Edition 7: May 12 2017

News from Wellington Secondary College

Wellington Journal

Wellington Secondary College

UPCOMING DATES:Performing Arts Camp

Monday May 15 - Wednesday May 17

Allocated Funding forour Building Master Plan

We waited with bated breath for the delivery of last week's State Budget, but the wait was worth it! I am delighted to report that Wellington received $5.53 million for the first stage of our Master Plan Building Project. The letter from Minister Merlino is included on the back page of the Journal.

These funds will be used to build a new double storey building adjacent to the main car park. It will comprise a new Administration and Staff Hub, a 21st Century Resources complex and eight 21st Century Classrooms and learning spaces. I acknowledge the work of our architects, 'Clarke, Hopkins, Clarke' for developing a most striking and innovative design. The Vanellus, (our local plover featured in our school logo) was the inspiration and I have included a few images outlining the evolution of the design. It is breathtaking in its beauty and significance for our school and community.

The process will now focus on developing the detail of the design and the engagement of a builder. If all goes according to plan, we would hope that construction would commence in October or November this year. Once building begins, there will be short term disruption in terms of dislocation of classrooms, services and car parks, but I am confident that the whole community will support the longer term gain of this wonderful new resource.

Exciting times ahead!

Hugh BlaikiePrincipal

Principal’s Report

NAPLAN

The annual NAPLAN tests for Years 7 and 9 were held this week and a l l seemed to proceed smoothly. We originally thought that these would be the last of the “paper and pen” tests, however given the cancellation of the trial introduction of on-line testing no one is really sure what will happen in the future.

As was the case last year, we deliberately scheduled the Year 9

students into the Gymnasiums for these tests to give students an authentic experience of exam protocols. Feedback has been positive and we believe that this will assist Year 9 students in their preparation of their upcoming end of semester English and Mathematics and core subject exams.

I commend Mrs Brisbane and her team for organising this incredibly complex and challenging event.

Year 8 CampI had the pleasure of visiting the Year 8 Camp at Phillip Island on Wednesday this week.

Everyone was having a good time – the weather was a little chilly but the venue as always very appealing. I thank Head of Junior School Mrs Carmel Roberts and Year 8 Coordinators, Ms Fry and Mr Wilsmore for their fantastic organisation and tireless energy in leading the Camp and program back at school.

I am delighted to report that the Alternative Program was highly successful as well, with excellent attendance rates and a varied and interesting program on offer. Well done to everyone involved.

Alpine School, Music, Drama and Other Camps…

We have been very busy with the planning and conduct of other camps as well.

Initial reports from our Alpine School students indicate that it is snowing at Dinner Plains! Year 9 Students Haykal Afkar, Nick Barth, Ahad Nizer, Jemma Doan and Chloe Mcleod have all committed to undertaking their term two learning at the Alpine School at Dinner Plain in Victoria's High Country.

The students have started their own blogs and it is with great anticipation that we follow their journey in this remote part of Victoria. Ms Ravintharan has been responsible for the management of this activity and I thank her on behalf of the students and parents in facilitating this incredibly worthwhile learning experience for our students.

On a similar note, last week, Mr Dwyer led another intrepid Future Leaders class on their hike to the Brisbane Ranges. These two nights of life under canvas have become a genuine 'rite of passage' for our Year 9 students – for many it is their first experience away from home. More importantly, it is certainly the first experience without electricity, internet and phone reception! I wish all Future Leaders every success as they strive for their Duke of Edinburgh's Award Bronze certificate.

Next Monday morning over 100 students and staff will take part in the Music Drama Camp at Rutherford Park Country Retreat in Daylesford. This will be a great opportunity for all involved in this year's production to spend some intensive rehearsal time together in the build up to opening night in August.

With all these camps, I commend all students on their behaviour and I also wish to thank the many staff who willingly give up some of their personal time to lead and supervise these great learning activities. Well done to all involved.

Community Voice

College Council has ratified the amalgamation of our two peak parent organisations – the Parents Club and the Arts, Parents and Friends Group. The new group will be known as the Community Voice Group. Parents, Staff, Students (past and present) and members of the broader community are all welcome to participate. If you wish to be involved please contact the General Office for information regarding the next meeting.

