NOVONEWS
ISSUE 006 SEPTEMBER 2021
NovoNews
Cibilic makes Final Five The Hunter region’s tough rental market has led to a dramatic increase in animal surrenders. See page 6
NovoSociety
Merewether’s Morgan Cibilic has finished fifth in the World Surf League’s seven-stop Championship Tour, earning a spot in the inaugural Final Five showdown.
The University of Newcastle has been awarded a $595,000 grant by the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF) to continue its work on early detection of the disease.
See page 24 Morgan Cibilic at Rip Curl Rottnest 2021 Photo supplied: World Surf League/ Matt Dunbar
See page 9
NovoCulture
Lesson in patience for Hunter’s Year 12
Hunter LGBTQIA+ communities are urging Novocastrians to reflect on how their language, actions and spaces could be better adapted to include queer and gender diverse people. See page 19
NovoSport
The obstacles Brendan Andrews faced as a child and teenager inspired him to forge a career in personal training, and he’s relishing helping others take a step in the right direction. See page 23
Thousands of Newcastle Year 12 students are processing the NSW Government’s recent announcement that their HSC exams have been pushed back to begin on November 9 due to the state’s COVID crisis. Students had been working towards an October 12 HSC start date. As well as the HSC postponement to November 9, they have endured two lengthy bouts of home schooling during their senior school years, the cancellation of many excursions, trips and celebrations, and their Year 12 formal and graduation plans are tentative at best. The new HSC schedule is part of the NSW Government’s return-to-school plan, announced on August 27, which will see a staggered return to face-toface learning from October 25. “HSC exams will be delayed until November 9 with a revised timetable and guidelines for a COVID-safe HSC to be released by NESA in early September,” the NSW Government said. “Importantly, the delay of the HSC exams will not disadvantage NSW students when applying to university.
“Vaccinations for all school staff across all sectors will be mandatory from November 8.” The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) said although written exams were to be postponed to November 9, teachers were to provide marks for their students’ HSC performances, oral language exams and most major projects. Some, but not all, high schools in the area have been forced to cancel their HSC trial examinations. Some schools had conducted their trials before the latest lockdown. Merewether High School and St Francis Xavier College Hamilton are just some schools that were forced to cancel the HSC trial examinations following the extension of lockdown. In line with advice from NESA, the schools were unable to find alternative ways of creating an equitable and valid replacement for the trial examinations without the possibility of malpractice or misadventures. Merewether High School Year 12 student Tulip Cranson said completing Year 12 during a global pandemic had been “indescribably stressful” and had become even more difficult with
Newcastle’s recent lockdown. “Learning from home limits our learning capabilities significantly because the onus is on us to motivate ourselves. “Instead of using this time to ‘knuckle down’ and consolidate our learning, we find ourselves lost and burdened by anxiety and doubt during these unprecedented times,” Tulip said. “Our trial exams had to be cancelled due to difficulties with completing them from home, meaning that our previously completed assessments now carry extra weighting in relation to our internal marks.
Office: 2 Dick Street, Newcastle West 2302 - Phone: 0491 012 983 - E-mail: editorial@novonews.com.au - Website: novonews.com.au
Continued page 14
For all stories scan here
@novonewsau
