"the latest"

Welcome to the annual "the latest"

Environment

Two major projects have been completed this year the Outdoor Learning Space and the Quad COLA (see the environment section below for more details) and we continue to work on our environment frameworks to support the student-led improvement of natural spaces, built spaces, equipment and sustainability as a community.

Educational support

We continued to support the educational environment with our four main THS community programs;

by-your-side, together, start up & improve-a-space

This year we introduced the "start up" program to help new initiatives get off the ground with funding and compliance support - the first project being supported is the THS Musical for 2020!

We continue to support authentic learning in many ways; with the canteen being our biggest venture (see canteen section).

We also continue to update our reading/video page.

Musical

As mentioned above, we are very excited to support the re-introduction of the musical within the THS Community.

The musical is being professional facilitated by Kate & Annie and will be learner-driven in all aspects of the production.

musical.ths.community

Friday Arvo Chats

We are supporting a new initiative to periodically host (drinks & nibbles supplied) an informal two-way open discussion between the THS Community learning facilitators and parents.

The next one is Friday 29th November with David Arblaster where the discussion will be focused on the communications framework and how we better share the great stories of the community.

Details & RSVP

Authentic Learning Support

As you will see in the canteen sections below, the introduction of the new General Manager role has had a significant positive impact on our ability to provide authentic learning opportunities to the younger members of the THS community. We are now working on extending this into other areas of the THS community, make it available to more.

Most Likely to Succeed movie

If you have not watched this yet... add it to your summer watch list! To aid with transformative learning initiatives at THS, we have purchased the Most Likely To Succeed film using the THS P&C together fund.

More about the film

Financials & OPERATIONS

This year and into 2020 is all about continuing the investment in the THS learning community, guided by the environment natural/built spaces Master Plans.

Generally we continue with a healthy financial position, with funds in the bank, parent contributions and funds from our community run businesses (Canteen and Uniform Shop) and some tax-payer funded contributions from our state government.

With the new General Manager role now responsible for the operations of the community run businesses (including compliance and HR), the support groups are re-shaping to be advisory/mentoring focused; leveraging the parent expertise within the THS community to best support an authentic student-lead community

Budget for 2020

2019 has been another big year for the Canteen, with further progress on increasing the range and quality of healthy food options, along with the removal of non-compliant items – all while making sure the Canteen is still a fun place for members of the THS community to come! We are now fully compliant with NSW Healthy Canteen Strategy and have been formally certified.

2019 has also seen a strong focus on improving systems to provide a solid foundation for the next phase of the Canteen's development. The implementation of Munch Monitor and EFTPOS facilities means we will be cashless by the end of this year, and the same Munch Monitor account allows online ordering at the Uniform Shop.

As part of the THS authentic learning environment, students continued and expanded their contribution to the management and operations of the canteen, including food preparation, restocking product and staffing cash registers, through to the management functions of interviewing and recruitment, rostering, and financials analysis -- it is best summarised in the student "Our Canteen" presentation to the P&C.

In Term 2, the student management team evaluated and implemented the Deputy rostering system, transitioning from manual rosters developed in Google Sheets. Combined with improved training and support processes, the Deputy implementation has seen a step change in the ability to grow and manage student involvement. The team has doubled in size over the course of this year, with 70 students now directly involved in canteen operations, and 30 of these team members coming from Year 7 alone (that's 1 in every 7 students from Year 7! - we're excited to see what will happen next year) The increase in student involvement has seen an expansion in the range of food preparation activities undertaken by the student body, professional staff have begun teaching students to prepare the fruit salads and the extensive range of sushi made fresh in the canteen every day.

The canteen is continuing to increase its involvement in supporting broader events and wellbeing. Following last year’s catering for the Year 12 Graduation Supper and participation in the Twilight Markets, this year the student team took full ownership of food provision at the Athletics Carnival, running a fantastic BBQ, as well as providing food and drinks in collaboration with the student leadership team at the movie night held in the MPC. Free catering is also being provided to support student leadership events, and to generally support those who are making fantastic contributions to different elements of our school community. The Graduation Supper this year was even bigger and better than in 2018, strongly driven by Year 7s and Year 9s who assisted with setup, food preparation and all the decorations.

All in all a busy and exciting year. Plans for 2020 include further menu development, continuing to expand the level of student involvement and authentic learning opportunities, as well as collaborating with other schools in our local area. We are also working on options to extend the canteen's operations outside of normal school hours, creating a community business which will give our students further work and learning opportunities. Stay tuned for another exciting year ahead!

The THS Community-based review of the uniform has been the continuing focus this year, and in response to the THS community survey & work by the Clothing Framework (Uniform) Review Team (CFRT) the first round of changes includes female-focused shorts, pants and a skirt to replace the kilt .

Next focus is on the winter uniform based on the survey results, with a focus on modernising the jacket.

clothingframework.ths.community

uniformshopcoordinator@ths.community.

2019 has been an incredibly busy and successful year. There is strong participation in the band programme, with just under 130 participants. They are involved in 3 Concert Bands, 2 Stage bands and 2 Improvisation classes. Auditions at the start of the year were well attended, with a solid contingent of incoming year 7’s, and many of our current students auditioning to proceed through the bands. It is important to note, that the audition is to place the student in the right band for their ability, not necessarily about moving up to the next band.

The conducting role has been ably filled by Jeff Barnsley while Mark is on leave this year. All the bands are thriving and sounding fantastic. We have also continued to run two improvisation classes this year. Steve Fitzmaurice, unfortunately had to resign as he is in great demand as a performer. He highly recommended Rose Foster, who has successfully run the classes this year and we look forward to her continued involvement next year. The improv class has a huge impact on our stage bands as all the children are happy and confident to perform improvised solos with the bands. You can hear the difference at many of the competitions, where not all the students are quite so comfortable.

