Science News!

In case you missed it, we celebrated National Science week last month. For the year 8, 9 and 10 classes, the curriculum was put aside for a few lessons, and we experimented with the theme of Food: different by design.

This was tricky as we are always harping on to the students “no eating in the Science lab,” so there were many technicalities that needed to be solved such as providing potable water and buying food-grade equipment that hadn’t been contaminated by previous experiments. In the end, there were 4 different types of food we made:

Rock candy – a flavoured and coloured sugar syrup that crystalised on a skewer over many days.

Vanilla ice cream – cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a bag and then shaken in icy brine (ice + salt) for 5 minutes. Needless to say, it got very cold and was delicious!

Sherbet – baking soda, citric acid, jelly crystals and icing sugar made a tasty, fizzy chemical reaction.

Agar-agar caviar –an algae-based setting agent was dissolved in a liquid of choice and dropped into cold oil to make spheres of tasty jelly (creaming soda was great, but I heard chocolate milk was “weird”).

Hopefully, the students feel more confident to do some science experiments (aka cooking) at home these holidays and the result is at least palatable, if not, we’ll blame Home Ec.


On another note, the year 9 students have been exploring electricity the last few weeks. This has involved using static electricity to pick up paper, creating different types of circuits and making batteries out of everyday materials like lemons and vinegar.

Some things have worked better than others, and the students have discovered the more “cells” or individual acid electrodes that are linked together, the higher the voltage produced. Check out the mammoth circuit set up last week!

Science Teacher
Ms Jessica Lewis









Principal's Message Term 3 2021

As another term draws to a close, we find ourselves again celebrating the contributions of some staff members who have found that their career pathways have taken them away from the hallowed halls of NASHS.

The enthusiasm and professionalism which Rebecca Kirkwood bought to the Deputy Principal position at NASHS, has been recognised by the recruitment panel for the Principals position at Denmark Ag College, and she will begin there at the start of term 4. We have all genuinely appreciated Rebecca’s contributions during her short tenure and wish her all the best for the future. Dave McComb has been appointed to the Deputy Principals position for term 4.

We have also farewelled a much-loved staff member of our front office, Jo Steel. Jo has found a career change in the Health Department and will be seriously missed by the staff, students and the families of NASHS. 

In the middle of this term, Andrew Hannig (the NASHS ICT Coordinator) accepted an opportunity in a local small business. Andrew’s expertise and friendship around the campus will also be sincerely missed.

I would also like to congratulate our MCS (Manager of Corporate Services) Keely George, who was awarded the winner of the WAECSSA / DOE - Outstanding Administrative Support Office Award, Manager Corporate Services for 2021. This is a fantastic achievement and recognition of the dedication and hard work Keely gives to NASHS in order for the school to run effectively. 

As you will have heard by now, WA Health is offering the Pfizer vaccine for all children 12 years and over and encouraging young people aged 16 years and over to get vaccinated before they finish school for the year.

Please read the attached letter from the Chief Health Officer, Dr Andrew Robertson CSC, PSC. We will also post this letter on our Facebook page and website for your reference. Stay tuned for further information about the plan to roll out in-reach vaccination clinics in schools during term 4.

Please be advised that the P&C are reviewing the business plan for the school canteen. The canteen prices have not been subjected to any increases during the past 5 years, and this has threatened the financial viability of being able to operate this service. For the canteen to remain operational, a price increase for all food items has been recently approved by the P&C, and the new prices will be effective from the commencement of Term 4.

The canteen is an essential service that the school is fortunate to be able to provide and will need the support of our families to continue to operate. Please consider attending P&C meetings to have your say about the future of the canteen and the menu.

Finally, I wish all our staff and students a restful school holiday break.

Please stay safe,

Principal
Mr Peter Hurle



Young Writers Online Term 3

Enthusiastic young writers from NASHS, once again, gathered for their author lead workshop. To some viewers, it may seem like students in casual dress, supping cuppas all day and eating yummy morning and afternoon teas. As the coordinator, I see so much more! Students writing for pleasure, learning their craft and sharing ideas. I see students making friends with people they may never come across in day-to-day circumstances. I see some students overcoming fear, anxiety and doubt, and building strength and capacity in their self-belief. Young Writers Online is so much more than a day off from regular school!

"It was enjoyable and funny. I like being in my sort of group. I LOVE WRITING." Emily Yr8

"I like the supportive environment, that you can share your ideas without fear and judgement." Rebecca, Yr10

"...Young Writers is just a wonderful chance to relax and work on expanding your imagination... Definitely recommended to people who make stories." Nyree Yr8

" During the day we learnt different writing techniques... the presenter changed the way I see writing and to be honest, it's helped so much." Matthew Yr9

"...I enjoy the fact that it's a safe space and the writers are very talented..." Aliciah Yr8

"... wonderful class where you can gain ideas and inspiration for so many different kinds of stories. I enjoy every session." Emily Yr8

"... to see kids bloom with confidence, feel safe and ENJOY something academic at school is worthy of a teacher tearing up with happiness!" Jo Yr32

Students who are interested in YWO for 2022 can put their names on a CONNECT list and will be informed of next year's program, as soon as information is at hand.

