Secondary News
Year 7s have been working very hard of late to ensure that they finish all their assessment and work to finalise reports. It has been good to see them so dedicated and driven with little study groups popping up before tests to ensure they get good results.
The reports will be available to parents and families this week and I encourage all Year 7 parents to look at them and discuss them with their students. They are a very important tool for understanding your child’s learning and their growth. If you have any concerns as a parent or guardian, please do not hesitate to call me and organise a meeting.
I will be aiming to contact parents next term to discuss any issues and positives that have arisen this semester and from the reports.
I ask the Year 7 students to ensure their uniform remains at a high standard. The year 7 students are lucky enough to have a heated indoor space for their locker bay, before school, recess and lunch. They are to wear their blazers to school and if they are still cold, they have their school jumpers to wear under their blazers. The uniform looks great and I encourage the students to continue to wear it with pride. This includes school bags, I ask families who have not purchased or use this, to please organise a school bag ASAP.
I would like to wish all families a great holiday and look forward to starting semester two and a few new subjects with the students. Thanks for all your support this semester.
Mr Antony - Year 7 Coordinator
As we are at the end of term 2, it’s great to see all the year 8 students finishing a variety of assessment tasks. I’m impressed by the motivation shown by students either by working hard in class or being proactive and asking for help outside the classroom. Hopefully all this hard work will pay off when the students receive their end of semester reports on the last day of term.
It has been a term filled with many successes and achievements. There are so many Year 8 students that I would like to congratulate them for their achievements I’d like to acknowledge the following students for their participation in the cross country Angie Baika, Sam Norton, Riley Stevens Lucas Rushby and Sam Irving for their participation at District Cross Country.
I would also like to congratulate Mylene Vales, Wyanet Bonne, Sam Irving, Jacqueline Dao on their performances at variety night. I would also like to congratulate Dagi Baika for his role in the year intermediate soccer team where he played extremely well in an older age group.
I hope everybody has a relaxing fun and safe break and looking forward to seeing you all refreshed and ready to go for the start of term 3.
Mr Hammond - Year 9 Coordinator
As we approach the end of term 2, it’s great to see all the year 9 students eagerly preparing for a variety of assessment tasks. I’m impressed by the motivation shown by students either by working hard in class or being proactive and asking for help at other times. Hopefully this hard work has paid off with some good results!
Students were once again given the opportunity to investigate future pathways with a visit to Chisholm Dandenong. Students were given the chance to explore education and training requirements of various work roles in a range of in demand future occupations and work sectors. The Year 9 students participated in hands on learning workshops, across a variety of industries as an introduction to VET selection options as a lead into 2010 subject selection. Some of the sessions students participated in, including Beauty, Photo-Design Fundamentals, Early Childhood Education, Engineering, Hospitality, Make Up, Printing and Graphic Arts, Salon Assistant, Screen and Media, Tourism and Visual Arts.
There were a number of year 9 students who have been involved in a ‘Champions for Education’ program. The students work together with Monash mentors to develop and deliver a project promoting higher education within the school community.
The program include:
• Relationship building with Access Monash mentors
• Fortnightly project planning and development sessions
• Attendance at a Leadership Day to motivate students and help plan their projects
• The chance to learn and demonstrate important employability skills
• Attendance at Presentation Day, where students present their final project.
The students involved are Sarah Dib, Ramona Ghandour, Mackenzie Ho, Norah Hoang, Rory Johnston, Ro Mon Lay, Kiyana Matin, Joshua Newton and Jiaking Tu
Variety Night was also a highlight this term with a number of Year 9 students participating both in front and behind the stage. Congratulations to Clare Jacobe of Year 9 who won the 2019 Variety Night – a talented singer with a bright future ahead!
Please continue to check Compass, to ensure you are up to date and fully informed of what is happening in your child’s school life. There are many activities and excursions planned for the Year 9 students in Term 3. I’m always pleased to hear from you so please do keep in touch.
Mrs Rentzis - Year 9 coordinator
Firstly, I would like to congratulate all of year 10 on completing their Unit 1 exams. This was the first taste of VCE exams that the students have had.
There were some nervous faces as all the students lined up for their first exam, English/EAL, and everyone was so relieved once they had finished.
That capped off semester one and students have already started studying Unit 2 in the last two weeks of this term. Keep up the great work!
Mr Quinn - Year 10 Coordinator
Excursion to ACMI:
On the 13th of June the year 11 and 12 students studying Units 3/4 English and EAL went on an excursion to the ACMI Treasury Theatre in the city. As a part of our English course we are required to compare two texts.
The texts we are covering in class this year are a film, ‘Made in Dagenham’ and a memoir, ‘I am Malala’. On this excursion we watched Made in Dagenham which was then followed by a seminar to help us compare the plot, characters and themes of the two texts.
This helped us develop a clearer and deeper understanding of both texts to help make connections and use our understanding in completing our assessment tasks later on in the year. The seminar was very informative and helped us gain a better understanding of the two texts we are yet to cover in class. .
Variety night:
On the 28th of May, our annual Variety Night was held at Carwatha College. We had a lovely group of performers who made the night wonderfully creative and contributed to making the night spectacular. Our judges were three members of staff and our lovely school captains introduced the acts and entertained the crowd while the performers were being organised back-stage.
