03 Jan 2024
Another incredible year of success and accomplishment by our great school in 2023 led by our staff and students alike. This continuing cultural shift at Plumpton High School to achieving personal excellence across all endeavours driven by a commitment to become the best we can be.
And this quote represents the way in which we are leading our change collaboratively through each and every one of our actions
“There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” — George Shinn
“Anything is possible if you work hard enough.” This is a phrase that we frequently get to hear, but at Plumpton, we’ve seen it come to life. This school has helped many students accomplish goals they couldn’t even imagine setting for themselves before walking through its doors. We are not only teaching students how to succeed in high school but also how to excel in life.
Think about this as read to some of the incredible accomplishments we have made in 2023 across such a diverse landscape:
• Duke of Edinburgh International Award Framework - Whole of Year Model Australian Champions. Our School Captain Anis and Vice-Captain Ugochi along with Ms McKenzie, Mr Canning and I were invited to The Duke of Edinburgh’s Supporters Dinner at NSW Parliament House with Anis giving a speech to His Royal Highness Prince Edward – The Duke of Edinburgh, Ugochi singing at the event and Anis, Ugochi and Ms McKenzie engaged in a Q and A session. We currently have our first Gold Level group of 9 students who spent 9 days trekking through the Northern territory last holidays as a part of their credential, a significant number Silver and all of Year 9 engaged in the Bronze Level Award.
• To date 64 Year 12 students have early entry Offers to university
• We continue with our major university partnerships the University of NSW Gateway Program, University of Technology U@Uni Program and Western Sydney’s Fast Forward program.
• The school put on Shrek The Musical with 120 students and staff actively involved in acting, stage managing, Directing, set construction, sound lighting. Congratulations to this incredible team.
• Ethan Hawk and Joshua Richards in Year 11 won Victor Chang School Science Awards
• We were crowned as the NSW Champions for F1 In Schools Cadet Class again – this is the 5th time we have won this competition in 9 years.
• Crowned 2023 Zone Sporting Champions
• Zakariya Al-Shible in Year 7 and Jordan Milojkovic in Year 8 received a Distinction Certificate in the Australian History Competition
• We have mentored in excess of 600 students through our forty plus incredible business partners such as Western Sydney International Airport, Lend Lease, PVH, UBS, Citi Group, Optus, ABCN, The Beacon Foundation, Commonwealth Bank, United Way and many more.
• Our Taiko ensemble was invited to perform at the NSW Education Ministers Awards at the Sydney Town Hall and at Schools Spectacular. 29 Students were selected to perform at Schools Spectacular in 2023
• Ysabela Marasigan achieved a High Distinction in the ICAS Mathematics Assessment and the Australian Mathematics competition meaning she placed in the top 1% of approximately 1 million students who undertake these.
• Zain Al-Shible achieved a Distinction equivalent to the top 10% of students undertaking the ICAS assessment with many students also receiving Credits.
• Alice Ton and Isabella Cobban in Year 10 were both been awarded ABCN Australian Scholarships – this taking the number to 11 ABCN Scholars.
• Plumpton was recognised as 1 of 2 schools in NSW performing exceptionally well in literacy and numeracy through NAPLAN results.
• Zain Al-Shible and Haaziq Anwaar won first place in the 2023 Australian Day of AI competition.
• Our Student Executive Council Leadership, Agency and Voice Framework that was internationally recognised in 2021 has 135 members engaged in project management across charity, volunteering, leadership and other areas as an exemplar in Australia supporting our students to become positively contributing global citizens and the leaders of tomorrow.
• The Department of Education recently recognised Plumpton’s Career Path Planning Framework and Futures Centre with a case study being completed to provide other schools in NSW an exemplar. We are also working with LinkedIn to continue to build high level learning to support students post school destinations.
Congratulations to our students and staff for these incredible achievements and many more that time does not permit to acknowledge. We need to celebrate this amazing success.
I believe this quote is appropriate for what we have collaborated to achieve in 2023.
“Be your biggest competitor, challenge yourself each day to be better than you were yesterday.”
Our school provides its students with a healthy and fairly competitive environment to help them grow in every sphere of activity, be it academics, leadership, sports or any other extra-curricular pursuit. We have given equal opportunities to all our students so that they realise their true potential and get ready to face the outer world once they complete their school studies. And I am extremely pleased to see our students performing and excelling in their respective areas of interests supported by our incredible teachers and non-teaching staff, some of whom were recognised at the Excellence Ceremony in late 2023.
A 2023 survey revealed more than a third of Australian small businesses already have, or are planning to, replace some of their workforce with Artificial Intelligence.
The survey found that 56 per cent of small business operators believe that AI will either reduce the number of people they employ or are unsure about the impact it will have on employee numbers.
AI use by small businesses is growing, with 41 per cent of Australian small businesses saying they use it, compared to just 26 per cent of UK small businesses.
Given this, at Plumpton we are ensuring our school, through its rigorous education, innovation and business partners maintains the same rate of change as that in the world beyond school. Please stay tuned for some exciting news in the new year as we continue to provide a world-class education.
We look forward to continued growth and accomplishment in 2024.
Tim Lloyd, Principal
