ISSUE 189

2024 - Term 1, Week 4

Welcome!

Acknowledgement of Country

We would like to acknowledge the Awabakal and Worimi people of the traditional country where Cooks Hill Campus resides. We pay our respects to the Awabakal and Worimi people who are the traditional custodians of this land.

Words by Dascha

Editor Welcome

Welcome back to TGIF 2024! For our new readers, TGIF is our school newsletter. We release a new issue every two weeks. In this issue, you will find ‘What we did’, ‘What we saw’ and ‘Info for you’ banners with articles and photos relevant to them. Whatever you’re looking for, we’ve got it here! TGIF covers everything from student interviews, self-care and well-being to a foreign word of the week or words on a psychology figure! 2024 is the year of more, so expect bigger and better things from TGIF and our new team of writers, editors and artists!

Words by Dascha

We are pleased to introduce your 2024 TGIF team....

Matilda, Dascha, Luisa, Mieko, Ev, Marley, Kenny, Avian, Sophie, Haapa, Zephyr, Reylen, Josh, Charlie & Harvey

We are open to your submissions and suggestions! Email us at felicity.davis10@det.nsw.edu.au

Avatars by Kenny (more to come soon!)

Message from HQ (QR)

Welcome Back Legends! What a wonderful way to start our year. We have been joined by new staff, students and families. With Learning Plans completed, we are ready to hit the best part of the learning cycle where everyone really hits the ground running! We have loads of exciting out-learning opportunities throughout the year, so please support your student to go outside their comfort zone and get involved. Learning is much more fun in the 'real world".

What We Did!

Feature Focus: Meet the new CHC students

Interviews by Sophie; Photographs by Haapa

Lincoln

Adv 4, Year 10

Dream Project:

Investigating the history of different video games.

Dream LTI: Forensic Science

Stan

Adv 4, Year 9

Dream Project:

To learn how to code in python

If I could have dinner with anyone: Simon (Ghost) Riley (COD)

Jinx

Adv 4, Year 9

Dream Project: LTI in Kindergarten Class

One word to describe me: Bubbly

Max

Adv 4, Year 9

Dream Project: Replica pinball machine to display pin collection

Favourite Season: Winter, It’s cold

Stay tuned next issue for more interviews!

Feature Focus: Corner House Cafe

Q. Are there any benefits or disadvantages of being next to CHC?

A. It’s good, you guys are pretty well behaved in comparison to other schools.

Q.How long has the Corner House been around?

A. I think 6 years, but we’ve owned it for 3

Q. Any comment on the rivalry between CH and Franks?

A. Franks are pretty good, we get stuff from there too.

Interview by Sophie; Image by Haapa

Claudia, Evan, Liv (and Po ♥️)

Feature Focus: Ocean swimming group

Report by Hamish

Benefits of Morning Swimming

Decrease Fatigue
Energy Boost
Increase blood flow to heart and lungs
Increase productivity

Swimming is a great way to stay healthy and is known for its benefits including weight loss, improving cardio and building strength. It is a perfect exercise to do any time of the day, but if you want to change things up a little, shift your swim to the morning hours to see some surprising benefits.

We meet at Newcastle Baths at 8:45am on Friday mornings. We get in the baths at 9:00am, and swim for about 20 minutes before we go back to school at 10:00am.

Feature Focus: Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras’ origins can be traced back to types of ancient pagan festivals and medieval European traditions of Saturnalia and Lupercalia, celebrations held in anticipation of spring. Upon the arrival of Christianity to Europe, these festivals morphed into religious holidays, as it was easier to combine rather than abolish the region’s established traditions into the new religion. These specific festivals' dates coincided with the Easter holiday. Thus, Mardi Gras became the six-week prelude to Lent, the 40-day period of fasting that precedes Easter.

Mardi Gras was first celebrated in what is now the United States on March 2, 1699. The holiday was established by French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville when he departed France to plant a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Upon landing on a stretch of land roughly sixty miles south of New Orleans, Jean Baptiste realized it was the eve of the holiday, prompting him to name the land “Pointe du Mardi Gras.” Three years late in 1702 Jean Baptiste also established the settlement of Fort Louise de la Louisiane, also called Fort Louis de la Mobile. This settlement would later become known as Mobile, Louisiana, and would be the site of the first Mardi Gras celebration in the United States. The connection between Mardi Gras and Louisiana explains why the holiday is most commonly associated with New Orleans.

Words by Josh

Sydney's Mardi Gras runs from Friday 16th February to Sunday 3rd March 2024

Student Writing: On the mirror stage and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory

Discover the fascinating world of the mirror stage and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory; a concept that unveils the complexities of self-recognition and identity formation. Initially conceived by Lacan in the 1930s, this psychological theory explores how we perceive ourselves in mirrors, reflections, and even in our digital screens.

This article delves into the origins of the mirror stage, inspired by the observations of French psychologist Henri Wallon, who noted infants' reactions to their reflections. Learn how Lacan expanded upon this idea, suggesting that the mirror stage is not just a developmental milestone but a crucial moment in understanding our own identities.

