Riverside Currents Week 8 Term 3 2025

From the Principal

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

I hope you have all had a wonderful week.

Preliminary Examinations

One week down for Prelim exams. Congratulations to Year 11 for their orderly approach to their exams. With only four days of exams to go they are on the countdown. We wish them the best of luck for their final week and look forward to seeing them back in classes next term.

A special thanks must go to our Year 9 and 10 reader/writer volunteers:

• Camille H
• Leila H
• Tosia K
• Supritha L
• Betsi L
• Lisa Y
• April S
• Amelia T
• Mackenzie M

Their commitment to school service is celebrated and appreciated and makes it possible for our students with disability to succeed in their exams. Thankyou to all of you.

State Dance Festival

Congratulations to Ella B (Year 12), Sophie H (Year 12), Bronte N (Year 8), Charli N (Year 12) and Jess T (Year 12) for being selected to perform with the Sydney North Public Schools Senior Dance Ensemble at the State Dance Festival. This is a huge honour, particularly for a student in Year 8! I am so proud of the talent that we nurture at Riverside in our broad extra-curricula programs in performing arts, sport and leadership. Thanks to our wonderful dance teachers, Ms Mitchell and Ms Hendriks, for the time and commitment that they give to our dance program.

HSC Marking

This week we have had the HSC Music and D&T markers at school to mark the practical performances and major works for our students. There is a special level of nerves that goes with performing live to an examiner; so, to our Music students, well done for taking on the challenge so capably and confidently and to our D&T students, may your sleepless nights and exemplary effort pay off! Credit also to Ms Wang, Ms Mihailou and Mr Young for their teaching and support of our students – they are lucky to have such quality teachers.

International Student Lunch

Riverside has a very long, proud tradition of welcoming international students to our school. They come from many countries, including Vietnam, Korea and Thailand, China and Philippines. Most of them live in homestay arrangements, although some of them live with their families. Either way, it is a huge commitment to choose to study in a foreign high school in a language that is not their first language. On Tuesday, Ms Peterson and Mr Sendov (our International Student Coordinators) hosted a lunch to farewell our five Year 12 International

students, Mia (International Student Leader 2025), Lucy, Binh, Kaileen and Nina. It was a warm, celebratory event, with speeches (and some tears) from Ms Peterson, Mr Sendov, Mia, Zara P (School Captain) and Jacqueline S (Vice Captain). The great thing about Riverside is that there is always something to celebrate and never an opportunity missed. Thankyou to Ms Peterson and Mr Sendov for their commitment to the care and wellbeing of these students as their defacto carers in the school setting; to all of their teachers for recognising and embracing the important role that we all have in supporting these students as a unique community within our wider school community and to all of our students for embracing and contributing to the diversity of our school to ensure that it is the inclusive, happy learning environment of unique individuals that it so proudly is. I am delighted to share that, despite losing five international student we continue to enrol international students across all year groups throughout the year, with plenty of room to welcome more. We wish Mia, Lucy, Binh, Kaileen and Nina the best of luck in their HSC exams.

GO Foundation Year 12 scholars

Congratulations, also, to our outstanding GO Foundation scholars, proud Aboriginal women, Sharlae H and Tilly H, for their leadership and mentorship of our younger Aboriginal students, as well as all students, in their ongoing contribution to school life across all domains, particularly as talented dancers and leaders. Today Tilly and Sharlae join Aboriginal Student Coordinator, Ms Ghorra, at the GO Foundation Culture Connect Day at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in Redfern. I am excited to be joining them to celebrate these exceptional students who will also graduate form Riverside this year. We hope; however, that even after they graduate that they may continue to work with our school to inspire and mentor our younger Aboriginal students. Thankyou to Ms Ghorra for her work accessing opportunities, both within and beyond school, for these wonderful students.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Louise McNeil

Principal

Faculty News

LOTE

On Friday, the 28th of August the Year 9 French class visited the Little Snail French restaurant. This is what the students have to say about the excursion!

“It was really fun and a great experience! I really liked the restaurant because it was very French, and I got to try new foods that I never thought I would try. I had the best time and would go again.” (Genevieve)

“The excursion to the French restaurant The Little Snail was really fun and a different way of learning. As soon as we left the school grounds, we all were strongly encouraged to speak only in French. This created an environment where even if you didn't want to talk in French or you didn't understand what someone was saying, you were still learning. This was whether it was getting directions to get to the restaurant or trying to have a conversation with your classmates, we all learnt more about each other and the French language. By the end we were all a lot closer to one another and had all learnt how to properly pronounce a new French word or had the chance to form our own sentence, pushing us out of our comfort zone, whilst still having fun. (Claudia)

“Last Friday we went on an excursion to The Little Snail. It was super fun and I enjoyed it a lot! My favourite part of the excursion would be the food. It was delicious, especially the pasta. The atmosphere was also really nice, and everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. I would love to go there again”!(Poppy)

“I loved talking to the staff in French to practice my fluency. I also enjoyed the walk over to the restaurant, as I got to see many other stores with French names and learnt their meaning from my teacher. The food was also amazing, and I loved the fish fillet and the chocolate mousse”!(Madison)

“I really enjoyed our French class excursion to The Little Snail restaurant. It was very interesting to be in a French environment and interact with waiters who were fluent in French! The food was wonderful and really piqued my interest in French cuisine and encouraged me to get to know my food-related expressions better as well as ordering and requesting food. It was also great for getting to know my classmates and teacher a little better and a more hands on way to learn the language”. (Audrie)

“I loved the walk over to the restaurant, loved seeing all the different shops/ cafes. The interior was very nice and simple with a nice view of the museum and water. I enjoyed the food the most, especially the mousse”. (Sasha)