The St. Arnaud Secondary College

Weekly Newsletter

19th October, 2018

St. Arnaud Secondary College is a Child Safe School.

2018 Loddon Mallee Region Athletics

Principal’s Report

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School Council School Council met on Wednesday night and had a long list of items to discuss, some of which focussed on planning for 2019. We also spent some time on the proposed Mobile Phone policy which has been worked on, and in many facets, led by the students. I am very pleased to say that the new mobile phone policy was passed by the Council and as there are a few matters to be organised, it will come into effect in 2019. I will include an abbreviated version in the newsletter outlining the key points of the policy for all parents and stu-dents. Contrary to some belief, this new policy does not allow free access to phones at all times and in fact one of the major features is that phones are handed in to the teacher at the beginning of each lesson. Farewell Rose Last Thursday afternoon Rose Sibson notified me that it would be her last day at the College. Rose has been a staff member at the College for 10 years, working in integration and Quicksmart. Rose’s departure has result-ed from a decline in student numbers which directly affects school funding. On behalf of the staff and stu-dents and whole school community, I would like to thank Rose for her years at the College and wish her all the very best in the future. Alpine School Last Sunday, five Year 9 students were taken to the School for Student Leadership at Dinner Plain – more commonly known as The Alpine School to start a term long adventure. We wish all of them the very best and look forward to updates, a visit or two and to hear their stories when they return in the last week of school. Year 12 Practice Exams and student support Year 12 practice exams have been held this week in the Hall. This opportunity should enable students to identify areas that they may wish to focus on during their SWOT VAC and give our students vital practice at sitting down for an extended period of time on one task. As part of our support for students, Year 12 teachers will be available to students during every normal scheduled lesson in the week leading up to their exams which will be a great opportunity for students to get assistance. Interschool Hockey On Wednesday a team of Year 7 to 10 males and females played in an Interschool game of hockey against Boort at Lord Nelson Park. The Boort team consisted of Year 9 and 10 students. It was a tight game but in the end our team went down 0-1. Congratulations to all of our students for their sportsmanship and playing out the game to the very last minute. Bus Licences Over the past few weeks a number of our staff have undertaken their Bus Licences to allow them to drive our College Bus. Congratulations to Mr. Marland, Miss. Swanton, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Medlyn, Mr. Lobley and Mrs. Reynolds on obtaining your licences. Good luck also to Mr Knight and Mr Whiteman who go for theirs in the upcoming weeks – no pressure! This enables the College to have a lot more flexibility in organising excursions which is great for the College. Mr Reynold’s Stair Climb I would like to wish Mr Reynolds all the very best for this weekend. For those that may not be aware, Mr Reynolds is participating in the Sydney Stair Climb to raise funds and awareness for Motor Neuron Disease research. All the firefighters participating are climbing over 1000 stairs in full BA uniform which is an unbe-lievable effort. The fight against MND has been made very public through Neale Daniher and if you would like to support Dave in his efforts, you can donate through the website below:- firiesclimbformnd.gofundraise.com.au/page/DavidReynolds2 Tony Hand Principal

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ST.ARNAUD SECONDARY COLLEGE REGION ATHLETICS

Year 11 Biology Ecolinc Excursion

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On Wednesday the 10th of October the Year 11 Biology Students went to Ecolinc in Bacchus Marsh. The Ecolinc grassland/wetland is a constructed ecosys-tem containing many indigenous plants from the West-ern Volcanic Plains of Victoria. Identification of much of the flora present can be made using the ‘Biodiversity of the Western Volcanic Plains’ Flora and Fauna Field Guide. Identification can be investigated further using DNA barcoding. This involves determining and using a gene segment that contains a specific nucleotide se-quence that uniquely identifies a particular species. This may be compared to the way a supermarket scan-ner uses the black vertical stripes on the packaging of a product to identify a purchase. DNA barcoding is a molecular biology technique that uses a tiny piece of tissue from the specimen for DNA extraction. For plants, the barcode region is targeted with a known gene sequence found in the chloroplasts called Rubisco Large subunit – rbcl. This barcode re-gion is replicated using polymerase chain reaction PCR and then sequenced. Once the DNA barcode is obtained it can be analysed using bioinformatics tools and stored in global databases for future use. Applications of DNA barcoding include species identi-fication, diagnosis of disease, determining evolutionary relationships, monitoring invasive species and food safety.

2018 English Competition

Community Notices

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On Tuesday 31st July, the UNSW

English Competition was under-

taken at the Secondary College.

The UNSW English Competition

is an internationally recognised

competition and is a fantastic op-

portunity for students to demon-

strate the skills they have devel-

oped through their studies.

Students were tested on their

skills in reading for meaning in

literary texts, reading for mean-

ing in factual texts, textual devic-

es, syntax and vocabulary.

Congratulations to Sam Rice for

receiving a distinction award – in-

dicating that he is in the top 5%

of students in Australia for Eng-

lish.

