Diary Dates Term 1

Students Return 31 January

Whole school assembly

7 February

Year 7 Parent Information evening

8 February

Senior School information evening

15 February

Year 5 information Session

22 February

Public Holiday 5 March

Parent/Teacher Interviews

10 April

Last day for students 13 April

Senior School Elevated Skills evening

14 March

2019 Year 7 Parent Evening

28 March

Public Holiday 3 April

Public Holiday 2 April

Public Holiday 30 March

ANZAC Assembly 10 April TBC

NEWSLETTER Issue 1, Term 4

2017

Dear Parents, Students & Staff The year of 2017 has been very busy with a number of exciting and successful achievements for not only our students, but also our staff. Our staff have done a wonderful job supporting and encouraging our students to excel and be the best they can possibly be, as a result many of our students have achieved their personal goals, some have achieved in their sporting fields, their artistic pursuits and others have achieved academically. I have thoroughly enjoyed the times I have been able to engage with the students and those that have followed us on Facebook may have seen the many opportunities I have been able to grab a selfie when judging , spectating or cheering them on in their pursuits. This year has seen many successes on the sporting field and in the classroom, with many of our students competing nationally as part of a State team, a school team or independently in academic challenges. Many of our staff have been acknowledged for their hard work and dedication to the role they play within the school at the WA Education Awards (Michelle Dirksz) or, most importantly, nominated by you, the community. The positive feedback that our staff has received from students and the parent body this year has been wonderful and has made the day of many a staff member. This has been the most successful year that we have had in our staff being acknowledged either by their community or their peers. It has been wonderful for us all to enjoy this public acknowledgement of what we already know; we have a great team of staff here.

We have said goodbye to Blaze students this year, and I wish them well in their future endeavours. The Student Leaders have embraced their role this year and worked hard with the Student Services team to raise money for various charities or their own student community. Thank you to them for all the help and support they have given at our assemblies, parent nights and focus weeks run by Student Services.

My sincere thanks to the school community and for all the support, acknowledgement and feedback we have received. It has been such a positive year and the way that you have embraced our changes has allowed us to share the many positives that are happening within the school. The school staff who continue to work hard to provide students with the very best educational experiences and learning within the school, I cannot thank you enough. Finally I would like to farewell the staff who leave us and thank them for the support they have given the school: Michael Cave ((Phys Ed), Courtney Bell (Phys Ed) and Rasidah Dobbs will undertake a role for 1 year elsewhere.

Finally on a personal note, Kerry Chipchase will be continuing her role at Central Office in the Quality Teaching Support Team, I will be continuing in my role as Principal, with the support of Tamara Nurse and Justin Davies as the Associate Principals in 2018.

Thank you to all of our students, staff, parents, caregivers and community members for their support in making this such a wonderful and productive year. My very best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I look forward to continuing this journey with you in 2018.

Stan Koios Principal

Our Vision: Opportunity - Unity - Community

This term the Student Leaders have been busy on a project to address one of the issues that thy have identified within the school. With the help of Matt, our school chaplain, they have been busy painting the rubbish bins in an initiative to reduce the amount of rubbish around the school.

Rockingham Senior High School’s Year 7 Rugby League team put in a stunning grand final performance against Lakeland Senior High School earlier this month, coming home from the High School Rugby League State Championships as winners. Putting in a near perfect performance, Rockingham SHS stormed home to win the grand final 30-6. Taking home the title was a landmark moment for the school’s successful Rugby Academy, with the competition representing the only trophy that had eluded the school until this point. With the Academy overseen under the expert guidance of Isaac Thomas, the youngsters have recorded a staggering 21 wins from their 22 games this year. Mr Thomas said he was proud of the boys’ achievements in 2017, with their success reflecting the hard work and effort put in during both games and training. On the way to the grand final, Rockingham SHS faced stiff competition from northern powerhouse Wanneroo Secondary College. A close semi-final between the two sides was blown wide open in the second half as Rockingham SHS scored two unanswered tries to defeat Wanneroo 20-8. This year, students in the school’s Rugby Academy won the Southern Districts Championships as well being the Open State Champions for 2017.

