SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Term 3 Week 7 3 September, 2018 Address: 2 Gibsons Road, Figtree NSW 2525 Phone: 02 4271 2787 Email: [email protected] Fax: 02 4271 6626

T3 Week 7 Week 7 Starting 3 September Monday Year 10 - student interviews with staff regarding 03/09/18 2019 subjects Tuesday Year 11 - UOW Summer Master Class Excur. Thoughts from the 04/09/18 Year 11 - Chemistry Depth Study Year 9 - Links to Learning Year 7 – Year Meeting –P6 Principal Schools Trades Roadshow Wednesday Year 12 - Economics UOW Lecture Day Excur 05/09/18 Year 9 - Shine Program Selected Students NSW CHS Athletics Illawarra Refugee Challenge Dapto High Celebrating Book Week Year 11 - Year 11 SLR Northern Bowl Thursday During Week 5 we celebrated book week. This annual 06/09/18 Year 10 - NESB Young Women’s Forum Year 9 - Various Students Legacy Badges Exc celebration of those books written for young people, Year 9 - PASS Northern Bowl NSW CHS Athletics hopes to continue inspiring a love of reading. Thank you 2018 SRC Induction Assembly to all students and staff who got dressed up for Book Friday Year 12 - Mufti Day – Year 12 only 07/09/18 Year 7 - SRE Week – adorning a character costume. Also, a big thank NSW CHS Athletics you to the following staff who drove the celebrations – T3 Week 8 Week 8 Starting 10 September Monday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 Ms Willaro, Ms Brewer, Ms Crouch and Mr Verdejo. 10/09/18 Year 10 - ITT Design Folio Well done everyone! Year 9 - PASS Hangtime Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 Tuesday I believe there is no skill more important to a child’s 11/09/18 Year 12 - Final edits for YA Year 10 - SCI 1/2/3 VALID testing development than reading. One of my high school Year 9 - Links to Learning Wednesday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 teachers was a very strong promoter of reading and 12/09/18 Year 9 - Shine Program Selected Students would often say – “readers are leaders”. Think of the Thursday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 stories we have grown up with and the great characters 13/09/18 Year 10 - NESB Young Women’s Forum who stay with us. Books open us to ideas, feelings, Friday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 14/09/18 Year 10 - SCI 4/5/6 VALID testing creativity, inspiration and reflection. They particularly CAPA Committee Cupcake Bake Sale open doors to our imagination. T3 Week 9 Week 9 Starting 17 September Monday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 There are so many different books and there is always 17/09/18 Year 11 - End of course examinations Year 10 - Maths – In Class examinations something that can interest you; our Librarians are Tuesday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 happy to support students in choosing a great book, one 18/09/18 Year 11 - End of course examinations Year 10 - Macbeth excursion that speaks to them. Year 9 - Links to Learning Year 9 - History - In Class essay Survey about the Library Wednesday Year 12 -Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 19/09/18 Year 11 - End of course examinations Year 10 - History test In coming weeks, staff in the Dynamic Action Learning Year 9 - Shine Program selected students Team will be looking for ideas on how to enhance Year 8 - Shine Program selected students Thursday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 ’s Library. The aim is to create a 20/09/18 Year 11 - End of course examinations future focused learning space which will be utilised as a Year 10 - NESB Young Women’s Forum Friday Year 12 - Teacher’s vs Year 12 Games L1 learning hub for the school. We welcome your ideas on 21/09/18 Year 11 - End of course examinations what that space could look like. A survey will be Year 10 - Girl Talk Young Women’s Forum Year 7 - SRE distributed shortly, so please take the time to complete Year 12 Purple Year 11 Olive Year 10 Blue Year 9 Red it. It’s your school, help us make it what you’d like it to Year 8 Green Year 7 Orange be.

