The St. Arnaud Secondary College

Weekly Newsletter

14th December, 2018

St. Arnaud Secondary College is a Child Safe School.

2018

Alpine School Students

Principal’s Report

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Year 7, 8 and 9 Step Up The step up program for 2018 Year 7, 8 and 9 students has continued this week and will end today (Friday). This program is designed to give all students a head start on their 2019 studies and despite some higher than normal absences on some days, the program has been very successful. Activities next week Next Monday and Tuesday morning there are planned activities for students with some letters hav-ing been sent home for information and approval. There is a range of activities on offer and attend-ances will be monitored. On Tuesday, students in Years 7, 8 and 9 in 2018 are expected at school as normal until at least lunchtime as they will be going to the Town Hall for a full Presentation Night rehearsal – following this they will be going to the pool for activities unless they have a note from home. Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 are also required for the rehearsal from 11:30am at the Town Hall. This will be important for all students as there have been some changes made to the format of the evening. Presentation Night Just a reminder to all families that Presentation Night is next Tuesday December 18 at the Town Hall at 7.30 pm sharp. It is compulsory for all students to attend Presentation Night and be in full school uniform. Reports will be distributed at the end of the ceremony. I look forward to seeing everyone there. Alpine School Visit Last Friday, Dr Taylor and I had the pleasure of visiting our 5, Year 9 students who are spending the last of their 9 weeks at Dinner Plain at the School for Student Leadership. We had lunch with all the students and visitors and then got to hear from every school Team as they presented their Communi-ty Leadership Projects. We heard from 10 schools in total and there was a wide range of activities across the schools. I may be a bit biased, but I thought our students had one of the best presentations and was also interested to note that not one of our students had to use notes to make their presenta-tion. I look forward to hearing more about the school when the students get back next week. One to One Notebook Program We have received a note from our Notebook supplier that the Lenovo Laptops may be delayed in arriving due to a backlog of orders. The machines should still be at the college prior to the start of the school year, but will then need to be imaged. We are hoping to still be able to meet the timeline of the end of week 2 for distribution to students. We will keep you posted. Start Dates for 2019 Just to confirm the start dates for 2019 Monday 28 January Australia Day Public Holiday Tuesday 29 January Teaching Staff officially return Wednesday 30 January Year 7, 11 and 12 students return (and Year 10 students in Yr 11 clas-ses) Thursday 31 January Year 8, 9 and 10 Return – First day for TAFE at NCTTC Wednesday 6 February First Day Year 9 at NCTTC Last newsletter of the year As the end of the year approaches, this will be our last School Newsletter for 2018. It certainly has been a very busy year and I cannot quite believe it is so close to Christmas already – especially giv-en the current weather. Our College clearly has an improvement agenda and while this is very exciting, change can be diffi-cult for some people. We will continue on our improvement journey in 2019 and look forward to working together again next year. I would like to wish everyone a very happy and safe Christmas break and look forward to seeing everyone again in 2019. Tony Hand Principal

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Alpine School

Throughout Term 4 of 2018, five students from St. Arnaud Secondary College have attended the School for

Student Leadership, at the Alpine Campus at Dinner Plain. Jordyn Atkinson, Emily Rice, Tylah Shields, Alec

Freeman and Jack Hodges have been challenged during their time there by a range of unique activities and

experiences, including camping in the snow, mountain bike riding, bushwalking and hiking, along with wash-

ing their own laundry and performing kitchen duties. All students spoke enthusiastically about their personal

journeys and their growth throughout their time at the unique Alpine campus.

On Friday 7th December, all students presented their proposed Community Learning Projects (CLP) to a

group including their fellow students and teachers, as well as visiting staff and principals from all of the

home schools. Mr Hand and Dr Taylor were in attendance from St. Arnaud. There was a wide range of pro-

ject approaches, with the St. Arnaud group’s CLP being an Angling Competition at Walker’s Lake. Their

presentation was entertaining, informative, performed with confidence and spoken completely from memory.

We look forward to Jordyn, Emily, Tylah, Alec and Jack returning to St Arnaud and sharing their experiences

and new perspectives with the school community. They are excited by the opportunity to speak of their time

at the Alpine School at the school’s Presentation Night on 18th December. We also eagerly anticipate the run-

ning of their CLP angling competition in the New Year.

Calvin Taylor

Student Leadership Coordinator

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Bendigo Art Gallery Excursion

On Monday 10th December, some of our art students visited the Bendigo Art Gallery to see the exciting exhi-

bitions Rupture (instillation/digital artwork by Jessie Boylan), Gothic Beauty, Daughters of the Sun and Frida

Kahlo, her life in photos. A visit to the gallery’s outdoor sculpture garden ended on a 'high' with two students

climbing View Point tower and they were delighted with the view.

Students then visited the Chancery Lane art space, where local artist Chris Duffy's Hackney Hockney art exhi-

bition was displayed on the walls as street art. The works are a series of stencil pieces and hand painted im-

agery of Australian pop culture icons created in a Pop Art style.

This outing proved very valuable to inspire students to look at what our local galleries have to offer and to

seek out alternative art spaces. This will hopefully help shape their studio practice in 2019 and beyond.

Around the classroom

Hands on Learning students Project -

Christmas trees

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The nesting box that Zack Weir has made in his General Studies unit has found a new home in his chicken coup. The box is mostly constructed from recycled timbers from packing pallets that he has carefully broken down at school. Zack supplies a large number of eggs to many people in and around town and he cares for his hens, ducks, goats and other wonderful pets at his home. Hopefully the new nesting box will be welcomed by his feathered friends quickly and is a comfortable place for them to nest. Picture of Zack below. Presentation Night - Students and Parents please note, any art/woodwork dis-played at Presentation Night is expected to go home at the end of the evening with families, please. The displays of student work do not reflect all of the year's work in practical classes, because many students have given their pieces as gifts or taken them home already. Any other works not on display could be picked up from College on Wednesday 19th December. Karen Medlyn

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Careers and Pathways

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Attention:

Year 11 (2019) students studying General Mathematics,

Maths Methods and Year 12 (2019) students studying

Further Mathematics and Maths Methods.

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Community Notices

Term 4 2018 Semester 2

December Fri 14 STEP UP ENDS

Mon 17 Activities Day

Tues 18 Presentation Night 7.30pm

Fri 21 LAST DAY

Term 1 2019 Semester 1

January Tues 29 Teachers start back at school

Wed 30 Students in Year 7, 11 & 12 resume school

Thurs 31 Students in Year 8, 9 & 10 resume school

February Wed 13 Year 7 Immunisations

Mon 18-22 Year 8 Rubicon Camp

Mon 25-27 Halls Gap Camp

March Mon 11 Labour Day Holiday

Mon 18 School Photos

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