Gotham High Staff Room


Students from stage 4-5 will NOT be able to borrow books for themselves from the book room. If a student from stages 4-5 needs to borrow a book then they must go through their teacher who will then take over responsibility for the borrowed book. It's your responsibility to make sure the student returns the book in good condition.

Students from stage 6 are allowed and encouraged to borrow books from the book room. Some items will need the signature from the teacher.

Students from stage 6 are able to borrow a book for a whole term and during holidays.


The responsibility for the book room will be split according to stage.

Stages 4-5 section: Mrs Lee, Mr Aiken and Mr Simpson will have responsibility for the .

Stage 6 section: Mr Watson and Miss Shelley.

Online book: Roaster to be created

Responsibility for the online book room will lie with a different teacher every semester with this role being open to teachers of any class. The general manager will create a roster at the beginning of each term to determine who has responsibility for the online book room.

Each of these sections should only be accessed by the teachers who have responsibility for that stage.
If it is an exceptional reason in which you must borrow a book from another section then talk to the book room general manager who will provide you with the right paper work.

Each semester a teacher will be assigned the role of Book Room General Manager. He or she will be allocated to look over the book room. He or she will make sure books are returned to their proper section, and that they are returned in good conditions.

Books and resources

  • Topographic Mapping Skills for Secondary Students 2nd Ed. Author : Kleeman Grant. Subject : Geography. Edition  11/05/2005. Publisher  Cambridge University. ISBN : 9780521600064
  • Earth and Environmental Science the HSC Course. Author: Hubble, Tom. Edition 15/11/2002.
  • National Geographic Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • Australian Geographic Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • New Internationalist Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • The Economist Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • The Sydney Morning Herald (ongoing subscription)
  • Online Book Room:
  • ABC iview website - http://www.abc.net.au/iview/
  • Geography Teachers Association of New South Wales website - http://www.gtansw.org.au/
  • Free Documentaries Online – www.topdocumentaryfilms.com
  • Google Maps Street View of UNESCO World Heritage Sites - http://maps.google.com/intl/en/help/maps/streetview/gallery.html#unesco-world-heritage
  • New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council - http://www.alc.org.au/
  • National Geographic Education -http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/?ar_a=1
  • BBC Homepage – bbc.co.uk

Books and resources


  • Practical Exercises On Contour Maps & Weather 2nd Edition. Author: Kucks & Drury. Year: 7-10. Edition 1/01/1994. Publisher: Jacaranda.
  • Skills in Australian Geography 2nd Edition. Author: Kleeman/Peters. Year: 9 & 10. Edition 6/07/2007. ISBN : 9780521692656
  •  Australian Explorations Stage 5 Complete Student Pack 2nd Ed. Author: Kleeman Grant Et Al. Year : Stage 5 NSW. Edition 10/11/2009
  •  Essential Geography Skills Middle School. Author: Harte Jeff. Edition 30/12/1899.
  • Geoactive 1 2nd Edition. Author: Bliss, Susan; Paine, John.
  • Geoactive 2 2nd Edition. Author: Bliss, Susan; Paine, John.
  • National Geographic Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • Australian Geographic Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • New Internationalist Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • The Economist Magazine (ongoing subscription)
  • The Sydney Morning Herald (ongoing subscription)











Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) can be effectively used to enhance teaching and learning in the Religious Studies classroom. Participants will be shown a range of techniques, activities and tools specific to Religious Studies and you will create IWB lesson resources to take back to class ready for use. This course is about using an IWB for teaching and learning. Please note that we demonstrate on both SMART Board and Promethean Activboard.

Audience: Secondary: Teachers of Religion 7-12

Categories: Professional Learning - KLA Specific

Subjects: HSIE , Studies of Religion

Dates: Friday 24 August 8.30am for 9am-3pm.

Venue: AISNSW

If you are interested please register with your Head of Department.


Differentiation strategies planned and implemented in classroom teaching are fundamental to addressing the needs of all students. This workshop uses a hands-on approach to construct a series of strategies applicable for use in commerce, business studies and economics classrooms. It will address issues concerning low, middle and high order thinking honouring the thoughts of Benjamin Bloom while incorporating the thoughts of Howard Gardner and Robert Marzano.

Audience: Secondary: Teachers of Business Studies, Commerce and Economics

Categories: Professional Learning - KLA Specific

Subjects: HSIE

Dates: Wednesday 22 August 8.30am for 9am-3pm.

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested please register with your Head of Department.


Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) can be effectively used to enhance teaching and learning in Geography and Mathematics. Participants will be shown a range of techniques, activities and tools particularly relevant to Geography and Mathematics 7-12 by technology and subject specialists. Participants will create IWB lesson resources to take back to class ready for use. This course is about using an IWB for teaching and learning. Please note that we demonstrate on both SMART Board and Promethean Activboard.

Audience: Secondary: Teachers of Geography and Mathematics 7-12

Categories: Professional Learning - KLA Specific

Subjects: Maths , HSIE

Dates: Friday 17 August 8.30am for 9am-3pm.

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested please register with your Head of Department.


Students are engaged by lessons which embed scientific concepts within contemporary issues. They are also engaged when their voice is heard. Teachers will work through a teaching program that focuses on the various aspects of context required in a student-centred classroom. They will apply a contextual approach to a range of lessons which can be used as classroom resources.

Audience: Secondary: Teachers of Science 7-12

Categories: Professional Learning - KLA Specific

Subjects: Science

Dates: Friday 03 August 8.30am for 9am-3.30pm.

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested please register with your Head of Department.


Student retention in Languages elective classes is one of the many benefits that differentiated learning can provide. Participants will be guided by research as they apply models of differentiation through the day's workshops. Practical demonstrations will include 'learning stations', differentiated language programs and the use of interactive Moodle websites to support learning.

