HORNSBY GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL

Term 2 Issue 4 Date 17 June 2016

Congratulations to Maya Sathiamoorthy Year 7 who has been chosen as the ABC3 Rookie Reporter Federal Election for the ‘Behind the News’ Program. Students from around Australia were asked to produce a video promoting their journalistic skills which they then submitted to the ABC for selection. 250 applications were sent to the ABC from around Australia with 43 coming from Hornsby Girls High School alone. Well done Hornsby and to Mrs Smith (English Faculty) for promoting the opportunity. Three students from Hornsby Girls were shortlisted in the top ten in Australia including Maya, Karina Mathias Year 8 and Gaya Chandrasekaran Year 7. Well done to these girls and all 43 students who submitted applications. You can watch Maya each night over the coming weeks interviewing politicians and investigating stories of interest leading up to the Federal Election on ABC3 ‘Behind the News’ at 6:50pm. Congratulations to our Rookie Reporter Maya. The photo above of Maya (4th from left) was taken at the premiere of the film ‘UnIndian’ (2015) in which Maya starred. The cast of ‘UnIndian’ also included the Australian Cricket legend Brett Lee. Congratulations to Alisha Mathias and Mary Joyce Bajo Year 11 who gave speeches and were finalists at the Zonta Young Women in Public Affairs Awards Night for the Pat Fisher Best Speaker Award on Wednesday 8 June. Students also from Pymble Ladies College, Killara High, Roseville College, Abbotsleigh, Masada, Ravenswood, Brigidine and Mount St Benedict’s spoke at the event held in Killara. Both Mary and Alisha spoke of their passion for human rights, social justice and how they could advance the cause of women in society. Well done Alisha and Mary for your wonderful oratory. On the conclusion of the speeches the judges conferred and Alisha Mathias representing our school was placed first as the best speaker. I was able to present the Zonta shield at the Year 10, 11 and 12 formal assembly held the following day to Alisha and Joyce. The student cohort were very supportive in their applause for both of these fine young women. Well done to Echo Huang Year 11 who has been shortlisted in the Whitlam Institute’s ‘What Matters - It’s Time To Write Competition’ 2016. All the best to Alex Chen Year 8 who will be representing the school in the NSW Interschool Snowsport Competition in Thredbo for three days over the July holidays. Alex will be competing in four events.

Email Address: [email protected] Web Address: www.hornsbygir-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Phone: 9476 5711 Fax: 9482 2525

Tuesday 7 June saw the biggest and best Careers Fair with 290 attendees, 60 presenters and panel members, 30 Year 9 student helpers (Smirthi, Jane, Katherine Huang, Katherine Tran, Wasapatkorn, Meha, Ruiyi, Sarah Wang, Rebecca, Sarah Kim, Angela, Priya, Renee, Rachel, Jenny, Hanna, Jennifer, Jessie, Amy, Amitoj, Jasmine, Jenny, Jade, Vanessa, Manisha, Xinya, Josephine, Hazel, Chloe, Radhika, and Lauren) and twelve members of the P and C assisting during the night. The team was led by our parent organiser P and C member Mrs Krithivasan who was able to organise the presenters from her vast professional networks and through her connections with the HGHS Old Girls Union. Of note was the Q and A panel organised by Dr Turner (Careers Adviser) which included six students from the Hornsby Girls High School HSC Class of 2004 and one from the class of 2014 who were able to provide some suggestions to the attendees about the best approach to school and university. Thank you also to the 30 student helpers from Year 9 who were able to guide our visitors and presenters around the school. Thank you also to Mr Sabanayagam who was able to organise a feast for the presenters and the student helpers in appreciation of their support for the Careers Fair. He was ably assisted by Mrs Sabanayagam, Ms Truong, Mrs Kulasinghe and Mrs Shafiuddin. Thank you to Mr Gunashanhar, Mr Manoharan and Mr Roberts for assisting with parking on the night. The Careers Fair would not have been such a great success without the support of the Year 9 students, parents and community members. Hornsby Girls High School is a wonderful community of students (both past and present), teachers, parents and various community members who collaborate to ensure the school exceeds in every activity undertaken. Again congratulations to Mrs Krithivasan for such a wonderful night. The Prefects have organised a fun-filled Friday afternoon of trivia on 24 June (3:30pm – 6pm) with Normanhurst Boys. I encourage the students to participate in this activity which will raise funds for a most worthy cause the Women’s Refuge Shelter in Hornsby for women who suffer from domestic violence. Well done to the prefects for this social activity and charity fund raiser initiative. Our first planning meeting for the Multicultural Fair 2016 organised by Mrs Kate Bromley will be held at the school from 6:30pm on Monday 20 June prior to the Band and Orchestra Committee Meeting. Please see the flyer in this edition of the Torch. Justin Briggs, Principal

