15 Dec 2015
We have had a fantastic year of learning at Moorefield Girls High School in 2015. We have enjoyed many wonderful student and staff achievements, across academic pursuits, the sporting field, creative and performing arts exhibitions and performances, and through many other areas where our students have been able to demonstrate their talents and leadership skills.
In 2014, we worked together as a school community to create our three-year school plan. Our first strategic direction in this plan is Engaging Learners. This is where we are continuing to develop a school culture of high expectations where students are actively engaged in learning and achievement is celebrated.
We began the year by sharing our 2014 HSC results. 57% of our students achieved a result in the top 20% of the state with students performing above state average in courses such as Biology, Business Studies, English Standard/Advanced/Extension, History Extension, Physics, Visual Arts, Business and Retail Services. I look forward to celebrating with our current year 12 students on Wednesday and Thursday as this year's results are made available.
Our value added data from year 7 to 9 in NAPLAN is growing in strength and demonstrates the impact of the work ethic of our students and the expertise of our teachers.
Some of the individual and team achievements we have celebrated this year include:
- For the third year in a row, our students were finalists in the UWOL Maths via Digital Media competition. This year our Year 7 team were runners up in the year 7&8 category. This competition is open to all Public/Private schools across NSW and the ACT. Congratulations Sana, Orchnna, Maria, Naima on this outstanding achievement.
- Katherine in Year 10 has been selected for the UNSW Women in Engineering Camp in the January school holidays – she was selected for excellence in Mathematics and Science and a genuine interest in engineering.
- Our year 11 Chemistry Titration team entered the national titration competition for the first time this year with the outstanding result of achieving 8th place in NSW.
- Arabella in Year 9 was selected as Vice Captain of the Australian Under 15s Soccer team
- Our year 7 students entered the NSW Crystal Growing Competition with Nabila achieving fourth place and Rhea and Shalin gaining highly commended.
- Lucy in Year 11 won the regional heat of the World Skills Australia competition for her hospitality skills and
- Carina in Year 12 had her Visual Arts major work selected for display in ART EXPRESS, a great achievement.
While this is just a snapshot of our student achievements, you can see the breadth of talent with each of these examples demonstrating the opportunities created for our girls to find their interests and passion. Our students are supported with teacher expertise and high expectations as they work towards achievement in their areas of interest.
I would also like to recognise the students who can proudly say that they work to their very best each day that they are at school.
As a school community we have worked together to create engaging, 21st century learning environments to promote achievement, collaboration, creativity and excellence in the classroom. This initiative will continue in 2016 with the development of our MakerSpace which will be used for project based learning across all key learning areas.
Our second strategic direction, Building Capacity is weaved throughout everything we do. Our wellbeing focus on Mindmatters and student voice has empowered our students to be confident, resilient and positive partners in learning. Our students were provided with a broad range of leadership opportunities throughout 2015. From the prefects and Student Representative Council, the environment group and debating and public speaking opportunities, to demonstrations of leadership in everyday activities, our students represent our school and themselves with distinction. This year's school captains, Aleena and Fatima, led the school with integrity and intelligence.
Our third strategic direction is Developing Community, where we are actively working to enhance learning through connections between the school, parents and community. It has been great to see the wonderful level of support at each school event. From the parents who assisted with PolyNite, the working bee, P&C activities and attending parent teacher evenings to attendance by parents and the community at school events such as the Arts Festival, the interest and engagement of our community directly assists the learning of our students.
An example of how we have enhanced our community connections is through our student Volunteering program. Two of these are:
- Primary School volunteering program. Our Year 7 and 8 students visit local primary schools and assist with programs such as Kindergarten reading and Year 6 mentoring, developing their confidence and communication skills and the
- Intergenerational Technology Exchange where our students volunteered their time to work with older Australians to explain and guide them in their use of technology through Rockdale Library.
We are looking to continue to enhance these opportunities in 2016. The importance of volunteering and giving back to the local community is an important skill and helps develop confident, highly engaged, committed and hard working young women.
Establishing positive mentoring relationships is also important for female students, mentors who encourage their ambition, empower their confidence, and keep them on track by helping them set goals and work toward achieving them. This year we have extended our mentoring programs through our community connections. Two examples of these are:
- The existing Lawyers Encouraging and Assisting Promising Students program in partnership with Environment NSW
- Emerging Partnerships with Universities such as the UTS, Collabor8 project which focuses on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics development. The opportunity for our students to work with university staff and students, both here and at the university was inspiring.
We will look to continue to extend our business and organisation partnerships into 2016.
These three strategic directions will continue to underpin everything we do at Moorefield Girls. We will be focused on enhancing learning, building the capacity of students and staff and developing and strengthening our community.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday and I look forward to working with you again in 2016.
Ms J Beek, Principal