Principal's Message

Last week was our first full week where all students and staff returned to face to face teaching. It was wonderful to see our playground alive and buzzing with students and hear familiar voices throughout the corridors. During week 5, we also had a number of significant events occur, some of which I will address individually in my report below.

Water Story – Where’s our Water?

Where’s our Water was a collaborative project between Hunter Water, the University of Newcastle and the Awabakal and Worimi communities. Our school was incredibly fortunate to be a partner in the project where a group of our Aboriginal students helped to create a water story that drew on traditional wisdom and practices, for caring for our lands and waterways.

Our students demonstrated commitment and creativity as they developed the storyline, characters and assisted with the artworks in the book. Where’s our Water? will contribute to educating young people in the Lower Hunter about the value of water and the role we all play in ensuring we have enough now and into the future.

I would like to recognise Aunty Belinda Wright, our school’s Aboriginal Education Officer and Mr Paul Myers for their support and coordination of our students throughout the project. Finally, I would like to acknowledge and congratulate our talented and inspirational students; Grace Antcliff, Amarni Boswell, Bailey Coe, Austin Griffin, Shikiah Hipwell, Penny Lombardi, Zeke Lombardi, Ashah Lyle, Chayce Muldoon-Baker and Rikky Usher.

For further details of the project and to view our students in action, please click on the image below. 

Pedestrian Crossing

The safety and wellbeing of our school community has been a significant concern due to the high flow of traffic during school peak hours of a morning and afternoon. The increase in our student numbers has meant an increase in the need for a pedestrian crossing to ensure that students walking and/or riding bikes, scooters or skateboards are able to safely navigate their way across the road.

We recently found out that Newcastle High School has been successful in our application for a proposed children’s crossing on Parkway Avenue. To further support this, we are now currently in the process of applying for a school crossing supervisor. I have included a graphic of the children’s crossing and as additional information comes to light regarding the proposed works, I will be sure to pass this on to our school community.

Stage 6 Subject Information Videos

COVID-19 has certainly changed the way, that we as a school, have had to conduct our normal school operations. Due to restrictions in having parents onsite for information sessions, our teaching staff have become very creative in how we can provide this valuable subject information to support both our students and parents. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work of our staff in creating informative and engaging videos that promote not only our specialist subject areas, but the vast array of staff skills and the immense diversity of subject choices that are school offers.

Select the below image to view the diverse array of electives available to be studied in stage 6.