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Parramatters
Parramatta High School Newsletter
1913 - 2014
6th March 2015
FAREWELL MR TAYLOR!
Vol. 15 No. 2
PARRAMATTA HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNITY WISHES YOU
A HAPPY RETIREMENT!
On Friday 27th February, Parramatta High School farewelled Mr P.Taylor who retired from teaching after a distinguished career
in public education, spanning thirty nine years. Before arriving at Parramatta High School in 1996, Mr Taylor had worked at James
Ruse Agricultural High School, Miller High School and Merrylands High School. In his twenty years at this school, Mr Taylor served
initially as Head Teacher of History and since 2006 as Deputy Principal of Parramatta High School.
His last week at the school was marked by a Farewell Assembly, a staff morning tea and a constant stream of ex students visiting
the school to thank him and wish him a happy retirement. At the end of the school day students formed a human archway from
the oval to the top quad as a final gesture and fitting end to his career.
Throughout his career, Mr Taylor has been motivated by a core conviction that public education is an agent of powerful social
transformation. He has always advocated that schools are about people, our relationships with each other and what we can do
collaboratively for our students.
In the classroom, Mr Taylor has challenged students to think about their world, but he has also tried to instil in students, his own
sense of social justice and a responsibility to serve the interests of a community. He has been an innovative and imaginative school
leader, creating and running programs such as Triple A , the Atkins Institute, the SRC and the Global Citizens Initiative within the
school. He has also been instrumental in organising students to engage with the wider community by organising them to visit local
aged care facilities to give out Easter Eggs. In addition, he has co-ordinated many fund raising projects, enabled students to participate in community forums in support of refugees and for gender equity. As a result of Mr Taylor’s actions and organisation, PHS
students have appeared in TV series, supported harmony days, participated in international days and celebrated the cultural diversity of our school in concerts and food fairs. He has organised countless barbeques, taken students on bushwalks and supported
the Couch Project allowing students to spend a fun filled Friday evening at school.
During his time at the school, Mr Taylor has devoted vast amounts of time and energy to researching the history of the
school, organising the school archives and meeting with ex-students. This passion culminated in his writing of the school
history, as part of Parramatta High School’s Centenary Celebrations in 2013. In this role he has forged extremely strong
links with the Parramatta community, enriched the school’s own culture and its status in the wider community.
As Deputy, he has worked closely with the Welfare Team to develop and refine policies and projects that aim to empower students and provide opportunities for them take on leadership roles. As an educational leader he has been both a
role model and mentor to the teaching staff. Mr Taylor has been ‘a true believer’ of the power of education to enrich
individuals and whole communities. He has demonstrated a highly developed ethical understanding, been an advocate
for intercultural understanding, and has been driven in all he has done by a strong sense of social justice. He will be remembered as a leader with great generosity of heart, a wonderful sense of humour and as a highly literate and brilliant
communicator.
Warm, caring and loyal. Always respectful of others and most importantly the students. Mr Taylor always sought to build
relationships with all students, staff, parents/caregivers, and community members. In doing so, Mr Taylor strove to bring
the very best out of everyone.
He was truly a great teacher and mentor, friend, colleague and leader and he retires loved by many and missed by all.
Thank you and best wishes Mr Taylor!
From the Parramatta High School community.
Students and staff of
PHS warmly farewell
Mr Taylor in his last
school assembly.
There was not a dry
eye in the house!
A thoughtful farewell gift presented by Year 12 students to Mr
Taylor. A framed set of school
ties from each of the schools that
Mr Taylor has worked in over his
illustrious 30 year career.
Mr Taylor, the ultimate PHS
Rock God, gets a fitting farewell tribute from PHS’s
teacher boy band,
‘The ParraMoodles’ !!!
Mr Taylor gets a farewell cake from
the talented Mrs Gerges.
Mr Taylor’s famous moustache-the
envy of all teachers at PHS!
CRAZY HAIR-ANTI-BULLYING DAY
Mr Taylor with Ms Moore and Mrs Bouziannis
Christmas celebrations
Mr Taylor with the HSIE Faculty
PRINCIPAL’S NEWS:
Dear Parents / Carers
Thank you for your part in the smooth start to this year.
Year 7 students are settling in well and we have a ‘Meet
the Teacher’ evening on 11th March from 3.30-6.00pm.
We have placed an ad for the new Deputy Principal and
are hoping this is filled this term. Meanwhile, we have
two Relieving Deputy Principals, Ms Kougelos and Mr
Youssef sharing the role for the rest of Term One.