Cheers,

Jo Morgan
YWO Coordinator.



Maths Fun

YEAR 8 SHOWDOWN!

Year 8 had a revision on expansion and factorisation of algebraic expression through an activity called “SHOWDOWN”.

The idea is taken from one of Kagan’s Strategies which focuses on cooperative learning. All students participated actively and had fun without realising that they were actually revising the concept!


Students Working individually

Team Captain yells 'Showdown' & checks everyone's answers

Thumbs up to show they got the right answers

COMPETITION WINNER

Thank you for all the entries that were submitted and thank you Mrs Stevens for picking the winner. Congratulations to Phoebe Couchman from Year 9 for winning the ‘Match Triangle’ puzzle. Phoebe received a $20 voucher from Paper Bark.

She presented a neat and detailed explanation of how to solve the puzzle with examples. Well done.

The solutions were:


COMPETITION TIME

This competition has 3 puzzles. Complete the puzzles below on separate paper with your full name and year group at the top.

Some logical thought is required, one entry goes into the draw for a $20 Paper Bark voucher. Drop your answers into the Maths Office by the end of week 1, Term 4, to go in the draw for prizes and reward points.


PUZZLE 2

If a hen and a half lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many eggs will half a dozen hens lay in half a dozen days?


PUZZLE 3

Problem: What is the value of the missing number “?” in the lunar diagram below?


Mathematics Teacher
Ms Lin


Cover Photo by Max Fischer from Pexels



Premier Mark McGowan visit with Year 11 Students

On Monday 13th September, Angus Bowles, Oliver Dall and Arli Vanderleer, three of our Year 11 student leaders, represented NASHS at the State Budget presentation.

Premier Mark McGowan spoke of the government's initiatives for the Great Southern area and released further details about the education budget. Of particular interest to NASHS were details regarding the funding of the building of a dedicated STEM classroom and an extra 100 school psychologists to be employed in schools around the state as of next year.

Students had the opportunity to ask the Premier questions and also spoke to leaders in the community.

All three leaders were fantastic representatives of the NASHS community - well done Angus, Arli and Oli.

Senior Student Services Coordinator
Ms Julie Duthie



Year 7 Acknowledgement Activity

Term 3 is nearly over, and to reward students for their hard work and acknowledge them following the school values of being their best, being responsible, respectful, safe and importantly kind, an after-school reward activity was organised.

 


Sixty students from Year 7 attended the “Groove and Bowl” evening at the Albany Ten Pin Bowling Centre last week. Fun and laughter were had by all and the opportunity to share some time in a safe and informal setting seem to be the antidote to a hectic term of assessments.


A big thank you to all the staff who attended the evening to support the students in some unwinding and friendship building.

A second “Groove and Bowl” will hopefully occur next term about week 5, to allow those students who missed out on the first evening to also doing some unwinding.

Mr Adam Tetlow
Year 7 Co-Ordinator






Making Kites For Freedom

 

A group of NASHS students and Ms Hetherington's HASS class have been making kites to show support for our local Afghan community.

The Taliban have banned kites in Afghanistan, so they have become a symbol of hope and freedom. NASHS hopes that when our local Afghan community sees these kites at the Albany Kinjarling Afghan Appeal, they know our support and thoughts are with them.

Photo supplied by Ms Julie Hetherington



Are the Olympic Games Fair?

The Olympics is one of the biggest events that happened this term, with hundreds of countries taking part, but are the Olympic Games fair? We believe it's not.

On average, the countries with more wealth statistically have a larger chance of getting a better score. For example, the USA (United States) has high wealth and people and came 1st in the most recent Olympics and the 2016 Olympics. On the other hand, places with a high population may not have the wealth to support themselves, meaning less money spent on sporting facilities and compounds (e.g. India).

Because of this, we designed a handicap based on the population and wealth of the country to help make the Olympics fairer. The handicap works like this: First, using a spreadsheet, we took the wealthiest country's GDP (“wealth”) divided by every other country's wealth to give the wealth handicap for that country. We then did the same for population. Once we had both handicap values, we multiplied them together to give a total handicap for each country. For example, China's population (roughly 1.4 billion) divided by Australia's population (roughly 25 million) creates a population handicap of 54.5 for Australia, which means that China has 54.5 times the population of Australia.

