Assistant Principals' Reports

Family Maths Challenge

Please find below another maths problem to work on together over the holidays.

The first two families who send through the correct solution to emerald.sc@education.vic.gov.au will receive a prize.

Solutions to our first family maths problem can be found below – ‘You have a five, and a three-litre jug. How can you measure out exactly four litres of water?’

The two winning families from our first family maths challenge are the West and Mattille families.

Here are the representatives from each family collecting their prizes this afternoon.

Poetry and VHAP Master Class

In the last week of term students enjoyed three fantastic events: a year 8 poetry day, VHAP maths masterclass and a VHAP English masterclass. Students were able to spend an extended amount of time extending their skills in different areas. They were able to mix with different students and connect with peers across year levels. After a day of inspiration and skill building in the area of creative writing and poetry from Mr Mackenzie, students ended their day, writing their poetry around the pavements in the school.

The VHAP (Victorian High Achievers program) masterclasses day allowed students to focus an extended amount of time critical thinking and problem solving in their maths activities. This involved a session designing and building castles. In the English masterclass, students rotated around activities involving psychology, photography, drama and script writing.

We thank the teachers that were involved in creating these experiences for our students. A wonderful time was had by all the students involved in the days.

Janine McMahon - Assistant Principal

Celebrating Success

It’s all about the birds

Hailey H. Yr9

Meet Captain QuackSparrow!

Hailey has created this sensational duck from ceramics in her STEAM Design class. Beautifully finished, this is a terrific project for her work requirement.

Corey F. Yr11

And meet Blossom!

Corey, for a self-directed project, has run a competition this week inviting ESC staff and students to guess the weight of this stunning chook. There’s a prize up for grabs – we wonder who will win?

More fabulous creations!

Kekoa, Zeb, Harley The work of Caitlyn S. Teagan S.

Year Level Assemblies

This week we have been able to enjoy year level assemblies right across the College. It has been terrific to have been able to recognise the successes of our students. Assemblies are an important part of our culture and an opportunity for students to come together, reflect on the term, be prepared to kickstart into the next learning period and celebrate the great achievements of our students.

Respectful Relationships

In the last newsletter the program ‘Respectful Relationships’ was introduced and the background and how the program works at ESC was explained. Respectful Relationships is a core component of the Victorian Curriculum all the way up to Year 12 and is about embedding a culture of respect and equality across our entire community.

Here we share an overview of topics studied in the program:

Topic 1: Emotional Literacy: Emotional literacy can be defined as the ability to understand ourselves and other people. It includes the ability to understand, express and manage our own emotions, build empathy, and to respond appropriately to the emotions of others.

Topic 2: Personal Strengths: Students need a vocabulary to help them recognise and understand strengths and positive qualities in themselves and others. This topic provides learning activities to build this vocabulary and to use it when discussing personal, social and ethical challenges.

Topic 3: Positive Coping: Learning activities in this topic provide opportunities for students to identify and discuss different types of coping strategies.

Topic 4: Problem Solving: Problem-solving skills are an important part of the coping repertoire. The activities in the program assist students to develop their critical and creative thinking skills, and to apply them to scenarios exploring personal, social and ethical dilemmas.

Topic 5: Stress Management: Our students experience a range of personal, social and work-related stressors in their everyday lives. Assisting students to recognise their personal signs and symptoms of stress, and to develop strategies that will help them to deal with stress effectively, will help students cope with future challenges.

Topic 6: Help-Seeking: Learning activities in this topic area are designed to help students discuss the importance of seeking help and providing peer support when dealing with problems that are too big to solve alone.

Topic 7: Gender and Identity: Learning activities within this topic assist students to challenge stereotypes and critique the influence of gender stereotypes on attitudes and behaviour. They learn about key issues relating to human rights, gender, identity and focus on the importance of respect within relationships.

Topic 8: Positive Gender Relations: Activities focus on building an understanding of the effects of family violence and focus on the standards associated with respectful relationships.

Uniform

Yes – it’s getting cold up here in the hills! We’re aware that students have been feeling the cold in the last few weeks, and whilst our College uniform does provide a viable option to combat the chill, students are also telling us that some items don’t provide enough warmth or, there are issues with the comfort and fit of certain items of uniform. At a student forum held recently we listened to our students’ voices and together with School Council have responded with some changes to the College Dress Code Policy. At this time we are unable to simply add new items to the range available from PSW (our supplier based in Officer) due to stock commitments, however, significant changes and key points that impact on our students include:

That students may wear any item of ESC branded, currently sold from our supplier items of College uniform – at any time, regardless of gender or season. This means that students are able to wear, for example, the College sports shirt, or the rugby jumper, as part of their day to day uniform.
That piercings are permitted within OH&S regulated environments (ie where they are safe)
Beanies and caps are permitted as long as they are College issue

What hasn’t changed:

Hoodies are absolutely NOT part of the College uniform. Students wearing hoodies will be asked to remove them for collection after school and/or will be in breach of the policy.

Consequences for breaching our dress code begin with a warning and escalate if the student continues to breach the policy.

The full policy will be made available on the College website this week.

Free Webinar

Yarra Ranges, Maroondah and Knox Council present ‘Taming the Technology’ – a webinar scheduled for Monday 27th June at 7.30pm. ‘If you sometimes feel like your child’s device has become an extension of their body, had an argument about how much time they spend online or just had concerns about what they’re accessing then you are in the majority of Australian parents/carers who feel exactly the same way! Sometimes understanding children’s and teen’s online behaviour can feel overwhelming, but it can be managed! This forum provides essential information and resources for protecting children online, understanding online behaviours and finding new ways to communicate with them about technology.’ For bookings visit https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Experience/Events/Taming-the-technology

Tanja Korsten - Acting Assistant Principal