Dear School and  Community

This time last year in mid-December 2019 the world was truly a different place. An as yet unnamed coronavirus had just been reported as we were all busily getting ourselves ready for Christmas. As we returned to school for 2020 the virus had spread  the world as we had previously known it had changed forever.

Physical distancing, self-isolation, QR codes and hand sanitiser all became part of our lives and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Schools quickly had to change the way they delivered their curriculum and students had to change the way they learned. Mixed messages were the order of the day as we were given advice one day that was changed the next only to be re-instated as correct the day after.

Through all of this our school continued to operate both online and face-to-face as teachers taught to all students. All the while we all thought is COVID-19 going to get to Nambucca Heads?

Many of you may have noticed on your way past the water towers our school sign at the moment is thanking all at NHHS for 2020.

Thank you to the parents of NHHS. Literally overnight your homes became classrooms and you became responsible for the delivery of education to your child or children.

Thank you, parents, for getting your child through a very stressful time as we all tried to go about our everyday life whilst watching and thinking about what was happening all around the world.

Thank you to all of the staff at NHHS. Thank you for keeping those links of positive communication going during the 7 weeks when over 95% of our students learnt from home. Thank you for changing your delivery mode of teaching from face-to-face to online in a number of days. Thank you for your continuous care and commitment to the students of NHHS. Special thanks to Year Advisors, even more than other years I know you all have gone out of your way to care your students. As a parent and colleague I thank you for this.

Thank you to the students of NHHS. Your school year has been very disrupted. You have persevered with your school work whilst also dealing with a situation that no other school students have had to deal with since the Spanish Flu in 1918 and 19. You have truly lived through history and in years to come when you are a parent and a grandparent you will have your stories to tell about school in 2020.

I wish the school and the wider community a restful and safe holiday.

Please remember we have a staggered start to 2021. Years 7, 11 and 12 will start Term 1 2021 on Friday 29 January. This will be Week A and Years 8, 9 and 10 will begin on Monday 1 February 2021. This will be Week B.

Simon McKinney

Principal

Our Aboriginal Education team have had another busy year this year. Although some projects were scaled back there was still a lot happening.

This year for NAIDOC Week Year 7 and 8 students spent time making friendship bracelets with Aunty Felicia and Ms Tillett. The traditional red, yellow and black bracelets looked amazing. The students found this exercise fun and relaxing. There was also a colouring –in competition with five talented students each receiving a $20 voucher at the canteen. Wiirri class celebrated NAIDOC Week by talking, listening and making. alwayswasalwayswillbe

In Week 4 this term, our Aboriginal students attended the annual three day SLIKK (Student Leadership in Koori Kids) camp at Scotts Head. At this camp students had an opportunity for hands on activities delivered by TAFE that would help enhance their employment skills and future career pathways. The students really enjoyed their learning and participated in activities such as plumbing, automotive, designing, sport and fitness as well as learning dance, language and art delivered by Gumbaynggirr community members.

Our new school sign has been installed It reads: Giinagay! Bagabagagundiya Guul Bularrigiya. Welcome! To our Nambucca Heads High School. Thank you Marle Dahlstrom for his beautiful artwork.

Our students also had artwork installed at the foyer of the New Macksville Hospital campus.  The works were nominated for the NSW Premier Awards 2020 and were  Finalist (Well Connected Communities with Quality Local Environments Art in Health Infrastructure).

And of course we started the year with  Maagunda Gaagal (Festival of the Sea) which was held at Main Beach, Nambucca Heads. This was an amazing day with our sculptures on display for the whole community to enjoy. The sculptures are now on display at the front and around our school and look fantastic.

It has been an interesting year for all and in CAPA at Nambucca Heads High School.

We welcomed two new staff members Ms Tina Hyson in Music and Ms Kali Barcala in Visual Arts who soon settled into the routine at Nambucca Heads High School. 

At the end of Term 1 during the Covid crisis Ms Barcala was offered a permanent position at Narooma High School and commenced her posting at the beginning of Term 2. I’d like to publicly acknowledge her efforts in the CAPA Faculty during her short time with us and to thank our two casual teachers Ms Phaedra Parkin and Ms Rebecca Squires who replaced Ms Barcala at short notice ensuring a smooth transition for students and the faculty.