YR 7 RUGBY LEAGUE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS

ROCKINGHAM SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT LEADERS REPORT

Stephanie Banovic (Yr 9) and Hayley Withnell (Yr 10) have been accepted for the Curious Minds Mentoring Program. These students have been identified as having what it takes to thrive in this exciting program run by the Australian Mathematics Trust and Australian Science Innovations. These 2 students are part of a group of 60 female secondary students who will come together for an exciting program of learning in Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Science, Engineering, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics. They will hear talks from prominent women in STEM, complete lab work, and enjoy excursions. Being a part of this program will give these students a great head start to further their studies in Science and Maths and forge friendships with like-minded students from around Australia. As part of this program, students are invited to attend a Summer Residential Camp in Sydney, be a part of a 6 month mentoring program and finally attend a winter camp at the Australian National University in Canberra. It is great to see our students being recognised for their academic achievements Nationwide.

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK CLASS 2017 On October 20, the staff and students said farewell to our Blaze Year 12's. Students dressed up and celebrated with staff the conclusion of their 5 years at Rockingham. Blaze students have always lived up to their values of Freedom, Power and Unity and as always this day was enjoyed by all that attended. We said goodbye to students formally at Valedictory on the following Monday night at MPAC, but we would like the opportunity to praise the students for their wonderful behaviour and for the memories over the past 5 years.

The Class of 2017 had their Valedictory Ceremony at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on the evening of Monday 23rd October. Students looked amazing and parents looked on with pride as Certificates and Awards were given to our high achievers and graduating class. Student Leaders Mihi Hepi and Jemma Hall gave a beautiful and heartfelt speech that left barely a dry eye in the auditorium. A lovely group of students are now ready to take on the world and make it their own. Stay true to yourselves, Class of 2017!

SCIENCE - CURIOUS MINDS

YEAR 12 FINAL DAY

YEAR 12 VALEDICTORY

The school’s Athletics Carnival was held on Tuesday 24th October for students in Years 7 - 10. It was a fantastic day supported by students, parents and staff. Those attending were kept up to date with what was happening on the field by Mr Paul Weston. A big thank you to the Phys Ed Department for organising a great day for students involved. Students who were not selected to take part on the day continued with their normal classes.

The winner of the WA School Services Staff Member of the Year award is out! Congratulations Michelle Dirksz, Student Support Coordinator . Michelle is a dedicated, invaluable member of our Student Services team. Michelle commenced work at Rockingham SHS as a Youth Support Worker and Defence Secondary Transition Mentor. She has since become the Student Support Coordinator who now effectively runs the Student Services team. She consistently puts the needs of our students above everything else, starting work early and finishing later in order to always be available for students and staff. Michelle has implemented several new initiatives into Student Services, including small groups working on targeted areas, such as resilience, mental health, positive relationships, cybersafety, attendance and hygiene. She visits classes, organises focus weeks every term for students such as

Friendship Week, Mental Health Week, Careers Week and Multicultural Week, which includes activities and external agencies coming in to deliver key messages. Michelle has also been an advocate for fundraising for the wider community, working with another member of staff to form strong links with Telethon and with the Make a Wish Foundation. Through Michelle’s support and encouragement of our Student Leaders, we have raised over $8000 for Make a Wish, including granting two wishes for children suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Michelle makes herself available for students, parents and staff alike, and is considered to be the matriarch of our school. The school community is extremely proud of Michelle and her achievement of being voted best in the state. She is a wonderful asset to the school and its students.

Rockingham Senior High School tried a new format with this years Art Exhibition, Ignition, was posted on Rockingham Senior High School’s Facebook and Website page for parents and students to take part in. The Year 12 Arts pieces have been on display for the later half of this term for the students, parents and community to enjoy. In looking at new ways to engage with our school community and utilising technology, Tegan Gough , our Media teacher produced the interactive site to give everybody the opportunity to see the talent our students have.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

STAFF AWARDS 2017

ART EXHIBITION - IGNITION

activities, a cyber safety lesson, and attended Phys Ed, Technologies, Arts and Japanese classes. These sessions were informative and engaging, and students enjoyed all of these. Recess and lunchtime, our Student Leaders set up various activities for the students, including volleyball, Connect 4 and Jenga. The day ended with a presentation from Headspace about transitioning to high school and how to cope with the emotions of coming to a new school. It was a fantastic day, with so many smiling faces leaving at the end, with enthusiasm and excitement to begin their high school journey in 2018. We look forward to seeing all these students next year.

