I'd like to start this bulletin by commending our Year 12 students for their conduct on their final Celebration Day. We were fortunate to enjoy warm temperature and sunshine, a perfect backdrop for the vibrant costume displays, breakfast in the VCE courtyard and graduation cake. The Class of 2022 marked the end of their school days with a student led assembly, one of the highlights of which was Mr Tim Wood delivering a hilarious stand up comedy routine.

Every single student expected to attend the English exam earlier this week did so. We have been impressed by the very large numbers of students attending the college between exams for revision assistance. I wish you all the very best for the remainder of your exams - bring your best self to each exam and you can hold your head up high when your results come out.

Some other great events that have occurred over the past two weeks include Year 10 work experience, Year 9 Industry Interviews, GK/St Helena Tabloid Sports run by our students, and a very soggy camping experience for the Outer Edge students.

Important Dates

31 October Cup Eve - Professional Practice Day - PUPIL FREE

7-18 November Year 11 exams

11-18 November Year 10 exams

16 November Lockdown drill

17 November Year 12 Graduation

21-25 November Year 11 and Year 12 (2023) Orientation Program

28 Nov -2 Dec Year 10 Workshop Week

30 November Year 7 HPV Vaccination

2 December Year 10 last day

12 December Presentation Night

13 December Year 7 2023 Orientation Day

14 December Years 7-9 Big Day In (St Helena Fair)

15-19 December Redemption days for students with unsatisfactory academic results

Congratulations

Congratulations to our Year 10s who completed work experience 17 - 21 October. Our students were able to try out a range of careers and participate in some amazing experiences from being a Zookeeper at Melbourne Zoo, to using 3D printing to create prosthetic hands for people in need. They worked in hospitals, primary schools, law firms, aircraft engineering, a range of trades, retail, hospitality, the equine industry, manufacturing, just to name a few. The feedback from employers was highly complimentary of our students who represented themselves and St Helena Secondary College incredibly well.

Successful grant application

We are so thrilled to receive the news that our grant application for a Virtual Reality classroom program has been approved! The College will be able to purchase a class set of virtual reality devices that can be used to enhance and provide many valuable learning experiences we could not otherwise access. A large part of our project is the involvement of the broader education community, and we will be very proud to share our learnings with a range of other providers.

Congratulations to Jenny Heathcote for lighting the spark and seeing the potential of this technology, and to Caitlin Fecondo for the grant application.

The $10 million North East Community Fund gives community groups and organisations the opportunity to deliver exciting new initiatives and projects in Melbourne’s north east, bringing lasting community benefit to areas most impacted by construction.

The Fund will improve community connectedness through annual rounds of grants and partnerships funding and offer sponsorship funding of up to $5000 all year round on an as-needs basis.

Funding is available for community groups, not-for-profits, sports clubs and schools and will support a range of community initiatives – from tree planting, uniforms for local sports clubs, to community art exhibitions, festivals and events.

The first round of grants and partnerships have been awarded to community groups and organisations for festivals, events, and upgrades to local infrastructure and community, sporting and recreational facilities.

Applications for the next round of North East Community Fund grants and partnerships will open in 2023.

(bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/north-east-link-program/about/necf)

School Review

Every Victorian government school undertakes a review with an external reviewer once every 4 years. Our next review will be held towards the end of Term 1 2023.

The review looks at how we have progressed towards meeting our goals through examination of data - qualitative and quantitative. We will be collecting this data over the next couple of months and will be asking for your input so that we can hold a robust review that produces meaningful and challenging goals for the school for the next 4 years.

College policies

Part of our preparation for review is updating all of our policies. You can find all relevant college policies on our website at www.sthelena.vic.edu.au - drop down menu - information - A-Z policies.

Free Webinar for Parents: How to help your child manage their stress and wellbeing

We’re excited to announce that Elevate Education's next free webinar will be taking place on Wednesday 9th November.

Elevate Education works with our students, delivering high impact workshops on study skills, motivation, wellbeing, and exam preparation. By tuning into their webinar series you will learn how you can help better support your children at home through reinforcing the skills they learn at school:  

Wednesday 9th November @ 6:30pm (AEDT)

Click here to register for free

In this webinar Elevate will be showing parents:

✅ How to spot your child's stress symptoms early

✅ How to start a conversation about emotional wellbeing

✅ Techniques your child can use to self-manage stress

Send some love and appreciation

Parents, students and staff can show their appreciation for teaching or education support staff who go above and beyond in their duties by emailing AskLeadership@sthelena.vic.edu.au with the name of the staff member and the reason for the merit. Everyone responds to some authentic praise!

You can also use the AskLeadership address to raise questions or concerns.

From the Principal

Dare to be Excellent

Term 4 Weeks 3 & 4 · 28 Oct 2022

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