Penrith Selective High School
June Newsletter 2022
From the Relieving Principal
Welcome to our final newsletter for Term 2. While it is our final newsletter for the term, the calendar of events continues to charge ahead. My sincerest thanks to our community of staff, students and families for their commitment to ensuring the range of activities and opportunities offered are plentiful.
State Champions - The State Shakespeare Carnival
I would like to congratulate the 19 students who represented our school in the State Shakespeare Carnival. Our junior students were crowned STATE CHAMPIONS in the Ensemble Scene category. Equally commendable, our Year 9 and 10 students placed 2nd in the group devised category and our dancers placed 4th in the state. In addition, the Year 9 and 10 students were awarded "Best Theatrical Moment" in their division and Bailey Bass (Year 9) received an award for his strong comedy skills as an actor. Thank you to Mr Vassallo, Ms Lawson and Ms Magi for their work with these students. And always, thank you to our families who support and advocate for the arts.
Parent Teacher Evenings and Subject Selection Nights
3 of the 5 Parent Teacher evenings (Years 7, 11 and 12) have been held on Microsoft Teams. The remaining 2 evenings will be held across the first few weeks of Term 3 for students enrolled in years 8, 9 or 10.
Subject Selection Evenings were also held online with Head Teachers and Executive Staff presenting. A thank you to all of the staff involved in these events and particularly Deputy Principal, Mr Ferguson for his work with the Subject Selection Evenings and, School Administrative Officer, Ms Brooklyn Dicker who coordinated the Parent Teacher Evenings and provided support on the night through the help desk.
Certificate of Excellence
The Executive Director, School Performance (Metro South and West) and the Director of Educational Leadership (Penrith Network) have presented our school a Certificate of Excellence in recognition of the exceptional leadership demonstrated by the school community.
The Certificate of Excellence acknowledges every student, parent/carer, teacher, support staff member, community member and school leader for their unrelenting commitment, care and contribution throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
To our families on behalf of the school, the Executive Director, School Performance and the Director of Educational Leadership (Penrith Network), I extend our sincerest thanks to you all.
Multicultural Day and the Opening of the Yarning Circle
Every year, Term 2 ends with Multicultural Day. This year we are looking forward to sharing the experience with Penrith Public School once again. As an extension of our Multicultural Day celebrations, this year NAIDOC Week coincides with the school holidays. As a school, we will be celebrating the history, culture and achievements of First Nations peoples by learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through art and the official opening of our Yarning Circle.
Mid Year Ensemble Showcase
Congratulations to all our students in our plethora of ensemble programs in 2022. On Tuesday, 14 June these students showcased their many talents. Thank you to our community for attending and celebrating this work and a huge thank you to our Creative and Performing Arts Faculty which includes our teachers and tutors for creating an environment where the arts are valued and nurtured.
Half Yearly Reports 7-10
Reports for students in Years 7-10 will be issued digitally via the Sentral portal before the school holidays. As has become practice, a report reflection document will be posted on the students’ cohort’s Google Classroom. This reflection document is an important tool for students and families to work through together as they reflect on the year to date. This reflection document will need to be returned by the date on the form and the hard copy of the report will then be issued early in Term 3.
Please enjoy this newsletter’s brief snapshot into the term that was Term 2. We’ll do it all again in Term 3!
Jaclyn Cush
Relieving Principal
Congratulations, Gnei Dole (Year 11)
The Future Leaders Writing Prize is designed to recognise and reward talented young writers. It aims to encourage expressive and creative writing and is open to Year 11 and 12 students in Australian secondary schools.
It is our pleasure to announce that Gnei Dole received 2nd place in the Future Leaders Writing Prize for 2022. Gnei’s prize included a certificate and $500 in prize money.
Gnei’s prize winning work will be published. What a wonderful accomplishment!
Student Leadership Program
Part of this program meant that they met with politicians representing the Penrith area as well as the NSW Premier, who along with other members of parliament spoke about their positions and the importance of leadership.
Overall it was a great experience and one in which new information was learnt.
Gabe and Andre, far right, with Stuart Ayres, Minister for Western Sydney.
Gabe and Andre with Dominic Perrottet, Premier of NSW.
Reconciliation Week 27 May - 3 June 2022
Early June the school celebrated National Reconciliation Week. During this week we celebrate Indigenous history and culture in Australia and foster reconciliation discussion.
