Thursday 15th September 2016

Newsletter No.16

Principal’s Chat: Dear Parents, Caregivers and Members of the College Community, With the end of term fast approaching, there have been a lot of key events and activities happening over the last two weeks. This week, we welcomed back all of our students and staff who participated in the Year 8 camp. It was, from all accounts, a great camp and enjoyed by all. The Beat Concert – featuring students from a number of schools in the area- was held last week and Kyneton Secondary College was represented by Amy Grindley in Year 12. Amy’s singing performance was truly wonderful and the video on Facebook has had many views. Also on last week was the Battle for Australia remembrance at the Shrine. Our Year 9 students found it a very valuable and moving experience. One of our students, Courtney Burke was chosen to be the first of four students from schools across Victoria to conduct a reading to the assembled crowd. Courtney’s reading is something that we can all be proud of as a school and community. On Thursday, our Year 9 students conducted their annual daffodil picking pick at Gus’s farm to provide flowers for the Rotary Club of Kyneton to sell at the Daffodil Festival and to decorate our combined Rotary/Kyneton Secondary College float in the daffodil parade. A small group of dedicated staff and students supported our float and handed out daffodils to the eager crowd at the parade on Sunday. My thanks to all those who came along and assisted. We also had a number of students successfully placed in their respective events in the Regional Athletics last Thursday. More details in this newsletter. My congratulations to the English and Maths staff involved in the Literacy and Numeracy information night, last Tuesday. The event was organized to provide prospective parents with information on our Literacy and Numeracy programs and I was very pleased to see the number of people who came along and the keen interest they showed. Many thanks to Ms. Tardif, Ms. Rantall and Ms. Bird for organizing this worthwhile event. We also learned at the end of last week that Tom Bennett has been selected as the prizewinner in the creative writing category of the Charles Dickens Competition, for his piece of writing based on A Christmas Carol. The judges were unanimous in their decision that Tom’s entry met all the criteria and showed an understanding not only of the novel but also of Dickens’ literary style. This is great news for Tom and his teachers in winning this prestigious award presented by the Dickins Fellowship. Our architects were given the go-ahead on Tuesday 13th September to enter the final design phase for our building program. This final part of the process is the detailed design phase and is where all the final measurements and finishing touches are added to the plans before they can receive their final sign off and be put out to tender. Continued.

Year Level leaders Riley, Estelle, Carmen, Josh, Courtney & Stephanie at the Shrine of Remembrance for the Commemoration Day

Parents - we ask that you use the following phone number to report student absences. If your child is going to be absent please call 03 5421 1100 and leave a message along with date of absence.

Principal’s Chat Cont:

UPCOMING EVENTS

We are planning to hold a public presentation by the architects to the school community of the final plans later next term, on Tuesday 6th December. At this stage we are on track to put the project out to tender early next year. The VCAL Sleepout for the Homeless is on Thursday night. This event is for a great cause and the team are actively fundraising to help support homeless agencies in the area. If you can assist our VCAL students in this great cause, with either assistance or donations of money, please let them know directly or contact the front office. It’s the last week of term this week – progress reports will be available through our XUNO portal from Thursday. I wish all of our students, staff and families all the very best for the holidays and look forward to seeing you all again next term. I thank everyone for your hard work and for all of the great things we have achieved this term. Next term begins on Monday 3rd October.

Mark Ridgeway-Principal [email protected]

Captain’s Message Hello All! I hope you all are still standing strong after a wet and exhausting term; we are finally near the end of term 3 - Yay! Despite this, we still have one more term left and we all must put our best efforts into term 4 – good luck to everyone!

September Friday 16

2016

th

End of Term 3

Monday 3rd-October

Term 4 Begins

VCAL Update All VCAL students have been offered the opportunity to obtain the certificates below as part of their VCAL studies. These courses will increase their job opportunities immensely so all students have been encouraged to participate. Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) Responsible Service Gambling (RSG) Food Safety Handler (FSH) Level 1 Coffee Barista (Level 1)

Professional Waiter The training is a partnership between Kyneton Secondary College and the Kyneton Community & Learning Centre Inc. The Kyneton Community & Learning Centre have subsidised the student fee through the LETS! Project (Leadership & Events Training Skills) bringing the total cost of all five certificates right down. We would like to thank and acknowledge their support in helping our students gain valuable employable skills.

