Hurlstone Agricultural High School
Newsletter

Issue: 1

Year: 2023

Published timing: Week 1, Term 2, 2023

Published date: 27 April 2023

In this issue:

• Principal's Report
• Deputy Principal Reports: Year 7 & 10, Year 9 & 12, Boarding

• Staff Spotlight: Anti-Racism Contact Officers
• Staff Article by Miss Jan
• Careers Corner
• Student Leadership Team Report
• Faculty Feature: Welfare Team
• Talent Development: Sport - Report by Krystal Truong
• Contact Us

Hurlstone Agricultural High School is committed to ensuring wellbeing is placed at the
heart of every educational experience we facilitate for our students. Our school nurtures the
whole child in an inclusive environment where gifted and high potential learners are
encouraged to develop a passion for life-long learning and strive to maximise their personal
potential. The synergy between parents, teachers, support staff, students and external
partnerships strengthens our identity, as we continue to follow a model based on high
expectations for our community. Emotionally intelligent leadership is valued and enhanced
through all strategic directions. Our school community includes a proactive commitment to
equity to enhance shared understandings and connections to learning and opportunity, so
all staff, students and community continue to flourish and thrive.

Our staff provide a dynamic, creative, innovative, collaborative and differentiated
curriculum and foster connected partnerships to maximise student engagement. We
maintain a proud tradition of preparing resilient, resourceful, critical and creative thinkers
who strive to make a difference in our rapidly changing world. Over the next four years the
school will continue to supply this level of care and academic success as it begins to re-
invigorate Hurlstone Agricultural High School, the only public Agricultural, residential, co-
educational, selective high school in NSW.

We have a great deal to celebrate and have selected a few highlights to share this week.

Happy International Womens Day!

To all the wonderful women in our school and all of our families, as well as those in the
broader communities, thank you for your strength, kindness, collegiality, and outstanding
contribution to NSW Public Education. Working in educational leadership is such a
privilege and I believe we are all lucky to live in Australia, however there is always more
work to do to ensure we reflect a shared commitment to ensuring our workplaces are safe
and inclusive for all staff.

Our Director Educational Leadership, Dace Elletson sent the following message to our
Principal network, and I would like to share this quote with our community.

"To those in the community who ask why we acknowledge International
Womens day I say…47 percent of the world’s girls are denied an education
because they are a girl; one woman each week in Australia dies as a victim of
domestic violence…and sadly the list goes on."

To all the women on our team, and also the exceptional men that support and champion
women, a big thank you for the important work you do every day to support all the students,
families, teachers, and leaders in the communities we serve.

I know that our school EMPOWER group have been coordinating some amazing events to
celebrate International women's day and our school is looking forward to hearing student
voice.

Hurlstone women leaders in the PNGAus Partnership Secondary Schools
Sustainable School Partnership Program celebrates International Women's
Day!

Mai Ni Pham, Jo Ross, Maryam Sabah celebrated International Women's Day in Papua New
Guinea with other educators where the emphasis was on gender equity in educational
leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Our team in the PNGAus
Partnership Secondary Schools Sustainable School Partnership Program (PASS) joined PNG
school leaders, teachers and students in Port Moresby for a four-day professional learning
program from 03 to 06 March 2023. The learning program supported educators to develop a
community of practice action plan to sustain engagement between PNG and Australian
educators to build capacity in schools. Through this learning, educators developed a greater
understanding of the PASS Learning Bank, its resources and capacity building
opportunities. Importantly, the learning program in Port Moresby aimed to deepen
engagement, knowledge, friendship, and plans for continued collaboration between
Australian and PNG educators.

IWD: International Women's Day 2023 campaign theme: #EmbraceEquity
(internationalwomensday.com)

International Women's Day 2023 campaign theme: #EmbraceEquityInternational Women's
Day 2023 campaign theme is #EmbraceEquity. Learn about the difference between equity &
equality.www.internationalwomensday.com

CREATIVE & PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTATION

Hurlstone Agricultural High School’s Creative and Performing Arts Presentation Night is an
annual event that recognises the diversity of talent within the Creative and Performing Arts.
Rescheduled to Thursday 23 February 2023; the presentation acknowledged students from
Years 7-12 and celebrated their achievements in 2022.

A showcase of elective and extra-curricular music and artworks was displayed through
performances and presentations. Artworks created by Visual Arts students from Years 7-12
were exhibited in the Dance Studio.

Parents and the community had the opportunity to peruse the display prior to the
presentation and music showcase, with the quality of the exhibition and following
performances exemplifying the high achievement of our Visual Arts and Music students.