At our assembly, Alex Vella delivered the opening of the Acknowledgement of Country in Dharug language and our working team of students and staff came together to begin our work for our Yarning Circle's Grand Opening towards the end of term 2.
Elijah's Reflection
Academy U Program at Western Sydney University
Recently, 30 PSHS students attended the Welcome Ceremony at WSU.
Congratulations to these students who will be challenged through an engaging program involving on-campus problem solving days, connecting with academics and industry partners, as well as online modules and masterclasses.
These students will become Western Sydney's next generation of global citizens, leaders and change-makers.
Our newly elected Prefects for 2022/2023 will begin in their role as Prefect Interns in Week 1, Term 3, relieving our current Prefects so they may concentrate on their HSC.
JRC House Carnival
These included:
Cup Pong - Keerthana, Rubini, Rupanti, Amelia and Vithiya
Bullet Chess - Daniel, Ashwin, Dhairya, Srihaas and Jeremy
Quick Draw + Teacher baby Photo Guessing - Jennifer, Irene, Krisha, Saamra and Anshi
Table Tennis Tournament - Ashton, Pragyan, Farmaan, Elliot and Kavin
The JRC sold lolly bags and had a Lolly Guessing Competition, with all the profits going towards creating a JRC fund for future young leaders at Penrith High.
Mathematics Update
It is exciting to watch, encourage, and be inspired by our students and see the challenges that they take on! This year we have seen an increase in the number of students entering the more elite Mathematical Competitions.
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (C.A.T.)
On May 4 we had our team compete in the C.A.T. Competition before school; 18 talented male and female students from Years 7 to 12. We entered in the Junior, Intermediate and Senior divisions this year. The results will be back early in Term 3. Our team was made up of:
Year 7
Mahi Bora
Year 8
Talin Bansal, Isaac Carroll, Heer Panchal, Praseeda Pathi, Sinthuri Prashanth, Anoushka Singhal, Kaviya Vignarasa.
Year 9
Anmol Hassan
Year 10
Lawrence Chen, Timothy Gonzales, Myat Noe
Year 11
Sean Kim, Kirk Murillo, Parth Patel, Vedang Purohit, Siqi Wang.
Year 12
Gurveer Singh Khalsa
UNSW Mathematics Competition
On Wednesday 8 June, 14 students competed in the 60th Annual Mathematics Competition run by UNSW. The students were in Years 9 to 12. It is one of the few Mathematics competitions where the students can win cash as a prize. The competition started at 9 am and went for 3 hours! There were two divisions: Junior and Senior. Each division had 6 questions.
This is the second biggest contingency we have had sit this competition. The team consisted of Niall Stewart, Anmol Hassan, Jeron K Widana, Taran Margapuram, Timothy Gonzales, Lawrence Chen, Sherwin Sadeg, Anila Shah, Gurveer Khalsa, Dismitha Maha Baththanaralalage, Harrison Shi, Marc Mumford, Eric Ruan and Auyon Bhaumik.
The results should be out by late August. The prize giving ceremony will be held in September at the UNSW campus.
Australian Informatics Olympiad (A.I.O.)
Training is underway for this year’s A.I.O. which will be held in A.1.6 on 25 August.
Maths Enrichment
The invoices for this program have been sent home and this covers the cost of the material, the tutors, and the registration for the program. Please pay as soon as possible, but if you are having financial difficulties, please contact Mrs Maria Ryan in the office for assistance.
Primary Peer Tutoring
In 2020 and 2021, due to COVID we had to cut very short our Primary Peer Tutoring program that we operate with Penrith Primary School and Orchard Hills Primary School. This extremely valuable program started up again at the start of Term 2 this year. The program not only benefits the Mathematically gifted and talented students from these two primary schools but offers an excellent leadership training platform for our selected 23 Year 9 students. All students develop communication, collaboration and creative thinking skills as well as a deep bond between the primary and high school students.
Each Year 9 student is paired up with a primary school student and we meet every Tuesday recess in our school library. Mrs Wilkes (Teacher PPS), Mr McMahon (Principal at OHPS) and Mrs Briggs (HT Mathematics PSHS) are looking forward to the journey that will occur in 2022. See photos below.
Maths Peer Tutoring
Maths Peer Tutoring is up and running at full steam!