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Southern Stars P&C Fundraiser – Bunnings BBQ A big thank you to the P&C and the following group of I was lucky enough to be at WIN Entertainment Centre parents; Trish Davis and Jackie Brown who volunteered last Friday night to see Southern Stars 2018 ICONIC. The for a large part of their Sunday, along with other parents show was absolutely amazing and had everything from and community members who volunteered throughout rock, choreographed dance, pop, circus acts, hip hop the day; Jemma Lawson, Karin Harlor, Casey Tasker, and soloists. Tanya Markham, Ellie Donovan, Doug Hearne, Shari Fox, After so much preparation and many months of Nicole Castrissios, Amanda Hubert, Susannah Powter, rehearsals, 36 students from Figtree HS performed in Bronwyn Gibson, Chris Ryman, Chris McGavock, Tracey Southern Stars this year, displaying their many varied Newman and Brad Newman. Their time and efforts talents in music, drama, dance and acrobatics. We had raised $1000 for Figtree HS. This is an example of how a 10 VET Entertainment students working at Southern small group of people, willing to help, can make a big Stars in a range of areas for stage management. difference. We thank you! Congratulations and thank you to our talented teachers who enabled our students to be involved in Southern P&C Meetings Stars. Ms Murphy worked with our 10 students in the A reminder to all parents that you are most welcome to choir and all of the students in the NSW Millenium attend the school’s P&C meetings. They are held on the Marching Band, and Ms Bennett worked with our 22 third Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is dancers. These teachers were involved and led many the 19th of September at 7pm in the Bistro. different aspects of the professional and high quality show. I would also like to thank a number of our staff Open Boys Baseball Team who assisted with supervision of students during the rehearsals and performances; Ms Szoboszlay, Ms Figtree HS’s Open Boys Baseball Team played last week Pulham, Ms Henderson, Ms Harvey, Ms Lapham and Ms against Narrabeen Sports HS. At full time, the match Wunsch. was drawn at 7 all, so extra time was needed to separate the two teams. With Mr Herbert producing a You can visit the Southern Stars – The Arena Spectacular masterclass coaching performance, the Figtree HS boys Facebook page to take a look at some of the action from played very strongly in the 7th innings to score a 13-7 this year’s show. victory. Congratulations to these students and to their I highly recommend Southern Stars as one of the best coach Mr Herbert for this outstanding result! variety entertainment shows in the country.

SAS Staff Recognition Week Mr Daniel Ovens This week is School Administrative Support Staff (SASS) Principal recognition week. At Figtree HS we are blessed to have a wonderful SAS Staff made up of Administration staff, a General Assistant and Learning Support Officers. PBL Core Value Specific details about our SASS team are included on the next page of the newsletter. WEEK 7: Safety As Figtree HS steps up to the demands of an ever- Play approved games only in the changing world and challenges of the 21st Century, SAS playground staff are the backbone of the great work being done. WEEK 8: Learning Please show your support of our SAS staff by Move quickly back to the classroom at acknowledging their efforts and letting them know our the end of the break community is strongly behind them. WEEK 9: Respect Be at the canteen only to buy for yourself

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School Administrative and Support Staff Learning Support: Recognition Week from 3-7 September Lynne Hall - Autism SLSO Wi Meh - EAL/D SLSO

Katrina Murray - PDU SLSO Figtree High School has an outstanding School Steve Cevenini - SLSO Administrative and Support Staff (SASS) team who work Kylie Cutajar - SLSO in a range of areas within the school including our; front Marie-Claire Kurt - SLSO office, print room, library, computer rooms, classrooms, Janine McKnight - SLSO science labs, TAS classrooms, and school buildings, Fran Roberts - SLSO grounds and fields. Pam York - SLSO

