Tumut High School Newsletter

Last term Tumut High School elected the school leaders for 2020. There were many Year 11 students who gave speeches for the role. Many great ideas were presented during these speeches. School Leaders voted in for 2020 were Captains Lori Webb and Dominic Erbacher with Vice Captains Jessica Larter and Jamie O'Brien. Congratulations to these new leaders and well done to all who gave speeches. These leaders have big ideas for the school coming up with plans and ideas that they have already presented to the School Executive. 

The SRC has had a busy year with a record number of members turning up to meetings. It's been great to see most SRC electives showing up and putting forward their ideas to make our school a better place. 

A Tumut High School Instagram account has been proposed by the SRC in hopes of bridging the gap between school and home life. The account will be run by the school leaders and monitored by staff, and will serve as a great tool for connecting with students, recognising school achievements, and receiving student feedback.

The Student Representative Council (SRC) are also considering remodeling the "house" system, to be more relevant in everyday school life. The idea is to introduce a fresh set of "houses" (with new names, colours, etc), and have the student body elect 2 senior house captains for each. Instead of applying only to sporting events, the house system will be inclusive of academic competitions, extra curricular activities and so on.

The goal of the new system is to promote friendly competition and play a role in revitalising school spirit, a focus for the 2020 leadership team.                                 

By  2020 Captain Elect Dominic Erbacher

Tumut High School P&C have installed EFTPOS in our canteen for both staff and students.

Minimum purchase is $5.00

Surcharge of up to 1.5% on purchases will be charged as imposed by the Service Provider. eg. $5 purchase up to 8 cents and on $10 purchase up to 15 cents surcharge.

We are a Positive Behaviour for Learning school and our values are Respect, Responsibility and Safety. Students who demonstrate these values during lessons are rewarded with an extended recess. 

This term started with focus on - Right Place Right Time. It is a real world expectation to be where you are expected to be when you are supposed to be there for employment and appointments and it shows you are a reliable person. Punctuality at work, catching public transport, arriving at a sports match are good examples of right place right time. At THS students who are packed up from recess and lunch and walk to class when the first bell rings are demonstrating this behaviour.

Also this term was focus on Safety - Be Careful. When we are careful we are less likely to damage, cause injury or distress to others. At THS we encourage our students to walk, don’t run on the stairs and no pushing others and to stop and think if their actions may cause harm.

More on Safety with Follow Procedures. Every place of employment has procedures which must be followed to ensure safety and efficiency in the workplace. Wearing uniform or correct industry related clothing is demonstrating safety and following procedures. Using equipment appropriately and as demonstrated is also a good example of following procedures.

PBL Student Acknowledgement

Well done to our Year 7/8 debating team - Atticus, Noah, Brooke and Jemma - who went down to Murrumbidgee Regional High School debating the affirmative to the debate "That Australia should close all of its zoo's".

Coach Mr V praised the team for great development of skills and passion for the topic. Thanks to Abbey for timekeeping and chairing this debate.

Congratulations to Abbey Taylor in Year 9 on her selection in the Riverina Year 9/10 debating team to compete at the Junior State Debating Championships in Sydney during December. The Championships include a camp to enable students to develop skills in effective communication while also concentrating on enhancing teamwork in a competitive environment. We are sure Abbey will find this experience very rewarding.

We have some beautiful new picture books after student voting during Book Week and staff recommendations.

They are on top of the Fiction Cove.

All students are invited to visit the Resource Centre and have a look at the popular selections.

Year 8 students Ruby McSweeney and Annika Casey performed at the Opera House in Sydney in September as part of the State Choir.

Annika Casey and Year 10 student Daisy James are about to head to Sydney next week for the NSW Schools Spectacular. Both girls will perform as part of the Mass Choir.

Daisy, Annika and Ruby were selected to take part in both State choral events, through the dedication, enthusiasm and sheer talent they exhibited at the Riverina Choral Camp held earlier this year.

Congratulations to the girls on representing Tumut High School at this fantastic event.

Raechel was a student at Tumut High from 1998 in Year 7 to Year 12 in 2003. Her favourite subject was PDHPE because it was always fun to have a class that does sport to get outside and mingle with friends. She also enjoyed Community and Family Studies as she did well at the subject and liked the content. Raechel found English very interesting and engaging. Her favourite teacher was Mrs Cotterill in Maths as she was very friendly and very easy to understand when it came to maths.

Raechel said her favourite memory of THS was the friendship circles. "Once you leave school, real life begins - working life and friends become distant for a while before you re-connect outside of school. Enjoy your school time while you can, because it goes too fast (and every adult will tell you that!)"

When Raechel finished school she didn't know what she wanted to do with ideas of studying for a PE Teacher or Radiography. At this stage Financial Planning was not considered as Maths was not her favourite subject. After a break working at Coles and with the belief things happen for a reason, Raechel says she was lucky to fall in to her profession, but it wasn't without hard work. After a traineeship with Tumut Shire Council she knew to pursue office work and she landed a job in Gundagai as Paraplanner/Office Assistant in a Financial Planning firm. Two years later Raechel was working full time for a Financial Planning business in Tumut. Her love for studying and wanting to further her education saw her enrol in a Diploma of Financial Planning. Raechel recalls "At this point in time I had opportunities to become a Financial Planner, but at 21 years of age I felt I was too young to be meeting with clients and receive a level of respect of someone who knows what they are talking about with regard to finances – and up until around age 30 that was one of my biggest challenges." Raechel became fully qualified at the age of 25 after completing Advanced Diploma and Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning. 

More study for Raechel who wanted a degree under her belt - gave her accreditation in Self Managed Superannuation Funds and a Certificate IV and Diploma of Mortgage Broking before final graduation in 2018 with her Masters of Financial Planning. Raechel advises all her studies were completed via distance whilst working full time.

An opportunity in 2013 to become part owner of the business where Raechel worked has led to her being a 50% equity holder in the business. Raechel says "I thoroughly enjoy my job and I am very glad I work as a Financial Planner."

Raechel would like to offer the following advice to our students: 

"With high school comes a lot of pressure to decide what you want to be and what you want to do when you leave school. It’s okay not to know what you want to be straight away.

Remember your current path may not be your final destination. It is okay not to go to university straight away – there are alternative options. It is okay to work straight away if that’s what you choose. Not going to uni straight away doesn’t mean you won’t ever get your degree if that is what you want to achieve.

I always wanted to have a degree, I never achieved that goal until I was 33 years old and I love my job and career path."

Thank you to Raechel for sharing her story.