Jodie Yamine-VCAL Coordinator / Teacher

Year twelves, this is officially our third last week of school. I am so proud of you and also of the year 11 students studying year twelve subjects. You have shown such conscientiousness and a hard work ethic since we began the year. Our exams are fast approaching and I want to wish each and every one of you all the best as you sit for them. All students from other year levels ,try your best and enjoy a nice rejuvenating holiday break!

Sasha Sciberras- College Vice

Captain

Handing out daffodils picked by our students were Marg and Sally, Rotarians (on the float) with Alley and Marian Orr (representing KSC) at the parade last Sunday.See next page.

Daffodil Picking-Year 9 Twenty three selected Year 9 students along with teacher, Mr May, went out to a farm near Hanging Rock as part of their Community Service. They picked daffodils which were made available on Sunday as part of the Kyneton Secondary College representation in the annual Daffodil Parade. Other daffodils will be made available for sale through Rotary with proceeds supporting cancer research and youth initiatives by Rotary. Students enjoyed their day on the farm and were able to take home some daffodils for their own families.

Mr B.A.May-Coordinator

Calculator Orders All students in Year 7 to 10 and VCAL should have a scientific calculator for maths and for other subjects such as science. The recommended scientific calculator is the TI-30XB. Students studying maths in year 11 or year 12 must have a TI-nspire CAS CX calculator. Both these calculators are available for purchase NOW through the Haines Education portal (see below). Purchases are made on-line and the calculators will be delivered to the school by the designated dates. If you require further information, please contact Sharon Bird on 521 1100.

Sharon Bird-Math Domain

Battle for Australia

Each year our year 9 students attend the Battle for Australia commemoration at the Shrine of Remembrance. This is connected to their learning of Australian History and develops awareness of the ongoing importance of the service and sacrifice of our servicemen and women. This year our school was invited to be part of the service with Courtney Burke presenting the story of nurse Sister Constance Watt, Darwin 1942. Courtney spoke very well to the large audience and was invited to join the special guests for lunch afterwards. Our year Level Leaders from year 7, 9 and 10 also attended, with Estelle and Josh laying a wreath on behalf of our college. All of our students were a credit to the school. Right:

Pam Macdonald

The order of service and on the following page you will find Courtney’s student presentation about Sister Constance Watts along with photos of the occasion.

Photo Above: Courtney delivering her presentation Top left: Waiting with 3 other students to have moment on the podium. Middle left: KSC students at the Shrine

Bottom left: Courtney being presented to the audience

Photo below: Estelle and Josh were honoured to place the college wreath

Year 8 Camp Year 8s were lucky to have great weather for their camp at “The Summit” in Gippsland between September 7th and 9th. Below are some student comments about the camp. We will have more in our next edition of the newsletter. In the bush challenge it was hard but it was fun and challenging. We needed teamwork. I thought the whole camp was fun!! - Matt The Summit was a good camp and great experience. My favourite activity was the mud run and the other one is the giant swing. – Will The year 8 camp was fun! I enjoyed the sky bridge walk. – Kelly The activity I liked was the monster challenge and the bush challenge. It was tough getting some people out of the pit – but we did it! – Liam On the sky bridge it was challenging but I enjoyed it when I made it across. There was a lot of teamwork activities. – Owen The monster run was very wet and muddy and challenging. It was fun.

