonie Savage - Librarian
Uniform Shop
Uniform Shop Hours
The uniform Shop is open Thursdays during the school term from 8:30am – 12pm during the school term.
Mrs Meagan Sullivan - Uniform Shop Manager
Home and School
Father's Day Big Breakfast
Dad's Campout
Bookings close 2 September - 1 week before the event. Working with Children number is essential for all adult attendees. This is a Primary Student event.
Meals with Love
Next Meeting
Tuesday 5 September 7pm
Mrs Michelle Roberts - Home and School President (homeandschool@wahroonga.adventist.edu)