We then multiplied the handicap by the medal score. To calculate the Medal Score, we awarded 5 points for Gold, 3 points for Silver, and 1 point for Bronze. At the 2016 Olympics, Australia scored 8 Gold, 11 Silver, and 10 Bronze medals, so its Medal Score was (8x5) + (11x3)  + (10x1) = 83 points.

We then multiplied the Medal Score by Australia’s handicap (201), so in the 'Fair Olympics', Australia’s score would be 16683. After we applied a handicap of both wealth and population, we sorted the table according to the “fair score”. Surprisingly, China, who came third in the actual Olympics, placed at
58th in the Fair Olympics.


But are the Olympics actually worth it? 

It all comes down to a matter of opinion. Some people believe it is not worth it, as it costs lots of money and resources and athletes take years of training. On the contrary, it allows countries to showcase their best athletes. The athletes can compete against each other to try and break world records and provide entertainment for the people watching. It’s tricky to work out.

By Year 7 Students'
Tabitha Freeman and Lauren Green


Cover Photo by Bryan Turner on Unsplash

Red Frogs

 

Tom from Red Frogs visited NASHS on Thursday 16th September and spoke to our senior school students. In his presentation to the Year 12s, he spoke of the support Red Frogs can give students during Leavers and how to ensure they have a happy and safe time. To the year 11s, he spoke of Identity and focusing on your own worth and valuing yourself for your strengths.

Both groups enjoyed the presentations and there were many questions asked afterwards.

Senior Student Services Coordinator
Ms Julie Duthie



Contemporary Music Festival & WAAPA Incursion

CONTEMPORARY FESTIVAL

We drove to Perth and made our way to Ellenbrook Secondary College and played for their students, who also played for us. It was great, and our students were really brave and got on so well with the ESC students. 

Friday night was fun. After dinner, the students practised their makeup, did their nails, rock n roll style.

We started early Saturday morning and drove out to Canningvale College, where both of our bands played really well. They were a credit to the school with their professionalism, beaming smiles, confidence, interaction with the audience and overall obvious joy. Many of the staff commented on their awesome choice of songs and instrumentation, claiming it wasn't often they got to hear those sorts of tunes, and they loved how unique they were. 

We stayed at the festival for a while, watched a few bands, and some were fantastic and inspired the kids.

We went home for some lunch, followed by shopping and a movie at Carousel.

The bus was alive, to say the least, all the way there and back with MANY songs being 'sung' (or chanted more like), and I don't think I've ever taken such a spirited bunch anywhere like this before!

They played at the park at Kojonup, and it was probably the best bit of the whole trip. I got some fantastic footage and photos, and they were truly happy and proud of themselves.

I want to thank Mike Wilson, who is a wonderful person to take away on an excursion, so positive, supportive and encouraging. I felt so grateful for his presence and guidance. 

The kids had a GREAT time, and I'm sure they will remember this experience for a long time.



WAAPA INCURSION

It was another great day of music, and it was fantastic to see two schools working well together with the professional guidance from 3 WAAPA Contemporary Music lecturers and coordinators.

Seven bands from NASHS and Denmark Senior High School performed, followed by feedback from the WAAPA crew. 

During the breaks, the students jammed together from both schools. The day closed with a mass workshop inviting senior students from both schools to perform 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

All three lecturers were impressed by the amount of engagement and interest in music and the quality of students from NASHS and Denmark SHS. They even said, "In all honesty, Perth would be very jealous of what was happening down here."

Go team Great Southern!!



Teacher in Charge of Music
Meghan McNally



 



Circus!

Circus is back! Come on down to the PAT break 1, on Mondays and Thursdays. Hang out in circus land and play your favourite tunes on the new sound system!



From The Library - September

Once again the Book Week Parade was an immense success with students and staff from ASESC and NASHS dressing as characters in their favourite books. Some of the costumes were highly original and it was wonderful to have so many people take part. There were book vouchers and canteen vouchers as major prizes, as well as many spot prizes for the happy crowd displaying their costumes. The bar has been set high for the 2022 Book Week Parade. 

Need help with schoolwork – Check out Immersive Reader 

Immersive Reader is a free tool built into many of the Microsoft Office 365 applications such as Word and OneNote, which provide proven techniques to improve reading and writing for people of all ages and abilities. The table below shows where it is available and which techniques are used. 

Users are able to customise font spacing, line length, break words into syllables, change page colour, as well as use text-to-speech (Read aloud) language and math, and word or line highlighting. It also provides real-time translation and read aloud in translation for many languages.  

I have included a link to the  Microsoft Education Center which has several videos as well as explanations and links to the research behind this tool. Please watch both What is Immersive Reader? and Inclusive Classroom; Help students read more effectively.

