Cootamundra High School Newsletter

It’s hard to believe that we are mid-way through term 4 already and that the HSC exams are all over. Our Presiding Officer, Mrs Sue Guy and her team, have commended the way our Year 12 students presented themselves to each and every exam – courteous, diligent and respectful. We look forward to celebrating with our Year 12 students this week at their formal and our thanks are extended to Ms Willougby for all her work in organising this special event. HSC results will be released by NESA in week 10.

NAIDOC week was celebrated at CHS last week with students participating in a host of cultural activities with the theme ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’. The weather was kind to us which enabled many Aboriginal games to be enjoyed on our new courts, awesome art works were made which can be incorporated into the design of our Aboriginal garden and outdoor learning space and the lemon myrtle biscuits and bush tomatoes scones were absolutely delicious. It was great to learn about a local dream time story and to visit our town hall to see this story depicted in the gorgeous lead light windows. Thanks, are extended to Peter Beath for his continued work teaching local Wiradjuri language to our Year 8 students and for presenting our Proud and Deadly awards to our students. A big thank you is also extended to all staff who led these activities.

Mr Clint Perry, Year 7 Advisor 2021, enjoyed hosting current Year 6 students for a few periods last week at our high school as part of the revised transition program. We can’t wait to have them all back for a full day of fun and learning on the 1st of December.

Exams will conclude this week for Year 7-10 students. Students are encouraged to take on board all feedback provided to them in the coming weeks by their teachers as exams are returned. Celebrate what you know and work hard on developing the knowledge and skills required to improve your educational outcomes. Seek clarification from your teachers, ask robust questions and set yourselves challenging goals in each subject.

The Student Representative Council are planning a number of fun days before the end of the year for all students to participate in including a sport day and an end of year Christmas dress up day. They hope you will all support their efforts and come along and participate in the activities planned.

All stakeholders have had the opportunity recently to participate in surveys to provide us with feedback about what we do well and areas for improvement. This valuable information will assist us as we look to evaluate our 2018-2020 School Plan and as we look to write a rigorous School Improvement Plan for 2021-2024. Thank you to all those people who took the time to complete these surveys. Your opinions and considered ideas are highly valued.

As COVID19 restrictions start to ease we are pleased to be able once again to host face to face Parent and Citizen (P&C) association meetings. Vice President, Greg Holt, would like to extend an invitation to all interested parents, carers and community members to join us at 6pm next Wednesday 25th November in the school library to catch up and discuss all things CHS. We hope you can join us.

It was with great pleasure that the School Captains and I accepted a beautifully presented formal record of the yearly scholarship awardees by the Country Education Foundation recently from Paul Brayrooks and David Haine. This important record of Cootamundra High School’s CEF recipients was the brainchild of long time CEF member David Haine. The enormous financial contribution this foundation has made to so many of our students has been gratefully accepted and has enabled our students to pursue their chosen career pathways.

The Curriculum and Timetabling teams are working hard to complete subject choices and lines so our 2021 timetable can be completed. We are also working hard to organise staffing for the new year. With some planned retirements and staff movements occurring I am working with the DoE Human Resource and Teacher Recruitment teams to secure staff to fill these positions. I will provide all updates to you all in my week 10 newsletter report.

The end of the year is fast approaching however it is important to remember at all times our motto at CHS is: Teachers Teach, Students Learn and Be Kind.

With Regards

Mrs L Daly

On the weekend of the 24th and 25th of October the Duke of Edinburgh Award participants, along with Mr Perry and Ms Clarke, went on a hike in Jindalee National Park in preparation for our Mount Kosciuszko Qualifying Adventurous Journey next year. One word to describe the hike is ‘unexpected’. A lot of unexpected things happened. First of all, no one had downloaded their maps. We all had the expectation that someone else would be prepared but it did not turn out that way. When Mr. Perry asked who had downloaded the map, there was no response but the guilty silence of our collective laziness. So, Erin, Amelia, and Mr. Perry drove back into town to download the maps. A lesson that had to be learnt. They saw camels on the way but returned safely with the maps all ready to go. 

Another unexpected thing was that half of the planned trail was actually off limits. Team DAY (Dennis, Amelia, Yasmin. I’m a sucker for acronyms) stopped 15 minutes into their hike at a menacing looking fence that stated the beyond was ‘Private Property’. Unsure what to do next, Team DAY sought the help of Team E (Erin, Ella, Eric). They met on Cypress Trail and made their way through the bush following a smaller trail along a fence. The Team United or E-DAY Team, on their wayward path, walked up a hill which they were supposed to walk down, stopped several times, frequently checked their phones for signal, and got stared down by sheep from the other side of the fence. Using basic navigational skills to move around the park and get back.  Eventually, they made it back to camp where Mr Perry and Ms Clarke had set up their tents.

