30 March 2023

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Address

Principal’s Message

Kaya and welcome

2023 Term 1 has been filled with wonderful experiences, including Harmony Day, the opportunity for our student leadership team to attend a conference in Perth, the school ball, and other amazing events.

We have also had loads of sport, academic competitions, camps, and excursions, and it has been brilliant seeing so many students take up the opportunities to participate in events and activities. It is extremely important students and families know that this is a privilege, and that students need to earn the right to attend these extra curricula events. A lot of learning happens for students who get involved in school special events, but we can only take students who have exemplary behaviour to these events.

Regarding behaviour, we are asking all parents to support us with some of the unacceptable behaviours that we have identified lately, including vaping and the lack of respect in terms of following reasonable staff instructions. Your support to reinforce the need to be respectful would be greatly appreciated.

We have had our first parent teacher interview night and I extend a special thank-you to the families who took advantage to speak to our wonderful teachers. If you missed this event and would like feedback on your child’s progress, please don’t hesitate to contact the school via email at: NewtonMooreshs@education.wa.edu.au.

We have our ANZAC Day Ceremony on the last day of term, Thursday 6th April 2023. On this occasion, we come together to commemorate the men and women who have served our nation in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. Our focus for this year will be on the forgotten Aboriginal soldiers who fought in the wars.

We also had a fantastic ball for our Year 11 and 12 students, and I want to thank the organisers, including the student ball committee, who put so much time and effort into to making this event one of the highlights of the year. The students seemed to have lots of fun. There was plenty of dancing, and the photo booth was once again a huge success.

Parents are reminded that Thursday 6th April 2023 is the LAST DAY for accepting Secondary Assistance Scheme applications. This applies to all Centrelink, Health Care Card, Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card, or Veterans Affairs Pensioner Concession Card holders. At the commencement of Term 2 we will be sending home a reminder of unpaid billing items. One of the best ways that parents and carers can help support the school and all the wonderful activities that occur for your children is through the timely payment of contributions and charges. If you are having trouble, please contact our Finance officer on 0897222400

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy break over Easter, and I look forward to a fantastic Term 2.

Susan Kerr M.Ed.Admin, B.Ed,Dip.Teach
PRINCIPAL
Newton Moore SHS

From the Finance Team

URGENT – ACTION REQUIRED
LAST DAYS TO APPLY for up to $350 towards school costs and uniforms!

Only 6 days left to apply. Deadline: Thursday 6th April 2023

Why apply? Greatly reduce your child’s school costs!

Secondary Assistance:

Bring your concession card and bank details to the school Accounts Office to apply.

You receive:

• $115 paid to your bank account
• $235 towards your child’s subject contributions / compulsory charges

Abstudy Supplement:

Bring your concession card to the school Accounts Office to apply.

You receive:

• $79 towards your child’s subject contributions / compulsory charges

Unable to get into the school?

Please don’t miss out: call 9722 2419 or email michelle.scanlan@education.wa.edu.au to discuss other options to receive your supplement.

These are the eligible concession cards:

They must be:

• In parent/guardian/carer’s name
• Current during Term 1, 2023
• Student name(s) listed as dependants

Lower School Deputy Principals’ Update

Term 1 has flown by. We are almost at the halfway mark in Semester 1, and I encourage all students to reflect on how they can improve in Term 2 to make the most of their Semester 1 grades. Parents are also encouraged to make contact with teachers if further information about your child is required. There is an expectation at NMSHS that teachers will make contact home by the mid-semester mark if they have any academic concerns for your child achieving a satisfactory grade.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN is over for 2023, with results expected in early Term 3. The earlier timeline will ensure we can analyse data and adjust Year 8 and 10 curriculum programs to address identified common gaps in literacy and numeracy. I was most impressed, when supervising the exams, with the focus and concentration of students in giving the tests their best shot. For students in Year 9 who achieve Band 8, no further testing will be required as they have pre-qualified for OLNA within upper school pathways.

Year 7 Enrolments 2024

If you have a child entering NMSHS in 2024, application forms for the school’s specialist programs, Science Engineering, Science Horizons and our MASH Sports Program are now available.

Promotional visits to local primary schools will take place early in Term 2, where further information will be provided to students alongside copies of the application form and our 2024 enrolment form. Program testing will take place mid-Term 2.

Attendance

At NMSHS, we expect and reward positive attendance at school. Students achieving above 95% attendance will receive a Term 1 certificate and students achieving good standing, incorporating positive attendance, will be invited to attend Week 10 reward activities.

