Edition: 6 - 2 May 2014

News from Wellington Secondary College

Wise Words

Wellington Journal

ANZAC Day at Wellington

How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone - Bob Dylan

House Cross CountryFriday May 16

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Principal’s Report

The College's Open Night, held on April 30, was indeed a highlight for this current week. We were delighted and proud to welcome such a large number of families interested in making Wellington their school of choice for 2015. All who attended during that evening, or toured the College during the weeks leading up to Open Night, were impressed not only by the upgraded facilities, but also the quality and breadth of programs available as well as the high level of engagement demonstrated by our students. Congratulations to all involved, staff and students alike, for your work both prior to, and on the night.

Last week the College held the annual ANZAC Assembly. Mr Blaikie and a number of Student Leaders addressed the College in a very moving ceremony, which included the laying of a wreath by the College Captains, Sok Phung and Jesse Hubbard. A highlight of the ceremony was the performance on the trumpet by Jason Barth, Year 10, when he played The Last Post and Rouse. Well done Jason.

Also at last week's College Assembly Mr Greg Whyte, Director of Sport and Houses, presented medals to the Age-Group Champions from the House Swimming and House Athletics Carnivals. He also announced the results for these Carnivals. Congratulations to Penrhyn, the winning House for both of the Carnivals.

Hopefully all Year 7 and 8 students, together with students in all other year levels, will be geared up to again get involved and to do their best, whether as a competitor or supporter, at the upcoming Houses Cross Country Carnival on Friday May 16. Alexander, Borrowdale and Sirius – students in these three Houses need to make a special effort and challenge Penrhyn for the top spot. Best wishes to all Houses – remember every student who participates gains house points, so GET INVOLVED and help your House win!

The annual DEECD Attitudes to School Survey, currently being conducted, enables all students at the College to individually respond to a range of set questions about 'life at school'. The results of the survey, which will be available early next term, will be compared to those of all other Victorian state schools, as well as to our student's responses from previous years. The College will utilise the findings of the survey to shape new, improved and ongoing student programs.

On Tuesday of this week, April 29, the Year 11 Business Management Classes held their annual Market Day. Despite the damp conditions students from all year levels, as well as members of staff, were eager to purchase items from the various food stalls. Well done to all involved in providing such a wide range of tasty options.

Next week, the special five-day Year 8 program will take place, where students either attend the Camp, held at The Adventure Resort at Phillip Island, or participate in a school based program that includes trips to Bunnings, Rollerama and Science Works. Congratulations and thank you to Mrs Carmel Roberts, Head of Junior School and Mr John Jirasek, Year 8 Coordinator, for their work leading up to and no doubt during next week. Also thank you all staff who will be involved in the five-day program, especially those going to the Camp.

The NAPLAN testing program will be taking place from Tuesday May 13 to Thursday May 15. It will be undertaken by all students in Years 7 and 9 respectively. I trust that all students involved will strive to do their very best. Please contact Assistant Principal Tony Grayden on 9547 6822 if further information is required.

Dulcie Commons

Portable Breakfasts

Premiers’ Reading Challenge

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8C Food Technology students were engaged preparing their portable breakfast wrap and fresh berry smoothie.

The students enjoyed the simplicity of this cooked breakfast comprising scrambled eggs, bacon, spring onion, corn kernels and various spices in a wrap. The berry smoothie was delicious and nutritious too. Mixed berries, berry yoghurt, honey and milk blended together was well received by all. A great morning, well done 8C.

Ms. RivansFood Technology Teacher

Congratulations to the Ehsan Akbari of 7A, and Mohamed (Shathir) Shafeek, of 8K, who are the first students to complete the Premiers' Reading Challenge for 2014.

All students in Years 7 and 8 are registered to complete the Reading Challenge. They need to read 15 books by the beginning of September. All students who complete the Challenge by 29th May, will have the opportunity to attend a workshop with author Oliver Phommavanh. Oliver will speak to all students in Years 7 and 8 on Thursday, 29th May in the MJ Putrino theatre.

Wendy PeacockLibrary Manager

Mohamed (Shathir) Shafeek

Ehsan Akbari

Australian Geography CompetitionOn Thursday, over 70 of our students competed in the annual Australian Geography Competition. Joining over 70,000 other Secondary students around Australia, students from Year 7 to 10 at Wellington Secondary College drew on their Humanities skills to attempt a range of questions around the interconnection between people and environments.

As our students and school move into the next stage of the College's implementation of the Australian Curriculum or AustVELs, it is an exciting time to be involved in geographic education.

Results will be advised in May, with all students who participate receiving certificates, and those students who perform at higher levels getting prizes.

Congratulations to all the participants.

Mr StephensHead of Humanities

Be Brave and Shave Day

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The Wellington community has raised $1270 for the Leukaemia Foundation which is a fantastic effort. Kevin Tran of Year 11 and Michael Du of Year 12 were very brave and shaved. Together they are responsible for raising 30% of our total. Well done boys.

The March Doorknock completed by our amazing Year 12 cohort raised $984 for the Red Cross and the sale of Anzac badges last week raised $176 for the Waverley RSL.

Well done to all students staff and parents who supported our fundraising efforts.

Ms. Wandoch

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When:�th7 August, Sessions 5 and 6

The competition will begin at 1:20 promptly

Where: Ellis Gymnasium (Northern)

Bring a B or 2B pencil

Note: No calculators or phones allowed

Complete a permission slip and return to thyour mathematics teacher by Thursday 24

April 2014

Come to the Maths Homework Club, Thursday afternoons in G1 for practice papers.