Pam Macdonald-Assistant Principal Junior School

Seeking Donations Canned Dog Food I am presently completing a community based project for one of my VCAL subjects and I have decided to run a dog food drive at KSC. I am requesting donations of Canned Dog food from students, teachers and parents. All donations will be given to the RSPCA in Castlemaine. I thankyou in advance for your generosity, all donations can be left in the box at the general office Many Thanks-

Sophie Jeffrey- Year 12

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE WEEK

Friday, September 9 is the start of National Environmental Science Week also known as BEES DAY. Celebrating the importance of environmental science education, Bees Day is a day intended to grow the awareness in students from Year 9, 10 and 11’s about the wide range of opportunities available through studying science and to motivate them to consider these when making their subject selections. On Tuesday, September 13 Carolyn Robb from Friends of Bald Hill Reserve (FoBHR) and William Terry, Environmental Programs and Education Officer from the Macedon Ranges Shire Council, will be coming to our school to inform us about plants and animals living in the reserve, how we can help monitor the use of nesting boxes and help locate and provide other nesting sites for birds and other small mammals. Written by Nikki On Friday, September 16, Sandy Scheltema, facilitator of the Upper Campaspe Landcare Network (comprising of 16 Landcare and Friends Groups in the Upper Campaspe Catchment) will be presenting photographs of the work done by the groups to preserve the precious flora and fauna in our region. She will discuss what we can all do to protect our local environment. On Wednesday, September 14, year 7 and 8 students will be involved in tree planting. There will be 30-40 students attending the afternoon, which was organised by a group of year 9 boys from the Sustainability group as part of the MYC community service project. They are aiming to beat the Year 9/10 record of 580 trees which was set earlier in the year!

International Day for the preservation of the ozone layer We have the International Day for the preservation of the ozone layer so that countries around the world can spread awareness about the damage that has been caused to the ozone layer and how we can preserve it. This year will be the 31st year of this day, it is on Friday 16th of September. We have a hole in the ozone layer above the middle of Australia. This day was created by the United Nations in 1995, 28 countries signed for this day. Many schools design activities that teach students about the ozone layer. Individuals can help by taking public transport or carpooling, this with reduce the amount of petrol the ozone layer absorbs. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/international-ozone-layer-preservation-day http://www.un.org/en/events/ozoneday/index.shtml

Written by Tiarna World Animal Day On the 2nd of October, there is a day called World Animal Day. For this day people will donate money to raise awareness of the unfortunate animals that get mistreated and live in appalling conditions. It’s celebrated in different ways in different countries. Australia and New Zealand celebrate with the Great Animal Walk which will be held on Sunday the 2nd of October 2016 from 11am to 4pm at the sanctuary in Lancefield, Victoria, Australia. But if you can’t join in, go for a walk with your friend anyway! For more information or to Donate: http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/events/index/5/0/id

Written by Paige

Masterchef Scone Bake Off

Master Chef Scone Bake Off Students from 8H presented some delicious and creative scones during their challenge last week.

Annie Hall-Classroom Teacher

VCAL P.A.R.T.Y Program excursion

On Tuesday the 11th of September a group of 13 year 11 and 12 VCAL students were accompanied by Amanda, Mike, Ann-Marie and Ms Cox to participate in an educational experience as part of a trauma prevention program. Known as the P.A.R.T.Y Program (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth), it exposes students to an experience of life post trauma with the view to altering their perceptions of risk-related activities such as drink-driving. The facilitators of the day were a mixture of professionals from the Bendigo community and the Trauma team from The Alfred hospital in Melbourne. Only a limited amount of schools around the state are selected to participate so we were very lucky to take part. It was a great learning experience for all involved. Young people are grossly over-represented in trauma statistics in terms of both death and disability. Programs such as P.A.R.T.Y aim to effect behaviour change, and assist students to identify risks and make safer choices.

