Arts Extravaganza and Massed Bands
The five Lyneham High bands came together for the culmination event of the 2023 Band Program. It was so special to be able to welcome parents, families and friends to share the afternoon and celebration of student achievement with us in an outdoor concert. All bands played a song of their choice and the magic really occurred when all 5 bands came together to play selected songs as one ‘massed’ band. I have been in awe this year of the dedication, skills, team development, growth and sheer passion for Band at LHS. The staff dedication is above and beyond and truly inspirational. The amount of time, effort, organisation, patience, care, expertise and genuine passion for the students and the program at times leaves me gobsmacked. I have more than once stood back and said to myself “surely they will get tired soon”. They deserve the accolades given from the Band Program’s students and parents. There were many parents, grandparents, siblings and friends in attendance. All were grooving along to the music and enjoying this outdoor concert.
The ART Extravaganza was spectacular. In only two days the Hall was transformed into an art gallery with a smorgasbord of beautiful pieces. I loved the landscapes, the humanoid/animal pieces, the plastic humans, the abstract spaces, the still paintings, gratitude rocks, and all of the intricate ceramics pieces. The range of assessments tasks during the semester was clear in the photography on display. I particularly loved the close-up of the tiny bug. While walking around it was nice to look up and see a man fishing and be able to get your own portrait at the ‘Portrait Booth’ or contribute to some artwork through paint textas at the door. Lastly, I enjoyed the creative media presentations with animation and even some of our very own hallways and Lyneham spaces were on display and used thoughtfully by the students as settings for their scenes. I was also impressed by the Drama students who made the viewing of art an immersive performance experience for all of the patrons, and it was nice to see student’s powerful and thought-provoking solo performances.
Thank you to everyone who helped the Arts faculty to put this on and to all the staff who attended and supported the event.
Sue, Mel, Will, Jenny, Fran, Alex G, Alec, Tim, Deb, Mick, Sandra, Sunny, Jane, Jamielee, Front Office- you are all rockstars. Thank you for showcasing student work, talent and achievement in the Arts in 2023 and for connecting with our greater Lyneham community.
Transitions
Over the next couple of weeks we will showing new students joining our LHS community for 2024 around the school. Several transition activities have been organised and run to assist prospective students get a feel for the school environment and start to build relationships with some friendly faces. It is always lovely to meet our new students entering Lyneham at almost every year cohort and welcome their families. I know students will make the most of the opportunity and leave transition activities with smiles on their faces.
Farewell year 10
This is last week of Lyneham High for our Year 10 cohort. The Year 10 Farewell assembly and formal were special moments. These events really brought home to me the connection of the students to the school, the staff to the students and the long standing impact the school has on our students at Lyneham. Watching the photos, the student reactions, the dancing, the speeches and the wider school community engage was great. The guard of honour is always a special moment and the student photos, tears, hugs afterwards is always my favourite bit. It reminds me why we do what we do in the way that we do it 😊. Thank you to the students and their families and friends for their attendance and participation. Thank you to all staff who contributed to the events and created the time and space for our students to reflect and be in the moment. And for them and their families it was such an important moment.
Year 10 leaving is always a bittersweet occasion. We are extremely proud of their contributions to our community, their learning growth and achievements and the young adults they have become. We look forward to hearing about their future milestones. Congratulations and best of luck Year 10.
Moore and Spirit Cup
At our last assembly, we announced the winners of our House System major awards. The Moore Cup was won by Hume as the winning house across all our major sporting carnivals for 2023. The Spirit cup was taken out by Blaxland. Congratulations to all the individual students that contributed points to these cups over the year, the house captains for their leadership and to those that brought the Lyneham High School Spirit and values to our culture this year.
End of Year Awards
Two more important Lyneham School Community Events are coming soon: The semester awards for each year level (Friday 8 December) and Presentation Night (10 December). I look forward to celebrating with students and their families. They promise to be special. Invitations have been emailed to families of award recipients.
Staff movements
At this time of year, we farewell several staff who are moving on to other schools, promotions and retirement. These staff have made an impact on the students they have taught and contributed greatly to the Lyneham School community. We can’t thank them enough for their efforts, commitment and dedication to our school.
