International Students

International Student Hub officially open!

Yesterday we held an Opening Ceremony for our brand-new International Student Learning Hub.  Our guests included: Linda Vaughan- Executive Director of International Education Division, Matt Flemming- Senior Marketing and Communications Officer of IED, Éva McMaster-Senior Education Improvement Leader of DET, Harry Bui – 2022 VGLA International Student of the Year, Berry EAIN-DSC 2023 College Capitan. During the ceremony, we showcased:

• The positive role of the International Student Program at our school
• The importance of diversification of the International Student Program 
• The benefits of international students taking leadership roles at our school and at community level
• A range of programs specifically designed for international students
• Positive feedback from our international students and their local buddies about the hub

I want to thank our principal team Glenn and Belinda for attending the ceremony and also for their ongoing support to all international students. Since the hub opened to international students in term 3 this year, they feel the extra love and support from our school and have a stronger sense of belonging.

Thank you everyone for supporting our international students and hopefully we will get bigger and better next year.  

Please read our feature article about this event and the purpose of the Hub in this edition of the DSC College newsletter.

2022 Australian Olympic Change-Maker Award

This year, close to 1000 students have received the Award from Australian Olympic Committee across Australia. The nominations have overwhelmingly highlighted how students have used sport to create change in some of the most creative and unexpected ways proving that the power of sport is truly limitless.

Our international student Berry EAIN is one of those award-winning students. Recently Australian Olympic Committee emailed and posted her award to us. This award is ‘in recognition of her demonstration of the Olympic Spirit through leadership and driving positive change in her community.’ Australian Olympic Committee also greatly appreciates Doncaster Secondary College participating in this program. 

Big congratulations to Berry and to our school.

 International Student Buddy Program update

International Student Buddy Program aims at pairing newly arrived international students with existing DSC students, offering them support from peers who have adjusted well socially and achieved excellent academic results.

Ruby Y. started at DSC in November 2022 and she enjoyed her support and friendship with her buddy/good friend Nella (Emmanuella) ONWUMERE.  Here are their reflections of club experience.

I participated in the Chess club with Nella since she encouraged me to do so. Unluckily, the library was occupied, so the club was hosted in middle school instead. In the club, I played my first ever game of chess with her - it was a little complicated, but since there was a guide printed readily for us, I quickly got the hang of it. In the end I lost to Nella, but we had lots of fun so it doesn't really matter. 

To be honest, I wasn't too keen on going to clubs in the school, especially something foreign like chess, but the people there were very friendly and accommodating. I really appreciate Nella for getting me to try something new, I would've been so scared I wouldn't even dare to step foot inside the club, let alone trying out a game of chess.   

Ruby YIP, Year 8

We went to chess club which is ran by members of the Wellbeing committee, during that time I and Ruby got to talk and share things that we have in common and i also introduced her to some of my friends and told her things about the school like other clubs the school. 

All through that week I took her to some of my favourite clubs like the music club where i got to hear her play the piano and showed her my violin, and game club where we got to play uno with some of my friends. 

I had such a great week getting to know ruby and show her around tell her about the adventures I’ve had in Doncaster secondary school.  

Emmanuella (Nella) ONWUMERE, Year 8

Victoria Young Leaders: 

Global Youth Forum Day-International students’ involvement

Our International students at DSC are very active in student leadership opportunities and here is the reflection of two students who have been part of Victoria Young Leaders: Global Youth Forum. 

In Victoria Young Leaders: Global Youth Forum, I was having a meeting with lots of schools in Victoria and schools from Asia such as China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia etc. This forum was hosted by the Asia Education Foundation from University of Melbourne. 

In this forum, I get to talk with students from other schools and share our ideas about “Global Citizen”. I also got to listen to the experiences of some people that were really successful in their life at a young age. 

There were a few points that we focused on which are global learning and engagement, intercultural understanding, student voice, student agency, student voice, and student leadership. Additionally, in the topic that we needed to choose a problem that has happened in your schools or communities, our school, Doncaster Secondary College chose to do the bullying in our school, we found out that most of the students that are Asian or have Asian consanguinity, especially international students that recently arrived here have experienced the bullying or racism. This problem usually comes from the local students that are young and don’t have the understanding of Asian culture. But as Australians, they all should know that Australia is one of the biggest multicultural countries in the world, also there are lots of international students in our school that come from different countries around the world, so this shouldn't be the problem that has happened in our school. Furthermore, we found out that this problem might happen because of the misunderstanding of the different cultures. 

