Around the School

LOTE

Thank you/Merci/Terima Kasih from the LOTE team!

Well done to all LOTE students for a very successful year in 2016. We have had excursions, incursions and other exciting opportunities galore! A highlight for the year was definitely the Language Perfect World Championships which students participated in across both French and Indonesian.

Many thanks to all of the LOTE staff for their hard efforts in 2016. Their ability to inspire our students to enjoy second language learning and apply intercultural knowledge and understanding has been admirable.

As the year draws to a close, we unfortunately say goodbye to three very valued staff members from our wonderful faculty. We wish Julie Gleeson all the best in her retirement, Annie Van Eeden success in her new job teaching French at Camberwell and to Pak Ery Primaskara we say ‘Selamat Jalan’ as he embarks on his journey back home to Indonesia!

In saying that, we welcome four new staff members to the LOTE faculty in 2017. I am excited to announce that Eleni Stathatos and Sjnelle Jordan will return to LOTE after a few years out of the French classroom. We are also thrilled to welcome Marissa Lee and Beatrice Daugeut to the faculty. We are excited to have these new, young and enthusiastic teachers in our team and wish them all the best teaching French here at RSC!

On behalf of the whole faculty I would like to wish both parents and students a safe and relaxing holiday, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Salam/Regards,

Jessica Lundie

Head of Languages

A message from our Indonesian Language Assistant!

Spending almost a year at Ringwood Secondary College has been full of excitement and a memorable experience for me.

I was hired by the Department of Education and Training Victoria as Indonesian Language Assistant to work at RSC with 2 amazing Indonesian teachers, Jessica Lundie and Virginia Martin. Both of them have great character and extraordinary passion in teaching Indonesian to the students at RSC which makes me, as Indonesian, feel honored to see how well my national language has been being taught at this school. Moreover, the enthusiasm of the RSC students to learn Indonesian is also remarkable.

The collaboration of teacher and students in every learning activity always give me new things to learn. In addition, the existence of ‘Indo club’ at RSC is a wonderful place for students who want to gain more opportunity in getting to know about the target language.

I would not be surprised if in the future RSC became one of the schools in Victoria with the most decent Indonesian language program.

I wish the school, the teachers and the students the best of luck in the future.

Pak Ery Adam Primaskara

Year 7 Indonesian – The Final Chapter

For those of you who have been following the journeys of our Year 7 Indonesian students over the course of 2016, we say thank you!

The end of the year saw our students participating in an authentic learning experience whereby students learned about Sustainable Palm Oil and the Indonesian environment and then shared their findings with a junior primary school audience at Ringwood North Primary School. The staff and students at RNPS were blown away by the high quality of our student work. Students were inspired by the documentary ‘Rise of the Eco Warriors’ where 15 young people from across the world spent 100 days in the Indonesian rainforest to tackle this issue firsthand. Whilst we couldn’t take students to Indonesia for 100 days, instead they voluntarily became the ‘RSC Eco Warriors’ who wanted to spread the message. By creating a YouTube channel and sharing their videos with the world, we hope that more people can become aware of the dangers of unsustainable palm oil and the importance of mandatory palm oil labelling in Australia to save the Indonesian environment.

If you wish to view the student work you can do so through our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNPdAu8TjJKrTUFJoojkK3A

Or by searching: RSC Indonesian on YouTube!

Indonesian Excursion to Melbourne Zoo!

On Wednesday the 7th of December, twenty students from both 7B and 7H went on an excursion with Bu Lundie to Melbourne Zoo to extend our knowledge about Sustainable Palm Oil and the Indonesian environment.

We had lots of fun further finding out facts about palm oil and oranghutans and how cutting down palm oil trees affects Asian elephants, Sumateran tigers and oranghutans. We learnt about how we can save these species and make a difference!

We even got to share our project and our findings with Zoo educators and Zoo volunteers who were all very impressed with the videos we had created and the difference we were making as young and active citizens. The students who went to the zoo well and truly became the RSC Eco Warriors and were very determined to spread the message and save the oranghutans when we got back to school!

Sam Kirchner 7H

Queensland Camp

Our final ever Queensland trip started bright and early last Monday as we departed for the airport at 6:30am.

After a slight delay in flight, we made it to Wet ‘n’ Wild and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in the sunshine with plenty of fun in the water to cool us down.

Tuesday the kids had an amazing time at Seaworld where they got a healthy balance of education about preserving the ocean and its inhabitants as well as some fun on the rides. ‘The Storm’ was a particular favourite ride. Coincidentally we had record-breaking thunderstorm that evening upon returning home from a viewing of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.