Flametree: Our SASS team are integral to the delivery of excellent Jenny Bedford - SLSO community, staff and student service and the provision Karen Roche - SLSO of high quality learning environments and experiences. Karen Merrin - SLSO We are very lucky to have a SASS team with such Julie Gray - SLSO breadth of knowledge and expertise, which means that Kathy Hicks - SLSO they are able to work in different roles SASS roles within the school when the need arises. When a member of our SASS team is on leave, they are

replaced by casual School Administrative and Support Our SASS team often work behind the scenes at school, Staff. Over recent weeks our front office and print room going quietly and efficiently about their work, so you has been supported by casual SASS including; Amanda may not have met them when attending school events. Mansell, Hayley Buckley, Kylie Cox, Otilia Jakobsen, and Our Student Learning Support Officers (SLSO) provide in Coreena Summerfield. class support to students with additional learning needs. Our school community will be making time this week to

thank our SASS team and let them know how much we We have the following SASS team at Figtree High: appreciate the work they do for our staff, students, Front Office: parents and community members. We encourage our Carolyn Cunningham – School Administration Manager parents and carers to do the same when contacting or Deb Gregory - Front reception visiting the school this week. Dianne McKellar - Student reception Monique Moran - Enrolments Teresa Solera - Student absences Traci Lucas - Student reception Deputy Principal Report Print room: Years 7 and 9 Stephanie Thompson TAS: Dinese Jenkins Attendance Colleen Blaker Computers: We have previously mentioned the importance of high Michael Trajcevski levels of attendance and the relationship between this Library: and students being able to achieve the best possible Karen Knight outcomes for their learning. Leticia Cougar This term, I would like to extend my congratulations to Science: the 125 students at our school who have maintained a Maria Rutledge 100% full day attendance record this term. It would be General Assistant -Buildings and Grounds: great to see these students maintain this record until Phil Kilah the end of the term.

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The Department of Education mandates that students It is a pivotal time for Year 10, where students who have MUST attend and participate in Sport, unless they are outstanding N warning letters need to make a granted an exemption, due to medical reasons. The concerted effort to resolve these warnings. In term 4 number of students in Years 7 and 9 requesting part-day interviews will take place with parents and students if a leave on a Wednesday afternoon during sport time has student is at risk of not receiving their Year 10 RoSA. been increasing, so I take this opportunity to remind parents that Sport is a compulsory learning activity in Year 12 the week that students must attend on a regular basis. Welcome back to Year 12 who have been studying hard

over the past two weeks preparing and completing their Trial HSC examinations. The staff who supervised these Year 7 Special Religious Education examinations will be the same people who will The Special Religious Education (SRE) lessons supervise the HSC examinations, and they described the recommenced in Week 3 this term. These lessons are students as being ‘the best group of students who they led by Myles Elton from Figtree Anglican Church each have supervised’. Congratulations Year 12! Friday. Each class is provided with one SRE lesson each fortnight according to the rotation below. Students Even though students have completed their trial HSC participate in SRE lessons unless parents or carers examinations, it is imperative that all Year 12 students request for them to be withdrawn. Students who are continue to attend school and work hard until the end withdrawn are supervised by the regular class teacher. of the term. Most subjects still have to complete their course content and there are still a number of Week A: 7D, 7N, 7I assessment tasks to be finalised. Important information Week B: 7U, 7E, 7T will be conveyed to students over the coming weeks in relation to HSC examinations, formal, end of year Ms Ellie Donovan activities and graduation ceremony. This year the Deputy Principal Higher School Certificate examinations commence on Thursday 18 October, which is only seven weeks away.

Deputy Principal Report I would also like to congratulate the students who have completed and submitted their major projects as part of Years 10 and 12 their HSC courses – English Extension 2, Society and Culture, Industrial Technology Timber and Visual Arts. Our Music students will be sitting their HSC Year 10 performance exams over the coming weeks, and we Students have identified their subject preferences for wish them well. Year 11 in 2019. On Monday 3 September Year 10 students will be involved in 10 minute interviews with R U OK? staff focusing on their pattern of study. Students will We can all help students by checking-in with them and have a clearer idea of the subjects that will be offered offering support. This lets us start conversations around and what their subject preferences will look like in 2019. mental health, break down stigma around mental illness Every student will take home an overview of their 2019 and builds closer connections with others. pattern of study and if they will be able to receive an ATAR. Year 10 students will then need to return this Giving a helping hand not only improves our wellbeing, overview to Mr Sargent-Wilson. If parents or carers it also strengthens our connections with ourselves, have any questions regarding the pattern of study for others and the broader community. We can also their child, please contact the school on 4271 2787. develop a greater sense of meaning in life and feel connected to something bigger than ourselves. No matter the action, giving can be life-changing.

