THS NEWS 11th April 2006 1

IMPORTANT DATES TERM 2 2006 13th April Out of Uniform day [Footy Colours] 14th – 17th April Easter break [no school] 19th April Parent / teacher interviews [students must accompany parents/guardians] 27th April School Athletics Carnival 24th April Curriculum Day

25th April Anzac Day 3rd May Bullying Survey 9th May Parents &Friends Assoc meeting 7pm 11th May Year 6 Information Evening 24th May Music Soiree Evening 30th May Mid Year Twilight Concert

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parent/Guardian,

The school appreciates and values the partnership which exists between parents and school as we work towards achieving our twin goals of achievement and excellence. Parental encouragement and support for learning at home and parental involvement at school have a positive impact on learning. Our school community recognizes the importance of parents’ involvement in their child’s education.

This year, increased efforts will be made to involve families and we would hope that we will work collaboratively on curriculum programs, student support activities, fund raising, school improvements, special projects and maintenance work.

At the simplest level this may mean responding to surveys and questionnaires, attending working bees and information evenings extending to support of the Arts and Music, and participation in the parent club’s social activities and forums.

Participation may involve family members being engaged in classroom programs, using their networks to support school activities, volunteering for a range of tasks, participating in reading, drama, sport, acting as an advocate and initiating projects that benefit students.

It may also mean formal involvement in school reviews, consultations, research projects, planning and decision making.

It may entail being a member of a formal organisation such as Parents and Friends, School Council or one of the subcommittees. This leads to direct involvement in school policy development, charter writing and the school evaluation processes.

Parents in particular and communities in general make an outstanding contribution in the enrichment of school programs, by supporting staff in their work and in the provision of quality experiences for the students. Building strong and positive partnerships between the school, the family and the community is important to

hornbury High School. T

Parents interested in some level of involvement should

THS News 11th April 2006

Year 8 SRC, 2006: [pictured left to right] Sarah Salgram, Leah Theodosiadis, Stella Foster, Jacinta Drosinos, Vireak Chhoeung, Jasmine Schroeder, Emilia Pertama and Chris Smith. [Amber Murray - absent]

complete the ‘Parent Involvement Proforma’ at the end of this newsletter and return it to the General Office. Peter Egeberg Principal

HIGH PRAISE FOR OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY FROM JOHN SO, LYNN KOSKY AND 3ZZZ During the week I had the pleasure of meeting John So and Lynn Kosky at a reception for international students at Government House. Both expressed their praise and admiration for the school community’s efforts in returning Nak to the school. Lynn, in particular, is keen to support Nak and assist where it would be appropriate.

HARMONY DAY On Friday 30th April, the ‘Strength in Diversity Radio Stories’ CD put together by Radio Station 3ZZZ was launched at Thornbury High School. A number of students from THS had contributed audio stories about heir experiences or attitudes towards racism. t

The Hon. Andrew Robb, Federal Parliamentary Secretary to Amanda Vanstone, was to be guest speaker. Unfortunately, Canberra airport was fogbound and his plane failed to get airborne.

Samantha Sly was the MC, Rachel Reece sang My Island Home and Tuan Duong was fantastic doing a beatbox segment. Rachel and Samantha were also great. The launch was filmed by the students of Class TV and it will be aired shortly on Channel 31. Colin Thompson

TOP DESIGNS Each year the best work from VCE Media, Design, Food, Systems and Visual Communications is displayed at the Melbourne Museum. Nick Gilmour, a year 12 student in 2005, had a short film titled ‘Life’ selected for display. Nick’s film is described as ‘an evocative and powerful flash animation where hand drawn figures and text tell the story of a relationship between two young lovers’. Nick’s parents and the school are extremely proud of his outstanding work. Nick’s parents were also very grateful to his media teacher, James Curzon Siggers, as well as all the other teachers who assisted him over the past six years at the school. CHANGES TO KEY DATES Due to circumstances outside our control the school has changed some dates for term 2:

Parent/Teacher interviews will now take place on the Wednesday 19th April and the School Athletics carnival will be held on Thursday 27th April. EMA cheques – Parents 1st Instalment EMA cheques are available to be picked up from the school. Contact Vicki on 9480 4066 if you have any queries. NEWSLETTER This term, the newsletter will be published every three weeks as a trial. We will then review this at the end of the term. If you would like to be added to our newsletter mailing list, please email your address to the school. Also, the current newsletter and past copies are available on our WEB site: www.thornburyhs.vic.edu.au

The dates for distribution of the newsletter for Term 2 will therefore be: Thursday 4th May Thursday 25th May & Thursday 15th June [however, this one may be delayed and sent with the Semester One reports.] Meredith Stephenson, Assistant Principal SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS

CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY I was chosen as the school representative and the personal guest of Mary Delahunty MP, to attend the International Women’s Day lunch at the Great Hall, National Gallery of Victoria. We were introduced to 24 women who have been added to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2006. They have all made an immense impression on their communities in a range of areas including sport, education, the arts, health and social justice. At the luncheon, I was seated next to The Chief Commissioner of Victoria

THS NEWS 11th April 2006 2

Police, Christine Nixon, and Mary Delahunty. Also on the table were Joan Kirner and Justine Madden. The afternoon was very daunting but I was glad I attended and left feeling very inspired and motivated by these women. Amy Jess 12A

FUTURE LEADERS The following school captains - Nadia Croatto, Anita Samardzija, Megan Van Roo, Amy Jess, Morgan Cree and Fiona Dawson - have been chosen to attend a Future Leaders Forum at the University of Melbourne on Friday 21st April. The Forum exposes students to leadership initiatives and skills.

