Quakers Hill

High School’s

Fortnightly

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday 16 December

Last day of term for students and staff

Monday 30 January Year 7 students start

Tuesday 31 January

All students return

Friday 3 February Year 7 Peer Support Sessions

Year 7 Camp Deposit Due ($100)

Monday 6 February Swimming Carnival Year 6 Taster Day P&C Meeting 7pm

Tuesday 7 February

Year 7 Meet & Greet 4-6pm Primary School GAT Infor-mation Presentation 7-8pm

Friday 10 February

Contact issued

Wednesday 22—Friday 24 February

Year 7 Camp

Thursday 23 February Zone Swimming

Primary Prosperitas Mentor-ing Meeting 3.30-5pm

Friday 24 February

Contact issued

Tuesday 28 February School Photos

Year 5/6 Information Evening

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS ISSUE

Year 10 Mural—Page 10

Library News—Page 13

ISSUE

16 December 2016

20

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Another wonderful year at Quakers Hill High School has drawn to a

close and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff, stu-

dents and members of the school community for their contribution

and efforts over the past four terms. In my speech at Presentation

Day I sought to reflect upon and capture some of the school’s

achievements from 2016. With this in mind I have reproduced my

speech in order to provide a brief overview of the past year.

Good morning and welcome. I would like to show my respect and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land, the Dharruk people on which this ceremony takes place, and I extend a special welcome to all of our official guests, staff, parents, commu-nity friends and students.

It’s wonderful to see so many members of our community here to celebrate and recognise the achievements of our most talented stu-dents. The Presentation Ceremony is the recognition of excellence. It is a celebration of the work done at various levels throughout the year both at the individual and whole school level.

The end of the school year is also a time for reflection and we have much here at Quakers Hill HS to positively reflect on. 2016 saw

Quakers Hill High School

Presentation Day – December 12 2016

Principal’s Address

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many improvements in the school grounds. The completion of the roof and resurfacing of the COLA, the synthetic grass in the top quad, the new bubblers in the COLA and quad, al-lowing students to fill their water bottles with ease and finally extra bins in various areas of the school. These improvements of course are only possible because of the proactive SRC, the wonderful support of our hardworking P&C and above all the commitment that Lauretta Claus makes in ensuring that Quakers Hill HS is the best it can be.

I am proud to be a member of a Senior Executive team that has a shared vision in leading this wonderful school. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of Rebecca Mahon, Depu-ty Principal, who plays a significant role in moving the school through our targets, tracking our milestones through the School Excellence framework and provides extensive support in ensuring that the Nirimba Learning Community has purpose and direction.

I thank the Executive who manage and lead their curriculum areas, portfolios and strategic directions of the school. They work tirelessly with a diverse staff in ensuring that the stu-dents at Quakers Hill HS get the best they can offer.

I’d like to share some of the new initiatives of 2016: The Green Team coordinated by Jason Kantek and assisted by Lauren Paa, the Student Support Officer, Sam Sale and Dave Par-ton, the General Assistants, was introduced as a Student Engagement program to support Students at risk of not being successful in their learning. We are elated to see the students in the team continue to grow into fine citizens of our community.

The Barista program, coordinated by Launce Roma and Grace Del Pinto was developed to assist students with self-esteem, confidence and employment skills. Students have trained and are now certified baristas. They run the Café Del Romar for the staff and school events and are gaining enterprise, teamwork and interpersonal skills.

The success of these programs can be measured by the increase in merits and significant decrease in the number of negative incidents and N Determination warning letters. Next year these students will be leaders for the next cohort and each student will be buddied with a new member in the program. This will enable the students to develop and add more com-petency skills to their repertoire.

The flow on effect into the classroom has supported the notion that a “one size fits all” edu-cation does not work and as educators our focus should be on differentiating the curriculum to support all learners to help them be successful in our schools. I believe that the Staff at Quakers Hill HS work collaboratively to meet the needs of our students and I am grateful for the time and energy that they put into their various positions across the school.