Jodie Yamine-VCAL Coordinator / Teacher

2016 FALLS CREEK SKI CAMP Last week a group of Kyneton Secondary students participated in a 3 day ski camp at Falls Creek. We started our adventure at 5am on the Wednesday morning with a long drive to Falls Creek, stopping along the way for breakfast at Glenrowan. When we got there we checked into our accommodation on the mountain at Cooroona Lodge. We then went off to have lunch at Haleys Lodge. After that the fun began. We picked up our skis, boards, helmets and boots from Halley’s Ski hire and set off for our first ski. The weather wasn’t ideal with very low visibility and light rain but that didn’t stop us participating in our first ski lesson. We returned to our rooms later excited but tired and had a yummy tea waiting for us. Every morning at 7am we had breakfast, and then everyone threw on their ski gear and walked to the lifts for our 8:30am lessons. The rest of the day we skied in our groups or with our partners. As we had lots of different abilities the students were put into different groups for snowboarding or skiing lessons with KSC and Falls Creek staff. We had some enthusiastic and skilled staff attend this year thanks to Jodie Yamine, Shaun Tollis and our awesome bus driver Rick Seymour. There were some falls and tumbles but lots of laughs and overall everyone had a fantastic time. This camp is a great opportunity for the students to learn and take part in ski lessons in a non-threatening safe environment to enable them to learn snow skills. But not only do the students have a great skiing or snowboarding experience during the day, they also have many fun activities at night. All students and staff had a fantastic time participating in this outdoor learning experience this winter! It was our goal that the students would leave the 2016 Ski Camp with a greater understanding of themselves, a new outlook on their relationships at school, a new appreciation for the environment and plenty of new memories that will last a lifetime. Falls Creek is Australia’s only true ski-in ski-out alpine village and is Victoria’s largest Alpine playground with over 450 hectares of terrain and more than 92 runs which suit abilities ranging from beginner to the advanced. Falls Creek records on average have the highest natural snow falls in Victoria.  - Jodie Yamine

Doctor On Call

Doctors in Secondary Schools Program is coming to KSC!! Helping Victoria's young people access health care The Victorian Government is making sure young people are getting the health support, advice and treatment they need so they can reach their full potential. The $43.8 million Doctors in Secondary Schools initiative is delivering on the election commitment to fund general practitioners (GPs) to attend up to 100 Victorian government secondary schools up to one day a week to provide medical advice and health care to those students most in need. The objectives of the program are to: 

make primary health care more accessible to students

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provide assistance to young people to identify and address any health problems early



aim to reduce the pressure on working parents and community-based GPs.

The program will make a valuable contribution to achieving the Education State targets of 'happy, healthy and resilient kids' by improving ease of access to health services for young people.

How will the Program work? Kyneton Secondary College will work together with local general practices to enable primary health care services to be delivered on school premises. It is anticipated that the program will enable a GP to attend the school for up to one day a week to assist students to identify and address any health problems early. All secondary school students who are enrolled in the participating Victorian Government secondary school will be able to access the GP, subject to providing the requisite consent for the services. The participating Victorian Government Secondary Schools, students and their parents/guardians/carers will not incur any out-of-pocket expenses for consultations with the GP on the school premises. Funding for this initiative will also deliver modern, fit-for-purpose examination rooms on school grounds where they are required.

When will schools commence in the program? It is anticipated that 20 Victorian Government secondary schools will be ready to deliver GP services on their school premises from Term 1, 2017. A further 40 will roll out from Term 3, 2017 with the remaining 40 secondary schools to be delivered from Term 1, 2018.

Amanda Summer-Student Welfare KSC Above Photo L-R: Mike (College Chaplain) Pam Macdonald (Assistant Principal) MaryAnne Thomas M.P., Amanda Summers (Student Welfare) with College Principal Mark Ridgeway. Left: Mary-Anne Thomas with Amanda Summers

