04 November 2024

School Motto

From the Principal

Presentation Night

The school will be holding the annual Presentation Night in the Gym on Tuesday November 26 with the doors to open at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start. All families and students are invited to attend and help to celebrate the achievements of students throughout the school year. If your child will be receiving an award, you will receive notification of this prior to the night.

There will be reminders of this date on Facebook, Compass and the front sign so please try to set the date aside.

Staffing

As we draw closer to the end of the school year, planning for next year is underway. There will be some staff movements in and out of the school which will be confirmed in the final newsletter of the year in Week 8. We can confirm now that the school leadership team for 2025 has been finalised. Michael Stimpson will be on study leave next year and Kate McNeil will assume the Assistant Principal role while Oli Friedmann, Senior School Leader, Jane Utting, Middle School Leader, Carlee Colville, Inclusion & Wellbeing Leader and Ash French, Indigenous Education Leader, will continue in their current roles. 

School Uniform

Thanks to the families who have been responding to calls for students to be in correct school uniform recently. The school has a clear uniform policy and a supply of items for those who need them. The wearing of shorts has been one area that some students have not always been clear on. To avoid any confusion, the school has NHS logo uniform shorts available from the office and these should be the only shorts that students are wearing from now on. 

Bring Your Own Device

For 2025, Nhulunbuy High School will again be implementing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy for students in Year 11 and 12. Year 10 students should also have their own device to have the best chance to succeed in senior subjects. While the school can provide access to some computers during class time, it is not guaranteed that a device will be available when needed. 

To make the necessary purchases easy for parents to manage, the school has entered into a partnership with Hewlett Packard (HP) who have provided a BYOD Portal to enable families to purchase suitable devices. Please see the information page included with this newsletter.

There are a number of devices available that will suit all price ranges and we strongly recommend that you choose from this list to ensure that your child has access to the tools they need for their learning. Purchasing a device through this portal offers a range of key benefits over purchasing from a different retailer including free shipping and on-site support.

This partnership does not provide any funds to the school, only the convenience and cost effectiveness for families. If you prefer to purchase from a different supplier in whom you have confidence, please feel free to do so. The College will continue to use funds raised from parent contributions to have some devices available for students to loan on a needs basis. 
Computer rooms and laptop banks at the school will continue to be maintained for the use of students in Years 7-9. 

Student Resource list

The school has prepared a resource list for each year level to enable families to be well prepared for the 2025 school year. This includes all the stationery and accessory needs for students such as pens, writing books, rulers, calculators, text books, online subscriptions, uniform items, material purchases and voluntary contributions.

The school will still order and supply these items at the start of the year. Families will also have a guide to salvage some supplies from the 2024 school year if not used and to consider purchasing elsewhere if that is more convenient.

Families will be eligible for the $200 Back to School voucher which will cover the majority of the payments that will need to be made at the start of the year. Families will be able to collect their voucher from the school on Wednesday January 22 for Middle School students and on Thursday January 23 for Senior School students.

The resource list is attached to this newsletter and can be given in hard copy by request via the office. 

End of school for Year 12 students

Year 12 students had their final official classes on Thursday of this week and then celebrated the end to their school life on Thursday night and Friday. This is a time that is always a great relief to students and a time of great excitement as the next stage of their life is almost upon them. The celebrations at school were carried out in good spirits and were a fitting farewell for the students involved.

There is now a period of external exams for some subjects and a short window of opportunity for students to complete and submit assignments for other subjects. This means that some students will still be at school in the coming weeks ensuring that they have fully completed the requirements of their NTCET. Families will have been notified if their student still has work to complete and needs to be attending school to ensure that is done.

Brad Madden
Principal

2024 School Calendar

The school calendar is available on Compass and parents can see what events the school is holding daily. This Term’s Big Calendar items are:

Term 4

• Week 6 – Monday 11 November – Friday 15 November – Middle School Canberra Excursion
• Week 7 – Wednesday 20 November – 2025 Year 7 Information Night 7pm
• Week 8 – Tuesday 26 November – Presentation Night 6.30pm start

Save the Date

Nhulunbuy High School invites all parents and carers to attend the annual presentation night, Tuesday 26 November, 6pm arrival and seating for a 6.30pm start.