Some other highlights for 2016 include, this year’s cross KLA Project Centred Learning fo-cus was Aboriginal perspectives. This focus blended beautifully with the Prosperitas show-case during Education Week and Multicultural Day. Early Term 3 we had Japanese student visitors who were billeted with families from the collegiate schools. I’d like to acknowledge Anthony Head for his organisation in making the week interesting and fun for all the stu-dents.

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We saw three spectacular nights of Infinity, showcasing the wonderful talents of our Dra-ma, Art and Music, and Dance students. Congratulations must go to Suzanne Walker, HT CAPA and Mel Lachevre for their leadership and direction of these events. They supported an enormous entourage of staff and students in making all three nights a huge success.

To every student who is about to receive an award for your achievements this year, I con-gratulate you and challenge you to be even better in the year ahead. I would like to say a special thanks to Lauretta Claus, Maria Romerosa and Erika Cooper and their team who have worked so hard over the past few months to pull this wonderful ceremony together. I wish you all a safe and happy festive season and look forward to us all striving for bigger things in 2017. Thank you.

Mrs Beaty Maricic (Relieving Principal)

SOME CHANGES FOR 2017

Mrs Claus has been successful in gaining a temporary position (up to two years) in a Prin-

cipal Support Leadership (PSL) role. Mrs Mahon will be relieving as Principal for Semester

One and Mrs Maricic will be relieving for Semester Two.

Mrs Khehra will be relieving as Deputy Principal (7 and 9) for Term 1 and Mrs Critchley will

undertake this role in Term 2.

Presentation Day Awards 2016

FACULTY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

ENGLISH & LITERACY

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

ENGLISH

Year 7 Yazmeen Meedin Annalise Ahmad, Camer-on Towell, Eliza Waller

Year 8 Zoe Morgan Jaiden Brzezinski, Taylor Waters, Harvey Wiggins

Year 9 Laura Towell Kathy Htun, Micaiah Tusi-ni, Temeika Williams

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Elective Drama Laura Towell Natasha Fernandez, Taylah Lennard, Erin Wilson

LITERACY

Year 7 Rachel Lee Phillip Deller, Sebastian Foy, Alexandra Wicks

MATHEMATICS

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

Year 7 Alance Kizhakethil Jacob Kalpa Abeysinghe, Lauren Commins, Reham Mohamed

Year 8 Zoe Morgan Shumaila Aroob, Lindsay Bath, Abigail Glastonbury

Year 9 Taylor Scott Geoffrey Garcia, Alana Steph-an, Blair Wolfe

Year 9 Accelerated Kopal Mathur Caitlin Nicholls-Kent, Made-line Rochester, Mitchell Schu-bert

SCIENCE

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

Year 7 Jordan Slack-Smith Lauren Commins, Tyler Kitto, Hayley Rochester

Year 8 Zoe Morgan Hannah Branson, Oliver Mat-thews, Taylor Waters

Year 9 Madeline Rochester Daniel Allport, Rachel Brown, Jade Walker

SOCIAL SCIENCE

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

GEOGRAPHY

Year 7 Ysabella Miguel Rachel Lee, Yazmeen Meedin, Alexandra Wicks

Year 8 Zoe Morgan Kabir Acharya, Lindsay Bath, Abigail Glastonbury

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Year 9 Kopal Mathur Mitchell Parker, Madeline Rochester, Maddison Roecken

Year 9 Accelerated Jazmin Akmakjian Elodie Smith, Laura Towell

LOTE (Language Other Than English)

Year 7 Yuki Michigami Alance Kizhakethil Jacob, Grace McDonell, Mahum Tanauli

Year 8 Amelia Stannard Shumaila Aroob, Lindsay Bath, Zoe Morgan

Elective Language (French) Kopal Mathur Bianca Hannaford, Taylor Scott, Paige Troughton