The links below will also be of interest if you need some help writing and Maths. Both videos are interactive guides for inclusive tools. 

Empower students with inclusive writing tools

Provide inclusive math tools

These very powerful tools can really make a difference to student learning.  Please contact the NASHS library if you would like some help or if you need more information.

Head of Library Services
Mrs Barbara McNeill
Ph: 98 920 630

 




Wheel Life for School

On Tuesday, select Year 10, 11 and 12 students participated in the Wheel Life for School program run by Rebound WA. We started the day with an introductory talk and Q and A session where Clint Morgan, Rebound WA representative,  introduced himself to our Year 10 cohort and answered their questions about his accident and life in a wheelchair. 

We then had our NASHS Year 10 classes spend an hour each learning the rules and skills of wheelchair basketball through some drills and gameplay. We also had an Upper School (Year 11 and 12 class) participate. We had a very friendly staff v. students game at break and ended the day with students from the Albany Secondary Education Support Centre participating in wheelchair basketball. 

Students in Year 10 have been reading the book, Wheels by Delwyne Stephens, about a 15-year-old boy who has a motocross accident and develops paraplegia. The book follows Shane, the main protagonist's journey of figuring out teenage life in a wheelchair.

As a result of studying the book, students have become more aware of the challenges people with wheelchairs face, especially those living in Albany. To increase awareness, especially as the Paralympics occurred, the school invited Rebound WA to use their Wheel Life for Schools Program to help educate our students. The Year 10 students are also writing persuasive letters to the City of Albany to discuss the options of permanent matting at some of Albany's beaches to ensure they are completely accessible for everyone. 

Students learnt about life in a wheelchair, having resilience and taking the opportunities that come their way.  They also had fun and worked as a team.

This incursion has been a valuable experience for our staff and students at NASHS. We have come away from it with increased respect and awareness for the challenges of living with a disability. 

English and Humanities Teacher
Nor Kaiyisah Shariff



Youthcare Quiz Night

Looking for a fun night out? Put a table of six together for the YouthCARE Quiz Night on October 23 and head down to the North Albany High School gymnasium.




School Special 714 Bus Time & Route Changes

Students, please note School Special 714 will now travel via Mt Lockyer Primary School in the morning and Terminate at Yakamia Primary School. Read more for adjusted times timing points. These changes will commence on October 10 2021.




SCHOOL SPECIAL  714 AM

8:22 am         Parklands Primary School

8:24 am          Mt Lockyer Primary School

8:30 am         Albany TAFE

8:32 am         North Albany SHS

8:40 am         Yakamia Primary School


The afternoon service will start from Yakamia Primary School and travel via Mt Lockyer PS before continuing the current route.


SCHOOL SPECIAL  714 PM
 

15:15 pm       Yakamia Primary School

15:19 pm       Parklands Primary School

15:23 pm       Mt Lockyer PS

15:27 pm       Albany TAFE

15:29 pm       North Albany SHS

15:37 pm       Yakamia PS


Need More Information

Call us 13 62 13


Visit us online

Transregional.wa.gov.au

 

Lost Property Call

Swan Transit  9841 2888

 

TransAlbany Depot

7 Barker Road
Albany WA 6330






Better Health Program

Looking for ways to promote healthy eating for your child? The Better Health Program is a free, online, healthy lifestyle program for 7-13-year-olds who are above a healthy weight and their families.

Spencer Park Dental therapy Centre Holiday Times

Spencer Park Dental Therapy Centre will be closed week one and OPEN week two during the school holidays. If you have a dental emergency during our closure please contact Yakamia Dental Therapy Centre on 9841 3498.

All appointments are now sent to your home address. If you have moved in the last few years we may not have your correct address and your child could miss out on their check-up.

If you no longer intend to use our service please let us know as soon as possible as your valuable appointment could be given to someone in need. Your child is eligible to attend a Dental Therapy Centre from ages 5 to 17.

Please contact us to update your details either by phone: 9841 3967 or e-mail: spencerparkdtc@ health.wa.gov.au

The staff at Spencer Park Dental Therapy Centre would like to wish all children and parents a happy and safe break 



VacSwim Enrolments Now Open!

Enrolments are now open for VacSwim swimming lessons during the October and summer school holidays. Students 13 years and over can enrol in Stage 16 to enable them to achieve their Bronze Medallion. 

Don’t wait! Enrol your children in VacSwim now at education.wa.edu.au/vacswim



Rio Tinto 2022 Apprentice Program

Applications are currently open for the Rio Tinto 2022 apprentice program. Opportunities are available for those living in our regional communities. For more details, please see below. 

For those interested in other roles with Rio, we encourage you to apply to the Albany talent pool. You can access the pool here.

For details on how to apply for a 2022 Rio Tinto apprenticeship click here.