Assistant Principals

From Mrs Stathatos

Year 8 REALM workshops

September 2019

A highlight for me this fortnight was the inaugural Year 8 REALM event which had been in the planning for a while and which had PCTA and college support at its inception. All classes visited REALM and participated in 3 workshops which emphasised core literacy, a love of reading, and that the library is a welcoming and safe space.

This is the program that REALM created for our students:

Non-fiction workshop

This workshop focussed on students knowing and understanding the source of their information.

Students were provided with a range of diet and nutrition books to view and discuss.

The workshop highlighted the questions that students can ask themselves to ascertain the credibility of the source.

It provided information about qualifications of authors and people who put books together, peer reviews and journal articles and their trustworthiness and drew attention to sensational claims to sell a product by capturing peoples’ attention and money.

Prompting questions:

What would make you trust the claim that oranges increase life span?

What further information would you need to trust Pete Evans’ claim that the Paleo way supports optimum physical and emotional health?

It is interesting in Australia there are protected titles for professions- university 4 years and masters to be able to call yourself a dietician…but would you trust a source in the US who does an online course for one month and calls him/herself a nutritionist?

Fiction workshop

Students were read 2 picture books, Cicada by Shaun Tan and My Dead Bunny by James Foley. Students were attentive in the reading and active at question time.

A series of questions around pictures: angles of the picture; colour or lack of; dominant images; repetitive words; a lack of conjunctions elicited from the students some deep connections to current themes and issues including discrimination, poverty, slavery, freedom, belonging, family dynamics. Links to student experiences and to other texts were made. Students impressed the presenters at REALM with their responses.

Get to know your Library workshop

Students were given a catalogue exercise, a brief tour of the spaces in the library and participated in a scavenger hunt to find information about how the library works. They discovered such things as there are 60.000 online resources to borrow for free, multiple games and magazines for free and free Wi-Fi. Even though students were let loose in the library, they were task focussed and completed the scavenger hunt respectfully and in the allocated time. The library manager gave each class a challenge- to propose what the letters in REALM stand for. A prize for the best responses per class will be sent to us.

 Again, we had positive comments from members of the public using the library about student behaviour.

Eleni Stathatos

Assistant Principal

From Mr Barut

Did someone say September? 

As I pen this missive, the term holidays are upon us. Time for a bit of sibling/family time and a break from studies…but! Not for the Year 12 cohort…

Exams are nigh, next term is a short time for face to face teaching and a study routine needs to lift to the next level. There are a series of revision lectures available to all the students, made possible by the relationships and collegiality of all the schools in the MSSP (Maroondah Secondary Schools Partnership) in the network. Norwood Secondary College will be the venue for these revision opportunities. Further, all those students who study English, have a practice English examination here at the College, that will be marked EXTERNALLY by a current VCAA assessor! What a sensational opportunity for all our students to receive feedback from someone who will be at the coal face, marking thousands of essays from students all over Victoria. Other subjects have also penned in practice exams, (some following the same procedure) and students must ensure their organisational health is in place so that they do not MISS any sessions made available to them.

This is a very vital time for the Year 12 cohort (and those Year 11 students undertaking a Unit 3 and 4 study) as notwithstanding consistency throughout the year, exam success is vital in maximising an ATAR….there are still so many marks up for grabs. I often get asked by students on some ideas about how to maintain a ‘study routine’ over the term break and the answer is quite simple – follow your current school timetable – that way, you will know that you have covered off on every lesson. 

This is a vital time.

In other developments throughout the College, last Saturday saw the Year 12 class of 2025 present for testing. There were certainly a few nerves amongst the Grade 6 students that will be attending the College as Year 7 next year. I am happy to report that all the students (and their parents!) survived this first step of transition into secondary schooling. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Assistant Principal, Mrs Eleni Stathatos, our Transition Co – ordinator, Ms Voula Margelis, Ms Anna Urbano, Head of Junior School, Mrs Leah Pritchard, our Director of Admissions, Marketing and the International Student portfolio, Ms Narelle Meek, our VASS co - ordinator and owner and handler of Europa, our gorgeous therapy Labrador. This team allowed the day to run smoothly and without a hiccup. 

As a follow on from that, thank you to Mrs Annette Niven, our ACE Program co –ordinator who ran extra testing for 78 Year 6 students, all vying for a place in our ACE class for 2020. Results and confirmation will be available in due course. 

Imagine nearly 300 Year 9 students having the opportunity to partake in the City Experience project as part of their curriculum….mayhem? Pillage? Anarchy? Nay! I have received a number of reports from our supervising staff that have watched our Year 9 cohort grow in confidence before their very eyes as they have navigated and attended various iconic Melbourne establishments, used public transport to get to places and visited other eateries (outside Maccas?) for lunch. The students have handled themselves with aplomb and maturity, respectfully aware that they are not only representing their own values and behaviour, but also the values and expectations of our college. This is a massive undertaking by the College, as it involves so many staff to attend and support each other to allow our students to be exposed to authentic learning of our fine city. Thank you to the staff who have attended, the staff back at RSC who are covering classes and to Mrs Virginia Watson for co - ordinating the entire program and the support and involvement of the Middle School team.

Have a restful break, everyone.

James Barut

Assistant Principal

From Mrs Allison

Royal South Street and Gala Concert

I extend my gratitude to the music staff for the dedication and unwavering support for the music program.

Just recently, our music ensembles performed at the Royal South Street Eisteddfod at Ballarat. Fourteen ensembles performed, with nine awarded places or mentions. They are now fine-tuned, ready to perform at our 2019 Gala Concert at George Woods Performing Arts Centre, Yarra Valley Grammar, that will be held next Thursday 19th September. Tickets can be purchased via the following link:

https://www.eventtixx.com.au/whats-on/129-gala-concert/booking

Pre-Service Teachers

Congratulations to our 4th Year Pre-Service Teachers (PST’s) and Interns who have completed their final placement before launching into the world of work and teaching. They have been wonderful ambassadors for their respective universities, contributing in many ways to the Ringwood Secondary College program, as well as providing professional support for their mentors. A special thank you to the PST’s mentors for sharing their expertise in providing professional guidance, coaching and support.

Sport

Congratulations to all our students who performed well at the District Athletics yesterday.it is such a privilege to witness the determination and effort our students put into their sport alongside their dedicated teachers.

Wellbeing Focus for this week…

Wellbeing Builder: Positive & Optimistic Thinking

Meaning and Purpose: Leadership/Move More

As Barbara Fredrickson’s research has informed us, it is the frequency of positive emotions, not their intensity, which builds our wellbeing. Looking at life optimistically and searching for what is good in things and right about what we are doing sees positive emotions bubbling away in us. We are striving, thriving and flourishing.

When we educate our students about the amazing benefits of adopting an optimistic outlook in their lives and introduce them to the little positive actions they can do often, they shine. Happy people enjoy better health and are more likely to achieve what they set out to do.

The alternative is to look at life pessimistically and search for what is wrong with things. Well guess what? People who adopt this negative way of thinking find plenty of things they perceive to be not right, because that is all they are on the lookout for. It’s a pity they miss out on the great things that are happening and could happen. As such, they seldom have those warm feelings of gratitude and appreciation.

The zest of optimistic thinkers is contagious and rubs off on those around them. Unfortunately, this is also true for negative thinkers.

Maria Allison

Assistant Principal