COMMERCE

Year 9 Madeline Rochester Kopal Mathur, Mitchell Par-ker, Dylan Quattromani

Work Education (Year 9) Kathy Ong

HISTORY

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

Year 7 Alance Kizhakethil Jacob Kalpa Abeysinghe, Yazmeen Meedin

Year 8 Zoe Morgan Ashlee Whitehead

Year 9 Renee Rixon Joshua Liu

Year 9 Accelerated Elodie Smith Daniel Allport, Cindy De-spois

Year 9 Independent Writer Chloe Holt Jazmin Akmakjian, Sarah Vaughan

SPECIAL EDUCATION

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

Year 7 Warren Gara Mackenzie Baldwin-Blake,

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Adam Cooper, Bradey Tandy

Year 8 Maxx Ciavarella Linden Koster, Jake Malone, Dylan Robinson

Year 9 Hannah Mercieca Cooper Boswell

TECHNOLOGICAL & APPLIED STUDIES (TAS)

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

TECHNOLOGY MANDATORY

Year 7 Ysabella Miguel Sitara Azimi, Jacinta Bell, Jordan Slack-Smith

Year 8 Abigail Glastonbury Khalud Bajwa, Natasha Elliott, Simran Sharan

ELECTIVES

Child Studies Chloe Holt Ehlana Medcalf, Rosalie Polis, Renee Rixon

Food Technology Maddison Roecken Mikayla Gauci, Jemma Getty, Madeline Roches-ter

Industrial Technology – Electronics Dylan Quattromani Miguel Araullo, Haoyang Cai, Aidyn Esposo

Industrial Technology – Engineering Bradley Matthews Kent Cho, Daniel Ives, Mitchell Pugh

Industrial Technology – Wood Cindy Despois Daniel Allport, Iordan Peters, Caitlen Rock

Textiles – Fashion Madeline Rochester Marina Demirian, Cindy Despois, Kathy Ong

CREATIVE & PERFORMING ARTS (CAPA)

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

VISUAL ARTS

Year 7 Renee Spasaro Meg Galey, Yuki Michi-gami, Alexandra Wicks

Year 8 Zoe Morgan Natasha Elliott, Taylor Waters, Amanda Zarb

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Year 9 Rawnsley Ramos Zoe Batten, Jemma Getty, Andrew Stannard

MUSIC

Year 7 Hayley Rochester Talana Ballard, Chevonne Gilchrist, Renee Hampson

Year 8 Hayley Sacco Shiann Downes, Abigail Glastonbury, Eshyn Wil-liam-Rogers

Year 9 Laura Towell Zoe Batten, Elodie Smith, Jade Walker

Year 9 Photography Ashley Commins Lily Kennedy,Erin Wil-son

COMPUTING STUDIES

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

Information & Software

Technology (Networks) Kopal Mathur Joshua Liu, Mitchell Parker, Tobey Watkins

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH & PE (PDHPE)

FIRST IN COURSE COMMENDATIONS

Year 7 Lilly Deering Olivia Bourke, Mitchell Tritton, Alexandra Wicks

Year 8 Zoe Morgan Cheyenne Byers-Horder, Yashyohan Contractor, Dakota Kneath

Year 9 Mitchell Schubert Madeline Rochester, Elodie Smith, Christo-pher Wicks

PASS Mitchell Schubert Rawnsley Ramos, Elo-die Smith, Christopher Wicks

OUTSTANDING ATTENDANCE AWARDS

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Year 7 Joshua Andrijich, Dylan Caple, Ruchitha Chodisetti, Mitchell Dalkeith, Warren Gara, Avineet Grewal, Iluka Jelley, Carlie McLeod, Hamish Moon, Jasun Museth, Maharish Muthukumar, Takara Storey, Brooklyn Williams

Year 8 Lindsay Bath, Hannah Branson, Meddeline Duinkerken, Moira Gatchalian, Justin Hooke, Talisha Ingram, Payal Khatri

Year 9 Haoyang Cai, Rachel Douglas, Lachlan Hooke, Neha Khatri, Liam Morrall, Mitchell Parker, Jessica Robertson, Joshua Whiteley, Jason Zhu