Our bands have had a huge number of performance opportunities this year, with every band enjoying solid results. All bands competed in the North Shore Schools Spectacular, with CB1 and SB1, along with Luke Richards continuing through to the final held at Killara High School, where we won! SB1, SB2 and CB1 competed at the Sydney Eisteddfod, with SB2 achieving a highly commended. An excellent result, especially as many of the competing bands were their schools’ senior stage bands. CB2 and CB3 were unable to compete as the dates clashed with year 8 camp, so we have dabbled with the State Band Championships held in August at the Joan Sutherland Entertainment Centre in Penrith. All the Concert Bands performed solidly with CB1 and CB2 both achieving a third place in their category. It is worth noting, that in all sections, our bands competed against senior bands from the other schools. All bands competed in the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival, our stage bands were both successful in achieving gold awards in their respective sections, and CB1 achieving silver in the Inaugural Jodie Blackshaw section. CB2 and CB3 gave solid performances in their first competition for the year.

The Regional tour this year was to Perth, in lieu of an international tour, which sadly had to be cancelled due to a lack of interest. A huge thankyou to Juliette Hackett for organising this, the kids had a fantastic time. And a huge thankyou to Ms Miles and Mr Proctor for accompanying the band. At this stage, the band will be touring to Prague, Vienna and Zagreb, with a few places in between in September 2020. This looks set to be an amazing tour, and the kids are looking forward to it.

Other highlights of the year were the flute masterclass conducted by Jude Huxtable, a respected performer and teacher who was very supportive, especially as it was a big step outside their comfort zone for many of the participants. All of the bands were well represented at the solo night, with an especially strong year 9 contingent, which bodes well for the coming years. Thank you to Luke Richards who did an excellent job of presenting the night, all on his own, including introducing his own solo. (what has the world come to when you have to introduce yourself?) This year we had a mid year concert, combining with Sydney Wind Symphony. This was a great night! All of the band played brilliantly, and it gave the kids a chance to see that you don’t have to give up playing at the end of high school, there are a raft of community bands out there. It is an event we are considering again next year, not necessarily with SWS, but one of the many other bands out there. We also tried to organise a jazz evening for our stage bands, Sydney Youth Jazz Orchestra and one of the local primary schools, but simply ran out of time. The year will finish with performances at the Social Inclusion event at St Andrews Church South Turramurra, Junior CAPA evening, year 7 orientation, Presentation night, our own end of year concert and a final performance at Darling Harbour.

We would like to thank the ongoing support and help of the committee. A big thank you to Sarah Arbidans, Gareth Richards, and Leigh Hudson who have both stepped down this year.

And a big thank you to Jeff for encouraging our students to ever greater achievements.

Administratively, we have moved to work more closely with the P&C as a sub committee and take advantage of the new P&C financial systems and manager, removing this work from the BSG volunteer members will make change over the committee easier long term. All assets of the band remain as the band assets. We also looked at Bandforte as a replacement for myschoolmusic. My school has worked well but it is not compatible with MAC computers, which is a serious drawback. Bandforte can keep track of attendance, details, music, instruments and billing. We are looking to change over in time for year 7 orientation.

Louise & Jane, bsgpresident@ths.community

For the student leadership team, 2019 has been full of changes.

We started off the year with our new form of valentines day. Senior leaders visited every classroom with chocolates and positive vibes, to make the day inclusive for everyone. Considering we have placed a strong focus on school spirit, this change meant that all people could be involved and included. As well as that, first term held many more activities that all ran smoothly and generated great support. We helped with the THS open evening, running the BBQ and taking people on tours.

As well as this, some leaders ran a World Greatest Shave event, that saw many students bravely shaving their heads to support leukaemia. Although this event was run without a mufti day attached (unlike previous years), the outcome was amazing and saw us raise over $7000 for the cause!!

On the subject of charities, we also ran a mufti day that was centred around the ice bucket challenge and awareness and support of MND. We had students and teachers 'be bold to get cold' participating in the 'cold water' bucket challenge. This day was a huge success, just like Worlds Greatest Shave, and we managed to raise a fair amount to go towards support for MND. The last mufti day, raising money for school seating was a bit more low key, but still managed to raise over $1500 dollars to go towards making our school a better place.

The leaders also ran a few small activities in support of International Women's Day, and raised money for the Hornsby Womens Shelter.

Rounding off the very busy term, a few boys in year 12 (Not part of the leadership team, but great student involvement) ran the second Teachers Vs Year 12s sports match. Unfortunately the students couldn't hold onto their winning streak, but the event went amazingly (With a fun halftime performance by Mr Sham and his year 10's).

Overall Term 1 was a busy and successful term for the leadership team, with this term to follow suit. With a special Spirit Week in the works, the team hope to spend their last term in position creating school spirit and all round positive vibes. For more updates and details, be sure to follow our Instagram @turramurra_leadership

Other highlights include:

- The City/Country Alliance Group; which involves 5 students from Inverell's Macintyre High School, visiting the THS community for a few weeks.

- Approval for the installation of an Art Mural (location, and further decisions are made by the SL team and have not been announced at this time)

- Year 9 Commerce students; 'Market Day'- the most recent mufti day that was organised by year 9 commerce students

As always the Social Events team actively supported the learning community events such as the teacher/student/parent discussion evenings.

Now, with the student-lead canteen team supporting more and more of the catering needs of the learning based events, the social events support group can focus back on bring the THS community parents together.

We are looking to consolidate the year group social events into 3 groups; 7/8, 9/10 & 11/12.

And run two all-of-community events in 2020.

If you can help us get a Trivia Night going or any other social events, then please contact us.

gettinginvolved@ths.community