Hugh BlaikiePrincipal

Year 12 Hoodies

Friday May 5 saw the Year 12 students collecting their much anticipated Year 12 hoodies! We think they look fantastic!! Well done to the Year 12 Committee and especially to Ms Yousef for organising and overseeing such a great design for the class of '17.

Jen LavinHead of Senior School

Unit 1 Biology Melbourne Zoo ExcursionOn Tuesday May 2, Year 11 and Year 10 Unit 1 Biology students went on an excursion to Melbourne Zoo. We went there by the school bus and it took around nearly an hour to arrive.

When we arrived at the Zoo, we all received our booklets and it needed to be completed by the end of the day. The booklet was for us to observe animal's behaviours regarding to its adaptation. We walked to each section in groups. First, we went to the frog section. We saw different types of frogs. However, it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. We decided to go to the reptile section and in this section, they had different type of snakes, turtles and reptiles.

One of the snakes drew our attention. It was the Pueblan Milksnake. It reminded us of milkshakes. Next, we saw the Star Tortoises. The species lives in a climate that is often very hot and dry. We continued our journey to the Giant Tortoise. It is a very massive tortoise and weighs up to 150kg. It can live more than 200 years. In the hottest part of the day, they seek shade to cool off in a nearby pool or mudhole.

Also, we saw giraffes and they have long neck and legs. They mostly ate all the time because they could stay unde r sun l igh t fo r an extended period of time by just eating the leaves. They have flat feet and flat feet are used to balance their heavy weight.

Overall, the content of the Melbourne Zoo excursion allowed us to observe and understand how the structures and behaviours of animals can relate to their adaptation in their environment.

Unit 1 Biology Students

Celebrating Classroom Practice

Last week I had the privilege of having three teachers and our critical friend, Lee Crockett, take part in one of my classes with my Year 7 English High Flyers. The students were extremely excited to meet the person whose “Essential Fluencies” we have been working on throughout the semester. Their enthusiasm was drawn all over their beaming faces when Lee and other staff entered the classroom. The lesson had a strong 21st Century Learning focus where students had the opportunity to share their journey on their Genius Hour projects with the staff and Lee. To provide some context, once a cycle we set time aside for students to work on a project that they are passionate about. The students were able to select anything that they care about and want to share with others.

On the day, they talked about the three key components of Genius Hour (their driving question; their research using books, the internet, contacting organisations and speaking to people; and finally how they will share their project). They were able to make links between these three components and the six Ds of the Solution Fluency that they have worked with to develop their projects.

Lee talked with each group of students asking questions about why they chose their projects, what inspired them to explore the particular topics they had chosen, and how they used the six Ds to progress through their work. Students explained the “non-linear” process of defining, discovering, dreaming, designing, delivering and debriefing, and how important it is to go back and forth between the Ds before they come to their delivery.

Lee challenged the class asking them which they considered the most important D and why they thought so. As I expected, little hands flew up in anticipation of being selected to answer Lee’s questions, and Lee did not disappoint, giving most students the opportunity to express their views and justify their choices.

The three teachers in the class also engaged with the students, browsing through their 21st Century Learning scrapbooks, looking at the Genius Hour posters on the wall in our classroom and generally participating in the teaching and learning experience. When Lee, Josh, Geet and Ramesha left every single student reflected on how quickly the time had gone by and why they could not stay a little longer. When I asked them how they felt, the overwhelming response was “It was so much fun!”. That was how I felt also; it was “fun”, enjoyable and highly fulfilling personally and professionally to have my colleagues come to my class and participate in the learning that took place.

Marina StergiouDirector of Curriculum

Here are some student accounts of the day:

"The aura of the room was lifted by the presence of the visiting adults" (Raymond)

"It was an experience in which I stumbled upon words and didn't know what to say. Nevertheless, it was exciting to meet the writer of the guideline we have used for a whole term!" (Quang)

"It was extraordinary. I really could not believe that the person who created the Solution Fluency was observing our class and discussing our Genius Hour projects." (Kris)

"Lee Crockett helped me think more about my defining question. It was really great having him in our class!" (Kenton)

"When Lee Crockett came to our class, we learnt that the Solution Fluency did not have parts that were more important because all the Ds play an important role." (Martin)

"When Lee came into our classroom, I felt pretty intimidated and nervous that I had to talk about my project in front of someone famous." (Alysha)

"I really enjoyed showing the teachers the idea for my project and sharing some information about it." (Yvonne)

Year 8 Camp

During this past week, around 140 Year 8 students were at Phillip Island Adventure Resort for a week long camp.

