LATEST SCHOOL NEWS

MY FAVOURITE TEACHER

Watch this video below featuring our very own past student actor and performer Winston Hillyer paying tribute to his favourite teachers at Rowville Secondary College, Mr Nick Lowes and Ms. Carolanne Collins.

“A nation without the arts is a nation without a voice, and these teachers helped me find my voice.” – Winston Hillyer

This video was filmed and created by The Department of Education & Training Victoria and you can find more information on My Favourite Teacher on their website.

Watch Video

FAREWELL CLASS OF 2018

Written by Ms. Jane Zaal, VCE Coordinator & presented at our West Farewell Assembly on Monday 22 October.

"Year 12s, there will be so many different memories running through your heads right now. Camps, formals, teachers, friends, classes, free dress days, theme days, music in the plaza, the good times and the bad, the laughter and the tears, sausage sizzles, games against the teachers (a clean sweep I believe), whole school sports days, whole school assemblies, oral presentations, many assessment tasks.

Many of you will be feeling sad as you will be leaving everything you have known for the past 6 years. Why sad though, what an amazing journey you have had. Well done!

So, I have thought about this farewell speech for a while now, what do you say to the Class of 2018? I decided to write about you, using the word Rowville.

The Class of 2018

Refreshing and respectful, real and radiant, responsible and aims for results.

So many of you ooze optimism and obey the rules, and always enjoy visiting the VCE office.

You are warm-hearted, you work hard and you walk proud. Some advice, travel the world, experience everything there is. The world is waiting for you.

You are vigorous and vocal in your learning, some may say victorious. You have had lots of vaccinations over the years, you enjoy turning up the volume of your music, many have vehicles now (please be careful out there) and you are valued by everyone here at Rowville.

Your laughter is infectious, your minds are inquiring, and you have so many ideas for the future. Use your imaginations and be influential in the many years to come.

You are likable and love to learn, your lockers are messy and neat. You look great in your uniform.

Remember to always be lifelong learners and continue to grow. Live, laugh and remember to love those who are there for you always.

Exams are upon you, study those enzymes, economics, emotive language, be empowered to do well. Exceed your own expectations and enjoy the journey that is to come.

Class of 2018, thank you for the memories and allowing RSC to be part of your journey. It has been a pleasure."

2018 ART & TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION

Last week we held our annual 2018 Art and Technology Exhibition at the VCE Centre, Western Campus. The exhibition showcased all art, media projects and technology work from our students across all year-levels and programs/specialisms. It was an impressive display of artwork and we had many visitors from the local school community come and view the exhibition. Thank you to all our students for their hard work and passion this year. One Rowville local resident Sam P said "An immersive experience with an eclectic mix of artwork, media and school projects. I found it hard to believe this high-level quality of work was produced by secondary school students".

MULGRAVE COUNTRY CLUB SCHOLARSHIP

On Monday 15th October, Year 11 General Excellence student Emily Foord received the Mulgrave Country Club Scholarship Award. Cr Robert Davies and Club President Leon Ross presented each of the successful year 11 students from 13 local schools with a $2000 scholarship. Our Principal, Julie Kennedy, Dean, JP Kruger and Emily's parents were there to support her on the night. The scholarships are awarded not only to those showing academic or athletic promise but those who show promise to becoming integral members of our community. "This is an outstanding achievement Emily and on behalf of everyone at RSC we would like to congratulate you - well done!" said Robyn Geake, Assistant Principal & General Excellence Director.

KEY INFORMATION - 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 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.

HOCKEY STAR!

Our very own PE / VCAL Teacher Tamsin Nelson recently competed in the Hockey Australia Masters Tournament. The Tournament was played in Bunbury in WA and Tamsin captained the Victorian Team. Unfortunately, Victoria lost the Grand Final to Queensland 3-0. A Mid-fielder / Forward, Tamsin began playing hockey as a 15 year old for U21's, then open and now masters.

“I started playing hockey when I was 15; when a friend asked if I’d give it a go,” said Ms. Nelson, she added “I just love it! I couldn’t imagine not doing it! It’s competitive and it’s a challenge.” Tamsin currently plays for Southern Uniting Hockey Club in Cheltenham in the Premier League (this is the top league in Victoria). Tamsin has been selected in the Australian, over 40’s team to play in the Trans Tasman Tournament in May 2019, to be held on the Gold Coast. Amazing achievement!

BRIAN CZEMPINSKI, AUSTRALIAN DRUMMER & & RSC MUSIC TEACHER!

