#VSSS18 NEXT MONTH!

Next month is the Victorian State Schools Spectacular at Hisense Arena. On Saturday 15th September there will be 2 shows at 1.00pm and 6.30pm. You can buy your tickets here.

We’re very excited and proud to have a large number of our RIA students featuring in this year’s Victorian State Schools Spectacular including:

• Tim Mason

• Alexander Soh

• Alison Hughes

• Ashley Lucey-Jannert

• Bridie Winder

• Briellyn Miller

• Broc Calwell

• Cassandra Jupi

• Daniel Tohill

• Dion Kapralos

• Ebony-Rose Dossetter

• Elisha Blood

• Feng-Mao Liu

• Holly Parker

• Joshua Douglas

• Phoebe Jansz

• Shariz Roca

• Shirvaun McGrath

• Tara Bell

• Tatiana Danyluk

• Taylah Neal

• Thomas Myszka!

Our students will be representing RIA as Ensemble and Principal Dancers; Choir, Backing and Principal Vocalists; Production Crew; Musicians and, of course, our amazing Circus Artiste and Magician! We can't wait to see the show.

MOTOYAMA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL VISIT

On Saturday the 28th of July our visitors from Motoyama Junior High School in Japan arrived at Melbourne Airport for a one-week stay. Yokoso! Welcome! Greeted by excited Rowville Secondary College students, staff and homestay families and taken to iconic tourist spots including Phillip Island, Docklands, Artvo, Healesville Sanctuary, Puffing Billy, Melbourne Zoo, Chadstone and more. Our guests enjoyed local cuisines like Beechworth Bakery pies and sausage rolls, pizza and pasta, and ‘good old’ pub classics like fish and chips and the traditional Sunday roast.

Rowville Secondary College has a long term friendship with Motoyama Junior High School which started over 15 years ago. This is the eighth visit from our sister school and we welcomed Principal Takuma Katsuda and his teachers Izumi Yano, Atsushi Ozaki and Tomoko Shimazu and also nine lovely Japanese students.

A ‘Welcome Ceremony’ was held to formally welcome our guests in front our school. College Principal Ms. Julie Kennedy gave a welcome speech and Mr. Katsuda gave a response speech, national anthems were played and gifts were exchanged. Throughout the week the Japanese students participated in classes including Drama, English, PE and Textiles. In Textiles, led by teacher Ms. Zaal everyone had the opportunity to sew their very own platypus to take back home.

Mr Ozaki gave an insightful class to our year 7’s on traditional Japanese stamp making and everyone made their very own stamps. In groups of three, the Japanese students presented lessons to our students on Origami, Hiragana and Katakana Calligraphy and Japanese Pop Culture – Anime and Manga.

“It is such a privilege and honour to have a close relationship with our sister school in Japan. Our strong friendship is beneficial to our students overall learning experience and school community. Sharing culture, knowledge, skills and talent between Australia and Japan is invaluable and I look forward to our future with our sister school,” said Ms. Kennedy, College Principal.

“Australia you are very kind. When opening the door you say thank you. Australian people have very good manners and love birds and animals. Thank you for having us Rowville”, Miss Shimazu, Teacher.

A wonderful winter day out in Melbourne was enjoyed by our guests visiting Parliament House with dignitary Kim Wells MP, Federation Square, Eureka Skydeck, South Bank and a walk through Bourke Street Mall only to catch a tram for some souvenir shopping at The Queen Victoria Market.

On Friday we held our Farewell Ceremony to say goodbye and thank our guests for a fantastic week at Rowville Secondary College. Gifts were given as tokens of their Australian visit and a slideshow of the week’s adventure played in the background. Sayonara to our friends we will miss you!

Visit our website for more photos.

PRODUCTION 'A HUGE SUCCESS'

It’s a wrap! Thank you to our wonderful community for all of your support. The Little Mermaid has been our biggest show to date. We sold out 3 shows!

Congratulations and well done to all cast, crew and our musicians on yet another outstanding performance. A BIG thank you to our brilliant, talented and inspirational Production Directors Ms. Kacey Hocking and Ms Julia Duke. It was such an amazing & unforgettable show!

“I can’t stop telling people how much my two daughters and I LOVED this performance. The cast, each and everyone of them were truly amazing. The orchestra need just as much credit, as do the behind the scenes crew. Can’t wait for my girls to go to Rowville Secondary College and be in one of these awesome productions.”

Visit our website to read more reviews & see photos.

