Email weewaa-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au ; Phone 02 6795 4477 ; Fax 02 6795 3005

http://www.weewaa-h.school.nsw.edu.au/

Principal’s Report

Pride and a great deal of it is perhaps the best way to describe how I feel about Wee Waa High School, our students and our staff.

This week we celebrated NAIDOC week and all staff, including Ruythe Dufty, Tamworth Network Director of Schools said it was by far our best yet. In fact our celebrations were reported by Ms Dufty across the region as being outstanding and having set a new bench mark.

We were fortunate to have six Aboriginal present-ers join us to run workshops covering basket weav-ing, clapping stick design and creation, language, tools, dance and the making of traditional Johnny cakes. Credit must go to our Aboriginal Education Officer, Helen Wenner and our Deputy Principal, Allan Tame for conceiving and executing such a thoughtful and well planned day of celebrations. Ms Dufty and the workshop presenters also com-mented on the high standard of behaviour and re-spect our students displayed.

Academically we have also been reaching new heights with an outstanding report on our QuickSmart results. The 2015 data showed an ef-fect size exceeding 0.8. A score above 0.8 repre-sents substantial improvement, equivalent to ap-proximately two to three years’ growth. This means that students participating in this program are more readily able to access the regular English and mathematics curricula, creating confidence and improved learning.

Also worthy of academic note have been our VAL-ID Science assessment results. The average stu-dent growth in science skills and knowledge from year 8 to year 10 across the 190 Department of Education schools that opted in was 2.8. The aver-age student growth for all participating government and non-government schools was 3.1. However Wee Waa High School students achieved an aver-age growth of 5.4.

To our dedicated Science faculty staff and our QuickSmart tutors I extend my thanks for your hard work and effort with both VALID and QuickSmart achievements.

Last week our Student Representative Council (SRC) staged a very successful school social themed ’Tradies and Ladies’. It was a pleasure to attend and see the enjoyment students had on the night. Everyone went to a great effort with their costume and the SRC, Mr Legge and Ms Freer are to be commend-ed for the planning, decorations and music.

As we go to print our annual athletics carnival is about to get underway and we look forward to bringing you news of results achieved in our next newsletter.

To our students and their parents and carers, I’d like to express both my thanks and that of our staff for the growth in respect, attendance, behaviour and effort our students have been demonstrating. Together we are raising many fine young men and women.

Issue 8, June 20th , 2016

Upcoming Events

June 23 - Gala Night July 1 - Last Day of Term

Term 3

July 19 - All Students Return July 22 - Year 7-10 Reports Issued July 27 - Parent Teacher Night Aug 4 - Subject Selection Evening

Ms Ruythe Dufty, Mrs Helen Wenner, & Mr Craig Trindall

with WWHS students Zoe & Jordyn

Welcome To Our New Deputy Principal

It’s with great pleasure that we introduce our new Deputy Principal, Mr Allan Tame. Originally from Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, Mr Tame studied Science and Zoology at The University of New England before deciding to undertake a Bachelor of Education and follow in his father’s footsteps of teaching.

With a great interest in young people and working with children through coaching sport, Mr Tame said teaching was a natural career choice. It was while he was doing his Teaching Diploma that he met his wife Marion who is Principal of Narrabri Primary School.

Graduating at the age of 23, Mr Tame’s first posting was to Narrabri High School where he enjoyed 32 years of teaching and management. His last role at Narrabri High was as one of two Deputy Principals. As soon as I became aware that the Deputy’s role at Wee Waa High had become available, I was instantly interested. I have worked with many of the staff, or taught them and the school has developed a great reputation for having strong values and committed teachers.

What has impressed me most since commencing three weeks ago has been the students. They are polite, happy and lovely kids.

Teaching is such a rewarding career and to be here with such a motivated and caring team of staff, helping to shape our student’s education and life skills is a real privilege. I’m really pleased to be here. Welcome To Ms Sally Reichel Another new welcome addition to our staff is mathematics teacher, Ms Sally Reichel. Originally from Scone, Sally says it’s ironic that she came to pursue a career as a maths teacher as maths was originally not her strongest subject at school. It was only after a new maths teacher started at her school with a completely different method of teaching maths that the penny dropped for Ms Reichel. “She taught maths in a way that I understood and I came to really enjoy it and do well.”

“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I wasn’t sure of what subject area I wanted to specialise in. It was my love of sport that made me decide to study to be a P.E. teacher. But as it turned out, I didn’t like being outside in the elements all day. Of course this is what being a PE teacher requires, but it wasn’t for me so I decided to rethink my specialisation and headed in the science and maths direction.”

