Tumut High School Term 4 Highlights

I would like to thank the parents, relatives and carers who are here tonight to celebrate the achievements of our students. Tonight, there will be a range of awards and acknowledgements received by our students, we congratulate each and every one of them for what they have accomplished this year.

2022 has been another challenging year as we continued to cope with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. The unpredictable nature of schooling created by COVID-19 combined with state wide teacher shortages, complicated our ability to find exactly what will be the new normal. Teachers have continued to effectively adapt to changing conditions as best as possible, however, we are aware not all students have been as successful, in coping with traditional schooling since their return from lockdowns.

That said, there has been a gradual return to some activities that were put on hold as we dealt with the implications of the pandemic.

It is great our whole year wellbeing excursions have returned and have been very well received. Our Year 12 trip to North Queensland, the Year 7 trip to Jindabyne, the Year 8 and Year 9 trips to Tathra along with Year 10 to Gerringong, have all provided opportunities for every student to challenge themselves in an environment away from their normal support network.

This term I was fortunate to attend both the Year 8 and Year 10 overnight excursions and I was particularly impressed with how well our students maximised the opportunities available on these excursions.

Our students are happy to see some sporting events have gradually returned as well, although there have been far less opportunities than those available pre pandemic. We have also noticed the return of some of the more traditionally KLA based excursions to destinations like Sydney, Canberra Wagga etc.

Our links with our community are gradually returning and as each month goes by, we are increasingly returning to a more predictable school environment.

On a positive note there is a real sense that perhaps 2023 will be the Year of Predictability rather than another year of the Pandemic giving us unpredictability.

So, 2023 will be a significant year for all and hopefully all the opportunities we have known, will again become available to our students.

THS has long provided the opportunities for so many students in our town to become informed, active and responsible community members whether they remain in Tumut, returned to Tumut or live outside of Tumut.

THS has for so long provided the learning platform for hundreds of students to take up local apprenticeships and traineeships in business, for hundreds  of students to take up university placements leading them into successful careers as parliamentarians, as GP’s , specialist doctors, journalists,  leaders in School and University Education both in Australia and overseas.

Our local High School has helped provide CEO’s for the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute. It has helped provide Mayors including the areas first Indigenous Mayor for our local Council’. It has helped develop high achieving creative arts performers and representative sportspeople.

The list is virtually endless and it’s important we remind ourselves of how significant our local public school is in providing students with these opportunities in an inclusive manner that benefit all students.

It is so important we remind ourselves of how significant Public Schooling is, particularly at a time when research is showing an ever increasing gap between the academic achievements of those from lower socio economic backgrounds compared to those from higher ones.

Tumut High School continues, to this day, to help produce amazing citizens. Our most recent Year 12 students are testimony to this. A cohort of young adults who have conducted themselves as a collective group as respectful and responsible people. A group of students who have achieved both in and outside of the classroom.

I am at the conclusion of my career in education. I have worked in public schools for over 35 years. I have worked in this school for nearly 9 years and I feel I cannot leave without highlighting the need for this community to fight for its local public high school.

Public Schools in NSW are increasingly faced with greater scrutiny and proportionally less funding than schools in the private system. For the benefit of the students in the hall tonight, and for the many that follow, we need to defend the integrity of this school and the Public System it is part of.

The students here tonight, symbolise what can be achieved when opportunities are provided and taken up. If we are to live in a better world it can only happen if every student in our community has access to opportunities that make them better people.

In Tumut, we have a good Public High School that is accessible to all, a school that let’s all our voices be heard when the reputation of our school and our students are challenged. Our students, our staff and our community deserve to have this access.

​Regards, Mr Don Dixon, Principal

This year we say goodbye to our loved Principal of 8 years Mr Dixon.

Please join me on stage while I rant about how great you have been.

It is a great loss for Tumut High to see you leave. Your warm greetings and wise speeches were truly indicative of your passion and devotion to this school and the greater public education system.

While we may have at times taken your leadership for granted, a hole will certainly be left in your wake, as you Sir, were a special Principal that will not soon be forgotten. Your undying pursuit to mingle with all years became evident when you ambushed us on our first Year 7 ALP day with your beloved optical illusion YouTube montages.

But this is what made you a unique Principal. In a position in which it can be very easy to lean back in the comfy office chair, you pursued student interaction to ensure you were doing everything you could to keep students happy and involved.

The school and the individuals within our school would not have achieved many of the great things they have without you as a driving engine at the front of Tumut High.

Student PBL values of Respect, Responsibility and Safety were always something that you successfully instilled in students, at times without them even realizing. Your G’days will be missed in the hallways, your occasional presence on the footy field, basketball court and volleyball court will be missed and your incessant involvement in the learning of students will be dearly missed.