Two Year 11 students, Anuja Paleti and Juveena Julian will organise group study sessions for all the junior Term 3 and Term 4 Tasks. These will be held in A.1.5 so, keep an eye out in the Daily Notices on Sentral for more details.
If your child is struggling with their Mathematics, Anuja and Juveena will match the student up with a peer tutor. All your child needs to do is send an email to mathspeertutoring@gmail.com and in the email, say their name, School Year, and the topics that they are finding difficult. The girls will find them a tutor and then contact them. This process usually only takes a couple of days. The Maths Peer Tutoring Program is held at recess or lunchtime in the Maths classrooms and is free. The tuition sessions can be weekly or fortnightly depending on the students’ needs.
General News in Mathematics
Mr Huynh’s wife had a baby girl on Monday Week 10. Mrs Zhou gave birth to a baby girl on Friday Week 10. Both mums and babies are doing well.
I hope all staff and students have a relaxing holiday break and I look forward to seeing you all in Term 3!
Mrs Briggs
Head Teacher Mathematics
Students from Penrith Public School and Orchard Hills Public School have Peer Support Tuesdays with our Year 9 Peer Support Leaders
The Da Vinci Decathlon
Penrith High School students from years 7 - 11 participated in the Da Vinci Decathlon, an all day competition for highly gifted students. We had five teams of eight students against 80 other teams for each year group. Each team represented the best and brightest minds.
Penrith High school results were:
Year 8:
15th overall
3rd Code Breaking
5th English
10th Art and Poetry
Year 9:
4th Science
13th Legacy
16th Creative Producers
Year 10:
5th Cartography
12th English
Year 11:
1st Cartography
4th Legacy
15th MathLouise Holloway
Stage 5 Academic Adviser
Science Faculty
The Da Vinci Decathlon was a great opportunity for us to shine and show our abilities and bring our school higher. It was a great way for us to cooperate with each other as a team, have proper time management and was also an engaging and fun way for us to boost our thinking skills.
This competition was a very unique experience where we had to be precise with the work that we completed, as we had to get it done in the time frame that we were given. The competition was also a way for us to challenge our abilities, as the competition was held online due to the current situations, we had to make sure that nothing went wrong and that all our work was uploaded properly before time was up.
The day, although challenging, was a great way for us to stimulate our memories about everything that we had learned and put it together as a team to achieve the answers to the problems that we were presented with. I would really love to do the Da Vinci Decathlon again.
Heer Panchal Year 8
Alumni Night 2022
The students rotated around the Alumni in small groups in the hall and asked questions about Engineering, Medicine, Teaching, Accountancy, Cartography, Sports Management and Communications to name a few. Students even got to speak to the Alumnus, Shaun Mielekamp, who is mostly known for being the guy who signed Usain Bolt to play football.
Thank you to the students who attended (considering the train strike) and especially to the Alumni for giving back to PSHS!
The Alumni who attended were:
Ian Abbott - Class of '67
Rafi Azmol - Class of 2003
Tanya Bhatnagar - Class of 2016
Soham Desai - Class of 2019
Stephanie Doohan - Class of 2008
Divinia Eather - Class of 2019
Surin Fernando - Class of 2001
Simone Ferriera - Class of 2015
Paul Hansen - Class of '68
Keshna Jeyandrabalan - Class of 2019
Peter Mannering - Class of '64
Lachlan Mansfield - Class of 2008
Shaun Mielekamp - Class of '96'
Mark McCartney - Class of '99
Sharne Peake - Class of 2005
Garth Pearce - Class of 2000
Rafa Rahman - Class of 2015
Ivy Tseng - Class of 2008
Sally Wawn - Class of '99
Glen Williamson - Class of '87
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to share the evening with us!
Multimedia photos to come next issue.
State Shakespeare Carnival
It is with great pride to announce that our Year 7 and Year 8 students were crowned State Champions in the Ensemble Division.
We also placed second in the group devised division and fourth in the dance division.
In addition, the Year 9 and Year 10 students were awarded the "Best Theatrical Moment".
A real highlight was that Bailey Bass was awarded the Robert Armin Memorial Comedy Award for his strong comedy skills as an actor.
Thank you to our amazing teachers and to the parents who supported our students in this event.
Congratulations!