Student Teacher Article “ I went to Kyneton Secondary College over 20 years ago and I have been lucky to have 5 and 1/2 weeks back here as part of a DipEd placement. I have been inside lots of different schools as a visiting workshop provider over the years and I am so impressed by the staff and students of this school. So many smart, passionate, caring people working together to make KSC a great place! Katie Matthews and Kat Vearing were my mentors so I got to see Humanities, English, Drama and Theatre Studies classes in action. In year 7 English the students are responding to novels in essay form. It's a tricky business converting the great ideas everyone has in class discussion to written essay form. Did you know an introduction of an idea is a bit like formally introducing a friend or acquaintance? The more you know the idea you are introducing the easier it is to introduce it. In year 7 Humanities we got to go on an archaeological dig in sand boxes in the class room. Managing a 'dig budget' while discovering artefacts for analysis back at our museum headquarters, was very interesting. Then we made some Facebook page template entries as if we were Greek Gods. In Theatre Studies students are working on a performance of a moving piece about homeless kids called Hoods. We all went on an excursion to Melbourne to see a fantastic MTC production of Jasper Jones. I got to sit in on classes in Sexual Health with Kristin who presented some really fantastic material on the prevention of disease as well as dangers of sexting and misuse of pornography. During my session in English Literature we all reflected on how we were or were not big R romantics with the inspiring and enthusiastic Faye Zollia (I so am). I was fortunate to experience an incredible year 12 English class with Julie Daws. I was blown away by the quality of the kid’s writing and their really smart opinions and written skill and how thoroughly they are being prepared for the final assessments. Lastly, I attended year 11 Maths with Carmel Coghlan and saw kids confidently calculate the capacity of a hemisphere. It was a really positive experience for me. Teachers really are worth their weight in gold! I hope you all have a refreshing and relaxing holiday YOU ALL DESERVE IT! “

Sky Lilly Simpson Above left: Student teacher Sky at the production of Jasper Jones.

Student Teacher

Kyneton Secondary College: Planner Term 4, 2016 – last modified 14/9/16 MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

3rd October

4th October

5th October Live4Life –period 1-4

6th October

7th October

10th October

11th October

12th October

13th October VCAL Presentations Evening

14th October Final Year 12 assembly

17th October On Demand testing Last day year 12

18th October On Demand testing

19th October Whole school assembly

20th October On Demand testing School Council

21st October On Demand testing School Captain elections

4 Gold

24th October

25th October

26th October Year 12 exams start

27th October

28th October

5 Blue

31st October

1st November

2nd November Kyneton Cup Day

3rd November

4th November Year 8 workshop – period 3 & 4

7th November Year 11 Study Day

8th November Year 11 Exam week

9th November Year 11 Exam week

10th November Year 11 Exam week

11th November Year 11 Exam week

14th November Year 12 Orientation program

15th November Year 12 Orientation program

16th November Year 12 Orientation program Autism Transition Day – period 1 –4

17th November Year 12 Orientation program School Council

18th November Year 12 Orientation program

21st November

22nd November

23rd November CURRICULUM DAY

24th November Year 10 exams

25th November Year 10 exams Valedictory Dinner

28th November Year 10 – 11 orientation program

29th November Year 10 – 11 orientation program

30th November Year 10 – 11 orientation program

1st December

2nd December Report Writing Day

5th December

6th December Orientation Day (year 9 required only) Building Program Presentation to Community

7th December

8th December 7 & 8 Student Led Conferences School Council Thankyou to Volunteers

9th December Year 7 – 9 Activities

12th December Report Distribution Day

13th December Year 7 – 9 Activities

14th December Year 7 – 9 Activities Presentation Night

15th December Year 7 – 9 Activities

16th December Year 7 – 9 Activities Moving Day

19th December General Office closed Moving Day

20th December General Office closed End Term 4

1 Blue 2 Gold 3 Blue

6 Gold 7 Blue

8 Gold

9 Blue

10 Gold

11 Blue

12 Gold

Important Message .Advice from the Department of Education.

Dear Parents As the school holidays are approaching, you may have plans to travel on Victoria’s roads. Significant rain is expected to fall over much of Victoria over the next few days, which may result in flooding. Because of this rainfall, there is an increased risk to those travelling on our roads, and it is possible that houses across the State may be impacted as well. I urge you to heed the following advice from emergency services: 

You should never drive through floodwater – it only takes about 15 centimetres of water to lose control of your vehicle.

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Drive to the conditions around you and be aware of road hazards such as mud, debris, damaged roads and bridges.