Please continue to communicate with the school if your child is unwell or has a genuine reason for school absence so this can be explained. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you are struggling with your child attending school as further strategies to support can be offered.

Senior School Deputy Principals’ Update

WHY STUDENTS NEED TO TURN OFF DEVICES AT LEAST HALF AN HOUR BEFORE SLEEP

Artificial light from electronic and other devices generally emits a blue light (it may not look blue, but that is the underlying light). Blue light is a type of non-visible light at a very short wavelength.

What does blue light do to the human body?

Non-visible light has a lot of energy, and studies show that a lot of exposure to this type of light can impair your sleep cycle. During sleep, lots of essential physical processes take place and it is also when learning from the day is consolidated in memory. This means that having enough sleep is vital for students.

What can students do to limit their exposure to blue light at night?

Some suggestions include:

• Be exposed to sunlight during the day to assist in accurately setting your body clock.
• Stop using all electronic devices an hour before bed.
• Get a red or orange reading lamp, which does not emit blue light.
• Use blue light blocking glasses at night.
• Install a program or app on your computer or device to change the type of light it emits. A variety of programs are available including F.lux, EasyEyez, Night Filter, Zzz iPhone filter, Bluelight and Twilight.
• Invert the colours on your smartphone, iPad or Kindle, or change the device to the night-time setting.
• Turn the brightness down on your device for a few hours before bed (not perfect, but better than nothing!).

You can learn more about how to optimise your performance as a student at

Attendance

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Email

At the beginning of each week, an email is sent to parents/carers to notify them of any unexplained absences for the previous week. The school has an expectation that student absences will be explained within 7 days. If this does not occur, absences will be recorded as unacceptable, and the student will risk losing good standing.

Compulsory Attendance

Students must attend school and be in education, training and/or employment until the end of the year in which they turn 17 years and 6 months. Teachers submit records of student attendance each period. The data printouts created from this information are legal documents and may be utilised in a court of law.

Truancy

Truancy is illegal. Parents/Guardians will be required to attend meetings to discuss student truancy and be involved in support planning to rectify this behaviour.

Medical Certificates

A medical certificate for prolonged absences that are due to sickness and/or injury will need to be provided after 3 days. Illness includes both physical and mental health.

Punctuality

Students who are late for school MUST report to the Student Services Centre. If students are late for a legitimate reason, they must provide the school with a note from a parent/carer OR the parent/carer signs them in.

Ongoing lateness to school will be communicated to parents to determine any reasonable cause and support will be offered by the school where possible. Consequences will be considered for students with no reasonable cause for lateness.

Permission to leave school

Permission to leave school grounds must be sought from the staff in the Student Services Centre who will issue a leave pass to students with a legitimate reason to leave the school. This must be authorised by a parent/guardian.

SMS

The school requires that an explanation of a student’s absence is provided on the day of the absence. An SMS will be sent home to parents for all students who are marked absent without notification on the day of the absence. The easiest way to explain any absence is to reply to this SMS immediately.

SMS: 0400 207 827
Please save this number to your mobile device

Student Services Update

In our current societal climate, Vaping has become increasingly popular among Australian teenagers, with some studies indicating that over one in ten high school students have tried vaping. Adolescents are in a high-risk zone as they are influenced by social media and peer pressure to experiment.

What can you do to help?

Talk openly and honestly with children about the dangers of vaping. Open communication is key. Encourage your child to talk and offer support without judgment. It is never too young to start this conversation.

Educate yourself on the risks associated with vaping and the strategies that schools are using to combat the issue. This will help you to better support your children and work collaboratively with schools to address the problem. If you require more information, feel free to contact one of the Student Services Team who can assist you.

Crazy Sock Day

On Friday 21 March, students were requested to wear crazy socks as an expression of their uniqueness. Throughout the week, students had completed antibullying lessons, culminating in a crazy sock day on Friday.

The Student Services team has created a display in the IRC for students to inform students about what they can do if they are being bullied.

Congratulations to our Crazy Sock winners.

Halogen Young Leaders

On Monday 20th March, our Student Executive attended the annual Halogen Young Leaders Conference at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. We heard from guest speakers, Eliza Greene (Pro surfer and Business Woman), James Foley (Children's Picture Book Author), Matthew Pavlich (AFL Champion), and The Honorable Simone McGurk MLA (Fremantle Member of Legislative Assembly).