“I was offered a maths teaching position at Muswellbrook High as my first posting out of university. It really is ironic that I ended up being a maths teacher because in my early years of high school it was my least favourite subject. I didn’t have the patience to push myself when the work became hard, but once I had a great maths teacher, I came to love it.”

“This experience became my guiding light as a teacher. I find ways of teaching each of my students so that they understand. We all learn differently so I keep the language simple and my explanations relatable. I have a love of food and my students could attest to the fact that a lot of my explanations are based around food. We all eat so using food as the basis for my examples makes it fun and relatable.”

“Wee Waa High is a lot like my old high school in Scone. With its smaller student population and community focus, it is just the kind of environment I like to be in.”

“Within three days of commencing, all of the students knew my name, even the ones I don’t teach. The thing that I like most about being at this school is how lovely the students are and that the staff are very friendly and welcoming. In my first week, many staff and students dropped by to make sure I was OK and to see if they could help with anything.

And That’s A Wrap

2016 has seen Wee Waa High School’s re-entry into the Narrabri Shire Eisteddfod and the many weeks of hard work and preparation has paid off in spades. Under the guidance and direction of Mrs Carmel Schwager, 12 students have spent the last few months using their lunch breaks to prepare and rehearse. “It has been terrific to see so many of our students become involved and for many it was the first time they had performed outside of a school setting and for most, it was their first solo performance.” Mrs Schwager explained “Every one of our students placed either first, second or third in their chosen categories.” “Of note was Alice Haire placing first in each of the three categories she entered including Bible Reading, Own Composition and Sight Reading. Sarah Hamilton and Amelia Kiem gave a wonderful duologue performance of Alice and the Queen of Hearts. The Adjudicator, Mr Noel Sallard commented that their performance was “an excellent, dramatic and entertaining presentation.” In the Poems for Two category, Lydia Moon and Luanna Smith placed first while Claire Young and Alanna Bennet Clancy placed second with Lilliann Smith and Ashleigh Ross in third place. The Humorous Poem category saw Tyanna Gaydon take second place and Lorina Williams third place. Mrs Schwager said “A great deal of time an effort went in to preparing and ensuring that our performances were of the highest standard. We were fortunate to have Mrs Sally Knight come to the school on several occasions during the last few weeks to help the students prepare.” “It was immensely pleasing to see every one of our students give their best performance possible and to receive such a strong response and so many placings was great encouragement for each of them.” We would like to thank the Narrabri Eisteddfod committee for being so encouraging and to Mrs Sally Knight for generously sharing her time and expertise with us.

NAIDOC Week Celebrations

Ag Roundup Week 8 Its been a quiet few weeks on the school farm lately, with some nice widespread rain throughout the district making it a little muddy for practical lessons. The rain has been great with our oat crops now emerging and the hay paddock of oats and lucerne growing strongly. The Show Team have been holding practice during Sport in Week B and it is encouraging to see our numbers are still holding strong with over 20 students keen and interested in learning about and showing cattle. A few weeks ago we held a mini “Heifer Fitting Challenge” where the students had 5 minutes to “ clean “, groom and halter the cattle and put on a coat and get into the “ show ring”. It was a lot of fun and great to see the students encouraging each other!

With the disappearance of our new school steers- over the fence!- the Primary Industries classes have begun their fencing unit! Primary Industries along with 7/8 tech and 9/10 Ag have been mending the internal fences over the last few weeks and will look to building some new pathways within the farm. We have also made a feedlot paddock in the middle of the farm, feeding the school steers grain in preparation for their carcase competition in Term 4. A big Thank you to the Cruckshank family and Mr Jason Dixon, for assisting us with these terribly naughty steers and getting them back to school later this week. It has been a great lesson in stock handling for Yr 9/10 and will certainly be rewarding to get them broken in and handled for Northern Schools later in the year!!

The Show Team are honing their skills in preparation for the Charolais Nationals in Week 10 of this term. Five students will be preparing and presenting the Myona Charolais stud cattle at the Nationals, as well as entering the Youth Stampede. This should be a very rewarding experience for our students and we thank Myona again for providing the opportunity to exhibit their cattle.

Thank you also to Mr Brodie Revell for the donation of some round bales of sorghum hay for our sheep. It was great to receive this support at a time when we are stretched for feed, waiting on the oats to emerge after the rain. Verity Gett Agriculture Teacher

Life Skills Are Skills For Life

The African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ couldn’t be truer and it is most definitely the case for the young people at Wee Waa High School.

Our school has built strong partnerships with local businesses and service providers to develop important opportunities for some of our students with disabilities.

One such relationship is with Linda Kiem of Marinda Nursery and Café, Wee Waa. With Linda, WWHS has developed a School to Work program for Year 10 student, Isabella Crutcher. Isabella spends one morning a week working at Marinda assisting Linda in the cafe and the nursery. All the while Isabella is developing important work skills that will help build the skills she needs in her post school life. This work experience has led Isabella to gain an after school job – every Saturday fortnight at Marinda.

