Happy New Year! 

A massive welcome to all new students and to our returning students and families. I hope you have had a refreshing break. The start of a new school year is always super exciting. It is lovely to see the students’ smiling faces as they meet their friends again and get back into the rich learning culture and routine of our vibrant school. 

We welcome two Head Teachers who are returning to Newtown High School of the Performing Arts after curriculum secondment with the DoE: Ms Amanda Whitfield (Head Teacher Science) and Mr Chris Miller (Head Teacher Music). We also welcome new permanent and temporary appointments:  Mr David Ryan, Ms Jenny Nguyen and Dani Meltzer to English; Ms Trish Kennedy, Librarian; Ms Joanne Agathopoulos, PDHPE; Ms Aisling Mullaney, Mr Remalyn Casem & Mr Dennis Yiu, Maths: Ms Sarah Travers-Brown, Science; Ms Emily McGrath & Ms Hannah White, Art; and Tegan Arazny to Drama. 

The additional School Development Days this year were an excellent and much needed addition to the profession. This extra time enabled far more thorough professional learning, faculty preparation and wellbeing communications, making a notable difference in staff and fostering more professional preparation for the optimal learning experiences of our students. Teachers collaborated on Differentiation, Quality Feedback, HSC data analysis and neurodivergent learning styles. Thank you again to the teachers who presented and shared their expertise to inform and motivate us all, and to Deputy Principal Teaching & Learning, Ms Nilaufer Rajwar, for her leadership of professional learning. 

NHSPA’s 2024 Presentation Day was at NIDA on Friday December 13th. Congratulations again to Year 10 2024 DUX, Matilda Saunders, and Year 11 2024 DUX, Max Jackson, for their outstanding academic effort and achievement. Our alumni Guest speaker was Michael Azzopardi, School Captain, from the class of 2002. Michael was the Musical Director of the Sydney return season of Hamilton that has recently ended and is the Musical Director of the upcoming MJ The Musical. Michael spoke with incredible pride of his time at NHSPA and we are so grateful he could take the time to address us as Guest Speaker for Presentation Day.   

Congratulations to our amazing Year 12 2024!  The HSC results were outstanding with students achieving the best results NHSPA has ever had. There were lifts in the number of students in tops bands across nearly all subjects and, significantly, there was also a reduction in the number of students in the lower bands. There was a beautiful photograph and article on the front page of the SMH, with Alex Wienholt (School Dux and highest ATAR achiever on 99.35) interviewed about his passion for Mathematics. Scarlett Saunders, who achieved first in the state in VET course Entertainment Industry (closely followed by Jasper Reucassel on third), was interviewed on ABC morning radio, and Kyra Law achieved fourth in the state in Dance.  The outstanding HSC results across all subjects are testament to the incredible hard work and motivation of our students and to the hard work and dedication of our teachers who are committed to each student achieving their personal best. We look forward to seeing Year 12 2024 soon when they return for a special BBQ in the coming weeks.  

It has very exciting to watch the Year 7 students explore their new world of high school. It is a large cohort of 206 students, and they have been settling in extremely well. Year 7 has been enjoying the Transition Program led by Year 7 Advisors, Justin Bradley and Olivia Callaghan. The program creates a smooth transition into the different learning expectations and structured routine of high school, building their sense of belonging and social connection. There have been a lot of happy faces on both students and teachers. 

Term 1 is extra exciting this year as Legally Blonde: The Musical opens in week 8. Every second year Newtown High School of the Performing Arts produces a School Musical. Teachers and students have spent hundreds of hours planning and rehearsing – after school, on weekends and during holidays. Our highly talented students are involved at all levels of production. Year 12 student and Captain, Alice Kimber, is Assistant Director with Director, Mr Daniel Kavanagh. Tom Borbilas (Year 12 2024), is assistant Musical Director with Musical Director Ms Ynping Mak; Christian Kotevski (Year 12) is assistant Choreographer with Choreographer Ms Oliva Callaghan; Mila Smith (Year 12) is Stage Manager with Production Manager, Ms Zoe Van Munster; and Miller Sargeant (Year 12) is assistant Lighting Designer and Dash Cole (Year 12 2022) assistant audio, working with Technical Director Mr Ben Turner.  

A big thank you to the P&C who are running a Legally Blonde movie night fundraiser on Thursday 27th to help the school pay for costumes and technical equipment.  The movie is terrific fun so do please support what will be a great evening. The silent auction and food stalls alone are amazing. 

The swimming carnival at Prince Alfred Park Pool on Monday was a wonderful day – until it stormed. Students were very enthusiastic and there was excellent participation. Year 12s were having fun in their creative costumes and playing volleyball and Year 7s were keenly racing in their first high school carnival. It was a shame we could not finish the carnival, but the call to stop was made in perfect time with all students calmly dismissed just before the storm started. Thank you to Abbey Campbell and the PDHPE Faculty for their excellent leadership.  