LATES/ABSENCES Arriving late to form assembly and class is becoming an issue for a small number of students. We would like to remind parents that notes are required for students who arrive late otherwise a detention will be issued. (three lates to form assembly constitutes a detention and a detention for each late thereafter). UNIT 3 SAC’S and ATTENDANCE A meeting with all year 12 students was held on Monday 3rd April, outlining the following:- • This is the business end of the semester with

SAC’s almost every week. • If you are too ill to come to school on the day of a

SAC, you must go to the doctor for a medical certificate. If the absence is of a serious personal nature, then documentation must be provided to the school explaining the circumstances.

• Skipping class to study for a SAC is the wrong thing to do and suggests poor preparation. If students are known to be doing this, they will be given a College detention – technically this is wagging!

We would like to encourage parents to ring us with any concerns or questions you may have regarding any matter to do with the VCE.

WEB SITE The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority website has everything you need to know about the VCE. Study Designs, past exams and examiners reports all appear on this site: vcaa.vic.edu.au

YEAR 11 PASTORAL CAMP – GREAT KEPPEL ISLAND AND SURFERS PARADISE – SEPTEMBER 9TH TO 16TH Numbers for this camp have now been finalised and the payment of the first instalment of $165 has been made. Instalment dates for the remainder of the money is as follows:- Payment 2 - $165 due by Friday 26th May

Payment 3 - $165 due by Friday 7th July Payment 4 - $165 due Friday 4th August

Boxes of chocolates are now available for sale from the VCE centre. This is a great way for students to raise money. $24 from each box sold goes directly to the student to help pay for the camp. VCE TEAM

Harmony Day: Samantha Sly [MC] & Rachel Reece

CLASSTV ON CHANNEL 31 – THS’ UNIQUE TELEVISION SHOW The Oztam rating survey for February (same ratings apply to commercial networks) suggests we had an average viewing audience of 17,400 with peaks of 28,000 for the Saturday morning show at 10 am. The bad news is that while the football is on, our times have changed to 7am Saturdays, 4.30 pm Mondays, 7.30am Thursdays and 5.30pm Fridays! Yes that’s right they repeat our show three times!!! We will also be screening an exclusive four-part series covering Class Clowns for the Melbourne Comedy Festival on top of our regular programming. Class Clowns features budding comedians from schools across Victoria. Our students have filmed the heats, final and vox popped the contestants. This will be screened during the Comedy Festival on the 19th, 21st, 26th and 28th April between 5pm and 6pm depending on the length of the episodes.

DEBATING Round one has come and gone! Our A team , which is Sean West from year 12 and Ben Finnegan and Ben McCloskey in year 11 beat Ivanhoe Girls in a surprise upset! GO team!! Ben Finnegan got best speaker. The year 9 team of James Todorov, Jacqui Bragianis and Virginia Fillopoulos narrowly lost to East Doncaster by one point (they were robbed – naturally!) and the year 10 team consisting of Murray Gillin, Yasmin El-Iss and Letisha Watson were also unlucky.

THS NEWS 11th April 2006 3

A big Thank you to Sarah Finnegan an ex-student who will be this year’s coach and manager! Paul Van Eeden

YEAR 12 CHEMISTRY EXCURSION As part of the year 12 course, the year 12 students visited the Chemistry Department of Latrobe University on Wednesday 29th March. The main focus was to observe and participate in areas of analytical chemistry including: Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Gas Liquid Chromatography, UV – Visible Spectroscopy and applying the Beer- Lambert Law, etc. We were also shown other examples of techniques that are used in shows such as CSI. REPORT FROM THE STUDENT WELLBEING COORDINATOR Below are some of the activities which will be coming up this term. The annual Bullying survey will take place across the school on the morning of Wednesday 3rd May in the school library. The Nutrition Program for the Junior School will take place on Friday 26th May. Some of the topics include food fads and phobias and sport and nutrition. More information will be provided closer to the day. MEDITERRANEAN TOUR – FUNDRAISING Thanks to all the students who have volunteered to take the Rotary Club Raffle booklet home to sell to help raise funds for the planned Mediterranean tour in April 2007. This is a great way of kickstarting our fundraising activities this year. Further details of the tour will be published as they become available. E. D’Amore MUSIC NEWS Another busy term faces the music department as we gear up for the next twelve weeks. With all the performance groups now rehearsing regularly, we have a variety of concerts and performances lined up.