Wednesday brought more warm weather as the tour made its way to ‘Movieworld’ where the kids and teachers shared many thrill-seeking experiences. Unfortunately, the ‘Scooby Doo’ rollercoaster was closed for its annual maintenance which left a lot of us feeling deflated. On Wednesday evening we made our way to the night markets which were closed due to the weather. The group split between shopping and explored Cavill Avenue and a raucous karaoke session.

Thursday morning the kids enjoyed some tenpin bowling, a shop at ‘Harbortown’ and then we made our way back to the airport for the trip home.

All in all, we had a lot of fun, shared many laughs and thrills and learnt a great deal about the environment and tourism along the way.

Michael Kent

Year 10 Community Coordinator

7 F and 7 J Purchase a Fish Farm!

The Geography Unit this semester has been on Water and Liveability. We have learnt that there are children living around the world that don’t have access to clean water and who often go hungry.

Instead of a class party we made a donation to World Vision.

A pond stocked with fish means parents can feed growing children an excellent source of protein, vitamins and minerals. It also provides struggling families with an extra source of income.

Donna Harris

English News!

Earlier this term in English Year 7 students were required to interview somebody who they considered to be a good leader. Somebody who they valued as making a difference in the world. All of the Year 7 English teachers were impressed with the high quality of student work. Each teacher however, was required to submit their top two submissions from each class. From there, all of the Year 7 English teachers met together, read through all of the work and voted for the top three across the year level. It was a very hard task. The criteria we used to measure work against was the following:

·         Interesting to read – submission showed evidence of human appeal

·         Visual appeal – submission included photos, colour, headings and a magazine style layout

·         Quality and control of writing

·         Flow of narrative

·         Selection of interviewee – the selected person is an impressive leader and contributor to society

It is with great excitement that we announce the top 3 winners. Winning students were presented with a certificate and an iTunes voucher at Common assembly last Tuesday.

·         First place – Hannah Peake 7A

Hannah interviewed her youth pastor Bre. Hannah’s submission caught our eye as it was very well presented and looked as if it had come straight from a magazine!

·         Second place – K’Baw Lwe 7E

K’Baw interviewed Timothy La who tirelessly organises events for the local Karen community so that they feel at home in Australia. We were impressed by K’Baw’s ability to integrate into her presentation the character strengths learned in Bounce this year!

·         Third place – Lucy Philip 7J

Lucy interviewed her primary school teacher Mrs Frigo. The Year 7 English teachers were blown away by Lucy’s level of detail included in her presentation and the sophisticated vocabulary that she used!

Congratulations to our winners! We would like to also acknowledge the hard work that each and every one of you put towards this task. Well done!

Jessica Lundie

Year 7 English Teacher

Middle School

What a fantastic year we have had in Middle School. Year 9 and 10 students have been challenged academically while upholding the high expectations placed upon them. We have had numerous guest speakers, multiple camps and excursions, all with a focus to improve our student’s health and wellbeing whilst also providing a valuable learning experience away from the classroom. I have been extremely impressed by the number of students who have achieved academic awards this year, a record since I have taken over as the Head of Middle School. But these are not the only success stories for our students. We have overcome difficulties in their many forms and achieve our own personal best in many areas.

I am extremely thankful to the staff, who have taught all students in Middle School this year. They have worked hard in providing a safe learning environment where your young people have the opportunity to feel success. They have helped to shape our students for the many challenges that still await them in the later years of study.

Thank you also to all the parents who have made our job easy and enjoyable. Whilst some of our contact has been to discuss various errors of judgment, we have always felt the support and understood that we all want the very best for the students.

To the wonderful students of Year 9 and 10, thank you for your hard work both inside and outside of the classroom. Without your contribution to the College, our jobs are made all the more difficult. Thank you for the many laughs, conversations and ability to see things from other people’s perspectives. The groups we have will continue to grow and I am sure be successful in their chosen pathway moving forwards.

There are a few changes for next year in the structure of the coordination team. Matthew Tucker will be retuning to the College in the role of Head of Middle School and students will be coordinated by a House Coordinator who oversees a specific house in Middle School. I am shifting from Middle School to the Head of Junior School and I am really excited to be working in a new environment with a slightly different focus. The one thing I am sure of is that it does not matter where I am based, the relationships I have built with students and parents in Middle School will continue.

Thank you all for your support this year and for the previous three years as the Head of Middle School.

Jonathon Rogers

Head of Middle School