On behalf of the school and the student body, thank you for your service and enjoy a well earned rest.

By 2023 School Captain Elect, Edward Dodds

• Friday, 27 January and Monday, 30 January: Staff Development Days
• Tuesday, 31 January: Day 1 for Years 7, 11 and 12 students
• Wednesday, 1 February: Day 1 for Years 8, 9 and 10 students
• Friday, 3 February: School Photo Day for all students
• Wednesday, 8 and Thursday, 9 February: Years 9, 11 and 12 Drama Excursion to Sydney
• Monday, 13 February: Years 10, 11 and 12 Visual Arts Excursion to Canberra
• Wednesday, 15 and Thursday, 16 February: Year 12 UOW Discovery Day Excursion to Wollongong
• Wednesday, 22 to Friday, 24 February: Year 12 Alpine Fieldwork Excursion to Thredbo

Stay up to date with dates to remember on our school website

and Facebook page.

Tumut High School will be transitioning early in 2023 to a new communication platform for our school community called Compass. 

We look forward to providing more details and links for the commencement of Term 1 to empower the communication channels with our families.

Dear parents and carers,

As we prepare for another year of learning in 2023, you can now apply for the Premier’s Back to School NSW program, offering $150 worth of vouchers (3 x $50 vouchers) to help pay for school supplies like school uniforms, shoes, bags, textbooks and stationery

Every primary and secondary school student in NSW is eligible for the vouchers.

Please read the letter below from the Premier about the program and the vouchers.

You can apply for and access your vouchers in your MyService NSW account, in the Service NSW app, by calling Service NSW on 137788 or by visiting your local service centre.

To be eligible, your child needs to be a NSW resident and enrolled in a NSW primary or secondary school in 2023.

For more information, visit the Service NSW website.

A reminder Tumut High School also has a dedicated website for the Resource Centre.

https://sites.google.com/education.nsw.gov.au/ths-resource-centre/home

The P&C would like to say farewell and wish Mr Dixon all the best in his retirement. We have appreciated all the time, support, and collaboration Mr Dixon has given to the P&C over the years. It was great to have the school Principal attend all our meetings.

We also would like to congratulate Mr Brad Taylor on his appointment for 2023 as Relieving Principal and to Ms Jess Coleman in her new role as Relieving Deputy Principal for 2023. We wish them all the best in their new roles.

Congratulations to our new School Captain's for 2023 - Jessica Wysman and Edward Dodds and Vice-Captain's, Clare Bottero and Noah Parker. Well done on your new leadership roles.

Congratulations to our school canteen staff who have again received accreditation for meeting the NSW Healthy Schools Canteen Strategy. Well done to Marea, Beth and Le and thank you for providing both staff and students with a great canteen.

Some of the topics we addressed this year at our P&C meetings included:

· A change to the school uniform policy to allow girls to wear plain navy tights.

· Funding a new chilled water station near the hall for students from a canteen donation.

· Arranging for an upgrade in the canteen to include a dishwasher.

· Supporting the teacher’s shortage crisis with correspondence sent to local paper and members of parliament.

· Requesting school tours for families.

· Talking about parent concerns as raised at our meetings.

The P&C held a thank you morning tea for all staff members on Monday, 19 December to personally thank them for their dedication to teaching and supporting our students over the past year. Our canteen ladies catered for this event and the food was delicious as always. Thank you to our canteen ladies - Marea, Beth and Le who do a fantastic job running the canteen with healthy food available for both staff and students. It was a pleasure for me to give the canteen ladies a box of chocolates to thank them for 2022.

At the morning tea we presented each faculty with a box of chocolates as a further thank you for all their dedication and hard work. This year the staff had to deal with staff shortages, ongoing COVID-19 measures, extra work loads, on top of an already stressful and hectic role. So thank you to all the staff at Tumut High - on behalf of all parents and carers we appreciate you all and the commitment you have shown this year to our children.

I would like to thank all the Tumut High School P&C Committee members for their ideas and support through 2022. 

The next P&C meeting is also our AGM which will be on Monday the 20th of March 2023. Everyone is welcome to attend and listen and also most welcome to contribute to discussions and offer suggestions or ideas for the betterment of our students and staff at Tumut High.

Only one or 2 meetings are held each term. Our meetings give parents/carers a platform to ask questions, raise issues and be well informed of what is happening in our school.

Next year we are hoping to arrange guest speakers so we can understand more about our school and the programs that are being offered, Please come along and be a part of our school community. Contact the school office and leave a message if you would like to speak with any of our committee members about what we do.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and a happy new year.

