Proud to be Public
Issue 2
March 2015
WHSPA - High Notes
TERM 1
WELFARE TEAM
Head Teacher Welfare :
Sue Nethery
Stage 6 Co-ordinator :
Yrs 11 & 12 - Sue Nethery
Year 12 Student Advisor
George Broadfoot
Year 11 Student Advisor
Andrew Pirie
Stage 5 Co-ordinator :
Yrs 9 & 10 - Leanne King
Year 10 Student Advisor
Kate Stehr
P O Box 222 Fairy Meadow 2519 - Phone : (02) 4229 6844 - Fax : (02) 4226 4128
www.wollongong-h.schools.nsw.edu.au - Email : [email protected]
Year 9 Student Advisor
Heidi Whelan
From the Principal’s desk ………...
Stage 4 Co-ordinator :
Yrs 7 & 8 - Lucy Armstrong
Canberra Area Theatre (CAT) Awards to Annalivia Keaveney,
Ruth Ellevsen and Janet Cunningham
Year 8 Student Advisor
Kate Kalsow
Year 7 Student Advisor
Ella Waters
Dates to remember :
9-11 March
Year 7 Camp
6 & 7 March
12,13 & 14 March
Blood Wedding Performances
17 March
School Cross Country
18 March
Year 12 Parent/Teacher
Interviews
16 March - 2 April
Year 6 into 7 Auditions
23 March - 2 April
Year 12 H/Y Examinations
Annalivia Keaveny
Congratulations to Annalivia Keaveny for being awarded Best
Actor in a Musical (in the role of Maybelle in The Pirates of
Penzance) in the Schools/Youth category at the CAT awards
last weekend. This is indeed an honour as nominations for
these awards come from all sectors of education and amateur
theatre companies across the whole of southern NSW. It is
testament to Annalivia’s talent and dedication to the arts.
Congratulations also go to Ruth Ellevsen for being awarded
best Musical Direction and Janet Cunningham for best
Production - both for the Pirates of Penzance. WHSPA is
proud of each of you.
Year 7 Parents Meet Teachers Afternoon Tea
It was great to see so many parents at the ‘Meet the Year 7 Teachers Afternoon
Tea’. Thank you for coming and I hope that you take every opportunity to come to
school for all sorts of events throughout the next six years. I hope that you all
managed to make your way through the crowd and meet the teachers of your
children. We have had an excellent start to the year and our Year 7 cohort have
fitted into WHSPA really well.
Expo Evening
On Thursday 26 February WHSPA held its annual Expo Evening. This was
another successful evening for the school. Expo Evening is an information
evening for prospective 2016 Year 7 students and their families. Two, 30 minute,
information sessions were presented in WHSPAC along with individual faculty
displays in various locations across the school. Families were able to get a feel
for our great school and gather information about the breadth and depth of our
curriculum and performing arts specialisations. Both information sessions were
full to capacity (200 at a time) and the faculty displays created great interest. I’m
sure the temptation of free ice-cream helped as well!
Blood Wedding season begins Friday 6 March
Blood Wedding is a poetic tragedy of passion. It is a simple dramatic story of
doomed love. The Bride runs away on her Wedding Day with another man. The
Bridegroom, aided by the vengeful figures of the Moon and Death, track them
From the Principal’s desk ……cont’d
down with tragic consequences. The music in this
production is original and composed by WHSPA Music
students. I encourage you to purchase tickets to this
show. It will be another great example of the work of
Mrs Curtis and our extremely talented drama and
music students.
Taming of the Shrew
Congratulations to our studio company for their
fantastic production of the Taming of the Shrew last
week. This is the first time that a student lead
production has been attempted at WHSPA. The all
female cast showed great dedication and motivation
from late in 2014 to bring this contemporary
interpretation of the Shakespeare classic to the stage.
They have gone from production concept to staging
and all that brings including production, set design,
costuming, musical production and publicity. They
should all be proud of their work.