Harmony Day

On the 21st of March the school made a special effort to celebrate Harmony Day and acknowledge the huge contribution all cultures make to our great country. The student leaders were busy selling badges that were made by students in Student Services, and Miss Edwards sold many tickets for the ‘guess the number of lollies’ jar. I was so happy to present Chantell from the Newton Moore Education Support Centre with her winning lollies after she guessed the correct number of 276. On the day, we captured as much footage as possible of staff and students saying in their language – Happy Harmony Day. We will be putting that together in the near future as a celebration of Belonging to our School.

School Nurse

If your child is unwell, please keep them at home.

Many schools will ask that your child stays home if they have an illness or other condition that could be contagious.

Staying home allows them to recover, and also prevents the spread of disease throughout the school.

Generally, they should stay home if they have a fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea, sore throat, trouble swallowing, rash, unusual sores, unusual spots, earache, moderate to severe headache, moderate muscle ache, muscle pain, wheezing, difficulty breathing, red or burning eyes, or head lice.

They will also need to stay home if they are coughing, sneezing, or congested.

Stay home until the symptoms have decreased without medication for a period of 24 hours, if possible.

Learning Areas

VET

South 32 Worsley Alumina Visit

Year 11 and 12 VET students were given the opportunity to visit South 32 Worsley, with the support of the Jobs and Skills Centre, to learn about the many career pathways offered at the Alumina Refinery.

Throughout the day, students went on a tour of the refinery, learnt about the processes involved in mining Bauxite and refining Alumina, and spoke with staff from a variety of Departments including Engineering, Chemistry, Medical, Processing, Technological, and Environmental. They were able to get hands on experience with the paramedic and firefighting equipment, and were treated to a delicious lunch.

Thank you to those students who attended: you represented yourselves and NMSHS well. An informative and fun day was had by all.

HASS

In Year 8 and 9 HASS we have been using hands-on materials to help understand the topic we are learning about. In Year 8, we created a potato mountain where we measured the potato and added contours at 1cm intervals to show the height. Using our “mountain”, we then drew the contours onto a topographic map. In Year 9, we are studying biomes. To understand where the climatic zones are, we drew them in relation to our major lines of latitude which helped students to understand why certain biomes are where they are.

HPE

Our Pre-Carnival Events have started in the lead up to our Athletics Carnival (Wednesday Week 10). On Wednesday 15th March, students in Years 7-10 completed the 1500m. Well done to all students who participated in this event, earning points towards their house! Congratulations to our winners.

Aboriginal Education

Stars

Our Year 7 Stars attended their Year 7 Induction excursion at the Yallingup Maze. They participated in a range of problem-solving activities and teambuilding challenges. The girls had a wonderful time and were challenged in team events throughout the day they worked well together and also had plenty of fun.

Our juniors Star, Year 7-9 have also started preparing for the Stars Football Carnival with Stars attending from all over the State. Senior Star Kirralee Hart has been coaching the girls on Tuesday mornings in preparation for the event.

Our Senior Stars celebrate International Women’s Day with a morning tea and presentation and discussion time with special guests and women leaders from the Police force and Monadelphous including stars Alumni Lara Riley.

Clontarf

Newton Moore Clontarf had 10 boys from Years 8 and 9 travel up to Perth to take part in the prestigious Cecil Andrews Football Carnival at the beginning of Week 7. The Camp started with an inspirational tour of the Dockers’ training facility, followed by an overnight stay at 1st Westfield Scout Hall. Teaming up with Collie during the event, the boys started with a convincing win against Northam/Swan View. Game 2 was a tough battle against the eventual winners, Cecil Andrews, but the boys bounced back with a 1-point victory in the last game against Fremantle, which meant we finished 3rd.

News from Parent Bodies

Canteen News

Hello Newton Moore Families

We will be doing special lunch orders only for the Athletics Carnival Day on April 5th.

Sub Sandwiches and a Drink will be available to order:

• Chicken Teriyaki
• Italian BMT
• Vege
• Egg & Bacon
• Salad Only

Ordering is now up and running online and it will remain open until 31st March. Please remember to choose 05/04/2023 when ordering online.

Or alternatively, come into the canteen and fill out an order form for the Athletics Carnival Day.

Please make sure you either send your child with a packed lunch on that day or place an order, as the Canteen will only be open for drinks, slushies and Froyo Ice-Creams.

Events

Glizt and Glamour School Ball

Year 11 and 12 students attended the ‘Glitz and Glamour’ School Ball at the Quality Lighthouse Hotel on Saturday, 11th March 2023. Many students hit the red carpet with their partners, dazzling and showing off their individual styles.

Community Notices