YARRA HILLS SECONDARY COLLEGE

November 2 2017 A Fortnightly Bulletin Issue No. 15

PO BOX 42 MOOROOLBARK 3138 Mooroolbark Campus: Tel: 9839 8800 Mt Evelyn Campus : Tel: 9736 3650

Respect ♦ Endeavour ♦ Achievement ♦ Pride

From the Mooroolbark Campus Principal

As mentioned in the last newsletter, this week marks the start of the final examination period for our Year 12 ‘Class of 2017’. I was honoured to speak to this group at our recent final school assembly and I’d like to again share a few personal observations I made regarding their time at Yarra Hills. For me, this group holds a special place as I myself started at Yarra Hills in 2012, when most of this group first arrived as fresh-faced Year 7s. For those who started at the Mt Evelyn Campus at that time, I was also their first Campus Principal, before moving into my current role. For those who started at our now decommissioned Cambridge Campus, they represent the last of a generation, as the final group at Yarra Hills to have attended that Campus. As Year 8s, they then moved across to the Mooroolbark site when the final buildings were completed late in 2013. Overall however, this is the first group that I can say I have seen through from start to finish at Yarra Hills and I am proud of what they have achieved and what they will become. I wish them all the very best for the upcoming exams and for their future beyond Yarra Hills. Good luck!

KEY DATES

NOVEMBER

Thursday 2-24 Year 12 VCAA Exams MB

Friday 3-10 Year 11 Exams MB

3 Year 9 & 10 OED Alpine Paddling Yarra River 8.30am - 3.10pm ME

Year 10 METEC Driver Training Session 1 8.45am - 3.10pm MB

Monday 6 PUPIL FREE DAY

Tuesday 7 Melbourne Cup Day ME & MB

Wednesday 8 Year 7 Melbourne Zoo - Science Excursion 8.45am - 3.10pm ME & MB

Thursday 9 Year 10 METEC Driver Training Session 2 8.45am - 3.10pm ME

Year 9 Peer Support Training Day 2 ME

Friday 10 Year 10 MTC Driver Training Session 2 8.45am - 3.10pm MB

Friday-Saturday 10-11 Year 7 & 8 Annual Write-A-Thon at ME Campus Fri 9.10am - Sat 9.30am ME & MB

Tuesday 14 Senior Concert Band Rehearsals 3.30 - 4.30pm MB

Wednesday 15 Year 9 & 10 Girls Cricket 8.00am - 3.10pm MB

Mt Evelyn Street Party

Last Sunday was the biennial Mt Evelyn Street Party, held in

Wray Crescent Mt Evelyn. Yarra Hills was represented at

one of the many stalls and we were able to showcase our

school and the many things we offer. There was face-

painting, photos with the bearded dragon and a wonderful

performance from our Instrumental Music Band. Many

thanks to all of those who helped and attended on the day, it

was a great day out!

2018 School Day changes

Further to last newsletter’s details regarding the 2018 changes to the school day, I have included again the table to remind parents of the times/classes. We hope to put this in place in time for our 2018 Promotions programs towards the end of this year.

Points to note:

Start and finish times the same (students should still aim to be on site by 8:50)

4x75 minute classes each day (no Home Group or 50 minute periods)

Both Recess and Lunch breaks are 35 minutes (equal length)

Each week is the same now (no Week 1 or 2)

Some subject areas have had minor changes to the number of periods taught per fortnight

Years 7-10 will have a period (75 minutes) devoted to Home Group/Pastoral/Community each week, rather than a few minutes each morning. This is with a ‘Home Group Teacher’.

VCE students will have 2 designated periods available in the week for

staff to run assemblies/seminars/support and an ‘ASPIRE’ program, these periods are separate to (and not

interrupting) their core classes.

We believe that this new arrangement of the day and classes will be a beneficial change for our students and staff. If you have any queries regarding this, please feel free to contact the office directly.

