Term 3 Week 6
20 August 2021
Deputy Principal Matters by Nathalie Bodley
Online HSC Assessments create a sense of confidence
“The exam today was good. An interesting first experience of online learning but the English
faculty made sure we all knew what was required of us and treated it in a way that put everyone
at ease. Now that the first exam is over, the rest are starting to seem slightly more approachable”
Our Assessment 4 ‘HSC Trial’ week began with Standard English. 80 students eagerly anticipat-
ed their first assessment as they waited on Zoom while Jennifer Jaeger, the Relieving Head of
English, debriefed all the invigilators. One by one students entered the ‘examination’ zoom and
were given concise instructions on how the online exam would run. They were then assigned
to breakout rooms of about 8-10 students with one supervising teacher. The workspace was
checked, headphones removed, phone switched off and put behind them, only papers and notes
were permitted for this task. Supervising teachers sent a “Ready” message on the “WhatsApp”
group chat of all supervisors and at that point, Ms Jaeger released the paper to a dedicated
Google Classroom. Students then began the assessment. Once time was up, their responses
were scanned, uploaded and the original copy placed in a return address envelope to be sent
back to school. This same process was further finetuned from lessons learnt, and the Advanced
English students sat their paper later the same day. Day 1 down, this was repeated on Tuesday
for paper 2. There has been a huge amount of organisation, planning and troubleshooting to
‘perfect’ this process. By the end of the second day’s exams students expressed that they ‘found
it quite streamlined’ and ‘that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it might have been’. All faculties
have run similar protocols and by the end of this week 13 subjects have completed their online
assessments.
This way of assessing coursework is very similar to what university students are experiencing
currently, so this is very pertinent in training our students for their future reality. Thank you to all
the staff who have worked tirelessly and collaboratively to bring together all the threads that have
made this unusual ‘HSC Trial Assessment’ a success. Week 2 of assessments will continue next
week.
For additional guidance and advice at this time see
these ‘Stress-busting tips for HSC students’ presented
by The Lighthouse, Macquarie University.
https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/july-2021/
stress-busting-tips-for-hsc-students-facing-lock-down-
learning?mkt_tok=NjgxLVBOSi00M-
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Respect ~ Perseverance ~ Growth
Welcome to our new Student Support Office , Sarah Viapiana
I asked our new Student Support Officer, Sarah Viapiana, to give the SIHS community an introduction to herself. So
here it is!
Hello St Ives High Community!
What an absolute pleasure it is to introduce myself as your new student support officer/
youth outreach worker (SSO). My name is Sarah Viapiana, my pronouns are she/her and I
will be working full time at St. Ives High School. I am a trained social worker and have spent
the last four years working in child protection. I am passionate about hearing the voice of
young people and ensuring that they receive not only a quality education but are supported
emotionally by the school community.
What will I be doing?
SSO’s are being rolled out to every NSW public high school including yours. My role as
your SSO is to support both students and families with all things relating to wellbeing. My
role will change and develop based on your specific school needs but you can expect me
to focus on things such as mental health, transitions to and from school, bullying, health,
healthy relationships, resilience, social and emotional skills, attendance and anything else
you could think of which relates to wellbeing as well as being someone you can reach out
to.
So, what does it mean for you?
I am here to compliment the already wonderful wellbeing team that is in place at St. Ives High School. When we re-
turn to face to face learning you will see me doing things like check ins, group sessions, breakfast clubs, facilitating
training and peer mediation. For now, I will be adapting the support that I offer to match online learning as much as
possible.
My email is sarah.viapiana1@det.nsw.edu.au - please don’t be a stranger! Drop me an email introducing yourself,
I always love a good riddle or joke too!
Week 7: Monday - Wednesday Years 7-11 Wellbeing – Choose You own Adventure
Next week students in years 7 – 10 will have a variety of activities to
choose from to encourage creativity, movement, the outdoors, and learn-
ing, just to name a few. If they want to challenge themselves, they can try
their hand at puzzles, learn a new language or learn a musical piece.
To access these exciting activities click: https://sites.google.com/
education. nsw.gov.au/sihs-wk-7-wellbeing-days/home?authuser=2
Year 11 will have the opportunity to catch-up work during their Stu-Vac.
There will be no timetabled classes or roll marking. *7T will still attend
Monday P1&2 project workshop.
Vote for our Students!