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Interschool Hockey Wednesday last week a group of 14 students from Years 7 – 10 competed in the inter-

school hockey at Lord Nelson Park. The students were required to play only one game

against the fierce competition of Boort. Although competing in a boy’s competition, we

entered a team containing 3 females.

St. Arnaud started the game off very strong with the first 10 minutes of the game be-

ing dominated by our team’s attacking. We were unlucky on many occasions to not

score. Midway through the first half, Boort started to gain some momentum. However,

the backline stood strong with a few excellent saves by our goalie. Both teams entered

the half time break yet to score but with a very even competition on our hands.

The second half was very fast paced and both teams spent time attacking, having

chances to score. Towards the end of the second half, Boort scored a lucky goal from a

good cross to the centre. St. Arnaud continued to attack late into the second half and

they were unlucky not to score.

Although the team didn’t come out winners on the day, they definitely matched Boort

and were unlucky not to win. Boort fielded a team purely of Year 9 and 10 students,

whereas our school had a much younger team, consisting of six Year 7 and 8 stu-

dents. They all played the game in good sportsmanship and represented the school in

the correct manner.

Thank you to Mr Reynolds for marking out the field for us in his own time. Thanks to

Mr Marland and Miss Swanton for coaching and umpiring on the day.

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Ella Darby Polly Douglas

Ronan James

PARENTS’ CLUB 2018

PRESIDENT: Debbie Feeny

VICE-PRESIDENT: Deidre Freeman

SECRETARY: Tracey James

TREASURER: Darleen Baldock

DON’T FORGET …. Our next meeting is on Wednesday 14th November 6:00 pm at the Royal Hotel. New members are very welcome. Come along!

Check out our Facebook page: St. Arnaud Secondary College Parents Club

TIME Thursday 1st November Friday 2nd November

9:00 – 10:00

10:00 – 11:00

11:00 – 12:00

12:00 – 1:00

1:00 – 2:00 Deb Feeny

2:00 – 3:00 Deb Feeny

3:00 – 4:00

4:00 – 5:00 Darleen Baldock Darleen Baldock

Our last fundraiser for the year is the Presentation Night raffle.

We will be running the raffle for two days in Weirs IGA on Thursday 1st November and

Friday 2nd November and also on the door at Presentation Night.

Prizes are cash vouchers to be spent at local businesses in St. Arnaud.

We are looking for volunteers to fill up our roster. Please SMS me if you are able to fill in a

time slot. I can swap my times if needed. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Deb: 0429 956175

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Careers and Pathways

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Family Statements via Email

Dear Parent/Guardian,

The College is introducing the emailing of Family Statements/Invoices, and would like to encourage families to

receive statements this way. This will be a quick easy method that also saves on paper and postage, which will

then help our environment.

If you would like to receive your Family Statement by email please return the completed permission slip below.

Families who would prefer Statements mailed out, could you please indicate also on the return slip.

STATEMENT OF INTENDED PURPOSE: should you wish to receive your Family Statement/Invoice online, the

email and attachments will be confidential and will be intended solely for the information of the individual to

whom it is addressed.

If you require any further details please contact Kerrie Swanton, Business Manager on 54951 811.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Return Permission Slip – Family Statements Email

Yes, I agree to receive my Family Statement via email.

Name: ____________________________________________________

Email Address: _____________________________________________________

Signature:_________________________________________________________

No, I wish to have Family Statements mailed.

Name____________________________________________________________

Dr Bruce Thorpe is available for student consultations

every Tuesday from 10.00am – 2.00pm.

Students wanting appointments can see Mrs Chapman.

Term 4 2018 Semester 2

October Mon 22 State Athletics

Minyip Field and Game shoot

Tues 23 Year 12 Last Day

Mon 29 MIPS

Wed 31 Year 12 Exams Begin

November Fri 2 NCD Bowls/Clay Target

Tues 6

6-7

MELBOURNE CUP HOLIDAY

Year 10 Outdoor Education Camp (Anglesea)

9 Year 9 & 10 Super 8’s Cricket

Mon 12 MIPS

Tues 13 State Interschool Boys Hockey

Wed 14 Year 10 Navarre Bike Ride

Fri 16 Year 9 Exams pd. 5 and 6

Year 7 & 8 Super 8’s Cricket

Mon—Wed 19-21 Year 9, 10 & 11 Exams

Wed 21 Year 12 Exams end

Mon 22 MIPS

Thurs—Fri

22-23 Exam Review Days

RACV Energy Breakthrough

Mon 26 PUPIL FREE DAY

Tues 27 STEP UP BEGINS

December Mon 3 MIPS

Tues 4 Grade 6 Step Up Day

Fri 7 2018 Year 10 & 11s Last Day

Fri 14 STEP UP ENDS

Mon 17 Activities Day

Tues 18 Presentation Night

Fri 21 LAST DAY

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