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If you are worried about someone at school and feel More information about the Tell Them From Me survey urgent support is needed, contact the school counsellor is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au. or a teacher. The agencies below can also help. To access the survey for our school go to:

Lifeline 13 11 14 https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/figtreehigh Call 24/7 for crisis support

The Parent frequently asked questions (FAQ) document Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 for the parent survey can be located at: Counselling for young people 5–25 years http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/images/FAQs/TTFM_P GriefLine 1300 845 745 arent_Survey_FAQs_Parent_and_Carers_T32018.pdf Counselling for people experiencing grief

NSW CHSSA GYMNASTICS Mental Health Line 1800 011 511

Connecting you with the right care This year we had three of our students compete in the

NSW CHSSA Gymnastics. Congratulations to Jarrod

Buick, Melanie Persinidis and Hannah Sheridan who all Mrs Jemma Lawson represented the South Coast team at the Relieving Deputy Principal Championships.

TELL THEM FROM ME- PARENT SURVEY Jarrod Buick received 7 gold medals. He received gold in Floor, High Bar, Parallel Bars, Pommel, Rings, Vault and This term, our school will be participating in the was the overall champion. This is an amazing Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the achievement from Jarrod and was the second year in a Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher row where he was able to achieve these outstanding and parent surveys) on student engagement. results. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement. Completing this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, ipads, tablets, laptops or computers. The Melanie Persinidis received a silver on beam and bronze survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete on vault and she was 3rd overall for her age group. and is completely confidential. Hannah Sheridan had an extremely difficult section but The parent survey will be conducted between 27 August her level of skill was outstanding. and 26 October. Although participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, your responses are very much Well done to these students. appreciated.

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Library Team Kate Brewer Teacher Librarian Faculty Natalie Crouch Teacher Librarian Letitia Cougar SAS - Library Report Karen Knight SAS - Library

Physical Disabilities Unit PDU 2018 has been a year of change for the student support Ellen Foord PDU Teacher services at Figtree High School. Earlier this year, our Katrina Murray SLSO support classes were brought together under one faculty name “Learning Central”. Learning Central is an LEARNING SUPPORT amalgamation of Learning and Support, Autism, With the support of the Figtree High School P&C, we Physical Disabilities Unit, Library, Careers and EAL/D. were able to relocate and refurbish Learning Support. The aim was to bring all the expertise of specialised Our new location in the old Senior Study in the Library teachers and Student Learning Support Officers (SLSO) meant we were able to provide three learning spaces, together in one faculty to ensure the best support is increasing our capacity to support students across the offered to students across the school. The process has school. Our staff are currently supporting over 90 proven to be a success, with a team stronger than ever, students from all year groups through either in-class or who are sharing knowledge and experience with the small group support. whole school community around supporting students with additional learning needs. Learning Support also provides extensive support to students who are finding coming to school and staying OUR TEAM engaged a challenge. Our morning BEP program sets David Verdejo Relieving Head Teacher students up for a successful day at school.

Autism Integration Class This year has seen the continuation of MAQLIT, an Libby Munro Special Education Teacher evidence based reading program that has proven to be Casey Tasker Teacher a success with the initial pilot group. It was a privilege Lynne Hall SLSO to be able to see how far students have progressed with the support from our Learning and Support Teacher Careers Judy Markham. This program will continue and expand Adam Sargent Wilson Careers Advisor once the current review is completed.