The USA Dance Tour leaves on Monday 17th for two weeks of specialist Dance and choreography workshops, and auditioning, culminating in the National High Schools Dance Festival in Pittsburgh. Lucky students! 

I include here two school policy/procedure documents for your information. If you have any questions, please contact the school.  

• NHSPA Uniform Policy

• NHSPA Student Behaviour Management & Support Policy

Voluntary School Contributions accounts have been sent home. These contributions help enhance educational programs and ensure NHSPA provides an outstanding education for all our students. A reminder that if you have any questions about school contributions, please contact the school. Parents/carers who are experiencing financial difficulty should email the school for support: Attention Deputy Principal at: newtown-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au. 

It’s going to be an excellent year. I look forward to watching our students thrive in the arts-rich learning culture of our amazing school. 

Best wishes, 

Dr Susan Green

What do you like about school so far?

"Senior school is more independent".

"Free periods!".

"The teachers care about us".

2025 Extra-curricular Sport

There are many additional opportunities for students to participate in and represent NHSPA throughout the year for the Combined High Schools (CHS) sport teams. Open Girls and Boys Football and Basketball have already occurred - congratulations to the students who have made the teams. 

Further team trials are posted to the Sentral daily notices and Sport Google Classroom. 

An update on the course structure, assessment arrangements and class placement for Mathematics in 2025.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The Year 9 and 10 courses have two components: the Core and Path components.

Core:

This Core component is mandatory for all students. It focuses on ensuring that every student, masters the essential mathematical concepts and skills outlined in the NSW Mathematics syllabus. On completion, it prepares students for a pathway to the Mathematics Standard course in Stage 6 (Years 11 and 12).

Path:

This Path component is designed for students who wish to deepen their understanding and explore more advanced mathematical concepts. Regardless of their current status, all students will undertake the Path content component as far as possible. Upon successfully completing the Path component, students will be prepared for a pathway to Mathematics Advanced. If they excel in the Path component, they will be prepared for a pathway to Mathematics Extension 1 in Stage 6 (Years 11 and 12).

In 2025, the Year 9 classes:

9MA1,9MA2,9MA3,9MA4 are partially streamed and follow the core and Advanced pathways. 9MA5,9MA6,9MA7 are partially streamed and follow the core pathway.

The Year 10 classes:

10MA1,10MA2,10MA3 are streamed and follow the core and advanced pathways.

10MA4,10MA5,10MA6,10MA7 and 10MA8 are not streamed and follow the core pathway.

The Year 7 and 8 classes are not streamed and all students follow the core pathway and all are given the opportunity to access different levels of challenge when completing Maths problems.

MATH OLYMPIADS  

Maths Olympiads provide an opportunity for high achieving secondary students to test their maths problem solving skills and compete against teams from other schools. The competition stimulates students' enthusiasm for, and enjoyment of, maths problem solving and allow high achieving students to showcase their skills and abilities and be recognised for their efforts and achievement. The competition dates for this year are:

Competition 1: Wed 7th May; Comp 2: Wed 11th June; Comp 3: Wed 30th July; Comp 4: Wed 10th September.

Please let your teacher know as soon as possible if you would like to take part in the competition.

 In addition, we will be registering two teams in the Write a Book in a Day Competition, an Australian competition which raises money for research into kids’ cancer while providing competitors with creative opportunities. Each team of ten students will write and illustrate a book within the confines of a day, in response to key words and other components. Such creative production involves intensely bonding skill-building. 

The school Library report will continue to showcase sources from the archive which shed light on the history of the school, including the activities of alumni who have stamped their creativity in the world beyond NHSPA. If there are any ex-students or parents, grandparents or friends of students who would like to suggest a source for our investigation please feel free to drop me a line! Let’s keep our history alive!

Patricia.Pugliese@det.nsw.edu.au

To support learners in developing effective study habits the school will run an after-school study centre during term times on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons from 3:25pm-5:00pm in the school Library.

This is open to all students, providing a quiet environment in which focussed study could take place.

Whilst attendance every week is not compulsory, should your child wish to use this facility, it is recommended that they be regular in their attendance for effective learning to occur.

The study centre will be supervised by a staff member between the times above to assist learners with organisation, planning, and developing successful study habits should they so wish.

This is an excellent opportunity for students to form small study teams to work together to improve their understanding of concepts and spur each other on to achieve a personal best in their subjects.

Expectations for attendance are as follows:

Students

• respect the rights of other learners and so maintain a quiet learning environment.

• desire to improve their performance in subjects.

• use this time productively.

• be regular in attendance.

The centre has been shown to be an effective way for improving students' results, confidence, and organisation in an enjoyable, relaxed environment.

THE ASSC IS A QUIET SPACE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR LEARNING AND SEEK HELP FROM STAFF.