PROSPERITAS AWARD : Kabir Acharya

SRC SCHOOL COUNSELLOR OF THE YEAR AWARD: Madeline Rochester

QUAKERS HILL HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGIATE MEDAL: Alina Bernecic, Kirra-

May Bevan, Hannah Branson, Haoyang Cai, Cindy Despois, Hayden Johnson-De

Silva, Kopal Mathur, Alana Stephan, Erin Wilson

PIRET WHITE ABORIGINAL STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Kaleb Farr

MADAME VALKENBURG AWARD: Iordan Peters

NIRIMBA LEARNING COMMUNITY STAFF RECOGNITION AWARDS

Mrs Cathy Jones – Excellent Contribution by SASS staff

Mr Geoff Dacey – Excellence in Early Career Teaching

Ms Christine Marin – Excellence in Early Career Teaching

Mrs Amy Nicholls – Excellence in Teaching

Ms Louise Grantham – Excellence in Teaching

Mrs Kuldip Khehra – Excellence in Educational Leadership

Mr Anthony Head – Excellence in Educational Leadership

The Following Awards are from our Year Ten Graduation Ceremony

NORTHWEST COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH AWARD FOR STUDENT LEAD-

ERSHIP: Genesis Asuncion and Benjamin McDonell

QHHS AWARD FOR SERVICE TO THE SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY: Isabella

Ahmad & Alister Tupper

QHHS AWARD FOR EXCEPTIONAL COMMITMENT: Sarah Branson

KORMENDY SHIELD: Joshua Glastonbury

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P&C AWARD FOR CITIZENSHIP: Maddelyn Harris

REUBEN F. SCARF AWARD: Holly Bramble

CALTEX BEST ALL ROUNDER AWARD: Stephanie Kegg

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE LONG TAN AWARD : Karnvir Singh Bains

COMMUNITY SPIRIT AWARD: Camryn Batchelor

ROTARY PERFORMING ARTS AWARD: Breannon Thompson

EXCEPTIONAL PASS STUDENT AWARD: Lincoln Deering

LION’S CLUB AWARD FOR SERVICE TO THE SCHOOL: Kayla Wrigley

QUAKERS HILL HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGIATE MEDAL: Camryn Batchelor, Sarah

Branson, Dominique Burke, Harleen Chauhan, Abey Couzins, Karman Deng, Aymun

Fatima, Justin Galindez, Maddelyn Harris, Arashdeep Kaur, Sachnoor Kaur, Jed

Mathers, Erin McCulloch,Rafi Noori, Karnvir Singh Bains, Muskan Soni, Kayla Wrigley

SPECIAL EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Saed Haji

100% ATTENDANCE AWARDS: Drexler Conol, Benjamin McDonell, Kele Moyo, Kar-

nvir Singh Bains, Andy Yu Su

FACULTY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

English, Drama, History, Elective History, Geography Holly Bramble

Mathematics Rovielyn Espiritu

Accelerated Mathematics Andy Yu Su

Science Janani Krishnar

Accelerated Modern History David Woodward

Social Science – Commerce Melissa Fahey

Social Science – Work Education Sohnjah Lewis

Child Studies Katelyn Stephenson

Design & Technology Karman Deng

Food Technology Kayla Wrigley

Graphics Technology Lei Octubre

Industrial Technology – Electronics Jaime Llewellyn-Roux

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Industrial Technology – Engineering Robert Chanco

Industrial Technology – Metal Luke Galea

Industrial Technology – Wood Maddison Samways

Information & Software Tech. - Networks Andy Chen

Information & Software Tech. – Software Dev. William Skene

Music Genesis Asuncion

Photography Ashleigh Kennedy

Visual Arts Sohnjah Lewis

PDHPE Taylan Redden

Support Alexander Hopkins

Dux of 2016: Holly Bramble

Mrs Josselyn and Mrs Asgar’s speech about the Year 10 Mural / Gift to the School

The 2016 Year 10 cohort have given the students and the school a very significant gift. This

gift, is not only large in size, at roughly 4m in length, but it also took a substantial length of

time to complete. We decided to create a mural that embodied the students of this school

and captured an array of subjects. Students interrupted teachers to take photographs of stu-

dents working in their safety gear, participating in experiments, kicking footballs on the field,

singing in our music rooms, excelling in the Mathematics classroom, the list goes on.

