FROM THE PRINCIPAL
YARRA RANGES LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Recently, I was contacted by Yarra Ranges Youth Services with an opportunity for a group of Year 10 students to participate in a leadership program. At an assembly last week I called for volunteers and I'm pleased to say that 6 of our students have nominated to be involved. The details of the program follow:
The ROAR Leadership program targets Year 10 (15-16 year old) young people from four identified secondary schools within Yarra Ranges. Each school is invited to nominate 6 young people to participate in the program. The desired outcome for the participants is for them to build their leadership skills and develop their own project to benefit their school or broader community.
The ROAR program is funded through the Victorian Government’s Engage funding and they are now in their fourth year of project delivery. Previous projects have included young people developing a ‘Youth Friendly Audit Tool’, mini motivational cards, and delivered projects in feeder primary schools.
3 WAY CONFERENCES
Thank you to all of the parents, guardians and students who attended our 3 Way Conferences yesterday. I hope it was a chance to see how your child has settled into the academic year and pass any information to classroom teachers that may assist with your child's learning. This year, the time frame was changed to encourage partnerships to be developed between home and school. I would be appreciative of any feedback regarding this change.
ROTARY AFFILIATION
On Tuesday February 24, I had the pleasure of attending the Rotary Youth Services dinner with teachers Daniel Sharp and Darren Strachan. The evening was a chance to link up with the local Rotary clubs, hear about some of the programs they have on offer and listen to students from schools within the local area speak about their experiences at being involved in each of the programs.
The programs, that are sponsored by Rotary, are aimed at personal development and giving students opportunities to improve their leadership skills. Some of the programs include:
Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA)
A 2 day program that simulates the General Assembly of the United Nations encourages students to learn about the views of other countries and participate in a forum at Parliament House. Public speaking, team work and learning about the perspectives of other countries are some of the many benefits of this program.
The Science Experience
This program is aimed at students in Year 9 and 10 who have an interest in science and technology. The program is a 2-4 day event and includes a number of universities from around Australia. The
format is 'hands on' and it introduces students to the possibilities of a career in these areas.
Year 10 Four Way Test Public Speaking Competition
This program promotes public speaking for students in Year 10. The students work in teams and have to speak on a chosen topic for 4 minutes. This program aims at improving the student's ability to speak in public, work in a team and improving the skills of; planning, organising and researching. The heats will be held in August with the semi finals and finals later in the year.
A representative from Rotary is coming to talk to staff on Tuesday March 10 to inform them of the programs and then to talk to students who may be interested in any of the programs at a later date.
LUNCHTIME STUDY HALL
At the beginning of the year an initiative named 'Study Hall' was introduced to assist students to complete their work and be given extra support with their learning if needed.
Teachers refer their students to Study Hall if they have not completed classwork or homework, meet with them at the beginning of lunchtime and then other teachers, who have volunteered, help the students further if required.
This initiative has been very positive and we are now finding that some students are referring themselves to Study Hall to complete their work. Those who don't want to be referred by their teachers must make sure that they use their class time wisely and have their homework up to date!
The message that we want to send to students is that completing your work, learning and education is important and must be a priority.
2015 STUDENT CAPTAINS
Last week, the senior student leadership group was formally inducted into their roles for 2015 and at the same time introduced to the Year 10 students to give them a chance to see how the leadership structure works in the senior years.
Chris Cogan, Head of Senior School, also invited our high achievers from 2014 to give some insights about their success in Year 12 in 2014. The assemblies were a wonderful celebration of student success and I would like to thank everyone involved, particularly the senior school team. More assemblies will follow to induct our Year 9, 8 and 7 Captains.
Congratulations to our captains for 2015, we look forward to working closely with you in all matters of student life at Lilydale High.
School Captains
Otis Heffernan-Wooden and Shelby Parsons
Year 12 Captains
Chloe Dixon, Zoe Eggleton and Sam Abbott
Year 11 Captains
Sarah Appleby and Jordan Gialelis
Science Captains
Jordan Jogo and Lei Li
Sports Captains
Harry Garside and Brooke Goldsmith
Performing Arts Captains
Issy Thompson and Olivia Forsyth
Visual Arts Captains
Stephanie Creek and Taylah Easton
Humanities Captains
Molly Grant and Blake Wynne
Year 10 Captains
Riley Clausen and Mel De Laine
Year 9 Captains
Natasha Vrsecky and Rocci Pitasi
Year 8 Captains
Beau Tennant and Jayme (Jet) Harris
Year 7 Captains
To be advised at a later date
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Student Photographs
At Lilydale High School we celebrate the efforts of our students by mentioning their participation in school events and their achievements in our school newsletter. Photographs of the students may be included occassionly. We also use photographs of students in our school magazine along with examples of their work. Photographs of students are on our school Compass site. This site is protected and can only be accessed by school students, parents/guardians and staff.
On the school website there are images of students but we only ever use group photographs and we never identify the student’s name, only class and year number.
We invite local press to school events and they are expected to follow school policy on the publication of photographs of students. When a story is about an individual achievement we will always seek your consent before passing information or photographs to the press for publication. Unless a story features an individual child only group photos are published and students’ identified by first name and year only.
If you have any concerns about how photographs of your child may be used by the school please let me know.
WELL DONE TO LHS STUDENTS
Last week a car accident occurred near the William Street entrance of the school. I would like to acknowledge two of our Year 12 girls Chloe and Taylah who were first on the scene to render assistance. The family of the driver were very appreciative of the comfort, consideration and care given by our girls. It's always lovely to hear of our students engaging in wonderful deeds in the community.
Wendy Powson
Acting Principal