Two of our talented students Tanish in year 7 and Chanel in Year 10 both entered an artwork and won a prize in the
Art in Lockdown Competition. The competition is run by Bendigo Bank who are holding a People’s Choice Award, we
would love to show these 2 students our support by going to the website:
https://artinlockdown.net.au/contest-voting/?fv-category=12-15-years&fv-sorting=unpopular#contest
Vote for both these students by clicking on their artwork, pressing the heart to ‘ like’ and adding in your email address.
Voting ends at the end of next week
Term 3 Week 6 Page 2
Book Week - August 21-27 - Exciting opportunity to engage with Young Adult authors
The Children’s Book Council of Australia has been
bringing books and children together since 1946
through book week. This year’s theme: Old Worlds,
New Worlds, Other Worlds will celebrate reading
and the imagination. Our Librarian has organised
for 50 students to join a zoom on Monday week 7 from 2-3pm for A Literary
Lockdown with a number of popular Australian Young Adult authors. Will
Kostakis will be joined by AJ Betts (Hive, Zac & Mia), Wai Chim (The Sur-
prising Power of a Good Dumpling, the current season of Survivor Austra-
lia), Alison Evans (Euphoria Kids, Ida), Claire Zorn (When We Are Invisible,
The Protected) for a vibrant conversation about Coming Of Age.
On ‘Transfiguration Thursday’ students are being encouraged to dress up
as a book character for their zooms and we’d love staff to get involved too.
The English faculty have already started on their costumes to promote the
spirit of Book Week. Watch out for some ‘other worldly costumes!
Thank you to our outgoing P&C President and Treasurer
We would like to extend our deep thanks and appreciation to Jan Ewert and Libby Cameron for the last 3 years of
dedication, and commitment to the school community in their roles of P&C Treasurer and President. They will be
stepping down from their P&C positions and are on the lookout for parents/carers who are interested in taking over
these positions. Thanks again for everything you have done over the last 3 years.
Year 7 and 8 Communication during lockdown
We are now at the end of week 6 of lockdown and anticipate that this will probably continue until the end of term. Cur-
rently, the school executive is discussing how we can best give feedback about student learning and performance to
parents. A few options are being considered by all teachers within faculties and this will be communicated to you with-
in the next week or so. You can email either Deputy Principals or Head Teachers if you need to reach out for support.
Best Wishes
Nathalie Bodley
Deputy Principal
P&C President and Treasurer positions
will become available in November
The President and Treasurer will be stepping down from their positions at the P&C Annual
General Meeting on 4th November. They have supported the P&C and our school com-
munity in these positions for the past 3 years.
At the Annual General Meeting all positions became vacant, however the President and
Treasurer cannot be elected again as they have held their positions for 3 consecutive
years (this is a by-law requirement).
The President and Treasurer positions help guide the successful functioning of the P&C
and support the activities of the school.
If you are interested and want to know more about these positions and other P&C activi-
ties, please attend our next on-line general meeting on 9th September (meeting details
will be provided in the school newsletter). You can also contact the current President
Libby Cameron at president@stivespandc.com or Treasurer Jan Ewert at treasurer@
stivespandc.com
Thank you.
Term 3 Week 6 Page 3
Want #BetterBusesForStIves?
702 people signed our Petition for:
• Extending the 591 Hornsby (via Waitara) to St Ives Village bus service to include a ‘St Ives
High loop’ via Yarrabung Road, and
• More frequent 582 buses to and from Gordon Station/St Ives Village
What did the survey tell us? Read the REPORT here
We have presented our Petition to Matt Kean MP, Alister Henskens MP, Jonathan O’Dea MP and
the Hon Andrew Constance, Minister for Transport & Roads. But we want to use social media to
show them the people behind the Petition.
Pressure on existing bus services will continue to increase as St Ives High student numbers for
2022 look set to hit 1,350.
More development – Upgraded public bus services to the precinct should be a critical part of the
Development Application for the St Ives High Community Indoor Sports Centre, and yet they are
not.
We need your help to put this issue firmly in the social media spotlight and give your
local MP the opportunity to help make #BetterBusesForStIves a reality.
How To Participate
Please use our online form below to submit a photo of yourself from the waist up, holding a sign
saying:
• why you want better bus services with hashtag #BetterBusesForStIves, OR
• print the A4 sign below we have created for you (click here to launch printable file) OR,
• submit a video (we love videos) telling us what better buses to St Ives would mean to you!