The event was a great opportunity for students to show off their talents and the night was thoroughly enjoyable. The year 11 students supported the night by helping out back-stage, ushering as well as helping with the lighting.
GAT and Exams:
On the 12th of June, all of the year 11s in a unit 3/4 subject completed the General Achievement Test. It was the first time we sat the GAT and I’m sure that when I say we can all patiently wait for the next one to come around, most would agree with me.
Just before the GAT, year 11s had exams for all of their unit 1/2 subjects which added to our stress as we were still trying to keep up with our 3/4 classes to ensure we didn’t fall behind.
Angela Fourie - Year 11 Publicity Leader
Excursion to the Heallesville Sanctuary
On Friday, 21st June, the two unit 1/2 EAL classes went to the Heallesville Sanctuary for an excursion. Most of us are international students, and this was our first opportunity to see Australian native animals like kangaroos, wombats, platypus, emus, koalas etc. We were surprised to see some of these animals as they looked different to what we had seen in pictures.
Though it was a rainy day, it was well worth the effort. It was interesting to see koalas continuing to sleep while being drenched in rain! The fresh air and the native foliage made it even more special. We watched a bird show and saw some of the most amazing birds and learnt about their adaptations.
To top it all, on our way back we stopped at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, where we tasted chocolates, had lunch and took some very special photos.
Joy Wang and Daisy Yao - Students
On the last Monday of the term, the year 12s held their annual dress up theme day where this year the theme was based on ‘Characters’ and students dressed up as characters from Pokémon, Bob’s Burgers, gaming characters and movie characters.
During lunchtime the teachers played against the year 12s in a game of basketball in the big gym where both sides were enthusiastic to beat each other. The match was heated from the very start with the students apparently committing fouls (according to the teacher biased referee). Both sides were scoring throughout the game but, sadly at the end of the game, the teachers won.
Nevertheless, it was a very entertaining game for both players and spectators and a good way to end the term.
Special shout outs to Mr Luci, Ms Thomas, Mr Skaddins, Ms Witt, Mr Allen and Ms Hallett for participating in the game.
Alex Vu - Cuthbert House Captain
Last Monday we discussed how to promote motivational Monday more effectively and discuss the next steps after the event we already had. We are encouraging students to utilise their compass accounts more so we can spread the motivational messages efficiently and quickly. That way students can remember to check in on their mental health by viewing these weekly reminders.
From a successful casual dress day on Tuesday 18th June we raised a total of $368.25 which is going straight to funding the events on Multicultural Day. This year we will be conducting Multicultural Day differently to how we did in the past. We will be running auditions for multicultural performances and activities. We are also trying to evoke new format for the students so that we can include new a wider variety of involvement. We are thinking of running cooking classes or other lessons that the students could use to share their culture with others.
In our last meeting we reviewed the final dates for the upcoming events which will be supported by the money we raised. The fund will be distributed accordingly, depending on which students need it most- require more props/materials. The current set dates for events are:
- Multicultural day auditions, 22nd July
- Multicultural day rehearsals, 26th August
- Multicultural day, 27th August
We are asking students to talk to SRC members about any problems or difficulties that may occur in the school to promote student voice and enhance the leadership and communication skills of the SRC members. We have planned a new format for the way we approach this situation. In past years, we have had limited interaction with the student body, so this year we are becoming more involved by creating convenient opportunities for students to speak up, rather than waiting to be asked.
Naduwa & Zeik - SRC Students
Year 8 Collaborative Aboriginal Artwork
Students in year 8 have been analysing and interpreting Aboriginal artwork. Learning how symbols, colours, shapes, lines and dots can be used to ‘tell a story’ through art. We invited parent artist Shekara Hartnett to analyse and interpret some of her own pieces.
Shekara then worked with the students to help them come up with a design for a collaborative mural or our local community.
‘Our artwork represents the two Aboriginal tribes of Greater Dandenong and our environment. The spirit animals of Wurundjeri – wedge tailed eagle, and Bunorong – crow, are circling to show how we are a connected community working together.
The moon and darker colours represent night and the sun and lighter colours represent daytime. The Dandenong creek flows through our artwork and is painted alongside symbols representing animals, trees, mountains, wetlands, clouds, rain and people. The pattern in the creek was inspired by Shekara’s patterns in her artwork.’
Manea, Chloe and Pave.
Mrs McAleer - Art Teacher
Year 9 Op-Art
Student in year 9 have been learning about Op-Art. Op-Art, also known as optical art, is used to describe paintings, drawings and other works of art which use optical illusions. Students have viewed and responded to a number of famous op artists including M.C. Escher, Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarley.
Students developed skills in using coloured pencils to make their work ooze out of the page. Highlights, shadows, blending and an understanding of perspective. They constructed a black and white cube with 6 op-art faces. They were encouraged to research, analyse and then modify existing op art pieces or create their own.
Mrs McAleer - Art Teacher
Year 9 students had the chance to explore the education and training requirements of various work roles in a range of in demand future occupations and work sectors.
Examples of the future occupations are – Early Childhood, Engineering, and Tourism.
Students participated in hands on learning workshops across a variety of industries as an introduction to their VETiS selection options as a lead into 2020 subject selection.
Ms Borchers - VET/Careers & Pathways Coordinator