It was a fun-filled week with activities such as a high ropes course, giant swing, twin flying fox, disc golf, camp cooking, team rescue and an initiative course. Some of these activities were challenging for some students but they showed their resilience and support for each other and enjoyed these challenges.

We also had night activities each night after dinner, with Monday being Trivia Night, Tuesday involved Bridge Building, Wednesday was a Disco and Thursday was Movie Night.

While these students were having fun away from school, those who did not go to the camp were part of an alternate program. The alternate program at school involved excursions to Sidetracked and Scienceworks, sports day run by the PE department and a reptile incursion.

The success of this camp would not have been possible without the organisation from the Year 8 Co-ordinators, Mel Fry and Sam Wilsmore, as well as the Head of Junior School, Carmel Roberts. Special mentions to the Wellington staff that gave up their time to make this camp run smoothly and the volunteers who also helped out.

Year 8 Camp

Virtual Learning Challenges

Learning has gone beyond the walls of the classroom recently for 9M. Students are currently participating in virtual challenges with other schools via the College polycom unit. The polycom unit enables our class to interact ‘live’ with classes from other schools.

Students from each school are challenged to solve problems. They then have the opportunity to share their thinking and discuss how they solved the challenge, giving students the chance to look at different ways of problem solving.

Students from Wellington and Lalor Secondary College recently had a lot of fun with the Science ‘egg drop’ problem. The challenge to drop an egg from a 2m height without breaking it, inspired lots of creativity and critical thinking. Wellington students demonstrated impressive problem solving skills, with most eggs surviving!

Writing challenges undertaken with Numurkah Secondary College provide the opportunity for city to meet country with some interesting sharing of demographics of the two schools. Writing samples shared between the schools encourage open communication with lively discussion of the relative merits of the various pieces. The messy bedrooms topic challenged students to use their persuasive skills while pet potato provided the opportunity for the imagination to run riot.

The opportunity to participate in these virtual challenges will be extended to other classes in the near future.

Heather BowlesLibrary Manager

Future Leaders Camp

I dreaded this day would come. Thousands of emotions swirl through my head like a cyclone… confusion, excitement, fear and joy… However, the 19th of April draws closer and closer…

The Year 9 Future Leaders Elective required us to attend a 3-day camp at Brisbane Ranges National Park for the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. No, it is not in Brisbane, however, the campsite is in the Barwon South West region of Victoria. There were several necessities for us to be able to embark on our journey. We had to make a group of about 2 or 3 people and learn how to erect a tent. By participating in a ‘cook-off’ with the other future leaders class, students became familiar with the Trangia (a portable stove).

Hiking was also involved in the camp which was very tiring. Our hikes began at 8 am and we came back at 12 pm, just in time to have lunch. I feel that the hikes really tested our endurance and persistence as we had to carry our heavy packs on our backs. We would have to store the appropriate amount of food, clothing, water and other items for the three days in these packs. The hiking involved teamwork because we had to walk together as a group and could not leave anyone behind. By the end of it, we were all ‘fryed’!

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience as it most of us had never been hiking before. Thank you to Ms. Fry and all the teachers who gave up their time to come with us and good luck to the other future leaders.

Rameen Khan 9M

Monash All Schools Leadership Program

Last week, the Middle School Captains of Wellington, attended the All Schools Leadership program in Clayton Monash Youth Centre. The annual event is held by the Monash Youth Services to improve the leadership skills of students from various schools in the Monash community.

The five days comprised of different activities and classes about topics related to leadership and community outreach. We worked on campaigns aimed to support those less fortunate. Some issues related to homelessness, poverty, gender equality and racism.

The conclusion of the program included a presentation on our experience and knowledge gained, and showed our improved public speaking skills.

