Penrith High Towers-Alumni

Welcome to our 4th and final edition of the Towers- Alumni newsletter for 2018. When we started this in Term 1, we really weren’t sure if anyone would read the pieces, add their names to the mailing list let alone join us for our first Alumni Night that was hosted by the Prefects.

We have been incredibly happy to hear from many of you and to have also welcomed a number of you back to the school. Later in this edition, you will see some fantastic photos from earlier this term, when the class of 1958 returned for afternoon tea, a school tour and a few hours looking at the archives. It was a perfect end to our first year of reaching out to all of the former Penrith students.

Also this term, we were able to complete the digitisation of all of the published Towers magazines. It is rare in schools that a publication lasts the full length of the school’s life. We have been intrigued that Towers doesn’t appear to have been produced in 1951 or 1988.

Maybe the second year of the school was so busy and maybe a different publication was put together for the then Bicentenary. If you know of either, we would love to hear from you.

On behalf of everyone who has enjoyed the 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954 editions as well as everyone who will enjoy reading the 1955 and onwards editions, I would like to thank former Penrith PE teacher, Maxine McNally. Many of you will know Max and she is a passionate historian and custodian of the school’s past. Without her work collating and sourcing a suitable scanning partner, the project would not have been finished this year. We were fortunate to be able to use some Commonwealth funding to pay for the project and this will ensure that the history is kept forever in the digital world.

With the scanning now done, we need your help!

Without it, the digital copies cannot be posted on the school’s website. Privacy legislation means that anything before 1955 can be published without the need to secure consent. Documents after this, requires organisations to make a reasonable attempt to inform people that their images are going to be published and when they are published ensure that items are redacted when requested. We don’t want anyone to be upset that their image is published, so we will be advising people through this newsletter, facebook, newspapers, the alumni mailing list and the school’s website so that anyone who would like something removed before it is published on the website can ask for that action to be taken.

Your role is to help spread the word. The further you spread the word, the faster we can respond to any request and then post the remaining copies of Towers.

We’d love to have them up before the end of the 2018 school year, but need to get the consultation process correct, hence the earlier publication of this term’s edition of Towers-Alumni. When you see a notice about Towers- Alumni, please like it, share it and spread the word. The more engagement we record through the digital platforms, the more confident we will know that we are making a genuine effort to inform past students of our plans to share such an important aspect of life at PHS.

Finally, my thanks to our Towers- Alumni Editor, Cathie Fayle for her work compiling this newsletter each term as well as Nathan Wilcox, our librarian who takes care of our archives.

I hope that you have an enjoyable end of the year, a Merry Christmas and I look forward to sharing the date and our plans for the 70th Anniversary celebrations in 2020 with you early next year. Don't forget, if you are holding a reunion, we'd warmly welcome your group back to school for a tour and share some photos from the event.

Mark Long

Principal

Dear Alumni,

We are looking to fill the position of Presiding Officer for the school from 2019 following the retirement of our long serving officer.

The Presiding Officer oversees the HSC Examinations (4 weeks in Oct/Nov) in addition to the Selective Schools Test (1 Day, March) and the OC Test (1 Day, September)

The role also includes managing and rostering the team of invigilators/supervisors.

Additionally, the Presiding Officer is also engaged by the school to oversee the In School HSC Trials (2 weeks), Preliminary Yearlies (1 1/2 weeks) and one other assessment block (1 1/2 weeks)

Training around the HSC requirements is offered by NESA and the successful candidate will work alongside the Deputy Principal in charge of examinations.

The position attracts an hourly rate of between $25-30 per hour. Successful applicants will also require a current Working with Children Check and First Aid Certificate.

If you are interested in the position please send a 2 page CV outlining your experience and include 2 referees.

Applications should be addressed to the Principal and can be delivered to the school or emailed to penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Applications close- 3pm Wednesday 5th December, 2018.

Applicants must not have any family links to candidates completing the HSC at Penrith in the next 5 years.

Mark Long

Principal

In mid October under the direction of Ralph Sheens the class of '58 had a 60th Reunion which involved two celebrations.