INFORMATION FOR YEAR 7'S STARTING IN 2019

On our website we have a comprehensive page set up for all the key things you need to know about if you have a child starting in Year 7 next year. Included are details on Books, Year 7 Information Night, Orientation Day, Blazer Fittings and more. Make sure you visit this page.

Alternatively if you have a specific question please call our office on 9755 4555.

2019 COURSE SELECTION IS OPEN

Course Selections for 2019 is currently open! If you are entering Year 9, Year 10, Year 11 or Year 12 next year please visit our 2019 Course Selection website and make your subject selection. Please note subject selection closes on Thursday 30th August at 4.00pm.

RIA GIG NIGHT

Our talented music students performed with a live band in front of friends and family at The Skylark Room in Upwey on Monday 16th July and Tuesday 17th of July for RIA Gig Night. The theme was music from the 90's. Watch Video 1 & Video 2 on our Facebook.

Photos - Monday 16th July

Photos - Tuesday 17th July

LEARNING PROFILE POSTER IN EVERY CLASSROOM!

On both campuses and in every classroom we now have a Learner Profile Poster displayed. This poster outlines 12 key learning strengths that support the development of curious and powerful learners. Our aim at RSC is that these strengths will become embedded in the language and activities of our classrooms. Together, as a community, we want to build all these strengths within our students to help them develop a strong identity as a learner. We strive to increase student awareness and abilities by applying these attributes into their day-to-day lives; both from an educational and learning perspective, and also for their social wellbeing benefit. "Our consistent focus on the learner profile is a meaningful way we can engage our students in building skills and traits that will strengthen their learning, increase independence and prepare them for the future ," says Robyn Geake, Assistant Principal.

VicSRC CONGRESS

Hello, my name is Connor and I was one of the three students that our school sent to the VicSRC Congress. This amazing event which I was lucky enough to go to is held every year by the Victorian Student Representative Council and the goal of this event is to bring students from across Victoria together to debate, decide and act on the most important issues that matter the most to us and our education system.

Once at the VicSRC Congress the students who had issues that they believed faced our education system gave speeches about their issue and why it needed to be fixed. After the speeches had occurred, each student chose an issue they were passionate about. After the groups were formed, the next three days were spent working on why their issue was so important, what their issue was and viable solutions to those issues. My group was faced with the issue that there is no transparency in our school system. By transparency I mean there is no communication between the students and teachers as well as no communication between the teachers and the actual Department of Education.

My group aimed to eliminate this lack of communication by implementing ways that the students could get more information on what is occurring in their school and why. Once communication was achieved then the students could collaborate with the teachers to make the change they wish to see, but the students also need to be able to comprehend what was occurring so we were also pushing for ways that would allow all to understand why the decisions were being made. Once we had come up with the solution which our group had to present to the other groups as well as the Minister of Education. Our issue was one of five to be chosen by the other students to be focused on by the VicSRC over the next year.

Overall this experience was absolutely amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone who desires to make a positive impact on the world. The reason I loved and would recommend this event to others is because of all the amazing and passionate people that attend the event, it’s just filled with positive and lovely people, the food is amazing, and the list just goes on and on. But I would love to say thank you to Rowville Secondary College for allowing me to go and that if you want to make a change go to VicSRC 2019.

Written by Connor, Year 10 Student.

FOOD DONATION DRIVE FOR FOOD BANK VICTORIA

Some of our Year 12 students for their community project are collecting food donations for Food Bank Victoria. We're currently seeking food donations from our community and a box has been set up at our West office to collect these. Please see flyer below for types of food we are looking for. If you are at the East campus, please drop off at the East office. Last day to donate is Thursday 6th September .

VCAL GARAGE SALE

We are currently looking for donations to sell - visit our website for more details.

FRIENDS OF MUSIC TRIVIA NIGHT

Saturday 1st September at 7pm

IT'S HERE AGAIN! After a few years off it’s time for a music department social evening for students, family and friends. Gather together your team for a fun social night of general trivia, games and a little music! These nights are a lot of fun and help support our wonderful growing department with all money raised going towards the Music Department.

Visit our website for details & to book tickets.

RISE HEALTH GROUP BLOG

Do you need health and fitness tips and advice? Visit our Rise Health Group Blog page on our website. The blog provides detailed information on hydration, stretching, sleep, knee pain and more. All blogs are written by the professional team at Rise Health Group. Click here to read blog.

BILL TURNER CUP - ALBURY

Rowville U15 soccer boys travelled to Albury NSW for a 2 day tournament from Aug 7-8. They won their Round of 32 game against Cowra (NSW) in a convincing manner, defeating them 11-1.