We took endless images and sifted through them. We measured up our boards and brain-

stormed ideas in addition to topic work in the Visual Arts classroom. We had Mr Luke Cole

come dabble in a bit of Visual Arts and Mathematics to assist us in measuring, scaling, an-

gles and ratios in order to section off each of our portions and begin drawing it up. It took

nearly 4 weeks to plan and design the overall look of the mural. Then the painting begun.

The most recognisable attribute for me as a Year 10 Year adviser is being able to nurture

student talent in my own subject and watch their problem solving, collaboration and dedica-

tion in such a large project in addition to Examinations, Assessments and whatever else is

happening across the school. It was amazing to watch year 10 pull together to defend our

subject when teachers would ask “isn’t it done yet?, and how can you still be painting it?!” or

my absolute favourite quote “isn’t is just colouring In, why is it taking so long?” we were in it

for the long haul, dedicated to spending some of our holidays here at school and any time

they could get to work on it they were committed to the very end.

I am very proud and very thankful to mention Karnvir Singh Bains, Genesis Asuncion, Betha-

ny Dossor, Laura Sainsbury, Milan Vilasco, Sidney Walde, Abey COuzins, Dominique Burke,

Sohnjah Lewis, Carmel Edgerely, Jessie Grace, Faye Mellet Knights, Mer Kalo, Emily Rum-

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ble, Fariuz Samin, Alanis Hawron, Olivia Cleland, Chloe Thistleton, Piper Escott, Saraf Hoss-

ain, Robert Chanco, Seth Robles, Nataile Sultana, and Neridah McRae. Not only did they

demonstrate great commitment but they put up with all my shouting, raging and drill sergeant

ways in order to represent our school in such an incredible way. What a great bunch of talent-

ed Year 10 students we have.

Thank you Year 10 for the wonderful gift you have given the school.

Year 10 Formal

What a sensational evening! The students looked amazing. I could barely recognise half of

the girls – they looked so glamourous and grown up and the boys looked sophisticated and

classy. The performance from Genesis and Josiah was moving and set the tone for a wonder-

ful evening of dancing, laughing and celebration.

OFFSITE EVACUATION

On 14th December we had our first ever off-site evacuation practice. As a consequence of it

being our first one we were expecting issues and previously unforeseen problems to arise.

We were all pleasantly surprised by how successful the practice was. The students behaved

well and followed all instructions. Congratulations to everyone involved.

REMINDERS

Please remember to pay for the Swimming Carnival on the first day back. Please send in a

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permission note. You can access notes and infor-

mation from Facebook.

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The 2016 QHHS 10 Book Challenge

The Ten Book Challenge is a QHHS challenge that runs from August to mid-November and requires students to

read 10 books (either 10 PRC, or 5 PRC and 5 CHOICE books). Strategically, these book totals contribute to the

following year's PRC challenge and therefore allows students to get a head start on their reading. The Ten Book

Challenge is a good way to prepare in advance for the annual Premier’s Reading Challenge, making it easier to

achieve your goal of reading 20 books by splitting it into two groups. I have participated in the Ten Book Chal-

lenge for two years now and enjoy reading extra books in order to complete it before the next year. I would

encourage everyone to complete the Ten Book Challenge, especially if you are struggling with completing the

PRC in the allocated 6 months, because it is a great opportunity and way to get ahead on your reading!

***

Congratulations to the following participants, who undertook and conquered the 2016 challenge. They read,

they triumphed, and they ate copious amounts of pizza.

With Gratitude and Appreciation

Once again the generosity of our school community has enabled us to fill 7 Christmas Hampers for those in

greatest need this holiday season. Thank you for your contributions, your kindness and for fostering social

awareness and a sense of community within our students. Together, we have shown a collective power for posi-

tive change.