Recently one of our staff members was inducted into the Sth Australian Hall of Fame for his work with Redgum. Brian Czempinski played drums with Redgum during the mid-1980s when they released the iconic Australian hit “I was only nineteen”. Brian is a well-known and highly respected member of the Australian Music Industry. He has taught drums and percussion at Rowville Secondary College since 1993 and many of his ex-students are now working professionally. Brian’s career began in the 1960s playing in the thriving Melbourne live music scene as well as performing on Radio, Television and Film soundtracks. He has performed with the orchestras of all of the major TV channels including Hector Crawford’s Orchestra, Showcase, New Faces and Graham Kennedy’s In Melbourne Tonight. He also recorded and played on many of the TV and Radio commercials throughout the 70s and 80s. Brian still plays regularly and he is also an examiner in VCE and VET Music with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

Written by Mr Nick Lowes, Teacher.

CELEBRATION DAY @JUMPDECK

On Tuesday 23rd October we held our Year 12 Celebration Day at Jumpdeck in Wantirna. The day began with a pancake breakfast followed by a bus to Jumpdeck where the year 12's enjoyed jumping, bouncing and some dodge-ball fun with their class mates and teachers!

NEW HOUSE NAMES

House names were announced this term!

After an exhaustive consultation process involving community, learning mentor groups, house captains and principal class, we had the long awaited unveiling of the new house names. The house captains prepared house assemblies and each house unveiled their names in a unique way. The names are:

RED - Aston, representing Tilly Aston, who was a blind Australian writer & teacher, and founded the Victorian Association of Braille.
GREEN - Walton, representing Nancy-Bird Walton a pioneering Australian aviator, founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.
BLUE - Stynes, representing Jim Stynes who was a former AFL footballer & founder of The Reach Foundation.
YELLOW - Mabo, representing Eddie Mabo, an indigenous Australian, and his landmark case that recognised the land rights of the Meriam people, traditional owners of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait.

Thank you to all staff, House Captains and Head of Houses for your hard work on this.

MSA ECOSYSTEM

In an ecosystem the interactions going on are all linked, and they can get very complex. Anything that impacts one aspect of the ecosystem will, in turn, impact others. The year 9 students in Maths & Science Academy have been studying ecosystems. This term as a part of their science project the students created ecosystem dioramas. They explored many different ecosystems and devised ingenious ways of representing the different aspects of their chosen ecosystems. “We had a Shrek’s swamp, an Egyptian desert ecosystem which was presented by none other than Pharaoh Khufu, Simba and Rafiki’s African desert ecosystem, a beautiful rainforest ecosystem, and arctic ecosystem and Nemo’s very own reef ecosystem. The students demonstrated excellent teamwork and great creative genius in making these dioramas,” said Ms. Anita Punnoos, Teacher.

TEISHA SHADWELL WINS

RSA student and wheelchair Basketballer Teisha Shadwell won the 2018 Knox Leader Young Sporting Spirit Award at this years Leader Local Sports Stars Ceremony. Well Done Teisha!

SECOND HAND BOOKS

Do you have second hand books to sell? You can leave them at the West Library with a supplied form providing contact and payment details. Books can be left any time between 8.00am - 4.00pm.

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.

GETTING STARTED WITH PUBLIC SPEAKING

The Rotary Club of Rowville-Lysterfield and Presentation Craft offered to run a course, “Getting Started with Public Speaking: Controlling the Nerves” free of charge to 12 of our lucky students. The course ran for nine weeks and was a great opportunity for students who wanted to develop and improve their public speaking skills. The course was open for Year 7 to Year 12 students from both campuses.

There were 2 local students and 7 international students who attended the final presentation session late September at the VCE Centre. The topics in the presentation were very interesting, such as: Sharing what I gained through this training (Sarah), We should thank our parents (Henry), My hometown Beijing (Qi’ou Zhang), The difference in education between Australia and China (Nancy Fan), We should look after our environment (Chunbo Qin) and What I achieved this semester (Anning Jiang).

Our international students expressed that they had achieved a lot through this training, not only their public speaking skills but also their English improved through writing their speech, correction and preparation.

Thank you to Dr Saraya Lubarsky, Director of Literacy, Research and Innovation for organising this course and extending an invitation for international students to attend.

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.

WORLD CHALLENGE 2018

Rowville SC Expedition to Nepal

Written by Larnie Beadman, Year 11.