The Parents & Citizen’s Association (P&C) have met for the Annual General
Meeting and elected Johanna Provins as President. Congratulations to Jo and
the other elected members of the P&C Executive. Meetings are held each term,
Week 5 at 7pm. The next meeting will be Term 2 on 13th May 2015.
Following our Centenary Celebrations in 2013, we have erected a brick wall
with donations received from the events held and from payments for bricks and
this will be completed by the end of the term. Families and individuals will be
notified in writing and a morning tea will be organised so that families who purchased bricks can view the wall and brick placement.
Thank you again for your continuing support of our students, the school and
the programs we have in place to ensure we bring quality teaching and learning
to Parramatta High School.
Domonique Splatt
Principal
PARRAMATTA HIGH SCHOOL 2015 SWIMMING CARNIVAL
Last Wednesday saw the completion of another highly successful Parramatta High School swimming carnival, where both attendance and participation numbers where the highest they have been in many years. A
big thank you to all those students who attended the day. All were exceptionally well behaved and school
spirit was high. It was great to see students proudly displaying their house colours, and a very big congratulations is extended to all those students who got into the pool and did their best to compete in the various events. Congratulations to last year’s winning house Batman, who were too strong again this year,
winning the day by nearly 200 points!
AGE CHAMPIONS 2015
12 YEARS BOYS - Latkaee,Ashkaan (Ayub,Daiyan eq R/U
Andary,Joe eq R/U)
12 YEARS GIRLS - Zeng,Vivian (Mahmood,Rafah R/U)
13 YEARS BOYS - Toisuta,Joshua (Zhong,Jun R/U)
13 YEARS GIRLS - Prado,Hannah (De Guzman,CynaraJan R/U)
14 YEARS BOYS - Heiyantuduwa,Marlan (Yu,Samuel R/U)
14 YEARS GIRLS - Ahmed,Saleen
15 YEARS BOYS - To,Morgan (Zhao, Oscar) R/U
15 YEARS GIRLS - Chung,Olivia (Oliver,Charlotte R/U)
16 YEARS BOYS - Mai,Andy (Yang,William R/U)
16 YEARS GIRLS - Huang,Shera
17+ YEARS BOYS - Bhuiyan, Shahan (Pak, Geoffrey R/U)
17+ YEARS GIRLS - Huang,Hera
PARRAMATTA HIGH SCHOOL 2015 SWIMMING CARNIVAL
Congratulations to the following students who broke some of Parramatta High School’s
long standing records!
EVENT
RECORD
NAME/Year
13 yrs boys 50m Free
00.31.30
J. Toisuta – 2015
13 yrs boys 100m Free
01.11.11
J. Toisuta – 2015
13 yrs girls 100m Free
01.25.35
H. Prado - 2015
14 yrs boys 100m Free
01.27.13
M. Heiyantuduwa – 2015
14 yrs girls 100m Free
01.37.64
Olivia Chung – 2015
17+ yrs boys 50m Free
00.27.97
S. Bhuiyan – 2015
17 yrs 50m Back
00.32.97
S. Bhuiyan - 2015
4x50m Relay
Medley
02.37.29
Brisbane - 2015
SWIMMING CARNIVAL 2015
STANDING TOGETHER-COMMUNITY WALK
On Tuesday 24th February, Mr Taylor took a group of Social Justice League (SJL) and Student Representative Council (SRC) students to represent Parramatta High School at the ‘Standing Together!‘
event in Parramatta CBD. The students who participated included Trent Hugler, Brooke Bohannon,
Jesssica Tandera-Yuana,, Omid Azizi, Karina Lad, Matthew McGuire, Mersidon Fernandez, Shankar
Dussa, Ayesha Qamar and Mayuria Mayurathar. These PHS students participated in a community walk
that was aimed at demonstrating solidarity, harmony and connectedness between and across a wide
representation of diverse communities, cultures and religions. This community walk event was also
focused on stopping discrimination and speaking out against recent events such as the Lindt Café
siege. Events such as these recent national tragedies and walks such as the ‘Standing Together’ event
have provided community members with opportunities to be brought closer together, and to develop
a greater understanding of each others’ differences and similarities. After the walk, students arrived at
the Migrant Resource Centre in Parramatta to hear from guest speakers from different faiths and cultures, united in creating pathways of understanding between people through shared purpose/aims,
through active listening and open dialogue. we thank the organiser Priscella Engall, the Community
Settlement and Development Officer, with the Community Migrant Resource Centre for inviting us to
the event. Being Mr Taylor’s final excursion ever, he treated us all, buying us Macdonald’s meals on
our return to school. All in all, we had a great experience on the walk, and felt very lucky that we has
the opportunity to be with Mr Taylor on his last outing whilst at Parramatta High before his retirement. This excursion was also a true mark of Mr Taylor’s passionate and everlasting commitment to
giving back to the community and promoting equality, harmony, solidarity and a celebration of our
social, cultural and religious diversity.
