As the academic year draws to a close, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a fantastic holiday season. In addition, I’d like thank everyone who has been involved with our students in a teaching and mentoring capacity throughout this year.

A big congratulations to our Sixth year students who have been an amazing group and achieved so much from an academic and personal perspective. Special mention goes to our academic prize winners, all of whom are listed in this newsletter, particularly Wui-Kwan Wong who received the Sandy Reid Prize for Best Performance in Phase 3 throughout the whole of the Rural Clinical School. Jamie Cham received the Jim Curran Prize for Best Perfor-mance in Medicine and the Peter Reed Prize for Best Performance in Surgery for the whole Rural Clinical School across all 4 campuses. Hannah Kempton received the Head of Campus Award for Wagga Wagga which was rich-ly deserved for her outstanding contribution to the Rural Clinical School during her time here. I am also delighted to report that Hannah also received the Paediatric Staff Award for the best marks in Paediatrics for the whole of UNSW Year 6. I’d also like to congratulate our Year 5 students on each passing their recent BioMed exam. We look forward to helping them progress through their final year next year. Best of luck to our Phase 2 students who sit their exams on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th November. They seem to be very well prepared and, as we ex-pect from our students in Wagga Wagga, they are maturing into a group of exceptional young professionals.

Congratulations also to A/Prof Michael McCready who was voted by the students Academic Tutor of the Year and Margaret Tenison, voted Admin Staff Member of the Year. We all congratulate Lyn Arthur who received the John Abbott Staff Excellence Award, where she was voted for by her peers across all Rural Clinical School campuses.

Several weeks ago we hosted the Graduation Dinner at Magpies Nest for our Year 6 students. The event was sponsored by Bush and Campbell Accountants. It was lovely to see the students and their families having such a wonderful time with many of our academic and admin staff.

Once again, I’d like to wish everyone a happy Christmas and New Year and thank all the people who’ve been in-

volved in the UNSW Rural Clinical School, Wagga Wagga throughout the year. John Preddy, Head of Campus

Department of Surgery Award Jamie Cham Best Performance in Primary Care Sarah Cohn Best Performance in Emergency Medicine Wui-Kwan Wong Best Performance in Medicine Jamie Cham Riverina Paediatrics Award Year 5 Julia Fattore Riverina Paediatrics Award Year 6 Nathan Mortimer Best Performance in Psychiatry Jamie Cham Best Performance in O&G— Jamie Cham Best All-round Student Phase 2 Lucinda Roper Best All-round Student Phase 3 Wui-Kwan Wong Head of Campus Award Hannah Kempton Tutor of the Year Award A/Prof Michael McCready Staff Member of the Year Margaret Tenison Peter Reed Prize for Best Performance in Surgery Jamie Cham Jim Curran Prize for Best Performance in Medicine Jamie Cham

Graduation Dinner 2015 Graduation Dinner at Magpies Nest has become a highlight in the RCS social calendar. Year 6 students shared the evening with their parents and partners. For many parents, it was an opportunity to share in the celebration and also meet with the people who have contributed extensively to their learning at Wag-ga campus. Celebrating with the students and their VIP guests were consultants, academic and profes-sional staff, general practitioners, residents and registrars. Adding more significance to the evening were guest speakers Drs Barb Cameron and Maya Eamus, GPs from Gundagai Medical Centre and RCS Wagga Wagga campus graduates in 2010. Our thanks to Bush and Campbell Accountants for their sponsorship, we’re grateful for their support.

Year 6 2015

Dr Barb Cameron and Dr Maya Eamus

The audience loved it!!

Annalise and Sofia deliver the Year 6 farewell speech

A/Prof John Currie with Jamie Cham

Awards Night 2015

There was a feeling of relief and excitement during the evening of Thursday 12th November 2015 as guests gathered at the International Hotel to celebrate Awards Night. Years 5 and 6 students had com-pleted their exams and curriculum commitments while Phase 2 students were as relaxed as they could be with their exams still ahead of them.

Our Awards Night is the School’s opportunity to recognise the achievements of all students and acknowledge the support and commitment by all those involved in student teaching throughout 2015.

Dr Steve Woods with Wui-Kwan Wong Nathan Mortimer, Dr Laverne Lok and Julia Fattore

Lyn Arthur with Dr Lesley Forster

Harvey House Re-work The Rural Clinical School is currently undertaking some refurbishment and re-works in several areas of the building to improve teaching, skills and student computer/lounge areas. In order to accommodate existing requirements and to meet future demand, it has become necessary to up-grade current teaching rooms. The targeted timeframe for completion of these works is mid to late January 2016.

All of us at the UNSW Rural Clinical School would like to sincerely thank you all for your support throughout this year. We look forward to another successful year in 2016.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

We hope you have a safe and restful end of year break.