Patric Laverty Year 10 was announced Coffs Coast Creative Youth of the Year for his work in the community, music contributions and video and photographic work within the school and community. Thoroughly deserved and Congratulations Patric!

Zabian Haigh was the recipient of the Nambucca Valley Youthie Art Award. His winning entry was a drone photograph taken above the V Wall. Mathew Donnelly, Marli Weimer received runner up prizes. Congratulations to these students. 

The Art garden continues to thrive under the gardening prowess of Ms Paula Rossini and has now been  complemented with laminated noticeboards for the display of student art work. Thankyou Ms Rossini for the great work you do!!

Visual Arts:

Despite Covid and online learning our students this year have managed to create some fantastic artworks many of which have been displayed in the front office foyer of the school. Here is a basic overview of work completed by Year Group during 2020.

Year 7: 

Elements of Design with application of knowledge to Printmaking mediums.

Canopic jars with cross faculty connections to HSIE history units.

Self Portrait collages demonstrating personal attributes and interests.

Clay medium tile work focusing on the local environment.

Year 8:

Mask making exploring a variety of cultures.

Hybrid Creatures and Gargoyles developing fine motor skills using the clay medium.

Landscape Collage and Dwelling designs exploring the work of Australian landscape artists and Howard Arkley.

Mona Lisa Appropriations exploring the work of Renaissance artists and Post modern artists.

Year 9:

Ceramic forms exploring the art forms from ancient cultures.

Still life theme in printmaking developing and sustaining printmaking traditions and experimentation to create print editions.

Portraiture based on the grid tradition and work of Chuck Close and Postmodern artists.

Photography students participated in the program ‘Videos for Change’ facilitated through the Open Learning program. Students engaged with professional videographers in the field to create short videos based on a social issues.

Year 10:

Altered Books: exploring alternatives in art making practice.

Ceramics; utilising the Pop Art tradition to create fantastic clay renditions of popular food and commercial items

Mini BOW: Personal artworks developing students artistic practice.

Year 11:

Still Life Graphite and Charcoal drawing exploring the theme: The Personal, The Historical and the Unknown and utilising composition, tonal value and photographic techniques.

Ceramic Sculptural Busts exploring Self portraits as an artist

Appropriation as ‘Happening’ and ‘Recording’: Unfortunately due to Covid 19 this annual event was restricted and parents and other students were unable to attend. It was photographically recorded .

Year 12:

This year students were severely disrupted due to Covid 19 however Year 12 managed to create competent Bodies of Work for the HSC.

Visual Design was introduced for the first time and these students applied themselves with diligence to achieve resolved works by the due date.

Other highlights:

2019 HSC Visual Arts student Elly Gooch had her work chosen and exhibited in ARTEXPRESS at the Armory Gallery in Homebush Sydney.

A group of Year 9 and 10 students were involved in working with indigenous artists and elders on the Macksville Hospital Weaving and Artwork Project and participated in the creation of large sculptural weavings and drawings used in the final pieces for permanent installation at the new Macksville Hospital.

Year 10 students finally saw the installation and unveiling of the Macksville Wallace Lane Mural Project – a mural that was completed at the end of 2019.

Music

Music Count us in (MCUI) is Australia’s largest school initiative. It is the education program of Music Australia, working with partners around the country to support music in schools.

The program culminates in the National Celebration Day when more than half a million students sing the same song, on the same day, at the same time. It is a song written by students, for students. The 2020 program song is called ‘You won’t bring us down’ and was written by four students from around Australia in collaboration with the MCUI Ambassador, John Foreman, and the 2020 program mentor, Lior. Year 7 music Birdwing performed a rhythmic accompaniment using chopsticks and drumsticks on table tops and drums.

In 2020, students in Years 7 and 8 have been exposed to the concept of Duration - in particular, rhythmic ostinatos. We have experimented with African drumming in Year 8, and Hip Hop beats in Year 7. Students performed on a variety of rhythmic instruments, including Djembes, Drumkits, Agogo Bells and Cowbells.