We will assemble submissions into a collage with the simple message #BetterBusesForStIves. We
want you to share this on social media and hashtag your State MP. The collage will look
something like our ‘Matilda’ the Musical lockdown video (click here to view). Students under 18 –
will be asked for contact information so we can check publication permissions with guardians.
Submit Your Photo or Video Here
If you want #BetterBusesForStIves, now is the time to
add your voice to our Social Media Campaign
St Ives High P&C – Transport, Traffic and Road Safety Working Group
Email: surveys@stivespandc.com
Term 3 Week 6 Page 4
SIHS BOOK WEEK ACTIVITIES
Literary Lockdown #BookFace Competition
Find a book with a face or part of a face/body
part on the cover at home and with a family
member take a bookface picture.
Prizes for the best student and staff bookfaces.
Recording available throughout the week
Book Nook Competition Bookmark & Poetry
Competitions
Design a bookmark to celebrate
Bookweek 2021 or create a poem
out of book covers or spines.
Create your own book nook for an Old World, New Prizes for the best bookmarks and
World or Other World. poems
Prizes for the best booknook in each category.
Read with
TRANSFIGURATION something furry
THURSDAY Take a photo of you
reading with your pet,
Dress up as a character from a a blanket or a soft toy
book for your zoom lessons on and upload to google
Thursday 26th August . Prizes for classroom
best dressed students and staff
For more information and to enter go to SIHS
Library Online Google Classroom Code 2zgzte4
Term 3 Week 6 Page 6
YEAR 10 INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY - ENGINEERING
Practical at home: Interview with Jordan H and his hydraulic robot arm.
Mr C: Now that you have been doing online learning for 6 weeks, what would
you say are the advantages and disadvantages of the online classes?
Jordan: Advantages -
* Work at my own pace
* More relaxed and bigger workspace
Disadvantages -
* not getting the face to face teaching experience
* not being able to be with friends in classes
Mr C: When you were told you were going to be doing practical activities at
home, what was your reaction to that at the time?
Jordan: I was excited because it mean that lessons can continue as they have
been at school, but i was intrigued how it was going to work not having the
teacher for guidance and the necessary tools required like the ones we have
at school.
Mr C: Now that you have completed a couple of projects, what is your opinion
on Prac at Home now?
Jordan: I have enjoyed doing prac at home, working with alot of different mate-
rials that I have found around the house. I have also had more time to work on
the project in my own time.
Mr C: Did you find anything difficult about getting set up for 'making' at hom
Jordan: I suppose, if you didn't have the right equipment or materials it would
be harder to make things at home. There were a few times when I didn't have
the right tools or materials, so I had to improvise
Mr C: What was the most challenging part when making your hydraulic robot arm?
Jordan: With no face to face teacher guidance and help, I had to rely on myself, a lot of research and trial and error
to figure out things i didn't quite fully understand. But I got there in the end
Mr C: If you were to suggest a project for your prac class, what would you like to have a go at next?
Jordan: I really enjoyed using hydraulics and would like another prac experience like this to continue to build my
knowledge
Mr C: Well done on your project, it’s going really well. Josh Collins, TAS Teacher
Term 3 Week 6 Page 7
LOVE IT IN LOCKDOWN!
At St Ives High we like to boast of the extraordinary talents of our students. There are budding mathematicians,
scientists, artists, poets, actors, sportspeople, and entrepreneurs. Here are a couple of impressive student profiles:
Max M
Max, 17, a student of Drama and Multimedia Studies
amongst other things, has taken advantage of the lock-
downs in Sydney 2020 and 2021, to take up the guitar
and develop his own unique style of musical performance.
Born Massimiliano M, of Italian and Scottish descent, he
has recently composed a whole album of his own songs,
published on Soundcloud with the single, Alone available
for immediate enjoyment on Spotify. Max is a man of many
talents, besides his witty performances in Drama and expert
skills in Multimedia, he has acquired his singer-song writing
identity in just 18 months, picking up the guitar for the first
time in lockdown last year.
He says, “Well, when we were in lockdown last year. I just
thought, why not?”
Eighteen months later he has learnt enough to compose his
own album of songs all reflecting an eclectic taste in retro
rock and other styles of music from the 1970s and 80s. Max
has also begun singing lessons and I can guarantee it won’t
be long before his songs will go viral.