Middle School News

This term, we have been conducting uniform checks to ensure all students are meeting the uniform guidelines. We are very proud of our NHS uniform and now have a wide range of uniform items in stock which align with the Uniform Policy which has been ratified by the School Council.

The majority of students wear the correct uniform to school each day, contributing positively towards a respectful, appropriate and inclusive School culture and School values of Pride and Respect. The support of Parents and Guardians with this is much appreciated

• Footwear – Enclosed footwear (ie: runners) are required to be worn at school. Cross, slides or thongs are not safe for High School activities

• Shorts/pants – Shorts much be black and mid-thigh length or longer. NHS shorts are available at the front office.

• Hats and Jumpers – If a hat or jumper is worn at school, it must be NHS uniform. NHS hats and jumpers are available at the front office

Thank you for your support of our School Uniform Policy.

Jane Utting
Senior Teacher, Middle Years

University of Melbourne Math Workshop

Budding young mathematicians in years 7-10 at Nhulunbuy High School recently had the opportunity to meet and learn from experts at the University of Melbourne School of Mathematics and Statistics. They completed activities based on the University of Melbourne’s cutting-edge mathematical research in geometry. Students enjoyed the opportunity to try a different kind of maths from what they usually see in class, and demonstrated the NHS values of Creativity, Pride and Respect to our virtual visitors.

One of their activities was to find the “skeletons” needed to block someone moving through a shape. The rules are to take a shape and draw lines through it that would block a particle (or attacker) moving in a straight line from passing through one side and out another. We call the lines a “blocking skeleton” and the goal is to find the smallest number of lines needed to block any straight-line path through a particular shape. For example, a minimum blocking skeleton for a rectangle is an “X” with two “bones” made from the two diagonals.

Having mastered finding the “minimum blocking skeleton” for rectangles and hexagons, they turned their skills to more complicated shapes including a monstrous 34-sided shape called an irregular 34-gon. One of our Year 7 students’ solutions is shown – they found a minimum blocking skeleton with only 13 bones. Can you find a solution with fewer bones? Let Mr Sykes know!

Patrick Sykes
Mathematics Classroom Teacher

Liya Djambatj News

Liya Djambatj have started Weekly Welcome Circle on Mondays where LDM and LDS classes come together to connect and check in with each other, to go over our school values, announcements and celebrate achievements. Recent awards include:

Students of the week: Brian Frank, Amelia Yunupingu, Djari Yibarbuk. Stars award: Tylah Gumbula

Students from LDM all received their Bunsen Burner licenses this term within our Chemistry unit! They showed that they can use a Bunsen burner appropriately and be safe in the lab.

Students from LDM also appeared in the latest episode of VAMPTV (Ep 180) for the ‘How do you say’ segment. You can check out the episode here

Students from LDS voice acted for a community health animation with ALPA. The animation is called ‘Volatile Substance Abuse is Yaka Manymak’ and you can watch it here

Triny O’Brien
Classroom Teacher

Literacy Award

Jemima Carter was shortlisted for the 2024 Northern Territory Literary Awards. What an achievement! This year, over 240 entries were received across 7 categories. Jemima was finalist for the Kath Manzie Youth Award, which is awarded for an original work of short fiction or a single poem by a person aged 12 to 18 years. The full awards announcement and a copy of Jemima’s story (starting on p.69) is linked below.

Oliver Friendman
Senior Teacher, Senior Years

P.A.R.T.Y

Year senior students attended the “Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth” (P.A.R.T.Y.) Program at Flinders University and Gove District Hospital. The program was a dynamic and interactive health promotion enabling teenagers to experience the journey of an imaginary trauma patient from pre-hospital setting through the hospital journey into the rehabilitation phase. The knowledge gained from injury to rehabilitation, especially where drugs/alcohol or risk-taking behaviour was a contributing factor, aimed to reduce trauma related incidences for young people. The Program empowered teenagers to recognise and analyse their behaviour, choices and decision-making, leading to a reduction in injury and mortality rate among this age group.

Laura Higgins
Health Promoting School Nurse

Stars End of Year Awards Night

2025 Back to School Resource List

2025 Bring Your Own Device to School

Roaming Flames Canteen

Roaming Flames Canteen is available to Nhulunbuy High School Students every day for recess and lunch. Please see flyer below for more details.