Our solution is to run some programs that help all the students to get together and try to understand each other. Our opinion is that even though we are from different countries and have different backgrounds, we are here in the same school, so we should make our school enjoyable and be happy together. 

Moreover, we have discussed this topic with other schools around Victoria and around the world. Other schools have agreed with our idea and solution to the problem, they support us to stand up for ourselves and stop the bullying, this also will help our society to become better and better. We also got to know about the problem that happened in their school. Some of the problems that they were talking about happened in our school too. This was very disappointing to know, we also support and encourage them to solve the problem and protect each other from the horrible troubles. However, this was a really good opportunity for me to join. I'm so happy to get a chance to share my ideas and talk about what happened in our school. 

This forum has taught me a lot about how to be a good global citizen and a good young leader. From this forum I have learnt lots of new ideas that are extremely useful to me and my future. I also got to know that success is hard for everyone to get, especially at a young age. 

In conclusion, I sincerely urge everyone to participate in this forum next year or whenever they get the chance. Everyone had a fantastic opportunity to participate and gain experience. When you join our forum, you will significantly advance as a person. 

Elly TE, Year 9

During the Victoria Young Leaders Forum, I along with other year 9 students have discussed about problems and topics through different perspectives (Locally, Nationally, and Globally). Not only that we discussed and brainstormed those issues among students from our school, but we also had the opportunity to connect other schools in Australia as well as schools from other countries. 

I wanted to be a part of this forum because it is a great chance for me step out of my comfort zone and confidently share my opinions. This has embraced my understandings about typical school days in different countries and how different cultural backgrounds influence people’s perspectives.

Lisa CHEA, Year 9

DSC International Student elected as 2023 College Captain

Big congratulations to our international student Berry EAIN who was selected as 2023 DSC College Capitan. Here is her response to question ‘Describe what you think are your best leadership achievements as an international student’

Since young, I have always had strong intentions of striving for the betterment of my community, however, was never afforded with the privilege to lead or explore “human rights” and “democracy” in my home country, Myanmar. Especially as I was a young female student, I was never respected at school nor in my community, let alone receiving the support to strive for a change. Therefore, being educated in Australia became one of my deepest gratitude. The equality, justice and freedom in this country inspired me to seek for aspects of leadership roles which I could not experience back home.

As I arrived in Australia, I immediately took up a position in the Australia Air League and now hold the title of Leading Cadet. Adopting such a role within the League had set me up for leadership through sharpening my sense of discipline and organisation - qualities that I believe are imperative to being a successful leader. 

This has influenced me to always raise my hand for any opportunity that was presented to me. I soon began to apply for additional leadership roles where I fortunately was selected to become School Captain of Doncaster Secondary College in 2023. Through this, I was not only able to represent my peers from across all year levels but also become the voice of international students as well as creating a bridge between the two communities.

- Berry Eain, Year 11

Supporting International students’ Ongoing Progress

Our International team are continuously supporting our international students who need to improve their English skills. 

We specifically chose the Alfie series by Shirley Hughes for our Reading Program. Shirley Hughes’ books have won multiple awards, and also received an OBE for her outstanding contribution to childrens’ literature. Her books are full of snapshots of family life, from breakfast to bedtime and from birthdays to walks in the park. Words and pictures merge seamlessly in her books, better facilitating our students to guess what their meanings are. 

The books are also at a good length and very suitable for our current Reading Program. We read a lot of the Alfie series during recess, lunch time and after school in our Learning Hub, helping students explore and familiarize themselves with different types of literacy. 

We read the following Alfie books as below:

• Alfie Gives a Hand
• Alfie’s Feet
• Alfie and Grandma (Looking for Winnie, A Journey to the North Pole, Lost Sheep) 
• Alfie on Holiday
• Alfie and the Big Boys
• Alfie’s Mum
• Alfie’s Big Adventure
• Alfie and the Birthday Surprise
• ALL About Alfie

These stories are always simple and engaging on the surface, but underneath they invariably present a lesson we can all learn from.

Key Learning Benefits from our Reading Program

1. Develop vocabulary and comprehension skills through relevant books that connect to students’ experiences
2. Engaging content that provides rich vocabulary to support learning.
3. Spark students’ interest while improving their reading skills with our Reading Program.
4. Promote their kindness and resilience through our Reading Program with many different types of topics.
5. Make real-world connections.

We hope our international students through our Reading Program make big progress in their learning journey in DSC. 