Jayden M
Jayden first came to my attention in the Drama studio – a strikingly talented young performer, he proceeded to ab-
sorb the conventions of Commedia dell’Arte at lightning speed in Term 2 with his thoroughly entertaining and athletic
performances of Arlecchino.
Contrary to what we all expected, lockdown did not stop Jayden. Chatting in my Year 8 Drama class zoom unveiled a
budding young talent who is moving up in the world very fast. This month he has done several auditions for a new TV
series called Baron, due to be released next year. He has been nominated for no fewer than seven other TV series,
and he awaits notification from his agency for the role interviews that are all occurring online. Jayden’s energetic and
magnetic presence on stage has been noticed by many at St Ives High who enjoyed the Drama Showcase last term
in the school hall.
Jayden says, “I always loved the thought of acting, and where it could take me in life, but never got very serious about
acting up until the age of around seven or eight.”
Jayden performing for the Year 8 Commedia dell’Arte task in Term 2
These two young people have the extraordinary capacity to inspire us with their steadfast determination and positive
energy during these otherwise difficult and depressing times. We wish them well in their future pursuits and continue
to learn from their inventiveness and creativity.
Maria Pender, English and Drama Teacher
Term 3 Week 6 Page 8
LEARNING AND SUPPORT - LITERACY WITHDRAWAL GROUPS
The Superstar Spellers and the MacqLit Masters in Year 7 have been cooking up a storm, and having a world of fun
in our recent literacy lessons - learning all there is to know about chocolate crepes and celebrating Christmas in July.
See photos below of the fun we had in Weeks 5 and 6. These students have been amazing during lockdown and I’m
pleased to report there were no WHS incidents to report from anyone’s kitchen during the crepe cooking.
Our withdrawal programs in Learning and Support have been tailored for remote learning and the support team are
having lots of fun keeping the student’s engaged.
Megan Reymond and Sophia Brown
School Learning Support Officer
Term 3 Week 6 Page 9
COMMUNITY HUB UPDATE
Work on the Hub progresses this week with core filling, removal of internal sca fold, block work
now reaching roof level and the erection of structural steel.
Get fit and flexible from the comfort of your own home with Ku-ring-gai Lockdown Live Yoga streamed live
from scenic locations around Ku-ring-gai with 3 sessions coming up Thursday 19, 26 August and 2 Septem-
ber from 1-2pm.
These one hour yoga classes will cater for all ages and abilities, so step away from the desk or take a break
from your daily routine and make your health and wellbeing a priority.
These sessions will be lived streamed live from the Ku-ring-gai Council Facebook page at the above times
and dates.
https://www.facebook.com/events/753348988691586/?ref=newsfeed
For more information https://www.krg.nsw.gov.au/Things-to-do/Whats-on/Ku-ring-gai-Lockdown-Live-Yoga
These classes can be for anyone so please share with your family and friends.
Term 3 Week 6 Page 10
BREAKOUT
BRAINTEASER
Friday 3rd September
7:00pm - 10:00pm
JOIN US FOR SOME PANDEMIC
St Ives High School
PANDEMONIUM AS TOGETHER
Trivia Madness WE TEASE OUR BRAINS IN AN
ONLINE TRIVIA TOURNAMENT!
Register a TRIVIA TEAM of up to six
different households, fly solo or we can
matchmake you a team.
Proceeds will help build our new COLA.
Visit stivespandc.com for more info
OUR HOST
THERE WILL BE PRIZES FOR
THE WINNING TEAMS!!!
age 13
Submitted b te d by Oliver,
y Niamh, age Submit entry
2020 compe
tition catego
17
20 co m petition
ry winner Submitted by Lucy, age 14 20
2020 competition overall winner
NEED A L FT?
Youth Mental Health Month photography competition for
young people aged 12-24 across Northern Sydney
To celebrate positive mental health we're asking you to capture
a photo of something uplifting, positive or joyful in your life or
community.
Selected photos will be showcased in the elevators of local
hospitals, community health centres, Council facilities as well as
social media during Mental Health Month in October.
5 x JB Hi-Fi vouchers up for grabs with values of
up to $250.
Submit your entry by 12th Sept, 2021.
For details and to enter use this QR code, or go to
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NeedALift
Need a Lift? is an initiative of Northern Sydney Local Health District, North Sydney Council, and Lane Cove Council, supported by Hornsby/Ku-ring-gai Community Drug Action Teams