South Coast Swimming Carnival
The South Coast swimming carnival was held help on
Thursday 5 March at Dapto pool. WHSPA was
represented by a team of 15 swimmers. They were
great representatives for WHSPA. Hopefully we will get
some swimmers moving through to the Combined High
Schools Carnival at the end of March.
Doug Hearne
Relieving Principal
Steve’s
Column
Year 12
Teacher Meeting
Parent/Guardian-
These interviews will be held at WHSPA on
Wednesday March 18, from 3.30pm – 6.30pm in the
Common Room, Library and TAS rooms. We will be
continuing with the Edval Online booking system. You
will receive a letter outlining the process (you may be
receiving an email and/or text message), you will be
asked to simply log into a website with a code specific
to your child, select the teachers you would like to see
in priority order, and state the times you will be
available. If you have not received the information by
10 March, please contact the School. The website for
requests will close for a day whilst the interviews are
scheduled. On Monday 16 March you will log back in
and print off or change your given interview times. The
length of interviews will be 7 minutes for each student.
If you require longer, you will need to arrange for
another interview at a different time.
Advanced Notice – Years 7 – Parent/
Guardian Meeting
Teacher Interviews will be held on Thursday 30 April
WHSPA - High Notes
from 3.30pm to 6.30pm.
at the end of term 1.
More information will follow
Yrs 8,9,10 and 11 – Parent/Guardian Teacher Meetings
This year we will combine all 4 years over 2 nights –
Monday 18 May
and Tuesday 26 May.
More
information will follow and you will be able attend on
either or both nights from 3.30pm to 6.30pm. You
should receive information in Term 2.
Change of Address and/or contact details
If you have changed your address or telephone contact
numbers etc, please contact the Office, or ask your
child to collect a Change of Details form from the
Office.
Email Addresses
So far we have collected about 2/3rds of the family
email addresses. We now have the facility to send
information via email through Edval and MyeDiary.
Please contact the school and provide your email
address or send the details in with your child.
Absences from School (Notes)
A reminder to all parents/guardians/caregivers that
when your child is away from school, or late to school,
we MUST receive notification from you justifying the
absence. There are various ways you can do this.
Notify either by note/letter/absence proforma or SMS
or email. You can notify before, after or on the day of
the absence.
If we do not receive an explanation, we have to send a
letter home. This process is proving very expensive.
The cost to the School is huge; consider the time our
office staff takes in printing and posting the letters let
alone the cost of postage. Your child’s Roll Call
teacher will be following up notes every morning.
This could all be avoided by notifying the office of the
absence. Students will be issued with booklets of
‘proforma’ absence notes to make it even easier for
you. If the Absence Explanation is not received in a
timely manner we may be unable to change the status
and your child will have a permanent record of
unexplained absences and this will appear on their
Academic Report. The same applies, when a student is
late to school and explanation is needed in writing or
SMS or email from the Caregiver.
Student Exchange Programs
INFORMATION SESSION
Southern Cross Cultural Exchange www.scce.com.au
All Parents and Students are invited to attend on:
WEDNESDAY - 4 MARCH 2015 - 6.30 to 8.30 pm
in the Theatrette on the Ground Floor: WOLLONGONG
CENTRAL LIBRARY
41 Burelli Street , Wollongong.
Steve Creenaune
Deputy Principal
WHSPA - High Notes
Bryce’s
Column
Every day Counts
If your child has to be absent from school, you must tell
the school and provide a reason for the absence.
Justified reasons for absences may include the
student:
 having an unavoidable medical or dental
appointment (preferably, these
should be made after school or
during holidays)
 being required to attend a
recognised religious holiday
 being required to attend an
exceptional or urgent family
circumstance (such as attending a
funeral)
 being sick, or having an infectious disease.
Absences for reasons such as some of the
following may not be justified:
 Shopping
 Sleeping in
 Working around the house
 Minding younger siblings and other children
 Minor family events such as birthdays
 Haircuts.