Staff Leaving the Lyneham High School Community:
Clare Douglass
Amy Evans
Kirsty Miller
Tim Bowyer
Nathan Blackburn
Dougal Torrance
Uma Ramiah
Stella Shepherd
Robin Southall
Milissa Jeffery
Prue Davies
As you can see, it has been a busy term and one that has been rewarding for students and staff alike. As we work towards celebrations and culmination of learning events, it’s a beautiful chance to look back and acknowledge individual achievements and what we have all achieved together in 2023. I could not be prouder of the students and staff of Lyneham High School.
For some families, your association with Lyneham High School is coming to a close and we wish you every success in the future. To those returning next year we look forward to another successful year in 2024.
In closing want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday over the festive season.
Kind Regards
Jacqui Ford
Respecting our school community
I would like to take the opportunity to remind our school community about the importance of ensuring we always display respectful behaviours at school.
This includes being respectful of other people’s beliefs and backgrounds.
Every student and every family are welcomed at Lyneham High School and we want everyone to feel safe at all times. This includes when at school and with out of school interactions.
Unsafe or disrespectful behaviours are never tolerated. It is unfortunate that we need to provide this reminder, following a recent incident at our school.
If you have any concerns or wish to discuss wellbeing supports for your young person please reach out to our front office.
Date for the Diary
Monday 11 December
Presentation Night 5pm
We have emailed invitations to families of major award recipients.
Locker Clear Out
It is almost the end of school for 2023 so we need students to clear out their lockers before they leave for the year.
Anything left in lockers in the last week of term will be donated.
Please remind your child/ren to empty their locker by the 8 December (in 5 school days time), if they have trouble opening their locker, they can come to the front office for assistance. If they are unexpectedly absent, please contact the front office to arrange for their locker to be cleared.
Student Absences
We are increasingly aware that families in our community are starting to make decisions about their child(ren)'s attendance at school for the remaining weeks in this school year. In particular, families have been indicating that they may be leaving for holidays before the end of the school year. We ask that if you are intending to do this, that you contact the School Absences team by email or phone (6142 1174) so that approved leave can be entered. It is obviously very important for us to maintain accurate records and that we follow our normal procedures to explain any absences.
Stationery Requirements 2024
Lyneham High no longer provides stationery pack requirements linked through a commercial provider. Instead, families are encouraged to source their packs from their preferred providers. We anticipate that many students will already have some of the items, so please check carefully before going to the expense of purchasing the full list.
Lyneham High School has a very successful second-hand uniform scheme.
Second-hand uniforms are available from Trevor in the youth worker’s office (ask the front office for directions). He is available most mornings before school. Students are welcome to visit for uniforms before school, after school, and most recesses.
Parents and students are welcome to visit the Second Hand Uniform Shop, alternatively, you are welcome to email trevor.preston@ed.act.edu.au to check if we have stock. Stock varies as it depends on donations and demand. Jumpers are $10 and shirts are $5.
Lyneham High is grateful to accept donations of used uniforms in good condition at the front office, and would like to thank all those parents who have already done so this year.
Rapid Antigen Tests within ACT public schools
Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will no longer be distributed from ACT public schools. Families can now collect free RATs from ACT Libraries. Visit: www.library.act.gov.au/services.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation. For more information, visit www.covid19.act.gov.au.
D&D Club Wrap Up 2023
I’m sure everyone knows about Dungeons and Dragons club at Lyneham on Monday afternoons after school. It is the biggest extra-curricular club at Lyneham with 59 members. During the year we have had up to seven campaigns going at once, each one run by a student Dungeon Master, and each campaign is unique.
For those who are completely unfamiliar with D&D, it is a tabletop game that involves roleplaying, storytelling, and imagination. I think of it as collaborative storytelling with dice rolls to help determine what happens in tricky situations. Studies have shown participation in D&D and other roleplaying games to increase social skills, encourage teamwork and cooperation, and teach problem solving skills but most importantly it is a load of fun.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to play. There are plenty of students and staff to teach you as you go.
D&D club will resume in 2024, new permission notes will be available from Trevor in the student welfare office in week 1 next year.