This year the English faculty adapted to a changing world to provide students with online learning during the school closures and provided students with enriched learning experiences upon the return to ‘normal’ schooling. We also adapted by sourcing HSC revision days online for Standard English and Advanced English. Year 11 Advanced were able to stream a Bell Shakespeare production of ‘Othello’ and Year 10 enjoyed the production of ‘Macbeth.’   

Some things that didn’t change were the wide reading program in Years 8 and 9, who engaged in wide reading for 10 minutes every lesson, with the aim of improving student reading comprehension. 

Students were provided numerous opportunities to enter writing competitions. This year we had two winners with Riley Nowland’s entry titled ‘Crevins’ and  Ashley Peglar’s entry titled ‘Pages,’ winning the Mid North Coast Libraries book week short story competition.   

In addition, ten Year 7 students participated in the 'Write a Book in a Day' Project. They had 12 hours to collaboratively write and illustrate a book for sick children in hospital. Money raised from the project went to childhood cancer research. Students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and said that they learnt a great deal about working in a group, listening to other people's ideas​, problem solving and contributing positively when working with others.

This term Year 12 Advanced have been working on their first module ‘Texts and Human Experiences’ using their prescribed text 1984 by George Orwell.  Students completed their very first Socratic Seminar, sitting in a circle facing one another and spending the lesson asking each other a range of questions regarding the context and purpose of the text. Students loved this concept, and spent the entire lesson discussing and debating with one another.  

We have also been working as a class on our multi-modal projects, using voice recordings and experimenting with the Microsoft Sway application. A very successful and productive term for this class!” 

2020 has been an unusual year and therefore there have not been a lot of activities in the HSIE/LOTE faculty. Excursions and field trips have not been able to run .

One activity that was able to run was the International Food Day organised by Miss Hillery and her Year 9 International Studies class. This was a great success with the students ‘cooking up a storm’.

Next year Mrs Bev Fogarty will be taking time off and we will welcome back Mrs Kristle McKinnon.

Well done to all students and staff for your efforts in HSIE/LOTE this year.

It has been a busy year in our Year 7 ‘Quest’ and ‘Inquire’ Hubs this year. Students have enjoyed a number of activities and interesting projects that have challenged them and allowed them to produce some wonderful work.

In our Quest Hub, students have enjoyed their Hub reading this year and we have managed to read close to eight whole novels! Students have also been lucky enough to participate in a Peer Reading Scheme where Year 10 and 11 students have been trained to work with Year 7 students to help improve their reading and comprehension skills. This has been an invaluable program that has really assisted the literacy development of our students. Students also took part in a spelling bee earlier in the year which was a fun and engaging activity and assisted the development of important skills. Well done to Oscar Nimmo who was our Year 7 Hub Spelling Bee Champion! Our Egypt Day was another day of fun learning activities. There was an Escape Room, where students had to solve a number of clues related to Ancient Egypt. The other two activities students participated in were Egyptian cooking and Egyptian Games. Our cookie excavation was another History activity our students took part in where they learnt key skills related to archaeology. As part of our Quest Hub, ten of our students took part in the ‘Write a Book in a Day’ project which raises money for childhood cancer. The books that students write and illustrate are printed, bound and then enjoyed by children in hospital who have the opportunity to read them. Thank you to those students for electing to take part in such a worthwhile project! Your book was wonderful!

The Inquire Hub has also been busy with a number of exciting learning activities. Students have participated in many problem solving and critical thinking tasks that have helped improve their communication and collaborative skills. Students built models of space and the solar system where they were able to showcase their creative skills. They also collaboratively built models of a bridge using specific dimensions and materials. There were prizes for the strongest bridge, the ugliest bridge and the prettiest bridge! Another fun collaborative activity that students took part in was the creation of a whole Hub film about the solar system. Students applied for and were given roles in script writing, directing, producing, acting, props, costumes, editing and filming. The final product was an informative, entertaining film that students and staff were proud of. Math Pathways has been another successful program that has been run in our Year 7 Hubs. Many students have demonstrated significant growth in their numeracy results this year. Well done! We were also lucky enough this year to have a visit from the ‘World of Maths Roadshow.’ This involved our students participating in hands on, problem solving mathematics activities. Year 7 thoroughly enjoyed this practical exploration of mathematics.

