From the Office

Therapy Dog News

We are pleased to welcome a new therapy dog to our school in 2019.  Emmi will be joining Europa in supporting student and staff wellbeing. 

Emmi is 12 weeks old and will spend time learning from Europa before eventually completing her therapy dog certification.

These dogs love to work with all of you, but to do so it is important that they stay as healthy as possible.  To help with this, we cannot stress enough how important it is that all rubbish and food scraps are placed into the bins.

Emmi and Europa look forward to visiting you in classes, attending whole school events and helping with immunisations and exams.

Throughout the year, look out for fundraisers to support this program.

After School Maths Help

During 2019, Maths staff are providing after school Maths help for all students requiring additional assistance in completing their classwork or homework.

It is free of charge and will run from 3:20 pm – 4:20 pm in rooms 402/403 every Tuesday commencing Tuesday 12th February. No bookings are required; just turn up.

Please contact Janette Bennie (Head of Mathematics) on 9870 2002 if you require further information.

School Crossing Information Pack – 2019

Maroondah City Council is pleased to provide the enclosed information on school crossings and road safety, which can be copied for your students and families, or may be included in your school newsletter.

Vicroads provides a range of useful resources to support schools in promoting traffic safety and education.

To view a variety of educational and promotional materials for early childhood, primary students and secondary students as well as ‘safe to schools’ strategies.

Please visit – https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safety-and-road-rules/road-safety-education

If you have concerns regarding school crossings near your school, please contact me on the numbers listed below. Concerns may include - nonattendance of School Crossing Supervisors, operating hours of a crossing, change to school dismissal times/days.

Advanced notification of any Curriculum days/pupil free days to the office by phone or email is greatly appreciated to ensure proficient rostering of Supervisors.

Kerrylee Burke

School Crossing Coordinator

Bounce in 2019

This is a really exciting time for the Bounce Program at Ringwood Secondary College as we move into a 5 period day where Bounce is taught in a regular 60 minute period!

All members of the College community play a vital role in the pastoral care of our students. We aim to provide an environment where each student feels valued and connected and learns the skills needed to become resilient, productive and community minded individuals. 

The 'BOUNCE' program is based on the principles of positive psychology and is the explicit teaching of positive mental health skills. Students participate in enriched sessions that focus on values and enhancing the tools they have to promote positive mental and physical wellbeing. The program aims to provide proactive, practical and positive mental health strategies for all students. Help seeking, peer support and self-help behaviours are encouraged. The key to the success of this program lies in the positive relationships between teacher and students.

Yearly Focus areas –

Year 7 – Positive Relationships

Year 8 – Learning to Learn

Year 9 – Brain Science and Neuroplasticity

Year 10 – Positive Health and Positive Behaviours

Year 11 – Life Skills

Year 12 – Life Skills and Mentoring

These skills are taught through the practice of:

EMOTIONAL LITERACY – the ability to identify and label the emotion as it is being experienced can help to regulate negative emotion leading to a help seeking mind-set and better conflict resolution.

EMPATHY – recognising and reading the emotions of others to enhance relationships and communication. Looking for the needs of others and listening to others perspective, leading to kindness and positive relationships.

GRATITUDE – looking for an appreciating the things we have, rather than the things we don’t. Expressing and receiving gratitude is a great strategy for positive mental health.

MINDFULNESS – being completely present in the moment, having the ability to block out negative thoughts and manage self-talk.  This is also important in the management of stress and anxiety. Students are encouraged to practice mindfulness outside of school at home and to find a ‘flow’ activity to help manage stress and regulate emotion.

In TERM 1, students will be focussing on:

Year 7 - (Positive Relationships) – Character Strengths and Emotional Literacy

Year 8 - (Learning To Learn) – Emotional Literacy

Year 9 – Emotional Literacy

Year 11 – Surviving VCE

Year 12 – Study Skills

Year 12 – Mentor Program:

Students in Year 12 work will have an Assembly each fortnight. This will run for 30 mins. The other 30 mins is allocated to a mentoring session whereby students check in with their Bounce mentor. There is an online academic tracking and goal setting tool for students to utilise as well as a wellbeing booklet for students to complete each week. This is a great tool to enable students to manage their time, wellbeing and studies independently.

In 2018, an Art competition was opened to invite all students to create a mural in collaboration with local artist Kathy Heyward to illustrate the themes of Bounce (Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy), as well as our school value of ‘Respect’. Students from each year level contributed and the Art Club painted the design with Kathy. The final result is now on display on the external wall of the library and is a bright and colourful addition to our school!

Facilities 

What a busy time January has proven to be for developments at the College! It’s always a great time to get things done in the absence of staff and students, although access to tradies is problematic over the January period. A brief summary of works completed:

• Gymnasium Project-The gym floor looks amazing. It was totally stripped back, repaired and new lines painted including up to date key markings. Finally, 3 coats of sports urethane were applied. This complements last year’s work involving installation crash mats, LED lights, switchboard replacement, and new glass backboards.
• Front fence-finally completed after many years of planning! This Australian made fence greatly improves security for the school community and let’s face it-first impressions matter.
• Stumping of Woodwork rooms-Approximately 176 stumps were replaced under the two woodwork rooms. The very old stumps were badly rotted and floors in the two rooms were unacceptably uneven.
• Painting-Rooms 700 and 702 received a lick of paint as did the new junior school. We are working determinedly at keeping the new building looking great.
• Carpet-Several areas were replaced including Room 702, Auto kitchenette and Auto office area
• Emergency lighting/Exit signs/Fire Hydrants/Extinguishers-all tested and replaced where required
• Test and Tagging-Several areas were completed
• Paintings and poetry attached to walls
• Gardening galore!

Finally, a reminder to contact the office if you are interested in joining the Facilities Committee for 2019. We meet once per term and enjoy making a difference to the learning environment at Ringwood Secondary College.

Chris Salisbury

Facilities Manager

RSC Work Futures EXPO 2019 

The Work Futures committee has started this year following on from where we paused last year.

At the end of 2018 we had resolved much of the planning work and over the holidays some aspects have been further refined and we are now ready to put that planning into practice, setting out the details and work schedule for this inaugural event for RSC on Wednesday 19th June 2019.

At our first meeting for 2019 we set out the steps to complete this initiative.  Our committee increased by two members during 2018.  These two people were Assistant Principals at this college and their background knowledge has helped in putting things in place by defining tasks where we will seek assistance from School Leader groups.  These tasks involve designing and presenting documentation and advance advertising for the Expo 2019 in an attractive way for our guests and visitors on that evening.

Our industry presenters represent all seven job clusters.  Job clusters are the focus of this expo to show students and parents that jobs in these clusters can provide opportunities where skills gained in one job can be ‘transportable’ to other jobs within a cluster.  The research group, the Foundation for Young Australians (fya) sets out examples of how employees who have added to their knowledge base by learning news skills in a job, can find employment opportunities in other clusters where these same skills can be applied and additional skills specific to the new job can be learned.  This broadening of skills knowledge can lead to greater job opportunities, and for those who like challenges, greater job satisfaction to ensure employment into the future.

The evening promises to be of great value to those who attend and I urge both parents of students and students who will be leaving school in the near future to take advantage of this opportunity and talk with these people about any jobs that may be of interest to them.

I am sure you will be impressed by our keynote speakers at our Expo 2019 who will share their stories of how they have achieved the knowledge and skills that have given them the recognition for the work they do and why we have chosen them to talk to you.  There will be two opportunities to hear them during the evening.

For further details contact the school or the convenor, Barry Ring, at barry.ring@bigpond.com