Trent Hugler, Year 11
2015 SCHOOL PHOTOS!
On the 26th February, students had their School Photos taken by the photographic company, ‘Advance Life School Photography’. Ms E.Smith, the organising teacher, the school
staff and the photography staff would like to applaud the students of Parramatta High
School for their outstanding uniform and exemplary behaviour on this big day. The photographers were highly impressed with how our students worked cooperatively to ensure such a smooth flowing process.
Student ID cards will be ready in the next 2-3 weeks, and students who have ordered
photographs will receive these in early Term 2.
PHS PHILOSOPHY CLUB
Do you enjoy asking questions,
debating and discussing philosophy?
Philosophy Club meets every
Monday at lunch in room 12
SRC NEWS: Bandaged Bear Appeal
The SRC are selling bandaged bears, pens and ribbons to
raise money for The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
The appeal is running throughout March. Students of Parramatta High can support the cause by buying merchandise or donating to the cause during roll call.
The SRC would like to thank you all for your ongoing support of Westmead
Children’s Hospital.
YEAR 7 CAMP
“Camp was great fun! We got to go on the Giant Swing, Flying Fox, High Ropes and Super Drop; we did the Mud Challenge and had a Games Night. The food was very nice, I
loved the chicken the most. The bed was not so comfortable though. We saw a kangaroo there and kookaburras too, it was great fun!” – Bilal Dudu, 7B
On Monday, 16th February, 107 Year 7 students and 7 teachers made their way to Morisset for 3 fun filled days (and two sleep-deprived nights) of Recreational Adventure
Camp activities!
The sun was out, the activities were very high and the fun and food was endless! Students worked together to complete challenges and supported each other in accomplishing their goals and fighting their fears. Many new friendships were made with
boundless laughter and entertainment around the clock.
Our time at camp sure was fun, but it was also a memorable time away together that
we can all cherish and look back on during our future years at Parramatta High School
and beyond.
Miss Zammit Year 7 Adviser, 2015
ENRICHMENT TRANSITION
PROGRAM
Monday March 2nd marked the beginning of a new PHS program called the 'Enrichment
Transition Program' which involved a visit of 58 students (Year 5 & 6) from Parramatta
West Public School to Parramatta High School.
This program was aimed at giving students from our local primary school a chance to experience High School life in a new way by beginning work on a three-session project with
the same teachers across three faculties.
This was the first session of three for this group of primary students with our teachers in
Science- Mrs Bedwany and Miss Wu; Art-Mr Campbell and Miss Stone; PE-Mr Morson, Mr
Youssef and Mr Ruspandini.
The day was a great success and the staff and students of Parramatta West commented on
the supportive and positive comments that many of our own students gave to these future High School students. Thank you to those people!
I'd like to acknowledge the hard work our teachers have put into preparing great engaging
lessons for these students and
from what we hear, the Primary
School students can't wait to return for the second session on
June 15th in Term 2.
Students' projects will be on display in our front office towards
the end of Term 3!
Best regards,
Mr Walsh
Transition/Year 6 Adviser
Year 5 & 6
Parramatta West
Public students in the
high school Science
Labs
Ms Wu, PHS Science
teacher instructing
primary school students
International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is a day to recognise women and remind society of the inequality that women face. It was first held in 1911 and has since expanded to be an international
awareness day.
The colours for International Women’s Day are white, green and purple with purple being
the most significant colour. White represents purity, green represents hope and purple represents justice and dignity.
This year Parramatta High School will be celebrating International Women’s Day on March
11. The UN theme is “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture It” and the International Women’s Day theme is “Make It Happen”. The focus will be on gender equality.
Purple ribbons will be sold during roll call for a gold coin donation. All proceeds will
support the charity HeForShe. There will also be a pledge in the
middle quad on March 11 which anyone can sign to show their
support for gender equality.