The first part was at the school where the ex-students took a walk down memory lane by going on a tour with some of our present senior students, led by Max Peters and his assistant Cyril Cherian, where they saw many changes(and perhaps not so many in other areas) within the school. In addition, an archival display organised by Mr Nathan Wilcox, the teacher librarian, had been set up in the library for them to reminisce. This was followed by Afternoon Tea.

A particular item of interest was the Punishment Register where they could see how many strokes of the cane different students had received.

Mr Mark Long welcomed the ex-students back and they all seemed very happy with the afternoon celebration.

In the evening a Dinner had been organised with an attendance of 47. A fantastic roll up for the group!

It was wonderful to hear that they will be donating their photo display to add to our current archives.

There were some amazing stories that the Alumni related about their old school days and beyond. Of particular interest was a story about an ex-student, Raymond Wallace, a graduate of '61.(As told by Clem Rook who also has further memories below) "Ray and Leoni Wallace used to ride push bikes for 7 miles to get to Rooty Hill Railway Station and then catch a “red rattler” to Penrith or Kingswood stations. If you timed it right there was a bus from Kingswood to PHS costing 6 pence each way. If you muffed it, it was a long fly blown walk in the summer heat of Penrith, or the frigid southerly busters of winter." Ray, after finishing school, during his military training had dived on a grenade that was accidentally activated(not by him) and saved all his mates when it exploded but lost his own life.

Since the reunion everyone has had nothing but positive comments to say about the afternoon at the school and as part of the library staff I was honoured to be part of it.

Cathie Fayle

Library School Administrative Officer

In 1961 the Bursary level(or scholarship requirement) was 4 As and 2 Bs – so I missed out as I had 3As and 3Bs, and had to fund my tertiary education by working during the day and studying during the night. It was called a Part-time Degree and was only available for the University of New South Wales then also known as The University of Technology located at Kensington. It was a six year course, which I completed in 7 years. I failed Physical Chemistry 2 the first time around. It was a 13 hour per week subject and as a part time student we were only allowed 15 hours of tuition per week otherwise we had to pay full time fees. So that is the history on how I came to have a degree in Pure and Applied Chemistry.

As for University fees – in my first year as an Technical Assistant Grade 1 at the Munitions Filling Factory I earned a gross income of Australian Pounds 500 per annum – this should be compared with an Apprentice’s wage in the metal work shop of Australian Pounds 550 per annum. So, as a potential part time University graduate, I was only worth 90% of an Apprentice’s allowance for a trade qualification. From this I had to pay Australian Pounds 167 per annum in tuition fees. The apprentice fees at Granville Technical College was circa Australian Pounds 55 per annum.

When I completed my studies in 1968, I toted up the bill. It was then sufficient to buy a top of the line Holden car with all the bells and whistles including the newly introduced Air Conditioning. Taking this through to today, you are looking somewhere in the area of $120K – it was a lot of money to invest in education, and does not take into account costs associated with living at St. Marys and travelling to the Kensington Campus.

In our last Towers-Alumni Magazine I mentioned a former teacher of English at PSHS, Heath Davis, who has been working hard in the Australian Film industry. I recently had the opportunity to attend the screening of Heath's new film, Book Week, which was playing at Hoyts Penrith. Heath wrote, produced and directed Book Week, his second film, which has been playing to audiences nationally.

Book Week is about a jaded high school English teacher who is forced to re-evaluate his life when his novel is passed over for one of his students. The film showcases many Australian actors familiar to us and the lead role is played by Alan Dukes pictured below with Heath. Mark Geyer, who needs no introduction, conducted a Q and A after the movie. We learnt that the film was a very low budget film which is indeed the case for budding writers in the film industry these days.

Heath also has another film due for release next year and you can still catch Heath's first film Broke on different digital medias such as Youtube.

Congratulations Heath and good luck with all your future films!

Cathie Fayle

Library SAO/Editor of Towers-Alumni

Email: penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Website: http://penrith-h.schools.nsw.gov.au
Location: 158-240 High Street, Penrith NSW, Australia
Phone: 4721 0529
Facebook: facebook.com/penrithselectivehs/