ISSUE 193

2024 - Term 2, Week 4

Welcome!

Acknowledgement of Country

Artwork by Charlie

Before we begin, the TGIF team would like to acknowledge the Awabakal and Worimi people of the Newcastle and Hunter regions, the traditional custodians of the land.

We extend this respect to elders past, present and emerging, and their extensive history and knowledge. The land we thrive on every day has been built by these Aboriginal communities, and we hope to encourage you to keep this in mind every day.

Acknowledgement of country in Gathang (traditional language of the Worimi people):

“Minyang nyura wubaliyn?

Nyura yiigu marala barraygu.

Yii Gathangguba barray.

Gathay nyiirun.”

(Wording and translation by the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative)

Acknowledgement of country in traditional Awabakal language:

“Dhumaan ngayin ngarrakalu kirraanan barayidin

Ngarrakalumba yuludaka bibayilin barayida baaduka

TGIF dhumaan Awabakala ngarrakal yalawaa, yalawan, yalawanan.”

(Wording by the Aboriginal Reference Group and translated by Miromaa Aboriginal Language and Technology Centre.)

Words by Simon

Editor Welcome

Hello, and welcome to Issue 193, this term’s first edition of TGIF! In this issue, we’ll be going over events that have taken place here at Cooks Hill Campus recently, such as the City of Newcastle youth open day, CHC's first on-site Careers Expo, and the Shakespeare workshop. Keep on reading to see some of the amazing work done by our students and the opportunities and announcements here at CHC!

Also, Happy IDAHOBIT Day (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia) for the 17th of May!

Words by Dascha & Harvey

What We Did!

Feature Focus - City of Newcastle Open Day

On Monday 6th May, 20 students from CHC attended the City of Newcastle (CoN) Youth Open Day, held at the Council Chambers on Stewart Avenue. Students were offered the opportunity to meet with and ask questions of Nuatali Nelmes, Lord Mayor of Newcastle. Following the discussion, three sessions were held for students to explore different aspects of CoN. These sessions explored environment and sustainability, the Newcastle museum, library and art gallery facilities and ways for youth to get involved with CoN, as well as a brainstorming session for students to put forward their ideas for the council to possibly implement. Highlights included handling eyeballs with the Newcastle Museum team, exploring the digital resources and facilities, and meeting some of the animals from Blackbutt.

Words by Dascha

New students! Introducing....

Connie - Adv 7

One word to describe me - Creative

One word to describe advisory - Fun

Animal I relate to the most - Horse

Dream LTI - Sewing or Equestrian LTI

Go-to karaoke song - Party in the USA

Dinner party guest - Billie Eilish

Mason - Adv 4

One word to describe me - Strange

One word to describe advisory - Good

Archie - Adv 7

One word to describe advisory - Magical

Favourite season - Summer

Best day of the week - Saturday

Animal I relate to the most - Australian Magpie

Breanna - Adv 7

Favourite season - Winter

Best day of the week - Thursday

Animal I relate to the most - Pigeon

Amelie - Adv 2

One word to describe me - Odd

Something everyone should know about me - I love animals

Favourite season - Autumn

Animal I relate to the most - Elephant

Go-to karaoke song - All Too Well

Dinner party guests - Taylor Swift & Jake Peralta

Lexie - Adv 6

One word to describe advisory - Plants

Favourite season - Winter

Best day of the week - Friday

Dream LTI - Childcare

More interviews coming soon!

Interviews by Marley / Photography by Haapa

Shakespeare Workshop

Year 10s did a Shakespeare workshop last week. Tom from Bell Shakespeare in Sydney came to CHC to educate us more about Shakespeare’s work. We did a reading and impromptu performance of Romeo and Juliet, which was very fun and uniting.

Words by Reylen

Shakespeare response - Portrait of Romeo

Artwork & inspiration by Charlie D

CHC Careers Expo

On Thursday 9th May, CHC held its first on-site careers / transition expo for senior students and their families. We were joined by representatives from the Department of Education, Uniting, YAKKA Careerlinks, TAFE, Castle and Verto.

LTI & Outlearning success

At the end of Term 1, Lydia and Shaylani participated in a 3-day Tradie Ladies program delivered at Novaskill, through an initiative of the Educational Pathways Program. Lydia and Shaylani built a picnic table, which is now at CHC for students to enjoy! See the full write up in the Newcastle Herald here.

Hamish T recently embarked on a 5-day Electrotechnology journey at Zeal Futures, exploring pathways within the renewable energy sector. Along with students from Lambton High, Hamish connected with industry leaders, learned about the clean energy boom happening in the Hunter region, and opportunities within electro careers.

Last week, nine lucky CHC students went out sailing with Making Waves Foundation, as part of our outlearning program...

CHC students also had the opporunity to meet Maths whiz Eddie Woo, who presented a number of workshops at Newcastle High School recently.

What We Saw!