Darren Trippett College Principal

2018 School Day

Students at school by- 8:50am

Period 1 9:00-10:15

Period 2 10:15-11:30

Recess 11:30-12:05

Period 3 12:05-1:20

Lunch 1:20-1:55

Period 4 1:55-3:10

Class of 2017

From the Mooroolbark Campus

Principal

It has been a big 2 weeks for students at the Mooroolbark Campus, especially our Year 12 students, who finished their secondary schooling. I want to congratulate them all on successfully completing their VCE or VCAL classes and wish them all the best for the future and to the VCE students, good luck with their upcoming VCAA exams, which began on Wednesday November 1, with the English exam. Year 12 Celebration Assembly

On Monday October 23, as a campus and college, we farewelled the students at our Campus Assembly. It was great to see parents and family members join us. Robyn Freeman and Liela Peterson, our College Captains, led our assembly, as well as farewells and thank you speeches from our Vice-Captains, Taylah Charles, Mary Gibson and our VCAL Captains Michael McIlfatrick and Michael Tracey. It was a great celebration of the students’ time at the college. Year 12 Final Day

On Tuesday 24 October the students had their final day celebrations. They joined their Year 12 teachers, dressing up and enjoyed games, music, a pizza lunch and a Mr Whippy van. I want to thank and acknowledge Brenton Millott and Courtney Jordan for their organisation of both the assembly and the last day. Congratulations to Nadjoua Youssouf, one of our Year 10s, who represented Yarra Hills and the Rotary Club of Montrose at the Rotary 4-Way public speaking contest. Whilst Nadjoua didn’t make it through to the next round, we are very proud of her efforts, and without a doubt there is a future in public speaking and leadership ahead!

Eastern Zone Athletics On Friday October 13, 15 Yarra Hills Students competed in the eastern Zone Athletics Carnival at the Knox Athletics Track.

Overall we had some very pleasing results in each of the age group events with 1 First Placing, 4 Seconds and 5 Thirds on the day. All of the students competed to the best of their ability and they tried their hardest to achieve a personal best result. Congratulations to Brayden

Woolridge who came 1st in the Javelin throwing just

under 39 metres. Unfortunately for Brayden he will miss the State Finals for the event as he is booked on a family holiday to China.

Well done to each of the students involved. You have represented Yarra Hills Secondary College so well!

Oh so close for our Intermediate Girls Cricketers!

On Thursday October 19 the Intermediate Year 9 &10 Girls Cricket team ventured to Balwyn for the Eastern Zone Cricket finals. Being overcast and a bit wet the team fought hard to be 9 wickets for 60 Runs at the end of their allocated 20 overs from Brentwood Secondary College.

When Brentwood came in to bat, Yarra Hills had them 4 wickets down for just 6 runs thanks to some great bowling from Kate Blenner-Hassett and Losi Taula along with two terrific run outs.

Unfortunately Brentwood’s best batter came to the crease and the girls dropped 3 vital catches whilst the Brentwood player went on to accumulate 36 not out and surpassed our 60 run total.

For the girls they now have one final cricket competition remaining for the year and that is a Super 8’s Milo Cricket Tournament to be held in Berwick on Wednesday November 15.

Many thanks to Steve Green for helping out and training the team during the competitions.

Murray McAllister

College Captains for 2018

We are proud to formally announce the 4 College Captains for 2018:

Tyler Kerridge Tyler Barton Katherine Rosevear Kate Rolston

The 4 leaders will be heading our Student Representative Council (SRC) and they already have some great plans for student involvement in the college in 2018.

Appointments & Early Leavers

Advice to Parents Just a reminder to families that if your child is required to leave early, please ensure your child brings a note or you have approved this on Compass prior. It is also important, regardless of permission given, that the student reports to the office at the beginning of the day to alert our Office Staff when they are required to leave early. Whilst we know there are times when it is an emergency pick-up, it is very challenging to get students out of class with-out notice during the day. We appreciate your support.

Greg Cowan Mooroolbark Campus Principal

From the Mt Evelyn Campus Principal

Much planning is currently going on for 2018 including the selection process for our student leaders starting with Junior School Captains. Peer Support Training has also begun for our Year 9 students. The selection process will soon begin for other captains in KLA areas.

An assembly to showcase our singers!