AGRICULTURAL EXCELLENCE

Year 7 students worked on a project to design a scarecrow that best represents the
Sunflower Project for HAHS and RUOK day, whilst still meeting the functional
requirements of the scarecrow. All materials for the scarecrow were made from recycled
materials. During lockdown our school began a journey called the Sunflower Passion
Project. Students, staff and community were given the task.... "It all starts with a seed" and
the creativity was unleashed. We created a sunflower patch as a school, a seed saving project
and scarecrows adorned our school playground. A significant exhibition of student, staff and
community projects was displayed in the library, this included origami, poems by students,
photographic and art works, textiles, jewellery and so much more. Rural youth and our
school Agricultural leaders will be showing at Camden Show. If you have time you may like
to visit the show and support our Agricultural heritage and future.

Camden Show - 2023 Camden Show

SPACE CHALLENGE

On Tuesday 14 February, 2023 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Deputy Administrator, Pamela Melroy, joined our students here at Hurlstone, along with
others from Western Sydney Department of Education high schools:

• Arthur Phillip High School
• Casula High School
• East Hills Girls Technology High School
• Jamison High School
• Seven Hills High School

We are part of the Powerhouse Future Space Program.

Students spent the day starting their projects for our 2024 mission where they will be
competing to come up with an experimental design that will be sent on a Space X flight and
conducted on the International Space Station. Pam Melroy inspired our students and
answered their questions using her phenomenal experience as previous commander of the
NASA Space shuttle missions, travelling to space three times between 2000–2007. Our
students are researching in preparation for their design sprint to develop a prototype of
their experiment that they will pitch in August this year. The winning team from one of the
Western Sydney schools will have their experimental design (with a 10cm x 10cm x 20cm
space) constructed for flight and the experiment will run early in 2024. The inspiration of
Pam Melroy has provided the students with real world problems that need to be solved for
future space missions. Our students will be working on finding solutions to one issue of their
choice. The project is an adjunct to the ‘Carbon Farmer’ mission that began with the
Powerhouse Future Space program in 2022, working in conjunction with NSW Department
of Education, Magnitude.io and the Lang Walker Family Academy to provide hands-on
experimental experiences where students carry out ground trials for experiments that are
sent into Space.

Hurlstone has 40 students involved in the program this year so far. Ms Davis has been
working to lead and support this as an extra-curricular opportunity. The programs is
centered on collaborating and working in person and online, after school hours giving
opportunities for our talented, high potential and gifted students with the learning
environment and intrapersonal skills to systematically develop their talents.

• School Athletics Carnival on Thursday 27 April.
• School Photo Day Tuesday 23 May.
• Year 10, 11 & 12 Parent Teacher Interviews on
  Wednesday 28 June.

Welcome Year 7 and Year 10 students and parents.

YEAR 7 PARENT & CARERS INDUCTION DAY

It was great to see and meet many Year 7 parents attend our Parent
and Carers Induction Day on 31 January 2023. I want to thank
the following people and organisations who made it a worthwhile
day:

• maintenance staff (for venue set up)
• library (Mel Myles and Sharon Smith)
• SASS (special mention to Christie Dargan, who supported the
  parents in the library
• Anitha Hojjati and Anna Gomez - tea and coffee supplies
• Narelle McGregor (School Administration Officer) who
  presented a segment on school finance
• Jisha Joseph (School Administration Officer) who presented a
  segment on attendance procedures
• Student learning and support officers with Head Teacher
  Teaching and Learning Sanija Hrncic
• Samir Seblani & Roxanne West- leading the parent
  consultation on the draft HAHS Anti-Bullying Policy
• Senior executive presenters and convenors Jo Ross, Sailash
  Krishan and Sharon Davis
• Catering was provided/sponsored by our P & C. I thank our P &
  C and Lucy Thrassis (P & C canteen manager) and her
  wonderful team for providing delicious snacks and lunch to the
  parents.
• Elevate Education
• Brendan Tink from ThinkUKnow (Preventing online child sexual
  exploitation)

Dr Andrew Fuller's website is a resource for parents and students
with lots of tips and strategies to support you to be more effective in
your roles as supporter and learner. Dr Fuller also has a survey tool
that parents and students can take to generate a free basic report
(for a more detail report there is a cost). Access the survey here.

WHERE TO NEXT?

With parent feedback from the induction day, we delivered an
assessment session to support parent understanding and ways we
do assessment at our school.

The homework for parents is to check out our school website under
"Learning at Our School" to access copies of the Stage 4 assessment
schedule and assessment policy. When we say Stage 4 we mean
Year 7 and Year 8 course subjects.