By THS P&C President, Mrs Kylie Frowd

Tumut High School welcomed Olympic Gold Medallist Kerri Pottharst to the stage for an inspiring presentation about goal setting and achieving our dreams.

A big thank you to COMPACT for bringing this presentation to Tumut High.

Both staff and students were motivated and there is a video on our Facebook page which includes some of the important and relevant messages of the presentation from Kerri.

A big thank you to Kerri for visiting us at Tumut High School.

Tumut High School students were fortunate this term to participate in a presentation with Martin from The Resilience Project.

All our students from Year 7 through to Year 11 were engaged in learning strategies to be resilient and how to be supportive of one another.

It was so great to see the hall packed with navy and red with enthusiastic students embracing the importance of knowing wellbeing strategies. For more information on The Resilience Project visit; https://theresilienceproject.com.au/

Tumut High School paused to commemorate Remembrance Day on Friday, 11 November.

The school came together to reflect as Vice Captain Elect Clare Bottero read Commemoration, Vice Captain Elect Noah Parker read In Flanders Fields and Year 7 student Ivy Crawford addressed the school with a biography of local ex-serviceman, Lieutenant Colonel Allan Humphrey Scott.

Student volunteers asked the students and staff to remember a number of local servicemen who fought in armed conflicts.

Hayley Wolfe and Mr Britt performed a haunting rendition of Hallelujah before the school leaders, Jess Wysman and Noah Parker laid a wreath on the stage.

Students read The Ode before the Last Post, then the school observed a one minute silence as the flag was raised from half mast during Reveille.

Students continued to show what respect looked like by being reflective on this significant day in our history.

Congratulations to Nathan Butt (Year 12) and Eddie Dodds (Year 11) on receiving Riverina School Sports Awards.

Nate received a Riverina Blue for his participation in Rugby Union and Eddie received a Riverina Merit Certificate having received a Blue award last year, for swimming.

Riverina Blues are awarded to students in recognition of sporting excellence along with seeing the value of an all-round education and being a positive role model.

THS is very proud of both Nate and Eddie for their well deserved recognition.

Year 11 student Annika Casey had a wonderful time during the term performing at the Sydney Opera House with the NSW State Public Schools Choir. 

The State Choir consists of 40 singers from schools across NSW ranging from Years 8 to 12.

Annika was given 5 songs to learn before travelling to Sydney for a full day’s rehearsal at the Conservatorium of Music.

Rehearsing and performing two songs each night at the Sydney Opera House has been a truly rewarding experience for Annika.

Tumut High is very proud of Annika's representation and her valuable contribution to the State Choir.

Loads of fun and laughter was had with our Year 7 students visiting Wagga and exercising at Oasis Aquatic Centre and FlipOut to celebrate end of year.

More photos of this great day are in the gallery on our website; https://tumut-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/

So much action and great times for our Year 8 students at Kianinny Camp near Tathra. Students were engaged in a variety of exciting outdoor activities at Kianinny which encouraged team work and helped to build better peer relationships.

It was great to see them all following the rules to be safe during challenges and respecting the staff for the awesome opportunity to be learning in a different environment.

Activities included archery, rope course, flying fox and lots of water exercise along with team building games.  They had so much fun completing the structured aquatic activities with surfing at Tathra Beach and Paddle Boarding on the Bega River.

More photos of all the fun can be found in the gallery on our website; https://tumut-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Year 9 students have been helping out in our community participating in the Tumut High School Volunteer Work Skills Program partnering with St.Vincents De Paul store in Tumut. 

In this work environment our students have gained the following skills:

· Working in a functioning retail store

· Sorting of product/merchandise

· Categorising and preparation of goods ready for sale

· Customer service and sales

Each week 2 students have attended the shop and assisted with the demands of operating a retail business and along the way gained confidence and skills to seek employment in the retail industry.

Feedback has been positive with our students enjoying the overall experience and have found volunteering to be very rewarding. THS is very proud of these students for leading the way in volunteering within our community.

We are so proud of our Year 9 students who embraced the opportunity to join in and interact with members of our community at the Tech Savy and Scam Aware for Seniors.

Organised by Riverina Police District, the session allowed our students to show some tips and tricks with the use of mobile devices. Tips included running device updates, scam checks and changing safety settings.

Feedback from the seniors in our community was that our students were super helpful and the information was very informative and they would highly recommend the session for others.

Year 9 Outdoor Education and Year 11 SLR students enjoyed time with Community Youth Specialists Brody and Jacob (former THS student).

Students worked together well and had lots of fun completing the skills sessions.

Congratulations to the 2022 Year 10 ABW teams who created and operated a virtual online business.