A Brief Reflection by Zoe Morgan

Anindita Chand Kopal Mathur Zoe Morgan

Annalise Ahmad Muskan Soni Haoyang Cai

Arashdeep Kaur Rovielyn Espiritu Harvey Wiggins

Aymun Fatima Rylea Conlon Jacob Power

Camryn Batchelor Sachnoor Kaur Karnvir Singh Bains

Grace Luckman Saraf Hossain Luke O'Keeffe

Iluka Jelley Sarah Branson Oliver Arreza

Janani Krishnar Sidney Walde Shaista Mehmood

Komalpreet Kaur Vipneet Kaur Pankti Patel

Rachel Douglas Vivian Steel Eliza Waller

Talisha Ingram Yashvi Krishna

Your Contribution to the 2016 St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hamper

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Our 2016 Year 6 Orientation Day event was a bustling success, which can be attributed to our fantastic teaching

staff (who are consumate professionals), our attentive and dilgent Student Leaders and our open-minded and en-

thusiasic Year 6 guests (who fearlessly siezed the opportunities provided). 2017 is looking bright with such fabulous

addittions to our student body.

A big thanks goes out to the following student leaders:

“In their own words” – What our guests thought of the experience:

“I enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends. The peer support leaders were also amazing!”

(Tarah, Glendening PS)

‘Year 6 Orientation Day 2016’

Angus Anderson Shiann Downes Zachary Shaw Arashdeep Kaur

Rabica Baig Jacob Power Amelia Smith Vipneet Kaur

Jacinta Bell Tarah Porter-Sabogal Elodie Smith Sohnjah Lewis

Maya Darwiche Ethan Liu Andrew Stannard Noraye Groves

Renee Hampson Zoe Morgan Alana Stephan Cyndrella Ncube

Kristen Jansz Rhiannon O'Neill Madeline Rochester Caitlin Phillips

Lalith Lakkaraju Hayley Sacco Laura Towell Chris Plumridge

Jacinta McGuinness Emily Zarb Oliver Turner Krystal Rothery

Jordan Sabogal Lindsay Bath Camryn Batchelor Muskan Soni

Tanya Tallur Amanda Zarb Sarah Branson Yee-Li Tee

Komalpreet Kaur Jazmin Akmakjian Taylor Camilleri Luana Vaitusi

Tyler Kitto Marina Demirian Anindita Chand Sidney Walde

Kodie Wiggins Haoyang Cai Harleen Chauhan Katelyn Stephenson

Denim Nillakan Ashley Commins Natasha Deziel Oliver Arreza

Annalise Ahmad Taylah Lennard Rovielyn Espiritu Genesis Asuncion

Rylea Conlon Tobey Watkins Aymun Fatima Holly Bramble

Brooklyn Williams Hayley McGregor Jessie Grace Sachnoor Kaur

Cheyenne Byers-Horder Shaun Tweedie Maddelyn Harris Lei Octubre

Layla Darwiche Amy Papworth-Buchanan Luke O'Keeffe Karnvir Singh Bains

Rosalie Polis Tamasha Jayawardena Alister Tupper

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“I really liked making mini muffin pizzas with Mrs Drake and enjoyed participating in the Treasure Hunt activi-

ties.”

(Natalia, Hambledon PS)

“Orientation day could’ve been better if a free packet of chips was given to each student and more soccer balls

were supplied.”

(Pranamyo)

“I enjoyed the Science lessons and walking around the grounds getting to see the size of the school.”

(Taylah, Quakers Hill PS)

“I loved coming to this school, but my favourite highlight of the day was dancing.”

(Teagon, Marayong South PS)

“Orientation Day would be improved with a longer recess and lunch.”