MUSIC SOIREE We are introducing a new feature to our program this year with the Soiree planned for Wednesday 24th May at 7.30pm in the Kaye Coghlan. This is to give

students an opportunity to perform solos and small ensemble items in a relaxed, supportive environment. Those preparing for AMEB or VET exams will find this helpful but it is for all students to get up and have a go.

MID YEAR CONCERT DATE CHANGE Due to the change time of the Year 10 exams we have changed brought forward the concert date to one week earlier, still on a Tuesday evening. We will be having a BBQ dinner beforehand starting at 6.30pm and the bands will start at 7pm in the Kaye Coghlan. SENIOR CONCERT AND YEAR 8 BAND PRIMARY SCHOOL TOUR The Senior Concert Band will be touring local primary schools on Wednesday April 26th and the Year 8 band will be visiting other primary schools on the following Tuesday May 2nd.

DATES 26th April Senior Concert Band Primary School Tour 2nd May Year 8 Concert Band Primary School Tour 24th May Soiree night 30th May Mid Year Concert

OUTDOOR EDUCATION - OUT AGAIN

Last week saw the Year 10 Outdoor Education Class show their skilled moves [and some not so skilled moves!] on the ice in Oakleigh. There were thrills, spills and a few wet behinds after our time on the ice.

Next week sees us hitting St Kilda beach and cruising on inline blades. S. Bonnici

STUDENT EXCHANGE AUSTRALIA

Free information evening Thursday April 27th, 2006 7.30pm-9pm

Radisson on Flagstaff Gardens, 380 William Street

Come and meet our staff Hear comprehensive information on all aspects of exchange Ask questions Listen to questions asked by

other students and parents Meet other students who are considering going on exchange Scholarships available!

For further information see www.studentexchange.org.au or call 1300 135 331 [cost of a local call]

THS NEWS 11th April 2006 4

THS SPORTS STAR PROFILES

Nicholas Fothergill 9D SPORTS: Football, Indoor Soccer, Cricket

SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS: Football – Montmorency FC 2006; Fitzroy FC 2000-2004 Indoor Soccer – Thornbury Indoor Sports Centre 2004-2006 Cricket – Edinburgh Cricket Club 2002-2003

Best Batter 2002 & 2003 Best Average 2002 & 2003

BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATING IN SPORT? Increased fitness, making new friends, love the game.

SPORTING GOAL FOR THE FUTURE: To play professional football for Collingwood like my father and grandfather before me. My grandfather won a brownlow medal in the 1940’s and I would love to do the same. Tass Tourtsakis 9D SPORTS: Soccer

SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS: Heidelberg Warriors Soccer Club 2000-2006. Most improved player 2006. Runners up 2001. Currently playing U15’s – Right striker/Right fielder.

Have represented the school in soccer and volleyball.

BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATING IN SPORT? Getting fit, making new friends, trying to achieve my best in soccer.

SPORTING GOAL FOR THE FUTURE: To play soccer for an ‘A’ League Club or play professionally.

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THS NEWS 11th April 2006

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or 10 – 14 year olds. Entry is $5 and refreshments are available r sale inside the hall. Volunteer Police and St John ambulance rsonnel supervise the evening in an informal atmosphere. Police rsonnel do not wear uniform and enjoy the opportunity of teracting with young people in a social non-threatening vironment. A ‘no-smoking’ policy applies and children are quired to remain inside the hall at the end of the night until llected by a parent or guardian. ates: 26th May 30th June 28th July 25th August 6th October 3rd November 1st December. Any queries call Senior Sergeant Diane Wilson on 8851 1111

ABCD Parenting Program arenting Centre is offering a free 6 week all parents of adolescents aged 10-14 years. g relationships with your adolescent, learn igned to prevent adolescent risk taking in the m offered both in the day and evening over 6 eeks. Call Victorian Parenting Centre 8860 3500 for more information.

n Junior Football Club Needs you extend an invitation to all interested boys who were

d 1990, and want to play football (Aussie Rules) for our Colts (Under 17’s) team

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PARENT INVOLVEMENT

AS A MEMBER OF THE THORNBURY HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNITY, IN WHAT WAY DO YOU SEE YOURSELF BEING INVOLVED?

Would you be able and willing to use your expertise in your occupation/career in any way at the school? [eg. hobby classes, talks, career advice]

Yes No If yes, in what way? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Are you able to assist with taking students for work Experience placements? [1 week beginning June 12]

Yes No NAME OF BUSINESS______________________________ CONTACT NUMBER:________________ NATURE OF BUSINESS________________________________________________________________ Are you able to attend working bees on a Sunday?

Yes No In which of the following activities would you be willing to be involved? 1. Parent Association 4. Reading Groups 2.Drama/Art/Music 5. Lunchtime Clubs 3. Sporting Events 6. Other [please specify] ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Would you be willing to be placed on a roster to assist with the sale of second hand books and uniforms at the end of the year?

Yes No We look forward to a successful partnership with you in the education of your child. Name of parent or guardian: ______________________________________________ Student Name:_____________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with this information

THS NEWS 11th April 2006 7