Faculty Focus: Support

Support Unit - Smashing Goals!

The students and staff involved in the Support Unit at Newcastle High School have had an incredibly busy (and exciting) semester. We moved into our new Studio space with the 2 IM classes where we were privy to witnessing the demolition of B Block - our old stomping ground - in preparation for the new rebuild. While it was noisy and dusty, students were able to create some impressive artworks and build on their already impressive levels of resilience. 

Students have been exceptionally busy with a multitude of additional learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom, from Starstruck to TAFE with our senior students having attended Start Your Future short courses in barbering, hospitality, maritime, film making, animation, vehicle maintenance, animal studies, engineering and beauty. Some of our students in IO regularly attend fortnightly sailing lessons and a select group of boys recently graduated from the 8 week Winds of Change sailing program which focused on building confidence, self empowerment, maritime skills and teamwork while taking charge of a 50ft yacht. Our students have also competed with gusto in a variety of whole school and Clontarf Academy teams, at Come and Try Athletics events and at regional boccia tournaments.

It hasn’t all been about the great extracurricular activities and excursions, with lots of learning happening in the classrooms. Students built on their knowledge of Shakespeare by completing an in depth study on word origins, language and the themes of Romeo and Juliet. This linked in with our HSIE and Science units of work - The Renaissance - where students researched the history of inventions, famous inventors, artists and astronomers and completed detailed mapping and timelines related to the Plague and the kings and queens of the Tudor era. 

In PDHPE, students have been honing their skills in volleyball, handball, golf, lawn bowls, touch football and boccia, as well as completing relevant bookwork and research assignments. To coincide with the Olympic Games, our students are about to embark on additional team building events to win medals in a variety of sports - including frisbee golf, athletics, basketball and pickleball. 

Our students in Support continue to excel as respected leaders in the SRC, Junior AECG and as NHS prefects as well as undertaking lead roles during cultural, wellbeing and fundraising initiatives such as raising money for cancer research through the World’s Biggest Morning Tea. We also had students participate in the annual National Simultaneous Storytime event, both reading and designing a creative display in the library for Bowerbird Blues and many students are developing their reading prowess by participating in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. All of our students participate in Community Access excursions and have been lucky enough to access musicals, the beach and the museum all while learning the finer art of travel safety, finance and weather prediction. Our boys in the ED Support class man the BBQ each Wednesday to cook sausage sandwiches for the staff and our students in MC are in charge of Shake ‘n’ Cake - ensuring staff and students are kept happy (and full) with flavoured milkshakes and freshly baked muffins, cupcakes and brownies.  

We have now moved into Semester 2 - an exciting time as we have relocated again into a new space (formally room 42) to work with new course content (WWI and WW2, Peace, Narrative writing, Mental Health and STEM). With the leadership of such a knowledgeable and passionate staff, we can only imagine what the rest of 2024 holds for our incredible students in Support. 

Khym Harris (Head Teacher Support)

Semester One Update

Senior IM 

Senior IM have had a great semester despite having to have been extremely flexible and resilient with rooming and distractions. We started off our year by moving into the Studio, which we shared with Music and Junior IM. We were then treated to the distraction of B-Block being demolished right outside our window (and we got a first-hand look at demolition). Finally, at the end of Term 2 we had to move back out and prepare to move into our new home for the rest of the year – the newly renovated Room 42!

In amongst these moves and distractions, Senior IM have managed to squeeze in a lot of learning, and many Out & About adventures. These Out & About community access days enabled our students the opportunity to play lawn bowls at Lowlands, explore the Newcastle Museum, catch various modes of public transport, swim at the new Newcastle Ocean Baths, play beach volleyball and footy at Newcastle Beach, and eat a variety of new and interesting foods.

We are looking forward to settling into our new home in Room 42, and are excited about all the other learning opportunities, in and out of the classroom, to come for the rest of the year.

Jacob Black (IM Senior Class Teacher)

Junior IM 

Last term we bid farewell to the ‘Studio’, our learning space for the past 6 months. In new beginnings, Term 3 is off to an exciting start, with both classes moving into the new and improved Room 42. All students have come back from a well earned holiday with enthusiasm and excitement, ready for a positive and productive term.

Last term will be a hard one to beat with students participating in out and about excursions to Stockton, Fort Scratchley, Westfield and Newcastle Ocean Baths, while the athletics carnival allowed some of our students to show off their sporting abilities. We did a lot of ‘travelling’ within the classroom as well as we studied the Middle Ages and the Shakespearean period.

This term we are looking forward to tailoring our maths lessons with the Olympics, focusing on data and graphing. We will be studying different wars in HSIE and English and getting practical with STEM in Science.

We are looking forward to what this term brings us.

Gemma Gibson (IM Junior Class Teacher)

IO Girls

It has been a busy and fun start to the year for IOG. We have been attending TAFE each Tuesday to participate in a TAFE ‘Yes’ course in Beauty Therapy, attended the Newcastle Disability Expo, have some students attending work placements, various students participated in Starstruck and many went and saw the musical - Lion King Jnr as a part of our Shakespeare unit of work. We have also been lucky enough to visit Newcastle Senior School for our work education program where students participated in shopping, serving customers and stacking shelves in a small Woolworths learning centre. Along with some members of IOB we also attended various ‘Come and Try’ sporting days and have students participating in a fortnightly sailing program where they are taught to sail in 2 person boats by the amazing volunteers at Belmont Sailing Club. Not only have the students been increasing their level of confidence out in the community but they have been working very hard and improving leaps and bounds in the class as well with their maths, english, science and HSIE content. 

Nikki Standen (IOG Class Teacher)

IO Boys

The IOB class has had a productive semester 1 of 2024. They have been working very hard on counting money and budgeting through Community Access excursions and class work during Maths lessons. Students have been learning about what life was like during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with a particular focus on the Tudor period and King Henry VIII. During Term 2 the class have enjoyed visiting various libraries around the Newcastle area and have learnt they can borrow from any Newcastle library with their card as well as return their books to any library that comes under the Newcastle Libraries umbrella. The students have visited the libraries at Adamstown, Stockton, Newcastle and Wallsend.

Mauricia Withyman (IOB Class Teacher)

ED Support

The boys in Room 4 have had an action packed start to Term 3. The boys have shown a great attitude towards attending electives, playing sport and cooking barbecues. This term we are excited to record and display data relating to the Paris Olympic Games.

Keep up the good work boys!!

Craig Main (ED Class Teacher)