Leaves from the Forest - A publication of The Forest High School

From the editor

Leaves Newsletter

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Trial HSC Examinations

Year 12 will be sitting their Trial HSC Examination commencing August 2^nd and I would like to encourage them to make the most of the time they have to prepare for those exams. They should focus on maximising their study time in the lead up to the exams and additionally they should consider minimising the number of hours they may be working in part-time employment. It is critical for students to get their work/life balance right in preparation for the HSC. I would also stress that attendance will be very important after the trial so that students do not miss out on vital revision and feedback from teachers that will enhance their final results.

Subject Selections

The Year 10 into 11 Information Evening, Monday 16^th August at 7:00 pm, will provide students and parents with the necessary information to make informed decisions about which subjects the students will study over the next two years. Parents need to be aware of the balance of subjects required for the students to meet Preliminary and HSC requirements and to obtain an ATAR. I strongly encourage parents to attend with their students so they are aware of Board of Studies requirements when choosing a pattern of study.

School Development Day

The School Development Day on Monday 19^th July was an extremely productive and enjoyable day for all the teachers and parents who attended. The day was devoted to Aboriginal Education with presentations by an Aboriginal Elder, Ray McMinn, who is the Northern Sydney Region Aboriginal Education Consultant and an Aboriginal Support Officer, Dave Lardner, who is a HSIE teacher at Wyong High School and who has a great deal of experience working with Aboriginal Communities. The schools from the Forest Learning Community attended and the sessions provided an excellent opportunity for teachers from all of the schools to share ideas and reflect on the types of collaborative learning we will be able to undertake within our community.

The last session was devoted to individual faculties and schools working together to plan further actions. The Forest Learning Community is developing a K – 12 scope and sequence
in Aboriginal Education to provide continuity of learning for all students across the K- 12 curriculum. The School Development Day provided an excellent start to the term.

High Resolves
High Resolves is an outstanding global citizenship program.

All Year 8 students will undertake the second High Resolves module, “Justice”, on the 29^th
and 30^th of July. Justice is an exploration of fairness, especially in the distribution of wealth
and poverty. I strongly encourage Year 8 parents to discuss this program with their children. Parents who would like more information on this excellent program should visit the High Resolves website at www.highresolves.org or email questions to info@highresolves.org

Opportunity Class test is being held on Wednesday 28 July.

The Opportunity Class Placement Test is held annually for gifted and talented Year 4 students wishing to qualify for OC placement in Year 5 and 6.

Be alert: Phone scam

Concerns have been raised by parents about phone calls from cold callers, pretending to represent Microsoft, who attempt to scare people into believing that their computer has been infected by a virus. This type of call is a scam. These scammers have nothing to do with the Department or Microsoft. The best thing to do is to hang up on these callers.

See this Sydney Morning Herald article for more information about these scams:

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/pay-up-or-your-pcs-toast-20100630-zm8i.html

Avoid danger when using heaters this winter

The Children’s Hospital at Westmead recommends these top tips to help your children avoid burns, falls and electrocution:

§ Make sure your heater meets Australian standards

§ Use a guard

§ Keep your heater on a level floor surface

§ Ensure your heater isn’t blocking any exits or high traffic areas

§ Do not dry clothing items by placing them over an electric heater.

§ Ensure you install and maintain at least one smoke detector on each floor of your home.

More information at www.chw.edu.au/parents/kidshealth/safety_factsheets/pdf/heaters_and_fireplaces.pdf

Exam tip – Remind your child not to leave any questions unanswered.
If they are short of time, use note form. Remember, they can only be marked on the answers they give.

More tips at www.schools.nsw.edu.au

Rosemary McDowall

Principal

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TERM 2 ACHIEVEMENT CERTIFICATES 2010

Congratulations! The following students have achieved certificates for Term 2.

Year 7

Marlenn Aroyan, Enric Baylon, Ben Crossley, Zoe Elliotte, Sam Filmer-Ramsay, Alex Kukrudz, Tangesi Maile, Rebecca Oakes

Year 8

Annabelle Abbruzzo, Aiden Baldwin, Georgina Barret, Allyson Cook, Carissa Da Silva, Josh Filatoff, Jay Greer, Bradley Guest, Bowie Hamilton, Joshua Hawkins, Alice Howie, Jamie Lee, Shane Machon, Chloe Mangold, Jasmine McCrudden, Antoin Nguyen, Tys Occhiuzzi, Lauren Phillips, Sascha Qin, Jack Shams-Aria, Damian Taylor, Jason Vo, Sam Whittaker, Brendan Wilson, Charlotte Wilson, Zac Wilson, Sharon Young

