The end of Semester 1 is quickly approaching and Year 11 students are currently doing their Unit 1 exams. The exam period is from Thursday, 31 May until Friday, 8 June.

There is some opportunity for students to change their Unit 1 subject and start a new subject for Unit 2.

As Year 11 is almost full, making the change might be difficult – the Senior School team will endeavour to do their best to maximise the learning opportunities for your child requesting the change.

On Wednesday, 27 June, once students are in their Unit 2 subjects we will host our special yearly event, the Year 11 assembly to celebrate “100 days of VCE/VCAL success”. This is always an exciting event, with speakers including our alumni students providing helpful advice and sharing their successes. Students will also be receiving awards for their contribution to the school, attendance as well as academic achievements.

On Monday, 14 May, all the Year 12 students attended an assembly where we had a guest speaker, David Howes, the Chief Executive Officer of VCAA (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority)

The GAT (General Achievement Test) is on Wednesday, 13 June 2018. Any student who is studying a Unit 3/4 subject in 2018 (including language outside the school) is required to do the GAT this year. It will be held in school’s gymnasium. Students were given their timetable from VCAA.

Information session were also held in Nindethana as preparation for the GAT and for students to ask questions. The Senior Sub School would like to acknowledge Ms Bec Carter for volunteering to run the sessions.

Semester Two for all Senior Sub School students starts on Tuesday, 12 June.

On Friday, 15 June all Year 12 VCE students will be doing their first ‘Practice Exam’ for English/EAL.

External assessors will mark this. We do this early on in the year as it is the most crucial time for all Year 12 students to start putting in extra time and effort to their studies to get the most out their final year at school. It is compulsory that all students attend.

Enrichment classes for Mathematical Methods (CAS) have commenced and will continue on a weekly roster for the rest of the term and into Term 3.

We are in the process of organising English Enrichment program to start Semester 2.

Year 12 VCAL

Immigration museum

On 21 May, our Year 12 VCAL students attended the Immigration Museum as part of their Cultural diversity unit. Three students, Harry Gill, Mal Maguang and Kashish Malhortra, planned and organised the event which saw students take part in a museum lead session on ‘Push and Pull’ factors of immigration since the gold rush era. The interactive program allowed students to see the different contributions made by immigrants over time through traditional costumes, secondary source news articles and maps.

We then went on a self-guided tour of the rest of the museum to learn more about the impact of immigration on Australia.

The next stop on our excursion was a brisk walk to China town where we took part in a Chinese banquet lunch at The Crane restaurant. We were spoilt with a range of dishes including black bean beef, sweet and sour pork, lemon chicken, steamed fish and vegetables, fried rice to name a few, Our vegetarian students were also catered for with delicious vegetarian options.

Thank you to the group for planning an informative and culinary experience.

Multicultural Day

Continuing with the Cultural Diversity theme, Year 12 planned a whole school lunchtime activity highlighting the cultural diversity of our school. Students chose a country to showcase with foods and traditional costumes and props.

Ours leaders for the activity Dawnie Elisara and Bao Nguyen work tirelessly with facilities, canteen, hospitality and music faculties to orchestrate a perfect event.

The event took place on a sunny lunchtime Friday, 25 May with our leaders organising traditional music from around the world. We had a Vietnamese dance group perform, a troupe of Year 9, 10 and 11 boys carry out the Haka and the wonderful voices of the Year 11 and 12 students round off the entertainment for the event. A big thank you to Maioa Timoteo for organising the singers and Haka performers at short notice.

We had the following countries and cuisine on display:

Italy –Pizzas, China- dumplings, Vietnam –rice noodles and spring rolls, Philippines-sticky rice

Australia- meat pies and tim tams, America-Hot dogs, Samoa-curried sausages, potato salad

England –butterfly cakes and iced tea Malta-traditional sweets, Mexico-tacos and Mexican punch

France- chocolate croissants Japan –Sushi and origami activities, Romania-traditional sausages, roast potatoes and bread.

A great lunchtime activity was had by the whole school community.

Year 11 VCAL

The Year 11 students are continuing with their program of Financial Literacy in Numeracy. In their other classes they are working on Occupational Health Safety and Chase activities in WRS. Job Interview skills and self-development programs in PDS. Health, fitness and wellbeing activities in Literacy.

Work placements and Vet courses are continuing but will have a break over the two week holiday period.

Again, we would like to thank parents who contact us when their child is absent for any reason. This is of great assistance to the Year Level Coordinators, as we call home regularly if there are any unexplained absences. The Case Management process continues to monitor closely the attendance, achievement and individual needs of all our students. Please contact us on 9366 2555 if you have any queries or concerns about your child.

Stav Bekiaris

Senior Sub School Leader

Teenage Depression information night