YEAR 10 PEER SUPPORT LEADERS

Serving the school community is one of the key values that we do at
Hurlstone with much pride and care.

At the beginning of this term, some of our peer support leaders
volunteered to come into school a day earlier to be there for the first
day of Year 7 students.

The peer support leaders introduced themselves to the new
students and showed them around the school. There were group
sessions which looked at finding the location of particular staff and
how to get help. The peer support leaders also gave tips on how to
read the timetable and transport tips. A thank you for Ms Cheng
and Ms West for supporting the students behind the scenes.

Many of our peer support leaders continued to serve the school
community by attending the 3 day Year 7 Camp at Stanwell Tops
and deliver activities so that Year 7 students could connect with
their peers and staff.

I want to thank the wonderful work that our Year 10 peer support
leaders have achieved in the Year 7 space. I know they are looking
forward to working with their new Year Advisor Ms Robertson and
recently Year 7 Advisor Ms Ireland (Term 1). Mr Best is the Year 7
Advisor for Term 2 onwards.

Staff returned to school ahead of students to prepare for the school
year and engage in professional learning that aligns to the
Department's priorities and our school strategic improvement plan.

Donna Hawatt, English as an additional language or dialect
Education Leader, delivered an engaging session on how we can
support students in our lessons. We measured our progress using
the EAL/D School Evaluation Framework. It is a tool that school
communities can use to evaluate how well their school is working
towards achieving a sustained whole school EAL/D student support
strategy. Donna congratulated us on our progress particularly the
steps we have taken since our first executive evaluation in 2019,
and commitment to ensuring all students are supported in the
English language across all subjects.

Staff continued to develop their data literacy skills with Dr Selena
Fisk's online course. This was followed up by a New South Wales
Education Standards Authority (NESA) data workshop. NESA
Liasion officer, Shane Chapman, delivered professional learning to
staff on HSC Result Analysis Package (RAP) and Understanding
the Standards. The purpose of this training helps teachers
understand HSC examination performance from a school, system
and state perspective allowing them to hone in how to help students
respond effectively to questions. The workshop also provides
teachers ways to use the NESA RAP to highlight content and skills
areas that need more attention and strengths in their teaching and
learning practice and programs.

Year 12 students returned to school rested after the holidays and
ready to lead the student body as they study hard in preparation for
the HSC examinations later in the year. They presented their
"Bollywood Dance" at our first School Assembly for the year. It was
a well rehearsed and synchronised performance that filled the
school hall with colour, movement and joy.

I had the pleasure of accompanying the Year 12 Visual Arts
students on a Canberra trip to visit the National Gallery of
Australia, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum
of Australia. The students developed a deeper understanding of the
artworld and bonded as a group as we took to the highway on our
road trip.

HAHS Boarding students have had the opportunity to work with
our Student Support Officer to develop skills that will serve them
well throughout their lives. They attended afternoon tea parties in
order to create communal living agreements.

Boarding students have had a wonderful day at Cronulla Beach and
are looking forward to some beautiful scenery on their Bondi to
Bronte walk.

In line with NSW Department of Education policy, all forms of racism are unacceptable at
Hurlstone Agricultural High School. No student, employee, parent, caregiver or community
member should experience racism, including direct or indirect harassment within the
learning and working environments of the department. A member of staff in all public
schools must undergo training to become the school’s (Anti-Racism Contact Officer (ARCO)
and additional staff are welcome to be trained. The ARCO at Hurlstone Agricultural High
School is Mr Mahfouz, who is in his seventh year in this role, as well as Miss Jan, who will
be starting her sixth year in this role (and first year at Hurlstone).

The ARCO’s performs four key functions including the:

• mediator role
• procedural role
• educational role
• monitoring role.

Most importantly, Hurlstone Agricultural High School staff will continue to promote
acceptance of, and respect for Australia’s cultural, linguistic and religious diversity.

Anti-racism education is taught in our classrooms directly and indirectly and
we make every effort to ensure our school is free from discrimination.

As the Anti-Racism Contact Officer we can support staff and students who wish to raise a
complaint of racism or just talk about their experiences of racism as a target or bystander.

Where can you find us?

Science Faculty Staffroom

Miss Jan and Mr Mahfouz

I listened with amusement to a conversation occurring between
friends in my Year 9 Science class. “Do they call you ‘beta’?” This
question was repeated amongst their peers, with giggles imagining
home life and their friend’s mum and dad calling their friend
“beta”.

“Wouldn’t it be ‘beti’?” I chimed in, with a smile. Just subtly letting
them know that I do understand them (and perhaps they should be
getting on with their work!).

