SCHOOL NEWS

TRANSITION PROGRAM AND LANGUAGES

Year 7 students accompanied by Mrs De Kretser, Ms Fowler and Mr Hubert visited McKinnon Primary School, Valkstone Primary school and Bentleigh West Primary School in Terms 3 and 4.  Our students reflected on their first year at McKinnon when all Grade Six Primary students asked their questions about “What’s it like at McKinnon?”  Our students answered all the students’ questions with relevant information and provided a short introduction to the Languages programs at McKinnon.

It was great to see how the youngest of our school community represented the College with pride.  I would like to congratulate all students on their excellent behavior and communication skills and thank Mrs De Kretser and Mr Hubert for organizing and supporting the students in this program.

VET PROGRAM IN YEAR 10 CONTINUES WITH SUCCESS

After our first successful year of an integrated VET program in the Year 10 Language course, we decided to continue our cooperation with Vocational Pathways (our RTO) in 2013 to offer the Certificate II in Applied German and French.  This year around fifty students completed this certificate which provides a national accreditation of Language learning, and for next year more than eighty students have been enrolled. Congratulations to all Year 10 students who completed their first Language qualification!

FRENCH EXCHANGE 2013

Currently a group of thirteen Year 10 French students accompanied by Mr Hubert are returning the visit to their exchange partners in the South of France.  They will explore the local areas on school excursions and with their host families and attend our Exchange partner school, the Centre International de Valbonne.  We wish them well for the remaining time and we all look forward to hearing from their adventures next year. 

Thank you to the exchange coordinators, Mr Nutting and Mr Absalom, for their continuous effort in organising this great opportunity for our students, and to all parents and students involved for their generous contribution to this program.

SPANISH SISTER SCHOOL PROGRAM

Following our Principals’ visit a website has been set up to start collaboration between teachers and students.  We have chosen one of the Year 7 classes to initiate the contact with one of the Spanish classes which will continue in 2014. Students have introduced themselves, photos of the classes were posted on our shared website and we hope that there might already be some private exchanges happen during the holiday period.  I would like to thank the Spanish coordinator Marta Pena Garrido and her team for their cooperation so far and we look forward to working with their classes in the future. 

Exchange students and hosts visiting Monaco

CHRISTMAS - Did you know ....

The common abbreviation of Christmas to "Xmas" is derived from the Greek alphabet. "Chi," the first letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet, is written as "X."

Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nikolas of Myra, the world's most popular non-biblical saint.

Santa Claus has different names in different countries: Sheng Dan Lao Ren in China, Father Christmas in England, Papa Noel in Brazil and Peru, and Pere Noel in France.

The earliest known Christmas tree decorations were apples.

The French gave the biggest Christmas present ever in 1886. It was the Statue of Liberty, and they gave it to the United States of America. (The French have one too, a smaller one, in Paris.)

I would like to extend best wishes for the festive season to the McKinnon community!

Frohe Weihnachten! Joyeux Noël! Buon Natale! Feliz Navidad! God Jul! Kala Christougenna! Shuvo Baro Din! Shubh Naya Baras! Gute Vaynakhtn! Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva! Kung His Hsin Nien! Shinnen omedeto!

Andrea Fowler

KLA Manager Languages