It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of Russell Carney of year 12. Russell was the passenger in a car which was involved in an accident. Highly regarded by peers and teachers alike, Russell will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with the Carney family during these difficult times. The funeral will be held at Holy Trinity Church 152 Graham Ave, Casula on Tuesday 1st August at 12.30pm.

Tennis Night
As the US Open approaches, the Westfields tennis program is hitting top strokes. The Girls' Knockout team recently won the Sydney South-West Knockout Competition. In the semi final we were down a player, but with the help of our "ring-in", Natalie Bruce, we managed to win. At the conclusion of the match it was 4 sets 27 games all, which meant that our four tie-breaks had to be played. With great determination Mellissa Borg clinched the final tie-break which meant Westfields won 3-1. The Girl's final was played against East Hills' Girls. In a tough match the girls won 5 sets to 3. They will now travel to Tamworth next term to compete in the State Final. We wish Anna-Marie Ateij, Stephanie de la Torre, April Wong and Mellissa Borg all the best. The Boys' tennis team won the semi final against Bossley Park 6-0. If they play the finals in the way the semi finals were played Ms McPhie believes they have a great chance of also becoming regional champions.

Commonwealth Bank Shield
The senior girls soccer squad defeated Ulladulla High in the quarter-final of the competition. The final score of 11-2 was a result was well within the true potential of this squad. Nicole Kimber, Jodie Bain & Kylie Ledbrook performed well. Catherine Cannuli finished the game with an impressive hat- trick of goals. The squad now moves into the semi-finals for the fifth consecutive year.

Bill Turner Trophy
The U/15 girls soccer team won the Regional Final against a very determined Elderslie High School by a score of 3-1. Hayley Todd performed well on her return from injury. Other players to stand out were Julia Bazi, Kristy Rohrer, Zoe Thiel, Elisha Passerello, Nikita Hornery and Bilan Faggiano. This squad now moves into the last 16 in the state, which is a tremendous achievement considering that we are not allowed to play any NSW State reps. Good luck against Duval High in Armidale.

Good Counsel: Memory
Often study requires you to memorise information. Unfortunately, most of what we learn is quickly forgotten. In fact, short-term memory is designed to separate the important (which goes to long-term memory) an the unimportant (which is discarded). Information is therefore only held in short term for a small period of time before either being discarded or sent on to long-term memory. To get information to long-term memory is not easy, but the good news is that there seems to be no limit to how much information can be stored there. In the next newsletter, we will be looking at techniques which help to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory.

Until next time...-------------------------------------Robert Brown (School Counsellor)

Jeans for Genes Day
Friday, August 2nd will once again be "Jeans for Genes Day". This is an opportunity for the school to participate in a nation-wide fund raising campaign for research into generic disorders. It would be appreciated if all students could wear their jeans to school on Friday (no other change to uniform will be accepted. ie. normal school shirts, jumpers, shoes etc. must be worn) and pay $2.00 during roll call to help fund raise for a very worthy cause.

Year 8 Subject Selection Night
On Monday 7/8/00, Ms Staples will be conducting the year 8 into year 9 Subject Selection Evening in the school's Stadium. Head Teachers or their representatives will be present to answer any questions relating to subject choices. For such an important night, attendance is compulsory for all students, as is School uniform and it is hoped they will be accompanied by at least one parent when they receive a copy of the curriulum booklet.

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Crossing The Country
Last Thursday, Westfields sent a team of cross country runners to Eastern Creek for the N.S.W championships. Of the eight teams that competed for the school, seven were placed either first, second or third in the schools' event. Excellent efforts by John Pace and Rory Lang were the order of the day and congratulations to Sam West of year 10 (First) and Shannon Hill of year 11 (Second) who qualified to run in the All Schools Cross Country Carnival in August.

Hockey News
Monday 24th July at Moorebank, saw the Westfields Girls Open Hockey team put in one of their best ever efforts when they held the visiting English hockey side from Maynard Private School, 2- 2. Coaches Ms Lupton and Ms Baker were very impressed by their team as they contested the ball extremely well in a fast and skilful game. Their performance gets even better when half of the Westfields team was made up of Year 7 and 8 students playing against some students as old as 22! The hockey team would like to thank the Westfields' Netball side for their fanatical support at the game. Also Tuesday 25th July saw the Hockey Selection Trials for the 2001 Westfields intake take place. Twelve prospective students went through a thorough testing of their hockey skills and it is hoped that we will see a number of these students here next year.

Westfields Invited to Paralympics Opening Ceremony
Despite the tremendous level of secrecy that surrounds all things for the opening ceremony at the Olympics, we can reveal that Westfields are one of the ten schools that have been invited to participate in the Paralympics Opening Ceremony on the 18th October at Stadium Australia. 130 students from our school have received this special honour to perform alongside such famous acts as Kylie Minogue, Youthu Yindi and Vanessa Amorosi. Some students are dancers while others form part of the chorus. Rehearsals take place at school during this term and if you would like to see Westfields Students doing Australia proud, you can pick up tickets for the opening ceremony through ticketek.

Joven The Kangaroo
It looks like Joven Clarke of year twelve could be following in the footsteps of Westfields Old Boys, Lenny Beckett (Newcastle), Luke O'Donnell (West-Tigers) and Pat Richards (Parramatta), with his selection in the Australian Schoolboys Open Rugby League Team. This talanted winger impressed selectors at last week's Australian Championships at Wynnum in Brisbane. Three other players from Westfields (Chris Armit, Clayton Sellings and Shannon Fish) played in the N.S.W. CHS team and put in solid displays. Also recently, Michael Basen of year 9 was unlucky to miss selection in the Australian Under 15's Rugby League team after a sterling performance at the recent Championships held in Port Macquarie. Also the State Knockout Championships take place next Tuesday in Campbelltown and Westfields are well represented with teams in the 13's 14's and 16's age groups. The best of luck to players and coaches.

Leading Teacher News
During the current Trial HSC and the Year 11 yearlies, students should be aware of the needs to follow appropriate proceedures where illness or misadvenure occurs. If a student is unable to attend an exam they must notify the school. The appropriate appeal form is available from Mrs Wilson and must be completed by a medical practitioner or police officer (where applicable) prior to the the appeal being granted. If a student becomes ill during the exam they must report to the senior supervisor. To avoid unnecessory distraction during exams, students are advised to leave mobile phones at home.
Due to a failure in the schools networking system, a number of student reports were not issued. We are working to have these completed as soon as possible.