(Jaylen Roustan, Quakers Hill PS)

POWERWALKING SPARTAN MASTERS

The 3rd session of Sport for 2016 has been the setting for a Powerwalking showdown so heaped in competitive

tension it was palpable. Clearly there featured the powerful strutting across great distances that characterises

Powerwalking as a sport, but during a brief recess at Corbin Reserve each week our uber athletes took it up a

notch. They embarked on array of physical challenges, testing their physical prowess in short distance sprints,

pitching challenges, push-up, sit-up, burpee and planking challenges; the activities as infinite as their grunts of

exhaustion were. Across the 11 week period they accumulate points for participating, for winning and for annihi-

lating existing records. Rankings may have varied from week to week, but they were each moved by a single

minded determination to win, to claim the truly awesome powerwalking trophy, to acquire the Reading Cinema

Gift card and to devour the bonus Cornetto ice-cream.

Hussein Hasan and Lei Octubre were fierce competitors throughout and Hussein demonstrated a fierce and

steely resolve, Katelyn Stephenson was ultimately triumphant with an 18 point lead and a 133 point total. She

was the first female to place and win throughout 5 Powerwalking sessions and was a consistently powerful

sprinter and an ‘ab-abled’ sit-up queen. Congratulations to all those students that had a go and demonstrated

outstanding sportsmanship throughout Term 3 & 4, you made powerwalking a pleasure.

I will now leave you with the much repeated and highly enigmatic words of Lei – “Nine nine.”

Powerwalking’s 11 Week Physical Challenges Reveals Our Indomitable Athletes

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Arena 13– Joseph Delaney

Review by Muskan Soni (Year 10, 2016)

‘Arena 13’ is the first book in the Arena 13 Trilogy, written by Joseph Delaney. Arena 13 is the arena that every boy

dreams of fighting in one day. Their deepest desire, to become a legend, to fight where the great warriors fought,

and to face impending death like a cherished reward given to a god. Leif only has one goal in his life, and that is to

be the best fighter in the gruesome Arena 13, where the first to draw blood lives and wins. But the country is ter-

rorised by the creature Hob, a malicious being that tortures people for the pleasure of it and randomly challenges

Arena 13 combatants in a fight to the death whenever he pleases. Everyone fears Hob, but Leif wants to face him,

and avenge the monster that destroyed his family. As the story unravels, Leif learns about Arena 13 with the help of

his mentor, and also gets help from his mentor’s daughter, Kwin, who has the spirit of a fighter.

‘Arena 13’ is an enjoyable book to read and a pleasurable bit of escapism, despite being hampered by a few func-

tional characters in desperate need of a backstory and a little development. This story explores compelling con-

cepts and has a lot of potential, unfortunately certain scenes like the battles, felt too cursory and left you craving

more… substance.

I would recommend ‘Arena 13’ to young adult/teen readers who like reading science fiction and dystopian stories.

Reading Recommendations from Our Library Leaders

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RATING:

Rot and Ruin – By Jonathan Maberry Review by Jacob Power (Year 8, 2016)

‘Rot and Ruin’ is the exciting start to an action-packed and thrilling series by Jonathan Maberry. With engrossing

action sequences, dramatic reveals and nail-biting situations, this book is guaranteed to keep you on your toes as

you attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse with the tale’s main protagonist!

‘Rot and Ruin’ is about a boy named Benny, whose last memory of his parents involved him fleeing his home in

his brother’s arms with his mother’s screams tearing through the night, in the face of the zombie apocalypse.

Benny lives in a town called Mountainside – one of the 9 towns banding together to make a place for survivors to

live in peace. After unsuccessfully finding a job, Benny asks Tom if he could come along next time he goes out for

the “family business”. After years of rejection, Benny expects a refusal, but to his surprise Tom relents. As they

leave Mountainside, Tom warns Benny that he may not like what he sees. Benny simply shrugs it aside, but as

they head further out, they uncover large packs of zombies, or “zoms” devouring corpses. Benny then soon real-

izes that the ‘family business’ is hunting down specific zoms and “quieting” them, bringing closure to a family of

the turned. After witnessing what Tom does, Benny wants to leave, but when they come home, Charlie Pink-eye

and his friend, Motor-City Hammer, start to cause trouble. Amidst the disquiet someone is killed, a friend is kid-

napped and Benny must accept a mission to save Nix, despite his uncertainty.