Greater Western Sydney Public Schools Concert Band
Recital Evening
Thank you to all of our tutors, administrative staff and Mr Rolls for organising this wonderful evening.
Congratulations to PSHS Concert Band and String Ensemble
Thank you to Mr Sandham, Ms Lee and Mr Vassallo for attending to support our students. A special thank you to all the parents and families who made the early morning trip.
Congratulations on your wonderful performance!
Listen to it below
LightsUp Drama Festival
Thank you to Mr Vassallo for his work in coordinating and producing this event. This festival showcases dramatical works created in schools by students and staff from Kindergarten to Year 12 in NSW Public Schools.
Silver Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Journey
The Silver Dukes group went on their Qualifying Journey in early May, which was in the Blue Mountains area around Glenbrook, Blaxland and Warrimoo. There were lots of amazing things to see on this trip and despite the obstacles faced due to us not being able to stay overnight and camp, we all still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
Day 1: The first day started off with us meeting at Blaxland Station in the morning, where we all received our maps and looked through our new route. We then split into boys and girls groups and our day commenced! It was a really beautiful environment with plenty of scenery, muddy tracks and unfortunately leeches. We walked to the lagoon where we saw so many koi fish, then to a beautiful lookout. We then walked a bit further before reaching the area where we did Zone Cross Country. Here we stopped for lunch with the boys making caesar salad for the group and we sang happy birthday to Tanish. After a while we found ourselves in this area where there were some tunnels, so naturally, we all went to explore inside. It was really dark and had graffiti scrawled on the walls which was really cool to see. We navigated to the Nepean River and we walked alongside it until we reached the Yanghai Bridge that overlooked the whole river which was pretty spectacular to see. After we crossed the bridge and said hi to the rowers, and we walked to Penrith Station to go home!
Day 2: We started this day at Blaxland Station early in the morning. Today's route was extremely muddy with Juveena’s shoe getting stuck in the mud! There were also so many leeches! We met up with the boys at a rock cave. It was here we found a stick which we named Maya and took her on our Dukes journey. After a few more hours of walking, we reached Warrimoo Station and then found a bush park where the girls made pasta for lunch for the group. We all sat on the rocks and ate pasta before continuing to walk. A few poor decisions were made and this pushed us back in terms of time, so when we did regain ourselves, the sun was setting, however, the sky was unbelievably amazing to see! After a bit more walking we reached the station at around 6 and caught the train home.
3: On the third day we all met at Glenbrook Station this time, where we then walked to the National Park. This was where we did our Bronze Qualifying Journey, so it was a moment of deja vu for all of us. We all gathered in a group and looked through our maps to see where we were going. After that we started walking, this time all together as a group. It was a cold morning, so everything seemed very fresh and bright. At our checkpoint, we needed to cross the creek to continue and get to the other side. Some members of our group left to go scour for a potential area where we could cross, but came back with no result. Miss Andreatta had already found an area to cross the creek so we all walked back to that area to cross it. We all took our shoes and socks off and tied it to our packs. We went two at a time and the water was pretty cold! It was also very slippery so some of us used Miss Andreatta's and Mr McNally's hiking sticks to help us. After we had all safely crossed the creek (which took us much longer than expected) we continued walking. Little did we know what was ahead of us. We were led to a steep side of the mountain that we had to climb, well basically crawl up. It was so steep but that made it really fun to walk up and then we finally reached the top. The lookout was so pretty and we all ate some food. Then we had to start bush bashing, which was really fun. At one point we got navigationally challenged and had to rely on call and response from Miss Andreatta to find our way. Then after trekking down a large hill we reached Portal Waterhole where we all had lunch. There were a lot of different things to see as we were walking back such as creeks, bridges, lots of greenery and trees. Then after we finally reached our starting point, we ended our Duke of Ed Silver Qualifying Journey!
Overall this was such a fun and exciting trip (except for the leeches) and we are so grateful for Miss Andreatta for organising it despite the restrictions that went on. Each day had its own challenges but through teamwork and group morale we all made it through!
Dharani Sutharshan
Silver Duke of Edinburgh group member
Yr 7 Camp
More to follow next issue.
Please enjoy the photos below.
Congratulations Mr McGinnis!