Holidays
From the beginning of 2015 the Department of
Education and Communities has
implemented a new attendance
policy. Family holidays and travel
related absences now require an
application to be submitted to the
Principal PRIOR to the leave taking place. Families are
encouraged to take holidays with their child during
school holidays and the Principal will decline the leave
if they believe it is not in the best interest of the
student. Please see the front office if you require an
application form.
the interests of the school by bringing parents, citizens,
pupils and teaching staff into close co-operation. The
P&C assist in providing equipment required by the
school.
We also assist the teaching staff in
establishment of school policy and management in all
facets of school activity, this includes P&C
representatives on teaching interviews panels.
The WHSPA P&C meeting is held on the third Monday
of the month at 7pm. We endeavour to keep the
meetings to around one hour in length as staff,
employees, parents all give up their time to come along
to these meetings. For Year 7 parents, the meeting
differs to primary school P&C where most of the focus
is on fundraising. The majority of WHSPA P&C funds
come from the school canteen.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the WHSPA
P&C will be held on Monday 16 March, 2015. The
whole school community is welcome to attend the
meeting. To vote at the meeting you must be a
financial member of the WHSPA P&C. Cost to join so
you are able to vote at subsequent meetings is $2.
All current positions are declared vacant at the AGM.
New positions elected include: President, Two VicePresidents, Secretary, Treasurer and up to six
Executive members.
The P&C would also take nominations for a canteen
sub-committee which is elected at the AGM. The
canteen sub-committee will work in conjunction with
the canteen employees.
Written nominations are accepted before the meeting.
If you would like to apply for any of these roles please
email Marinella Blencowe.
[email protected]
Any P&C member who is unable to attend the AGM
must submit an apology to the Secretary (Marinella
Blencowe) and indicate in writing if you are happy to
accept nomination to a position or wish to nominate for
a position.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Gaye Burrow
WHSPA P&C President
Sport
Sport and other physical activities help the healthy
physical and mental development of children. Sports
and sports carnivals are normal school activities and
students must attend.
Bryce O’Connor
Deputy Principal
P & C NEWS
The WHSPA P&C is a positive forum which promotes
VISUAL ARTS FACULTY
‘spARTa’ Photography Prize
The Visual Arts Department hosts an annual
photography prize for the budding photographers at
Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts. The
prize is themed each year, with the theme for this year
a collaborative design, entitled ‘spARTa’.
This theme was intended to spark the imagination of
those photographers who like to document sport and
WHSPA - High Notes
Visual Arts…cont’d
sport-based activities; this year’s prize has seen the
submission of some wonderful entries by our students.
Our Junior Highly Commended was awarded to Ryan
Morgan for ‘On The Right Track’.
Students from years 7 through to 12 have entered this
year, in the hopes of winning the main prize of a $200
voucher or the Junior and Senior Highly Commended
Prizes of $50 each.
The Visual Arts teachers have been highly impressed
with the calibre of works this year, and look forward to
the school having the opportunity to view some of our
talented students photographic works.
We would like to congratulate our winners for 2015,
with the first prize going to Jasper Lepani for his work
‘Progression of Flight’.
‘On The Right Track - Ryan Morgan
‘Progression of Flight’ - Jasper Lepani
Our Senior Highly Commended was awarded to Liam
Marin for ‘Mates II’.
Congratulations to all our students who participated in
this year’s photography competition.
Kate Stehr
Teacher VA
COMMUNITY NOTICE
TAFE Illawarra Wollongong Campus is offering a free
course in Volunteer Tutor training. This course will train
you to help adults improve speaking, reading and
writing. The course will run on 4 days - Thursday 19
March, Thursday 26 March, Monday 27 April and
Monday 4 May for 3 hours each day from 9am to 12
midday. For more information please contact Maureen
Wren on 4229 0698 or email
[email protected]
‘Mates II’ - Liam Marin
Student Notices . . .
WHSPA - High Notes
School Notice
WHSPA - High Notes
School Notice
Music for "Blood Wedding" composed by Music 2 students Jeremy Boulton and Nicholas Serray.