Ms. Boschert

Australian MathsCompetition

Australian Maths

Monash ANZAC Service

th thOn the first week of holidays (7 -11 of Apr i l ) we a t tended the Mindshop Excellence program at the Woolworths Distribution Centre, Mulgrave. The Mindshop Excellence is a work experience program designed to teach Year 10 students about leadership, decision making and problem solving skills in a workplace environment. As well as learning valuable life skills, we also toured the workplace and found out that the DC is three times the size of the MCG and services Woolworths stores nationwide. Over the course of the week, we underwent training with the Mindshop Excellence facilitators, were given a real complex problem within the organisation to solve and were required to present our solution to the Woolworths management team, facilitators and families. We really enjoyed ourselves and we left feeling self-confident and better prepared for the future. Thank you to Mrs Tzelepis and Miss Jacobs for organising this opportunity for us.

Chirag Sedov, Elise Kossivas, Tyler Pedersen-Hor, Natalie Wagan.

Year 10 Leadership

On Wednesday April 23 our Middle School Captains, Tiffanie Chau and Sung Phung, accompanied me to an ANZAC Service held at the Cenotaph in the Monash Central Reserve.

Representatives from 35 Monash Schools attended and laid wreaths during the service. A former Principal of our College, John Coulson OAM RFD ED (Ret), gave a moving address. The service also featured the Australian School of Signals – Catafalque Party.

Dulcie CommonsAssistant Principal

VCE Premier’s AwardOn Tuesday April 29 I had the pleasure of attending the Premier's VCE Awards Ceremony at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. The top ranked students in each of the 2013 VCE studies received an award as well as students who had achieved a score of 46 or higher (out of 50) in at least five VCE studies. Students came from the full range of Victorian schools – country, metropolitan, private, government, small and large.

It was indeed a proud moment when one of our 2013 Year 12 students, Ana Garcia Gonzalez, was announced as a top ranked student in Victoria for the VCE study of Spanish. Her proud family were also present to see Ana receive her award from The Hon. Martin Dixon, MP, Minister for Education. Congratulations Ana!

Dulcie CommonsAssistant Principal

Mentoring at Wellington

Market Day

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Congratulations to Aaron Orellana (VCE 2013) for his selection and inclusion in this year's VCE season of Excellence, Start Up: Top Arts at the National Gallery of Victoria. Aaron is one of only 49 Studio Arts students selected state-wide to have his Unit 4 Studio Arts Folio of artworks on display.

The Wellington Secondary College Visual Arts staff are very proud of Aaron's achievements and wish him well in his further studies in the design field. Aaron's creativity and hard work in this subject has been recognised in this prestigious event.

Fiona Szabo (Studio Arts teacher) and Andrew Bare (Head of Visual Arts)

Earlier this week VCAL students ran a market day in the courtyard as part of their assessment. Prior to the day, students planned out their stores and developed business plans. There was a large variety of stalls, including sausage sizzles, fairy floss, spring rolls, pizza, tea and hot chocolate. After running their stalls on market day, they evaluated their performance against key performance indicators. Congratulations to all involved!

Tara SchwabHead of Business

Quality second-hand books are needed to help local community projects.

The Lions Club of Wheelers Hill is currently collecting books which will be sold to support local community projects in the Monash area. All of the proceeds will go to this cause – Lions are volunteers.

Please donate hardcover and paperback books, no magazines, textbooks, or encyclopaedias.

Books may be dropped-off at the following places from 5 May until 6 July: the information desk at The Glen; the Westpac or Commonwealth Banks at Brandon Park; Waverley Vision Care 75 Hamilton Place Mt Waverley; Glenallen School; Wavecare 155 Coleman Parade Glen Waverley,; Bendigo Bank Pinewood. Alternatively, ring Lion Roger Budd on 0412 788 245 to arrange for them to be collected.

8G Designer Pizzas

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Second Hand Books Needed

As told by 8G...

thOn the 29 of April 8G made pizzas. I really enjoyed making pizzas and eating them. Thank you Ms. Rivans!- Isabella Prentice

I enjoyed making the pizza because it was a fun experience and our group worked really well together.- Katelyn Kubsch

It was fun because it was something I like doing. Eating the pizza was the best part of this Common Assessment Task.- Chris Kranias

I found the pizza Common Assessment Task fun because it was something I had never done before. It ended up tasting really nice. I should have put less garlic on my pizza though!- Jake Weaver

The Pizza Common Assessment Task was a great experience and I enjoyed it a lot. The pizza tasted amazing and it was fun to make.- Ani Lyristis

Did you know?

The world’s population spends 500,000 hours a day typing internet security codes.

The tax code of the United States is four times as long as the complete works of Shakespeare.

In 2011, Birds Eye sold 225 billion frozen peas. This is enough to fill 40 Olympic swimming pools.

In 1881, there were only six men in Britain named Derek.

The modern world’s first international sporting fixture was a cricket match played in 1844 between Canada and the United States. Canada won by 23 runs.

You are 14% more likely to die on your birthday than any other day.

Over 1 in 20 football injuries are caused by celebrating goals on the pitch.

Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Kanye North and Kanye South (but not Kanye West) are parliamentary constituencies in Botswana.

Before the Renaissance, three-quarters of all the books in the world were in Chinese.

Melbourne used to be called Batmania.

Open Night 2014

Wellington Journal - Fortnightly Newsletter of Wellington Secondary College - Designed & Edited by Mr Simon Coles.

Editorial Support by Mrs Dianne Schneider. Printing and Technical Support by Mr Brian Foster and Mr David Kerrisk.

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