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PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Lucas Heights Community School is a NSW Department of Education comprehensive K-12 school. The school is situated in the southern outskirts of Sydney in the Sutherland Shire.

The school is set in a pleasant bushland setting with modern facilities including gymnasiums, dance/drama performance space, specialised computer rooms and a global link through our connected classroom.

The school enrolment is approximately 500 in the high school and 450 in the primary school. This allows a feeling of a true community where students, staff and parents have a strong sense of belonging to the school.

Technology is provided by both the latest high speed fibre optic cable and wireless technology.

The K-12 nature of the school provides many academic and supportive links and access to resources and facilities usually not found in other primary school environments.

In 2008, the school was the first school ever to receive three Director General Awards for excellence.

At LHCS, we emphasise the importance of academic excellence. We aim to provide a dynamic and caring learning environment where all students can achieve their individual potential. The school provides many opportunities for students to become involved in the life of the school as student leaders and responsible, informed citizens. In recent year the school has achieved excellent results in national testing, School Certificate and HSC, attaining some of the highest value added results in the education network.

In 2008, 52% of our HSC students entered university compared to a State average of 41%. Mitchell, our School Captain 2008, was one of these students chosen nationwide to join the Qantas Pilot Training Program.

We value the importance of sport and extra curricular activities and offer a wide range of opportunities including representation in state and national teams. The stimulating classroom environment is combined with a wide range of extra activities in sport, creative and performing arts, student leadership and community service. Each student, no matter what their interests, will be given the opportunity to have their skills nurtured and reach their full potential.

A strong welfare team supports student learning and well being and ensures students feel safe, are respected and respect the rights of others. The school has a support unit which caters for students with special needs. Students are proud of the school and support the ethos of the school by wearing correct school uniform at all times. The school values of Achievement, Respect, Responsibility, Care and Participation are reflected in our merit system.

The highly experienced and dedicated staff are constantly undertaking further training and development to support our commitment to excellence and quality teaching. Our technology facilities ensure that students have well developed technology skills and in 2009 the school will receive over 200 laptops and 20 desktops to add to our existing 250 computers.

The curriculum in the high school provides varied courses of both an academic and vocational nature. In the Senior School, students may complete TAFE courses, including accounting and mechanics, with a choice of over 50 TAFE courses available.

We enjoy the support from our parents and local community and value the involvement of our parents as partners in learning.

We hope that our web pages will provide you with information about our school and the achievements of our students. I am very proud to be the Principal of Lucas Heights Community School and if you would like further information please contact us.

SchoolPrincipal

Ms Deidrei Bedwell
Lucas Heights Community School Principal

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SCHOOL BELIEFS


Teaching and Learning

We believe that:

      • all students have the right to learn
      • learning is lifelong
      • all students learn in different ways at different rates
      • teachers are facilitators of learning
      • students supported by the whole school community are responsible for their learning
      • assessment and reporting are ongoing and integral to teaching and learning

Student Welfare

We believe that:

      • positive self esteem is important to the development of the individual
      • all school community members are responsible for the welfare of students
      • effective student welfare facilitates learning
      • school should be a safe, caring and secure environment
      • all students have rights and responsibilities

School/Community Interaction

We believe that:

      • all members of our learning community have the responsibility to work to achieve quality outcomes for students
      • the community is a valuable source of expertise and resources
      • school decision making and policy development should involve community consultation and liaison

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PARENTS & CITIZENS [P & C]
This is the parent body that assists and supports our school. The P & C meeting is held on the first Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm in the school library. Should you need to contact the Executive of the P & C, please leave your details at the Administration Office. All parents are invited to attend this monthly meeting.

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SCHOOL HISTORY
Lucas Heights Community School was established in 1992 with the appointment of 10 staff and the enrolment of 57 students in the inaugural Year 7. Building of stage 1 was six months ahead of schedule and the Department of Education made the decision to open the school, even though the first group of students needed to be accommodated in the grounds of Menai High School for semester one of that year.

The Principal, Deputy Principal, and four head teachers were also appointed in the closing weeks of January leaving little time to plan for the classes for the 1992 Year 7 cohort before school commenced. The school was initially housed in four demountable classrooms adjacent to the agricultural plot at Menai High – the presence of sheep in the staff study was a common occurrence!

The parent community at this time relished the challenge of supporting the establishment of their new school. In consultation with the students, they designed the new school uniform, established the canteen and uniform shop and gave countless volunteer hours to assist in covering new library books and text resources.

Visiting the new school site, complete with hard hats, was an exciting day as the staff envisioned where they would be located in the new buildings. The formal occupation of the site took place on day 1 of Term 3, 1992. Some specialist secondary rooms, eg the TAS block, had not been constructed and so the current senior canteen, augmented by a gas barbecue, was the makeshift kitchen for stage 4 Design and Technology and a mini workshop for Wood Technology was located in a demountable in the staff carpark.

The latter part of 1992 was consumed with preparation for the enrolment of the first K-6 cohort of children in 1993. The anticipated enrolment of 5 classes actually increased to 11 classes by December 1992. The task of selecting and appointing staff, purchasing resources and preparing for the enrolment of over 400 children K-6 at the beginning of the new school year was massive. In addition, preparations had to be completed for the enrolment of the new Year 7 of 1993. This really marked the nature of the school from 1992 to 1998, that is, until the foundation group completed the 1997 HSC.

During 1993, the final establishment phase was planned. The school was purpose built for students and staff who required the use of wheelchairs and thus the Support Unit for students with a physical disability was established in 1994. The school community welcomed this additional dimension to the nature of the school and worked very hard to create a support unit that has developed into an outstanding example of a learning environment for students with special needs integrated into a mainstream setting.

The excitement of creating and building a new K-12 school community energised the dedicated staff of class teachers and the school leadership team. The rich collection of educational resources now found across the school would not exist without the outstanding financial support of the parent community realised through school contributions and the efforts of the P&C.

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
At Lucas Heights Community School, students can and do become high achievers. Quality students attend the school and achieve superior standards in the school certificate, the HSC and other areas of school life. It is no surprise that the vast majority of students at Lucas Heights Community School progress to university, TAFE, apprenticeships or full time work.

Lucas Heights Community School can boast many significant achievements in its short history. The school is the proud holder of two Director General 's Awards. One for excellence in outcomes based education and the other for K-12 educational curriculum. In sport, Lucas Heights Community School has produced State representatives in golf, basketball, equestrian, swimming and Tae Kwon Do. At National and International level, our students have represented and been supported in Rugby League, Athletics, Cross Country, the 2000 Paralympics and Ice Skating.

In the performing arts we have had student representation in the Sydney Olympic Games and The Rugby Union World Cup, while our dancers have represented us at state level and we were placed second in the state theatre sports competition in 2005.

Our quality programs in debating and public speaking have seen the school consistently perform well in a range of interschool competitions with some of our students using these skills to become Sutherland Shire Citizen of the Year and Lions Area Youth of the Year.

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