Here are some quotes from students and staff about their campaigns in 2023:
“I love going to D&D with my friends, we have lots of fun roleplaying and plenty of laughs.”
“I’d say our campaign is most like a chaotic comedy. One of our funniest moments was when we were in a tavern and there was a fire, so we went underground but there was a whole hoard of zombies, so to keep them at bay we started to feed bits of each other to them to make friends with them.”
“I ran a folk horror campaign where the players had to protect a village from a terrible scarecrow like monster that took someone’s head each night, a bit like the headless horsemen story. The players had to use all their wits and cunning to defeat it.”
“I was a giant goat and I ran down an ogre!”
“In an evil campaign we stole someone’s toilet paper.”
“I remember when someone was supposed to break down a door and rolled a critical fail and got their sword stuck in the door, then fell over trying to remove the sword with another fail.”
“We got hired buy a guy to kill a dragon, but it turned out the dragon was the persons ex, so we made a deal for twice the reward to kill the guy instead and made an ally out of the dragon.”
“One time we were camping, and two guys went to search for food and got killed by an adder. Two more party members went to search for them and got paralysed by the same adder, and then the rest of the party went searching for them and were killed by a swarm of bees.”
“We are doing an extraplanar campaign that’s all about devils. It’s a serious campaign, but every now and then we do funny and weird stuff.”
“I love all the surprising plot twists along the way of D&D campaigns.”
“We are doing a game where we have to choose sides between two huge dragons, Tiamat and Bahamut.”
“Our current game is Monster of the Week, which uses different rules to D&D. Its dead easy to learn and is heaps of fun. It’s set in our world in 1994 and is like a murder mystery with a supernatural twist, a bit like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or X-files.”
“I love the fact that almost anything can happen on the spur of the moment, which often turns into really funny events.”
“We had to fight a bunch of earth elementals, and we trapped them and killed them with the spell cringe by performing Hamilton until they were dead.”
Breakfast Club
FREE toast continues to be served each Tuesday and Thursday morning in the canteen area from about 8:15 until homegroup, and we hope this will continue into 2024.
Margarine is supplied along with a variety of jams.
Lyneham High School would like to extent a huge thank you to Woolworths Dickson
for the weekly donation of bread to make this possible.
Languages at Lyneham
Shakespeare Performances
All Year 7 English classes have been reading and performingShakespeare. Here are a few of their accounts:
This term in English, the topic that we focused on was Shakespeare. Near the beginning of the term, we read his biography and created a slide about an aspect of his life/career. We learnt many new things about Shakespeare during this. After that, we moved on to our major assignment for the term: to perform a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Ms. Douglass’ classes did a scene from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and other classes chose a scene from other Shakespeare plays. Our performances involved costumes, props, and, for some classes, reciting lines. After practising our scenes, we could film a video or act out our scene in front of our class. Overall, this term’s topic about Shakespeare was fascinating, and different to our past topics because it involved some drama. - Lola Kerr and Ava Thomas-Hepp
This term, year 7 English classes were given an assignment about Shakespeare. In the assignment you had to choose one act from one of Shakespeare's plays. My class did ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, though other classes did different plays of his like ‘Romeo & Juliet’. Once your group had picked your act you could choose whether to make a film or do a live performance. These films and live performances were all displayed in front of the class, too much enjoyment. - Jake Macfadyen
Year 7 English classes were assigned a task to recreate some of Shakespeare’s famous plays, such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and ‘Hamlet’. We formed groups and chose which scenes we wanted to recreate. We could either choose to make a film or perform in front of a live audience. Each play needed to run for approximately 5 minutes. All of the plays each had their own special touch or way of presenting their plays and entertained the audience, just like a real Shakespeare play would. It was fun to act our parts and dress up with interesting costumes. Recreating the crowd-favourites plays let us experience what it was like to use Shakespeare's way of speaking. The finished product was a funny and well expressed Shakespeare play. - Alyysha Zheng
The English classes of year 7 have been learning about Shakespeare and his plays. We were given the task to re-create some of the scenes. The classes were split into groups and performed some of his most famous plays, such as ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Hamlet’ or ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’. The groups were given the option to make a film or perform it live to their class. They spent a couple of lessons getting ready for their plays, then performed them or presented their videos. Many different props and costumes were used to make the experience even better. The props helped everyone express themselves in ways they couldn’t imagine. This was a wonderful experience for the year 7s to expand their acting talents and learn about Shakespeare and his plays. - Ella Denny
Sam Watters and Liam Hall
Trudy Magee and Pappy Rojrangsee
Francophone/Indonesian Expo
Five Year 8 classes participated in Francophone/Indonesian Expo during Week 7 in the hall. The theme was Festivals and learning about geographical locations. Every group had to set up a stall displaying information about a certain place or celebration. Many interesting activities were undertaken, as these photos show.