Last week we were fortunate to see the wonderful talent of our students. Starting with students from our Music Appreciation and Performance class followed by Eden Johnson-Wellard and Zjuane Hindby finishing with Gaia Mitting who played that classic Bohemian Rhapsody where we all joined in and sang along. The entertainment was brilliant! We also had a guest speaker from Hashtag Oz, an online EMagazine aimed directly at students where they can upload the work they are most proud of. Ingrid from Hashtag Oz spoke of how Hashtag Oz can assist students to network for their own future careers. Their website highlights not only student work, but provides very relevant and interesting articles that would appeal to students. Please check out their website and the previous newsletters they have. We anticipate that our students will one day submit articles, but we’ll keep you posted.

http://hashtagoz.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Hashtag-Oz-September-Issue-1.pdf

http://hashtagoz.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/HASHTAG-Oz-October-Issue2.pdf

Our ‘Snowy’ students also shared their experiences from being at the Alpine School for 9 weeks. It was such a different learning experience and something they all thoroughly enjoyed. Each of them took something different from their journey and are currently working on their Community Learning Project to raise the awareness of the importance of being active, so stay tuned for further developments.

Baristas in the making!

Our Advance students last week spent the day being trained in coffee making. The beauty of this class is that students not only learn leadership skills and creating events, but they also earn themselves a certificate they can use in future employment. Students enjoy the comradery that develops throughout the year and achieve many fantastic events. Well done and thank you to Beck Mitchell and Phil Stenhouse from Bridge Builders who create such great opportunities for our students to shine.

Peer Support Training

This week all our year 9 students experienced the first day of Peer Support Training in readiness for 2018. The first day focussed very much on leadership skills and how ordinary people can do extraordinary things through a never give up attitude. We explored qualities of leadership that will be valuable for students for their future career paths whether or not they become leaders. Discussions and activities throughout the day explored areas such as resilience, empathy, role models, bullying and respect. It was also a

fantastic opportunity for Year 9 students from both campuses to get to know each other better. Thank you to staff and students for being part of this great program. Day 2 of training will happen next Thursday for all students who have signed up to do so. All other students will be expected at school where normal classes will run.

Robyn Dew Mt Evelyn Campus Principal

COLLEGE AWARDS NIGHT

Monday December 4 2017

at 7pm

held at Karralyka

Mines Road, Ringwood

with entertainment by our school band and student musical performances

Year 8 Table Tennis

Congratulations to the Year 8 Boys Table Tennis Team who managed a fourth placing at the Eastern Zone competitions on Wednesday October 25.

Up against Wellington Secondary College in their first game, the boys had some challenging matches in their best of 5 rubber matches. Unfortunately, for our boys, a few lapses in concentration when they were in control of the match saw Wellington come out victors 5 Rubbers to 1.

The second round match was a close affair against East Doncaster and we trailed them 3 Rubbers to 1 at the completion of the singles but the boys rallied to win both doubles encounters and take out the overall match 3 Rubbers 13 Games and 243 Points to East Doncaster 3 Rubbers 12 Games and 230 points.

The final match was against Upwey where our boys had convincing wins to finish 6 Rubbers to Upwey’s zero.

The Semi Final against Balwyn was a tough encounter and whilst we had some very close matches winning one or two against each opponent we could not quite obtain any victories going down 6 Rubbers to 0.

Wellington lost their semi final to Mt Waverly and in our play off for 3

rd and 4

th we were defeated in a 4 rubber to 2 Result.

Murray McAllister

The Holocaust Museum

It was a cold morning as the Year 7’s headed off to the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Elsternwick. We had been studying the novel ‘Once’ by Morris Gleitzman. It follows a fictional story about a boy called Felix in the time of the Holocaust.

Once we arrived, we talked about gratitude and what we knew about the Holocaust. Then we were put into three groups and went for a tour of the museum. They had the stars that the Jews wore so the Nazis knew who to kill, a pillar of buttons that a Jewish person collected off the kids he looked after which represented children who had died, some information on Anne Frank, and a memorial for all the fallen Jews.

Then we went into a replica of Anne Frank’s room. Our guide talked about what people would take going into hiding. She told us how Anne Frank took things like a teddy bear, money, first aid, bandages, candles, and playing cards as they had to be quiet for most of the day. She also had her diary which her father later turned into a book. This showed me how hard it was to survive, and her story made me sad.