The winners of each category were:

• The Business Simulation - Cherry Bomb Cafe
• Teamwork - Cherry Bomb Cafe
• Business Report - Green Caffeine
• Oral Presentation - Green Caffeine
• Video Commercial - Green Caffeine
• Trade Display - Cappuccino Chimp
• People’s Choice Award (whole school voted for this) - Cappuccino Chimp
• The overall ABW champions - Green Caffeine

Congratulations to all students involved. THS ABW Organiser, Mrs Stroud was impressed with students stepping outside their comfort zone, working as part of a team, being creative and innovative, and making many memories and friends along the way.

Tumut High School is very proud of Year 10. Thank you to the team mentors who worked alongside the students for the whole week. The students appreciated their guidance and support. Thank you to Mr Watts, Ms Hayden, Ms Whyte, Ms Friend and student mentor Drew Beavan.

Thank you to guest presenters;

• Mrs Trina Thomson for sharing her invaluable knowledge and experience about public speaking and presenting to a large audience.
• Expert videographer Mr Mitchell. He explained how to plan and shoot a successful commercial and the importance of knowing your target audience. Mr Mitchell described camera angles, editing, voice overs, music and looked at current ads to evaluate their effectiveness. Each cafe had to then produce a 30 second commercial.
• Mrs Kate Howarth for sharing a realistic insight into the world of advertising and marketing sharing tips, tricks and techniques to get ahead in the world of business. 
• Local entrepreneur Mr Hugh Packard for an inspiring lecture. Students were impressed by his wealth of knowledge and experience. They asked a range of thought provoking questions which generated relevant conversations about the ABW challenge.
• Ms Claire Markwick for sharing her expertise about finance with our ABW teams. Her knowledge and advice was invaluable for our students when operating the ABW simulator.
• Past THS students Maddie Sing and Tom Jeffery. They inspired our students and advised them to do what they love, follow their dreams and grab every opportunity in life.

Another successful week of ABW at Tumut High.

Year 10 students had the best time in really good weather for their end of year excursion to the coast. 

 Planned activities included visits to;

• Minnamurra Rainforest – Students walked through the rich, remnant rainforest teeming with diversity on the beautiful Lyrebird Rainforest Loop walk. The walk is graded as ‘easy’ with suspension bridges, viewing platforms and interpretive signs along the way.
• Kiama Blowhole to Kiama Lighthouse – Kiama’s famous Blowhole is the largest in the world, and is most spectacular when the swell is running from the south-east. Students completed parts of the coastal walk in groups viewing the Blowhole from the public viewing platform, passing the Lighthouse.
• Flip Out Albion Park – Students (and staff!) enjoyed an epic time at the trampoline arena and had a whole world of indoor fun to explore.
• Jamberoo Water Park - gave Year 10 a fast and fun day with lots of laughter and memories with their peers.

More photos of this awesome time can be found in the gallery on our website:  https://tumut-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Our Year 11 students had some fun playing laser tag and ten pin bowling on their PBL excursion to Wagga.

This was a great opportunity for our senior students to enjoy time with their peers and their Year Adviser Ms Munro, away from school and to further demostrate respect, responsibility and safety within our community.

More photos are in the gallery on our website; https://tumut-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Tumut High School proudly hosted the annual Proud and Deadly Awards in the canteen area which was a warm and personable space for these awards.

It was a great success and such a positive event for many students and their families.

Congratulations to all award recipients and in particular the Tumut High School Year 12 students Tana, Jahkobi, Adam and Aidan. We wish you the very best on the next chapter in your lives.

Attention Year 11 and 12 students and families.

National Driver Education is accredited by Transport for NSW as a provider of Safer Drivers Courses for Young Learner Drivers.

Learner Drivers earn 20 BONUS HOURS in their log book at the completion of the course.

SCHOOL HOLIDAY COURSE is on THURSDAY 19TH JANUARY 2023.

Book a course using the QR code with this message.

Please visit www.ndeaustralia.com.au to book a course, use the app. or call 02 9853 3243.

MODULE 1 & 2 ARE GENERALLY CONDUCTED ON THE SAME DAY. 5 HOUR COURSE. REFRESHMENTS, MORNING TEA & LUNCH PROVIDED

Cost of the Course is set by TFNSW at $140.00.N.B. Free course for disadvantaged learner drivers. The NSW Government is offering 1000 free places on the Safer Drivers Course each year to help young learner drivers from disadvantaged backgrounds (who hold a HCC) and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities. The fee exemption allows those who are financially disadvantaged to benefit from the road safety outcomes of the Safer Drivers Course. Please contact NDE for a Concession Application admin@ndeaustralia.com.au