In my personal opinion, Rot and Ruin is a great book. It is filled with amazing storytelling and memorable charac-

ters. This is a must-read for anyone who is a fan of zombie stories or is a lover of action packed narratives. The

author makes you empathize with the characters as they experience the full spectrum of grief, anger and happi-

ness. The ending was satisfying and it definitely made me want to read the rest of the series. The action scenes

were perfectly described and sometimes they made me nervous. However, there are a few flaws with this book.

The big one is the beginning. I found it hard to get myself into the actual book as the start was slow, and some-

times a little tedious. But once Benny and Tom left for the Rot and Ruin, I started to get really into it and I loved

every second of it. Another small flaw was the brevity of a few of the chapters; they just felt too short, with a few

pages for one chapter, with the proceeding chapter being one paragraph in length. (It’s a bit nit-picky, but it just

bugged me how it wasn’t consistent.)

Overall, ‘Rot and Ruin’ is a great read. The storytelling and memorable characters made me fall in love with this

series and made up for the slow introductory sequence. I give this book ‘4 out of 5’. If you’re looking for a new

series to read, I definitely recommend Rot & Ruin.

RATING:

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AN INTERVIEW WITH FLEUR COOLEN Elite Acrobatic-Gymnastics Athlete

By Madeline Rochester (Year 9)

Fleur Coolen of Year 9 has been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete at an Elite

level in her chosen sport of Acrobatic Gymnastics. This profile will allow us to understand what

makes this sportswoman tick.

Name: Fleur Coolen

Age: 14

Sport Name: Acrobatic Gymnastics

What’s unique about your sport that differs it from traditional gymnastics?

It’s quite different in the sense that there’s always more than one person – a group of 2 or 3,

and male and female athletes are generally not separated.

What is the name of this competition? (What level are you competing at?)

The competition doesn’t have a specific name, but it’s considered the ‘Age Level for Worlds’.

When/where is the competition?

There are a few competitions:

State Trials – February and March

If we make it past State Trials – There will be a competition in March

Las Vegas Invitational Competition in March

How many people are in your team?

My team is made up of me and one other girl.

How long have you been doing gymnastics?

I’ve been training and competing for about 4 – 5 years.

How are you feeling about the event?

I’m very excited to be competing at this level.

What competitions have you competed at before?

We’ve competed in State Trials; at State every year and occasionally National Clubs.

What are some challenges of this particular sport?

Acrobatic gymnastics training is very time consuming and you need to be kept strong and fit.

What are some challenges of working with only 2 members?

There’s always the difficulty of doing all the lifting by yourself.

Take me through your training routine.

Warm up – range of different exercises including strength training.

Stretching – splits and back flexibility exercises.

Individuals – flips and walkovers (all acts done individually in your routine)

Skills – all acts that are done with you and your partner (2 routines at competitions:

QHHS Contact

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QHHS Contact

balance and dynamic)

Younger athletes arrive earlier to do

strength – I usually stay an extra ½ hour

after these exercises.

Morning training – 1hour 15min before

school every Monday and Thursday

Monday Afternoon – recently started –

4pm – 8pm

Tuesday and Thursday Afternoon – 6pm –

8:30pm

Friday Afternoon – 4pm – 7:30pm

Saturday – 12:30pm – 3pm

Do you have someone in particular who

has inspired you?

I mostly look up to the older girls who have

been to World Competitions.

Where do you plan to go after this? What’s

your aspiration/ultimate achievement?

My biggest goal would be to make it to

World Championships.

What’s the best advice you’ve

been given/a quote you live

by?

Simply never give up.

QHHS Contact

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70 Lalor Road

Quakers Hill NSW 2763

Phone: (02) 9837 1533

Fax: (02) 9837 1747

email: quakershil-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Website: www.quakershil-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Principal: Mrs Lauretta Claus

Quakers Hill High School