Book of the Week: Twisted Games

Twisted Games - by Ana Huang

Genre: Romance

Favourite quote: “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing us that life is just a game”

My rating: 👑👑👑👑👑

Why should you read this book? It's a princess and bodyguard romance with a little bit of spice and some cute scenes when they confess their love to each other and end up happily married at the end of the book.

Review by Sophie P

Film of the Week: The Hunt

Review by Reylen

Pet of the Week: Doug!

Pet of the Week by Mieko

Introducing... TGIF's Person of the Week column!

Have you done something cool this week? Do you know someone who did something cool? Fill out the form here and nominate them for TGIF Person of the Week!!

Column by Sophie M

Info For You!

Town Hall Announcements

Reminder: When you are exiting an LTI, ensure you communicate well, and express gratitude for the opportunities, to help enable future LTIs for other students.
Alison is running an Excursion to Fort Scratchley next Friday 24th May to view the different sculptures on display! Talk to Alison to put your name down for a space.
There are still spots available in the Ocean Re-set wellbeing group, which takes place on Friday mornings before school. Talk to Chloe or Will if you are interested!
Elijah is running a referencing workshop on Monday 19th May including information on research methods! The downstairs advisory session will be held in Session 1, and the upstairs advisory session will be held in Session 4.
There are still spaces available in the creative writing workshop! This workshop is run on Wednesdays in session five. Talk to Felicity for more information!
We have a new member of our learning support staff, Antonia! Antonia is also going to be running a a Japanese language workshop in the future.
Next Thursday, representatives from Headspace will be visiting the school and running workshops with our different year groups! Year 9 & 10s workshop will be running in the morning, and the Seniors workshop will run in the afternoon.
There is a tourism and hospitality experience being held at the Newcastle Town Hall in the near future. There are few spaces left, so talk to Andy to secure a spot!

Announcements compiled by Dascha & Matilda

LTI & Outlearning Opportunities

TAFE Start Your Future courses for Term 3 - EOIs OPEN!
Nursing SBAT - Hunter New England Health School Based Traineeship Program - APPLICATIONS OPEN! Deadline: 23 June 2024.
Luna Park Excursion at end of Term 2 - Parents can access the permission notes and payment platforms on School Bytes (check your emails)- Currently ALL places are filled.
Racing NSW Track Maintenance Traineeship Opportunity - Newcastle Jockey Club
Expressions of Interest - Float Your Boat - Port of Newcastle Maritime Explorer and SBAT Pathway Program
Attention Year 10s! First look at TAFE TVET courses for 2025!

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

Self-care & wellbeing: Tea

Throughout history, our ancestors have long used teas brewed from plants with health benefits and antioxidants. Different teas play different roles in what they can do for you. Some examples are below:

Help with sleep - Chamomile tea

Settle stomach - Peppermint tea

Relaxation and stress relief - Chamomile tea, lavender tea

Digestive aid - Peppermint tea, ginger tea

Hydration - Herbal tea, green tea, white tea

Boosting immunity - Echinacea tea, elderberry tea

Energy and alertness - Black tea, green Tea

Weight management - Green tea, oolong tea

Antioxidant source - Green tea, white tea

Hygiene and oral health - Peppermint tea, green tea

Warmth and comfort - Any type of hot tea

Social and cultural rituals - Various types of tea based on culture and tradition

Mood enhancement - Lavender tea, chamomile tea

Mental focus and concentration - Matcha green tea

Detoxification and cleansing - Dandelion root tea, milk thistle tea

Cold and flu relief - Herbal tea, ginger tea

Words by Josh

Bike tips

Did you know it's actually illegal to cross a zebra crossing while still riding your bike?

The correct way to cross is to dismount your bike, look both ways, and then walk your bike across.

Bike tips from Roland & 'Bikes for Change' SAPG

Words of the Week

catharsis (kath-AR-sis)

Catharsis is the process of releasing or purging strong negative emotions from your mind through an activity or experience, in a way that can also help you understand how you process and feel those emotions.

Cathartic activities can be going for a run, listening to aggressive music, punching a pillow, or screaming, but catharsis is a completely subjective thing, so anything that works for you to process strong emotions in a powerful way is catharsis. Personally, I enjoy listening to very loud and aggressive music, screaming with as much energy as I can into a body of water, and engaging in martial sports, which are all very cathartic for me.

با نمک (bā namak)

(Farsi/Persian)

This is one of those phrases that doesn’t make that much sense when translated, the literal meaning of bā namak is “with salt” or “salty”, but calling someone bā namak means the total opposite to what you’re probably thinking, when you call someone bā namak in a Persian speaking country it means they’re interesting, funny and charming, which is kinda funny since calling someone salty in English means they’re resentful and humourless.

To continue the funniness in the sayings of different languages, calling someone bee namak; literally meaning ‘without salt’, means they’re a flavourless, boring person.

Words (and words) by Marley