Japanese Display In conjunction with the visit from the Japanese students of Izumo Hokuryo Junior and Senior High School the library created a visual display showcasing Japanese customs and traditions, as well as displaying the library’s collection of Japanese literature. Pokémon The library developed an interactive Pokémon display. Students were able to learn facts about their favourite Pokémon characters and explore our collection of Poké-mon literature.

Friday 1 December was our annual Orientation Day for all our incoming Year 7’s. The air was filled with excitement as the students and their parents entered the school grounds. They were shown to the gym by some of our dedicated student leaders who were upholding our school value of ‘Being Our Best’. Associate Principal Tamara Nurse opened the assembly by welcoming all of our wonderful students, their parents and other staff members. The students were introduced to many of the staff that they would be working with next year and heard some inspirational words delivered by the Principal Stan Koios. After the assembly had finished for the students, the student leaders treated them to a tour of school, making sure that the students knew all of the important places such as the canteen and Year 7/8 Sub School. During the day, students were involved in team building

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE LIBRARY?

ORIENTATION DAY

Year 7 & 8 Reading Challenge During Term 4 Miss Ronald facilitated a reading challenge for Year 7 & 8 students. English classes came together within the library to set individual goals for the reading challenge. Students were engaged within the reading challenge through in class challenges and interactive activities.

Congratulations to our Year 9 Bendigo Bank competitors Beau Brand Stephanie Banovic, Michael Cameron and Paige Mueller, who made a fantastic effort representing the school in the finals.

Len Sheedy, director of Rockingham Bendigo Bank, recently attended the Year 9 Sub-School assembly to present the Bendigo Bank winners with their prize. They received $100 each for their hard work.

At the beginning of November, the junior students from our sister school, Izumo Hokuryo High School, visited our school as part of the exchange program that is run between our schools. The students were engaged in a number of education activities both in the school and on excursions out of the school. Many thanks to the staff at RSHS who stepped up and worked with the Izumo Hokuryo students, but mostly to the wonderful Rockingham Senior High School families who took part in the visits and hosted one or more Japanese students. I know the students all had a really good time and had some fantastic experiences while staying with you. I cannot thank you enough for participating in our sister school program and for hosting the students. More students will be visiting next year and in the future, so if you are interested in hosting, please feel free to contact either Sarah Dolan, or Emma Rojas, HOLA of HASS and LOTE, to leave your details.

BENDIGO BANK COMPETIION

IZUMO HOKURYO HIGH SCHOOL VISIT

Our Year 10 River Cruise was held on 7 December. Students and staff who attended the event had a fantastic time dancing the night away on the Swan River. Students caught the bus up to Perth to transfer on to our cruise ship and toured East Perth on the river. The challenge put out to our students was to “Rock the Boat”, which they fulfilled throughout the night with their laughter and dancing. They finished the River Cruise at 9pm, but from the amount of worn out students on the bus, you would have thought it was much later. We had a great night and it was a fantastic way to celebrate the end of Middle Schooling for these students.

If you have been keeping up with Facebook this term, you will have noticed that a number of our students as well as the school choir, have been performing at the Fremantle Ports Maritime Day, local Primary Schools and at local community events. In November, Rockingham Senior High School and Bungaree Primary School came together to celebrate “The Music: Count Us In Project..” The program aims to advocate for and celebrate music in Australian and New Zealand schools. Bungaree Primary School and Rockingham High School are partnering schools and create as many opportunities as possible for students to maintain and build ties as students transition from primary to the secondary years, In December, our School Choir performed at the City of Rockingham’s Carols Event. The evening was held on the foreshore and saw our students performing in this

YEAR 10 RIVER CRUISE

MUSIC PROGRAM

event for the first time. It has been a very successful year for our vocal music students who have excelled at each of the events they have been involved in this year.

The Year 8 Maritime students were recently involved in a HASS/Science/Maritime based excursion. Students went to Penguin Island to do a case study on the conditions and conservation of the Island. In the morning the students did a comparison of the windward and leeward side of the island, where they compared the prevailing conditions, the land formation and the adaptions of the organisms on both sides. In the afternoon we were instructed by DPAW on how the island is maintained and how the largest penguin establishment in WA is protected. The students identified wildlife and the rules for the different areas of the Island. The students and staff really enjoyed the day in the sun and wind. The students were excellent ambassadors of the School. They received information on how to get into a conservation career, how the wildlife has adapted to that area and how it is maintained/protected.