Last year, in a speech to the UN, Emma Watson launched the
HeForShe campaign. It is about boys and men recognising that
gender equality is their issue too. HeForShe is asking men to sign a pledge stating that they
will stand up to violence and discrimination faced by women and girls. To sign this pledge
please go to: http://www.heforshe.org/
Emma Watson also made the point that "no country in the world can yet say that they
achieved gender equality". Even in Australia gender inequality is still a big issue.
The gender pay gap is a major concern. In some industries, women are being paid what their
male counterparts were being paid in 2004. In fact the gender pay gap is growing bigger.
Hitting 18.8%, the gap is at a record high.
Women are also not holding leadership positions. Out of the 28 Australian Prime Ministers
only 1 has been female and females represent only 3% of CEOs. Yet 50% of our society is female.
But gender equality won't just benefit women, it will benefit everyone. This society is characterised by stereotypes. It's time for change. It's time to break down these stereotypes.
It’s time for gender equality.
CAREERS UPDATE
Year 12 students have had the
opportunity in recent weeks to
attend two very different Careers Excursions. The first was to Sydney
University which enabled the students to get a taste of life at university,
explore landmarks across the campus and listen to a very energetic presenter talk about courses, pathways and scholarships at the university.
A highlight of the tour of the campus was visiting the famous Nicholson
Museum which contains amazing artefacts from Ancient Greece and
Ancient Egypt. A few of the boys enjoyed the Lego section where they
had to be dragged away from their intensively competitive Lego making
competition. Lego is not a degree at Sydney University just yet! The day
was informative and inspirational and gave students excellent food for
thought for when they start making their tertiary career choices.
The second Careers Excursion was 6 months in the making for the Visual
Arts class, who attended the University of Technology (UTS). These students were given tours of two art exhibitions and talks on the many
works displayed. The Visual Arts students were also able to view various
pieces of equipment used in making art including photographic materials, sculpture and painting resources. The curator and UTS educator of
the UTS Art Gallery relayed their stories of how they came to be in their
art careers. This gave students an opportunity to be inspired and to gain
valuable information about pursuing tertiary courses and career paths
in Art.
Mrs Ibrahim
Careers Advisor
NSW ADOLESCENT SCHOOL VACCINATION PROGRAM 2015
In 2015, all Year 7 students will be offered the following vaccines on 30 March, 28 May and 19 October.
Human Papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) in a 3-dose schedule.
HPV vaccine provides protection for girls and boys against a virus which could lead to a range of cancers
later in life. HPV is a common virus that affects both males and females.
Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine (dTpa) as a single dose.
A booster dose for all students generally required for work experience and career placements.
Varicella (Chickenpox) vaccine as a single dose.
This vaccine is provided for students who have not had chickenpox or a previous varicella vaccine.
Parent Information Kits and Consent Forms have been sent home from school with your child.
Parents/guardians are advised to:

Read all the information provided

Complete the consent form, including signing their name next to the vaccine/s they would like their
child to receive

Return the completed consent form to their child’s school as soon as possible

Ensure that their child eats breakfast on the day of the school vaccination clinic.
A ‘Record of Vaccination’ will be given to your child at the time of vaccination. Please keep these for your
records. Please note that these vaccinations are provided free only when your child is in the current
year.
SKOOLBAG APP
A new App will be available for downloading for our
Parramatta High School parent community. This new
App is called ‘Skoolbag App’.
Purpose of the Skoolbag App:
Skoolbag is a school Mobile App that communicates
directly with iPhone, and Android devices. Our school now has our own Schoolbag
iPhone and Android App to help us communicate more effectively with our Parent/
Student community.
Skoolbag provides schools with an easy way to tell our parents/carers everything
they need to know, and it provides parents/carers with the most convenient way to
receive school notifications.
No more lost paper in student school bags! School newsletters, school notices and
alerts are communicated directly to the parent smartphone through the Skoolbag
school Mobile App.
We are asking parents/students to install our Skoolbag School App now!
Skoolbag offers:
- Unlimited free instant Push message Notifications (Push anything instantly)
- Unlimited Push message categories for parents to subscribe to.
- Alerts
- Events
- News
- Newsletters
- Information pages
- Permission Notes
- Links to website pages
- Embedded PDF documents
- Embedded Videos/Maps and GPS directions
- Custom eForms with payment and signatures if required.
- Unlimited content Categories
-RSS Feed and Google Calendar integration
-Social Media Integration with Twitter and Facebook.
- Social Media sharing (Option for parents/students to share app content on their own Facebook/
Twitter feeds )
-- Timetables
- Reply by SMS and Email (Great for Parent/Student Feedback)
- Photo galleries
- Parent eForms for Sick Note/Absent and Change of details.
