HouseNews

At the end of last week, on a hot and humid Friday afternoon, I came across our wonderful band of Pittwater House Bus Drivers preparing for their afternoon bus run. These gentlemen provide an outstanding service on our School buses, proudly collecting your children and delivering them home each day. Their service is yet another part of the focus on the health and wellbeing of our students. I thank each of our drivers and I trust that each student upon alighting the bus, acknowledges and thanks our drivers too. 

During the Summer Holiday break, five students in Year 12, Ross, Max, Duncan, Lachlan and Callum , participated in the Actura Case Space School, a space-based STEM challenge/experience in Houston, Texas.  While in the USA, we participated in an array of different activities that allowed for us to experience some of the challenges faced by engineers and astronauts during space travel. 

During the first week, we spent most of our time at the Houston Space Centre where we participated in a program called Space University. Here we were given various design challenges including rocket building, thermal and cryogenic shielding design, Mars Habitat design and the programming and design of Mars Rovers. These activities allowed us to develop our understanding and knowledge of space exploration.

The second week had more of a focus on Challenge X and this was a design competition to help solve the problem of space junk.  Space junk are pieces of matter which orbit the earth including decommissioned satellites, abandoned launch stages, micrometeorites and various debris. This debris orbits the earth at speeds of 28,100 kilometres per hour and as a result poses significant risks to operating satellites, rockets and space stations. In teams, we had to create a company that would present to NASA their project proposal to how they could help, including a conceptual design to receive a grant. We were split into two groups: Ross and Callum in team gold, and Duncan, Max and Lachie in team blue with students from other schools from New Zealand and Western Australia respectively.

The competition took place in 3 stages and in the competition five teams made up a group, two groups made up a case and four cases comprised all those involved in the competition.  It was an elimination type competition and as a result, to make it to the final a team would have to win in their group, case and then across the entire competition.  Team Blue achieved first place in Challenge X and in doing so their pitch beat that of 300 other students.  Our design differed from our competitors as we solved the problem using the concepts of physics which we learnt in our last term of 2019. Many groups utilised nets or tethers but we opted for a non-contact method using magnets and Lenz’s Law.

Overall, we all had a great time applying our knowledge and working together through the STEM challenges, as well as experiencing Houston and its culture and we would like to thank Mr Hamerton for his support and the sacrificing of part of his summer break.

Lachlan (G12)

Here we are in Week 4 already and routines are beginning to gel. At this stage in the term your child’s class teacher would have made accommodations for your most vital 1:1 meeting to discuss your child’s goals for Term 1. If you have not made arrangements for this meeting please make certain to follow up with your child’s teacher.

In an effort to reduce the rubbish that results at recess and lunch through food packaging we are requesting the students to consider a waste free lunch box. Many of the lunch boxes available have divisions to accommodate different types of food in the one container without wrapping. Even if you can manage a waste free Wednesday, it would make an enormous difference. This, along with a refillable water bottle (all clearly named) will go a long way to reducing the rubbish at school, and the flow on effect, for our local waterways. Our playground drains wash directly to Dee Why Lagoon. Building an environmental conscience at this age, will surely be a huge benefit for the global citizens of the future. Please support your children with this project.

The playground outside the ECC has become a popular place to play and for parents to congregate after school. It is lovely to see this extended social interaction. If you are planning to meet here and stay beyond the 10 minute parking time allowance would you please park off site. Your extended time in the car park means that other parents are not able to find a car park to collect their ECC and Kindergarten children. Children playing here must always keep their shoes on.

It has been noted that some parents without children in the ECC or Kindergarten are still parking in these dedicated car spaces. If this refers to you, please refrain, as your actions are not in the spirit of Our School. I would also remind parents to be mindful of opening their car doors on to the neighbouring vehicle. Children pushing the doors from the inside of the vehicle alight, can do so with vigour, not realising the impact on the car parked beside them. Some parents have reported damage to their vehicles from parking in the car park.

The Years 3 to 6 Swimming Carnival will now be held on Tuesday 25 February. I look forward to seeing many of you at this wonderful event Please be reminded that you cannot park and stay in the car park until after 8:45am. The car spaces are for ECC parents, Kindergarten parents and 10minutes spaces for the shop or errands that will take less than 10 minutes in total. All vehicles parked must be moved by 2:45pm.  The HICES Swimming Team will be announced shortly. This event will be held on Monday 9 March at SOPAC

Our Co-curricular Clubs are up and running successfully. There is still plenty of room in the Chess Club and Drama Club. 

Our Drama Classes are outsourced to Helen O'Grady Drama Academy - Northern Beaches. The classes run on a Tuesday morning from 7:30am until 8:15am, in the Sports Centre. To enrol your child in these classes you need to contact: sydneynthbeaches@helenogrady.com.au

As a new member of staff, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Victoria James and I have taken on the role of Co-ordinator of Gifted and Talented from K-12. My background is in Personalised Learning and my role is to ensure that our gifted and high achieving students are consistently being challenged across our school both inside and outside of the curriculum.

There are some exciting opportunities coming up in Term 1 for selected students to participate in one day events in a variety of different fields of expertise.

There is an opportunity on the 27th March for a small group of students in Year 10 to attend a ‘United Nations Workshop’ at the University of New South Wales. This is an incredible opportunity to discuss and try to resolve real world issues affecting our global community with like-minded peers. Students will further enhance their skills in diplomacy, negotiation and public speaking.

The ‘ACS Big Day’ is a full day workshop on the 19th March at the University of Technology Sydney. This is for a small group of students in Years 9-10 who are interested in careers in technology. Guest speakers at this event will be from companies such as Adobe, Microsoft and the Westpac Group. 

Teachers will be asked to nominate students who they feel would benefit most from these events, however, if you have any questions or concerns then please do not hesitate to email me at: victoria.james@tphs.nsw.edu.au

In addition to this, there is a fantastic course on offer at the University of New South Wales in High School Computing (HS1917) which is open for students in years 10-12 to complete at the same time as their HSC. The course runs from April-September and school tutorials are held on Wednesdays from 4-6pm and the UNSW Mega-tutorials are held on Wednesdays from 4.30-6.30pm. You don’t need any prior experience – this short course is developed for high school students who have an interest in computer science, engineering and robotics.

If you are interested in finding out more information about this course then please contact me as soon as possible.