Galungan by Annabelle Boyle/Pema Yangtsho
Nyepi by Finn Macfarlane
Waisak by Alice Macnab and Meera Sharma
Switzerland by Tim Stepanov and Jeremy Specker
France by Hazel Lee
2023 French Poetry Competition
Félicitations to Angel Thakker who came in second place in the 2023 French Poetry Competition organised by the Alliance Française. Angel competed in the Year 9 Non-Francophone category, which recited the poem Le Dormeur du Val, (The Sleeper of the Valley), by Arthur Rimbaud. Angel gave an excellent performance of this poem during the award ceremony. Bravo, Angel!
Science Competition Success
This year Lyneham High School has entered multiple science competitions that have covered academics and practical learning and achieved some amazing results.
Year 8 Think Science Competition
The Think Science is a national competition that was entered by year 8 students who were required to create a 4-minute video on their small group investigations. Lyneham High School was fortunate to receive 3rd place with an investigation on Crash severity and ramp angle by Jesse, Tyler, Nomon and Somon and highly commended for Tra and Lara’s investigation on liquid type and evaporation.
Year 9 students SEAACT Science Fair
A group of year 9 students have been recognised in the SEAACT science fair for their exceptional commitment to their science investigations this year. These results reflect the exceptional dedication of our students to the field of science. We are proud to announce that many of our students were recognised and awarded for their excellent work. We would particularly like to congratulate Emma Zhang (Earth and Space) and Bea Dash with Ada Reid (Biology) on receiving first place in their categories. First place allows these students to enter their reports into the National iCubed Science Awards.
We would like to acknowledge the unwavering support of the students’ parents, mentors and the Lyneham High School community. A number of the students also participated in the Science Mentors program which paired students with an expert in their area of study. A group of students also benefited greatly through the Wetland Ecology Workshops from Jed Pearsons (ACT WaterWatch). Students were also fortunate to have access to equipment from the Academy of Future Skills to pursue projects matching their area of interest. This encouragement and guidance has played a crucial role in nurturing the scientific curiosity of our students.
The total list of awards received by Lyneham High School students are:
Biology: Bea Dash and Ada Reid - 1st place Biology - How does riparian vegetation affect water quality? Naomi Kerr - 2nd Biology (Mentors program) - The Diversity and Natural Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Soil Bacteria in Western Australia Livia Elmers - 2nd Biology - The Effect of Time and Care on the Waterbug Signal2 score at the Mount Majura Dams Jasper Edwards-Chew - Highly Commended - Waterbugs, Water you doing? An investigation at the Lyneham Wetlands on the impact of phosphate on waterbug diversity across autumn Niki Saravanan - Encouragement - Which exercises are the most efficient at burning calories in a set period of time? Mimi Bui- Encouragement - How different wavelengths of light correlate between the growth rate and development of Spinacia oleracea?
Chemistry: Pansara Kuruppu Arachchige - 2nd Chemistry - The effectiveness of increasing the enzyme activity in the reaction between gastric acid and antacids. Mabel McDonald - Highly Commended - The toxicity of dishwashing liquids that claim to be natural and eco-friendly Amber Warren - Highly Commended - How does pH vary at managed swimming pools compared to natural swimming holes? Riley Nowakowski - Encouragement - Bready or not, here I come: A study of how the amount of yeast affects the baking of bread
Earth and Space: Emma Zhang - 1st place (Mentors program) - A study testing the capabilities of a recently constructed radio telescope through an investigation into the H I line within the solar circle of the Milky Way. Jessica Pang - 2nd place - A study on the correlation between the amount of sky glow in different suburbs of Canberra and the age of the suburb, in order to determine any trends between the two that could uncover a potential solution to light pollution. Kaeshav Gore - Highly Commended - Too Pool for School: A study of the effectiveness of various types of pool covers Andy Li - Encouragement - How Properties of Wetlands Affect Water Quality Max Sweetapple - Encouragement - The world on fire: A study of how quickly pine, eucalyptus and deciduous leaves catch on fire when they are given heat from a charcoal starter after being dried out for different amounts of time.