Through to the Round of 16, they played St. John Paul College (ACT) in very trying conditions.

In the pouring rain they managed to dominate possession, giving 100%, but unluckily lost 2-1.

A fantastic effort from all involved, admirably representing the school and Victoria.

A big thank you to Joao Tam of Passion Creations Photography for his wonderful shots.

Day 1 photos

Day 2 photos

LOST PROPERTY

We have a big box of lost clothing items at the Western Campus. If you have lost something pop into the admin office to have a look.

EASTERN METROPOLITAN ZONE - AFL SUCCESS

On Tuesday 31st July, we had 120 students representing our school at East Burwood Reserve for the SSV Eastern Metropolitan Zone Finals day. The teams that had qualified for this stage were our Year 7 Boys, Year 8 Boys, Junior Girls, Intermediate Boys and Intermediate Girls.

The Intermediate’s started the day off superbly with a resounding win for the boys over Box Hill Senior Secondary College and a come from behind win from the girls! The girls were down by 25 points at the ¾ time break, only to dominate in the final quarter and managing to overrun the Ringwood Secondary College girls in the final quarter, finishing the match 7 point victors.

The Year 7 & 8 Boys both had dominant displays of their excellent skills, barely giving their opponents any opportunities to score. And finally, the Junior girls played an exceptional match with the score drawn at full time, only to go down by 5 points in overtime.

With 4/5 wins and 4 teams heading to the State Quarter and Semi Final matches in Week 5 of this term all players and student assistants represented our school exceptionally well through incredible sportsmanship and an excellent showcase of AFL. Well done to all!

Written by Ms. Keira Wills, Sports & House Competition Coordinator.

AUTHOR VISIT

The RSC library had the privilege to invite Tristan Bancks the author of ‘Two Wolves’ the book that our Year 7s are currently reading as their English text. On Thursday the 9th of August, Tristan came along and talked to all of our Year 7s in the PAC for the afternoon. Our students were very impressed, here's what the had to say:

"During the author talk with Tristan Bancks, he talked about stories from his childhood, how he used them as a foundation and linked these to writing his books. I liked his exciting story about his ‘accidental’ appendix removal. Everyone found it extremely interesting and funny, including me." Ella, 7P

"It was an honour to meet author Tristan Bancks. He talked about ‘Two Wolves’ the book we are reading in Year 7, his other books and how it linked to what happens in his life. He gets his inspiration writing on what is outside. He talked about what happened when he was a child. Tristan also was an actor. He acted in the movie ‘Beneath Clouds’. We really had a good time." Elena 7P

SCIENCE WEEK

“As part of Science Week at Rowville Secondary College students have had the opportunity to experience science activities that a long time ago people thought happened due to ‘magic’ simply because a lack of understanding and knowledge. Students used microscopes to observe the movement of microorganisms that can only be seen if magnified. Previous to microscopes when people fell ill, especially during medieval times, it was often thought that the person may have been cursed because of prior actions or discretions, ”

said Braedan Johnstone, Teacher.

We also had Rocket Launching in the plaza at the East and visited Rowville Primary School on Thursday to showcase some fun and interactive experiments.

LITERATURE FESTIVAL THIS WEEK!

Literature Festival is this week across both campuses - check out all the events here.

ITALY TOUR 2019

We are excited to announce that we will be running an Italy Tour in 2019. This is an excellent opportunity for current and past students of Italian to perfect their spoken Italian, whilst tackling challenges that come with overseas travel.

We will be hosting an information session on Wednesday 29th August at 6:30pm in the Eastern Campus Library. We encourage any interested families to please come along to find out more about this exciting opportunity.

Full details regarding itinerary and costs will be outlined on the night. Please be aware that a Deposit of $1000 will be due Friday 28th September for students who commit to attend. Click here for proposed itinerary for the 2019 tour.

LIKE & FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

As part of the school community it's important to stay up-to-date with all the latest school news, events and stories. Make sure you like AND follow us on our official Facebook page and you won't miss a thing! Like our page.

DOWNLOAD SCHOOL PROSPECTUS

Our school prospectus is for anyone interested in finding out more about our One Great School. If you know of any families who may be interested in Rowville Secondary College - please share this with them. Download here.

WELLBEING CORNER

Billy our Therapy Dog in his new jacket

MEET OUR WELLBEING COORDINATORS

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR PARENTS & YOUNG PEOPLE

Raising resilient boys

Bringing up great kids

Knox young readers

Knox young parents group

Centre for culture, ethnicity & health

Hungry for success

Journey man

My options

Paws for thought

Assisting young people who self harm