Find Zephyr's full essay here

What We Saw!

Banksy exhibition comes to Sydney

Words by Luisa

Foreign Film Spotlight: Riders of Justice (2020)

✧ Rating: 5/5 ✧ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Riders of Justice is a Danish revenge thriller that greatly surpasses genre, following a man avenging his wife with a group of strangers after she had died in a mysterious accident. It offers dark comedy, action that keeps you on the edge of your seat, mystery, and drama.

Although Mads Mikkelsen in the starring role is fantastic as always, the heart of the movie lies with the supporting cast. Much like Another Round, another brilliant Danish film Mads Mikkelsen had starred in back in 2020, both films feature family and heartwarming male friendship, overcoming grief and loss throughout their lives. Riders of Justice explores fate in a beautiful way, an accident weaving all these men together as if it were a red string of destiny, a timeline of events so deeply moving and so deeply entertaining it can’t help but charm you. In good conscience, I cannot praise this movie enough. It truly has everything.

Onto the resurgence of Danish cinema!

Review by Reylen

Plant of the Week

This week’s plant is the Meadow Buttercup. They’re beautiful yellow flowers with 5 petals and a green centre. It grows during the summer and symbolises a plethora of traits including: purity, happiness, joy, and youth.

People used to also use the Buttercup to tell if people liked butter. Hold a buttercup under your chin and folklore says if there is a yellow reflection on your skin it means you do. But the real reason the flowers seem to shine with an intense glittering yellow has nothing to do with butter, but about advertising the plants to insect pollinators from a great distance.

Words by Josh

History Fun Fact of the Week

Juan Pujol García was an anti-extremist Spaniard who, during the start of World War II, offered his services to Britain as a spy. Britain, due to Juan being a regular citizen, rejected his offer. So, determined to hoodwink the Nazis, Juan offered his services to Germany, under the guise of a wealthy, pro-fascism Spanish politician. The Nazis accepted his offer, and then, over the course of 2 years, Juan created 27 fake Nazi agents. He also faked various British agents who sent the Nazis on a wild goose chase over people that didn’t exist. The British noticed the effectiveness of Juan’s tactics, and hired him into MI5 under the codename “Garbo”. Garbo was instrumental in the success of the Normandy invasion, as he claimed that the British had a massive army moving towards Pas De Calais, which prompted Hitler to send his largest squadron to Pas de Calais, where he would be met by a series of blowups in the shapes of tanks, known as “dummy tanks”. Garbo was the only person to ever receive both the Iron Cross, the highest honour in Nazi Germany, and the title of Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He was considered by many in the allied powers to be the single most important individual during the war effort.

Words by Harvey

Editor's note: Does anyone else think this looks a little like Harvey??

Pets of the Week

Art by Charlie

Info For You!

Town Hall Announcements

Visit the Banksy exhibition in Sydney! Talk to Alison (Advisory 6) if you would like to attend.
Join the excursion to the Careers Expo at Newcastle Show this Friday (1st March). Contact Phelissitie ASAP if you want to attend - limited places available.
Premier's Reading Challenge starts in week 5! Watch this space for more info.
A dance workshop is being run in the Hive in Week 10, with limited spaces! Speak to Quinn if you're keen.
A CHC debating team will be running during session 5 of each Friday, in the Wellbeing hub above the hive.
International Women's Day is happening on the 8th of March. If you would like to participate in a CHC project relevant to this event contact Felicity D.
CHC is celebrating Harmony Day on Friday 15th of March. It will be an out of uniform day. Stay tuned for more details.
Students may not leave the school through the back gate during recess or lunch.

Compiled by Dascha & Matilda

LTI & Outlearning Opportunities

LTI Group opportunities this term at SummitCare (aged care home), Hamilton Child Care Centre and Zara's House. If you missed out this term, speak with Felicity to get your name on the list for Term 2.
Crystalbrook Yes Chef – Cookery/Hospitality program
Multiplex Jumpstart opportunities for female school students in Engineering & Trades
88 Custom Barbering - 5-day program

Check out the LTI Canvas page for the latest LTI & Outlearning opportunities, or speak to Andy for more information.

Words of the Week

(aah-aah)

Believe it or not, Aa is an actual English word… kind of, it's a loan word from Hawaiian and is used in geology, Aa is the word for rough, jagged, rubbly and often sharp lava flow/rocks.

I am well aware that the word Aa is completely irrelevant, and not very useful, but it’s always nice to have a bit more useless trivia rattling around.

Above: active Aa lava flow

Above: a depiction of a cod’s brain; I know, super creative

Tanketorsk (Danish)

(tan-ke-to-sg)

Literally translating to “thought cod,” tanketorsk refers to an unintentional mistake or mental error, calling someone by the wrong name, not remembering your mum’s birthday (please forgive me ma, I only forgot once… for multiple years), not understanding a joke even if its been explained to you, we’re all victims to tanketorsk at one point or another.

Words (and words) by Marley

Thank you for reading TGIF!

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