YARRA HILLS SECONDARY COLLEGE

9 June 2017 A Fortnightly Bulletin Issue No. 8

PO BOX 42 MOOROOLBARK 3138 Mooroolbark Campus: Tel: 9839 8800 Mt Evelyn Campus : Tel: 9736 3650

Respect ♦ Endeavour ♦ Achievement ♦ Pride

KEY DATES

MAY

Monday 12 PUBLIC HOLIDAY - Queen’s Birthday

Tuesday 13 Intermediate Band Rehearsal 1.15—1.45 MB MB

Senior Concert Band Rehearsal 3.30—4.30pm MB MB

Wednesday 14 VCE GAT Exam 9.45am—1.15pm MB

Thursday 15 Junior Concert Band Rehearsal 3.30pm—4.30pm ME & MB

Friday 16 Yr 12 Legal Studies Excursion—County Court visit 8am—3.10pm MB

Yr 7 Boys & Girls Badminton MB

Monday 19 Intermediate Band Rehearsal 1.15—1.45 ME ME

Tuesday 20 Intermediate Band Rehearsal 1.15—1.45 MB MB

Senior Concert Band Rehearsal 3.30—4.30pm MB MB

Thursday 22 Junior Concert Band Rehearsal 3.30pm—4.30pm ME & MB

Monday 26 Yr 7 Immunisation ME & MB

Intermediate Band Rehearsal 1.15—1.45 ME ME

From the College Principal Vale Denis Cody

Unfortunately I am again in the unenviable position of informing the college community of the passing of a long-serving ex-member of the teaching staff at Yarra Hills.

Denis Cody was most recently Campus Principal at the Mooroolbark Campus, prior to his retirement at the end of 2014. Denis first started at Yarra Hills in 1976, as a teacher at the now de-commissioned Pembroke High School. In his almost forty years on staff, Denis was renowned for his self-deprecating sense of humour and absolute commitment to the students and to the college. Denis held a number of leadership roles across two of the three previous campuses of Yarra Hills, having a significant role in the redevelopment of the Mooroolbark Campus site on Reay Road. After retiring, Denis had devoted his time to not only his family, wife Paula, children and grandchildren, but also continued to develop his passions of photography and travel. I remember

him telling me last year that his TripAdvisor status had reached thousands of followers! He also volunteered at a local hospital, assisting the staff and patients with a variety of needs, including I.T., demonstrating again his fantastic outlook on life. Another secret that not many people know is that he also spent time volunteering as a clown for local community groups. Apparently he was a whiz with the balloon animals!

Denis became ill earlier this year and, despite some well periods, his condition deteriorated recently and he passed away on Sunday night, surrounded by family. Our thoughts are extended to Denis’ family and close friends, including many members of staff, during this time. We also have support in place for any students who may be distressed by this. Rest in Peace Denis.

Darren Trippett College Principal

From the Mooroolbark Campus Principal It has been a very challenging few weeks for students and staff with the passing of current and former staff. It has had a big impact on many within the community, and we thank those parents and friends who have offered their condolences and support. It has helped me recognise the importance of looking out for one another and how truly connected the Yarra Hills school community is.

Exams & Assessment

Our Year 7-10 students have been working hard with final assessments for the semester, including exams in many of their subjects. I want to congratulate the majority of our students for taking the exam period so seriously and being prepared for the formal assessment that occurs in the later years. This week our Year 11 & 12 students have their exams, with the General Assessment Test (GAT) for all Unit 3 and 4 students scheduled for Wednesday 14 June.

I would like to thank students and staff for inviting me into their classrooms, as we celebrated Education Week (May 21 -

27). It was great to see what our students are doing in the classroom, including the great work in the foods room.

Year 8 Tech School visits begin

Our Year 8 students have begun their visits to the Box Hill Lilydale Lakeside Campus Technical School. Students were

doing activities within the field of Robotics. The students were really engaged and loved the opportunity to do hands on

activities with robots. All the Year 8 classes will be visiting the Technical School this term or early in term 3 across both

campuses with future excursions planned for later in the year.

Primary School Student Leadership Forum

We welcomed over 60 student leaders from Grade 5 and 6 from our local Primary Schools to take part in range of activities focused on building resilience and respectful relationships in particular gender equity and gender stereotyping. It is the first time we have welcomed primary school student leaders to our campus. It was great to have them here and give them an opportunity to share ideas and take back some things to their schools that they can implement. Thank you to our year 10 Peer Support leaders who helped out on the day, to Robyn Dew and Chantelle Mitchell for their organisation, and to our Yarra Ranges Mayor, Noel Cliff for being part of the day.

Parking and Driving

With recent wet weather, we have again had some concerns from residents and parents about potentially dangerous driving along Reay Road when entering and leaving the Mooroolbark Campus. We ask that ALL parents PLEASE take extra care when driving in and out of the school and do so safely. We are doing our best to communicate to our students about crossing with care on Reay Road. When there is a lot of vehicle traffic and the road is congested it is very difficult for cars to see pedestrians and other cars entering and exiting both the Primary School and Yarra Hills. We also ask that you please do not drop off or pick-up in No Parking areas of the school. We want to ensure that ALL students and parents are leaving the school safely.