“Beta means son, but daughter is beti. I am brown, and look I’ve got
a nose-ring too!” I responded to surprised faces, indicating my
south-Asian heritage (Pakistani to be precise), and understanding
of Urdu, (and therefore Hindi), Punjabi, and the odd word in some
other south-Asian languages, like Bangla.

I’m in my tenth year of teaching but I’ve never taught at a school as
diverse as Hurlstone Agricultural High School. In fact, it was one of
the reasons the school appealed to me! Hearing snippets of a
language I understand at school still brings a smile to my face
because it’s something I never experienced growing up in the south
of Sydney. I would dread the thought of my friends hearing my
parents speak to me Urdu, and there was nothing I could do about
the colour of my skin, hair, and eyes amongst a sea of blonde.

Language ties us to our culture.

Interacting with another language means you are also interacting
with the culture that speaks the language. It’s particularly
significant for people that were forcibly removed from their culture,
and thus their language (such as Australia’s First Nations peoples),
nations that suffered under colonial rule, and nations that struggled
to overcome conflict and sought independence.

And here we come to International Mother Language Day
and an excerpt from SBS Bangla: International Mother Language
Day, which falls on 21 February, has been recognised by the United
Nations since 1999. However, this celebration of cultural and
linguistic diversity has its roots in a 1950s movement that fought
for the right to speak Bangla in Bangladesh, then called East
Pakistan.

For those unfamiliar with the history of Bangladesh please read the
rest of the article here https://www.sbs.com.au/language/bangla/
en/article/how-bangladeshs-fight-to-speak-its-mother-tongue-
became-a-global-celebration-of-language/x0i8utduf

The article goes on to state: A 2021 study, led by The Australian
National University, shows half of the 7,000 languages in the world
are endangered, and without any initiatives a lot of those may
disappear by the end of this century… In Australia, of the 250 First
Nations languages from pre-colonisation, only 40 are still spoken
and 12 are taught to children.

The 24th year of International Mother Language Day will focus on
the theme ‘multilingual education - a necessity to
transform education’.

Don’t miss out on what’s happening! Join the Hurlstone Careers Hub!

Step 1:Go to the Hub https://studyworkgrow.com.au/school/hurlstone-agricultural-high-
school/.

Step 2: Click on ‘Create your membership’.

Step 3: Follow the steps and use your School Code - HURLSTONEH

Ms R. Keegan

Careers Advisor

The Student Leadership team wishes everyone a warm welcome back (or just a welcome if
you’ve recently started Year 7) to school! In case you aren’t yet aware of our role around the
school, the SLT is the student leadership body that represents the students’ interests and
voices at the highest level, made up of Year 12 students elected by the rest of the school.

This year, we’ve decided to base our initiatives around the theme of Spirit - including raising
school spirit and increasing student involvement in the large variety of exciting and unique
opportunities that we have to offer at Hurlstone (such as our extracurricular groups, which
are displayed on the Prefect noticeboard as well as their meeting times). Thus, we started off
with some multicultural spirit by hosting the Lunar New Year Assembly featuring a dance
segment from the SLT boys to the popular Vietnamese pop song “See Tình” by Hoang Thuy
Linh as well as a Bollywood Dance from the Year 12 cohort. Students had the opportunity to
engage in a ‘Heads or Tails’ trivia game themed around the Lunar New Year as well as
general fun facts about the school and our rich history.

The SLT also performed the Hurlstone war cry (in case you didn’t know we had one!). Bonus
spirit points if you learn the words! Hurlstone, Hurlstone, yes we are, Cheer-o-woka, cheer-
o-woka ego yah, Anthropothoguy, Kings of Hurlstone, Warrah, warrah, yah yah yah, Cheer
for the hoopra, hoopra, hoopra, Tap-a-go-YAH.

Like the Lunar New Year Assembly, we’re looking forward to bringing the school more
exciting and spirit-lifting events, not limited to: a school wide Chess Tournament and a BBQ
fundraiser. So stay tuned with our Instagram @hahsprefects and get excited for our
upcoming events for the rest of the year!

Wishing you all an exciting term,

Your 2023 Student Leadership Team.

The Welfare Team is made up of teachers committed to supporting your children.

They work with students in classroom settings during wellbeing lessons and are available
beyond the classroom to help your children with a wide range of concerns or issues.

They dedicate their time to making each of the students under their care thrive.

Welcome to the team Ms Ireland and Ms Robertson.

The team for 2023 are:

Year 7 advisor - Ms Ireland (Term 1) and Mr Best (Term 2
onwards)

Year 8 advisor - Mr Holmes

Year 9 advisor - Ms Elderton

Year 10 advisor – Ms Robertson

Year 11 advisor – Mr Zahija

Year 12 advisor - Ms Sabah and Ms Tarannum as assistant advisor.