We then made passports based on survivors who went into hiding. We learned their name, birthdate, siblings, parents, fingerprints, age, reference numbers, religion, address and place of birth. We also learnt that many Jewish people got fake passports and had to remember all of the fake details in case they got questioned.

Later we headed into a hall to hear the story of Joseph De Haan, who survived the Holocaust by hiding in farm houses. He lost his brother, father and step mother.

It was wonderful hearing his story in person.

Overall, this experience was wonderful, interesting and we all enjoyed having the opportunity to visit this amazing place, and getting to hear from a holocaust survivor, first hand. I can tell that all the Year 7’s that went loved it. It was fantastic. Chloe Tanner 7M

Rock Incursion On Monday October, 23 our year eight students at the Mt Evelyn campus experienced a variety of crystals, rocks and minerals first hand, and had a "rocking good time" in the process. Ian and Hannah from VSSEC (Victorian Space Science Education Centre) bought many samples into the classrooms for a closer inspection. After a brief overview of what rocks existed on Earth, and how they were formed either above the surface or deep within the mantle, students were to work in pairs to explore and record various observations about the rocks. They performed these by breaking, looking through a microscope, testing with acid and scraping the minerals.

After gathering this information, they were then to determine what rocks they were actually looking at by using a dichotomous key to answer various questions. After much consideration, the year eights were able to key and then identify the different sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks found on the Earth’s surface. Ian gave good and bad examples of descriptions of the various rocks which enabled our students to form educated identifications of the many rocks presented. After recovering a few samples for their upcoming common assessment task, our students now have a much clearer view on how to identify the rocks they may come across whilst away on holidays, or just out in their yards. Overall, enjoyment was had by all with this hands on adventure.

Sandra Lombardi

Intermediate Eastern Zone Table Tennis The intermediate boys and Girls Table Tennis teams were both unlucky to miss out on playing off in the semi finals on Wednesday November 1 at the Kilsyth Stadium.

The boys matches faced a talented Wellington Secondary College first up and went down 4 Rubbers to 2 before playing Koonung. The match results were Koonung 3 rubbers, 12 games 219 points to Yarra Hills 3 Rubbers 11 Games and 230 points, which cost our team the chance to finish top two in the pool. A final match against Wantirna saw our guys claim victory 5 rubbers to 1 which was a great effort.

In the girls matches our year 9 team faced Brentwood Secondary College in their first game where they unluckily went down 3 Rubbers, 10 games and 206 points to Brentwood 3 Rubbers,12 games and 217 points. Their second match was against the highly skilful Box Hill Secondary College and the girls had a lot of trouble scoring, eventually losing 6 Rubbers to zero. Upwey High did not attend the event which denied the girls a third preliminary game so the girls had an early finish to their day.

Overall both teams showed great commitment and determination in each of their matches and they represented Yarra Hills with terrific spirit.

Murray McAllister

Mt Evelyn Campus

Mondays after school

START YOUR DAY THE RIGHT WAY

Come on up to the Well Being Centre at Mt Evelyn Campus

& check out what’s cooking

WHEN: Every Thursday Morning 8.00—8.50

Brekky Club is FREE to all Yarra Hills students

(thank you to the generous and valuable support of Bendigo Bank

Mt Evelyn and Bakers Delight Mooroolbark)

KILSYTH CRICKET CLUB

MILO IN2CRICKET PROGRAM for boys and girls aged 5 to 9 to learn the

skills of the game. EVERY FRIDAY COMMENCING

10th November 2017 FROM 4.00PM to 5.15PM

With a break over the summer holidays. AT PINKS RESERVE, LIVERPOOL ROAD KILSYTH (BEHIND BASKETBALL STADIUM)

ENQUIRIES: PLEASE CONTACT Ian Cavanagh 0402786412

Email: iancav1965@gmail.com $75 includes Milo kit (backpack, bat, ball, drink

bottle, T-shirt, hat etc.) You can register/pay online at:

http://www.playcricket.com.au/club-finder and key in “Kilsyth”