Overall, we had a one in a lifetime experience that has impacted our lives positively. Despite being there for only five days, we made many new friends from different school. The program introduced us to many new ideas and concepts that we can apply to the Middle School leadership team and the greater community. Our mentors Karen and Sammy were encouraging and helped us boost our confidence in our day- to- day lives as leaders. We had an amazing time and highly recommend future leaders to participate in the Monash All Schools Leadership Program.

Antherine Wang and Brandon Choong Middle School Captains

Literacy and Vocabulary

Below are the next three words that everyone in our college learnt during Term Two:

Ms Marie-Louise Marollas Director of Literacy

Mrs Vicky HronopoulosLiteracy and Numeracy Coach

Word Definition

Spontaneous The word spontaneous usually refers to something that happens suddenly without any planning. For example, when an audience finds a performance really brilliant, they may break out into spontaneous applause. When the grandmother saw her newborn granddaughter for the first time, she could not stop her spontaneous tears.

Scrutiny When you put something under scrutiny, you look at it or inspect it really closely.The cricket coach put the batsman’s batting style under scrutiny by watching his games in slow motion to see how the batsman can improve his swing.

Reconciliation Reconciliation is when two enemies become friends again. For example, when two countries begin to cooperate after they have been at war with each other, they have a reconciliation.If Ms Dickinson had not stepped in to help, the reconciliation between the two best friends would not have occurred.

French Excursion

On Monday March 20, the Year 9 French class, accompanied by Mr Sookhareea, went on an excursion to the Palace Cinema Como in South Yarra. As a part of the Alliance Française Film Festival, we watched the French film THE ODYSSEY - L'ODYSSEE, which is a French language film with English subtitles.

The film follows the journey of Jacques Yves Cousteau, the great French ocean-going adventurer and biologist. The film is set in 1943 and follows Jaques' dream of one day being able to explore every ocean in the world. His magnificent new invention of the Aqua-Lung promises to bring him just that. Newly armed with the ability to breathe underwater for long periods of time, Cousteau dedicates his life's work to his obsession with the sea, becoming the first to create underwater films that inspire audiences great and small worldwide.

The film was very entertaining and we had a great time on Chapel Street. The film allowed myself and my classmates to further develop our vocabulary, cultural awareness and understanding of the French language.

Camila Branca Gaona 9M

Wellington Journal - Fortnightly Newsletter of Wellington Secondary College - Designed & Edited by Mr Simon Coles.Wellington Journal - Fortnightly Newsletter of Wellington Secondary College - Designed & Edited by Miss Teresa La

Your details will be dealt with in accordance with the Public Records Act 1973 and the Privacy and Data Protec�on Act 2014. Should you have any queries or wish to gain access to your personal informa�on held by this department please contact our Privacy Officer at the above address.

Edward Blaikie Principal Wellington Secondary College PO Box 1 Mulgrave North 3170

Dear Mr Blaikie

This year, the Andrews Labor Government has announc ed an $1.1 billion educa�on package, con�nuing its commitment to make Victoria the Educa�on State.

The 2017-18 State Budget provides $685 million to build new schools, upgrade exis�ng schools, and buy land to ensure future educa�onal demand can be met.

Having modern and up-to-date classrooms and facili� es in our schools is a fundamental part of ensuring that every child has the best possible educa�on. W e can’t build the Educa�on State without inves�ng in our schools’ bricks and mortar.

I am delighted to confirm that the Andrews Govern ment has allocated $5,530,000 million in capital work s funding to your school. This funding will allow you to appoint a builder to your recently planned captial works project, ensuring construc�on can begi n i n the coming months. It will be used for all costs associated with your project, including prof e s sional fees, all building-related costs, and a project con�ngency.

The Victorian School Building Authority will con�n ue to work closely with you over the next stages of your capital works project, ensuring that the educa�onal vision of your school is realised.

If you would like further informa�on, you may contact Stacey Lord, Manager, Provision and Planning, North-East Victoria on 8413 9563 or by email: lord.stacey.s@edumail.vic.gov.au.

Yours sincerely

The Hon James Merlino MP

Deputy Premier Minister for Educa�on Minister for Emergency Services