Year 9

Esteban Arco, Gemma Backhouse, Andrew Bacon, James Brooks, Harry Crawford, Juan Cutrera, Josh Davies, Martyn Dawes, Jasmine Derriman, Calvin Galloway, Rubie Hardie, Cindy Kim, Eloise Page, Chloe Ryman, Luke Saldern, Gemma Shipley, Tiigist Stacker, Ming Tang, Hannah Thompson, Holly Van Heekeren, Victor Zhao

Year 10

Travis Britton, Anna Gamayunov, Anik Kalra, Sarah Kulhan, Sam Liljeqvist, Jamie Listberger, Bettina Lock, Natalie Long, Kieran Mistry, Holly O'Sullivan, Ehtan Qin, Justin Smith, David Suh, Francis Thompson, Josie Waller

Year 11

Michael Collins, Gun Hur, Jin Lee, Yvette Sturrock, Rinchen Tsering, Raymond Yu

Year 12

Luke Byrne, Matthew Cooney, Felicity Dyet, Britany Ferguson, Jacob Johnston, Eric Kim, Hilary Page, Amy Power, Declan Stockdale, Shirley Zhou

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MATHS REPORT

Welcome back to Term 3. We have a busy and rewarding term in front of us.

Some important Term 3 dates to put in your diary:

· The Australian Mathematics Competition will be held in the school hall on Thursday 5 August. No calculators allowed. Students who have entered should see Mr Gouiric for details.

· Year 10 Common assessment week 2A Thursday 29 July

· Year 12 Trial HSC weeks 3B, 4A

· Year 7 Common assessment week 5B Friday 20 August

· Year 8 Common assessment week 6A Tuesday 24 August

· Year 11 Yearly Preliminary assessment weeks 8A, 9B

· Year 9 Common assessment week 9A Monday 13 September

Year 7 students will be using a calculator in their studies this term. Casio FX-82AU+ calculators
are available for purchase from your Maths teacher: cost $25.00:

A reminder to Year 7-10 parents:

Please send in the $10 Mathletics fee with your child if you haven’t already done so. We rely on
this money in order to run this worthwhile school and homework program. This reduced cost of the Mathletics program is only available to schools; the normal cost of the program is $100.

During term 2, Forest students have benefited from two new initiatives. These were the Maths on the Move (MoM) measurement project with our community of feeder primary schools, and the QuickSmart numeracy improvement program.

The MoM project ran for duration of term 2 and involved 25 Year 9 students from The Forest acting as mentor/helpers for year 6 primary students. This involved a project launch, video conferences with the primary school, two mentor visits to the local primary schools and culminated with a “Maths Bazaar”day where the best projects were displayed. The photos show some of our students working with their year 6 groups. Congratulations to the following year 9 mentors for being such fine ambassadors :

Brad Lui, Georgia Scheffers, Zigi Zhao, Ingrid Bromhead, Christian Butler, Jasmine Derriman,
Ruby Hardie, Joshua Hill, James Ramirez, Jennifer Scherrer, Evie Smyth, Ming Tang, Matthew
Wright, Joshua Drane, Todd Mills, Eli Jensen, Andrew Bedos, Caela Mitchell, Luke Saldern, Jordie
Swinbourne, Amy Martinez, Leo Lanzarone, Patrick Flakelar, Tiigist Stacker, Yasmin Jones.

The school has also been running the QuickSmart numeracy improvement program during term 2. This is a 30 week program which aims at improving students retrieval times of basic number facts. The research data that has come in from schools around Australia who have been involved in QuickSmart show that it is a highly effective program. Selected year 7 and 8 students have been involved in the program and many have already shown improvement in their recall of the four operations. During Education week parents are invited to visit the school and see how the QuickSmart
program operates. Please phone the school office for details if you are interested in coming
along.

Good luck with your studies.

D.Sizeland
Head Teacher Mathematics

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CANTEEN MENU UPDATE

"Burger with the Lot" (burger, salad, egg, bacon, cheese, pineapple) - $5.00
[pre-ordering this item must be given to the Canteen before the Break it is to be collected]

"Egg & Bacon Rolls" $3.00 (for breakfast over the winter months)

"Home made Soup of the Day" - $2.00

Please check the Blackboard for daily specials at $3.50
Meal Deals with small flavoured milk or water for $5.00

Be ECO Friendly and bring your own container and get a 50c reduction on any meal

NEXT Canteen Meeting is held Monday 9th August in the School Library.

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