A team of 11 students form Rowville Secondary College are heading off to Nepal in just 3 weeks! But before we go, we are hoping to raise some last-minute funds to support us on our 30 of travel, treks and the rebuilding of a school in Chitwan Province. In 2015 an earthquake hit Nepal and killed nearly 9,000 people and injured nearly 22,000. Although it is no longer in our media, the country is still recovering and rebuilding and that is why we are going off on World Challenge.

As a team we have started a go fund me page, with the hope of raising $2,000. This money will help us to purchase the necessary equipment to rebuild classrooms in the Hillside Academy and it will help us in supporting the local Nepali communities.

Please donate here, any amount would be much appreciated!

MULLUM VET CLUSTER AWARDS

Recently at the Mullum VET Cluster Awards Night 10 of our students were finalists across a range of industries with 7 of our students winning the award in their field. Mullum VET Cluster is a group of 42 schools who offer VET courses in over 30 industries.

Jamieson Rossiter and Patrick Shaw were finalists in Building and Construction.
Madeline Voulopoulos was a finalist in Allied Health.

The winners were:

Niki Simon – Fashion Design
Dylan Kandasamy – Automotive
Callum Norris – Building & Construction
Lucas Durant – Electrotechnology
Stefan Ivanic – Plumbing
Caitlin Black – Beauty Services
Jasmyne Burrows – Allied Health

Congratulations to all of our finalists and winners.

WELCOME DARREN BERRY

We are very excited to advise all families associated with RSA that we have recently made a new appointment to the Academy - Darren Berry has joined the program as the Director of Cricket.

Given Darren’s background as a player and coach, this is a wonderful coup for the college and will be a great addition to the cricket program. Darren’s professional playing career was quite spectacular.

After being an initial intake scholarship holder at the AIS/CBA Cricket Academy, Darren’s first class career as a wicket keeper/batsman began with South Australia in 1989. He subsequently represented Victoria between 1990 and 2004 and played more than 50 first class games as State Captain. He also represented Australia in the Ashes Tour in 1997. Ten years later Darren was named by Shane Warne as one of the top 50 cricketers in the world.

Upon his retirement and, having gained a Bachelor of Applied Science (RMIT) as well as a Level 3 National Coaching Accreditation, Darren turned to coaching. His major achievements have included:

Head Coach of South Australia from 2011-2015.
Director of Coaching for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.
His appointment with Sydney Sixers in Australia’s BBL and Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League.
Darren’s coaching has been influential in the careers of players like Nathan Lyon, Travis Head, Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson.

Darren will spend some time coaching in order to get to know the students in the program while Scott McNaughton will continue as Head Coach, giving us an extremely strong coaching panel in 2019. Darren will also be looking at other competition opportunities and the potential for guest coaches and cricket facilities.

With these great developments in mind, it is worth advising RSA families that we still have some vacancies for students who wish to join our cricket program. To express interest in doing so please download an expression of interest form.

FAREWELL KATE UPTON

After two years as Head Coach of the RSA Netball program, sadly Kate Upton has left the college to take up the role as Assistant Coach with the Collingwood Magpies in the Suncorp Super League netball completion.

Assistant Principal & RSA Director Craig Jamieson said "It is a wonderful opportunity for Kate and recognition of the enormous work ethic, outstanding relationships she develops and more importantly her drive to develop each and every student athlete. She has developed a very supportive culture within the program and leaves an enormous legacy for those who follow. We wish Kate all the best in her endeavors and look forward to her continued success at Collingwood after taking their ANL team to the championship this year-I know she will be missed by students, parents, coaches and teaching staff."

When reflecting on her time at RSA Kate said, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all RSA staff, coaches, athletes and parents for making my time at RSA such an enjoyable experience, we’ve worked really hard over the last couple of years to make our netball program a place where students feel comfortable and challenge themselves in many situations. We’ve had great success throughout our tournaments, but the most pleasing success has been the mindset shift within our culture. I hope our program continues to help grow all involved and our students remember their time at RSA as a positive one, teaching them many different skill sets in netball and life. This decision to leave has been super tough, as I’ve truly loved everything about RSA’s netball program. Please know your children will be left in great hands, as I thank Ash, Kelli, Matilda and Ella for all their support and guidance to create such a positive environment.”

Kate has ensured that everything is in place for the rest of 2018 and we are presently in the process of selecting a new Head Coach for 2019.

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.

Our goal is 2000 LIKES by end of 2018! Please help us get there!

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.

We also have a Chinese Version for international students.