Musicians include Kate Harper, Chiara Kovak, Isabelle
Lavers, Jeremy Boulton, Nic Serray, Joel Roberts,
WHSPA - High Notes
SCHOOL CALENDAR FOR TERM 1 - 2015
TERM 1
MONDAY
1
A
26/1
2
2/2 Faculty Meeting
UOW Discovery Day
7 Homework Free Time
TUESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
28/1
7, 11 & 12 Meetings
7 Homework Free Time
29/1
8, 9 & 10 Meetings
7 Homework Free Time
30/1
3/2
4/2
5/2
7 Homework Free Time
7 Homework Free Time
7 Homework Free Time
6/2
High Notes to Office
7 Homework Free Time
9/2 Focus Group Meeting
On Stage 12 Drama
10/2 Exec Meeting
11/2
On Stage 12 Drama
On Stage 12 Drama
12/2
Swimming Carnival
On Stage 12 Drama
Call Back Dance
13/2
High Notes Out
On Stage 12 Drama
Call Back Dance
B
16/2 Faculty Meeting
WHS Lunch Meeting
Blood Wedding rehearsal
Photography Prize
Taming of the Shrew
bump in after school
17/2
Photography Prize
Taming of the Shrew
rehearsal before school
18/2
Meet the Music
Photography Prize
Taming of the Shrew
rehearsal after school
19/2
Photography Prize
Taming of the Shrew all
day rehearsal in hall +
Year 11matinee Period
4+evening performance
20/2
School Photos
Zone Swimming Carnival
Photography Prize
Taming of the Shrew
evening performance
SRC Training Day
5
23/2 QT Meeting
24/2 Exec Meeting
25/2
Immunisation for Years 7,
11 & 12. Catch up Year 8
27/2
School Photos
High Notes to Office
12 WP Hospitality
12 WP Hospitality
12 WP Hospitality
26/2
7 Parents to meet 7
Teachers 3.30 –4.30 pm
7 Parent Meeting re camp
4.30 p.m.
Expo Evening
5.30 – 7 p.m.
Captains induction day
12 WP Hospitality
2/3 Staff Meeting
Indigenous Students BBQ
12 noon
3/3 Finance Meeting
4/3
5/3
12 VA Panel Interviews
Reg Swimming Carnival
6/3
High Notes Out
12 WP Hospitality
12 WP Construction
Blood Wedding Bump in
12 WP Hospitality
12 WP Construction
Blood Wedding Bump in
12 WP Hospitality
12 WP Construction
Blood Wedding Bump in
12 WP Hospitality
12 WP Construction
Blood Wedding Perf
12 WP Hospitality
12 WP Construction
Blood Wedding Perf
9/3 Faculty Meeting
PBS Extended Roll Call
12 Exams for typing
7 Camp
Encore
10/3 Exec Meeting
11/3
12/3
13/3
7 Camp
7 Camp
Blood Wedding Perf
Blood Wedding Perf
16/3 QT Meeting
12 Exams for printing
17/3
School Cross Country
18/3
12 Parent/Teacher
3.30 – 6.30 p.m.
19/3
SPANS Survey for Yr 8
& 10
20/3
High Notes to Office
Auditions
Auditions
Auditions
Auditions
Auditions
23/3 Faculty Meeting
Year Meeting Assembly
Teacher P & D Interview
1 this week
12 H/Y Exams
Auditions
24/3 Exec Meeting
25/3
26/3
27/3
High Notes Out
Earth Hour
12 H/Y Exams
Auditions
12 H/Y Exams
Auditions
12 H/Y Exams
Auditions
12 H/Y Exams
Auditions
30/3 Faculty Meeting
Teacher P & D Interview
1 this week
12 H/Y Exams
31/3 Finance Meeting
2/4
Morning Tea HSIE
3/4
Good Friday
Auditions
Auditions
1/4
Motivational Media all
years
12 H/Y Exams
Hairspray Rehearsal full
cast
Auditions
B
3
A
4
27/1
Staff Development Day
WEDNESDAY
A
6
B
7
A
8
B
9
A
1
0
B
12 H/Y Exams
12 H/Y Exams
Hairspray Rehearsal full
cast
Auditions
7 Homework Free Time
12 WP Hospitality