From the Principal

Dear Parents, Staff, Students & Friends

This edition of the newsletter finds us arriving at the end of a wonderful Term 3, where our students and staff have been extended with a range of incredible learning activities.  I remain in awe of students and staff alike who have given of their best in a range of situations to achieve personal and community growth, resulting in our school culture forever improving.

PARENT STUDENT TEACHER CONFERENCES PROVIDE ESSENTIAL FEEDBACK FOR STUDENTS

Thank you to the many parents and students who attended Parent Student Teacher Conferences recently.  Our teachers reported that they had very productive discussions with families about how students could continue to achieve improved learning outcomes.  The research is very clear that specific teacher feedback is significant in enabling students to make great gains in learning.  Attendance at such conferences allows students to benefit from gaining an understanding of themselves as learners, whilst establishing what they need to do for ongoing successful growth. 

MUSIC DEPARTMENT CONTINUES TO EXCEL IN NURTURING TALENTS OF OUR STUDENTS

STAGE BANDS EXCEL AT VICTORIAN BANDS FESTIVAL

Congratulations to the Instrumental Music Teachers for supporting our incredible Senior Stage Band to achieve a gold award, whilst the intermediate stage band were awarded silver, at the Victorian Schools Band Festival.

To achieve such awards against elite private schools is a huge tribute to the extraordinarily devoted, talented team of instrumental music and classroom music teachers we are so fortunate to have at our great school.  Also, I am very proud of the many students who devote countless hours in rehearsal and practice at home, to refine their talents to such an exceptional level. 

CABARET NIGHT: JIVING TO JAZZ!

Our recent Cabaret Night thrilled the audience at the Dolphins Football Club, with an amazing variety of jazz performances.  Highlights included stage bands providing exceptional performances whilst supporting amazing vocalists.

The percussion ensemble that returned from performing in National Championships in Sydney was astounding in using everyday items such as bins to provide a toe tapping exciting performance.  Then we had the choir, the clarinet and guitar ensembles leaving the audience crying for more, with the evening being over too quickly.  For a mere $10.00 we all knew it was a steal in terms of the quality of entertainment we had the privilege to enjoy.  Well done to all involved for lifting our spirits in the depths of winter.

MIA DAVIS IS PLACED THIRD IN STATE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

Mia Davis (Year 9) has been attending a number of public speaking events throughout the year to compete against 300 others in the Victorian Debaters Association Public Speaking competition.  As a result of Mia’s great success, she recently qualified with another nine students for the finals.  This public speaking involves each student delivering a prepared speech and, the most difficult challenge of all, an impromptu speech.  Ms Georgina Long who oversees our debating program has coached Mia, giving generously of her free time to develop Mia’s skills to an extraordinary level.  Consequently, Mia was placed an incredible third, being the only female to win an award.  Mia is a delightful student who always gives of her best and is most deserving of this award. 

CHESS TEAM: REGIONAL PENINSULA CHAMPIONS

Mr Jacob Givogue  recently accompanied an eager team of boys to the Peninsula Chess Championships.  On the day, I found some team members in earnest discussion about strategies they were going to employ in the competition.  Obviously much planning and practice rewarded the team with being placed as runners up.  My only comment is that perhaps if we had some girls on the team we may have ended up being champions.  Where are you, girls?  Hoping to see girls joining the team at our lunchtime Chess Club each week. 

STUDENTS DEVELOP A LOVE FOR STUDYING A SECOND LANGUAGE

Thanks to the enthusiasm of our Language Other Than English (LOTE) staff, our junior students are becoming very engaged with the online Language Perfect program; so much so that our ranking against other participating schools is very impressive.  For example, we are ranked 2nd in Australia for student participation in online French and 8th in Australia for students studying Japanese out of 150+ schools.  Hopefully many of these students will aspire to continue with their study of a second language in VCE.  Some comments our students are making about this program include:

"I love that I can learn any language I want. I LOVE LANGUAGE PERFECT!!!"

"I think this is a great website for learning and I think it is really fun."

"I love Language Perfect simply because it really helps me learn new vocabulary and enhances my learning so that I can exceed in my second language. Thank you so much. Cheers!! "

"I am learning lots by using language perfect. Thanks Ms Mcauliffe you're awesome!"

"I am enjoying the opportunities I am getting"

ATHLETICS PROGRAM CONTINUES TO THRIVE AT FRANKSTON HIGH SCHOOL

NORTHERN PENINSULA DISTRICT ATHLETIC CHAMPIONS YET AGAIN

As usual we are extremely proud of our athletics team that blitzed the local schools by becoming District Champions, winning by in excess of 600 points.  This is a magnificent achievement and a reflection of our outstanding students and coaches:  Ms Chloe Edwards,  Ms Carly Douglas,  Mr Mal Burt and  Mr Steven Bonfadini.

TRACK RELAY TEAMS IMPRESS THE PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Congratulations to all students who competed at the Victorian Track Relay Championships recently at Albert Park.  We had some exceptional results against Victoria's most elite private schools.  We had two state medals, another four top five performances and other teams qualifying for state finals.  Many thanks to Ms Chloe Edwards and Ms Carly Douglas for providing our students with this wonderful experience.

JUNIOR BOYS TEAM SHOW HOW HARD WORK REAPS REWARDS

Frankston High School had eight teams enter the Victorian Knockout Track and Field Championships at Lakeside on 14 September.  Our teams had some fantastic results against Victoria's most elite private schools, with the highlight being our Junior boys placing 2nd (Melbourne Grammar 1st by only 10 points and Wesley Grammar in 3rd).

The boys are now off to Adelaide to compete at the Australian Championships in December.  The team is excited about the opportunity to take on the country's best and is looking forward to training hard at Semper Squad in the lead up to the Championships.  A few individual highlights of our elite athletes in Year 8 included:

Noah Oliver - 1st 100m

Tane Rowley - 1st Shot Put

Cadyn Howden - 3rd 100m

Well done to all Frankston High  students who represented our school and all the best to Noah Oliver, Tane Rowley, Cadyn Howden, Monte Charters, Ayden Dignan and Beau Sargent (Year 7) at Nationals.

During the holidays we will be running c