LIBRARY
VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL DELIVERIES AND LOVE SONG SINGALONG IN THE LIBRARY
In celebration of love your library month and for Valentine's Day on Thursday 14 February, the library hosted a love song singalong where everyone was invited to come along and sing together during lunchtime for a bit of fun. Thanks to Rowan O'Shea and Maui Dragwidge for their assistance in setting up the sound equipment and for compèring. This was followed by special deliveries and serenades made by Mira Holleman, Gigi Dymke and Alice Hazeldine on Friday 15 February. These three Year 10 students really took to their role and did a magnificent job of delivering an exhausting 40 serenades on the day. There was some very positive feedback from the lucky recipients. Due to their efforts and a big thanks to those who sent messages and serenades, we are able to donate $220 to Orygen Youth Health (OYH) which is a world-leading youth mental health program based in Melbourne. OYH has two main components: a specialised youth mental health clinical service; and an integrated training and communications program. OYH sees young people aged 15 to 24, with a focus on early intervention and youth specific approaches.
Orygen Youth Health T: 1800 888 320 (free call)
FEMINIST COLLECTIVE CONFERENCE
On Friday 22 February, Amy Murphy and I had the privilege of accompanying ten of our students to an amazing day of talks, workshops and panels hosted by the Fitzroy High School Feminist Collective and held at RMIT across various buildings in the city. We heard talks from Clementine Ford, Nayuka Gorrie, Jax Jackie Brown on topics such as Feminism as a person of colour, toxic masculinity, your voice in action and queer identities.
Some student reflections on the day:
"I really enjoyed the activities, workshops and the day. I loved how I got to meet new people and do something I had never done before, going to the conference. I really enjoyed the workshops on how to start a feminist collective at your school and the music song one. My favourite was the Toxic Masculinity with Clementine Ford because I loved addressing an issue that affects society currently. I had a really fun, exciting day."
"Today I learnt that it’s okay to feel these things that I feel because hundreds of other young women feel them daily. It's nice to know that there is a safe place at Fitzroy High and hopefully at Footscray City in the near future."
CAUGHT READ HANDED BOOK CLUB
On Thursday 21 February, thirteen of our finest, smartest and kindest students (ahem... not biased at all) gathered in the library classroom for our first student book club for the year.
We talked about the following books:
Coraline - Neil Gaiman - lots of discussion and thumbs up for this one as well as the movie.
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee. Sounds hilarious. We will soon have the sequel 'The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy' in our library.
Boy Swallows Universe - Trent Dalton
Fortunately, the milk - Neil Gaiman
Films and shows:
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - the third film in the franchise, thumbs up from everyone
The Umbrella Academy - students were pretty excited about this Netflix series- a warning for violence.
Instant Family - mixed reviews
Get in touch if you would like to learn more about our book club - emma.pollock@footscray.vic.edu.au
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES
https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/aiatsis-map-indigenous-australia
During week 9 of term 2, our school will be hosting a school wide Languages Week to highlight the importance of our endangered indigenous languages and to focus on the significant role that languages play in the daily lives of all people. For more info check out https://en.iyil2019.org/
LIBRARY RESOURCES
For an overview of all of the amazing online resources that our library offers check out this site:
https://sites.google.com/footscray.vic.edu.au/fcc-library-resources/home
Many of the links can only be viewed by students and staff with their google login credentials but it still gives you an idea of the databases and services that are on offer.
VISION AUSTRALIA LIBRARY
The Vision Australia Library provides a free audiobook library service to anyone with a print disability, including low vision, dyslexia or a visual processing disorder. The library holds a huge collection of audiobooks including new releases and English school texts. Access is easy with the VA Connect app, compatible for Apple and Android. To join, fill in the online membership form at www.visionaustralia.org/services/library/join For more information you can contact Sarah at Vision Australia Library on 9864 9486.
RATINGS ADVICE FOR BOOKS, MOVIES, GAMES AND HEAPS MORE
For ratings advice, we recommend Common Sense media which helps families make smart media choices. They offer the largest library of independent age-based and educational ratings and reviews for movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books, and music.
Their Parent Concerns and Parent Blog help families understand and navigate the problems and possibilities of raising children in the digital age.