English as an Additional Language and/or Dialect We have further increased the in-class and small group EAL/D support for literacy and numeracy learning which has Salma Alhindi EAL/D been provided by both Sue Clifford and David Verdejo. Wi Meh SLSO Students in Years 8-10 have been targeted, focussing on students who need more individualised support. We Learning and Support Team have seen an improvement in results and most Sue Clifford Learning and Support Teacher importantly, in levels of student engagement. Judy Markham Learning and Support Teacher Stephen Cevenini SLSO We welcomed new members to our Student Learning Kylie Cutajar SLSO Support Officer team this year. Joining the team were Marie-Claire Kurt SLSO Kylie Cutajar and Stephen Cevenini. Along with Janine Janine McKnight SLSO McKnight, Fran Roberts and Marie-Claire Kurt, the team Fran Roberts SLSO expanded their support services across all year groups, Pamela York SLSO assisting a number of students in classes rather than just

Page 6 of 14 individual students. As a team, they are a highly AUTISM INTEGRATION CLASS respected and extremely valued asset to our learning Under the leadership of Libby Monro and supported by systems. Casey Tasker and Lynne Hall, 2018 has been a momentous year for our Autism Integration Class. The high expectations maintained in the setting has seen some excellent outcomes being achieved.

The students have been engaged in work experience in various industry sectors with two Year 10 boys attaining employment. Callum from Year 11 has successfully achieved a part time position with Greenacres that featured in the . He will continue to work towards his HSC whilst working part time.

Recently in Mathematics, the students developed their own clinometers and using trigonometry to measure the height of buildings, trees and flagpoles. This kinaesthetic approach to learning is just one example of how Libby Monro has been able to enhance student learning outcomes.

Another exciting project has been the Café Class. Students have had the opportunity of going through the process of creating and running a café. It has been a successful project with students looking to seek further work experience in the industry.

Last week Libby presented at the ASPECT conference in Brisbane, sharing her Stage 6 Autism integration approaches with educators from around the country. We are very fortunate to have Libby as part of our team.

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE AND/OR DIALECT (EAL/D) Salma Alhindi has joined our team as our EAL/D teacher, supporting students who have English as their second language. The program provides both in-class support and separate intensive language intervention to ensure students are reaching their potential.

In Term 2, we welcomed six new students from Thailand, who celebrated their graduation from the Intensive English Centre and started adding to the vibrant Figtree High School fabric. To assist with this transition, Wi Meh, a Kerrini speaking SLSO joined the team to ensure we are not only meeting the students’ academic needs, but also their wellbeing needs.

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In the coming weeks students will participate in ‘Ready have been undertaking work experience at veterinary Arrive Work’, a program designed to support EAL/D practices and schools as well as shadowing sport students to engage in work. Links to Learning has journalists. One notable experience was Jade Frankham successfully been engaging students from multicultural who had the exciting opportunity to work on the Matty backgrounds in developing work and life skills, ensuring Johns Foot Show. Selected Year 10 students will also they are well positioned for a successful employment participate in the GEN-Z 2 WORK program where they future. will engage with Figtree Grove and to experience the behind the scenes operations of a large PDU shopping centre. Work experience is invaluable in the The Physical Disability Unit (PDU) support class has been sense that it serves as an excellent motivator for at Figtree High School since 1995. This class is led by students to chase their dream careers. Ellen Foord and has celebrated some incredible successes over the years. The PDU follows a fully AIME (Indigenous Mentoring Experience) has also integrated model, where students are provided with connected with our Careers program by coordinating support which empowers them to engage in most university discovery days. Offerings such as this inspire mainstream classes. Katrina Murray, who has a wealth our students to set high goals and for schools to of expertise supporting students with physical maintain our high expectations of students. disabilities, is the Student Learning Support Officer for our students in the PDU. Year 10 students will participate in a curriculum interview to discuss their subject selections, which Recently, our students headed to Homebush to ensures that their choices for their HSC are in line with participate in the State Boccia Championships after their future career pathways. achieving first place in the Illawarra Region. The team came in 8th, after spending many weeks in training. We UOW Master Class is an excellent opportunity for are extremely proud of their achievements and are very current Year 11 students to learn and develop some key excited to see what is up next! skills pertinent to academic success. The program will run from 5 – 25 January 2019. Students who complete CAREERS the program will be guaranteed and interview for Early Mr Sargent-Wilson has been driving an excellent careers Admission. If they are successful with their admission, program. There has been a huge offering of Discovery the program will count as credit points towards their Days at the University of , Taster Days at degrees. TAFE, the Be Ambitious TAFE program to name a few initiatives this year. The TAFE YES program provided an LIBRARY opportunity for students to explore different trade During Week 5, our school celebrated Book Week. based careers over a period of time, spending one day a Many celebrations were held and a range of week at TAFE. opportunities were offered. Some of the activities included a Treasure Chest containing suggested book This year, Year 12 students submitted 60 Early titles by the students; these books were wrapped in Admission applications for 2019 entry into UOW. In the ‘gold’ to entice students to try something new without coming weeks these students will be informed if they judging that book by its cover. Year 7 students have been selected for interview. Offers of admission contributed a book review about their all-time favourite will be made just prior to the written HSC examinations. book in the form of a poster. These are now displayed at the back of the library. Students started the Our rolling work experience program has seen several conversation with their peers and the library was a hive students from Year 10 engage in blocks of work of activity with a new mural project starting and experience across a range of trades. However, students students volunteering to help out with decorating and seeking entry into university have also explored their celebrating books. options across different employment sectors. Students