Ning Hong

International Student Program Assistant

Fruitful year for our international students

2022 is a fruitful year for our international students as we have had many of them receive awards from school end of the year presentation ceremony. 

Big congratulations to those students who achieved excellent results this year. 

Attendance Award-International student of term 4 2022

Congratulations to those students who have achieved 100% attendance in Term 4 study. You have shown us your ability of being resilient and being responsible for your own study.

Homestay Information and Awareness Session 2022

Under the guidance of the International Education Division, International Student Program at DSC held a two-hour Homestay Information and Awareness Session through online platform zoom.  The session covered 

the following information: 

o  Critical incident policies and procedures

o  DSC Child Safe Policy and Child Safe Code of Conduct

o  Identifying and reporting actual or suspected child abuse

o The Homestay Terms and Conditions, including any updates; expectations, roles and responsibilities of homestay providers 

o Any legislative or policy changes that will affect the homestay provider.

On behalf of Doncaster Secondary College, DSC Assistant Ms. Belinda MCGEE thanked all our homestay hosts for their extra effort on supporting the international students during the Year 2022. 

Christabel’s new project crochet blanket completed

This is a project that is a part of my skills in the MyDuke of Edinbrugh program. I was supposed to make a crochet blanket in the span of 6 months but looking back I think I took longer. I started with making little squares, about 54, that were later put together to make a 9 by 6 blanket. It was very time consuming, but I really like the results. I am appreciative of Ms Chiappa who was my assessor and was with me the whole way. This was my first big crochet project, and I am proud of how it turned out. 

Christabel ONWUMERE, Year 9

International student club celebration Christmas and Christmas hamper

As Christmas is approaching, the air is full of festive spirit. Our International team held the last club program for our newly arrival students to celebrate their first Christmas in our brand-new learning hub.

Our team prepared a big Christmas hamper with the golden “Merry and Bright” titled on the red cover of box, which had been placed on the table. 

Students sat around the table to participate in Christmas activities and discussed about Christmas culture as below.

• The meaning of the Christmas hamper
• Exchanging Christmas gifts
• Christmas dinner 
• The Kris Kringle
• How they celebrate Christmas in their country
• Boxing day

Then we received gifts from the Christmas hamper, so it was an exciting time for all of us. Giorgio, one of the international students used the Spinner Wheel tool to spin and decide who choose the gift in what order. They all were excited about their gifts and thanked DSC for them. 

Please find student’s reflection below. 

We discuss the celebration of Christmas in the other countries, which makes me know more about different Christmas culture. Miss Huang told us the events and activates that celebrate during Christmas in Australia, after that we got some Christmas chocolates. They were delicious and I can’t for my first Christmas in Australia!   

 -Chelsea HO

If it wasn't for this, I probably wouldn't have known what a hamper is! We had a little raffle for treats, where we put our names on a wheel online and spun it. Whoever's name it lands on gets to choose the prize first. Unexpectedly, I was the first one to have their name landed on, so I picked a box of peanut chocolate. I tried some of it with my mom and brother, it was very fragrant delicious. Thanks, Miss Huang, for organising this event!

-Ruby YIP

A Christmas hamper is a traditional gift containing small non-perishable food items, particularly seasonal favourites such as fruitcake or plum pudding, chocolate, nuts, jams, biscuits, honey, smoked or dried meats, and cheese. Today I received sweets from the box of Christmas hampers. We choose the sweets by using a lucky wheel to decide who goes first. I was the second last to choose the prize, so I still have a chance to pick. At last, I chose Christmas pudding, a sweet dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It is sweet, so I don’t think it is tasty.

-Venus Fung

Merry Christmas & small gift of appreciation to Homestay Hosts

DSC have asked our international students who live a with Homestay Family to bring a small gift of appreciation on behalf of school to them.

On behalf of Doncaster Secondary College, we would like to give a big thanks to all of our homestays Hosts for your extra effort on supporting our international students during the Year 2022. Their generosity and caring gestures have made students’ life much easier.

We wish our homestays Hosts a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! 

Year 12 international student farewell gift bag 2022

Well done to all of our Year 12 international students in successfully managing the combined pressure of working towards the big exam and handling the anxiety brought by this difficult time. The International Student Program has prepared a farewell bag to our lovely Y12 internationals. We wish you all the best for your bright future!

Sally HUANG 

Director of International Student Program 

Doncaster Secondary College

Phone: +61 3 9848 4677