Engineering: Angel Thakker - Highly Commended (Mentors program) - Computing Non-analytical Solutions for Various Functions to Develop a Calculator
Physics: Ruth Norrish - Highly Commended - How does the form of a lamppost affect street visibility when in correlation with city light pollution?
Academic Competitions
This year Lyneham High School entered into the ICAS and Australian Science Innovations Big Science and Olympiad competitions. Some amazing results were achieved. The students who achieved High Distinction and Distinction results are listed below.
An extra special shout out to Andy Li who has been selected to participate in the 2024 Junior Science Olympiad Academy following his results in the Junior Science Olympiad.
Additionally, Lyneham High School had 8 students participate in the Earth Science Olympiad. Three students, Naomi Kerr (year 9), Kevin Fang (year 9) and Stella Pugmire (year 10) achieved Distinction results which is amazing as this exam is targeted to year 11 and year 12 students.
Arts Fair Extravaganza 2023
The Visual and Performing Arts Faculty would like to thank our school community for coming along to the LHS Arts Fair Extravaganza that took place on Thursday 16 November. It was a lovely opportunity for us to celebrate the success of our students with their friends and families as we all enjoyed an afternoon filled with music, art, ceramics, drama, photography and media.
Lyneham High School's Band Program performance opened with their rendition of the explosive "Bang Bang", leading into the epic "Bohemian Rhapsody". The mood then shifted to the nostalgic "Hooked on a Feeling", followed by the soulful strains of "My Girl". The grand finale crescendoed with the anthemic "We Will Rock You."
The school hall was transformed into an exhibition space filled with all kinds of creative works exploring a range of themes and mediums. There were interactive tasks that saw some lucky visitors go home with a drawn portrait by one of our talented student artists and we had some very powerful drama performances to get the mind thinking.
During the event, visitors were invited to vote for their favourite works which proved to be a challenge as all the works were amazing. Congratulations to the following students who won the People’s Choice Award for each category:
Anik Louw - Year 7 Art
Meera Sharma - Year 8 Art
Sofie Wang - Year 9 Art
Alex Fidanza - Year 10 Art
Alice Bradley - Year 9 Ceramics
Recipient Name Withheld - Year 10 Photography
We would also like to take this opportunity in thanking everyone involved in making this event such a huge success, especially our student helpers who worked tirelessly over 3 days and on the night of the event.
All visual art and ceramic students should have collected their works to take home during week 8. If not, we encourage them to do so as soon as possible as the end of year clean up begins at the beginning of week 9.
School Calendar
Did you know the school’s calendar of events (excursions and the like) are maintained as a Google Calendar which is accessible from the front page of the school’s website (see below)? Events are maintained weekly.
Are you, or someone you know, learning to drive in the ACT? A new program is now available that allows learner drivers to obtain basic lifesaving first aid skills and claim five hours credit toward their required driving hours. To be eligible, you must have held your ACT learner licence for at least three months before completing one of the approved courses.
We know the first people on scene of a collision are often other drivers. Ensuring you have a basic understanding of first aid could make a big difference to those involved in a crash. Visit Road Safety to find out more about this new program including other approved courses available.
The Christmas/Festive season is fast approaching, and along with it is the additional Christmas/Festive preparation expenses, not to mention the bills that will start rolling in come the New Year!
Care continues to facilitate the ACT Government’s Rent Relief program for those who rent privately in the ACT. Eligible renters can apply for the one off grant of 4 weeks rent up to a maximum of $2,500.
Please note: The current turn around for applications is 2-3 weeks, but could increase depending on the volume of applications received.