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Staff were also invited to celebrate their favourite books and each staffroom door was decorated with these titles as a ‘conversation starter’. On Thursday, the staff dressed as their favourite book characters and the school was buzzing with discussions about books. The library team would like to thank all of the staff and students for their support to make the week a success.

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NEW BOOKS & MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS We have over 50 NEW BOOKS - this includes 'refreshed' favourites such as 2017 Guinness World Records and books taken from the awards list for 2018 for both young and old! We also have 10 new magazine subscriptions - some of our titles include: Rugby League Week, National Geographic, Frankie mag, Instyle, MAD magazine and around 25 more! All books and titles are available for hire. Some new titles include (stay tuned for reviews weekly):

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HOMEWORK CENTRE

The library is open for the homework centre on a Monday afternoon immediately after school until 4pm. Each week we are working to get a specialist teacher to support specific learning tasks for students. Students are asked to put their name down on the form in the library during break times on a Monday so that student attendance numbers can be anticipated.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S MORNING TEA Year 10 Young Women's Forum girls from Figtree High School and participated in the International Women’s Morning Tea event at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre on 16 August. Stories about coming to Australia were shared by different generations and backgrounds including Aboriginal elders, students and migrant women. International food, songs and dances were also shared across cultures and generations making it a fantastic event!

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experience, but their level of commitment was commendable. Well done to Nathan Nolan, Logan Mathie, Travis Moon and Tate Harland. A special mention to Jack Ryan who played in the daunting position of goalie. Jack has never played hockey and did an exceptional job of saving goals.

The team was captained by Jake Sheppard. This will be Jake’s last year in the school hockey team as he will now complete his HSC. Jake showed composure and skill throughout every match and he was a valuable member of our team. The team players were Jake Sheppard, Trey Thompson, Keegan Whitten, Bailey Craft, Kaylen Craft, Thomas Duncan, Isaac Maris, Adam Harper, Travis Moon, Tate Harland, Nathan Nolan, Logan Mathie and Jack Ryan.

Mr David Verdejo Relieving Head Teacher - Learning Central

REGIONAL ATHLETICS AGE CHAMPIONS Congratulations to Alyssa Parks and Payton Williams BOYS HOCKEY who were recognised on assembly for being Age The Boys Hockey team made it through to Round 2 of Champions at the Regional Athletics Championships in the NSW CHSSA Hockey Championships. To get to this Canberra this year. position the boys defeated Keira High School, Smiths Hill High School, (in extra time). This made them the South Coast A Champions. They then travelled to Goulburn to play the South Coast Final against Crookwell. This was an extremely close match and the team were defeated in extra time. As the boys were South Coast finalists, this allows them to progress to the NSW CHSSA Knockout. Our first game was against Camden High School at Unanderra. Our Figtree High School team played well, however, Camden came away winners on the day.

The Figtree High School team demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and team commitment. There were boys in the team that have had very little hockey

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