Head Teacher Welfare (Year 10, 11, 12) - Ms West

Head Teacher Welfare (Year 7, 8, 9) - Mr Seblani

Student Support Officer- Ms O'Neill

School Counsellors: Ms Calleja and Ms Chung

Deputy Principal team works with the Wellbeing & Welfare Team to
ensure every student is known, valued and cared for.

To help you understand the current structure:

• Deputy Principal Wellbeing Team: Ms Jo Ross (relieving Term
  1) , Mr Rob Craig (relieving Term 2: weeks 1- 6) supervises the
  team and its initiatives and programs led by the head teachers
  Welfare.
• Deputy Principal Year 7 & 10: Ms Pham works with the team for
  matters relating to students in Year 7 and 10.
• Deputy Principal Year 8 & 11: Ms Davis (Term 1) and Mr Elley
  (Term 2 onwards) works with the team for matters relating to
  students in Year 8 and 11.
• Deputy Principal Year 9 & 12: Ms J. Ross (relieving term 1), Mr
  Krishan works with the team for matters relating to Year 9 and
  Year 12.
• Deputy Principal Boarding (Year 7-12): Mr Krishan works with
  the team for matters relating to the boarding school and student
  boarders.

You can make contact with the relevant person for your child by
contacting the school. Contact information is listed at the end of
this newsletter.

Ms West & Mr Seblani

Head Teachers Welfare

"My favourite part from camp was the giant swing because of how far up it went and
because there was a wonderful view of the cliffs. Cabin time was also really fun since we
got to spend time with our friends." - Prisha S. (Year 7)

"The silent disco was really loud, and slightly unpleasant but the rest of camp was fun,
especially cabin time, that was probably the best thing about camp" - Issa K. (Year 7)

The Year 7 students had a wonderful opportunity to attend a camp at Stanwell Park at the
beginning of the term. The activities undertaken at the camp were designed to promote
connections with peers and offered the opportunity for students to set and achieve personal
goals. Activities like "the giant swing" certainly require bravery and commitment. It was
wonderful to see the students being so supportive of each other as they moved through these
challenges. I would like to acknowledge the numerous staff that gave up time away from
their own family to ensure your children benefitted from this incredible experience.

Thank you to (in no particular order): Nicole Ireland; Roxanne West; Matt Musico; Jerry
Zahija; Sailash Krishan; Wunling Cheng; Rebecca Ross; Ashlie O'Neil; Peter Best; Alec
Salopek; Ebony May and Sarah Stewart.

Ms J. Ross

Deputy Principal

Welfare lessons

Year 7 have been completing a series of workshops on cyber
awareness, etiquette and safe on line behaviour. The other junior
years are completing the Yes project which is supported by the
Office of the e-safety Commissioner. For parents and students this
website is a very useful tool with many resources which can be used
to support both groups in navigating the cyber world.

Other useful websites

ReachOut Australia – a resource for parents and students which
addresses better mental health and wellbeing for young people
under 25 years of age.

Headspace - a resource for parents and young people from the ages
of 12 to 25. They provide online and phone support in areas of
physical and mental health. Resources for parents include study
and education, family relationships, wellbeing, and gaming.

Ms West

Head Teacher Welfare

On the 23 November, Week 6 of Term 4 2022, the school entered 4
teams into the annual Beach Touch Competition at Maroubra
Beach.

It was a challenging day for all, but accompanied by coaches Mr A.
Wilson and Mr D. Coombes, the touch squad managed to produce
some outstanding results!

The junior girls team managed to win the grand finals for the
plate division with their great communication and enthusiasm!
Congratulations to the junior girls.

The senior girls also made it to the grand finals for the plate
division but were unfortunately knocked out. The senior girls
should be commended for their exceptional defensive game and
resilience.

The junior boys proved a good team dynamic would lead the team
to their game success. They made it through to the quarterfinals
champions division and were very close to winning. Excellent work
to the junior boys.

The senior boys played with excellent skill and technique with
only 7 players on field. They managed to beat the Senior Boys team
that ranked first however, were unfortunately knocked out by 1
point before the quarter-finals champions division. Good job to the
senior boys team.

Cheers to all the students, teachers and to the team’s future touch
competitions.

Written by Krystal Truong

Hurlstone Agricultural High School

Address:

Roy Watts Road

Glenfield NSW 2167

Day school:

02 9829 9222

Email:

hurlstone-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Website:

Visit us on the web at https://hurlstone-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/