Our very own Mr. McGinnis played professional football in the 80s and 90s and when he was just starting off in his professional career, he also played for the Scotland U-18 national team in the 1982 European Championship finals, held in Finland. To get to the finals, Scotland knocked out England over 2 matches. They went on to win their group, by beating Albania 3-0, Turkey 2-0, and drawing with Netherlands 1-1. They needed at least a draw in that final group match to qualify for the semifinal and, after a certain Marco van Basten scored for the Netherlands, Mr. McGinnis scored a wonderful equaliser to send Scotland through. Scotland's opponents in the semifinal were Poland, who they beat 2-0, and after a hard-fought match against Czechoslovakia in the final, they ran out 3-1 winners, with Mr McGinnis playing no small part in all the matches. The 40-year anniversary was on May 30 this year, and it is the only time Scotland has ever won a major international championship, so a big shout out and congratulations to Mr. McGinnis!
PS It's true he still plays football every week. It's just a bit easier to 'meg' him these days, with those bandy legs!
Mr McGovern
Head Teacher TAS
An event under Dreams2Live4: Bowl4dreams
All illnesses that exist in our society have brought difficult times for millions of people worldwide, and continue to affect millions of people each year, with cancer being one of the leading causes. Did you know that each day, over 413 people living ordinary lives are diagnosed with cancer in Australia? With this, many people transition into metastatic cancer, meaning it has spread.
To provide hope and optimism for children diagnosed with such illnesses, there are organisations like Make-A-Wish Australia. Similarly, a non-profit organisation called ‘Dreams2Live4’ has done great work to fulfil the dreams of adults with metastatic cancer. Being the only charity in all of Australia for cancer patients over seventeen years old, through charity events, donation, and fundraisers, Dreams2Live4 has helped over 1000 dreamers achieve their dreams from over 240 hospitals.
We, the Penrith Dream Team, worked with Kerry from Dreams2Live4 to organise an event to help raise funds for this amazing charity organisation in order to make more dreams come true. The event that we held was called ‘Bowl4Dreams’. Through many ups and downs in the road to hosting the final event, we successfully got together an incredible group of people at the Penrith Bowling and Recreation Club on 25 May, and raised $588.60 throughout the entire process.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped and supported us throughout this journey, and handed such generous donations to this charity.
We are also very thankful for the venue that enabled us to hold this event: Penrith Bowling and Recreational Club. Not only did they donate the most, but also donated their time and resources to enable us to successfully hold this event. It would not have been possible to raise this much money without the help and support of the Bowling Club.
We organised multiple ways to raise money for Dreams2Live4, and this included multiple jars in lolly guessing challenges as well as donation boxes. By actively involving the school through such activities, not only were we able to raise more funds for this charity, but also spread awareness of what the issues the charity was working towards for adults with metastatic cancer.
So, like how each and every one of us has a dream in our life that we live for, some of these people have been limited to achieving their own dreams due to their health, treatment, and the lack of motivation. Through our funds raised, we hope that we can help Dreams2Live4 make those dreams a reality, and lift the spirits of as many people as we can, and hopefully continue to do so into the future.
The Penrith Dream Team.
(Anchita Eranki, Krithika Sujendran, Amiya Joshi, Kyra Srinivas, Swatthi Ilango, Trisha Sheth, Haripriya Mehta, Sri Vidya Ratnesan)
Year 10
Congratulations Ambeikka!
Ambeikaa Mishra Year 11 has been pursuing Pistol Shooting since late 2019. Despite 2020 and 2021 being a year full of unprecedented events, she has continued to practice on the weekends with her National Coach at Sydney International Shooting Center(SISC).
On 22 May there was an Interstate club competition held at SISC where top shooters from renowned clubs participated . Ambeikaa has made us all proud by securing a Gold Win at Air Junior SISC Open 10 m Pistol Shoot. This sets her as a strong contender for future state competitions!
Ambeikaa's family want to thank the school leadership and the educators for the support they have given to Ambeikaa.
Students from PSHS who represented Nepean - and our school - for Sydney West Cross Country
PSHS Athletics Carnival 28/04/2022 - one WET Day!
Students from PSHS who qualified for Zone Athletics 2022
Penrith Selective High School
Email: penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Website: http://penrith-h.schools.nsw.gov.au
Location: 158-240 High Street, Penrith NSW, Australia
Phone: 02 2721 0529
Facebook: facebook.com/penrithselectivehighschool