C O N D E L L P A R K H I G H S C H O O L

CONDELL PARK HIGH SCHOOL
Third Avenue, Condell Park 2200
Preparing Our Students For The Future
Issue 3: May 2013
Welcome to our first newsletter for Term 2 2013. We
are already underway with half yearly exams for Years
7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Our Year 7 and Year 9 students
sat for the NAPLAN exams and we are now preparing
our reports. Semester 1 reports will be available for
collection on Thursday 27th June from 3.00pm to
5.30pm at our Parent Teacher Afternoon.
Last week we sent home with your child an “Authority
to Publish Form”. We need your permission and
signature on this form to allow us to take photos of
your child participating in school activities. We cannot
take a photo of your child and publish it without your
permission. Please get this form back to us at your
earliest convenience.
I need to address, yet again, our school’s mobile
phone policy. Absolutely, and under no circumstances
is a student allowed to have a phone in their
possession during the school day. If you wish your
child to carry a phone to and from school, that is
absolutely acceptable, however, your child will need
to drop the phone at the office in the morning and
pick it up at the end of the school day. Our students
are NOT permitted to have a phone with them during
the school day, even if it is switched off. If they are
caught with a phone in their possession then it will be
confiscated for a period of 14 days and then only a
parent can collect it. The phone will NOT be handed
back to the student. This has been our policy for
many years now and it was our P&C who ratified this
policy. We need your support on this matter. If any
parent wishes to speak to their child during the course
of the day, please contact the school and we will get
your child out of class. If your child needs to call you,
then he/she will be able to do this from our office.
Could I ask parents to ensure that they let us know if
any of their contact numbers change so that we can
update our records.
S.C. Mobayed
Principal
School Ambassador:
Schools in the South Western Sydney Region have been
asked to nominate a School Ambassador. This person
must exemplify community values and leadership, as well
as, serve as a role model for other students. The school
ambassador will represent Condell Park High School in a
variety of public forums.
After much deliberation, Condell Park High School
has appointed Nazmadan Elbasha of Year 11 as School
Ambassador. This decision was based on Nazmadan’s
excellent leadership qualities and ongoing contribution to
the school and community.
Nazmadan will now be involved with leading school
assemblies, mentoring students, assisting at parent/teacher
evenings and fundraising for the community. Nazmadan
has also been invited to attend the South Western Sydney
Region Ambassadors’ Leadership Day in the coming weeks
where she will meet ambassadors from other schools, learn
important leadership skills and receive media training.
Congratulations Nazmadan!
CPHS Ambassador- Nazmadan Elbasha
June 2013
Mon 10th June
Queen’s birthday public holiday
Wed 26th June
Careers Expo in hall
Thurs 27th June Parent/ Teacher Afternoon
Reports issued to Years 7 to 12
3.00pm to 5.30pm
Fri 28th June
Last day of Term 2
ATHLETICS CARNIVAL:
YOUNG WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP:
Our school’s annual Athletics Carnival was held on Friday
17th June. It was great to see so many students attend
the carnival and give their best in a range of events.
Staff and students thoroughly enjoyed the events of the
day! Thank you to Year 12 who helped to make the day
memorable by dressing up!
Yasmin Hamdash and Hannah Merhi were selected to
attend The Young Women’s Leadership Seminar, on
Wednesday 15th May at Parliament House. The aim of
the seminar was to discuss concepts and issues that
affect women in leadership roles. The day also provided
Yasmin and Hannah with the opportunity to meet a
variety of women leaders.
YEAR 11 BIOLOGY & SENIOR SCIENCE AT
GEORGES RIVER
The Year 11 Biology and Senior Science classes
undertook a field study at George’s River National Park as
part of their assessment task. The students had to
conduct experiments, such as, the temperature and pH of
the water and soil and observe the range of flora and
fauna in the ecosystem. There was a lot of work to do
(and lots of creepy crawlies), however, the students were
highly engaged in all the activities and thoroughly
enjoyed the day.