Greg Cowan Mooroolbark Campus Principal

From the Mt Evelyn Campus Principle It has been an extremely tough term with many activities in place for both students and staff which has caused some disruption to the day to day classes. But in saying this, it has been awesome as far as the learning going on for staff and students alike, which allows for new learning for many classrooms. Exams are now over and thanks go to Rebecca Dunn for her organisation of this. They ran very smoothly including catch up exams arranged for those who missed the original timing. It is clear, however that exam preparation is essential for students to do well with some working well on this and others feeling they can ‘wing it’. The reality is that exam results more often than not reflect the preparation students put in. Staff always give plenty of advice as well as revision sheets to assist students before the exam. It is worth as parents to discuss with your child what their method of exam preparation was prior to these exams and share your thoughts. It is often after the event that many students will reflect on what more they could have done prior to the exams. Staff will provide feedback for all students to assist them in learning how they can improve for future exams. These exams are crucial to allow students to understand what is required for successful results in VCE exams. Caleb is on fire with his archery

Congratulations to Caleb Barkway who participated in the State Cloute Archery competition held at Waverley City Archers. The aim of this competition is to shoot the arrow in the air and into the target quite a distance away. The competition was tough, but the enormous amount of practice Caleb has had for many years has paid off for him. He won gold in his event.

Congratulations Caleb – we are so proud of you!!

Tiffany triumphs at show jumping Tiffany Snodgrass, year 7 has been show jumping with her horse, Cobber for many years. Last weekend she entered the Assumption College Interschool Show Jumping Competition. It was a very early start on the day and with a rocky start, Tiffany managed to finish well in a very tough competition. Tiffany and Cobber did so well throughout the day managing to beat over half the field. With only one student representing Yarra Hills, it meant our overall placing wasn’t that great. Despite this we are so proud of Tiffany and her effort on the day; you represented our school so well. If any other students who own horses are interested in competing in interschool competitions, please see me.

Student Leadership Forum hosted by Yarra Hills SC

Last week we hosted the annual Student Leadership Forum for all our student leaders from local Primary schools in both Mt Evelyn and Mooroolbark. It is the only forum of its kind where student leaders can come together and network on specific topics that affect their school. This year we focused on building resilience and respectful relationships in particular gender equity and gender stereotyping. Maria McCarthy opened our forum and we were thrilled to have her join us again as she did last year. Adam Voigt who is an educational consultant and partner to Yarra Hills with the REAL schools organisation, spoke to students about the importance of how the little things make a big difference within a school. He also spoke about how we need to try and push ourselves through the tough times as it builds strength in us all. Taking the easy road takes no effort. Kristy Lang, another motivational speaker spoke to students about the expectations on students as boys and girls. She asked for student’s thoughts on this matter and the results were interesting.

It is sad to think that our students believe that this is what society expects of them and unfortunately many will follow this unless we start the conversation. The biggest message from Kristy was that being a boy or a girl should not limit you in what you want to achieve and encouraged all students not to judge others who wish to break the mould.

It was an awesome day with everyone enjoying the activities and information given throughout the day. I was very proud of our Peer Support Leaders who facilitated many of the activities throughout the day. Our primary school leaders and their teachers were equally impressed.

As a boy I am expected to:

Be manly Be cool Love sport Fast at running Have a good job and earn money Be tough Be strong Have no emotions

As a girl I’m expected to:

Be ladylike Be popular Be weak Be pretty and have long hair Do my hair nicely Be a nurturer Wear a dress or skirt Wear make-up Do girly things

Masterchef hits Food Technology

This week, Year 8 students were given the challenge to showcase their skills using one of the cake making methods; either creaming, melt and mix or rubbing in method. All students took the challenge seriously and each were battling the clock to get their dishes done on time. It was fantastic seeing students really push themselves and I was particularly impressed by the variety of dishes presented which included raspberry and white chocolate muffins, rainbow cupcakes, Nutella cake and yoghurt cake just to name a few. But who was our ultimate Masterchef winner? Aleesa Keenan with her chocolate mud cakes with homemade chocolate ganache icing – they were magnificent! Well done to everyone!

Cool things happening in Year 8 science! As part of the Year 8 science course, students are investigating potential and kinetic energy. One of the more engaging practical tasks is for the students to design and produce a vehicle of some kind that is propelled entirely by elastic potential energy. This involves a design in their science books with a list of materials they will need, then (with the help of a few examples from previous years), they produce a wonderful wacky racer. There will be prizes for the racer that travels the furthest when race day arrives. Can’t wait!

Robyn Dew Mt Evelyn Campus Principal

Year 10 Driver Education Students recently completed their ‘Driver Instruction’ sessions at the METEC driving complex in Colchester Road where they learnt how to drive manual vehicles and to develop their ‘on road’ driving skills.

Most of the students started out with low rated driving standards during the first week as for many it was their first experience at driving. The driving ability and skill awareness improved in each of the students during the second week where they were able to obtain greater confidence in handling their vehicles and they were successfully obtaining higher results for their driving skills. Well done! Murray McAllister

Mt Evelyn Campus

Mondays after school

and

lunchtime in the Library

Bring your books and lunch

START YOUR DAY THE RIGHT WAY

Come on up to the Well Being Centre at Mt Evelyn Campus

& check out what’s cooking

WHEN: Every Thursday Morning 8.00—8.50

Brekky Club is FREE to all Yarra Hills students

(thank you to the generous and valuable support of Bendigo Bank

Mt Evelyn and Bakers Delight Mooroolbark)