Australian Youth Ultimate Frisbee Championships - Congratulations Jessica Lin Year 11 Recently, Jessica representing NSW, flew to Melbourne to compete in the 2016 Australian Youth Ultimate Frisbee Championships. The competition was held at Ron Barassi Snr Park, Docklands Drive, Docklands, Melbourne. The NSW Team had a 12-2 win against Victoria, followed by a 13-2 win against South Australia 13-2 and 102 win against Western Australia!

Jessica played in the NSW Team that defeated WA in the Final - 10-5, crowning NSW the U19 National Champions for the second year in a row! The game was streamed live at: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2ep2MMeBQo) We are very proud of Jessica's achievements in this exciting and dynamic Sport and wish her every success in her future 'Ultimate' endeavours!

Year 11 Driver Ed On the 26th May, Year 11 students participated in the excursion to Hart Driving School St Ives. The aim of the day was to create awareness among the students in relation to road safety. The day was broken up into six different interactive seminars that educated students about stopping distances, hazards, distractions and risks, Plan B, alcohol, fatigue, crash survivor, road choices and choosing and maintaining a safe vehicle. The group was confronted with the reality of the consequences unsafe driving can have, not only on ourselves but the people around them. This was a valuable exercise, as many Yr11 students have their Learner's license and some ready for Provisional.

Public Speaking and Debating News Congratulations to Lily Henke for reaching the regional finals of the Rostrum Voice of Youth Public Speaking Competition and to Eeshaa Batra for reaching the regional finals of the Plain English Speaking Competition. Well done to all the girls who entered public speaking competitions this semester: Nicole Leong, Sophie Shead, Jyothi Krithivasan, Mia Cameron, Vaishali Ram, Aish Karanjai, Kelly Ng and Nehal Gosal. Our Year 12 debating team of Eeshaa Batra, Nicole Leong, Sunaina Salagame and Georgina Oates were zone winners in the Premier's Debating Challenge and will debate against Normanhurst Boys' High School on Tuesday 21st June. Our Year 11 Metro debaters Lily Henke, Alisha Mathias, Nishka Tapaswi and Mary Bajo were also zone winners and we will receive details of their regional final soon.

Year 11 Music have had the wonderful opportunity to participate in Music Performance workshops with Asquith Girls on Friday afternoons spanning over a fortnight. We spent 2 hours at Asquith listening to each other perform a variety of repertoire. It was most enjoyable to hear the pieces played by students from another school and give constructive feedback. The judging panel of music teachers from both schools gave us valuable feedback on our pieces and useful tips to help us in performance. It was excellent to hear the opinions of different teachers, and to also put ourselves in the positions of examiners for a change. The relaxed atmosphere made the workshop pleasant as well as very useful. We look forward to workshops in the future and maintaining a connection with our Asquith colleagues. Rebecca Wang – Year 11

MULTICULTURAL FAIR 2016 SATURDAY 20TH AUGUST PLANNING MEETING Monday 20 June, 6.30pm The first planning meeting for the 2016 Multicultural Fair will take place on Monday 20 June from 6.30pm to 7.30pm in the staff common room. It would be great if all stall co-ordinators could attend this meeting. Any parents keen to help with the planning and organisation of this year’s Fair are very (very!) welcome to attend. Start collecting now for the Tombola and Trash and Treasure: It would be a fantastic if all families could start collecting items now for the Tombola and the Trash and Treasure stalls. You will be able to drop them off at school in Term 3.  

This year the Tombola will have a wide range of prizes – toys, chocolates, stationary, beauty products, sporting gear – anything you would like to win! Please keep any unwanted gifts or perhaps buy something to donate. Minimum value $20.00. Must be in the original And don’t forget to keep any old items that you no longer need but which are in good condition for the Trash and Treasure stall Can you help to plan the 2016 Fair?

We are still looking for volunteers for the two below-mentioned roles. These roles only require you to be available by e-mail and phone in the evenings from early July until 20 August. While you will be welcome to attend Fair planning meetings, it’s not necessary. If you can help, contact Kate at [email protected]. Promotions – contacting local newspapers, other local schools and community organisations to promote our event. We will provide you with the information you need. Volunteer co-ordinator – liaising with parent and student volunteers by email and preparing rosters for the Fair