Recently we visited Isabella and Linda at Marinda Nursery and Café and spoke to them about Isabella’s work there.

Isabella Crutcher

Isabella, when did you start helping at Marinda? When I was in Year 8, now I am in Year 10.

Can you tell us about your job at Marinda? I water the plants and rake up the leaves. I keep the nursery tidy. I help in the café serving customers and I fill up the sugar bowls on the tables. I like helping to make coffee and milkshakes.

What do you like about working at the café and nursery? I really like Linda. I like chatting to all of the customers and serving them. It is peaceful and quiet. Also when I finish my jobs Linda lets me make a milkshake for myself. I like it here. Now I also have a part time job here every second Saturday.

Linda Kiem

Could you tell us why you became involved in this life skills education program with the school? Students learn differently and have different needs. For Isabella, I have seen how working here in the café and nursery has helped build her confidence and skills.

She has learnt practical things like how to use a broom and a rake and the watering of plants. In the café she has learnt about the importance of food hygiene and handling food safely. We are working on taking orders from customers. There are a few regular customers that like to come to the café when Isabella is here and we are working on remembering what they like so that we do not need to ask them for their order.

Isabella really enjoys speaking with our customers and she is becoming more and more confident. I enjoy having Isabella here. She helps me a lot and she can use the skills she learns here throughout her life.

QuickSmart Numeracy makes great gains for students.

QuickSmart Literacy and Numeracy is an intervention program designed by the University of New England (UNE) to help students that need assistance with their basic literacy and numeracy skills.

The program was initially a three year federally funded program for indigenous students. Based on the results achieved during the first three years, when the initial funding ceased Wee Waa High School decided to prioritise and self-fund this program for all students in Years 7 or 8 in need of extra tuition.

Over the years, the school has had a number of tutors who have coached students in half hour blocks, three times a week. Tutors, Mrs Morrison, Mrs O’Neill and Mrs Horne have been working with pairs of students in Year 7 and 8 for several years now.

Each year all Stage 4 students are tested for the program, with students identified as needing additional tutoring being selected to participate. Participating students are retested in the areas of literacy, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills at the beginning, middle and end of the program. The school then submits data collected on each student to the UNE SIMERR department for analysis.

The 2015 data showed an effect size exceeding 0.8. An effect size score above 0.8 represents substantial improvement, equivalent to approximately two to three years’ growth. This means that students are more readily able to access the regular English mathematics curriculum, creating confidence and improved learning.

This week, QuickSmart Numeracy co-ordinator, Mrs Sharon Grellman, thanked her tutors with a special morning tea to recognise and celebrate the fantastic results they helped students achieve in 2015. Mrs Grellman added “it’s very apparent that their excellent work has been continuing in 2016 and we look forward to gaining feedback next year on our students’ result for this year.”

Staff Yoga Classes Prove Popular

Making sure our teachers and support staff are fit and well is an important component of helping them get the very best from our students. Whilst the rewards for staff in education are great, there is no doubt that there can be stressful days as our staff not only support students with their learning, but also when they face challenging times in their life.

Recently an opportunity arose to apply for a grant through the Teachers Health Fund and we were delighted to be notified that our application to provide a weekly after school yoga and meditation class for staff was successful. Conducted by Yoga Instructor, Nannette Watson, the classes have proved popular with staff already feeling the physical and mental benefits.

Record Gains In Science Results

Wee Waa High School has recently been notified of the outstanding results our students achieved in the 2015 Validation of Assessment for Learning & Individual Development test results, commonly known as VALID.

The VALID test was delivered for the first time to Year 10 students last year and unlike the equivalent test for Year 8 students, VALID is not mandatory and schools can opt in or out.

The VALID science assessment covers four key themes including; Extended Response Tasks, Knowing & Understanding, Planning & Conducting Investigations, Problem Solving & Communicating.

Principal, Ms Annabel Doust explained, “For Wee Waa High School, we definitely wanted to opt in and use the VALID assessment to measure our Year 10 (2015) student’s growth in Science since they were last tested in year 8 (2013).

When each student’s results are compared to those of two years prior, it allows the school to see where our students sit with their science knowledge and their level of growth, as compared to their peers across the state.

The average student growth in Science skills and knowledge from year 8 to year 10 across the 190 Department of Education (DoE) schools that opted in was 2.8. The average student growth for all participating government and non-government schools was 3.1.

However, what has been so pleasing to see is that Wee Waa High School students’ results were well above the average student growth achieved by the other DoE schools, with Wee Waa High School achieving 5.4. That means that of our last year’s Year 10 students, 72% achieved greater than or equal to expected growth.