STUDENTCOVER ACCIDENT INSURANCE
Children being children, accidents do happen and parents are too often surprised to
learn just how little cover, if any, their children have when they suffer injuries either in or
outside school hours.
Unfortunately severe injuries can place parents and guardians under severe financial
pressure.
StudentCover Accident Insurance was developed by EBM Insurance Brokers to give
parents and guardians a helping hand when they need it the most, at an affordable
price.
The annual cost of a StudentCover policy is $29.00.
The cover provides protection for your children 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere in the world* whether they are at school at the time of the accident or not, and
includes almost every sport*.
Some of the features include (for more detail refer to the Schedule of Benefits on the
‘Important Notice’ following):





Compensation of $500,00 for major injuries such as paraplegia and quadriplegia;
Compensation for other major injuries such as loss of sight or loss of use of a limb
and death;
Compensation for common injuries included such as broken bones, fractures, dislocations or loss of teeth;
Fee relief following death of a parent or guardian; and
Help with student tutoring expenses as a result of total disablement, to ensure a
child’s education suffers the least possible disruption.
HOW TO APPLY:
StudentCover is only available online-making it quick and easy to protect your child or
children.
Payment can be made by credit card at the time of application, or by BPay once you receive your invoice.
To apply online, simply go to www.studentcover.com.au and click APPLY NOW.
PARRAMATTA HIGH SCHOOL IS COMMEMORATING THE
100TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE GALLIPOLI LANDING.
DURING WEEK 9, LESSONS HAVE A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE ANZAC
TRADITION.
Scene behind frontline at Anzac, Ottoman Empire: Turkey, Dardanelles,
Gallipoli, Anzac Area (Gallipoli)
Anzac Area, Gallipoli. 1915. Two Anzac Corps soldiers resting in a
communications trench on the right flank of the force.
Gallipoli, Turkey. 25 April 1915. The first field dressing station of the 7th Battalion, AIF.
25th April 1915. A boatload of 6th Battalion soldiers leaving the transport ship HMT Galeka
on their way to land at Anzac Cove
AT OZ FASHIONS GRANVILLE
Choosing the right shoes
School shoes may all look the same but
the cost can vary from about $30 to $120
and beyond. Does a more expensive
shoe mean a better shoe? Find out more:
http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/
wellbeing/health/choosing-the-rightschool-shoes
Coming Events
TERM 1 2015
WEEK 7
Mon 9 March
Tue 10 March
Wed 11 March
Thu 12 March
Fri 13 March
WEEK 8
Mon 16 March
Year 8 Christian Scripture
Year 10 High Resolves
Chocolate Tuesday
Year 7 Meet the Teachers Night
International Women’s Day Assembly
Selective High School Test
Year 8 High Resolves
Year 12 Half Yearly Exams
Regional Swimming Carnival
Year 9 Scripture
Tue 17 March
Year 12 Half Yearly Exams
Wed 18 March
Year 10 Geography Excursion Fieldtrip
Thu 19 March
Year 12 Half Yearly Exams
Fri 20 March
Year 12 Half Yearly Exams
Year 11 Biology & Senior Science
Excursion
Debating Training Workshop
Harmony Day
Mon, Thurs, Fri
Tuesday
Wed (Hall Assembly)
Wed (Quad Assembly)
RC/DEAR 8.25-8.45
RC/DEAR 8.25-8.45
RC/DEAR 8.25-8.45
RC/DEAR 8.25-8.45
P1 8:45-9:45
P1 8:45-9:45
P1 8:45-9:40
P1 8:45-9:45
P2 9:45-10:45
P2 9:45-10:45
P2 9:40-10:35
P2 9:45-10:45
Recess 10:45-11:15
Recess 10:45-11:15
Recess 10:35-11:05
Recess 10:45-11:15
P3 11:15-12:15
P3 11:15-12:15
P3 11:05-12:00
P3 11:15-12:15
P4 12:15-1:15
Lunch 12:15-12:45
Ass 12:00-12:50
Ass 12:15-12:45
Lunch 1:15-1:45
P4 12:45-1:45
Lunch 12:50-1:20
Lunch 12:45-1:15
P5 1:45-2:45
P5 1:45-2:45
P5 1:20-2:15
P5 1:15-2:15
NEW BELL TIMES
FOR 2015
Students must be prompt for roll
call at 8.25