Roads in your area could be damaged by the bad weather so plan your journey and monitor VicTraffic for road condition updates and any road closures, see: Vic Traffic



Never swim, walk or play in floodwater, it is dangerous and may contain hazardous debris or toxins.

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If your property is at risk of flooding, please raise belongings onto tables, benches or beds and if you are on a farm, consider moving your livestock to higher ground.



Remain informed with emergency broadcasters to ensure you are up-to-date with the latest conditions and if possible, make sure your neighbours are aware of the situation. For more information, see: Vic Emergency

Many thanks, and have a safe and enjoyable holiday break.

Department of Education Article from the Past

HIGH SCHOOL BOOK LISTS Kyneton high school students can now collect their book lists for 1981 from Collins’ Authorised Newsagency, Kyneton. After many months of organisation by the Education Department and a final selection by teachers, all books are now available. Mr Tim Collins, proprietor of the newsagency said students can pick up a book list, mark it in and then leave and collect books at a later date, or wait and take them on the spot. Extra staff has been employed to cater for extra work involved in making up the lists. People from outlying areas can take advantage of collection of books on the spot, which will save extra travelling and time Guardian Express 20th January 1981.

News from the Nurse Health & Wellbeing 3 things can help us to improve our health and wellbeing: 1) eating healthy foods 2) moving / exercising 3) getting good sleep

.

We may think of these as helping our physical health but they also help our mental health. Sleep: *is important for the body to rest and repair its systems and, for younger people, needed for growth and development * sleep deprivation may affect our psychological effects so reduce our emotional and mental health *young people who do not get enough sleep will not learn as efficiently *children require 10 – 12 hours per night and teens should get 9 hours of sleep per night Food: *eating a nourishing diet with a wide variety of foods can improve your overall sense of wellbeing. It’s a good idea to avoid fatty foods and foods with lots of sugar in them. *foods influence the health of the brain – thoughts, feelings and mood - and the brain is acutely sensitive to what we consume in our daily lives. *just as the products that we put into a car affect its performance, so our brain is designed to work most effectively when certain nutritional requirements are met. Exercise: *being inactive is associated with poorer mental health and evidence suggests that increased levels of exercise can positively impact on mood and general wellbeing. *for health benefits young people aged 13–17 years should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity every day. More information is available from the SAFEMinds website from Headspace and the Department of Education

.

Viv Harris- KSC Health Promotion School Nurse

Community News

SCHOOL HOLIDAY COOKING CLASS Monday 19 September, 10am – 12pm Kyneton Community & Learning Centre 7-15 year olds, $30 per student Contact Kate on 0404 205 144 Email: [email protected] www.facebook.com/tastingfitness

XtremeInc in partnership with Mount Alexander Shire Council, Macedon Ranges Shire Council and the City of Greater Bendigo, are running girl focused beginner workshops to help you get up on your board and shredding.

'Girls Can Shred' aim to empower and promote leadership, focusing on individual level and promoting women’s skateboarding, whist having a hoot! Learn the basics of getting up on your board, stance, rolling and kick turning or for more advanced skaters getting up and down ramps, ollies and more! No experience needed, just a great attitude Booking fee $25pp for 1 1/2 hour workshop plus Prizes, Games/ Activities and a BBQ & group shred at the end! Graffiti workshop also available at Castlemaine only 12pm (all welcome) Book your spot at : www.trybooking.com/MZHF Group booking/ Discounts available. Eaglehawk Skatepark: Wednesday 28th September 2016 Castlemaine Skatepark Thursday 29th September 2016 Kyneton Skatepark Friday 30th September 2016~10.30am-12pm~ Ages: 10- 25 years welcome BYO Skateboard and we'll supply the safety gear

(please contact us if you would like a skateboard provided) For more information and to register please contact Jodie Hearn on 0407 643 495 or email [email protected] Sarah Cook-Youth Engage Program Officer Available Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays Youth Development Unit-MRSC T 03 5422 0296 M: 0402 087 949