Audience: Primary & Secondary: Teachers of Languages K-10

Categories: Professional Learning - KLA Specific

Subjects: Languages

Dates: Friday 27 July 8.30am for 9am-3.30pm.

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested please register with your Head of Department.


Archaeological thinking encourages students undertaking Ancient History to inquire about the past, explore artefacts and develop critical thinking about evidence. This course highlights the latest research into archaeology. It focuses on how artefact analysis can be developed to promote historical thinking, empathy, agency and significance. This course specifically addresses sources from the Year 12 HSC Core study on Pompeii and Herculaneum. It provides practical and effective ways of presenting and engaging students.

Audience: Secondary: Teachers of History Stage 6


Categories: Professional Learning - KLA Specific

Subjects: HSIE

Dates: Friday 20 July 8.30am for 9am-3pm.

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested please register with your Head of Department.


Hollywood's calling! Here's your chance to direct and star in your own movie. Explore the use of digital storytelling in teaching and learning. Learn about pre and post-production including storyboarding, editing, narrating and adding special effects and music. Work in teams to conceive, shoot and create an original piece. Investigate classroom possibilities during this exciting two day workshop. Who will get the Oscar?

This course involves two face-to-face days in conjunction with ongoing on-line mentoring which aims to enhance professional collaboration and consolidation of ideas.

Audience: Primary & Secondary: Teachers K-12

Categories: Professional Learning - KLA Specific

Subjects: Creative Arts, Visual Arts, English

Dates: Session 1- Thursday 31 May, 8.30am for 9am-3pm.
Session 2- Thursday 21 June, 8.30am for 9am-3pm.

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested please register with your Head of Department.


With so much interest around using portable devices in the classroom for teaching and learning, the iPad has become the latest must have tool. Come along to this course to learn more about exactly how iPads are providing students with a new way of engaging with subject content, collaborating and creating. The day will be part information session covering case studies and a number of subject specific examples, and part hands-on where participants will use their iPad to explore possibilities around iPads in the classroom. Participants are required to bring their own iPad to this course.

Audience: Primary & Secondary: Teachers integrating technology into the curriculum K-10

Categories: Professional Learning - Cross KLA

Subjects: Information Technology

Date: Thursday 09 August OR Thursday 23 August - 8.30am for 9am-3pm

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested in attending this seminar please register with your Head of Department.


This session is aimed at all educators K-12. It presents digital literacy as the focus for the learning process delivered in support of curriculum. Digital literacy incorporates information literacy, critical literacy and ICT literacy. Understanding the core skills in digital literacy and being able to integrate these into a curriculum is more critical than before with the Digital Education Revolution. Come along for practical insights into how you can make a real difference to your students' digital literacy.

Please note this course involves 1 day face to face and an online component.

Audience: Primary & Secondary: Teachers K-12 interested in integrating ICT in the curriculum (Blended learning course incorporating one day face to face and an online component)

Categories: Professional Learning - Cross KLA

Subjects: Information Technology , Teacher Librarian

Date: Monday 06 August- 8.30am for 9am-3pm

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested in attending this seminar please register with your Head of Department.


Educational shift, exponential knowledge expansion and technological innovation challenge us to develop problem-solving, collaboration and connectedness in our students. Students increasingly need to develop flexible problem-solving skills and high levels of creativity to be successful learners. This course syncs current research about collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking and presents practical strategies to develop divergent thinking in students across curriculum areas.

Audience: Secondary: Teachers 7-12

Categories: Professional Learning - Cross KLA

Subjects: Classroom Practice

Date: Monday 30 July- 8.30am for 9am-3pm

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested in attending this seminar please register with your Head of Department.


Research supports the clear link between staff and student wellbeing. Having functional adults in the school as role models and key adults for many students is an important part of creating a resilient school community. This conference will explore resilience as it relates to school staff and the link between personal empowerment and individual wellbeing. Keynote and workshop sessions will investigate the ëcaring for the carerí notion that suggests we cannot care for students if we don't first care for ourselves.

Audience: Primary & Secondary: Executive staff responsible for pastoral care, directors of pastoral care, stage level coordinators, year coordinators, heads of house, class tutors, heads of PDHPE, all staff with an interest in their own wellbeing.

Categories: Conferences , Professional Learning - Cross KLA

Subjects: Pastoral Care

Date: Monday 30 July- 8.30am for 9am-4.30pm

Venue: Citigate Central Hotel, Sydney

If you are interested in attending this seminar please register with your Head of Department.


As a General Capability in the Australian Curriculum, creativity has a very specific purpose ñ to enhance and activate real achievement and motivation. A reinvigorated groundswell for big thinking recognises the need to be a problem-poser and a problem-solver in all areas. Other creative thinking components such as imagination and thinking characteristics will be explored. This course considers the definition and significance of creativity along with the need for it; and assists participants to embrace it in the classroom.

Audience: Secondary: Teachers 7-12

Categories: Professional Learning - Cross KLA

Subjects: Classroom Practice

Date: Wednesday 20 June- 8.30am for 9am-3.30pm

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested in attending this seminar please register with your Head of Department.


Google is more than a search engine - it's an online survey tool, 3D model builder, explorer of the earth and sky, picture organiser, RSS feed assistant, literacy studies engager, mapping assistant, archived news finder and more. Come to this hands-on workshop and explore the possibilities of incorporating these free resources into your teaching and learning. There will be opportunities for discussion and sharing of ideas with colleagues.

Audience: Primary & Secondary: Teachers K-12

Categories: Professional Learning - Cross KLA

Subjects: Information Technology

Date: Tuesday 05 June- 8.30am for 9am-3pm

Venue: AISNSW, Sydney

If you are interested in attending this seminar please register with your Head of Department.