Well done to all Year 7 students on such a successful year in our Quest and Inquire Hubs!!

Supplies for Year 8 2021

Quest: 2 x 128 page exercise books 1 x display folder

Inquire: 2 x 128 page exercise books for science 1 x display folder, 1 x 128 page exercise book for maths, 1 x scientific calculator , 1 x geometry set

Stationery:

Blue, red and black pens, Lead pencils, Sharpener, Rubber, 2 x glue stick , Scissors , Coloured textas and pencils.

This year the Library had a number of displays to promote reading amongst our students. A focus of the Library was to grow and improve our non-fiction collection by purchasing books that are more along the lines of leisure books rather that reference books. Included in the collection are some beautiful cooking books, fashion books and travel books.

A favourite display this year was the “Banned books” display. This was a list of books that at one time had been banned from being read. Some of our staff were found to be guilty of doing just that. Another display was “Find yourself in a book”.  This was also a bit of fun presenting students as part of a book cover. Also, we did a book stack, where the titles of books stacked  makes a sentence.

During book week two students entered a writing competition hosted by Mid North Coast Library Service. Both Ashley Peglar and Riley Nowland won prizes. Congratulations to them.

And for the end of the year….It doesn’t matter where or what you read

JUST READ!

Also this year we farewelled Ms Paula Morrison who had been the Librarian for 6 years. She has taken a position at Cardiff High School, Newcastle. In 2021 we will welcome  Ms Lorette Hargreaves from Grafton High School.

Our final event for the year - our annual Presentation Day. Spread over two days, to allow for social distancing and parent invitation, a number of students received some well deserved rewards.

Awards were given for academic, sporting and attendance achievements. Special awards for cultural and community involvement were also presented . These are sponsored by local businesses. In his Principal’s speech, Mr McKinney made mention of the unusual year all students have had and how proud staff were with the way students managed their learning at home. Unfortunately, visitors are still restricted at school so only parents/carers of students that were receiving awards were invited.

Ms Marshall also presented the Dux award for 2019 which went to Kawana Crowe. Unfortunately Kawana counldn't be at the presentation so the award was accepted by her mother.

Science had another successful year in 2020, despite COVID-19.

Our staffing remained constant with Mrs Dedman teaching - junior Science, Electronics and Physics; Ms Patu - junior Science, Marine Studies and Biology; Ms Lockyer – junior Science and Biology; Mrs Waters – junior Science in the Yr7 HUB and Earth and Environmental Science; Mrs Nowland – junior Science and Investigating Science; and Ms Barnett – junior Science and Chemistry. Mr Neal did another fantastic job as our Laboratory Assistant in preparing materials for our practical classes and designing and making equipment to save money in our school. He also had a big hand in keeping the school operating with his technical expertise and his ability to be able to fix anything. Mr Neal is invaluable.

Ms Milgate was with us for the COVID-19 period. She managed to get all the Science staff to produce weekly videos which gave the students information about their work for the week, (as well as greatly embarrassing the Science staff). If you haven’t seen the videos, get your child to show you the video “masterpieces”.

COVID was a difficult time for everyone, both students and teachers. Teachers had a short time frame to change their lesson delivery from face-to-face to online, as well as learn new technologies (who knew about any of the technologies that had to be used during this time before March 23, 2020?) Students missed out on the contact and interaction with their friends, peers and teachers. Parents became the teacher, and they did a great job – well done to every parent/carer who took on that role.

Through all of this COVID time, Science have had to adjust and remove many of the tasks that we would normally have done, but we have still managed to perform extremely well in external exams. Our Year 10 students have produced above state average results in their VALID Examination (Validation of Assessment for Learning Development). This shows the great learning that is happening in our Science class rooms from Year 7 right through to Year 10 when they sit their online exam.

To finish the Year, Year 10 Earth and Environmental students prepared and enjoyed a meal from sustainable products. After studying sustainable living this term the students prepared food from their gardens, Ms Nowland’s garden and the school garden. Combining skills that some have learnt from Food Technology, the food looked fantastic and smelt even better. They also produced a calendar of sustainable - seasonal produce available in and around our local area. Not only do the calendars contain great information, they are visually stunning. Congratulations on a great year and hard work.