DEBATING:
MATHEMATICS:
On Tuesday 14th May, the CPHS Year 11 debating team
competed in one of the most entertaining debates to
date. The team, consisting of Anna Elkhatib, Moiz
Iftikhar and Ahmed Kawas, travelled to Westfield Sports
High School to verse a very experienced team of Year
12 students who have debated together for 7 years and
competed at state level. Our team argued against the
topic “That violent video games should be banned”.
The adjudicator commented that, although our
arguments were stronger, engaging in more rebuttal
would have seen us come away with the win. This was
an impressive improvement on the last debate and this
team should be extremely proud of their efforts.
Throughout Term 1, much emphasis is placed on
developing the junior students’ basic skills. The “Times
Table Challenge” for both Year 7 and Year 8 provided an
excellent opportunity for the students to showcase their
skills and compete against each other to become “The
Times Table Champions” of their year at Condell Park
High School. Students answered times table questions in
a round by round competition similar to a spelling bee.
Only students giving correct answers could stay in the
competition. Each level became increasingly difficult until
there was only the eventual champion left standing!
Congratulations to the following winners:
Year 7: William Fajloun (7T),
Sanjin Mujanovic (7E),
David Nguyen (7E)
Year 8: Khit Nay (8E),
Htee Aung (8T),
Peter Andreou (8T)
2013 has so far been quite an eventful year for the Year
10 Drama class. We have been lucky enough to have
already experienced a pre-show session from actors of
the play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and watch the play at
Belvoir Street Theatre. On Thursday 9th of May, actors
and educators from the theatre visited us for a postshow discussion. The aim of the session was for us to
realise some of the unknown facts about theatre and
ways in which we could embark on an acting career,
should we choose. We also talked about the production
aspects of the play and some of the tips and tricks to
overcome stage fright when acting.
Overall, the
experience was really enjoyable and helpful. We look
forward to seeing some more great performances and
engaging in conversations with theatre experts in the
future. Also, we would like to thank Ms Nielsen and the
people at Company B and Belvoir Street Theatre for
putting everything together for our class.
Abdullah El Mir
YEAR 8 GET UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH
BRAINS:
Year 8 students celebrated the National Brain Awareness
Week on the 15th of March this year with a number of
scientists from the University of Sydney. Six scientists
from the university came to CPHS to conduct a hands on
activity with our students where students learnt about
various concepts about the brain such as the anatomy of
the brain, olfaction, sensory perception and reflexes.
This activity was a program run by CSIRO called
Scientists In Schools whereby students get to work with
real scientists. Our Year 8 students were truly inspired by
the scientists and asked several questions about
becoming a scientist or getting into a career in Science.
Indeed a valuable experience for the Year 8’s. We hope
to see our partnership with the scientists bring even more
fun and educational experiences for our students in the
near future. Ms Singh
CAREERS:
*Tafe Course- Congratulations to the following Year
10 girls, who have made outstanding progress within
their Hair/Beauty & Nails Technology, TAFE Course. I
have received excellent feedback from their TAFE
teachers, regarding behaviour, attitude to learning
and overall presentation. Well done, Claudia Hake,
Douha Elmasri, Ellen Laubscher, Sue-Lin Alnimer,
Victory Penese, Katilyn Kerswell, Memory Marama and
Mary Haddad.
The girls participating in practical training at
Bankstown Tafe.
*Work Experience- Year 10 students have been
provided with the information needed to begin looking
for a host employer. If parents/guardians have any
enquiries regarding the Work Experience Program,
please contact the school. Many Year 10 students
have already completed a week of Work Experience
and have thoroughly enjoyed their time as well as
building upon their employment related skills. These
students include Douha Elmasri, Moussa Mahmoud,
Mariam Hamad, Lingie Dixon and Victory Penese.
Well done to all involved!
NEW TABLES:
New aluminum tables have been installed in the
Outdoor Classroom. They replaced the old and worn
wooden tables.
Mariam Hamad at Work Experience.