It is encouraging and gratifying to see this strong rate of growth in these students’ science knowledge and it really highlights the quality of the science teaching and learning that we have here at Wee Waa High School.”

Where Are They Now?

Jennifer Warren (nee Henry) Year 12 – 2000

Born in Moree, Jennifer grew up in Port Macquarie and Brisbane before finishing her secondary schooling in Wee Waa. Jennifer Warren is a most inspiring person. Born

with normal hearing, it was by age two that her profound hearing loss was discovered. Jennifer began using hearing aids from this point on and was able to go to a normal school and graduate from university. Her lip reading ability came naturally and was key to helping her get through school and university. One month ago Jennifer had cochlear implant surgery. Now she is able to hear sounds that she has never heard before and she says in some ways she feels like her life and career has only really just started.

What were your favourite subjects? Maths and physics.

Best memories of Wee Waa High? The smaller classes were a lot of fun and also there was a lot of support from the teachers. I made many friends which I still have contact with today.

While at high school, what career direction did you think you would head in? I was really clear that I wanted to pursue Nursing.

Can you tell us about your first few years after finishing high school? I completed my Bachelor of Nursing at University of New England (Armidale) in 2004 before going on to work at Wee Waa Hospital and at the Community Health Centre. While there I started doing work experience with the Nurse Audiometrist at Narrabri Community Health Centre every Tuesday. It was while I was doing this that I went onto complete my Nurse Audiometry course through Sydney TAFE and gained a Distinction. From there I worked as a Nurse Audiometrist at Wee Waa Community Health for 1.5years before accepting a position as a newborn hearing screener at Mater Mothers in 2007.

What are you doing now? I’m now a Clinical Nurse and Co-ordinator of the Healthy Hearing Program at Mater Mothers Hospital in South Brisbane.

I manage the Healthy Hearing Program which involves managing a team of 10 Hearing Screeners who screen over 10,000 newborn babies per year. I deliver training, rostering and tracking babies that need screening. I also do outpatient screenings.

What do you love about what you do? I love what I do because it’s rewarding, every day is different and you learn so much about people from all walks of life. Also I get to see and hold lots of beautiful babies.

What do you think is the secret to success in life and work? It is about having a great deal of determination and an excellent work ethic. These two things will take you a long way.

Do you have a life motto? No matter how hard it gets Never Ever Give Up!

Ros Mulcahy

(B Education /M Social Work) Ros joined Aspect in 2015 and works for the Positive Behaviour Support unit Far North Coast NSW. She has experience working with young people and adults with developmental disabilities, learning difficulties and mental health issues. Ros has a passion for facilitating choice for people with disabilities.

Sarah Maxwell (B Behavioural Science) Sarah works on the Far North Coast NSW as Positive Behaviour Support Specialist. She has experience in working with children and adults with intellectual, cognitive and developmental disabilities. Sarah primarily aims to support individuals and their families to achieve a good quality of life.

Who should attend?

Families and professionals supporting or working with people on the

autism spectrum, including carers, direct support staff, managers,

educators, respite staff, supported employment and Allied Health

professionals.

Each participant receives:

step by step, easy to complete forms to help you write your own

autism-specific Positive Behaviour Support plan on the day

specially designed forms and other tools to use at home or work

access to a broad range of resources provided through a link to

access a restricted section of the Aspect website

help to support the implementation of your PBS Plan, using our

Implementation Checklist

You will leave the workshop with greatly increased confidence in your

ability to make a difference in environments and situations where there is

challenging behaviour.

When: 26th, 27th, 28th July 2016

Where: Moree Services Club Albert St Moree NSW 2400

Time: 9:30am to 2:30pm

Cost: Free for family members and professionals who attend with a family All other professionals $600.00

Contact: Sarah Maxwell P: 0466 518 747 E: smaxwell@autismspectrum.org.au Ros Mulcahy P: 0466 426 903 E: rmulcahy@autismspectrum.org.au

Aspect Recipe for Success®

This autism-specific Positive Behaviour Support Workshop uses contemporary evidence based strategies, based on our many years of direct work with families, organisations and

people living with autism.

Are you tired of repeating everything 4 times to get your children to listen?

Do you give into your children to stop the whining?

Do you ever feel guilty or embarrassed because your children won’t behave?

When you punish your children do you feel punished yourself?

Practical Parenting

WHEN: Thursday 20th

July

TIME: 11:30am to 2:30pm

WHERE: Centacare Narrabri

1/116 Barwan Street Registrations are essential.

This course is subject to numbers.

For more information or to

register, contact the Family

Relationship Centre

through Centacare NENW

6792 9300

1800 372 826

FREE

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Practical Parenting

Practical Parenting

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