This year, being what it is, sporting carnivals outside of the school were mostly cancelled. However we did manage to run our school swimming and cross county carnivals with good participation and some records broken.

Towards the end of the year things got back to somewhat normal and so our students were able to participate in gala days for league tag, rugby league nines and rugby league. Congratulations to all students who participated in these carnivals - all saying they had a great time and staff commending them on their sportsmanship and good behaviour.

We look forward to 2021, and hopefully with more restrictions lifted, we will be able to participate in more combined carnivals for different sports.

NHHS Surf Carnival

The first NHHS surf carnival was held on Wednesday 9 December with outstanding success. The day comprised a surfing competition, iron man and woman competition, flags and beach sprints. There was also volleyball on the beach. Lots of swimming and surfing on an absolutely perfect day. Congratulations to all students who participated on the day and made it such an outstanding success. Thank you to Mr Schwartz, Mr Cattanach, Mr Allison Mr Lewis and Ms Usser-Kinnear for their organisation and running of the day. Such a great day! NHHS would like to say a BIG thank you to Coastal Curves Surf Shop for once again supporting our school, as they so often do.

This year students were again involved in the community access program. Not quite as many as previous years, but these excursions are so beneficial for our students wellbeing and confidence. .

Towards the end of the school year we were able to attend sports days. These were not only good for coordination, but allows the students to have some fun and to meet students from a number of other schools.

There was also a vegetable garden planted, which flourished and produced vegetables for the Christmas lunch.

Congratulations to our support unit students. Have a lovely Christmas and a safe holiday.

The TAS department had quite a busy year with Years 7 to 10 all involved with different projects.  To start the year we welcomed our new Head Teacher for TAS, Mrs Sarah Clifford, who is former School Captain Sarah Robbins. Sarah has been a welcome inclusion to the TAS department.

Although students were out of school for a number of weeks they have worked hard and have been able to produce a number of items.

Year 7 projects included cooking, making pinball machines and coded computer space invader games.

Year 8 produced some great looking pencil cases and with newly acquired cooking skills some beautiful looking and tasty food.

Year 9 built bedside tables, gliders and also cooked up some great meals.

Year 10 had a choice of materials to produce either a metal esky and in textiles a foot rest. They were also in the kitchen.

The construction classes were involved in concreting and installing the new table tennis tables at the front of the school and also placing the sculptures at the front of the school.

Under the expert guidance of our hospitality teachers our students also catered for the very successful Year 12 Garden Party. 

With a cross faculty effort TAS students were also involved in the highly successful Maagunda Gaagal festival helping with the installation of the sculptures at Main Beach, Nambucca Heads for the festival.

Congratulations to all TAS students for your efforts in each facet of the TAS area. Thank you also to staff who this year went that extra mile to help students while learning from home.

Students from Year 8 and 9 involved in the Green Team had a busy term at school and on expeditions in the local community.   Projects at school included improvements to the Yarning Circle with Mark Duckett, creating a fire pit from fire bricks, a rock and concrete outer circle and lots of planting and bush regeneration around the site.  They worked in the metal work room with Mr Cattanach to create a grill for cooking over the fire pit. They also replaced the post and plaque in the Yarning Circle cementing it in to secure it in place. Students prepared their own lunch each day, learning to cook steak rolls, salad wraps, hamburgers on the open fire and learnt to appreciate the tastes of a range of fruit and vegetables!

Day activities included swimming, kayaking, snorkelling and fishing in the local area and overnight bushwalking expeditions into New England National Park and Dorrigo National Park, where students learnt about navigation, camp cooking, fire making and survival skills.  Students participated in preparing their own meals on the expeditions and enjoyed the challenge of carrying their own gear and being relatively self-sufficient.

All students involved showed improvement over the program in their ability to work together as a team, resolve conflicts, respect others, listen and communicate effectively.

Students and teachers involved with the Green Team wish to thank  Mr McKinney and Ms Marshall for initiating and supporting the program.

Mr Steward, Mr Angus.

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