Year 9 Maritime students were recently involved in an ex-cursion with HASS and Science links. The Year 9 students did a case study on sea grass health and the human impact on it. In the morning the students went out with Mr Lauritsen for a snorkel sessions to observe the sea grass health of different areas of the bay in Point Peron. In the afternoon Ms Dobbs and Miss King ran sketch mapping of the human impacts on the grass in the bay and sampling of organisms from the sea grass and its surroundings. The students then identified what the human impact their cultural and industry values have had and the mitigation that could occur now. They also identified organisms into their phylum by observing their characteristics.

YEAR 8 MARITIME EXCURSION

YEAR 9 MARITIME EXCURSION

PULSE

17 students from the Specialist Basketball Program flew to Melbourne on the 3 December to take part in the Basketball National Championships. We were kept well up to date with all the action through photographs and videos uploaded to a Facebook page. The students competed against other schools across the nation in a highly competitive week of games for students in the U/15 team and the U/17 team. The students represented themselves and the school outstandingly well with our U/15 boys winning Bronze in a close game of 59 - 56, and the U/17 boys placing 8th in the competition. Congratulations to the boys and to Mr Watson on this fantastic outcome.

Rockingham Senior High school’s Christmas Music Showcase: ‘A Rockin’ Christmas’ started off on a wonderful note. Our first musical act for the evening was our talented Year 9 Music class who have been rehearsing tirelessly to perform a cover version of the iconic White Stripes song, Seven Nation Army. There were a number of beautiful solo vocal performances by Year 7 to Year 9 students including Olivia Hunt, Brooke McKenzie, Abigail Menzies, Jade Hyde

and Abigail Puno. The RSHS Choir took to the stage to perform a delightful collection of Christmas Carols including Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, O Holy Night, Winter Wonderland, Let It Snow, White Winter Hymnal & Happy Christmas. The Guitar Ensemble then enthralled the crowd with the composition Air (traditional song) and the Australian contemporary piece Big Jet Plane by Angus and Julia Stone. The penultimate act was the RSHS Woodwind Ensemble with rousing renditions of Pink Panther, Ghostbusters, Game of Thrones and Jingle Bells. Yr 10 Music student Clara Hamilton, one of our multi-instrumentalists, is no stranger to the stage. Clara performed a beautiful rendition of the piece Reflection from the movie Mulan on the flute. Outstanding performances by each and every student coupled with immaculate presentation and integral “behind the scenes” work (thanks to Emily Phillis-Vidler), combined to make this the best RSHS Christmas Music Showcase to date. Congratulations to everyone involved!

During Week 9 of this term, the Student Services team organised Multicultural Week, to celebrate the diverse range of nationalities, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds of our students. Over 30 different nationalities and cultural backgrounds are represented at our school. The aim was to engage as many students as possible with activities and programs that highlight the different cultures present at our school, to celebrate our diversity and to celebrate our similarities. On Monday and Tuesday we set up International Art and Craft from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Students engaged in hair braiding, Chinese lanterns, henna temporary tattoos, dot painting on boomerang, Ta-moko face masks and making dream catchers. On Wednesday we had the pleasure of listening to two amazing guest speakers who had both overcome adversity to lead happy and successful lives. Hussein was from Iran and Golda from Uganda. Our students were moved by their stories and asked many insightful questions.

STUDENT SERVICES

SPECIALIST BASKETBALL - NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

MUSIC SHOWCASE - ‘A ROCKIN’ CHRISTMAS’

On Thursday, the focus shifted to traditional Aboriginal art and craft. Mentors from the AIME program taught traditional language to our students as well as facilitating a stone and canvas painting workshop. These canvases will be proudly displayed in the library. Multicultural Week ended with an amazing assembly which featured a variety of performances including the Kapa Haka. Over the term, Mr Thomas and Mr Davis taught a culturally diverse group of students traditional Maori song and dances. This year we were honoured to have our choir and some music students join in as well. A huge thank you to Mrs Fay and Mr Burke. The assembly was a perfect way to end a week of cultural diversity. As a focal point at the end of the year, Multicultural Week succeeded in spreading knowledge about the cultural diversity in our school. The students thoroughly enjoyed the whole program, and we look forward to creating an even greater experience next year.

Rockingham Senior High School is proud to be working in partnership with local business and industry to improve educational opportunities for

students