Settling down in the little clearing that we called our home (for at least a night), everyone grabbed their tents to begin setting them up. Amelia proudly pulled her tent from the bottom of her pack, showing everyone her ability to be reliable, promptly realising that she had neglected to bring a very crucial part of the tent apparatus. Her tent poles (and pegs too). Yasmin, the person she was sharing her tent with, was not very impressed by this blunder. It was concluded that they would venture back to Cootamundra to find the tent poles and pegs later in the evening. Ella and Erin kindly accommodated the displaced Yasmin and Amelia in their tent to chat until Amelia went into town to scavenge for the crucial parts of the tent. 

While in the tent, it began to rain - heavily. As all the Duke of Ed participants were safely in their dry tents, Ms Clarke and Mr Perry squelched around the campsite to fill up water bottles using the camouflage tarp that was set up to protect the single skinned tents of the Award Leaders. Some people received a gift from nature in their water. Amelia got a lovely little gumnut floating around in her drink bottle. Mr Perry claimed that it had dropped from the tree above straight into the water but Amelia was not convinced at the accidental cause of the gumnut flavoured water. 

As the tent poles and pegs were retrieved, Erin had a laughing attack at the word ‘squish’ and the rain got heavier and heavier. When Amelia and Mr Perry returned with the tent items and the trekkers very well earnt dinner (the real ones know) the rain finally began to subside. Amelia and Yasmin’s tent was set up (thanks Mr Perry) and the squad began to wind down for the night. After displacing each other’s footwear several times and squelching around the campsite, some of the hikers gathered in one of the larger tents to play Uno. For two hours. There was lots of laughing and carrying on and ‘Shush Yasmin you’re too loud- ANYONE WANT A RED FROG?’. Ella zapped people with her mosquito bite zapper and Erin had a few more minor laugh attacks. Dennis lost at Uno 50 times and Yasmin’s feet were exiled from the tent. Amelia caught mosquitos buzzing around the tent and Eric just wanted to go to sleep. Eventually we all deferred to our own tents and tried to catch some zzz’s. 

Then it was morning.  The next event was the flattening of Erin’s ‘bowl’. As the trekkers emerged from their tents, Yasmin with suspiciously neat hair, the ones who had brought hot meals or beverages waited around the gas burner to cook them. Erin had brought some Easy Mac ’n’ Cheese with a paper bowl to eat it in. Tragically, over the night, it had flattened to a sad plate shape. It was gut-wrenchingly hard to watch Erin attempt to stir in the cheese powder, macaroni's spilling over the plate's edges, clumps of orangey-yellow powder refusing to be combined with the slowly cooling pasta, Ms Clarke laughing at the comically sorrowful turn of events, but offering her utensils. Eventually Mr Perry found a solution to Erin’s Not-So-Easy Mac ’n’ Cheese dilemma. A plastic cup that he had in his pack which was a considerably more effective container than an unconventional paper plate.

The hikers went on a 5km walk and learned some survival techniques, things like how to filter water and it’s unexpected sources (there’s that word again), and how to deal with a snake bite situation. Along the way they stopped to build a shelter that resembled a whale carcass and used leaves which were artfully abducted (stolen) from the shelter that the Award Leaders had built. Ella, Erin and Yasmin found an (unexpected) rabbit’s head which was dropped by feuding birds. They returned later with new skills and new experiences. 

What followed could be described as a ‘lazy Sunday’ everyone meandered around camp, catching up on sleep that they missed, watching downloaded Netflix episodes, desperately roasting marshmallows over a gas burner, and once again playing Uno. 

By Amelia Franklin and Eric Chick

During week 5 our students celebrated the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by participating in a series of NAIDOC activities. Each day our junior school students participated in an array of culturally informed and fun activities that include art, cooking, sport, a history walk-talk and planning for our Aboriginal garden and outdoor learning space. 

Students used their own understanding of Aboriginal art and design to create individual patterns which they will transfer onto a river rock for inclusion in our Aboriginal garden. They developed their culinary skills by participating in a cooking workshop where they made Bush Tomato Scones and Lemon Myrtle Biscuits, delicious! 

The PDHPE department have sourced Yulunga Traditional Indigenous games from which a variety of competitive and team-building games were played. Each day groups of students walked to the Cootamundra Town Hall and viewed the beautiful stained-glass windows in the foyer that tell the story of ‘The Longest Night’. They also revisited the ’Cultural Landscapes of the Gudhamangdhuray Wiradjuri’ booklet authored by Bayley Derrick, Brodie Jenkins, Alicia Harland and Blake Sloan.

We are in the midst of planning for an Aboriginal garden and outdoor learning space and throughout NAIDOC week students have had the opportunity to conduct their own research and put forward their own considered ideas on the types of plants and other features this garden should include.

We are excited for the action-packed week of learning we had on Wiradjuri land!